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Thread: MTW in virtual machines

  1. #1

    Default MTW in virtual machines

    Hello everybody.

    My first question on this fine forum would be, is it at all possible to launch MTW in any kind of virtual machine, like VirtualPC, VMWare Player or VirtualBox?

    On my current physical PC, the game works more or less okay (well actually more like less okay, with lots of CTDs and about a 15-second delay before loading any kind of screen). But I'm afraid on another configuration I won't be so lucky (on my previous PC the loading time was about 3 minutes, totally unplayable).

    In VirtualBox I have managed to successfully pass the Direct3D check, but then the game CTDs immediately at startup. Did anybody have more luck?

    In VMWare Player 5.1 the game starts and even loads very fast (no more stupid no-reason delays!) but then returns into the pause menu automatically each time strategic map is loaded. (Battle maps load just great, by the way.)
    Last edited by Eraser; 04-24-2013 at 13:22.

  2. #2
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Welcome to the Org, Eraser!

    The idea of running in MTW in a VM did occur to me about a year ago, but I never got around to trying it out (pick a reason: too busy, game works in my current setup, too lazy). What version of Windows are you running in the VM?
    The .Org's MTW Reference Guide Wiki - now taking comments, corrections, suggestions, and submissions

    If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
    Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat

    "Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur

  3. #3

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    I'm running Windows XP SP3 in both VMs.

  4. #4
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    I've only tried running Linux in VMWare. How does XP handle WGA in a VM?

    Have you tried the button fix patch on your VM installations?
    The .Org's MTW Reference Guide Wiki - now taking comments, corrections, suggestions, and submissions

    If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
    Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat

    "Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur

  5. #5

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    I have, yes. Didn't work at all. For the record, it didn't work at all in any of the OS I've tried, physical machines included.

  6. #6

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    What is a button fix?
    In those simple times there was a great wonder and mystery in life. Man walked in fear and solemnity, with Heaven very close above his head, and Hell below his very feet. God's visible hand was everywhere, in the rainbow and the comet, in the thunder and the wind. The Devil too raged openly upon the earth; he skulked behind the hedge-rows in the gloaming; he laughed loudly in the night-time; he clawed the dying sinner, pounced on the unbaptized babe, and twisted the limbs of the epileptic. A foul fiend slunk ever by a man's side and whispered villainies in his ear, while above him there hovered an angel of grace . . .

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  7. #7
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Quote Originally Posted by Brandy Blue View Post
    What is a button fix?
    It's the replacement .bif files for the next and previous buttons on the campaign map. peter_de123 found it while messing around with the PMTW mod files.
    The .Org's MTW Reference Guide Wiki - now taking comments, corrections, suggestions, and submissions

    If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
    Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat

    "Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur

  8. #8
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Quote Originally Posted by Eraser View Post
    In VMWare Player 5.1 the game starts and even loads very fast (no more stupid no-reason delays!) but then returns into the pause menu automatically each time strategic map is loaded. (Battle maps load just great, by the way.)
    How did you get past the Direct3D check in VMWare Player? It's disabled in my XP SP3 Pro VM (Vista host), and the suggested fix on the VMWare site doesn't appear to do anything.
    The .Org's MTW Reference Guide Wiki - now taking comments, corrections, suggestions, and submissions

    If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
    Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat

    "Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur

  9. #9

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Quote Originally Posted by drone View Post
    How did you get past the Direct3D check in VMWare Player? It's disabled in my XP SP3 Pro VM (Vista host), and the suggested fix on the VMWare site doesn't appear to do anything.
    What version of VMWare Player are you using? In the latest 5.1 version, you should go to the Display tab in the virtual machine properties, and turn on the checkbox activating 3D acceleration. In earlier versions, true, D3D wasn't at all supported (it still isn't for Win9x guest OS).

  10. #10
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    5.0.2 is the highest version mine will get to using the built-in updater (originally had 3.something installed from scratch).
    The .Org's MTW Reference Guide Wiki - now taking comments, corrections, suggestions, and submissions

    If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
    Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat

    "Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur

  11. #11

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    You should try 5.1, probably D3D support was introduced only in this version.

  12. #12

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Quote Originally Posted by drone View Post
    It's the replacement .bif files for the next and previous buttons on the campaign map. peter_de123 found it while messing around with the PMTW mod files.
    ??? Peter's thread mentions Napoleon Total War, not PMTW.
    In those simple times there was a great wonder and mystery in life. Man walked in fear and solemnity, with Heaven very close above his head, and Hell below his very feet. God's visible hand was everywhere, in the rainbow and the comet, in the thunder and the wind. The Devil too raged openly upon the earth; he skulked behind the hedge-rows in the gloaming; he laughed loudly in the night-time; he clawed the dying sinner, pounced on the unbaptized babe, and twisted the limbs of the epileptic. A foul fiend slunk ever by a man's side and whispered villainies in his ear, while above him there hovered an angel of grace . . .

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  13. #13
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Quote Originally Posted by Brandy Blue View Post
    ??? Peter's thread mentions Napoleon Total War, not PMTW.
    My bad. It's been a while since I read that post...
    The .Org's MTW Reference Guide Wiki - now taking comments, corrections, suggestions, and submissions

    If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
    Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat

    "Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur

  14. #14

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Thank you Drone. I look forward to trying this out, one day when I can find time.
    In those simple times there was a great wonder and mystery in life. Man walked in fear and solemnity, with Heaven very close above his head, and Hell below his very feet. God's visible hand was everywhere, in the rainbow and the comet, in the thunder and the wind. The Devil too raged openly upon the earth; he skulked behind the hedge-rows in the gloaming; he laughed loudly in the night-time; he clawed the dying sinner, pounced on the unbaptized babe, and twisted the limbs of the epileptic. A foul fiend slunk ever by a man's side and whispered villainies in his ear, while above him there hovered an angel of grace . . .

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  15. #15
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Quote Originally Posted by Eraser View Post
    You should try 5.1, probably D3D support was introduced only in this version.
    Where are you getting VMWare Player 5.1 from? The VMWare website only has 5.0.2, is 5.1 a beta release?
    The .Org's MTW Reference Guide Wiki - now taking comments, corrections, suggestions, and submissions

    If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
    Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat

    "Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur

  16. #16
    Member Member DEB8's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Quote Originally Posted by Brandy Blue View Post
    Thank you Drone. I look forward to trying this out, one day when I can find time.
    It's a very small and simple fix to apply - only minor problem can be obtaining the download itself...

    Since applying it I have not ( yet ) had any crashes caused by clicking on a province with more buildings than the game screen can show
    ( i.e. show without "next page" buttons to get you to the "overflow" ).

  17. #17

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Quote Originally Posted by drone View Post
    Where are you getting VMWare Player 5.1 from? The VMWare website only has 5.0.2, is 5.1 a beta release?
    My apologies, 5.0.1 was what I meant. Checked up on update list, 5.0 was the version introducing D3D support.

  18. #18

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    I did it!!

    Finally there's a way to guarantee MTW run fast and stable on *any* system. Thanks to forum members who hinted on Windows 7 improvements over XP in handling AGP graphics, I decided to test the game in the Windows 7 virtual machine run by VMWare Player - and it worked like a charm, no more stupid CTDs and immediate load times!

    Of course, you need a not-so-obsolete host PC to have good results (no less than 3 Gb RAM, and a quad-core CPU would be a big plus).

  19. #19
    Needs more flowers Moderator drone's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Good news! Is this with VMWare 5.0.2? I never was able to get it working with an XP VM, glad to see you were able bypass the issues.
    The .Org's MTW Reference Guide Wiki - now taking comments, corrections, suggestions, and submissions

    If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
    Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat

    "Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur

  20. #20

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    VMWare 5.0.1 actually, but I guess it'd work with any version 5.0 and newer. A seldom case of Win 7 beating XP when it comes to old games :)

  21. #21

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Would you be able to explain just how to get it running in VWmare Player,as I've been trying to get it running myself since I read your post and I can't figure it out..

  22. #22

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    oz_wwjd, what exactly seems to be the problem?

  23. #23
    <code>ninja</code> Clan Nikodil's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    @Eraser, did you still use the physical CDs?

    I have a new iMac and would love to play my MTW in VMWare (I've never got it to work with BootCamp). But as the newer macs don't have CDs, is it possible to "virtualize" the CD too with VMWare (and get it to run without resorting to cracks)?

  24. #24

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Nikodil, no, I've left behind the whole concept of using physical CDs behind long ago. CD images all the way!
    is it possible to "virtualize" the CD too with VMWare
    Of course, you can add a virtual CD drive to your VM configuration and mount anything you desire there (use DaemonTools, for example).
    (and get it to run without resorting to cracks)?
    Personally, I see nothing wrong in using a NoCD if the game was bought legally. :) Nobody suffers, and the customer gains the ability to play without sliding CDs in and out constantly.

  25. #25
    <code>ninja</code> Clan Nikodil's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Cool, I'll give it a try then, maybe I'll finally be able to retire my stone age sony vaio.

    (and my objections against NoCD cracks are purely technical, not legal)

  26. #26

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    (and my objections against NoCD cracks are purely technical, not legal)
    With all due respect, that's a religious aspect, not technical. :)
    For a vast majority of situations, a NoCDed game works as well as an original one, and that I've personally confirmed for MTW specifically.

  27. #27
    <code>ninja</code> Clan Nikodil's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Hmm, I'm using Parallels, and for some reason it still asks for the correct CD when launching. And the NoCD I've found for the gold edition. I only have the original MTW (+ separate VI expansion), do you know if there is there a NoCD for that too?

  28. #28

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    There is indeed.

  29. #29
    <code>ninja</code> Clan Nikodil's Avatar
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    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    Yes, VMWare with Windows 7 seems to do the trick. With Parallels the screen was just black, both with XP and 7. And VMWare+XP had bad gfx glitches.

    Member thankful for this post:

    Eraser 


  30. #30

    Default Re: MTW in virtual machines

    The problem is that I have VMware Player and I have no idea on how to get Windows 7 virtual machine running in it,as I've never done it before. My search online on how to do it has been unfruitful,so could you walk me through the process,or at least help me out here? I loved MTW as my favorite CA game of this series and I'd very much like to start playing it again,which my current video card doesn't permit me to do.

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