Windows XP Empire Earth - dont work

[PlaYeRBoY49]

Hello everyone,

I´m absolutely new at VirtualBox. I just installed the Virtual XP Mode and it works fine

BUT: The only Reason why I decided to use VirtualBox is the Game Empire Earth.
I installed the Game (it automaticly installed the DirectX Version) sucessfully.
After that I installed the Guest Additions so I can use 3D and it´s activated on the Virtualbox Manager.
I´m pretty sure it worked, because now I can share folders between my Host and Guest System. But when I go to the tab ´Devices´in my Virtual System I can install the Guest Additions again. Is that normal? And of course I installed with the safe mode earlier.

When I try to start Empire Earth I get an Error: "Empire Earth.exe has encountered a Problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

What can I do? I really need help and I think I´m not the only one.
Thank you very much


PS: Excuse my english, it´s not the best

[loukingjr]

Not all games will run in a virtual machine but, attach the vbox.log (compressed) here for the guest.

[PlaYeRBoY49]

Not all games will run in a virtual machine but, attach the vbox.log (compressed) here for the guest.

How I can do that?

[loukingjr]

Right click the VM in the VirtualBoxGUI. Select "Show Log". Save "VBox.log" to a file. Compress that file and attach it to a message here. Make sure the VM is fully shut down beforehand.

[PlaYeRBoY49]

Right click the VM in the VirtualBoxGUI. Select "Show Log". Save "VBox.log" to a file. Compress that file and attach it to a message here. Make sure the VM is fully shut down beforehand.

I hope it worked

[loukingjr]

You sent the correct log. There are a number of error messages but I don't know that they affect the game's ability to run. Someone else will have to look at it.

I noticed in the system requirements for the game it wants 168MB of video memory and it's not compatible with most Intel video chipsets.

[PlaYeRBoY49]

You sent the correct log. There are a number of error messages but I don't know that they affect the game's ability to run. Someone else will have to look at it.

I noticed in the system requirements for the game it wants 168MB of video memory and it's not compatible with most Intel video chipsets.

Tahnks a lot. Thats a good point. how can I increase the Video RAM in VM? According to the VirtualBox Manager the maximum is 128MB...

My Main System is Windows 8.1 with Intel HD Graphics. Age of Empire 3 runs without lags for example. I installed an old Driver from I think March 2015 before I tried out VirtualBox because I had bog graphic issues. Now the Graphics are okay but the Game freezes always.... There are many Users who can play Empire Earth with a Intel HD Graphics without problems. So it has to work.

Thats the Background Story

[loukingjr]

I should have left out the Intel Graphics chip comment. For one thing VirtualBox uses it's own video driver. Just to clarify, some games will run in VirtualBox and some won't know matter what you try. Hopefully someone who knows Windows will be able to add something to your question. BTW, I also read from other sources that 128MB of VRAM is plenty.

[mpack]

Personally, I just edited the .vbox file to make the VRAM 256MB - as a test to see if it worked, and it did. The VM needs to be shut down of course. Or you could use the VBoxManage command line tool.

You can try that, but I suspect that it may not help. Only the game authors could pinpoint what causes the crash. Personally I would suspect that it's the DirectX version.

[loukingjr]

I did some more searching and it may turn out that the problem is EE's DRM protection. None of the Wine-based solutions will play it either.

[mpack]

Is the original DVD not being used? If it is, then make sure passthrough mode is enabled in the storage settings for the CD/DVD drive.

[loukingjr]

I only found one person who was successfully running EE and that person was running XP in Bootcamp which of course if the same as running on metal.

[PlaYeRBoY49]

@mpack:

So you tried to play Empire Earth and it worked after you changed it to 256MB?
I dont have the original CD. I buyed it online and got a Download Link for EE.
When I install the game it asks me to install DirectX. And it works. So I dont think thats the problem. But maybe it is...

@all:

Thanks for your help.
What else I can do? Any suggestions?

[mpack]

No, my test was about increasing VRAM. I have no interest in playing video games, whether in a VM or otherwise. I was gamed out years ago. In fact make that decades ago.

[Alan Knott]

Empire Earth i & ii are two of my fantasy games. I have played them a lot...sometimes throughout the whole night during my collage days in 2007-2008. but now i am a professional and have a latest laptop with windows 10 and all new features. unfortunately the version of Empire earth games are not running in my laptop. i can not play them anymore. i would be very pleased if i get an actual solution for the same issue. Thanks for sharing this topic.