Game Mode: Does it work for other applications as well?

[TheTrueZoltan!]

If I understood this correctly, Game Mode prioritizes games over other apps and background tasks in regards to CPU & GPU usage. I was wondering : Can Game Mode also be activated for other applications (for instance Pro apps like Logic Pro & Final Cut) to get even better performance? And lowering latency for AirPods could be really useful for Logic Pro, too.

 

[heretiq]

I have this question as well @TheTrueZoltan! . We run a windows-based business process simulation framework via parallels on a M1 Max MacBook Pro with 32G RAM and 32 core GPU. The simulations run super fast but the output visualization is slower than desired. I think this because the app is built to leverage windows DirectX and GPU capabilities that aren’t accommodated by Parallels and Apple Silicon — so I am curious if Game Mode might provide a boost for this use case also.

 

[dmccloud]

To my knowledge, Game Mode can't be manually toggled, at least in the current version of the Sonoma beta. What I'm not entirely sure of is whether the OS is detecting a game running and switching into Game Mode, or if the game (application) itself is directing the OS to switch into Game Mode. If the latter, then more apps could take advantage of it.

 

[shenfrey]

I am curious to know if game mode works with Apple Arcade games in windowed mode.

 

[MajorFubar]

I too am interested in what Sonoma classifies as a 'game'. Seems to me Apple could have used a more-inclusive term for this feature, and opened up its use to all manner of apps that would benefit from whatever advantages it brings. I couldn't give a toss about gaming, but whatever advantage games are going to have in terms of monopolising the hardware and resources, I want the apps I choose to use to be able to opt into having the same advantages.

 

[Rnd-chars]

From what I can tell it’s enabled automatically and is not a developer option (or perhaps more accurately, not *only* a developer option)

From Apple’s press release: “Game Mode works with any game, including all of the recent and upcoming Mac games.”

And Reddit comments state that it’s automatically enabled during full screen gaming, though there’s an option to turn it off. I also find it interesting that it was automatically enabled for an emulator but not for Minecraft.

Even if not exposed in the UI, I’d wager there is/will be a terminal command to enable it so devs could verify behavior before publishing.

 

[Jetfuel]

I installed Sonoma beta for giggles and ran X-Plane 11 with stick & throttle connected, full screen, 4K and I did not see a gaming icon. There was a little improvement in Sonoma from Ventura but it was a quick trial. The only issue I seen was that X-Plane needed to be forced quit as it hung after ctrl-Q.

 

[R3k]

I was wondering : Can Game Mode also be activated for other applications (for instance Pro apps like Logic Pro & Final Cut)

Not sure, but I think it wouldn't help Logic Pro that much as running Logic also runs alot of other processes behind the app- essentially, alot of the things that eat up cpu are 3rd party Audio Units and they're run under a separate process these days- AUHostService. Your audio drives need priority too. Spotlight to find samples and load you sessions quickly, etc.

As a 'power user' on Logic Pro working to film, I'd pretty much need these all as Priority:

Logic Pro
AUHost Service
Audio Driver interface (RME Fireface via IOkit)
Whatever Quicktime framework Logic leverages when syncing to picture.
Spotlight- to speed up loading sessions that have alot of Kontakt Samples that need to be found.