VM /ETC

« Things that make you go hmmmm – Final Thoughts on the ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2 Bug

VMworld 2008 Schedule Builder is Live – My Schedule »

3-D Games and Applications in Virtual Machines

August 17th, 2008 |

Author: Rich Brambley

VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation, VMware Player, Virtual PC, Virtualbox, and Parrallels all have various supported and unsupported abilities to run 3-D games and applications in guest operating systems. I’m sure there are other platforms with this ability too. Not that any of us have the time to “test enhanced graphics applications” on virtual infrastructure, but it would be convenient to have a centralized list of known working games. Although, I have not tested any of the actual games, I do use a Virtualbox XP VM to provide my sons web based gaming at family sites like Playhouse Disney and Nickolodeon. To be honest I was surprised when even these Flash and ActiveX based games worked (I’m guessing that’s what kind of games they are).

Here are some general assumptions (based on what I understand about Sun xVM Virtualbox, VMware Fusion, and VMware Workstation’s current capabilities) about using 3-D in virtual machines.

works with applications that use DirectX 9 accelerated graphics with shaders up through Shader Model 2.0 on Windows XP guests. Hosts can be running Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Linux.
disabling all desktop effects or 3-D enhancements on the host operating systems provides better performance in VMs
If using multiple monitors switch back to using only a single monitor
3-D acceleration in VMs requires latest guest tools
Specific guest properties may have to be altered to enable 3-D (video memory, host paging, etc)

Please comment with any additional information, links, or knowledge about any gaming on virtual host platforms you are familiar with. If you’ve successfully run any game in a VM let VM /ETC readers know. Hopefully we can have an active discussion on this topic!

Here are some known working games from the Virtualbox forum thread at http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=16

Run games and 3D applications at native speed in Windows, including:

* AeroFly Pro Deluxe
* Alien Arena 2007
* Call of Duty
* Counter Strike 1.6
* Descent 3
* Duke Nukem Manhattan Project
* Half Life
* Hitman
* Homeworld 2
* Quake 1 GL
* Quake 2
* Quake 3 Arena
* Quake 4
* Return to Castle Wolfenstein
* Serious Sam
* Serious Sam – the Second Encounter
* SiN
* Unreal Tournament 2003
* Worms 3D

I would assume that if you can get 3-D games and software to run on one virtualization platform then the chances are good it will run on any of the others.

VM /ETC

3-D Games and Applications in Virtual Machines

Related Posts