Windows 7 Video Games don't run.

[senatorbard]

Hello,

I have a Windows 7 host and a Windows 7 guest. I use a Windows 7 guest because I don't like cluttering up my main system with software and games. However, I wanted to use the guest to play some games.

I have activated the 3d acceleration in the settings. I gave it 256 MB video memory. Within the guest, I installed the guest addition video thing. I looked at dxdiag: looks great - no issues. I looked at my devices - it says that the virtualbox driver is working fine. Aero works great.

So I've tried the following:
Titan Chess - terrible. It functions, but the colors look weak - almost as if the shades of gray are gone. Looks like a cartoon. Performance is jerky.
Max Payne 1.05 (with the audio fixes) - The Max Payne logo appears and then it disappears. And then nothing else happens.
Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast - appears very small and then I just get gray screens.
UDK editor - freezes on startup and then Windows forces it to close
Blender - works great

Now, I know Max Payne works on a Windows XP guest because I've seen someone else on the internet do it. I've also tried Max Payne on VMWare Player - no problems whatsoever. So I know my computer can handle it and I know a virtual machine can handle it. I've also tried Jedi Outcast on VMWare Player - again, flawless. (I would have just kept going with WMWare Player, but it had some other issues going on).

On Virtualbox, it seems as though the guest has no issues with the drivers at all. But once it tries to do something with it, doesn't work.

I have an hp dv6-6c35dv. It's got that APU technology - the mix between a CPU and a GPU. I'm not super familiar with how that technology works.

Thanks for your help.

[mpack]

VMs do not make good gaming platforms.

[senatorbard]

Well, Max Payne ran flawlessly on VMWare Player. And I've seen other people run Max Payne flawlessly on Windows XP through Virtual Box. The technology has come a long way in the last couple years. And they really can perform.

[senatorbard]

Does anyone know why my virtualbox graphics aren't functioning properly?

[stefan.becker]

It is as it is: Because VMs are not made for gaming.

What do you expect? Many games need native access. And that does not work in a VM.

And if it does not work, then there is nothing else you can do instead of that what you already have done.

[senatorbard]

alright - well, VMs can and have run Max Payne. I've seen it with my own 2 eyes.

[stefan.becker]

Maybe another VGA card? Intel for example is known not to support all 3 features.