FEX 2504 is out with its newest monthly feature update for this open-source emulator that allows running x86/x86_64 binaries on AArch64 Linux hosts. This alternative to QEMU and Box64 continues focusing on new performance optimizations to further enhance the appeal and speedy potential of this x86_64-on-ARM64 emulator.
FEX 2504 brings initial metadata support for Windows PE Volatile Metadata, an audio fix for the game Slay the Spire, and other performance optimizations. Volatile Metadata is a feature of Microsoft MSVC 2019 and leads to the compiler generating “volatile” metadata that can be used by Microsoft’s Prism ARM64 emulator to avoid costly emulation of the x86 memory model. FEX is now supporting this and in conjunction with Wine can mean more performance gains.
Some of the FEX performance optimizations over the past month have focused on better optimized SHA256, support for the Arm FEAT_FRINTTS extension, various AVX handling improvements, and a variety of other fixes and targeted performance tweaks.
FEX 2504 downloads and more information on this monthly emulator update via FEX-Emu.com.
