ARMing x86 Games: Accelerating Binary Translation Using Software-Only Validated Flag Speculation

As ARM architecture becomes more prevalent in personal computers, users transitioning from x86-based Windows platforms face compatibility issues, particularly with x86 applications like games. Existing solutions, such as QEMU, Box64, and Apple's Rosetta 2, either incur high latency, face performance bottlenecks, or are limited to specific ecosystems. A key challenge remains the efficient translation of x86 status flags, which impacts performance.We propose a novel optimization method that enhances compatibility and performance by leveraging software-only strategies tailored to ARM hardware features. Using data flow analysis, our approach identifies when ARM's hardware flags can replace x86 flags, reducing reliance on software emulation and lowering translation overhead. This results in improved speed and compatibility for x86 applications on ARM, supporting demanding applications like games across x86 and ARM platforms without specialized hardware. Experimental results show significant performance gains, with computational tasks improving by up to 18%, and graphics rendering (FPS) also increasing by up to 18%. In particular, real-world testing on popular Steam titles demonstrates FPS improvements ranging from about 7% to over 12%.