MP 1,1-5,1 Activate AMD hardware acceleration

[h9826790]

Does this package allow Catalina upgrades?

No. If you want to install / upgrade to / update Catalina, you have to turn ON the VMM flag. And turn OFF SMBIOS spoofing.

After that you should turn the VMM flag OFF and SMBIOS spoofing ON. Otherwise, CPU Turbo Boost and HWAccel will be disabled, not that good for daily use.

 

[Earl Urley]

Ok, got it.. I'll modify it when I get a spare SSD to install Catalina on.

 

[jhona83]

Please try

1) mount the EFI partition
2) completely remove the OC folder
3) reboot (make sure Catalina still working)
4) reset NVRAM (WARNING: This will remove the no compat check boot argument. You MUST have your method to recover from this situation)
5) boot recovery (or your Dosdude Catalina installer)
6) disable SIP
7) re-do that 13 steps

YESSSS YESSSSS YESSSS YESSSSS !!!
I'm sooooo Happy!
FINALLY !!!

Sorry for the delay =-(
I started everything from scratch
And now it's working =-) CATALINA 10.15.3 with full HEVC capabilities and Boot Picker menu!!!

Big thanks to h9826790 and Startergo !

Full H264 and HEVC video processing !!!

This is the GB test results

CPU

And the GPU results

Now the Sony test video play back smoth

 

[h9826790]

Ok, got it.. I'll modify it when I get a spare SSD to install Catalina on.

Or you can simply replace the config.plist by the one that from cdf

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

This guide explains how to use the excellent OpenCore boot loader to install, run, and update the latest version of macOS on the MacPro5,1, resulting in a clean, unaltered operating system just like on a supported Mac.

forums.macrumors.com

(You will still need to turn ON the VMM flag for Catalina installation, but that config doesn't need contain SMBIOS spoofing, should work better for Catalina installation)

And then revert the config.plist to the one that from my package after you finish the Catalina installation.

My package may only allow minor Catalina update (e.g. from 10.15.2 to 10.15.3) even with the VMM flag ON. It may not allow you to upgrade from Mojave to Catalina.

 

[pierrox]

Config: Installed OC on 4GB USB 2.0 Drive plugged in in lower front usb

Nice, that's what I want to try first. You just follow the procedure except you put the stuff on EFI partition on the USB? And then how do you tell the Mac to start on the USB if it doesn't have a system?

 

[h9826790]

Nice, that's what I want to try first. You just follow the procedure except you put the stuff on EFI partition on the USB? And then how do you tell the Mac to start on the USB if it doesn't have a system?

Same procedure, but in Clover Configurator, select the USB's EFI partition.

However, please make sure your USB drive can boot on cMP. Otherwise, it may produce false result.

 

[evbtfre56]

I have two Radeon GPUs, a Vega 56 and WX 4100, in a Mac Pro 5,1 running 10.14.6. The instructions in post 594 worked.

Unfortunately the lesser powered WX 4100 (in slot 2) does all of the Hardware Acceleration work, while the much more powerful Vega 56 sits at 10W power consumption and zero CPU usage.

Does anyone know how to force GPU priority? I'm asking here because I've run out of options.

I'm using the universal config file. I have tried many configurations of screens, PCIe slots, and changes to the OC config. I've read the OC guide and instructions for Whatevergreen kext, but can't find any obvious answers. I've also tried to download GPU switching software designed for previous dual GPU MacBooks, however those applications can not be compiled or run on my Mac.

Thanks all for any advice - or solutions!

 

[krakman]

I have two Radeon GPUs, a Vega 56 and WX 4100, in a Mac Pro 5,1 running 10.14.6. The instructions in post 594 worked.

Unfortunately the lesser powered WX 4100 (in slot 2) does all of the Hardware Acceleration work, while the much more powerful Vega 56 sits at 10W power consumption and zero CPU usage.

Does anyone know how to force GPU priority? I'm asking here because I've run out of options.

I'm using the universal config file. I have tried many configurations of screens, PCIe slots, and changes to the OC config. I've read the OC guide and instructions for Whatevergreen kext, but can't find any obvious answers. I've also tried to download GPU switching software designed for previous dual GPU MacBooks, however those applications can not be compiled or run on my Mac.

Thanks all for any advice - or solutions!

The theory is that for balance GPU use both GPUs have to be the same.

In FCPX you can select which GPU to use in the preferences - might be possible in other applications

if its just decoding of streaming video from the internet then I don't know which card has the newer decode chip in it, but I doubt it will make much noticable difference in this case.

 

[pierrox]

Same procedure, but in Clover Configurator, select the USB's EFI partition.

However, please make sure your USB drive can boot on cMP. Otherwise, it may produce false result.

I tried to reformat a couple of USB sticks I had and even though I made sure I chose the GUID scheme, it didn't give me an EFI partition. I guess I need a real drive for that and not just a USB stick.

 

[startergo]

I tried to reformat a couple of USB sticks I had and even though I made sure I chose the GUID scheme, it didn't give me an EFI partition. I guess I need a real drive for that and not just a USB stick.

Create a high Sierra USB installer and use it's EFI partition.

 

[joevt]

I tried to reformat a couple of USB sticks I had and even though I made sure I chose the GUID scheme, it didn't give me an EFI partition. I guess I need a real drive for that and not just a USB stick.

I think I always get an EFI partition. Are they at least 16 GB?

 

[pierrox]

I think I always get an EFI partition. Are they at least 16 GB?

Yep it could be a size limitation as the ones I had laying around were 1gb. I would hope 4gb is enough (Mac OS install was under that for a while, before it started to swell up to 17GB). I'll go through my drawers at home see if I have a bigger one.

 

[joevt]

You don't need an EFI partition to boot an EFI program though. Just make a FAT partition with an EFI folder and a BOOT folder inside that with a bootx64.efi program.

An HFS+ partition with a blessed EFI program anywhere will also work, but for Open Core, you want a FAT partition so that it can write log files or whatever (HFS+ is read only in EFI) - probably would be nice if it had an option to write files to a different FAT partition in that case.

 

[jakepowell]

NOOB ALERT !

first of all i would like to thank you all for the hard work that goes on on this site by individuals with knowledge that is outside of my sphere of comprehension!

second - i apologise if this would be better placed in the opencore thread but the tutorial by @
h9826790 is what brought me here and its become somewhat cross pollinated.

Q. if i enable opencore and HWA using the tutorial by @h9826790 in post #1,314 AND also turn ON the VMM flag.

(once opencore is booting the system and verified as doing so presumably i can tell this as i will see HWA working and a bootpicker screen as i run an rx580)

once this is done can i then - INSTALL CATALINA USING A BOOTABLE USB WITH NEW BOOTPICKER?

or have i made some terrible mistake and this would totally brick my system?

thanks in advance!

yours sincerly

mere mortal.

 

[pierrox]

You don't need an EFI partition to boot an EFI program though.

Tried that, formatting the USB to FAT, MBR (and then a second attempt to GUID), and when I bless it:

sudo bless --mount /Volumes/EFI/ --setBoot --file /Volumes/EFI/EFI/OC/OpenCore.efi

I get this error message:

Could not set boot device property: 0xe00002e2

EDIT: my bad, I had not disabled SIP...

 

[pierrox]

By the way, once I blessed my startup USB Stick, can I enable SIP on my main OS partition?

 

[h9826790]

By the way, once I blessed my startup USB Stick, can I enable SIP on my main OS partition?

Not tested. You may try it and report back.

SIP status should not affect OpenCore if you use my package in post #1314.

I expect the worst case just disable HWAccel.

If you lost OpenCore by re-enableing SIP. You can always disable that again, reboot back to desktop, mount the EFI partition, and re-bless OpenCore.

 

[jakepowell]

Not so noob alert!

figured it out for myself! cheers h9826790 - you made it all possible and easy to follow even for someone unfamiliar to it all.

I then rolled back to mojave reset the plist and updated to bootrom 144.0.0.0.0 because i had missed that one and it felt incomplete - then re installed opencore and your config plist . to get back to where i was .

one strange note : on my system Innie kext does not work... but its all in there loaded as per your plist ...

strange huh ? any thoughts on this?

i used the original opencore guide's config to update to catalina then undid the vmm flagging and reverted to yours.

all in all pretty successful though their were moments when my system didnt chime and wouldn't boot with the nvme drive installed but going back through the process seems to have figured it all out.

anyway - im stoked and pretty excited to see if people cleverer than myself can get things like sidecar and thunderbolt intergrated into one souped up config.

thanks y'all!!!!

 

[Eschers]

By the way, once I blessed my startup USB Stick, can I enable SIP on my main OS partition?

Would be great to know how to disable SIP under these circumstances with blessed EFI USB!

 

[h9826790]

Would be great to know how to disable SIP under these circumstances with blessed EFI USB!

The boot picker still allow you to boot to any existing recovery partition.

 

[Eschers]

The boot picker still allow you to boot to any existing recovery partition.

Thanks for the quick reply!

But I forgot to mention I (still) have no bootpicker somehow, only glows up but no information whatsoever. Everything else seems to work as gpu decode, nvme as internal, etc.

(setup: your latest config with 0.5.6; USB 2.0 4GB stick lower front usb, radeon vii, 4K samsung monitor in first DP, secnd apple cinema 24)

 

[pierrox]

Thanks H9826790, it works pretty well. Booting from a USB Stick with an EFI partition.

Would be great to know how to disable SIP under these circumstances with blessed EFI USB!

I guess I could (haven't tried yet) bless the USB EFI from Terminal in Recovery mode after I enable csrutil.

The boot picker still allow you to boot to any existing recovery partition.

I don't get one either. I have a Sapphire Pulse RX580 with two Cinema Displays plugged via a DisplayPort to DVi adapter.

 

[pierrox]

N.B. Unflashed card means "the ROM is never modified". For those who bough used card, and can't see the boot screen, most likely the last user flashed the card with modified ROM (e.g. downvolt for mining). In this case, you can go to TechPowerUp to find a ROM that fit your own card, and flash it.

Hmmm, I actually modified my Pulse RX580 using this guide of yours:

Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB VBIOS Study

*** For info, this mod is NOT compatible with the OpenCore boot screen mod *** This thread is about how to mod the Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB card's ROM image. If you worry about bricking the card, or void the warranty etc. STOP HERE! For those who has MVC flashed RX580. Do NOT perform this mod...

forums.macrumors.com

Could it be what causes the lack of boot screen/boot picker?

 

[h9826790]

Hmmm, I actually modified my Pulse RX580 using this guide of yours:

Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB VBIOS Study

*** For info, this mod is NOT compatible with the OpenCore boot screen mod *** This thread is about how to mod the Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB card's ROM image. If you worry about bricking the card, or void the warranty etc. STOP HERE! For those who has MVC flashed RX580. Do NOT perform this mod...

forums.macrumors.com

Could it be what causes the lack of boot screen/boot picker?

That mod breaks the GOP, therefore, breaks the OC boot screen.

I will add some info in that post about not compatible to OC boot screen.

 

[pierrox]

Ok that makes sense. If it breaks the GOP, it breaks both the boot screen AND the boot picker?