I'm currently transitioning to a new computer, specifically a refurbished Surface Pro X.  The 3.15 GHz processor was a major selling point for me, since I'm hoping that will speed up my rather demanding Poser renders.  However, what I never anticipated was that that very processor would use a completely different architecture, called ARM, rendering several of my go-to applications incompatible.  After some research, I learned that upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11 should help, since the latter comes with a 64-bit Intel emulator, and it did.  I managed to install Photoshop, which I hadn't been able to do before the upgrade.  Poser 12, however, still refuses to install, specifically identifying the processor as the source of the incompatibility.

I should note that I am working with essentially a beta version of Windows 11, so that may have something to do with it.  Eligible devices are supposed to offer a free upgrade, but despite my hardware meeting the minimum requirements (I checked), no such option appeared when I checked for updates as instructed by Microsoft.  I decided to try signing up to be a Windows Insider, and that's how I finally got at least some version of Windows 11.  It's weird.  According to what I've read online, Windows 11 has been available in some form or other for at least a year, with the incremental rollout of free upgrades supposed to be finished by mid-2022.  It's nearly 2023, and an evaluation copy is the best I've been able to get so far.

Anyway, I thought it might be worth reaching out, first, to anyone who might know a clever work-around for this problem, as Poser is a major part of my typical computer activities, and second, to Bondware developers in hopes that they might make an ARM-compatible version of Poser.  From what I've read, Microsoft has made the tools freely available to third-party developers to re-compile their software for ARM processors, so maybe it could at least be a consideration for the upcoming Poser 13.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

You might need to contact tech support for this. I doubt that anybody in the forums would be able to give you such a specific solution.

It's extremely unlikely Poser will be made compatible with ARM processors any time soon, if ever,

Arm processors are RISC. A completely different architecture from the CISC that the majority of computers. ARM processors are more in the realm of smart phones and smart devices. Comparing RISC and CISC by clock speed is probably actually deceptive advertising. An important component of CPU speed is it's IPC (Instructions per cycle) that's basically how much the CPU actually accomplishes with one of those millions of clock cycles. And ARM processor simply doesn't have the horsepower necessary for the heavy workloads of things like rendering and video encoding.

That's rather unfortunate to hear, given Apple is committed to their own silicon replacement for Intel, which is based on ARM.
I'm using Win11Pro under Parallels 18 VM on an M1 MacBook Pro. Poser 11 and 12 for windows have run just fine in that.
I'm aware that installers for some software intended for windows computers will fail to proceed if they detect a CPU that is not x86/x64, as the ARM CPUs will be.
Later macOS systems have Rosetta2 which can emulate intel CPUs, though if software has a specific CPU type test, that's a moot point.

I am hoping that the assertion that Poser will not be built for ARM is a windows specific consideration, not ARM in general, else there will never be an Apple Silicon native version of Poser 13 and later.

Well, I've just been and checked. Though it feels like I'm hijacking this thread, I can confirm that both Poser 11.3 and Poser 12 releases for macOS were Intel binaries, requiring Rosetta2 emulation on Apple Silicon systems. Apple have indicated that at some point, Rosetta2 will go ex-support (probably a couple of years after they stop selling Intel CPU based hardware) and stop being bundled with new systems.

"Winter is coming!", BRRRrrrr.

nerd posted at 8:53 PM Mon, 21 November 2022 - #4449820

 And ARM processor simply doesn't have the horsepower necessary for the heavy workloads of things like rendering and video encoding.

Quote from https://robots.net/tech-reviews/apple-m1-chip-vs-intel-the-two-powerful-processors-compared/ :

Techradar conducted a test for this using Blender on the M1 Mac Mini and the HP Spectre x360 (Intel i7-1165G7). The results showed that the Mac Mini could finish rendering a classroom within 925 seconds. On the other hand, the same task took the Intel-based HP Spectre 1690 seconds — much slower than the M1.

Thanks for the info, guys!  Poser 12 runs on ARM-based Mac systems via Rosetta, so I'm looking into the possibility of downloading a Mac virtualization program, installing Rosetta on it, and trying to run the Poser installer in that.  Any prognosis on my chances of success?

Another alternative I'm looking at is just buying an Intel CPU like this and paying a local repair service to swap it into my tablet.  I'm not sure if it'll fit, though.

an0malaus posted at 2:48 AM Tue, 22 November 2022 - #4449827

I'm aware that installers for some software intended for windows computers will fail to proceed if they detect a CPU that is not x86/x64, as the ARM CPUs will be.

I'm suspicious that the Poser installer has such a detection mechanism.  I don't know why, but I have a feeling that it would actually work fine if I could just get past that trigger and thus let the built-in x64 emulator do its job.

an0malaus posted at 3:14 AM Tue, 22 November 2022 - #4449829

Well, I've just been and checked. Though it feels like I'm hijacking this thread, I can confirm that both Poser 11.3 and Poser 12 releases for macOS were Intel binaries, requiring Rosetta2 emulation on Apple Silicon systems. Apple have indicated that at some point, Rosetta2 will go ex-support (probably a couple of years after they stop selling Intel CPU based hardware) and stop being bundled with new systems.

"Winter is coming!", BRRRrrrr.

Rosetta was the reason that 10.6.8 hung on for so many of us for so long.  I didn't upgrade from 10.6.8 until 10.10 came out.

This is precisely why I dumped Apple - I have been through multiple architecture changes, and the Apple ecosystem simply isn't worth it anymor.  You really don't realize how far behind you are until you stick your toe in the water.  Once you do, it is real, real easy to let go.