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digdugggler
Contributor
Contributor

3D Graphics broken in 2.0 (DirectX 9, Direct3D)?

I recently upgraded to 2.0. I upgraded my VM and have noticed that a component I use for development no longer works (it worked great in 1.1.3). It makes use of DirectX 9 and Direct3D. The component simply does not paint correctly in 2.0.

Other than uninstalling VMware tools and reinstalling (which I've done) are there any other steps I can try? I'd love to get things up and running in 2.0 and would like to avoid downgrading to 1.1.3 and finding my vm's on my time machine backup as I upgraded the virtual machines for 2.0 (in which I was instructed I can no longer use these in previous versions).

Any input/ideas appreciated.

Edit: none of my vm settings changed (ram, etc)...

Double Edit: I see I can downgrade as well as upgrade machines. That makes my decision much easier. Any advice on what can be tweaked for graphics performance still appreciated.

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TheLoneVM
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Downloaded the TMS Guimotion tool, and verified I am getting a grey screen when running the images demo. Will look into it.

digdugggler
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks! I downgraded and the tool works fine in 1.1.3. I'd love to update if possible, but unfortunately this is a dealbreaker for me.

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TheLoneVM
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

FYI: I have been looking into this issue, and the bug was tracked to a fix for several other 3D games. I was hoping to get a fix out, but unfortunately it requires a driver spin (IE: Microsoft certification) so it won't get in the next point release, but will be in the one after. Just wanted to give a heads up on this and let you know that we are aware of the problem. Thanks for your patience.

digdugggler
Contributor
Contributor

Great! Thanks so much for updating me.

If you can remember, please update the thread when a fix is officially released so I can move to v2. I'll keep an eye out for new releases in any case.

I really do appreciate it. Thanks again.

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NeWsOfTzzz
Contributor
Contributor

Does this also apply to VMware workstation, newest version?

I tried playing this game: http://download.tibia.com/tibia831.exe

And at most parts I just get a black screen (Maybe you need to choose Directx 9 beforehand in "Options -> Graphics -> Advanced", Directx 5 works fine but is too slow). For example at (Options -> Graphics) and (Options -> Hotkeys) there are black screens, and if you login into the game there is always a black screen. If you want to verify it, no login needed for those 2 option screens

The interesting part here is that only those screens which have a list box are getting black!

Could this problem be related to list boxes?

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TheLoneVM
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

>>Does this also apply to VMware workstation, newest version?

Yes, Fusion and Workstation share codebase for SVGA device, I did verify the GUIMotion application has the same problem on Workstation.

>>Tibia game

Are you running this game on Workstation? If so, what version and host are you running? I just checked this game on Fusion 2.0, and I get the opposite results, it runs in DX9 mode (default) but displays all black in DX5 mode. This is in the map/overhead view. It does runs pretty slow, about 8-10fps, will look into it, but some games are just tough to optimize.

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NeWsOfTzzz
Contributor
Contributor

VMware Workstation 6.5.0 build 118166

Host OS Version: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition 5.2.3790, Service Pack 2

(Well it is Windows XP 64, really)

And the guest is a Windows XP 32

Graphics card: Nvidia Geforce 8800 GT and newest driver installed.

Newest DirectX in both host and guest installed

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digdugggler
Contributor
Contributor

Is this still on track for 2.0.2? Any timeframe for a release?

Thanks.

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digdugggler
Contributor
Contributor

Bump. Any info appreciated.

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TheLoneVM
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

FYI: This is still being investigated, we fixed the main issue. But now it's hitting a different problem. Will update once we get more info.

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digdugggler
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the update. Appreciate it.

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digdugggler
Contributor
Contributor

Hey, if you get a chance could you update the status? Thanks....

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digdugggler
Contributor
Contributor

I assume this is not fixed in 2.0.2?

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TheLoneVM
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Yea, sorry for the lack of updates, been really busy here. The short version is there was a fix, but it ended up causing another crop of bugs in it's place, and the decision up the chain was made to leave it out until it is fixed with no side effects. Check your private mail, I have a couple of questions that I'd like to run past you regarding this specific application.

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sentience
Contributor
Contributor

Is there a fix for this bug in the latest release?

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digdugggler
Contributor
Contributor

Bump. Does 2.0.4 resolve this? Thanks...

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MStack
Contributor
Contributor

Bump. Would really like an answer - wish I would've known about this issue before I purchased this product earlier this week. My son is trying to play Wizard101.com through Windows XP on fusion. We installed it, can hear the music, see the cursor change to a wizard wand - but the screen is completely black. Any chance of a fix?? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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clafollett
Contributor
Contributor

My 30 day trial is about to run out. One of the reasons I wanted to switch to this product is so that I could run the latest Visual Studio 2010 Beta. Unfortunately Micosoft has switched much of the UI code to use WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) which makes heavy use of Direct X. I'm unable to use the Beta with the DirectX support turned on as the toolbars and menus don't render well if at all. The only way I can run the app and have it render is to turn off DirectX support for the VM but then the rendering performance is terribly slow once VS.NET is up and running.

Any update you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

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dmorriso
Contributor
Contributor

I'm interested in the status of this as well; when I run Topo USA 8.0 with Direct X support enabled in the VM (in 2.0.5), it crashes on startup when it attempts to render the 3D window (the crash is Direct X 9 DLL related). It is a Windows XP VM. After I upgraded the VM to 2.0.5, I installed the latest VMWare Tools in XP. Is there something constructive I can try, or do I need to wait for another release to fix this?

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