Performance on a virtualized Windows?

[ZLRK]

I've been using dual-boot for my Windows and Linux installations for some few years. But now I'm thinking on changing the scheme: install Linux openSUSE 13.1 as single base OS (i.e., host) and Windows 8.1 Pro as virtualized OS by using VirtualBox. Both 64 bit OS.

It wouldn't be the first time I use a virtualized OS, but I only installed other Linux distros as guests for some network tests. It would be the first time I install a recent Windows as guest, but I'd like to use it as replacement of dual-booting.

So I'm strongly wondering, how would Dolphin emulator and/or PC-native games do on a virtualized Windows in comparison with the dual-boot case? Given I installed original drivers, directx runtimes, Visual Studio stack, and left enough RAM for the virtual machine. Would 2 Gb RAM be enough for the virtual machine, or should it be 3 Gb? Also, if you know about it and could advise me about how would other heavy emulators such as PCSX2 perform, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

[AnyOldName3]

Dolphin on a virtualised Windows is likely to be noticeably slower than natively on Linux. It might well not be a huge difference, but there's overheard with virtualisation, especially when DirectX or OpenGL is involved. Also, there won't be any advantage over Dolphin on Linux, as all DirectX/XAudio2/XInput calls will be replaced by their Linux equivalents, so you'd probably experience almost all the OpenGL-specific bugs anyway.

[Shonumi]

Isn't getting HW acceleration a pain in VMs? Last time I checked (2 years+ admittedly) it wasn't exactly easy (or free) at least not on Linux.

I'd honestly stick to dual-booting, or even better, getting something like CrossOver games if you want to game in Linux (using Windows games). That, or consider running Linux in a VM from Windows (though if your main OS is Linux, this can be a pain in some respects).

[ZLRK]

(06-08-2014, 12:06 PM)Shonumi Wrote: Isn't getting HW acceleration a pain in VMs? Last time I checked (2 years+ admittedly) it wasn't exactly easy (or free) at least not on Linux.

I'd honestly stick to dual-booting, or even better, getting something like CrossOver games if you want to game in Linux (using Windows games). That, or consider running Linux in a VM from Windows (though if your main OS is Linux, this can be a pain in some respects).

Your answer made me do a bit more in-depth search, which lead me to this:
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=59243
https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#guestadd-3d
What a shame, but thanks...

If my main OS is Linux, could be a pain in what respects?

[Shonumi]

Well, if your main OS is Linux, booting into Windows only to then launch the VM and boot into the OS you'll be using the most seems like a chore. Sure you could get it all automated, but it's not an elegant solution in my opinion (not like dual-booting is anymore elegant).

If you asked me, the best, seamless option (if Linux is your main) would be to use WINE (or preferably CrossOver Games if all you really need is decent support for games). On the flip side, if Windows is your main, it makes more sense to boot into that first, then load up a VM whenever you feel the need to go Linux.

[AnyOldName3]

On the subject of hardware acceleration, I'm pretty sure VMWare have pretty much got it sorted out for DirectX and OpenGL (although not necessarily the latest version of each), but I don't think anything of theirs runs on linux.

[410172]

I can tell you that Direct3D won't work great in VMWare. My favourite PC game, Populous the Beginning, can use Direct3D for better graphics but this function does not work in any Windows OS newer than XP. So I have been trying running the game using Direct3D in my Windows XP Professional virtual machine, using the latest version of VMWare workstation with VMWare tools and everything. Games that use Direct3D will keep flickering, as did Populous do. Running the game using no Direct3D made it run perfectly. That brings me to the conclusion that Direct3D support in VMWare isn't very good, actually not good at all.

Have not tested Dolphin using either Direct3D or OpenGL; but if someone gets Direct3D to work in VMware please let me know how you did it so I can hopefully play my favourite game with Direct3D graphics.

410172_Chief

[AnyOldName3]

If it doesn't work in any OS newer than XP, then it's likely using an ancient version of D3D. VMWare's support is designed to primarily give the guest OS access to the versions of D3D/OGL that the host OS actually supports. If your software can't map its D3D calls to D3D calls for a newer version by itself, then expecting VMWare to do that and get everything right is a little bit of a stretch. It'll work better when using D3D9 software on a system that supports D3D9 as there's a 1:1 function mapping. If it's trying to run D3D7 software, it has to pretend that functions not in newer versions of D3D can be emulated with ones that are, which isn't necessarily the case (for example, using a function that takes 16-bit floats as an argument and returns 16-bit floats won't always get the same results as converting everything to 32-bit floats, calculating it with a newer function and then converting back again).

[Gir]

Why do you need 2 operating systems?, just use Windows 8.1.

[ZLRK]

(06-08-2014, 02:44 PM)Shonumi Wrote: Well, if your main OS is Linux, booting into Windows only to then launch the VM and boot into the OS you'll be using the most seems like a chore. Sure you could get it all automated, but it's not an elegant solution in my opinion (not like dual-booting is anymore elegant).

If you asked me, the best, seamless option (if Linux is your main) would be to use WINE (or preferably CrossOver Games if all you really need is decent support for games). On the flip side, if Windows is your main, it makes more sense to boot into that first, then load up a VM whenever you feel the need to go Linux.

With all respect, but I think you misunderstood EVERYTHING. I'm certainly more of a Linux user than Windows, but with "main" system I clearly meant *host* system since the very first post. Why would I want to install Windows on a normal partition just to install Vbox on it and start a virtual Linux? What I wanted to do is, having a single partition-installed OS (i.e., the *host* Linux), install Vbox on it, on the virtual machine install Windows, and on this virtual Windows be able to play PC games and Dolphin. That was the original query.

@AnyOldName3:
You seemed to indeed understand me. I understand VMWare is a different virtualization program other than VirtualBox. From your overall posts in this thread, are you saying I'd have better luck with VMWare (if I paid for it) than with VirtualBox regarding hardware acceleration? From the links I posted 5 posts ago it would seem VirtualBox is still not very good for that...