Compatibility layers

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While not strictly emulation per se (hence why Wine stands for "Wine Is Not an Emulator"), compatibility layers allow software written for one operating system to be run on a different OS, often by translating API and system calls made by an application to their equivalent calls in the host operating system. In theory, this should allow for near-native performance since no processor emulation takes place, but in practice certain software such as games tend to run a bit slower such as in the case of OpenGL to Direct3D translation as done through Wine. Additionally, compatibility layers may also use emulation in order to run software built for a different architecture.

This page is a WIP. Feel free to help out!

Compatibility layers

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version Active Recommended Runs the following software
PC
Wine Unix and POSIX-compliant 9.0 Windows applications and games
Wineskin macOS 1.7 Windows applications and games
Proton Linux 8.0-5 Windows games
TeknoParrot Windows 1.0.0.140 Windows-based arcade games
WineVDM Windows v0.6.0 16-bit Windows apps and games
WoW Windows ? Windows 9x apps and games
Win3mu Windows ? Windows 3.x apps and games
Ardi Executor Multi-platform 2.1.17 Classic Mac OS software up to System 6
Darling Linux Git ? Mac OS X Software
Mobile
Wine Android 9.0 Windows applications and games


Graphics

There are also compatibility layers for graphics APIs, sometimes refered to as wrappers. They can be used to run older software on more modern hardware and operating systems.

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version Active Recommended Graphics API(s)
PC
nGlide Windows 2.0 Glide
dgVoodoo Windows 2.55.4 ? DirectX 1-7, Direct3D 8.1, Glide
DXVK Linux 0.95 Direct3D 10 & 11
VK9 Windows, Linux 0.29.0 ? Direct3D 9


Comparisons

  • nGlide nGlide is a 3Dfx Voodoo Glide wrapper. It allows you to play games designed for 3Dfx Glide API without the need for having 3Dfx Voodoo graphics card. All three API versions are supported, Glide 2.11, Glide 2.60 and Glide 3.10. nGlide emulates Glide environment with Direct3D and Vulkan. Glide wrapper also supports high resolution modes. Has a compatibility list.
  • dgVoodoo 2 is a wrapper for old graphics API's for Windows Vista/7/8/10. The API's it currently can wrap are: Glide 2.11, Glide 2.45, Glide 3.1, Glide 3.1 Napalm, DirectX 1-7 (all versions of DirectDraw and Direct3D up to version 7) and Direct3D 8.1. This wrapper can use Direct3D 11 with different device types as wrapping output such as hardware or software rendering.
  • DXVK is a Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 10/11, which allows running Windows 3D applications on Linux using Wine.
  • VK9 runs Direct3D 9 applications on Windows or Linux (with Wine) over Vulkan.