Can surface pro x sq2 run Minecraft Java and install recent versions of OpenGL ?

Hi Smash X,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Community and posting your inquiry.   

The Minecraft Java Edition still won't run on Surface Pro X, the app's Windows system compatibility is **Windows 7 and up.**At this time, Surface Pro X will not install 64-bit applications that have not been ported to ARM64. 

The Surface Pro X is a Windows 10 ARM based device. 64-bit (x64) apps would need emulation support to run. Without 64-bit emulation, only 64-bit (ARM64), 32-bit (ARM32) or 32-bit (x86) (using x86 emulation) apps/drivers will run on the device.

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Interesting development. I've switched my Pro X to the insider's dev channel, and now can load the  OpenCL and OpenGL compatibility pack insider's version of the app which works with any app (not just Photoshop). Now Minecraft will actually load! It's pretty slow to load, and doesn't run well, and uses like 80% of the CPU. I suspect this is partially because Java is running emulated.

It still crashes with the native Java 16 pre-release version. I'm hoping when that reaches final release maybe it'll run decently. It could also be that the OpenGL compatibility pack is still limited to v3.3, but I'm not sure how Minecraft is able to load, as I thought that required v4.x

I tried loading the Optifine 1.17 pre-release but that crashed.

So not a final solution, but it's a bit of progress.

Ok also Minecraft Java needs a OpenGL driver to run but does this means that the sq2 processor does not include OpenGL?

I'll be honest, I'm not sure if the OpenGL restriction is just for emulated apps, or if Qualcomm doesn't include OpenGL support in their drivers at all (leaving just the version 1.1 that Windows includes by default). If it's the latter, shame on them as the GPU is compliant with OpenGL 4.x from what I've been able to gather.

That said, the OpenCL and OpenGL compatibility pack (available in the store) is supposed to solve this issue either way, but it's currently limited to earlier versions (OpenCL 1.2 and OpenGL 3.3). I believe it is still also currently limited to just photoshop unless you're running an insider build. However I hope/expect as the project develops it will eventually support OpenGL 4.4+ requirement Minecraft needs. The fact that you listed OpenGL 3.3 support makes me think you've already found this and possibly are running an insiders build.

The other issue is native Java. However that is also being worked on (which is awesome!), see blog posts at Oracle and Microsoft. You can download early access release of JDK 16 from github. I've actually tried to load Minecraft using this (by modifying the launcher settings to use it instead of the bundled x86 Java binary), but it still crashes. I suspect it's because of OpenGL but I don't know for sure. Minecraft might not work on OpenJDK 16 yet.

I don't think x64 (AMD64) emulation is required to run Minecraft, as I can currently install it and the launcher will at least load. It's really the other two issues.

The other thought I've had is to use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux if you're not familiar with it) to run it when the GUI integration is released to stable builds of Windows (or maybe I'll give into temptation and switch to an insider build). I'm pretty sure the demos I've see of this were running GPU accelerated linux apps. There are guides to get Minecraft to run on the Raspberry Pi that I suspect would work for a WSL distro on the Surface Pro X (since it's still ARM64).

The TL;DR version is not yet, but I suspect it may be possible in the near future.

A version of OpenGL greater than 1.1 won't run on SQ1 or SQ2 Surface Pro X processors. This is due to the processor and graphics used by the device which is the Microsoft SQ1 Adreno 685 GPU or Microsoft SQ2 Adreno 690 GPU.

Thank you for your response, Smash X.

Games and apps won't work if it uses a version of OpenGL greater than 1.1, or if it rely on "anti-cheat" drivers that haven't been made for Windows 10 ARM-based PCs. Check with your game publisher to see if a game will work.

For reference, we suggest checking the Surface Pro X Compatibility.