Platform Support

Nightshade targets the platforms wgpu targets. Native Windows, Linux, and macOS, plus the web through WebGPU.

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)	Full Support	WebGPU	Modern browsers only

Windows

Requirements

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

Graphics Backends

Windows picks a backend in this order:

Vulkan for the broadest feature coverage
DirectX 12 as the native Windows path
DirectX 11 as the fallback for older hardware

Building

cargo build --release

Distribution

The executable is self-contained. Ship the assets folder next to it:

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

Linux

Requirements

X11 or Wayland
A GPU and driver supporting Vulkan 1.1
Ubuntu 20.04+, Fedora 33+, or Arch Linux are common starting points

Dependencies

Install the 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

winit picks between X11 and Wayland based on the environment. You can force one:

# Force X11
WINIT_UNIX_BACKEND=x11 ./game

# Force Wayland
WINIT_UNIX_BACKEND=wayland ./game

Distribution

Bundle as an AppImage or wrap the binary in a launcher script:

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

macOS

Requirements

macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later
A Metal-capable GPU. Most Macs from 2012 onwards qualify.

Building

cargo build --release

Code Signing

Sign the binary before distribution:

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

App Bundle

The expected layout for a macOS app:

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

A browser with WebGPU
Chrome 113+, Edge 113+, or Firefox 141+

Building

Install wasm-pack:

cargo install wasm-pack

Build the web bundle:

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

The web build is constrained by what browsers expose.

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

Asset Loading

Assets have to be served over HTTP and fetched at runtime:

#![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 and target:

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 a Docker image:

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

macOS Cross-Compilation

Cross-compiling to macOS needs the Apple SDK, which is awkward to source legally outside a Mac. The practical path is GitHub Actions 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

Rough relative performance, higher is better.

Platform	Performance	Notes
Windows (Vulkan)	100%	Best overall
Windows (DX12)	95%	A little more driver overhead
Linux (Vulkan)	98%	Matches Windows with good drivers
macOS (Metal)	90%	Different cost profile than Vulkan
Web (WebGPU)	70%	Browser and JS bridge overhead

Troubleshooting

Windows: "No suitable adapter found"

Update GPU drivers
Install the Vulkan Runtime
Force the DX12 backend with WGPU_BACKEND=dx12 ./game.exe

Linux: "Failed to create Vulkan instance"

Install Vulkan drivers for your GPU
Check that vulkaninfo runs
Verify the ICD loader sees them: ls /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/

macOS: "Metal not available"

Update macOS to 10.13 or later
Check Apple Menu > About This Mac > System Report > Graphics for Metal support

Web: "WebGPU not supported"

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

Keyboard shortcuts

Nightshade Game Engine