TransGaming, developers of the Cider virtualization technology that enables Windows games to run on Intel-based Macs without having to be ported, on Tuesday announced a deal with graphics processor maker Nvidia that promises to bring more top-tier PC games to the Mac, with better performance.
Nvidia doesn’t only makes graphics chips that are used in some Mac models. They also developed Cg, a high-level 3D graphics programming language leveraged by many PC game developers who program their games using Direct3D, a component of Microsoft’s DirectX Application Programming Interface (API) for Windows.
The deal announced today between TransGaming and Nvidia allows Cider to run high-level shaders created using the Nvidia CgFX framework. Specifically, the two companies have collaborated to improve Cg in areas ranging from file compatibility to performance, to make sure that Macs can run Cider-based games well.
“Our collaborative efforts with Cg provide a sophisticated alternative implementation of Direct3D compatible high level shaders on the Mac; this is important because Microsoft restricts the distribution of Direct3D on non-Microsoft platforms,” explained Vikas Gupta, CEO and President of TransGaming.
Cider makes it possible for game makers to create software that doesn’t need to be extensively reworked in a complete code conversion, or port, before it can be published for the Macintosh. Instead, Cider wraps around the Windows executable and provides a translation layer to the Mac OS.
This can lead to shorter development time for Mac games, and TransGaming ultimately hopes it will result in same-day releases for the Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Cider is being used to bring Freeverse Software’s Mac version of Heroes of Might and Magic V to life, and is also being used by GameTap to produce its first Macintosh-compatible game, Myst Online: Uru Live.