Virtual PC

[Skyfaller]

I was curious about MW2 in Virtual PC 2007, so I installed Virtual PC with Win98. It's nice for testing installs and so on, even for running MechVM in WinXP. Trouble is, MW2 runs very slow -1or 2 fps - tested with Pentium edition. Anybody got an idea about what to tweak, or what kind of performance I can expect with a Core2 duo mobile 2.4GHz?

[Sir MMPD Radick]

Afraid not Sky sorry.. i never had much luck with that.. as you said it is pretty slow.
vmware works much better with mech2 95

[Jerad Gray]

It works fine with me, but the same issues still occure that you get from running under your normal os (IE, cpu time is too fast, thus missles don't track properly, overheat doesn't kill, jumpjet recharge, ect.

[GungraveDan]

Hey Sky about 7 or 8 years ago I bought Virtual PC, before they sold to Microsoft, just for my Mech 2 and GBL. It worked like a champ for the both of them under windows 95B. No complaints. I find dosbox for MW2 and GBL on my vista is much simpler. Take care.

[FreelancerMar]

Hi. I have been lurking here for a little while now and this is my first post here.

I recently Downloaded Virtual PC 2007 directly from Microsoft for free. Yes that is correct it is now a free download. I sifted through my storage box and put Windows ME in it. So far everything seems to be working ok. It seems to be running Mercenaries just fine.

I have.

Dos Titles.
Mech2
GBL
NetMech

Combo
mw2 Mercenaries

Windows
Mech2 Win95 Pentium edition.

(All of the above are on CD and were Purchased at babbages as new titles)

I also have a Mercenaries Installd via disbox. if all continues to go wel with Virtual PC,
My dos-box may be going the way of the DoDo bird.

Cheers all

[Skyfaller]

There are several reasons why I would not recommend Virtual PC for games to most users. For one thing, you need to spend a lot of time to set up Virtual PC with one or more operating systems before you start installing the games. Installing operating system in a virtual machine is probably still to difficult for average users. Virtual PC will not run on all editions of Windows, and VMWare costs 189$ or 176€. MechVM/DosBox is free and will automatically set up everything needed to play MechWarrior 2 within seconds.

[FreelancerMar]

There are several reasons why I would not recommend Virtual PC for games to most users. For one thing, you need to spend a lot of time to set up Virtual PC with one or more operating systems before you start installing the games. Installing operating system in a virtual machine is probably still to difficult for average users. Virtual PC will not run on all editions of Windows, and VMWare costs 189$ or 176€. MechVM/DosBox is free and will automatically set up everything needed to play MechWarrior 2 within seconds.

I must also point out one more thing. Virtual PC 2007 and probably all future editions cannot and will not emulate hardware video acceleration.

I will also agree that setting up a virtual pc does require some technical knowledge and some patience as well. The advantage however is this. The game(s) in question will be running in the enviornment it was designed to run in.

This means 0 issues when trying to patch, install, or run the title or titles in question.

My current useage of it is more for test installs and proper patching than actual use of it for gaming. For example, I could not get DOS-31cc to properly patch to 1.1 in a dosbox enviornment. This is required before you can Install Netmech into the dos-31cc folder in order to have access to Mechlab configured Mechs.. It patched Flawlessly On my Virtual PC Windows ME enviornment. which I can then transfer to where-ever I need to. I have a lot of HDD space available.

Virtual PC 2007 can be a wonderful tool-utility to get stuff setup and patched properly before transfering them to a dosbox enviornment which is exactly what I am currently using it for. It also duesnt hurt to be able to run the windows versions of the MW2 titles either unfettered by having to manually setup dos stuff like sound card addressess.

However, the Choice is up to each individual USER as to what He/She Wants.

[Sir MMPD Radick]

1.1 Works flawlessly in DOSBOX.
I have set it up myself.

If you use the package that we offer in the download section you do not even need to worry about patching anything.

[FreelancerMar]

I did not say the game did not work in a dosbox enviornment after patching. It was getting it patched in the first place that was the issue.

The Netmech I have access to is on a Retail CD and can be Installed Directly into the 31cc game folder without corrupting the single player game as long as the patch is applied first. The Patch did not want to properly apply in a dosbox enviornmrnt. Unless I did something wrong which I highly doubt.

The advantage, as I see it. To Installing netmech directly into the dos-31cc gamefolder is having instant access to all of your Single player, mechlab configured, campign mechs without having to copy them from 1 folder to another.

Of course that is just my take on it here.