MoltenVK v1.4.2 adds DrawIndex, patches legacy Mac GPU crashes
The long wait for MoltenVK v1.4.2 is over. Released July 24, 2026, this update finally lands VK_EXT_sampler_filter_minmax and gl_DrawID support on macOS, while also squashing a wave of crashes on older NVIDIA and Intel Mac GPUs.
For the uninitiated, MoltenVK is the bridge that lets Vulkan apps run on Apple silicon and older Intel Macs. It sits on top of Metal, translating Vulkan calls so developers don't have to maintain separate codebases for every Apple platform. If you're running a 2018 MacBook Pro with a discrete GPU, you've probably seen MoltenVK crash before. It's a known pain point. This release targets that exact frustration head-on.
What's new in 1.4.2
The headline feature is gl_DrawID. Shader developers have been asking for this one for years. Now Vulkan shaders can access the current draw call index directly. This closes a major parity gap with desktop Vulkan, meaning engines like Unreal Engine 5 and id Tech 7 can finally ship their Mac ports without ugly workarounds.
VK_EXT_sampler_filter_minmax is also here, but it only works on Apple10 GPUs with macOS 26 or iOS 26. It enables min/max sampling for texture filtering, which is handy for tone mapping and HDR pipelines. MoltenVK now implements native sampler min/max filtering, so Metal hardware handles the heavy lifting without falling back to shader emulation.
The floor has been raised, too. MoltenVK now requires macOS 12.0, iOS 15.0, or tvOS 15.0. You'll need to be on one of these versions to use the new Metal API capabilities that the update relies on.
Legacy GPU workarounds
The AMD subgroup size fix is particularly important. Metal expects a subgroup size of 32, but MoltenVK was reporting 64 on affected AMD Mac GPUs. Compute shaders using simdgroup operations would just crash. That's corrected now.
Intel UHD 630 simdReduction has been disabled on affected Intel Macs to prevent shader failures. Mac1 GPUs (the earliest Apple Silicon, plus legacy NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M and Intel Iris Pro) received a whole bunch of targeted fixes. MoltenVK was previously trying to use Metal features these older GPUs couldn't handle. The update disables discarded-fragment store checks, argument buffers for combined samplers, and other problematic features on this hardware.
Swapchain recreation was giving 1x1 drawables, which broke rendering entirely. That's fixed. Imported Metal textures are now tracked for residency correctly, and descriptor pool alignment issues have been smoothed out.
SPIRV-Cross gets a major overhaul
The embedded SPIRV-Cross shader converter just got a massive update. It's the most extensive overhaul in MoltenVK's history. The converter now supports MSL 3.0 variants, fixed subgroup builtins for task and mesh shaders, and improved variable pointer handling. If your shaders have been miscompiling on Metal, this is worth checking.
The bottom line
A long time coming. The gl_DrawID support is exactly what game ports needed, and the legacy GPU fixes will keep older Macs usable for longer. However, at the same time, the raised OS requirements might leave some users behind. If you're still on macOS 11, this update isn't for you.
The release includes 39 pull requests from 20 contributors. It's active maintenance, which says a lot for a project that's been running since 2016.
Head here to grab the latest binaries. You'll need a Mac running macOS 12.0 or later, of course. Keep in mind that the minimum OS versions are hard requirements, not suggestions.
