D3D and VBox 3.x

[bobdevis]

I have red all the 3D threads and the situation is quite confusing since info is scattered all over the place and it is not quite clear what applies to what VBox version. I think it is a good idea to start a topic on D3D support for Windows guest ONLY and for VBox 3.x ONLY.

Let's start with the info I gathered;
- It is my understanding that for Vbox 3.x you should NOT install the Wine3D stuff as the VBox guest driver has that stuff included.
- The D3D support is currently only supposed to work for 32bit Windows guests.
- Before you can expect any D3D in the guest you should first establish that OpenGL works. (QtGears is a nice test app)
- Enabling more then one processor core for the guest may mess everything up.

This is basically where the show stops for me at the moment. I made a brand new 1 proc, AMD-V, XPSP3 32bit guest (DX9c included) on my 64bit Linux host with an Nvidia card.
I installed the guest additions WITH the D3D stuff.
OpenGL works perfectly, also in the guest.
D3D does NOT work. Dxdiag does the DirectDraw test but all the D3D stuff is grayed out.

I don not know where to go from here. Any on topic info is welcome.

[bobdevis]

Aha, figured it out. One essential thing was forgotten.

- The VBox guest additions need to be installed while the guest Windows is booted is SAFE MODE.

I have a somewhat working DX9 and DX8. I guess this is as good as it gets for now.

[neuron]

Did you actually get any of it to work? I got dxdiag listing direct 3d as "Enabled", but if I start it (linux host, windows xp guest, 64bit host, 32bit guest) I get "The virtual machine window is optimized to work in 32bit color mode bla bla your in 16bit".

opengl works fine though

[bobdevis]

Yes, it works here. When I test D3D, the following happens;
DX7 test fails and gives some out-of-memory error. This is fine for now as noone is claiming that DX7 is supposed to work, yet.
DX8 and DX9 tests give a spinng cube and are sucessfull.
I actually got some DX9 games working. Slow as hell but working......

It sounds to me that your problem is that you run your guest in 16bit color. Adjust the display properties (rightclick on desktop) to set your display to 32 bit.

[neuron]

The guest is 32bit, and the host, the only times I'm seeing the error is when I run something d3d, opengl works fine as well.

[bobdevis]

Are you sure you are not confusing the the binary instructions (yes, you have 32 bit) and the display color depth (witch you are probably running on 16 bit form what I understand).

[stelf]

I'd just like to let everyone interested know that installing WineD3D in safe mode will result in failing D3D applications. Not sure what the reason may be, most likely enabling the EXPERIMENTAL WineD3D options, but that's not a real clue...

DXDIAG also produces exception when D3D certification at it startup takes place. So that's really not the right way to get it working.

Reinstalling the VBox Guest Additions in Safe Mode will not fix that, though DXDIAG now simply quits, rather than throwing exception. So I guess my virtual machine is now totally non-3D capable.

The GPU Caps viewer (http://www.ozone3d.net/gpu_caps_viewer/) shuts down in a very similar matter, so I guess there is something fundamentally wrong with the 3D acceleration, though VBox's Session Information Dialog claims it was properly enabled.

tested on Intel-based system with Win2kSP2(client) & Ubuntu(host), and Q35 intel integrated video

[neuron]

Are you sure you are not confusing the the binary instructions (yes, you have 32 bit) and the display color depth (witch you are probably running on 16 bit form what I understand).

I have no idea why my reply didn't stick, as I did reply to this..

Anyway, yes I am, and the host is actually 64bit arch, 24bit (technically) colors, which is what windows calls 32bit. I'm not running 16bit anywhere, which is what slightly confuses me.

It could be an issue with desktop effects I suppose, but I haven't looked into it.

[bobdevis]

I'd just like to let everyone interested know that installing WineD3D in safe mode will result in failing D3D applications. Not sure what the reason may be, most likely enabling the EXPERIMENTAL WineD3D options, but that's not a real clue...

For VBox 3.x you should NOT install the Wine3D stuff.
The guest addons (that you should install in safemode) take care of it by themselves.

I'm not sure how you can un-screw your guest now.
Maybe reinstall DirectX and the guest addons after that......

[shai2platonix]

Hi,

This is my first post here. I've used VirtualBox for quite some time, and now I'm having issues with the D3D support.

I'm trying to run the Unity3d editor (from http://www.unity3d.com). I have installed the guest additions in safe mode, and I get directdraw, d3d8 and d3d9 working as far as dxdiag is concerned. The support is even enough to convince Unity to start, except that shortly after starting it crashes, saying:

Code: Select all

Unity Editor [version: Unity 2.5.1f5_24931]

VBoxOGLpackspu.dll caused an Access Violation (0xc0000005)
  in module VBoxOGLpackspu.dll at 001b:092d4049.

Error occurred at 2009-07-22_140954.
C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\Unity.exe, run by Shai.
27% memory in use.
1536 MB physical memory [1110 MB free].
3436 MB paging file [3140 MB free].
2048 MB user address space [1666 MB free].
Read from location 00000020 caused an access violation.

(>60K stack etc. snipped)

Can anybody come up with a solution?
Assuming not, Should I file a bug report?

Thanks,
Shai.

[bobdevis]

Assuming not, Should I file a bug report?

You should gather some more info first, I think.

It seems they have a OSX version, so maybe there is a full OpenGL mode for the Windows version aswell that you could try?
If not, is the D3D mode pure DiretX9 or are they using older DX8 or DX7 stuff?

If I were you I would go find out the answers to these questions on their forums. Maybe someone else in their community is trying VBox aswel.
I took a quick look there myself but couldn't find the answers .

[Mark Brown]

Did you actually get any of it to work? I got dxdiag listing direct 3d as "Enabled", but if I start it (linux host, windows xp guest, 64bit host, 32bit guest) I get "The virtual machine window is optimized to work in 32bit color mode bla bla your in 16bit".

opengl works fine though

I also have this problem. Did you resolve it? I get the warning but the DX test still works (in 16-bit?)

The program I want to run, however, insists on 32-bit display. I have posted for help here: http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20565

[neuron]

Did you actually get any of it to work? I got dxdiag listing direct 3d as "Enabled", but if I start it (linux host, windows xp guest, 64bit host, 32bit guest) I get "The virtual machine window is optimized to work in 32bit color mode bla bla your in 16bit".

opengl works fine though

I also have this problem. Did you resolve it? I get the warning but the DX test still works (in 16-bit?)

Nope, I didn't solve it.

[ibyte]

Hi I would also love to see Unity3D supported by virtualbox. The good news is that as of a few days ago the latest version of the Unity3D package (v 2.6) is now free for everyone.

http://www.unity3d.com