Platform Support

Nightshade supports multiple platforms through wgpu's cross-platform abstractions.

Supported Platforms

Platform	Status	Backend	Notes
Windows 10/11	Full Support	Vulkan, DX12	Primary development platform
Linux	Full Support	Vulkan	X11 and Wayland
macOS	Full Support	Metal	Requires macOS 10.13+
Web (WASM)	Experimental	WebGPU	Modern browsers only

Windows

Requirements

Windows 10 version 1903 or later (for DX12)
Windows 10 version 1607 or later (for Vulkan)
GPU with Vulkan 1.1 or DirectX 12 support

Graphics Backends

Windows supports multiple backends in order of preference:

Vulkan - Best performance and feature support
DirectX 12 - Native Windows API, good compatibility
DirectX 11 - Fallback for older hardware

Building

cargo build --release

Distribution

The executable is self-contained. Include your assets folder alongside the executable.

game/
├── game.exe
└── assets/
    ├── models/
    ├── textures/
    └── audio/

Linux

Requirements

X11 or Wayland display server
Vulkan 1.1 compatible GPU and drivers
Common distributions: Ubuntu 20.04+, Fedora 33+, Arch Linux

Dependencies

Install Vulkan development packages:

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install libvulkan1 vulkan-tools libvulkan-dev
sudo apt install libasound2-dev  # For audio feature

Fedora:

sudo dnf install vulkan-loader vulkan-tools vulkan-headers
sudo dnf install alsa-lib-devel  # For audio feature

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S vulkan-icd-loader vulkan-tools vulkan-headers
sudo pacman -S alsa-lib  # For audio feature

Building

cargo build --release

Wayland Support

Nightshade uses winit which supports both X11 and Wayland. The backend is selected automatically based on environment:

# Force X11
WINIT_UNIX_BACKEND=x11 ./game

# Force Wayland
WINIT_UNIX_BACKEND=wayland ./game

Distribution

Create an AppImage or distribute with a shell script:

#!/bin/bash
cd "$(dirname "$0")"
./game

macOS

Requirements

macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later
Metal-capable GPU (most Macs from 2012+)

Building

cargo build --release

Code Signing

For distribution, sign your application:

codesign --deep --force --sign "Developer ID Application: Your Name" target/release/game

App Bundle

Create a macOS app bundle:

Game.app/
└── Contents/
    ├── Info.plist
    ├── MacOS/
    │   └── game
    └── Resources/
        └── assets/

Info.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
    <string>game</string>
    <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
    <string>com.yourcompany.game</string>
    <key>CFBundleName</key>
    <string>Game</string>
    <key>CFBundleVersion</key>
    <string>1.0</string>
    <key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
    <string>1.0</string>
    <key>LSMinimumSystemVersion</key>
    <string>10.13</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Web (WebAssembly)

Requirements

Modern browser with WebGPU support
Chrome 113+, Edge 113+, Firefox 141+

Building

Install wasm-pack:

cargo install wasm-pack

Build for web:

wasm-pack build --target web

HTML Template

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>Game</title>
    <style>
        body { margin: 0; overflow: hidden; }
        canvas { width: 100vw; height: 100vh; display: block; }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
    <script type="module">
        import init from './pkg/game.js';
        init();
    </script>
</body>
</html>

Limitations

Web builds have some limitations:

Feature	Status
Rendering	Supported
Input	Supported
Audio	Supported (Web Audio)
Gamepad	Supported (Gamepad API)
Physics	Supported
File System	Limited (no direct access)
Threads	Limited (requires SharedArrayBuffer)

Asset Loading

Assets must be served over HTTP. Use fetch API for loading:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
#[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
async fn load_assets() {
    // Assets loaded via HTTP fetch
}
}

Cross-Compilation

Windows from Linux

Install the MinGW toolchain:

sudo apt install mingw-w64
rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

Linux from Windows

Use WSL2 or Docker:

# In WSL2
cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

macOS Cross-Compilation

Cross-compiling to macOS is complex due to SDK requirements. Consider using CI/CD services like GitHub Actions with macOS runners.

GPU Requirements

Minimum Requirements

Feature	Requirement
API	Vulkan 1.1 / DX12 / Metal
VRAM	2 GB
Shader Model	5.0

Recommended Requirements

Feature	Requirement
API	Vulkan 1.2+
VRAM	4+ GB
Shader Model	6.0

Feature Support by GPU Generation

GPU	Basic Rendering	Tessellation	Compute Culling
Intel HD 4000+	Yes	Yes	Yes
NVIDIA GTX 600+	Yes	Yes	Yes
AMD GCN 1.0+	Yes	Yes	Yes
Apple M1+	Yes	Yes	Yes

Performance by Platform

Relative performance (higher is better):

Platform	Performance	Notes
Windows (Vulkan)	100%	Best overall
Windows (DX12)	95%	Slightly more overhead
Linux (Vulkan)	98%	Excellent with proper drivers
macOS (Metal)	90%	Good, but Metal has different characteristics
Web (WebGPU)	70%	JavaScript overhead

Troubleshooting

Windows: "No suitable adapter found"

Update GPU drivers
Install Vulkan Runtime
Try forcing DX12: WGPU_BACKEND=dx12 ./game.exe

Linux: "Failed to create Vulkan instance"

Install Vulkan drivers for your GPU
Check vulkaninfo command works
Verify ICD loader: ls /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/

macOS: "Metal not available"

Update macOS to 10.13+
Check GPU supports Metal: Apple Menu > About This Mac > System Report > Graphics

Web: "WebGPU not supported"

Use Chrome 113+ or Edge 113+
Enable WebGPU flag in browser settings if needed
Check navigator.gpu exists in browser console

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Nightshade Game Engine