Games don't see video card?

I'm trying to run a few simple games and not having much luck on a MacBook Pro. I've been all through the forums and haven't seen anyone with a similar problem, but I'm hoping there's something simple.

I've enabled DirectX support in Configuration Editor and rebooted.

When I try to start games (Chuzzle, Bejewelled 2, Wobbly Bobbly, other Popcap-type games, and GameTap) the game either doesn't launch, or I get an error saying that no 3d video card is found. However, if I run dxdiag and let it run the Direct3d (it says "with hardware acceleration) tests, they all run fine.

Someone here said that they got Bejewelled 2 to run fine, so I'm hoping there's just something wrong with my config.

I've installed and re-installed Parallels Tools several times (rebooting each time). I also have uninstalled Parallels Tools completely and re-installed just to see.

And I've double-checked that I have DirectX turned on in Parallels about 5 times =)

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Parallels is a virtualizer - it creates a virtual video card and presents it to Windows.

 

Right, fine, but what does that have to do with my problem?

Parallels presents the virtual 3d video card to Windows. Then the games attempt to use it via DirectX or OpenGL. As far as I can tell none of the games seem to "think" that I actually have 3d hardware.

Maybe it's just the particular games I've tried, but they're pretty simple and at least one was reported to work. I guess I'll try some more

Interestingly(?) if I turn off 3d Acceleration in Parallels and reboot, then dxdiag no longer reports direct3d support. If I turn DirectX Support back on then Direct3d is back. But still can't run any games.

 

You asked "Games don't see video card?" and no, they don't. They see virtual video. The video presented to Windows is DX 8.1 and OpenGL 1.4. If your game needs more than that it won't work. It may not work even if it doesn't.

 

Oh, give me a break.

Anyone have anything useful to suggest for my problem?

 

When you've been here for more than a day you're going to realize that Parallels is a crappy gamer's machine. Lots of stuff doesn't work as desired or even advertised. Did you look to see what video support your games require? It's pretty bleak, still, in PD3.

 

Your pedantism and pessimism really haven't done much but waste my time (and whoever else is reading this).

I wouldn't consider running things like Bejewelled to be needing a "gamer's machine" =)

Looks like my problem is solved after an XP re-install. The XP installation I was running on was a Boot Camp partition, and I think that has a lot to do with it. Before, when I'd run Dxdiag and the Direct3d tests, it'd run a Direct3d 7, 8, and 9 test (all of which were bizarrely "fast"). After the reinstall (in a Parallels VM only - never has XP detected the "real" X1800 video in my MacBook Pro and DirectX has never touched it), it only runs DirectX 7 and 8 tests, which run much more "normally". Also, all of the games I've tried so far - Wobbly Bobbly, Beetle Bomp, GameTap - all work pretty much perfectly.

Hopefully things will get better too as Parallels releases patches =)

 

And you provided nothing in the way of information anyone could use to help debug your problem. As a minimum you could have offered the minimum video requirements for the games you were having trouble with. I at least told you what Parallels is capable of. If your games require DirectX 9.x or OpenGL greater than 1.4 they're not going to work right. And they may not work right anyway. That's a sad fact of life. Read about it elsewhere in this forum.

You really need to reconsider your propensity for slamming the messenger - I didn't make Parallels what it is. And it is much better than it was, but the ability to do games has been a curse of version 3.0. You don't have to take my word for it.

Moreover - There are bugs in the MBP video drivers that have caused VMWare to drop support for 3D on those systems in their Fusion product.

 

Wait, Fusion dropped support for not only MB (and consequently, Mac mini), but MBP as well? So it only covers Mac Pro? Wow, that sucks.

 

My bad - I'm so used to typing MBP because I have one it just came out that way. It is limited to any Mac with the 950 chipset.

 

You also have a habit of typing "OpenGL greater than 1.4" as unsuppoted. That is true on GMA950 chip sets, but the other Mac GPUs are capable of supporting OGL 2.0 under parallels.

 

I don't disbelieve you but so far yours is the only name associated with OGL 2.0 in these forums that I've seen. I've not been able to verify it. I should probably have just asked you where this information can be found. Does it apply to Apple OEM hardware or do you have an aftermarket vid card?

 

I'm not sure the question / problem here. It is a "Virtualized" environment. You're never going to see the "real" video card under Parallels (or Fusion for that matter). Two OSes cannot access the same spot of a piece of hardware at the same time. The only item you are going to actually "see" is the C2D processor because it actually directly supports Virtualization.

As for DirectX .... of course it only runs directX 7 and 8 tests ... Parallels gives you DirectX 8.1, not 9 or 10.

 

Actually, it runs DX7, 8, and 9 tests: 3D cubes spinning so fast that you can’t tell they’re spinning. I’ll try reinstalling XP like Ripcord did, that seemed to fix it for him. Thanks, Ripcord!

 

I had to flip back to page nine to find the thread I posted my own OGL test results in three days days ago . However, there's also a MacBook Pro user who posted similar results there, so it's not just me.

My hardware is listed in my sig, and includes a factory-fitted Geforce 7300 GT card.

The test suite is linked in an early post in that thread, so as you are on a MBP it would be interesting to see your results as well. You just install the utility, then run it and look at the summary or report tab, and see where 100% support stops.

Here's my summary for reference:

Core features

v1.1 (100 % - 7/7)
v1.2 (100 % - 8/8)
v1.3 (100 % - 9/9)
v1.4 (100 % - 15/15)
v1.5 (100 % - 3/3)
v2.0 (100 % - 10/10)
v2.1 (33 % - 1/3)
OpenGL driver version check (Current: 3.0.4124.0, Latest known: 3.0.4124.0):
Latest version of display drivers found

 

That's interesting stuff Alan. What's weird is Windows XP (I don't know about Vista) only supports OpenGL 1.1.

From what I can gather they don't plan on doing much more because they want to keep everything proprietary.

Why then is the bottleneck for OpenGL performance Parallels?

 

Are you sure? Why then are there lots of video cards out there ... produced way before Vista ... capable of OGL 2.1?

Because most games are not using OGL, they are using DirectX.

Parallels uses WINE DLLs to convert DirectX calls into OGL calls, and (a) that's a software emulation shim and (b) the subset of DirectX that it supports is only some part of DirectX 8.1.

 

Thanks, Alan - that leaves some ambiguity between what the tests say is supported and what Parallels says is supported (what they're prepared to support under warranty claims). This latter condition is my criterion for what is supported. I swear I'd gotten it here that support is limited to OGL 1.4.

 

Yes, I'm sure that Microsoft only supports OpenGL 1.1 directly, they leave any other OpenGL development & support up to the hardware manufacturers. This is by design as stated on their website. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/285912

I wasn't talking about games. Gamers and games can go hang it as far as I'm concerned, I need OpenGL for SolidWorks.

 

I reinstalled XP and ran dxdiag. The DirectDraw tests worked; Direct3D was disabled. I reinstalled Parallels Tools and ran dxdiag again. Same as before: the first two DirectDraw tests don’t work, and Direct3D tests (DX7, 8, and 9) run too fast. Any advice?