Dedicated server in Vbox / Vmware

[kobalt_]

Hi,

 

I own a dedicated linux server for my own needs, and I'd like to setup a DCS server with it.

I'm aware there is no true dedicated game server with DCS, and I don't want to switch my server to Windows.

 

So as many did before, I'm trying to run the game in a virtualized machine. I got Vbox up and running at the moment on my machine, Win7 64 virtualized and fair amount of RAM allocated (4gb for now - can increase it if needed), and a VNC server to control this setup.

 

And as many before too, I get an error when trying to launch the game. Having a look at the logs, here's what i get :

 

# C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION at EE2B49F1 00:00000000
00000000 00000000 0000:00000000 
EE2B49F1 001EEF30 0000:00000000  ?CreateZMultisample8X@DXMultisampleTarget@Graphics@@SAPEAVResource@@W4ResourceType@@AEBV?$basic_string@DU?$char_traits@D@std@@V?$allocator@D@ed@@@std@@@Z()+111
F3C398D6 001EEFF0 0000:00000000  ?UsedThisFrame@Resource@@UEAAXXZ()+2ED6
EDB13355 001EF0F0 0000:00000000  ?StartInterface@SceneManager_Implement@@UEAAXPEAUHWND__@@@Z()+2E5
EDB09191 001EF160 0000:00000000  ??0SceneManager_Implement@@QEAA@PEAUHWND__@@@Z()+5F1
EDB0A991 001EF1A0 0000:00000000  ?CreateSceneManager@smSceneManager@@SAXPEAUHWND__@@@Z()+31
3FA996DF 001EF270 0000:00000000 
3FA99276 001EF2E0 0000:00000000 
3FA9782F 001EF5A0 0000:00000000 
F1A6D8DF 001EF5D0 0000:00000000  ?onSymbol_@FSM@Common@@AEAAXI@Z()+18F
3FA9AE8F 001EF630 0000:00000000 
3FB55E6F 001EF6A0 0000:00000000 
3FB56666 001EFCC0 0000:00000000 
3FB596B0 001EFD00 0000:00000000 
775B59ED 001EFD30 0001:000149ED C:\Windows\system32\kernel32.dll BaseThreadInitThunk()+D
776EC541 001EFD80 0001:0002B541 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll RtlUserThreadStart()+21

 

So it looks pretty obvious it's graphical problem. Latest version of DirectX is installed, and Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable too.

 

Now about the host machine, well it's a server, not a gaming PC :

- i3 2310

- 16 Gb Ram

I know this i3 processor comes with an Intel HD 2000 integrated graphics chip. Even though it's pretty weak, it should run the game at a very poor framerate, but it doesn't matter in that case.

I've already set up an autoexec.cfg with "options.graphics.render3D = false".

 

The thing is, I've tried to run the game in a virtualized machine on my own PC (i5 2500k, GTX 750Ti), using both VirtualBox and Vmware, and it run pretty smoothly, especially with Vmware (got the same framerate than with my host/native installation in Win7...with almost the same graphical options enabled...)

Vmware 3D acceleration has always been way better than Vbox's, but still, it runs too (at least with no 3D rendering) in Virtualbox on my home PC.

 

So I'm guessing : this is not a virtualisation software problem, but a graphical chip problem.

 

According to Intel HD 2000 specs (see here for instance : http://www.cpu-world.com/info/Intel/Features_of_integrated_Intel_HD_graphics_units.html) it should do the job.

 

So maybe it's a memory problem ? Not enough shared memory allocated ? In that case, I don't know how to increase it without server's BIOS access...

And I'm not sure (in the virtualized machine settings) wether the allocated memory is taken directly from RAM or from the chipset's shared memory. Even though in both cases it uses the same memory in the end...

 

 

So maybe server admins here know some tweaks or workaround to make the game working as a server on such a setup.

Or maybe it's just impossible, but i'd like to get a clear feedback, it would prevent me to spend like ten more hours of tests/tweaking trying to make it working ;)

 

Thx in advance.

[Rhinox]

If you really turned 3d off, then GFX should not be any problem. I'm running DCS in VM, and my server has some trully historic ATI-gfx of "pre-Radeon age", with 4MB (yeah, megabytes, not gigabytes), no 3d, capable only of ega/vga text-console output. HD-2000 in i3 is sure much better...

 

I think in your case CPU might be the problem. i3 is low-end, some important technologies might be missing (VT-d, for example)...

[kobalt_]

I just changed my whole dedicated server setup those last weeks, and moved to a VMware ESXi solution (it was in my plans anyway).

 

 

As a review, I can say (like many other server admins before) DCS MP is definitely running well in virtualized Win7 64 machine, with 3D support enabled (in my case, the VMware tools are doing the job).

You can manage the game using both Vsphere console or a VNC/RDP server (even though Vsphere console is way much faster with 3D apps).

 

So Rhinox you were right, Integrated Intel HD2000 graphic chip is fair enough to run the game, especially with no 3D rendering. I think the virtualization softwares are the key in this case. More specifically, VMware 3D support is way better than Virtualbox's .

 

 

It could be interesting to run more tests with more virtualization productions like KVM, Microsoft Hyper-V (already got positive reviews with this one), Xen, Proxmox...