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VirtualBox 2.1.0 - Sports preliminary 3D support
The latest version of VirtualBox (2.1.0) sports a preliminary accelerated 3D graphics layer which enables the virtual machines to have accelerated 3D graphics. Something similar has been available for VMWare and Parallels but this has now become a reality for the best 'freeware' virtual machine out there - in my humble opinion.
The way acceleration is achieved is through OpenGL which is a good industry standard - although using this layer on Vista might cause problems as a lot of Vista users are not able to use OpenGL in programs when the Aero interface is enabled. I am one of those users and I have to switch to the 'classic Windows theme' in order to get OpenGL programs to display something. With Aero I just get an empty 'clear' window where the borders and widgets are all there but the rest of the window is just totally transparent.
All the guest OS needs is to install an OpenGL driver that will run with the virtual hardware device and calls will be tunnelled to the host's GPU.
Anyways I haven't tested out the 3D emulation yet but this could mean a slight step into the direction of running older non-XP/Vista-compatible 3D games on a Vista/XP machine.
More info will follow shortly.
Comments
It's not exactly a "gaming solution" - yet.
take care,
Calibrator
Take a look at this post. It appears that only OpenGL is supported and not D3D. Although open source D3D wrappers do exist for OpenGL I am not sure if this will work on the VM. I have yet to try a OpenGL app on the VM to check out de hardware acceleration.
Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | www.markvergeer.nl
For now only guests running Windows XP or Vista are supported so I am not going to bother with Windows98. I am currently trying out the 3D acceleration with XP installed in the Virtual Machine.
Ok, installed Windows XP Professional added the Virtual machine add-ons and this installs a mouse and a screen-driver among other things. I run dxdiag and see that 3D hardware acceleration is not available. But this is running Vista with Aero interface as the host. Now I am reverting to the Basic theme and see if the Virtual Box application will give me 3D hardware acceleration this way - check - nope.
I checked the user manual (page 66) and it says something about programs on the guest OS using OpenGL calls being passed on to the host GPU. So it may all only be working for OpenGL applications and not DirectX, D3D apps. The user manual is really sparse when it comes to this feature. Ah well, perhaps it is best to wait a little to see how it solidifies.
Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | www.markvergeer.nl
Although the creator of the last video seems to think it is already. We'll just have to wait a little I guess. But with Hardware virtualisation and D3D around the corner it very well could be in the near future.
Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | www.markvergeer.nl