[SOLVED] Gaming in a VM

[danny009]

Is it possible to play games in a virtual machine? or it give me errors? I'm planning to do a Windows 8.1 VM and use as my main computer. I have 16GB physical memory and 4 core CPU, and 4GB GPU. I will be using VMware since vmware allows to use graphics memory, thanks

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Yes, you can indeed run games within a virtual machine. Many people use virtual machines to run older games that won't work on modern operating systems.

Since I haven't used VMware for ages, I'm not sure if it has an "insert guest additions CD" option like VirtualBox. If there is an option for this, do this to get correct drivers.

 

[isamuelson]

Is it possible to play games in a virtual machine? or it give me errors? I'm planning to do a Windows 8.1 VM and use as my main computer. I have 16GB physical memory and 4 core CPU, and 4GB GPU. I will be using VMware since vmware allows to use graphics memory, thanks

It all depends on how the game is programmed. Of course, any current games will more than likely run very poorly. Remember, VM's are emulating a PC, even if it's using Virtualization, it's still not as fast as real hardware. But, it is great if you want to run older games that do not work under the current version of Windows or on your new hardware. I still have some games I love to run that still use a 16-bit installer, so I have pull out my old Windows 98 disks to run them that way (Jack Nicklaus' Golden Bear Challenge is one when I like to play the Murefield golf course that's about 30 minutes north of where I live).

If it's a DOS based game, then DOSBox is awesome. GOG uses that for a lot of DOS-based games that sell. And it's free and it works under Linux or Windows.

In the end, all you can do is try and see how it works. Some games don't like to work in a VM and that's just the way it is, especially much older games that might be programmed to use very obscure/outdated/deprecated system level calls so mileage will vary.

 

[TerryLaze]

I'm planning to do a Windows 8.1 VM and use as my main computer.

Huh?
There is no difference in compatibility between 8.1 and 10.
Why do you want a 8.1 VM?

 

[isamuelson]

Huh?
There is no difference in compatibility between 8.1 and 10.
Why do you want a 8.1 VM?

Maybe licensing? Maybe his Windows 10 host machine license can only be on one machine at a time and he has a separate Windows 8.1 license to use? So unless he has multiple activation keys, doubt he can install the same copy he has on both his host machine and his VM. But, that's just my speculation on it, but you do make a good point in the compatibility between 8.1 and 10.

 

[TerryLaze]

Maybe licensing? Maybe his Windows 10 host machine license can only be on one machine at a time and he has a separate Windows 8.1 license to use? So unless he has multiple activation keys, doubt he can install the same copy he has on both his host machine and his VM. But, that's just my speculation on it, but you do make a good point in the compatibility between 8.1 and 10.

You can install windows 10 without a license key,just as all previous versions of windows,the older ones would stop working after 30 days or have some heavy restrictions but windows 10 only has a watermark and you can't change personalization options.
For a VM that's more than enough.