Guild Wars on Apple Silicon: Supported Macs & Display Settings
Which Macs run GWonMac and how display resolution, render scale, and the official client's graphics settings affect performance.
GWonMac runs on every Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 12 Monterey or later, from the M1 MacBook Air to the Mac Studio. Intel Macs are not supported.
What affects performance
GWonMac does not promise a fixed frame rate. Results vary with the Mac, display, render scale, the client's graphics settings, the area being played, and the current official client build. Community reports are useful feedback, but they are not controlled benchmarks and are not used as performance guarantees.
Render quality
The app renders at native Retina resolution on internal and external displays. Choose Render quality in Settings → Game: Standard · 1×, High · 1.5×, or Very high · 2×. The change applies at once. The client's own graphics settings apply on top. If the picture looks soft, raise the render quality or turn off post-processing effects in the game.
Long sessions
ArenaNet's client can use at most 2 GB of memory, and it can close when it reaches that limit. Extended memory lets it use up to 4 GB. It is experimental and applies after a restart. To see frame time and memory while you play, turn on the Diagnostics overlay.
If play feels slow
Try a lower render quality first, then reduce the client's graphics settings. If the problem continues, report it with a performance capture: choose Help → Diagnostics → Start Performance Capture in a game window, reproduce the problem, and stop the capture.
Report
Share your experience on Discord, or see Report a problem.