What's the point? There is already a (probably) working, albeit cumbersome, workaround to get the game going.

But if she has lost interest to get it to work, then so be it. She has some odd configuration on her PC that causes a problem with these games that usually behave quite well on different kinds of machines.

The good news is that if she ever gets another PC, there's a very good chance these games run fine on it, unlike on her current PC. But maybe it doesn't matter anymore at that point either.

Just some more academic discussion, not really trying to solve the original problem anymore:

I decided to try VirtualBox as well, running Ubuntu 12.04.1 on it. In both VMWare Player and VirtualBox, the problem for me is to scale small resolutions so that they fill the whole screen (preferably still keeping the correct aspect ratio, e.g. black bars on the sides for 4:3).

For VMWare Player, the only workaround I found was to set both the host (Win7) and guest (Ubuntu) OS desktop resolutions to the same as where the game runs, ie. 800x600 in the case of IWD. This is a cumbersome workaround, but at least it works. I'm not sure if it is applicable to 640x480 games, as at least my desktop cannot be forced to lower than 800x600.

I googled for it, and many people have asked the same, but there haven't been clear solutions. I tried some (like editing some ini file) with no success, but I have no idea if it was because those suggestions came from many years back from older VMWare versions, or maybe even the Workstation version. Some e.g. said you should set some option in the view menu... too bad that at least my VMWare Player does not seem to have any "View"-menu.

As for VirtualBox, there is e.g. the View => Switch to Full Screen / Switch to Scale Mode, but they don't seem to work correctly for me either. I think in the beginning I once saw the Ubuntu 1024x768 desktop being stretched to fill the whole screen, unfortunately distorting the image (4:3 => 16:9, it didn't keep the correct aspect ratio). For some reason at that point I wasn't able to select any other resolution for the Ubuntu desktop besides 800x600 or 1024x768.

I think later VirtualBox asked me to add some extra stuff for Ubuntu, or maybe it was related to the VB Extension Pack? (I presume it is similar extra stuff like VMWare Tools for Linux) Anyway, after that I was able to set also higher resolutions for the Ubuntu desktop, but the screen would not scale anymore. All "scale mode" seems to do now is to switch between full screen and window mode, showing the Ubuntu desktop still in a small window in the middle of the screen.

Note: From some instructions I got the impression that in order for the scaling to work, 2D acceleration must be enabled in the VB options. But then it was apparently also said that 2D acceleration is only supported if the guest OS is Windows, it doesn't work for e.g. Linux?


tl;dr: Have you been able to get the screen scaling to work correctly with VirtualBox (or VMWare Player)?

Yes, on both of them no problems. After installing VirtualBox add-ons can set a resolution as high as my windows desktop and ond VMWare I can set all possible resolutions - that is althought I have 5:4 monitor I can set say 16:10 or 16:9 resolution (have black bars up and down).
If you turn on OpenGL in IWD you get access for additional gfx modes and for instance after I set ubuntu to 1280x1024 and IWD to 1024x960 - I got proper scalling full screen.

Possible those issues you are having are caused by panoramic monitor?

So you get e.g. IWD 800x600 (running in VMWare Player or VirtualBox Windows version) stretched/scaled properly to your Windows desktop resolution, e.g. 1920x1080? Even with correct aspect ratio?

I can't get any scaling in neither now, and judging by Google, this seems to have been a common problem with no clear solution. At least in VMWare Player I get this problem on both of my PCs (laptops).

I've done a bit more experiments and it looks it not that simple. Say I have 1280x1024 windows desktop.

VirtualBox sets automatically Linux Desktop to this resolution as well. Now.. For normal modes (640x480 and 800x600) I get black bars around. The same for non-standard mode 1024x768. But If I set 1280x960 - I get real full screen - no black bars at all.

As for VMWare - I'm really having difficulties to run IWD on it. So I can only say about Linux Desktop scaling - and this works as it shoud.

EDIT: It seems that on VMWare I can only run IWD official modes - and I get black bars around for them.

Ok, For me VMWare fails even with mere Ubuntu desktop resolution change, e.g. if I set Ubuntu to 800x600, it is just a small window in the middle with black bars on all sides (unless Windows resolution is also 800x600).

There should be a setting in VMWare (possibly depending on whether you're using Player or Workstration) to change the host's resolution when running in full-screen (the other options are to change the guest's resolution, and to run the guest in a small box).

Ok I'll try to look once more. I am indeed using the free Player, not so heavy into it yet to pay for the Workstation version. Well, if they added full Win98SE (gaming) support for it, I would gladly do that. :)

I have to misunderstood you because I got those black bars as well. So, what you seek is to run Linux desktop in 800x600 and in full screen mode it should be scaled up to say 1600x1200 (your windows resolution) – no black bars?

That's (almost) what "change host resolution" does - almost, because it does exactly what it says on the tin, changes the host's resolution to fit the guest's.

VirtualBox does have actual scaling, so you could run a 640x480 guest scaled to a, say, 1024x768 window (or a 1280x720 guest in a 720x405 window) on a 1920x1200 host (though I guess there's a performance loss using that, otherwise there wouldn't be an option to switch scaled mode off, just a "zoom 1:1" button).

@Lillycake:

I understand your frustration about not being able to get a game that you purchased to work and having people speak to you using unfamiliar language and technical terms.

Below you will find plain-English step-by-step instructions written by me and a link to a file that might help you to play your game.

I hesitated to post this in the forums because there will be 'experts' who say that this won't fix your problem, that you already have DirectX, or that you should download a newer version of the archive. The fact is: Installing this archive has fixed several older games for me (including IE games) when I seemed to already have DirectX, when newer 'complete' archives failed to allow me to play my games, and when the games themselves had supposedly already installed their preferred version of DirectX.

I sent you a PM (private message) but have not received a response, and I won't be online for a few days after tonight, so I'll go ahead and post my advice here.

Trust me: I'm a fellow gamer and I want to help you if possible. I can't promise that this will fix your problem, but it should only take 5-10 minutes. I used an hour of my time to read a large portion of your two threads (not all, I admit, because they have grown so lengthy), upload the file, and write these instructions, so please try it.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?ra8fv7i1wfcf4i8 (directx_aug2008_redist.exe)

*Edit* I re-read your post. An older version was suggested (not 2011 version). Last time we suggested the newest version be installed the installer reported that it was already up to date. Is there any way around this?

To recap things so far (17/09/2012 DD/MM/YYYY) :

Completed suggestions:
1. Ensured that the latest supported driver is installed.
2. Ensured that the latest supported Direct X run time is installed.
3. Turning off Catalyst A I to ensure that is not stopping the game from running.
4. Changing Windows screen resolution down to 800 x 600 @ 32bit.
5. Running IWD with and without Open GL 3D support.
6. Replacing the ini files with ones that iainmet provided.
7. Looking into the registry.
8. Using different keyboard short cuts to view errors (iainmet).
9. Running the game in Windowed mode.
10. With 16bit colour.
11. Running as administrator.
12. Installing in various locations like C: or C:\Program Files (x86).
13. We have ruled out SLI and Cross fire as there is only one card installed / active.
14. Running GOG version and version from original CDs.
15. The range of compatibility options that can be set when right clicking on a short cut or exe.
16. And the age old turning off anti virus scanner temporarily (if applicable) .
17. Getting rid of frame rate counter.
18. Various combinations of patches / mod / expansions.

Possible working solutions:
1. Installation of Linux in virtual machine to run the game.

Outstanding investigation:
1. iainmet suggested that the Windows Event viewer maybe a good place to look at errors that cannot be displayed on screen.
2. Miaghstir hints that further registry investigation maybe required.
3. ShadowWulfe recommends disabling extra screens if more than one monitor is plugged in.
4. Nullzero: Is Windows Vista fully up to date with all Windows updates installed including the service packs?
5. Verdan noted that 'GemRB' could be a possible way forwards.

Currently rejected suggestions:
1. Using Windows 7 instead (ShadowWulfe notes that it works on his install of Vista).

Further information:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Q6600
GFX: ATI Radeon HD 4870
GFX Driver: 12.6 (latest available for above card)
OS: Windows Vista 64bit

You might want to quote/tag or message her.