Virtualbox 2.1 OpenGL 3D Accelerated Gaming Demo

[FiR3B4T]

Cool! How do you do that? My XP in VB can't even handle Minecraft because it's not detect any OpenGL.

[hyraxaus]

@FiR3B4T Haven't tried Minecraft, but there's no reason it shouldn't run. Although because it uses Java, and there's currently a bug in the Virtualbox gfx driver that causes Java to go into an endless loop, you may have issues. The fix is to disable OpenGL rendering in Java, so Minecraft may suddenly not work at all after that anyway. Anyway, you don't need Windows to run Minecraft - just run it natively in Linux or Mac.

[miniUMM]

Can i play heavy gear 2 ?

[hyraxaus]

@miniUMM Dunno. Try it and and see.

[implyingimplicit]

well i have 2 graphic card in cf, is there any way to choose secondary gpu for 3d acceleration? vbox alway use primary gpu :( :(

[hyraxaus]

@implyingimplicit CrossFire presents both cards as one big GPU anyway. The idea behind CrossFire is that both gfx cards work together. The only way they can be independent is to disable CrossFire.

[Dylstew2]

I can't get it to work....

[killerrj8]

so what does this exactly do ?

[hyraxaus]

@killerrj8 It makes ice cubes.

[killerrj8]

@hyraxaus can i play good games on Virtual box ur can i somehow change the virtual video card to mine it has 16 MB !!

[hyraxaus]

@killerrj8 Increase the memory to the virtual memory card then. It's in the settings. And don't expect every game to work. Only the OpenGL games will run the best for now until Microsoft document the DirectX API properly (which they never will do).

[theif519]

I can't get any games to work on my WinXP Pro Virtualbox. I'm spoiled by Linux, since it automatically detects the drivers for you, but WinXP requires me to hop all the way across the net to find them all. Also, how do I get OpenGL?

[hyraxaus]

@theif519 Virtualbox presents a virtual PC with virtual devices. Windows needs a device driver to talk to those virtual devices properly, so Virtualbox provides an "Additions Driver" ISO which provides all the necessary drivers you need. It's available under the "Devices" menu and is inserted into the virtual CD drive like any other ISO. The 3D support MUST be installed with Windows in Safe Mode as it modifies some Windows system files to work. See the Virtualbox manual for more info.

[Tobiasz931]

I have crazy idea... I want 2 players to play 1 game on 2 screens, on 1 PC ;]

I have Win7 and I want to run lets say Win XP on virtual box. One monitor will show Win 7 desktop and second will show Win XP (both can be controlled by 2 separate mouses at the same time <- that I already know). On both 7 and XP I want to run the same game and play it together. I think about modern games. Is this possible? I have quite strong PC. i5 750, 4gb ram, GTX260. It would be extremely slow anyway, wouldn't it?

[hyraxaus]

@Tobiasz931 It wouldn't be achievable unless you tried to run both games in a separate VM each, simply because if you ran one game on the host PC and the other in a VM, the game on the host would become the dominant application and overshadow the running VM.

I question why you'd want to try this anyway.

[Tobiasz931]

@hyraxaus I want to play coop game with friend on one PC (like Left 4 Dead) and not to use gamepad, but 2 mouses. What if I set affinity, 2 cores for each game and priorities? Can gfx card work well for 2 games at once? I tried running Crysis and Portal 2 at the same time (Portal 2 was windowed on the second screen, which was my PSP, but thats another story...) and it kinda worked, fps rates weren't very bad (i think) but it wasn't smooth at all. Like if fps rate was very unstable (like 1-60).

[hyraxaus]

@seyhmusinci No you cannot, unless they're USB devices.

[ThePivcuga]

hi can u write explain how u set your VM that support serious sam...I mean on Addition Drivers thanks

[hyraxaus]

@ThePivcuga Just install the Additions Drivers. It's no different to installing the gfx card drivers on a real Windows installation. Your game will work after that, but like I said it works best if you run OpenGL games. Direct X games are far from perfect yet.

[realflow100]

@hyraxaus OMFG!!! YOU PLAY 4X4 EVO 2?!?

[hyraxaus]

@realflow100 Huh?

[realflow100]

@hyraxaus um.. nevermind..

[hyraxaus]

@ThePivcuga 1) Install Virtualbox. 2) INstall Windows XP within VM. 3) Reboot into Safe Mode and install Virtualbox Additions Driver. 4) Reboot into normal and install Serious Sam. 5) Play game.

[295LovetoSlam]

hi is this virtual box could enable the 3d acceleration for windows 95/98 games? cos some of my old games that needs 3d acceleration meant for windows 95/98 wont run normal on xp or vista. i used vmware, but it seems vmware developers dont(or wont) provide 3d acceleration capability on windows 95/98, they only provide it for NT based windows.

[hyraxaus]

@295LovetoSlam Virtualbox shouldn't have any trouble playing any OpenGL enabled game, it's just the DirectX ones that are iffy.

[295LovetoSlam]

@hyraxaus so if i install windows 95/98 on virtual box and i check dxdiag display tab the directx 3d acceleration still will be disabled?

[hyraxaus]

@295LovetoSlam I've never tried using Windows 95/98 in Virtualbox, but I wouldn't hold my breath for 3D to work there - it's primarily aimed at Windows XP and above.

[TheMartinator007]

@hyraxaus my games don't work on this all I get is a Directx error! How do I fix this?

[hyraxaus]

@295LovetoSlam I've never tried doing 3D acceleration under Win95/98 so I can't comment on this, sorry.

[copstryin2takemycrop]

Hey, is there any way to make games run in full screen on Virtual Box?

[hyraxaus]

@copstryin2takemycrop Yes, tell Virtualbox to render the VM window full screen. By default that is done by pressing Right-CTRL+F, or choose it from the Machine menu.

[leinJniel]

sir how to setup videocard on my virtualbox??.. i cant install my videocard on Vbox....how can i install it manually??can u give me some advice?

[hyraxaus]

@leinJniel You don't setup your gfx card at all - that's only on your host. Your guest VM uses a virtual gfx card provided by Virtualbox which passes on gfx calls to your real gfx card. For this to work you must install the Virtualbox Additions Drivers. See the manual for instructions.

[coisinhodasilva]

man

because of u i have installed again serious sam

hehehe

btw i use opensuse 11.3 and cant install the ati mobility radeon hd 3200successfully

can u make a video about it? (or send me a pm on how to do it)

[hyraxaus]

@coisinhodasilva I don't use ATi hardware personally, I use NVidia as it is better supported. There's plenty of guides for installing gfx drivers for various distros out there. Exercise your Google-Fu.

[The4LA2Baker0]

@hyraxaus Nvidia sucks. Thats why MAC fired them and went with ATI. Nvidia was putting defective cards in their computers.

[hyraxaus]

@The4LA2Baker0 Well, that's great, but in case you hadn't noticed, this is not a demo on Mac, it's a demo on Linux, and ATi really does blow a fat one on Linux. NVidia is far better supported.

[420bmxer]

thats excellent

[puredude3]

Specs?

[hyraxaus]

@puredude3 Of what?

[CuXeSama]

@hyraxaus I believe he was referring to the specs of your machine (not the virtual but your actual hardware) ... I'd also like to know what hardware took to for the virtual machine to work so smoothly..

[hyraxaus]

@CuXeSama The PC this demo was done on was an Intel quad core Q9450 CPU, 8GB RAM, 3TB software RAID5 array, an NVidia GeForce 9800GT graphics card, and the monitor is a 22" at 1920x1080 (but the game window was deliberately set to 1280x1024 to prove it was running on top of Linux) but this setup is totally overkill. You still get the same performance from a 1GB RAM, Intel dual core E6300 based machine with a similar NVidia graphics card.

[Shockszzbyyous]

@hyraxaus i think you comp

[fumarpuedematar666]

Awesome now we can have fun games under linux

[orionpk]

so nice

[hankmanGTA]

Re run this emulator game Aliens Vs Predator 1 Gold??

On my new pc does not work :-(

[hyraxaus]

If I had the game, I could try it, but I don't, so I can't. Sorry!

You will have far more success with games using OpenGL rendering engines rather than DirectX engines.

[hankmanGTA]

Directx not supported I got tested drectx 3D interface is not available!

But emulator VMware Workstation 7 has support for DirectX 3D but the game AvP 1 I also can not start :-(

[hyraxaus]

@hankmanGTA VMWare currently only does software DirectX acceleration, not hardware DirectX acceleration.

In the case of Virtualbox, there are still elements of a modern 3D card that are not emulated for DirectX (yet) such as shaders, etc. This is why you will have more success with OpenGL games because there is bugger-all translation that has to be done.

[thegoodhood]

Please , help me ! I would like to know if i could play League of Legends on VirtualBox ... Linux ROCKS!

League of Legends needs directx and adobe air to play

[hyraxaus]

Again, I don't have that game, so I can't provide you any direct feedback. If you have it, then install Virtualbox and give it a try. Worst thing that will happen is that the game simply doesn't start.

[Uber7Dude]

I get an error that it requires shaders 2.0

[Santiagosony]

WTH? 360p and 1080p? where are the 480p and 720p options?

[hyraxaus]

@Santiagosony Don't look at me! I uploaded it as 1080p two years ago. YouTube converted it to 360p with the 1080p version never making a public appearance until just last month!

[Santiagosony]

I know its not your fault! Its another YT bug.

Bye. :)

[o0omasho0o]

well about my problem i install the onimasha3 but i cant run it,. always saying failed to creating direct 3d :( hope you can help me

[stealth123215]

Your machine handled that surprisingly well, however not everybody has computer spec's like yours so some of us are still restricted to what we can get to work in wine :( Nice vid though.

[hyraxaus]

Oh, nonsense. All your PC needs to have is hardware virtualisation support (VT-x) and it will run as smooth as my machine. My CPU is not taxed in this gaming exercise which means lower and lesser-cored CPU's aren't going to read much higher utilisation, if at all.

The Intel E6300 CPU is a great budget dual-core CPU that has hardware virtualisation on board, and at the time of this writing can be had for as little as AUD$93. Much cheaper than my quad core at more than double the price.

[utubesuxman]

More complex games don't work as well probably because they need to use your computers GPU and there's not support to do it virtually.

[hyraxaus]

Games that use OpenGL run perfectly fine in Virtualbox. As it turns out, it's games that use DirectX that generally run poorly at this stage because the DirectX calls have to be translated into OpenGL calls.

Nothing to do with the complexity of the game, really. It's the complexity of Microsoft's poorly-documented proprietary DirectX libraries that have to be reverse-engineered.

[HIDDENTECH2]

LOVE quake

[Yrgen2]

Is it possible to run games like counterstrike on virtual pcs?

[hyraxaus]

You can certainly give it a shot as I haven't tried.

It's a bit hit and miss, but in general, I have found that simpler games tend to work well, but more visually complex games don't work (yet), or work but are too slow to play.

For example, under Virtualbox 3.0.8, Command and Conquer Generals works, but the framerate is too slow to be playable (roughly 10fps on my machine).

[Yrgen2]

Ok i gave it a shot, but i didnt have counter strike so i tried with combat arms. I sat a loooong time yesterday with that shit till i got a headache XD.

So with 3d acceleration working and all when i run the game it shows a black screen but then it just shuts down. Also in dxdiag when i run the acc3d test the first test fails. sec and third works. Anyone else experiencing this? And anyone have any suggestion with the game not starting?

[Yrgen2]

Ok so ive figured out that dx7 interface is not supported by virtu so thats not a problem. Still id like to get combat arms working. i know some ppl have made it

[hyraxaus]

Install the Virtualbox Additions driver with Windows in Safe Mode. For some reason it no longer installs the 3D driver properly if you are in a normal Windows session.

[Tiars666tiamat]

More RAM ,like 6+ Gigs, would actually be useful , when you run new games in virtual xp or even vista and 7

[hyraxaus]

I've got 8GB RAM in my system. Not surprisingly the only time it really ever gets used is when I run Windows or Windows VM's... such is the memory hog that it is.

[claw7755]

linux is great ,,,, can't wait to get my new pc to install ubuntu

[JoshyNapalm]

Dude, that's sick. Can't wait til I get a better PC to test this.

[AxiomofDiscord]

Your right sometime in 2009 and I was hopeful but reserved in saying it "will" happen but never imagined so early in the year. I really hope that it will expand to earlier versions of D3D since i run Vista main plan to switch to 7 when its released. Libraries 8 and 9 are fine in Vista its the earlier stuff i want to be able to have this to run. like 5 to 7 before that it would be nice to have some 9x support but I don't see that happening anytime soon well as far as Virtualbox isconcerned

ATF

[hyraxaus]

Even I was fully expecting the "end" of 2009, not the middle of it. I guess we all underestimated the devotion the Sun Microsystems developers have for Virtualbox! :)

[AxiomofDiscord]

Devotion, Talent and Luck at least those factors I greatly underestimated now the software I want to run would ask for some Direct 7 and back but this is a wonderful start. If only Microsoft would make a portable software emulator for like the first 5 or so they are relatively simple and the modern CPU could handle the calls I am sure. But whatever I guess Microsoft is more in it for profit than utility anyways.

ATF

[testdirver]

wow how do you do that i have install windows vista and the only game i can run is in m.a.m.e or a simple instalation of a software like winzip my machine amd opteron cabye @ 3ghz 4gb ram sb x-fi xtreme gamer 9800gt on ubuntu 8.10 64 bits

[hyraxaus]

I haven't checked the latest 3.0 Beta release out completely yet but for Virtualbox 2.1, the 3D support was only for Windows XP. Vista was not supported for OpenGL at that time.

[darkprinceaaron]

looks like it wont be very long before linux wastes xp =)

[brainlicker1]

what are your system spec if you dont mind telling?

[hyraxaus]

I'm using an Intel Q9450 Quad-Core system with 8GB DDR2 RAM and an NVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB PCE-E gfx card, but Virtualbox will do this same test pretty much identically on a low-end E4200 Core 2 Duo system.

[darkprinceaaron]

rofl ya how low end cause the desk top im using is a duel core athlon x2 2.31 ghz with 3 gigs ram an an old nvidea 7200 se

[ivucica]

Hey! Low end? What does that make my laptop - Celeron 1.6GHz with Intel card and 512MB RAM? :-(

(It's an Inspiron 1300.)

[hyraxaus]

Well, OK nitpickers - low-end in terms of current hardware. lol ;))

[hyraxaus]

Virtualbox 3.0 BETA2 is now out. Fixes some bugs from Beta1, but still has a long way to go. OpenGL still runs great but DirectX still needs work.

[hyraxaus]

People, Virtualbox 3.0 BETA1 is now available for download with EXPERIMENTAL Direct3D support!

Get it from download. virtualbox. org/virtualbox/3.0.0_BETA1/

[Zuzuzzzip]

cool, I'll try it out this week :)

[mrguyname]

Thanks for the video man. I downloaded the latest virtual box for OS X and i'm running guest Windows XP. How can i increase the window size of CS? When I'm playing CS..the window becomes very small and hard to play. Thanks in advance if you can help.

[hyraxaus]

Did you install the Virtualbox Additions driver? That's the driver for the virtual gfx card within XP so Windows knows how to provide larger screen resolutions than the default VESA ones.

[ivucica]

Ok... that's a WOW. Can't wait for it to come into Debian.

[UnR34LGAMING]

:D

you didnt mension if the windows vm was 32bit or 64bit. meaning i could have a ubuntu 64bit, and have the option to have 2 vm's 32bit and 64bit. getting more performance from my 64bit games and still have support for my 32bit only games, wooo!

[hyraxaus]

Well, all Windows XP games are 32-bit meaning you're forced to run Windows XP 32-bit (practically nothing works for 64-bit XP). My Ubuntu install is 64-bit - I believe I mentioned that in the video.

Virtualbox can run up to about 1060 or so VM's (32-bit or 64-bit) on one host simultaneously (assuming sufficient system resources are available of course).

[UnR34LGAMING]

i belive i said "you didnt mension if the windows vm was 32bit" or guest OS if you prefer.

i ask because i have a 64bit ubuntu dual boot and i'd like to know if i can use vitualbox to run 32bit windows in 64bit Ubuntu to play my 32bit only Windows games.

[hyraxaus]

The demo was 32-bit Windows on 64-bit Ubuntu, thus the answer is "yes you can".

[UnR34LGAMING]

!!!!!!!!!!

well thats it. theres just no need to dual boot windows/ubuntu. Before eveyone that played games 'needed' windows for games.

But sadly, i bet theres a performance hit from this. i know he said no slow down but try crysis ( yeah i know, when there is dx support).

[hyraxaus]

DirectX (Direct3D) support is due from Sun at the end of Q3 2009 (according to Sun's latest tech brief). In the next month we should get a new version of Virtualbox (about v2.5 I think) that will contain experimental support, and then 2.6 should theoretically contain full support. Given the OpenGL performance, I would expect DirectX performance to be really good.

[hyraxaus]

I should add that the performance of any game will ultimately be subject to the power of the underlying host. Virtualbox cannot make a virtual Windows session run better than it would under a native Windows session. At best, they will be the same. At worst it will be a fraction slower (it already runs most things at about 95% of native installed speed). In day to day use, it's very difficult to tell any speed penalty - you'd only know if you compared two identical hosts side by side, VM vs real.

[melroy89]

Good demo!

Thx Sun for OpenGL in VirtualBox :D

[yourtiy]

i want linux sooo bad on my laptop, but im afraid ill screw it up and lose my pc. ill probly get it once i get a new pc (need one soon, using dv8000, 2 1/2 years old and hasnt been upgraded once -_-

[hyraxaus]

Just install Ubuntu - you can't go wrong unless there's something really exotic on your machine. If your lappy is Centrino-certified, then all the main kit in your machine is Intel-made and Intel have excellent support for Linux. If you're nervous, then install Virtualbox, even the Windows version, and play with Linux that way until you're comfortable with it.

[insanity54]

Does this require a high end PC? What are your PC's specs?

[hyraxaus]

The PC I did this demo with has an Intel Q9450 Quad-Core processor with 8GB RAM, but this was hardly a taxing exercise. A low end E4200 Core2Duo will achieve the same results. Heck, you can even virtualise on a crappy Celeron processor (but the overall performance is not quite as slick thanks in part to the severe lack of cache on those processors and the fact that the Celeron does not have on-board hardware virtualisation capabilities).

[insanity54]

Very, very cool! Sounds like a nice machine. My computer could no doubt run this then, since I have a E8500 Core 2 Duo. However, I'm curious to see how this would perform once DirectX support is released. Running two operating systems at once, with a (newer) system intensive game running on top seems like it could have troubles. I'd love to use Vrtualbox like this so I don't have to boot into XP to play my favorite games.

[DaweyYT]

You can always try WINE, Crossover Games or Cedega.

[FoleyPL]

That's not serious sam 2 though :c

[hyraxaus]

And what makes you say that?

[FoleyPL]

It's Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, more like a continue of where the first encounter left, there is a game titled "Serious Sam 2" which has pretty much different story, The Second Encounter is not 2, it's just a continue, kind of an expansion.

[hyraxaus]

OK... I don't think this would affect how the game would run in a virtual session... but if it makes you happy, I'll update the blurb.

[FoleyPL]

Thank you, I am being a big fan of Seriousness

[kmikze]

can you run applications, let's say 3ds Max for example? or Adobe Photoshop?

[hyraxaus]

Photoshop isn't a 3D app, and you can already run that quite nicely under Wine.

3DS Max, however, will run fine if it uses OpenGL to render things. If it uses DirectX, then no-go for the moment.

[flayer669]

were can i get the 3d thing

[cyborgtroy]

What 3d thing?

Be moar specific, man.

[jakaos412]

Still I wonder, why me angry when gaming mouse?

The mouse is not used at all in games.

[jakaos412]

And you get a control where?

[hyraxaus]

The Virtualbox Additions driver CD comes with Virtualbox - it's an ISO file that you mount as the guest VM's CD-ROM drive. Start your Windows VM and then from the Virtualbox "Devices" menu in the VM window, choose "Install Guest Additions..." - the ISO will get mounted and the autorun app will start the driver installer program for you. Once installed, reboot and you can now start using 3D OpenGL games.

[jakaos412]

Thanks .-)

[jakaos412]

Help me...

Need advice!

While in the program switch on support for 3D, so the PC is in a virtual 3D support broken do not know what it is?

[hyraxaus]

You also need to install the Virtualbox Additions drivers into Windows XP itself (it's not enough to just turn on that "3D Acceleration" checkbox option) so that Windows knows how to utilise the virtual 3D card. It's like installing a new gfx card in a real Windows PC - Windows can't use the 3D side of it until you install the drivers for it.

[AxiomofDiscord]

Was it stated by the dev. that they would have direct x support this year? I have heard from a few sources this but no official word can I find. Where are people hearing about these dates.

ATF

[hyraxaus]

There is no official date. Based on development speed and how committed Sun appears to be, everyone pretty much expects it to officially happen before the end of 2009, however given the speed at which the Direct3D patches have been added by the community, we could well see an official release in the next 2-3 months (since Sun release a new version on average each month). No guarantee of course, but it just seems likely.

[AxiomofDiscord]

Is there plans for Direct 3D

Thats awesome... I use This program for win16 games and win16 installers of otherwise 32 bit games thanks to my new computer's vista hating everything from the later mid 90's back more or less. Some good games I won't give up without a fight and my old pII just is beyond dead.

ATF

[yakumoklesk]

Oh My! Is there any place for downloading this technology preview?

[yakumoklesk]

What! Already downloadable since 2008 December 17 and I didn't noticed!

[horus439]

Nice.. Thanks for the upload

[SBSky]

i try to use windows in windiws :D But i cant enable the 3D in virtual xp and i can't use 3D programs. :(

[hyraxaus]

Are you using Virtualbox 2.1.0? That's the version with 3D support, enabled in the "General" settings tab.

Also don't forget that you can only use OpenGL 3D apps - not DirectX (yet).

[SBSky]

oooh:( the game needs directx 9, so it wont run

ty :)

[Linkystein]

Really Nice, waiting for the DirectX support, I've enough of the dualboot, I took off my windows Install so it's been long time since I didn't play any game, have got some problems with Wine as it can't run the games I'm willing to play :/