Created by Badsah 
This is a list of DirectX 3D applications (probably mostly games) that people have found to work with Fusion 2.0 beta. It is not for OpenGL applications. Results with Fusion 1.x should use DirectX 3D Applications Compatibility List instead. Feel free to add your findings to the document, but keep questions in the comments. You can edit the document by selecting "Edit document" under Actions in the left sidebar.
This list does not guarantee that a particular application will work for you, and does not imply support from VMware.
To enable 3D acceleration, shut down (suspend doesn't count) the virtual machine and go to Virtual Machine > Settings > System Hardware > Display. Check the "Accelerate 3D graphics" option.
As of version 2.0b1, Fusion offers experimental support for up to DirectX 9.0 with shaders. Adding shader support required a fairly major rewrite of the 3D code, so some regressions are currently expected. With your help, we can hopefully track them down and fix them.
If you haven't tried this program in 1.x, leave this field blank.
This list does not guarantee that a particular application will work for you, and does not imply support from VMware.
To enable 3D acceleration, shut down (suspend doesn't count) the virtual machine and go to Virtual Machine > Settings > System Hardware > Display. Check the "Accelerate 3D graphics" option.
As of version 2.0b1, Fusion offers experimental support for up to DirectX 9.0 with shaders. Adding shader support required a fairly major rewrite of the 3D code, so some regressions are currently expected. With your help, we can hopefully track them down and fix them.
Column Explanations
Application, Version
Which application you tested, and what version of the application. If possible, link to a free demo or something (legal!) that other people can try.Guest OS, Version
What Guest OS you are using, and what version of the OS.Mac OS
What version of OS X you are using (e.g. 10.4.11, 10.5.4). Note that 10.5.3 fixed a bunch of graphics bugs, so if you can test on the latest version of Leopard, please do so.Fusion Build
Which version of Fusion you tried this with; for example, 89933 for 2.0b1 or 107508 for 2.0b2. This information can be found under VMware Fusion > About VMware Fusion. Unless you say otherwise in the notes, it is assumed the installed version of VMware Tools matches the build number. Please try to keep your results up to date with the most recent build.Mac, Graphics Card
Type of Mac (e.g. Mac Pro, iMac, etc.) and graphics card (e.g. nVidia GeForce 7300 GT, ATI Radeon X1900 XT, etc.). Readers should keep in mind that Macs with integrated graphics (i.e. mini, MacBook) don't completely support OpenGL 1.4, which is necessary for proper guest 3D acceleration.Change from 1.x
Whether things are Regressed, Improved, Mixed, or the Same from 1.x. Note that this is your overall rating, it's possible for something that's Regressed to have improved in some areas or for something that's Improved to have regressed in some minor areas. Mixed means that overall, you think it's about the same as in 1.x but there are improvements/regressions worth mentioning.If you haven't tried this program in 1.x, leave this field blank.
Reporter
This will make it easier to figure out who to ask if other people have questions about setup. Also, get credited for your workNotes
Anything others need to know, e.g. known issues, tweaks, links to HOWTOs, etc. If applicable, note what has changed since 1.x.Working
Applications that run perfectly or have minor problems that do not greatly affect usage. Similar to a Platinum or Gold rating on WineHQ AppDB list.| Application, Version | Guest OS, Version | Mac OS | Fusion Build | Mac, Graphics Card | Change | Reporter | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Narbacular Drop | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.4.11 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Mac Pro (GeForce 7300) | Improved | etung | Portal eyes now burn. Use vmmouse.present = "FALSE" vmx flag. |
| Neverwinter Nights 2 (Mask of the Betrayer) | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | Improved | dpolombo |
No bugs so far, but I had to set the graphics level almost to the minimum to make it playable (no shadows, water reflection, ...), and it remains slow. |
| Puzzle Quest (Demo) | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (Radeon Mobility x1600) | Improved | jackfaust | Sluggish, but playable. |
| Psychonauts | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Nickhamm | Plays fine, slow frame-rate in complex scenes |
| EA FIFA 07 | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | anton3s | Plays very well (tested up to 1024x768). Select low details setting (higher settings still playable but then the players look white and are hard to distinguish) |
| Galactic Civilization I | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Sormine | Play very well. Speed ok. Music doesn't seem to work. Minimize and exit to desktop if switching to another space in MAC OS. Older game some most likely less demanding on 3D code. |
| Spectromancer | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.4.11 | 2.0b1 (89933) | MacBook (Intel GMA950) | Improved | etung | Now runs. Occasional slowdown and sound stuttering, probably because this was on a MacBook. |
| StepMania | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Nickhamm | Runs Flawlessly; May need to adjust timing in options |
| The Sims | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Nickhamm | Flickery top bar and "Sticky" graphics |
| The Sims 2 | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Nickhamm | Flawless; low FPS |
| Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm Demo | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.3 | 2.0b1 (89933) | MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT) | ? | etung | Occasional sound stutter. Very fluid. |
| Sins of a Solar Empire Demo (1.032) | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | Mac Pro (GeForce 7300) | Improved | etung | Very fluid, some delay panning. Research tree, Diplomacy window has missing backgrounds. |
| SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | MacBook Pro (Radeon X1600) | Improved | WelshSage | A little slow during UI updates, but very playable. |
| Spore Creature Creator | XP Pro SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | Mac Pro ATI Radeon HD 2600 | |
j0nn0 | Needs DX9.0c. Works great, really fluid, connects to Spore site for updates. Had problem uploading video to Youtube but that may be my network. |
Semi-Working
Applications that have some problems but are still mostly usable. Similar to a Silver or Bronze rating on WineHQ AppDB list.| Application, Version | Guest OS, Version | Mac OS | Fusion Build | Mac, Graphics Card | Change | Reporter | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FFXI Vana'diel Bench 3 | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.4.11 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Mac Pro (GeForce 7300) | Improved | etung | Textures/models no longer obviously missing, but still slow. |
| Space Empire V | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Sormine | Using the STEAM version of the game (Game Download Service)Work in some very limited video mode and with Video Memory put to safe. Slow to the point of being un-playable (even for a turn based game). Crash randomly. Seem to work with the game when game video preference taken off from Direct3D HAL or Direct3DTL HALand set to RGB Emulation. Video memory still need to be put in safe. acceptable speed there but not really using Direct 3D On many video setting, blank black screen with sometime grey horizontal line with all attempt of video setup. Need to force exit with CTRL-ALT-DEL. As soon as it exit, crash "blue screen" crash upon exit of the game. Crash is dirty and reboot require shutting down the guess then restarting it after it freeze on rebooting after crash. |
| Civilization IV | XP Home, SP2 | 10.5.3 | 2.0b1 (89933) | iMac 2.66GHz, 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (Radeon HD 2600 Pro) | ? | jvhiii | Plays in single player mode, but a little slow. |
| Morrowind | XP Pro, SP2/SP3 | 10.5.3 | 2.0b1 (89933) | iMac 2.33GHz, 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (NVIDIA 760GT 256MB) | ? | damikki | Still black screens after entering the first building. There's also an issue with the crosshair causing the body parts of game characters to be attracted to the crosshair causing lines of streteched body parts to constantly appear around the crosshair location. Switching off the Cross Hair makes no difference. Pixel shaders seem to work though. |
| RealFlight G3.5 | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) and 2.0b2 (107508) | MacBook Pro 17", 2.5GHz Core2Duo, 2GB DDR2, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT | Improved | darrylr | G3.5 works if you use model aircraft (not helicopters) on "Photofield" sites. Moving clouds, smoke and streamer effects all work. The simulation (with smoke effects aka particles turned off) is fast enough to be quite usable on a fast MacBook Pro, but has some problems...
|
| Silent Hunter III | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.3 | 2.0b1 (89933) | MacPro Quad 2.8mhz, 8GB, Nvidia 8800GT, VM File resides on seprate drive - WD Raptor 300GB | ? | brotebjo | Works, but runs very slowly for an older game. 2 to 3 FSP. Game only runs at 1024x768. Should be able to get better performance out of this game. |
| Halo: Combat Evolved | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Nickhamm | Runs only in safe mode; Extremely low FPS (like 5-10 fps) |
| Auran: Trainz 2006 | XP Home, SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT) | ? | Cool Games | Runs now in 2.0b1 set DirectX 9 1440 x 900 32 bit but Last line of Text in route and session names are not visible until clicked below choices. First try was only for a few minutes but was usable. I will be playing with more settings. |
| Portal: The First Slice | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT) | Improved | etung | Sometimes you can see geometry on the other side of a portal except where the portal is (e.g. the filter is inverted). This makes it really hard to correct your aim if you miss. |
| Portal: The First Slice | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | Mac Pro (GeForce 7300) | Improved | etung | Some shaders run in software, and the mouse is overly sensitive (lag problem?) |
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | MacBook Pro (Radeon Mobility X1600) | Improved | WelshSage | Game is too slow to be playable. Shadows are not rendered correctly if at all |
| Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | Mac Pro Tower, dual Xeon, Dual Core, Radeon x1900 | Improved | shornby | Starts up fine, but too slow to play. Frame rate is about 2 FPS at 640x480 with all settings reduced to minimum. VM settings - 1.5GB ram, 2 VCPU's, optimize for VM. |
| Uru Complete Chronicles | XP Home, SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | MacBook Pro (Radeon X1600) | ? | cwalther | Game is playable and runs very smoothly, but has moderately severe graphics glitches. Many objects appear black (for some, the texture returns depending on viewing angle); vertex colors and/or shading missing on some objects (appear at full texture brightness), depending on viewing angle; sometimes real-time shadows are also projected towards the light source, not only away from it; black beams from the center of the screen to animated objects; some objects with alpha-blended textures are invisible. |
Not Working
Applications that do not run properly, have problems that significantly impede usage, or are otherwise unusable. Similar to a Bronze or Garbage rating on WineHQ AppDB list.| Application, Version | Guest OS, Version | Mac OS | Fusion Build | Mac, Graphics Card | Change | Reporter | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half Life (through Steam) | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT) | Regressed | sulka | Complains about incompatible video card upon launch (claims doesn't even support DX7). After first 3D scene loads, the game freezes. Works fine under Boot Camp. |
| Portal (through Steam) | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT) | Regressed | sulka | Complains about incompatible video card upon launch (claims doesn't even support DX7). Tries to start, the stops and complains the video card needs to support at least version 1.1 pixel shaders. Works fine under Boot Camp. |
| Maple Story | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | MacBook Pro (GeForce 8600M GT) | Regressed | sulka | GameGuard crashes immediately when application user presses Play in Maple loader, cannot proceed playing. Works fine under Boot Camp. |
| Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Demo | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | Mac Pro (GeForce 7300) | Regressed | etung | Sound, cursor, and (most) command icons are now smooth (though there is an outline around the cursor). However, many non-background textures are all gray/black, making this pretty much unplayable. |
| Dungeon Seige II Demo | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | Mac Pro (GeForce 7300) | Regressed | etung | Movies now play smoothly. Cursor still very flickery. Performance is worse and unplayable due to poor framerate. |
| Galactic Civilizations II | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | Improved | dpolombo Sormine |
Game launches, and it is possible to start a game. Gray lines constantly flash across the screen, and the interface is very slow, making it very difficult to play. Addition: Text and graphic is distorted from the grey line. Line seem to be coming from the upper left screen in a cone shap toward lower right corner of the screen. Crash "blue screen" crash upon exit of the game. Crash is dirty and reboot require shutting down the guess then restarting it after it freeze on rebooting after crash. |
| The Longest Journey | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.2 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (Radeon Mobility x1600) | Improved | jackfaust | A strip across the top of the screen is (maybe the top fifth?) is flashing garbage, backgrounds are flickering, but all character models are now drawn. |
| Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare | XP Pro, SP2 | 10.5.3 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Mac Pro, Radeon x1900XT | ? | batcave | Starts but then gives error - "Video card or driver doesn't support separate alpha blend, glow will be disabled." Then it just crashes. |
| RealFlight G4 Demo | XP Pro, SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) and 2.0b2 (107508) | MacBook Pro 17", 2.5GHz Core2Duo, 2GB DDR2, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT | Improved | darrylr | The free G4 demo download barely works and is not usable like G3.5 is. If you do not change the default model the simulation will run however...
|
| BioShock | XP Pro SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Nickhamm | Plays Intro Videos then stays black eating 100% CPU |
| Crysis | XP Pro SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Nickhamm | Works up until you gain control (skydiving) then VM suddenly shuts down |
| Grim Fandango | XP Pro SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Nickhamm | Black screen, 100% CPU usage |
| Need for Speed Carbon | XP Pro SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b1 (89933) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | Nickhamm | Very slow; Graphics drawn incorrectly (black during race) |
| Google Earth 4.3 | XP Pro SP3 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | MacBook Pro 17", 2.5GHz Core2Duo, 2GB DDR2, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT | ? | darrylr | Goolge Earth start up and will appear to run for a while especially if you run in Safe Mode and have unchecked most options in the sidebar such as "Layers>Borders and Labels". However checking "Borders and Labels" or loading kml files that contain a large number of lines (several thousand) will reproducibly hang the virtual machine. Some of the lines are also often misdrawn before the virtual machine hangs. Often the hang also casues problems for the host OS with the host becoming unresponsive and requiring a reboot. Yes and OK Google Earth is not a game, but it uses DirectX, and I yes know it runs natively on Mac OS X, but I need to run with code that uses the OLE/.NET API only available on Windows. |
| Portal: The First Slice | XP Home, SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | MacBook Pro (Radeon X1600) | ? | cwalther | Game runs, but rendering defects make it hardly playable. Menu screen has small defects but is recognizable (text readable). Once arrived in the game: With recommended graphics settings: screen is black, faint red and green gradients depending on viewing angle, no geometry visible. With minimum graphics settings: some objects are textured with what looks like a normal map, most have no texture at all but just a flat color (including crosshairs, particles, light halos). In both cases: text characters rendered as solid rectangles, stays that way when returning to the menu screen. |
| There.com (DX8) | XP Home, SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | MacBook Pro (Radeon X1600) | Regressed | cwalther | Fog is inverted: nearby objects appear foggy, far away objects clear. Own avatar is invisible. |
| Pro Cycling Manager 2007 | XP Pro SP2 | 10.5.4 | 2.0b2 (107508) | Macbook Pro (GeForce 8600 GTM) | ? | anton3s | Game crashes a soon as you try to start a race/tutorial. |
Average User Rating
(0 ratings)
May 7, 2008 2:12 PM
movielad says:
Half-Life 2. Very slow/sluggish performance on a Macbook Pro 2.33Ghz with 2Gb RAM, ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 256Mb VRAM and OS X Leopard 10.5.2 and all current up-dates (as of 7th May 2008). Running under Windows XP Professional 32-bit VM with 740Mb virtual RAM.
Really strange result: The G-Man character appears upside down during the introductory sequence.
May 7, 2008 9:33 PM
fjdb says:
Shaiya -
Fusion 1.1.2 - occasional graphic glitches, worked quite well as long as "write-combining" was disabled, mouse was hyper sensitive
Fusion 2.0 beta - no graphical glitches noticeable, however performance has severely dropped. Even mouse click response take multiple clicks to register
Tried with Debugging On and Off and various display settings/resolutions.
Configuration: iMac 20" 2.4Ghz, 4Gb RAM, Fusion 2.0 beta running Win XP Home (1024mb, 1 Proc, Optimized for Virtual Machine)
May 8, 2008 7:27 AM
jackfaust says:
Final Fantasy XI benchmark/demo now properly draws the missing characters/textures (at least as far as I can tell - it's been a long time since I've run it in Windows.)
Performance is sluggish (benchmark around 600, well under the minimum playable level), but it seems like it's now a question of optimization rather than capability. A step forward!
Jun 11, 2008 6:45 PM
jackfaust says:
in response to: jackfaust
Retested all of my games under 10.5.3, and with the June 2008 DirectX update. No significant changes - graphical glitches in Longest Journey are still present, and framerates do not appear to have improved.
Jun 14, 2008 8:58 AM
damikki says:
Morrowind installs and runs however it still black screens after entering the first building. I have tried multiple patch levels all the way from first release to most recent patch level and the game behaves the same. There is one oddity which apears to be related to the crosshair, characters in the game have various parts of their bodies stretched toward the crosshair. I have turned the crosshair off but this seemed to make no difference. The pixel shaders appear to work though.
System: iMac 2.33 Core 2 Duo 2GB Ram / NVIDIA 7600 GT 256 MB
Jul 9, 2008 10:39 PM
jpc_688 says:
Sims2 is NOT flawless on my Macbook Pro 2.4 15", GeForce 8600M GT, XP Home SP3, Fusion 2.0b1. The landscape and interior walls of the houses strobe pink / red so bad that I can't play it at all. It is also limited to 800x600.
Nickhamm, any pointers on how you got it working?
Jul 25, 2008 7:55 AM
Smerky says:
America's Army 2.8.3 - Semi Working - Games starts and seems to run fairly smoothly. - Works fine in different resolutions - I was able to play in 1440 x 900
BUT when you go to play the game, for example on the map bridge cross where there is a lot of fog, there's issues with the fog. Most of it doesn't display so at certain angles you can see all the way across the map. I won't play it since I wouldn't want to be accused of using a no-fog hack from what my PB screen shots might look like.
I'm running VMware Fusion 2.0b1 on a MacBook pro, 10.5.4, 2.5 Ghz C2D, 4 Gb RAM, 512Mb GeForce 8600M GT
For my virtual machine I have allocated 2gb of RAM, one processor, and it has 128 Mb of the video RAM,
Also, I ran the game on Fusion 1.1.3 and it was about the same as in Fusion 2.0.
Aug 12, 2008 9:09 AM
FrogT says:
in response to: Smerky
I just tried Age of Titans (sequal to Age of Mythology) with hardware acceleration enabled, but alas it doesn't work. When application is launched, an 'invalid video card' message is displayed.
Running VMware fusion 2.0b2 on a Macbook Pro 10.5.4 2.4ghz, 4GB RAM, 256 GeForce 8600M GT.
I'm launching the game from my boot camp partition, launched using vmware, xp pro sp2
Game runs fine when launched natively from the book camp partition.
Aug 16, 2008 11:29 AM
strobe33333 says:
Counter-strike Source Very choppy and mouse interaction is FUBAR. Game is unplayable. System - Latest Mac Pro 8-core w/2GB Ram
Aug 18, 2008 12:57 PM
shornby says:
Folks - San Andreas will fail on any system with FFdshow installed, VM or not.
You need to edit FFdshow video settings and exclude the startup app for San Andreas, or it will fail.
FFdshow + San Andreas = FAIL
Folks - San Andreas will fail on any system with FFdshow installed, VM or not.
You need to edit FFdshow video settings and exclude the startup app for San Andreas, or it will fail.
Aug 20, 2008 6:32 AM
liuping says:
Instead of RealFlight G4, I think maybe PhoenixRC might be a better RC SIM app to support.
The Demo (http://www.phoenix-sim.com/demo.htm) works almost 90%+ in 2.0b2. The only problem I saw was the textures on the planes slides around unstably. The shadows, background, water and smoke effects all work perfectly and with no error messages. It ran quite fast and smoothly on my 2.8Ghz iMac.
If the texture movement on the planes/helicopter can be fixed, it should be good to go.
Aug 26, 2008 5:47 AM
jeffkjr says:
Rainbow Six Vegas does not work. Installs fine, but you get a black screen with only music playing in the background after the company logos are displayed.
Sep 1, 2008 1:57 PM
j0nn0 says:
Spore works fine on XPPro SP2 VM, except for problems uploading video to Youtube (may be my network). But it does connect to the Spore network.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas quits after GTA splash screen but before the game displays the main menu.