v0.1.1 — release notes

2026-09-18 · download · the first public builds. Everything below marked "verified" ran on real hardware, with the command output logged.

What Verjuice is

A launcher for Windows games and applications on Linux and macOS. Connect your Steam/Epic/GOG libraries (or register an installed exe), press one Play button, and Verjuice builds the prefix, applies known-good per-title configuration, and launches through the right backend — Proton/umu on Linux, Wine with DXMT/DXVK/MoltenVK on macOS. If a launch fails, it diagnoses the captured log, applies a recorded, sourced fix, and relaunches — or reports an honest, cited refusal. Three outcomes, all truthful: runs, "we fixed it, relaunching", or "this cannot run here, and here is why."

Everything Verjuice knows is traceable: every compatibility claim in its database carries a source, and its fix engine never invents a fix — it only applies recorded ones.

What works in 0.1.0 (verified on real hardware)

Both platforms

• One-command setup: verjuice install lists exactly what is missing, fetches components only after you confirm, and checksum-verifies every download. Degrades gracefully offline.
• The compatibility database: 601 apps, 536 with sourced recommendations, including honest cited refusals for anti-cheat-walled titles (checked against AreWeAntiCheatYet; per-title, never guessed).
• Self-healing launches: a bounded startup window watches the launch; an in-window crash is diagnosed from the real log against a signature table (59 sourced entries) and a known fix is applied — winetricks verbs, env changes, DLL overrides, launch args — then the app relaunches. At most 2 auto-relaunches; then a plain-language refusal with the saved log.
• A real UI: library grid with one Play button, setup progress, and exactly the three outcome states; plan/log detail behind an advanced drawer; working cancel.

Linux

• Library + register: Steam titles are discovered from Steam's own state; Epic via legendary (no auth needed to enumerate); GOG via Heroic metadata with real-executable resolution; any other Windows exe can be registered with one command.
• Containerized launches through umu: non-Steam titles launch through umu-run with the full documented env contract (WINEPREFIX, GAMEID, PROTONPATH, STORE, PROTON_VERB), and protonfixes auto-apply. A native Linux build always wins when one is installed.
• Fallback ladders: 22+ titles carry recorded fallback ladders — ordered fix plans with explicit triggers, walked on real hardware: ELDEN RING, PRAGMATA, Marvel Rivals, Cyberpunk 2077, Vampire Hunters and others walked plan A to running.
• Verified 2026-09-17: an Epic-launcher-installed title launched end to end through umu + Proton (no legendary install, no Epic account) after prefix-scan discovery.

macOS (Apple Silicon)

• Wine run directly, "do-it-all": Verjuice fetches the Wine runtime itself (Wine 11 with DXMT, DXVK-macOS and MoltenVK bundled) into its own folder — no Whisky app, no manual setup.
• Retina and DPI by default: every Mac prefix gets RetinaMode and a matching DPI automatically.
• Game Mode: launches go through a small games-category app bundle, so macOS turns Game Mode on.
• The Windows Steam route: Verjuice installs Valve's own Steam client into one shared prefix and launches titles with steam.exe -applaunch <appid>. You log in once, in Steam's own window; Verjuice never handles credentials.
• Per-game graphics backend: DXMT's DLLs go next to each game's exe, so the game runs DXMT while Steam's UI stays on DXVK. Measured on an M5 Pro at the main menu: DXMT ≈ 115 fps / 5.3 ms GPU per frame vs DXVK ≈ 11.0 ms.
• Verified end to end 2026-09-18: Vampire Hunters through the mac-steam route with DXMT — Steamworks satisfied, menu rendered on the M5 Pro GPU, input working.
• Runtime updates with rollback: verjuice install --update mac-wine keeps the replaced runtime; --rollback swaps it back.
• Shader-cache cleanup: verjuice prefix clean <prefix> --caches covers the prefix's DXVK/VKD3D caches and DXMT's cache.

Honest limitations (0.1.0)

These are also listed, with user-facing workarounds, on the known issues page.

• macOS graphics launches through the mac-wine route are not yet verified (the mac-steam route is).
• --heal on macOS covers the mac-wine route only; the mac-steam route launches unsupervised.
• Winetricks does not run on macOS; a declared verb fix is refused honestly rather than reported as applied.
• D3DMetal (DirectX 12) is unavailable in the fetched runtime.
• Steam runner pins are partial (apply-path hardware proof pending).
• Epic real-account launch needs a one-time legendary auth login.
• Both artifacts are unsigned (see the download page for what that means and what to do).
• Anti-cheat walls are walls: cited refusals, never fix attempts.

Component provenance

Verjuice wraps, and never reimplements: Wine, Proton, umu (umu-launcher), DXVK, VKD3D, DXMT, MoltenVK, legendary, and the protonfixes data that ships with UMU-Proton/GE-Proton builds. On macOS the default runtime is the one frankea/Whisky publishes (Wine 11 with DXMT, DXVK-macOS and MoltenVK). Attributions ship in the third-party notices inside every artifact; nothing proprietary is bundled — Apple's Game Porting Toolkit and the Steam client are never redistributed.

Verification

97 offline suites plus both data validators (606 apps, 59 signatures) at packaging time. On macOS the gate runs 91 suites and honestly skips 6 that need Linux-only tooling, with the real user state and log dir byte-identical across the run.