VBoxSVGA OpenGL troubles with Final Fantasy 7

[LordFwiffo]

Testing out some stuff before committing to an upgrade to 6.1.0, and found that OpenGL support in the SVGA variant, with a Windows 7 x64 guest, isn't working as expected. Good way to draw out the problems is with Final Fantasy 7 with graphical update mods. With 6.0.14 and VBoxVGA, everything (videos, 3d accel, 2d surfaces, etc) works perfectly fine (just capped at 30fps). With 6.0.14 VBoxSVGA or 6.1.0-RC1, the opening video is upside-down and gray scale. After that, nothing at all gets drawn (the 'New Game / Continue' menu, the save/load menu, world map, etc.)

[socratis]

Testing out some stuff before committing to an upgrade to 6.1.0

6.1.0 isn't out yet, it's still in the Beta/RC state.

With 6.0.14 VBoxSVGA or 6.1.0-RC1

Please don't mix Release reports with Beta/RC reports. There's a special area for Beta/RC, VirtualBox Beta / Release Candidate Feedback. For the moment let's stick to the 6.0.14 one, changing the thread title from "VBoxSVGA OpenGL troubles (6.0.14 and 6.1.0-RC1)" to "VBoxSVGA OpenGL troubles with Final Fantasy 7".

00:00:03.654917 VirtualBox VM 6.0.14 r133895 win.amd64 (Oct 10 2019 19:44:31) release log

Can you try with the latest 6.0.x test builds? They contain several VBoxSVGA fixes. The newer, the better...

[LordFwiffo]

For the moment let's stick to the 6.0.14 one, changing the thread title from "VBoxSVGA OpenGL troubles (6.0.14 and 6.1.0-RC1)" to "VBoxSVGA OpenGL troubles with Final Fantasy 7".

I thought about posting there, but didn't for two reasons... First, this affects both 6.0.x and 6.1.x, and second, that forum seems to attract a lot of "you're just doing it wrong" types of comments.

Can you try with the latest 6.0.x test builds? They contain several VBoxSVGA fixes. The newer, the better...

Sure thing. Logs attached, behavior is changed. Now I don't see the cut-scene videos or 2D type surfaces (world map, cities, buildings, menus, etc.), but I do see some of the 3D objects on those surfaces (Cloud, Highwind, Shin-Ra sub, save points)

[socratis]

I thought about posting there, but didn't for two reasons... First, this affects both 6.0.x and 6.1.x

That's the most important reason to not post in the 6.1.0Beta/RC area, posting there should be reserved for new issues with 6.1.0, not for existing issues with 6.0.x. Had you posted in the Beta/RC area with a problem that wasn't a 6.1.0 regression (like in your case), it would have been moved appropriately.

and second, that forum seems to attract a lot of "you're just doing it wrong" types of comments.

If you're doing it wrong, it should be noted, no?

Logs attached, behavior is changed.

There's no point in attaching the logs when your configuration doesn't seem to have any problems, which it doesn't. BTW, did you update your Host's drivers in the meantime?

The problems with the new VBoxSVGA/VMSVGA virtual GPUs (vGPU) are being worked on "live" as you can see, that's why I suggested the test builds. Expect more improvements as time goes by, even for games, which aren't the best case scenario for a VM. The vGPU used in a VM has really low capabilities in terms of OpenGL support, currently at 2.1...

[LordFwiffo]

If you're doing it wrong, it should be noted, no?

True, but even the folks on OpenBSD's misc@ list will (usually) point towards the relevant man page or example config file

There's no point in attaching the logs when your configuration doesn't seem to have any problems, which it doesn't. BTW, did you update your Host's drivers in the meantime?

The problems with the new VBoxSVGA/VMSVGA virtual GPUs (vGPU) are being worked on "live" as you can see, that's why I suggested the test builds. Expect more improvements as time goes by, even for games, which aren't the best case scenario for a VM. The vGPU used in a VM has really low capabilities in terms of OpenGL support, currently at 2.1...

Host driver update - Yes... Your test build suggestion reminded me that I hadn't taken a look at the underlying drivers in a while, so I did that last night before adding the screen grab.
OGL 2.1 support is actually just fine... the replacement graphics driver only uses 2.0-level features.

[LordFwiffo]

Just curious... what's the typical release cadence like for test builds?

[socratis]

See Test builds updates for more info...