Game stability on VB-XP

[lethal42]

HI,

Are (re-trying) virtualbox (VB) on a windows 10 pc, having just upgraded to it.

I WAS using VMWare on win 7, however this package appears to corrupt the network driver(s) when used on windows 10.

Anyhow once I got over the surprise that i had tried VB 4 years ago!...I find that the game I am trying to use on VB (win xp) being warcraft (1) 'Orcs & Humans', behaves poorly under VB, in that it jumps from corner to corner of the display when either one click of mouse or keyboard is moved or used/clicked.

I have reviewed all config settings, and none seem to address to control this. Is this a VB issue....or know VB issue?

I understand that the game may raise some chuckles (due to its age) but it one I enjoy (and have for years). The versions that came after dont appeal anywhere near as much for simplicity purposes.

Would really appreciate some guidance here.

regards

lethal42

[mpack]

Moved to "Windows Guests" since the host is probably not relevant to your question.

Did you uninstall the VMWare tools?

Did you install the VirtualBox Guest Additions?

What does the game require in terms of graphics capability?

[lethal42]

Thanks for the prompt response, mpack.

VM Ware is not mentioned in the drive I had it in, nor the drive VB is now in (the same), nor in either of the program files directories....so would assume it has gone.

I am a win 10 newbie, notwithstanding vmware tools is also not mentioned anywhere on the system;
Only in add/remove in VMware mentioned (and the add/remove buttons are greyed out....not sure if this is standard in win 10)?

I am unfamiliar with VB Guest additions....is this an add on from the VB site?

Finally the package (disk) does not mention any graphics reqirements, so would assume that the required graphics is low, as it ran on win 3.1 with no additional graphics card!

Happy to clarify anything else I can, and look forward to your further advises.

regards

lethal42

[mpack]

If your XP VM was original a VMWare VM then you probably had the VMWare tools inside the guest. These need to be removed.

See chapter 4 of the VirtualBox User manual for a description of the Guest Additions and how to install them. It is not a separate download, you already have them. You will not get decent graphics performance until these are installed.

[lethal42]

Hi mpack

thanks for the follow up response.

I followed the UM for VB and installed the Guest Additions....quite simple and straight forward...

I then followed the VMware instruction for adding and removing files, and it appears there are two ways to access the old add/remove in win 10!
One is via searching add/remove in settings (and getting one result)...the one i had with the buttons greyed out (mentioned earlier), .....and the second being searching for 'control panel' rather than add/remove, or uninstall for that matter...brings up the old win 7 category list...and add/remove from there brings up 'products and features'.

VMware appeared in there (no sign of vm tools, as the vmware doc said there maybe), and i removed it.

VMware now doesnt appear in either greyed out or not!

Rebooted, and started VB...same result.
Do I need to reinstall, perhaps?

Just to clarify, for example...the same result means a single press of any arrow button, sends the displayed mouse in the game to the like extreme corner of the displayed game.

Appreciate your input to date, and lok forward to further advises

regards

lethal42

[mpack]

The features of your Win10 host are irrelevant to the XP guest. It is inside the XP guest that you need to ensure that any VMWare tools are gone. That is why I said "VMWare tools inside the guest".

[lethal42]

Thanks for the clarification mpack.

I clearly did not comprehend the terminology.

There is no sign of VMWare in the GUEST, as xp was installed using Virtual Box (after what I thought was VM Ware removal).

However, there are a number of .vmdk .vmsd & .vmx files names 'windows xp home edition' in the HOST machine. I believe these are to VM ware files.

I assume I need to remove these....accordingly, could you clarify how the xp installation is labelled in the HOST machine when using Virtual Box?

regards

[mpack]

If the VM was installed from scratch in VirtualBox then yes, you don't need to concern yourself with VMWare as far as that VM is concerned, just install the VirtualBox GAs as already mentioned.

The VMWare files on the host are not important, though things such as bridged networking drivers can sometimes cause problems (when networking). If you don't intend to use VMWare again then you should probably uninstall it from the host.

[lethal42]

Hi mpack, again thanks for the response...however I am starting to get a little confused.

As I mentioned earlier (at the start) vmware WAS causing network driver issue with win 10, hence I opted for virtualbox...as the means to install xp and run the game.

I also mentioned that I have noticed there were two ways to remove programs in win 10 (the host), and I have done both....apart from the file extension mentioned, add/remove (or program features) does not mention VMware. You know state I should uninstall?

I am concerend that these files are labelled windows xp home edition...it would seem likely that they need to be deleted. Hence I asked the question where or how are vb windows xp loaded?

In regard to your first comment...why would anyone install VM from scratch in virtualbox? Do you mean XP in virtualbox?

Virtualbox GA are already installed (you may recall I mentioned it was quite simple & straightforward), however game still 'playing up'.

regards

[mpack]

Sorry, I'm afraid that difficulties uninstalling VMWare software from a Win10 host is somewhat beyond my remit here. If nothing else I don't use either one.

[lethal42]

Hi,

Thanks for your response mpack (I misssed it initially)

So where to now? Do I uninstall the game, win xp & cb and try again?
I have looked at warcrafts forums (no help)....if is warcraft 1 (dos based) I am trying to run, and this seems to be the issue with the queries on the forum (the facft it is dos based).

I dont want to go back to win 7 as the host or vmware, for that matter.

Any suggestions you have would be welcome.

regards

lethal42

[mpack]

Any suggestions you have would be welcome.

Sorry, I seem to have lost track, and reviewing the thread doesn't enlighten me... what is your current VirtualBox problem?

[lethal42]

hi mpack,

I thought you may have done as your last couple of posts did confuse..

The main issue is with the game (as as i said blizzard game forums there are of little use)...
The game (warcraft) is behaving abnormally within windows xp, when using VB (virtualbox)....when it did not not have this problem with Vmware.
VMware however corrupts the network drivers for the (host) windows 10.

Secondly, I seek some clarification as to what files woud contain the windows xp files in VB, and where they would be...ON THE HOST machine? as there are a number of windows files on this (host) machine that appear to have vmware extensions.

Finally, as I last suggested, the option of reinstalling VB, Windows XP and the game is an option

If you could clarify those points it would be appreciated.

regards

lethal42

[loukingjr]

when you are playing the game, try disabling mouse integration.

[mpack]

The game (warcraft) is behaving abnormally within windows xp, when using VB (virtualbox)....when it did not not have this problem with Vmware.

You'll have to be more explicit about what "abnormally" means. Is this still "it" "jumping"?

Secondly, I seek some clarification as to what files woud contain the windows xp files in VB, and where they would be...ON THE HOST machine?

Your VM is a set of files contained by default in the folder C:\VirtualBox VMs\<vm name>. Be sure to keep all files in this folder together, in fact you should never mess with them - you should in particular never use the host OS to delete files from these folders. Always use the GUI to make changes.

If the file is not in this folder or in the C:\<userdoc>\.VirtualBox folder (the latter is used for global config settings) then it isn't VirtualBox data.