Flickering when using virtual machines.

[MihaiS]

Ok. So I started this thread on the VMware Workstation community forum: How to prevent flicker when playing a game ? (http://communities.vmware.com/thread/195527?tstart=0)
then I was redirected to CyberShadow's post regarding this issue: Worms Armageddon and flickering (http://communities.vmware.com/message/1131442)

Do you know if there's a similar issue with the Microsoft Virtual PC?

[antd]

I'm having the exact same problem and tried multiple 'fixes' that didn't work.

I'd like to know how to solve this problem

[CyberShadow]

Virtual PC works fine, although it's slow. I'd recommend VirtualBox.

[MihaiS]

Thank you!


I installed VirtualBox and set up Worms Armageddon. VirtualBox is smooth, no doubt about that, but there's a problem with W:A. When I run Worms, the only thing I can see is a black screen with a white rectangle. The same thing happened to me on VMware Workstation v6. The problem was solved when I upgraded to VMware Workstation v6.5 (but the screen was flickering).

Is there a fix for this? I'm running the latest VirtualBox build (v2.1.4).
The host/guest OS is Windows XP SP3.

[CyberShadow]

Try uninstalling Guest Additions, or disabling automatic desktop resizing.

[MihaiS]

I tried both, but to no avail. Do you have more ideas? Should I provide more information?

(Guest Additions were installed when this screen shot was made, but Worms acts the same without Guest Additions installed)
http://www.flash-bug.com/zMisc/VirtualBoxWA.png

[CyberShadow]

Is that the latest Beta?

[MihaiS]

I've got VirtualBox 2.1.4 for Windows hosts (http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/2.1.4/VirtualBox-2.1.4-42893-Win_x86.msi)

[franpa]

is 2.1.4 the latest "beta"?

[CyberShadow]

I meant the latest W:A Beta, 3.6.29.0.

[MihaiS]

Yes, W:A Beta, 3.6.29.0

Just noticed that another dude has the same problem: http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38009


I thought I should run a replay file on VirtualBox and I was impressed. VirtualBox really does a good job running W:A. So, the only problem is the user interface. I could use a snooper to host a game, but I'd still need the user interface for being able to manage players, load maps and select schemes.

I think that the solution to this would be finding out the display mode/rendering/output differences between VMware Workstation v6 and v6.5 as v6 is having the same problems. The problem was fixed in v6.5 (but it's flickering).

No flickering!
http://www.flash-bug.com/zMisc/VirtualBoxWA2.png

[MihaiS]

Another thing I know for sure: if I remote view the desktop of a computer using Radmin and run W:A (on the remotely accessed computer) while still viewing the desktop, W:A is showing the same problems (it displays the user interface using two colors, black backround/white rectangles). This is happening because the screen is hooked, and as soon as I close the remote desktop view and run W:A, everything is ok.

Having this in mind, could you tell me if VirtualBox does the same by default? Does it have a driver/application installed/activated that continuously 'hooks' the screen? (Whatever the problem is, VMware v6.5 solved it)

[CyberShadow]

I'm pretty sure W:A worked in VMware 6.0, but it may have needed VMware Tools. I'm not sure what's causing your problem, but W:A worked for me in VirtualBox (might have been an older version).

[MihaiS]

Is there any chance of you trying to run W:A using the latest version of VirtualBox and see if it works? I tried on a laptop and two computers, with different virtual machine settings and I still get the same problem (I used the same virtual hard disk for testing). I'd greatly appreciate any kind of information regarding configuration/settings if it works for you. I'll go look for some older versions of VirtualBox and try running W:A on them. Thank you!


Earlier versions of VirtualBox (1.6.0-1.6.6) have problems running. And it seems that 2.0.0 has the same issue as the latest version... : (

[CyberShadow]

Works fine here:
http://dump.thecybershadow.net/291ac15fb3b88ae7c8e7749ede7bdae3/00000275.png
Maybe SP3 is to blame? I'm using SP2.

[MihaiS]

Thank you very much for taking the time to test! It is true that I only used Windows XP SP3 for the guest's OS. I will try to downgrade to SP2 or reinstall the operating system using Windows XP SP2 and see if it works for me.


*sigh* I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I installed Windows XP SP2 on my VirtualBox (2.1.4), but I still have the problem. I first tried without guest additions installed, then I installed guest additions, then I uninstalled them- in no circumstances does it work for me.

CyberShadow, I have a last request then I'll drop this thread. Could you please tell me if you made some special settings to your VirtualBox/Virtual Machine? I mean, what configuration did you set or did you leave the virtual machine to its default settings?

[franpa]

did you install the latest direct x runtime distribution? any of the frontend tweaks in the tweaks folder etc.?

[MihaiS]

The displayed DirectX version is 9.0c, and I didn't touch any of the registry keys residing in the Tweaks folder, nor did I altered the W:A registry entries via the Registry Editor. Should I change something?


did you install the latest direct x runtime distribution? any of the frontend tweaks in the tweaks folder etc.?

Holy ****, Franpa! I added the SlowFrontedWorkaround_Off .reg file to the registry and the problem was solved! Thank you CyberShadow! Thank you Franpa!

[franpa]

yea it says 9.0c but all versions of 9.0c say that :/ microsoft have had ****ed up version numbering ever since they moved to 9.0c...

before 9.0c they would increment the version number, with 9.0c the only way to know what 9.0c you have is from file time stamps...