NootedRed

The AMD iGPU kernel extension.

iGPU compatibility

The entire Vega Raven ASIC family (Ryzen 1xxx (Athlon Silver/Gold) to 5xxx, and 7x30 series).

macOS compatibility

macOS 10.15 to macOS 14. Don't request any lower macOS version; it's not possible to go below 10.15 as the iGPU logic was introduced in that version, and in lower macOS versions there's no RDNA code (used for DCN and VCN).

Prerequisites

  • Your system must not have a GCN 5 or RDNA AMD dGPU.
    • They can be disabled using the -wegnoegpu boot arg or the disable-gpu device property.
  • Increase VRAM size.
    • 512MiB minimum, 1GiB+ for proper functionality.
  • Disable Legacy Boot, also known as CSM and Boot Mode.
    • Otherwise you will meet kernel panics like Failed to get VBIOS from VRAM.
  • Remove WhateverGreen.kext.
    • NRed conflicts with it.
  • Use MacBookPro16,3, iMac20,1 or iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS
    • MacPro7,1 might result in a black screen.
  • Do your macOS updates (the minor ones, not necessary to go e.g. macOS 11 -> macOS 12)

Backlight functionality

Usually only works on laptops.

Frequently asked questions

These entries are not in any particular order.

Why's development not as active now?

Project's alive. I'm just overwhelmed. There were several problems caused by two members of our team, and they had to be kicked out.

What happened to NRed's commit history? Weren't there like a thousand commits before?

As mentioned previously, the "controversy" with those two ex-team-members. They didn't contribute much to the project and it was deemed that they should not gain publicity from it.

Catalina doesn't work with NRed on my computer; I get stuck on a black screen or restart after black screen

Known issue. We don't know the problem yet; it works on most systems. You'll have to be patient for now.

My external display's audio appears, but no audio comes out of it

Known issue. We don't know the problem yet; it works on most system. You'll have to be patient for now (again).

My HDR-enabled display boots to a black screen with flashing backlight

Disable HDR either from the BIOS, a tool like Smokeless-UMAF or by connecting to the computer remotely and doing it from macOS' settings.

My OLED display cannot have its brightness adjusted

As far as we know, the code in the AMD kexts simply cannot handle OLED displays. Use an app like Lunar in order to achieve this.

I cannot adjust my brightness on Catalina

Catalina has no brightness control code. Use an app like Lunar, I guess.

Chrome, Chromium-based browsers and apps like Sublime Text cause graphical artefacts amongst other problems

Known issue, but unknown cause.

For the browsers you can disable GPU Rasterisation inside chrome://flags as a workaround or just use Safari.

Anything else will likely require complete neutralisation of GPU/Hardware acceleration.

If you can't even open the (chromium-based) browser because of the issue, you can launch via the following:

open -a Google\ Chrome --args --disable-gpu

Constant freezes and crashes on Ventura and newer

With the RestrictEvents kext you can put revblock=media in your boot args to reduce this to a minimal amount. The issue seems to be excessive usage of compute by various macOS services like image analysis.

Cause of the compute dysfunctionality spanning across all macOS versions remains unknown.

Do I just drag and drop this kext and we're good?

Yes, as long as you've done the prerequisites as described here.

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