Flight Simulator 2004

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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FSVKenny
Posts: 5
Joined: 5. Jun 2022, 06:05

Flight Simulator 2004

Post by FSVKenny »

Hello, I hope to get a little help.

I was able to get Flight Simulator 2004 installed and running, but as far as Flight Simulator is concerned there's no graphics card.

The edges are all jagat and frames are in the tank.

Is there a fix? Can 3d games be ran on a virtual PC?

This is on Windows 7 Pro VirtualBox.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Flight Simulator 2004

Post by mpack »

Enable 3D acceleration and install the guest additions.

Any further discussion will require a VM log. Make sure the VM is fully shut down, then right click it in the manager UI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.
FSVKenny
Posts: 5
Joined: 5. Jun 2022, 06:05

Re: Flight Simulator 2004

Post by FSVKenny »

Hello and thank for the reply.

I have 3D acceleration and have guest additions.

Here's the log.....
Attachments
Windows 7 Pro-2022-06-04-23-48-23.zip
(38.01 KiB) Downloaded 10 times
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Flight Simulator 2004

Post by mpack »

According to the log, the GAs are installed, 3D acceleration is enabled and supported by the host graphics card.
// 3D acceleration is enabled in the graphic settings. RAM amount is strange but legal.
00:00:06.017831 3DEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:06.017831 CustomVideoModes <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:06.017832 FadeIn <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:06.017832 FadeOut <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:06.017833 HeightReduction <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:06.017834 LogoFile <string> = "" (cb=1)
00:00:06.017834 LogoTime <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:06.017835 MonitorCount <integer> = 0x0000000000000002 (2)
00:00:06.017835 ShowBootMenu <integer> = 0x0000000000000002 (2)
00:00:06.017836 VMSVGA3dEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:06.017836 VMSVGAEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:06.017837 VRamSize <integer> = 0x000000000fb00000 (263 192 576, 251 MB)
...
// GAs are installed.
00:00:15.939168 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 6.1.34 r150636 '6.1.34'
00:00:15.939238 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Interface = 0x00010004 osType = 0x00037100 (Windows 7, 64-bit)
...
// 3D acceleration is supported by the host
00:00:22.383555 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMouse::DriverEntry: DriverEntry:
00:00:22.492092 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::DriverEntry: VBox WDDM Driver for Windows Vista and 7 version 6.1.34r150636 rel, 64 bit; Built Mar 23 2022 00:49:48
00:00:22.492263 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::DriverEntry: OsVersion(6, 1, 7601)
00:00:22.492446 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::DriverEntry: WDDM: VGA configuration version 1
00:00:22.492574 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::DriverEntry: WDDM: VGA configuration: 3D 1, hardware type 1
00:00:22.492666 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::DriverEntry: WDDM: 3D is supported, hardware type 1
So, I'm afraid you'd have to ask the game experts what MSFS2004 expects to see in a PC, graphics wise. 2004 is almost far enough back that it might be looking for something like AGP instead of a generic interface such as OpenGL or Direct3D. If it's looking for AGP then it won't get it from VirtualBox - AGP had a quite narrow period of relevance.
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5668
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: Flight Simulator 2004

Post by fth0 »

For a test, I'd suggest to provide the VM with the minimum requirements of FS2004: 1 vCPU (instead of 3), 8 MB Video Memory and 1 virtual monitor (instead of 2) with a 1024x768 resolution. Additionally, it was written for 32-bit CPUs (Pentium III).
FSVKenny
Posts: 5
Joined: 5. Jun 2022, 06:05

Re: Flight Simulator 2004

Post by FSVKenny »

Tried it and didn't work.

My whole reason for the VM was to run my older Flight Sim, but it seams like VBox does not use my Nvidia drivers or doesn't see them, can't use the Nvidia manager and frames in FS is single digits :(
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Flight Simulator 2004

Post by mpack »

FSVKenny wrote:it seems like VBox does not use my Nvidia drivers...
VirtualBox does not provide a simulation of an nVidia graphics card, hence nVidia drivers are not useful. The hardware of the physical PC is not relevant to the VM, so the fact that the host might have nVidia graphics has no bearing, any more than does it having a Samsung hard disk.

The way VirtualBox graphics acceleration works is that VirtualBox provides drivers as part of the Guest Additions package, and those drivers expose a standard hardware independent software interface to guest apps, such as OpenGL 2.1 and Direct3D 8/9. But if the app isn't written to use either of these portable interfaces then it has no access to accelerated graphics. That's why I said earlier that you need to ask FS2k4 game experts what graphics environment the game requires.

Though even with the best will in the world, VMs are simply not designed for high frame rate gaming. If you want that then you should be using physical hardware, e.g. by dual booting. VMs are a compromise between performance and convenience, and are generally used with apps where top performance is not the principal goal, and being able to run at all (e.g. running 16bit code on 64bit Windows) is.
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