Why would you game in a VM?

[opieum]

Here are some of reasons I would want to play games in a VM. These are my opinions and I have use for this scenario. May not necessarily apply to your situation. If it does great this can be helpful. If you are a hardcore gamer use a physical box. This is more for portability and "it just works" than for massive power.

 

1. Portability. This is ideal in cases where reinstalling a game can be a real drag. I can carry the installation in a VM on a DVD or DL-DVD (which would likley be the case). I can play it on any mac that has a copy of fusion on it (and if it doesnt install it as it is way quicker to install fusion than to install a game)

 

2. Time. Installation and configuration of a game to your preferences on another system takes time.

 

3. Sharing the VM. For those who may have created the 1337 w!nd0wz gaming VM this is a way to brag about your sk!11z.

 

4, Windows games on a Mac!!! c'mon this is cool!! For the nay sayers keep on nay saying. if you can do better then bring it, don't sing it. People will say blah blah performance this and it only supports that. I only have to say...whatever... 3D virtualization is a fairly new technology and is subject to growing pains much like other software that is IN BETA. It isnt perfect but it seems to be better than the alternatives available at this time IMO.

 

So those are some of the thought I have on the subject. Working with Virtualization products all the time for security testing and server and desktop mangement has made me see the potential this has on alot of day to day computer uses. Because I am a gamer I am especially excited here because I also want to be free of windows as a main system.

[asap18]

this will be obsolete when cider makes its appearance.

[opieum]

Cider is based on cedega which is based on winex which is based on wine....Cedega is ok but their support for the games they support is not always great. I used it for the better part of 2 years before I dropped it. It does not support the majority of the games I play. Cider is just a port of Cedega.

 

While in theory it is an awesome concept in practice it seems to not work (based on my experience with the linux version)

Only point number 4 would be obsoleted in your point. Otherwise my other points hold up just fine since Cider is not "emulating" it is an API layer that translates. This is what wine is what winex /cedega is based off of and I am sure cider will be as well.

 

Oh and 5 bucks a month to use the product. In order to stay current with the product you will likley have to pay a monthly fee. On top of maybe say an MMO or 2 this will get expensive. This is transgaming's buisness model. They have alot of slick marketing speak in ther website about cider.

 

They have a very overhyped description about cedega on their website as well. Their "supported" games often times do not always work great. They are slow or have some major bugs.

 

This is not to say VMs will not be that way. But from my own experience (and this is a very individualized thing) I find that more games that I play work in Fusion now than they do in cedega if at all.

 

So respectfully I only think my last point is the one that may be obsoleted at some point. The others will not for a while because of the way Cider is built. Winex/cedega has been around for almost 8 years (maybe more) and this is where they are at not bad but still alot of improvement needs to be made. VMware started development on 3d about 2 years ago. Both are commercial projects. With the added resources coming from VMwares upcoming IPO I think things will be alot faster then as well.

 

And the above points do not only have to apply to gaming. There are many many apps not on the Mac that people may find useful or that will ONLY work on windows. This is where a VM is especially handy.

Edited February 19, 2007 by opieum

[asap18]

Just like Cedega im sure Cider will have a cvs or svn to download from. VMs may prove useful to highend graphics cards, but what about macbook graphics. Cider will be a better decision for lower end users who want to play a couple simple games. Even if you were to pay for cedega 5 bucks a month and be up to date it sure beats paying $200 for xp and vmware or even more for vista and vmware. And if you respond, with pirating xp/vmware it is just as easy for cedega.

 

I think as Wine becomes more mature (which it is), then Cedega/Cider will become a much more viable solution similar to how vmware's 3d acceleration wont be "perfect" at first.

 

Lastly

[opieum]

You make the assumption that the VM is using the video card to render the game. I will test this on an GMA950 and post screenies and put this to rest. The VMware implementation seems to be taxing my CPU more than it is the video card form what I am seeing. I am using a 6500 which is a pretty weak card for the most part. Yet I am still getting pretty good performance that I would not ordinarily get even on a physical box. Check out my GCL you will see what i mean there.

 

You still have not been able to shoot down the other 3 points I have made. And at this time Cider is vaporware as it is not even released. Once it is ported and working then we can talk more about the subject. Until then VMs are IMO the better (easier) way to get more games running on MacOSX. Not all modern games will run but then I havent tested all of them yet. The real popular ones like WoW are already native ports so it makes no sense to test those. Oblivion I think can run as well as CS2 and HL2 since it downscales to DX8. Guild wars already works in a VM (sans shaders)

 

Please post any info in Ciders capabilities for comparison on this. At this time Cider is not even released. No beta as far as I am aware. If there is one tho I would very much like to test it tho.

[asap18]

im sorry if i didnt make this clear, but cider is not cedega for mac. Cider is a whole new game engine, that game developers can easily use to port their games to multiple platforms including cedega in linux. Using cider and ati or nvidias directx porting tool, games can be "compiled" for mac os x. It will be a native solution meaning games will just work and do not need a compatibility layer like wine.

 

Cider is a porting engine to make it easier for game developers to develop their games in windows, mac osx, and linux.

[vin]

You make the assumption that the VM is using the video card to render the game. I will test this on an GMA950 and post screenies and put this to rest. The VMware implementation seems to be taxing my CPU more than it is the video card form what I am seeing. I am using a 6500 which is a pretty weak card for the most part. Yet I am still getting pretty good performance that I would not ordinarily get even on a physical box. Check out my GCL you will see what i mean there.

 

You still have not been able to shoot down the other 3 points I have made. And at this time Cider is vaporware as it is not even released. Once it is ported and working then we can talk more about the subject. Until then VMs are IMO the better (easier) way to get more games running on MacOSX. Not all modern games will run but then I havent tested all of them yet. The real popular ones like WoW are already native ports so it makes no sense to test those. Oblivion I think can run as well as CS2 and HL2 since it downscales to DX8. Guild wars already works in a VM (sans shaders)

 

Please post any info in Ciders capabilities for comparison on this. At this time Cider is not even released. No beta as far as I am aware. If there is one tho I would very much like to test it tho.

Don't talk big la.. Oblivion is "heavy" game compare to HL2. Oblivion running in my pc rig (PD 2.66Ghz, 1GB ram, 6800XT), i just get minimum fps in the medium settings of the game (15fps outside, 30-40fps inside the buildings) And i don't dare think about running via VM unless the graphics settings set superb low-{censored}.