virtualbox.org

A few days ago, I decided to try using VirtualBox for gaming - specifically, to run Tribes: Ascend. I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro with 2.3 GHz, 384 MB of VRAM, and an Intel HD 3000 graphics card. I used Windows XP to create the VM, but when I downloaded it and updated to the latest DirectX version, it simply told me that my graphics card "does not support alpha rendering" and that it can't run. I've updated the graphics drivers and I'm still getting the same message, along with enabling 3D acceleration and allowing guest additions. I was sure that Intel HD 3000 was within the minimum requirements for the game.

Is it possible to run it with my system? And if not,would I be able to if I used Windows 7 for the VM?

Full system specs:

2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 Processor
4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 Memory
Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics chip with 384 MB of VRAM
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 OS

Thanks!

I should warn you up front that VMs usually make poor gaming machines. Highly graphical games often require low latency and lots of hardware support, neither of which they'll get from a VM. That said I'm not a gamer myself, don't know the game in question, and don't know if it falls into that category.

Also, Virtual Machines use virtual graphics cards, so the actual graphics card used by your host is not overly relevant.

All you can do is enable 2D and 3D support then install the Guest Additions (inside the guest), installing in safe mode to ensure that XP doesn't undo any of the system dll changes - you can reboot in normal mode once that's done. Then the game either runs or it doesn't.