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Running under Linux in VirtualBox XP VM, bad fonts and crash

grimlock1234grimlock1234
edited June 2010 in Game Support
My Windows XP partition crashed and Windows XP refuse to reinstall without wiping out my Linux partitions, so I gave VirtualBox a try. I installed a completely clean XP VM (with all the updates) and then installed Sam and Max Season 3, Ep 2.

It installed but first refused to run, until I installed Visual C++ 2008 redistributable. It then ran with bad fonts (see attached image). I chose the start game option anyway but then the VM completely stalls.

Any idea?

Comments

  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited June 2010
    Be aware that running the games virtualized will make them run slower. If you want the best performance, run the games natively.

    I would reinstall windows properly. There are tutorials on how to install Windows XP after Linux. You can skip the "making space" part, because you have the partition of the previous windows. Basically you just have choose a free partition for the windows installation and reinstall GRUB afterwards. It is however always a good idea to backup your personal data first, just in case something breaks anyways.

    If you still want to go with virtualisation forget VirtualBox. It's 3D support is still experimental.
    You should rather try the free VMWare Player instead, which has reasonable 3D acceleration. I tested ToMI on it and it ran quite okay on a Radeon HD 4850 at 1600x1200 Q6.
  • grimlock1234grimlock1234
    edited June 2010
    Interestingly my system is screwed up so bad that I cannot reinstall windows properly using any method that I know of without completely getting rid of Linux (including the tutorials you linked). In fact Windows Setup refuses to acknowledge that I even have a hard drive.
  • grimlock1234grimlock1234
    edited June 2010
    VMWare Player doesn't work either. It won't support my hardware for 3D acceleration.

    Now I am really stuck. My only other machine with XP manages to run Sam and Max Season 3 ep 2 once, but it has refused to run it ever after (crashes). It's the same even after I uninstall and reinstall the game. Any ideas?
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited June 2010
    grimlock1234 wrote: »
    It's the same even after I uninstall and reinstall the game. Any ideas?

    Is the Display color depth set to 32 bit?
    Do you have multiple displays?
  • grimlock1234grimlock1234
    edited June 2010
    I believe it's at 32 bit, but I will double check. Should it be at 32 bit?

    There is only one display.
  • TorTor
    edited June 2010
    grimlock1234 wrote: »
    In fact Windows Setup refuses to acknowledge that I even have a hard drive.
    This issue is very common in modern computers, because XP doesn't recognize modern AHCI SATA controllers. (Vista and 7 do)

    If I guessed correctly, your options are as follows:
    • If you have a floppy disk drive: Put your SATA AHCI drivers on a floppy disk and boot the Windows install CD. Choose to install HD controller drivers from floppy during the setup process.
    • Enter the BIOS setup and set the SATA controller to "IDE mode" or "legacy mode" or something similar. This will make the SATA controller look like an IDE controller and it will work successfully in XP without additional drivers. Performance may be slightly reduced however, and you can't change the setting back to AHCI mode after you've installed Windows.
    • Use a tool like nLite or similar to integrate your AHCI drivers onto the Windows XP install CD. This is the solution I use, but it's perhaps more work than it's worth to many users. Also, nLite is a Windows only app, but I guess you could run it in Wine or on your VM.
  • grimlock1234grimlock1234
    edited June 2010
    I'm getting sick of reinstalling Windows in VirtualBox, VMWare, and even the original machine with absolutely no success (I couldn't even get the SATA controllers to work). I am just going to give up for now.

    For my other machine that has a working XP partition, Sam and Max 302 starts and when the "Launch Game" button slides up from the bottom, it usually hangs somewhere around there. Have tried reinstalling DirectX and the game (and blowing away the corresponding registry entries) but still no luck.
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited June 2010
    grimlock1234 wrote: »
    For my other machine that has a working XP partition, Sam and Max 302 starts and when the "Launch Game" button slides up from the bottom, it usually hangs somewhere around there. Have tried reinstalling DirectX and the game (and blowing away the corresponding registry entries) but still no luck.

    Can you post a dxdiag log of that machine?

    dxdiag
    Windows XP: Go to your start menu and click on run. Type in "dxdiag" and hit enter
    Windows Vista / 7: Press the windows key on your keyboard or click on the start menu. Type in "dxdiag" and hit enter.

    Now click on the button that says "save all information".
    It will prompt you to save a file. Save it where you can find it.

    Then zip the file and attach it to a reply in this Thread.
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited June 2010
    I just did a quick test With Sam & Max 301 in VMWare Player. Windows 7 64 bit Host and Guest, but it should run as well on a Linux host according to my earlier evaluation of virtualization of 3D games over the past years.

    As mentioned earlier: VirtualBox is not good for 3D Games yet. Be aware that Direct3D virtualization is not a core feature of virtualization solutions and was not available at all until a few years ago. VMWare Player is the best free solution for that purpose and even the graphics performance is well enough to call the games playable, depending on your graphics card of course, although you might have to reduce the quality level a bit compared to running the games natively.

    But I think your best overall solution is to make a backup of your Linux system and format the whole hard disk. Then install windows and get the games running, if that works reinstall Linux and restore your personal files.

    Since you had problems with the S-ATA drivers we should address those issues first though. Tor mentioned some solutions. which did you try?
  • grimlock1234grimlock1234
    edited June 2010
    DjNDB wrote: »
    Can you post a dxdiag log of that machine?

    Here it is. This is from my real (not virtual machine) Windows XP partition.
  • grimlock1234grimlock1234
    edited June 2010
    DjNDB wrote: »
    I just did a quick test With Sam & Max 301 in VMWare Player. Windows 7 64 bit Host and Guest, but it should run as well on a Linux host according to my earlier evaluation of virtualization of 3D games over the past years.

    VMWare Player refuses to turn on 3D support for both of my machines. Says that my hardware does not support it (probably the X video driver). My hardware are actually quite old (both of them more than 3 years old)
    so I was a bit surprised by that.
    But I think your best overall solution is to make a backup of your Linux system and format the whole hard disk. Then install windows and get the games running, if that works reinstall Linux and restore your personal files.

    Since you had problems with the S-ATA drivers we should address those issues first though. Tor mentioned some solutions. which did you try?

    The only one I did not try is to change the BIOS setup. My Linux partition is way more important for me compared to the game, so I would rather not touch that.
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited June 2010
    grimlock1234 wrote: »
    Here it is. This is from my real (not virtual machine) Windows XP partition.

    I see. The problem here is that you have a very poor integrated graphics chip which is not suitable for 3D games. Also it's running with antique drivers (2005).
    grimlock1234 wrote: »
    VMWare Player refuses to turn on 3D support for both of my machines. Says that my hardware does not support it (probably the X video driver). My hardware are actually quite old (both of them more than 3 years old)
    so I was a bit surprised by that.

    The only one I did not try is to change the BIOS setup. My Linux partition is way more important for me compared to the game, so I would rather not touch that.

    You are probably right about the X Video Driver. If you have Nvidia or ATI graphics you need to install their Linux drivers in order to get proper 3D support. It's not a hard thing to do if you have a little Linux administration knowledge and it works quite well.

    In order to get Windows XP to recognize your S-ATA Disks the BIOS setting is your best option, if you can't load the drivers from a disk during setup.

    What Mainboard does you Linux system have?
  • grimlock1234grimlock1234
    edited June 2010
    DjNDB wrote: »
    I see. The problem here is that you have a very poor integrated graphics chip which is not suitable for 3D games. Also it's running with antique drivers (2005).

    The strange thing is that I did managed to get the game to run once (and it runs all the previous Sam and Max including 301, Monkey Island, Wallace & Gromit, etc.). But it never runs again after the first time.
    You are probably right about the X Video Driver. If you have Nvidia or ATI graphics you need to install their Linux drivers in order to get proper 3D support. It's not a hard thing to do if you have a little Linux administration knowledge and it works quite well.

    In order to get Windows XP to recognize your S-ATA Disks the BIOS setting is your best option, if you can't load the drivers from a disk during setup.

    What Mainboard does you Linux system have?

    The two machines I have are Dell Latitude D620 and Precision 370.
  • DjNDBDjNDB Moderator
    edited June 2010
    grimlock1234 wrote: »
    The strange thing is that I did managed to get the game to run once (and it runs all the previous Sam and Max including 301, Monkey Island, Wallace & Gromit, etc.). But it never runs again after the first time.



    The two machines I have are Dell Latitude D620 and Precision 370.

    You can always try updating the Graphics drivers on the D620. It looks though like dell is not providing new ones.
    Your best option for that is trying the drivers Intel offers.
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