Almost native Direct3D in VirtualBox

Most recently, the wonderful open-source virtual machine from InnoTek / Sun / Oracle has been updated (emphasize necessary) - among other chips in VirtualBox 3.0, more or less distinct support for DirectX 8/9 was declared at the level of the virtual graphics adapter driver in the Windows guest machine. For the good, this should have meant that the idiot of the gamer has come true : you can drive into any win-toys without making random bounces with a tambourine and dried chicken paw. In fact, everything naturally turned out to be not so simple, under the cut, a micro-howto is proposed, which allows you to run

UPD DirectX toys in a virtual machine : Thanks for the karma, transferred to the Linux blog for everyone


So, what we need:

- Linux box
- VirtualBox 3.0
- WineD3D
- Windows distribution (experiments were carried out on XP SP2)
- Distribution of your favorite Windows toy (executions were performed on Myst V: End of Ages)

The installation process of VBox should not cause any special difficulties: download, run from under the root (su and sudo to help) binary the installer, for example like this: If nothing abnormal happened and we were happily notified of the successful completion of the installation, then we move on to the next part - that is, launching VirtualBox and installing Windows in the virtual machine. It happens that the installer can not correctly determine the distribution, and therefore begins to panic and refuses to build a nuclear module. However, it is treated quite simply: Next, we make sure that the kernel module is loaded: If not, then:

root@localhost:[~]# wget dlc.sun.com/virtualbox/3.0.0/VirtualBox-3.0.0-49315-Linux_x86.run
root@localhost:[~]# ./VirtualBox-3.0.0-49315-Linux_x86.run





root@localhost:[~]# cd /opt/VirtualBox/src
root@localhost:[/opt/VirtualBox/src]# ls
Makefile vboxdrv vboxnetadp vboxnetflt
root@localhost:[/opt/VirtualBox/src]# make




root@localhost:[/opt/VirtualBox/src]# lsmod |grep vboxdrv
vboxdrv 107720 0
root@localhost:[/opt/VirtualBox/src]#



root@localhost:[/opt/VirtualBox/src]# modprobe vboxdrv

OK, we will consider that we have VBox. Then everything is simple, create a virtual machine, do not forget to go into the "Properties" after creating and check the boxes next to "Enable IO APIC" and "Enable 3D acceleration". We allocate at least 32 megabytes of video memory, after which we connect an image or a physical CD / DVD drive and put our favorite Windows assembly .

After installation, boot and start shamanism. In fact, at this stage we already have support for 3D acceleration, but the problem is that only OpenGL can accelerate the driver. This can be easily verified by running dxdiag.exe. It is logical to assume that if DirectX (9c for example) is missing, you need to install it. That is, at the stage when we start installing Guest OS Addons, DirectX should already be present in the system.

Next, we actually install Guest Addons - Devices> Install Guest OS Add-ons. We answer the provocative questions of the wizard “Continue the installation anyway.” Reboot.

Now you need to install WineD3D - a set of DLLs from the wine distribution that will replace the native DirectX DLLs. This is necessary in order for DirectX-requests to be broadcast in OpenGL (as it happens when we run toys under the vine). You can download it here - download.savannah.nongnu.org/releases/wined3d/latest/wined3d.exe

The only note is that the freshly downloaded exe'shnik needs to be run in safe mode, for which you will have to reboot again.

Well now you can try to put toys. On integrated smart graphics, Myst V shamelessly slowed down and drew artifacts, but with an increase in the number of virtual video memory up to 128 MB, the situation has noticeably changed for the better. There were no other toys at hand, so unsubscribe about successful and not very attempts to play this or that game in VBox.

Total: of course not a panacea, but already something ... We are waiting for further driver improvements.

PS. Do not judge strictly - this is my first habit