macOS 13 Ventura Developer Beta in Z390 Aorus Elite motherboard

[miliuco]

macOS 13 up and running: macOS 13 Ventura Developer Beta works surprisingly well for such a theoretically immature version. Detected bugs are few. It is really usable as main system except in production machines.

 

Installation of the Public Beta

 

Go to Apple Beta Software Program >> Sign in (Apple ID) >> Get Started >> Enroll your Mac >> download and install the macOS Public Beta Access Utility >> you will be prompted to download and install the macOS 13 public beta from Software Update >> click Upgrade Now to get the new version.

 

Note: in Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey 12.2.1 or earlier, Software Update downloads a separate installer that opens automatically. In Monterey 12.2.2 or newer, it performs and upgrade to the new system.

 

Hardware

• Z390 Aorus Elite motherboard
• i9-9900 CPU + iGPU Intel UHD 630 (9th gen., Coffee Lake R)
• dGPU AMD RX 6600 XT.

Prerequisites

 

It is mandatory to use OpenCore 0.8.3 beta (latest version) or Clover version 5148. Previous versions of these boot loaders are not able to boot macOS 13 due to changes that Apple has made in the boot mechanism of the operating system.
 

It is also mandatory to use beta versions of some extensions, specifically Lilu 1.6.2 and VirtualSMC 1.3.0. But it is highly recommended to use recent beta versions of all kexts since they have received support for macOS 13: RestrictEvents 1.0.8, WhateverGreen 1.6.1, etc.

 

Before starting the macOS 13 beta installation program you have to update your EFI folder according to the above.

 

iGPU as single graphics card

 

You can keep the same code you have in Monterey config.plist for Ventura. There is no need to make any changes related to the iGPU. This works together with the model of SMBIOS iMac19,1. Models that lack iGPU (MacPro and iMacPro) should be avoided in this configuration.

 

As a help, this is the code that I use in my system (Intel UHD 630 Coffee Lake):

Spoiler

Notes:

• AAPL,ig-platform-id=07009B3E is mandatory
• force-online=01000000 is mandatory to force online status on all ports (replaces igfxonln=1 boot argument)
• device-id=9B3E0000 makes the iGPU recognized by some programs as Intel UHD 630 instead of KabyLake Unknown
• enable-metal=01000000 to enable Metal 3 support
• igfxfw=02000000 and rps-control=01000000 to improve performance.

dGPU as main card

 

I have an AMD RX 6600 XT which is the main card. The iGPU is enabled in BIOS and works as secondary card helping in video encoding tasks. This works together with the model of SMBIOS iMac19,1.
With this configuration:

• dGPU only requires agdpmod=pikera in boot-args of config.plist, nothing more
• iGPU carries specific code in config.plist, all the properties used when it is single graphics card are not necessary, I use these:

Spoiler

 

dGPU with SMBIOS models that lack iGPU

 

If you want to have Ventura with MacPro7,1 or iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS, Mac models that lack iGPU, in addition to agdpmod=pikera in boot-args you have to add code to load the framebuffer corresponding to the AMD GPU family. This is not necessary in Monterey but it is in Ventura. Without it, a lot of users get black screen when they get to the Desktop.

For example, in the AMD 6600 series you have to add this code:

            <key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)</key>
            <dict>
                <key>@0,name</key>
                <string>ATY,Henbury</string>
                <key>@1,name</key>
                <string>ATY,Henbury</string>
                <key>@2,name</key>
                <string>ATY,Henbury</string>
                <key>@3,name</key>
                <string>ATY,Henbury</string>
            </dict>

In this way macOS 13 boots and runs well but the scores in GeekBench 5 and other benchmarks are lower.

Note: be sure of the PCI path to your dGPU, it can be different than mine.

 

The framebuffers to be loaded are different for each GPU family:

• 5500 ATY,Python
• 5700 ATY,Adder
• 6600 ATY,Henbury
• 6800 ATY,Belknap
• 6900 ATY,Carswell.

EFI folder

 

Don't forget to rename EFI-13 to EFI.
Pick the right config.plist file for your system and rename it to config.plist:

• config-13-imac-amd.plist: iMac19,1 with AMD dGPU + iGPU enabled
• config-13-imac-intel.plist: iMac19,1 with only iGPU
• config-13-imacpro.plist: iMacPro1,1 with only AMD dGPU and iGPU disabled
• config-13-macpro.plist: MacPro7,1 with only AMD dGPU and iGPU disabled.

Note 1: all config.plist files go without serial numbers, add them.
Note 2: if your AMD is Polaris, remove agdpmod=pikera from boot-args and don't use framebuffer injection.

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks to OpenCore and Clover developers and all who have posted in the Venture beta forum, without them this post this would not be possible.

 

EFI-13.zip

Edited July 19, 2022 by miliuco

[miliuco]

EFI updated

 

Folder EFI with OpenCore 0.8.4 (build 2022-08-24) valid for Monterey and Ventura

 

Although it is a beta version, it works very well without errors (at least in my case). Including recent versions of the kexts.

It works fine on my hardware (Z390 Aorus Elite + i9 9700 + RX6600) although, with the proper customization in terms of kexts, it can work well with Z390 boards and 9th gen CPUs.

 

There are several configuration files, the ones starting with config-12 are for Monterey and the ones starting with config-13 are for Ventura. Variants are included for 4 possible SMBIOS options:

• iMac 19.1 with AMD dGPU + iGPU headless mode
• iMac19,1 with iGPU as main card without dGPU
• iMacPro1,1 with dGPU + iGPU disabled
• MacPro7,1 with dGPU + iGPU disabled.

List of config.plist files:

• config-12-imac-amd.plist: macOS 12 + iMac19,1 + dGPU AMD + iGPU enabled in BIOS
• config-12-imac-intel.plist: macOS 12 +  iMac19,1 + iGPU enabled in BIOS as main card
• config-12-imacpro.plist: macOS 12 + iMacPro1,1 + dGPU AMD + iGPU disabled in BIOS
• config-12-macpro.plist macOS 12 +  MacPro7,1 + dGPU AMD + iGPU disabled in BIOS
• config-13-imac-amd.plist: macOS 13 +  iMac19,1 + dGPU AMD + iGPU enabled in BIOS
• config-13-imac-intel.plist: macOS 13 +  iMac19,1 + iGPU enabled in BIOS as main card
• config-13-imacpro.plist: macOS 13 + iMacPro1,1 + dGPU AMD + iGPU disabled in BIOS 
• config-13-macpro.plist: macOS 13 + MacPro7,1 + dGPU AMD + iGPU disabled in BIOS

Notes

- rename the selected config file to config.plist
- for RX 580 and other Polaris cards remove agdpmod=pikera from boot-args
- add serial numbers for the SMBIOS model
- thanks to OC-Anonymiser by @dreamwhite (Python script for removing sensitive data from OpenCore's config.plist).

 

EFI.zip