virtualbox.org

hello,

i'm new to this forum so i appreciate any pointers. i have:

host machine: macbook pro
host o/s: snow leopard 10.6.4
vbox: 3.2.10 (from virtualbox.org)
guest o/s: 32 bit xp
guest video mem: 128 mb
guest main mem: 1024 mb
problem app: freeware mahjong game, directx reliant

i installed vbox guest additions in windows safe mode and tested directx on the xp guest with 'dxdiag'. the directx 8 & 9 3d tests worked.

when i try to run my game, all i see is the playing board window filling the screen, but the window seems 'dead'. the board window controls do not work (minimise, close). any windows i open in the guest at this point are hidden behind the playing board if they overlap that area of the screen. this game has a login window. when i power down the guest i see the board window disappear and the login window briefly appears. this is _not_ in fullscreen mode.

i tried reading through the forum. some people talked about updating video drivers so i tried updating the video driver on the guest to match the host hardware (host is nvidia geforce9400m/9600m), but the installer complained it couldn't detect the right hardware so i don't think i am supposed to do that.

does anyone have any advice? is this just the state of the technology that not all directx9 apps can work in vbox?

many thanks,
tim

It works for some games, but mostly not.

For gaming is Windows native via Dual Boot the best solution.

ok, thanks. for what it's worth, i migrated this vm to vmware 3.1 and the game seems to work so far (at least further than in vbox).

oh, well.


tim

Maybe this game works in vmware. Many others does not.

Its a basic problem from all virtualizers. You cant access vga native, so you dont have full 3d capabilties.