Introduction to Box86/Box64 and RISC-V
In a notable achievement for the RISC-V architecture, developers at Box86 and Box64 have managed to run the popular game The Witcher 3 on a RISC-V processor. Although the game’s performance is far from optimal, achieving this milestone on a Milk-V Pioneer with a 64-core processor and an AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card is remarkable. RISC-V, a free and open-source instruction set architecture, is still in its nascent stages compared to established platforms like ARM and x86/x64.
The Process and Challenges
To achieve this feat, the Box86/Box64 team leveraged Box64 with Wine and DXVK to emulate the necessary instructions to run the game. Performance remains a significant challenge, with The Witcher 3 running at approximately 15 frames per second (FPS). This proof-of-concept demonstrates the potential of RISC-V hardware for AAA gaming, albeit with notable hurdles to overcome. The primary challenge identified was the emulation of x86_64 instructions, which requires substantial computational resources to translate for the RISC-V architecture.
Future Possibilities and Optimizations
This achievement highlights the potential and future possibilities for RISC-V. Developers noted that for those looking to replicate this experiment on lower-end hardware, performance improvements might be achievable by disabling weather effects and removing vegetation in the game files, as demonstrated by one of the developers who previously ran the game on a 2015 Intel integrated GPU.
Conclusion
Building upon their previous success in August, where they made 2D games like Stardew Valley and World of Goo fully playable on RISC-V, the Box86/Box64 team has pushed the boundaries further with The Witcher 3 project. This accomplishment required more powerful hardware, specifically the Milk-V Pioneer – a 64-core RISC-V PC with a PCIe slot for the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card. The team documented the entire process on their blog, providing detailed insights and guidelines for enthusiasts who wish to delve into the world of RISC-V gaming.
