Flickering mouse cursor in Windows 9X DirectX Games

[Sonny86]

Hello everybody,

I have multiple virtual machines with different Windows 9X versions installed in VirtualBox: Windows 95, Windows 98 FE, Windows ME.

I use the VBEMP graphics driver so that i have more than 16 colors and 640x480 resolution.

In Windows itself i have no display problems, but whenever i start a DirectX based game, the mouse cursor massively flickers (most of the time it is not visible) and the game is unplayable. I can confirm this for at least my Windows 98 FE and Windows ME guests.

I installed DirectX 9.0c in my Windows 98 FE guest, the latest DirectX Version for Win98, but it didn't help. I tried differently named graphic drivers which come with the VBEMP driver, but it also didn't help.

Any ideas?

[socratis]

Windows 98 FE

Do you perhaps mean Win 98 SE? Windows 98 Second Edition?

whenever i start a DirectX based game

Name of the game? Settings, like frame rate?

[Sonny86]

I mean Windows 98 FE, Windows 98 First Edition.

One game with this problem is SimCity 3000, but i have these problems with other games as well.

BTW my VirtualBox version is 5.2.22 r 126460.

[socratis]

I mean Windows 98 FE, Windows 98 First Edition.

Ah, OK, I see. It's that I simply haven't heard the term FE used, only the SE one. The former is simply "Windows 98".

Do you have access to a Win98 SE? Could you try it? Also, did you try to change the settings from within the game?

BTW, keep in mind that programs like these tend to push the physical hardware to their limit, hence the strict requirements for the graphics card (GPU) specifications. Virtual machines will never be as powerful as the host, especially on the video side. They use after all a virtual graphics card, not your host's real graphics card. The virtual GPU itself is from around 1995-2000 in terms of capabilities. Applications that have high requirements on the GPU (drawing, 3D, games, video) are expected to not work as good as on the real hardware, if they work at all.

[Sonny86]

I installed Windows 98 SE about an hour ago and the problem is also there. Like I said, the problem also occurs with Windows ME, which came after Windows 98 SE.

I don't believe the problem is the OS, very probably it is the graphics driver. Does anyone know any alternative to the VBEMP driver in order to get 16.7 million colors in Windows 9x?

I can't really change the settings in the game, because the mouse cursor isn't visible for nearly 100% of the time...

I know the performance problem with the virtual graphics card, but because SimCity 3000 came out in 1999, i suppose the virtual graphics card should be able to handle it.

[socratis]

Does anyone know any alternative to the VBEMP driver in order to get 16.7 million colors in Windows 9x?

Take a look at the two articles, Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes and Windows 98SE step by step.

[Sonny86]

OK I installed the "SciTech Display Doctor" driver, but the problem still persists...So probably it doesn't have to do with the graphics driver then...Perhaps VirtualBox is just not suitable to run DirectX games, even not for old ones...

[mpack]

Perhaps VirtualBox is just not suitable to run DirectX games, even not for old ones...

Any DirectX support in a Win9x guest is purely coincidental and nothing to do with VirtualBox. There are no GAs for Win98, therefore no graphics acceleration. Win98 VMs have basic VESA graphics only.