I just upgraded from Windows 7 (on Bootcamp) and also Windows 8.1 (under Parallels 10). Everything went fine - so far - with the Windows 10 VM upgrade. (Did the install using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool and it went fine including the installation of Parallels Tools.) The question is one reason I run Windows (aside from work stuff) is I like an older Microsoft game - Links 2003 - which no has ever released a Mac (or a newer) version. The game will "run" under the various versions of Windows I have had under Parallels, but because of the video driver, it won't work properly. There are issues with the screen rendering - primarily things like the wind gauge not showing, hole information and the overhead map being almost completely useless. (1) Is there anyway to switch the video driver from "Parallels Video Driver", because when I installed Windows 7 and then 10 under Bootcamp, the game ran fine because those installs of Windows have direct access to the iMac's hardware. (2) If not, any suggestions to make the game and the Parallels video driver play better? Thanks, Steve
Nobody (HELLO Parallels experts and staff) had any ideas or suggestions about my question with regards to the "Parallels Video Driver"?
When running Windows in Bootcamp, it is running natively, i.e. it is a real PC. The virtual machine however is being run as an app and the video hardware is "virtualized", i.e. a piece of software that is a link into the OS X "video management". As such, it can't run at the full speed of a real graphics card. With the upcoming release of OS X El Capitan, graphics in virtual machines may improve dramatically if the developers take advantage of the new Metal graphics engine which Apple has touted as being a drastic improvement in graphics.
Thanks for that EllwoodN, but I realize the difference between running Windows under Bootcamp and under Parallels that you pointed out. But with this particular game, speed is not the issue. The screens are just not rendering correctly - certain items (like the wind gauge) don't appear at all, the overhead map is completely useless for aiming your shots, etc. - and apparently the cause is the Parallels "video driver". Thanks anyway.
