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Notes on virtualbox 7.2 #176
Description
I tried getting the latest SoftGPU version running in VirtualBox 7.2.4 on ZEN 4 (Ryzen 9 7950X) and the documentation needs a few updates so people don't trap in the same issues i have.
- AMD Zen 2+ Optimizations is required for any modern Ryzen Zen 2+ CPU, otherwise windows 98 crashes randomly a lot with virtual memory related bluescreens.
2: AC97 is only working when 1. is applied before the windows setup and only accepts Intel ICH AC'97 drivers. Realtek ones are not compatible!
- Do not install any drivers or enable DMA before 1. is applied!
Can you @JHRobotics adjust the documentations for virtualbox? That would be great and removes a lot of questions and future problems.
Also it would be wise to add a few lines for making the use of virtualbox less annoying:
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CD ISO, FTP file transfer and mounting the drive directly is the only way to get games to the guest VM, USB 1.1 is too slow. RebexTinyFtpServer is a simple solution on win hosts that supports older FTP protocols. Filezilla 2.1.9a runs great in win98. Required bridged network of course and a full DHCP network setup on the outside. The alternative is mounting the VHD drive directly and copy the files directly into that.
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No aspect ratio scaling in neither window or fullscreen VM output, so you always have to use your native screen resolution and need to enable (1440p or 4K) in SoftGPU
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Use screen resolutions in height that matches your native resolution, otherwise you may get a tiny screen in the center
Edit: Post changed to not be a rant. Sry.
Activity
[-]SoftGPU runs on virtualbox 7.2 but it is a bad experience[/-][+]SoftGPU runs on virtualbox 7.2 but it is a bad experience due to VBox[/+][-]SoftGPU runs on virtualbox 7.2 but it is a bad experience due to VBox[/-][+]Notes on virtualbox 7.2[/+]njdister commentedon Oct 26, 2025
I have no issues with AC97 sound on Virtualbox 7.1.12. Ryzen 5900X running Windows 11.
f1nalspace commentedon Oct 27, 2025
It was never working for me, regardless of the VirtualBox version. I tried dozens of drivers, including the one @JHRobotics linked in the documentation. Not a single one works.
In 7.1 the sound icon is there and all the audio devices are correct, but regardless what i open - sound was not playing at all.
Maybe something about creative soundblaster AE-7 and the windows 11 host integration is busted.
The-Solutor commentedon Oct 27, 2025
@f1nalspace
You're not telling which host it is.
If it's a linux host be sure you're using the correct host audio (Pulseaudio v.s. Alsa....)
You don't mention also if sound blaster works.
While the SB card in Vbox is not as good as in VMware, it's something that may be worth to use, given it greatly simplify things for dos applications (if the virtual card chosen is AC97 be sure to use the vxd drivers for win95 not the sys/wdm for 98 or ME, the latter lacks the SB emulation),
f1nalspace commentedon Oct 27, 2025
I am using a windows 11 pro host (AMD Ryzen Zen 4) with a soundblaster AE-7 PCIe audio card. Guest is Windows 98 SE.
On VirtualBox 7.1 i tried ALL AC97 drivers i could find on the internet - either the driver was not working or it was installing just fine but no sound was playing.
On VirtualBox 7.2 i don't even have a chance to install any drivers, because win 98 simply crashes after the first reboot - when AC97 is set.
So currently i am using the SB16 as fallback.
The only thing that i haven't tried so far, is to force audio host to either "DirectSound" or "Windows Audio Session" instead of "Standard". But i assume DirectSound is standard anyway, so i can try WASAPI instead.
f1nalspace commentedon Oct 27, 2025
I got AC'97 working now! Doing step 1. (applying ryzen patches) as the very first step, before installing windows 98 fixed the crash.
Before, i was applying those patches after the win 98 installation, which simply does not work anymore since vbox 7.2 (for any modern ryzen CPU).
Also the only driver that is working is the following (Intel ICH AC'97) from this site:
https://archive.org/details/ac-97-wdm-driver-for-windows-98
Any realtek driver will not work and has the issue i already explained before!
Short tests:
I updated my initial post.
nanitaro commentedon Oct 29, 2025
@f1nalspace
I have a question.
There have been multiple reports that Ryzen won't function unless SMT is disabled. Will this be improved with “Zen Optimizations”?
Or is it a separate issue?
The-Solutor commentedon Oct 31, 2025
Ryzen means nothing. it's almost 2026 and the first Ryzen was released in 2017, it's amost the same timeframe we had from the first Pentium 1 to the first Athlon 64.
All I can say is that my Ryzen 2400G works w/o any additional host setting (just Patch9x and patchmem on the guest). For newer gens you need to be more precise so the owners of such CPUs can help.
nanitaro commentedon Oct 31, 2025
Ryzen doesn't mean nothing.
You can find reports about Ryzen in Patch9x.
These reports cannot be meaningless.
Just because it's been going on for years, since 2017, doesn't mean it's meaningless.
JHRobotics/patcher9x#26
JHRobotics/patcher9x#19
JHRobotics/patcher9x#18
The-Solutor commentedon Oct 31, 2025
This is exactly what I suggested to not do if you care about DOS games.
But obviously if your interest is limited to Win32 SW you're fine.
Whatever, this is how a VBox machine devmgr looks with VXD drivers (no WDM writing in description and additional SB emulation device)
nanitaro commentedon Oct 31, 2025
@The-Solutor
Your comment is meaningless.
The-Solutor commentedon Oct 31, 2025
Or your reading ability is subpar.
I mean we have 5 or so generations and + more sub generations of Ryzens, what's valid for a Ryzen 1600 is likely not valid for a Ryzen 5xxx or 9xxx (and viceversa).
So if you need good answers, first learn to ask good questions.
nanitaro commentedon Oct 31, 2025
Given that we know that there are multiple reports that are not specific to any particular generation,
it would be a sign of poor reading comprehension to try to gloss over the issue by talking about generations.
@The-Solutor didn't confirm the Ryzen SMT issues.
And even after confirming them, he tried to gloss over them by talking about generations.
The-Solutor commentedon Oct 31, 2025
Ok. Last message here, as I don't have time to waste with arrogant kids.
I HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH MY RYZEN (Zen 1+) SMT, is that clear?
Also the official readme clearly suggests to add additional settings to VM configs when dealing with ZEN2 or newer CPUs.
No matter what happens in your parallel world, in real one generations matter.
Bye.
nanitaro commentedon Oct 31, 2025
In the real world, generations don't matter.
There are more than enough examples.
It's ugly to ignore the examples I've given you and drown in your own world.
I pray for your spiritual maturity.
In your parallel world, people may be praised for feeling superior by looking down on others as children when things get inconvenient, but that's not the case here.
JHRobotics/patcher9x#26
JHRobotics/patcher9x#19
JHRobotics/patcher9x#18
f1nalspace commentedon Nov 1, 2025
Calm down, i adjusted the initial post to be more explicit -.-
I have a Zen 4 and Zen 5 system and both has the same problems i described above:
Regarding SMT, i never have changed anything in my BIOS, so it is enabled.
Also i don't care about DOS games at all, so if a emulation driver is not present - this is not a problem for me.
When i want to play DOS games, i am using other apps that are much more suitable for that job.
About the issue with AC'97, i will look into this further and test more drivers, maybe i just used the wrong ones.
nanitaro commentedon Nov 1, 2025
Thank you for your kind answer.
I think that I was able to confirm importance of AMD Zen 2+ Optimizations.
f1nalspace commentedon Nov 1, 2025
So i tried dozens of AC'97 drivers and i finally found one that is working (5.10.0.5440) in VirtualBox 7.2!
Works:
These does not work (either crash or sound not working):
The-Solutor commentedon Nov 1, 2025
Perhaps WinME has a stock AC 97 WDM driver that works perfectly in Win98SE (likely not in W98FE, but I didn't test it, so I'm not sure).
Which is good thing for people who don't care about DOS compatibility
On the other hand the VXD driver still works perfectly in WinME
Which is a good thing for people who care about DOS.
In short, aside the urban legends surrounding it, WinME is a way better choice than Win98SE, less troubles with drivers, way less updates/patches/reboots needed to get it in a sane status.
The only real disadvantage is the lack of real mode DOS support, which is deadly simple to get back.
andrew-hoffman commentedon Nov 27, 2025
I'm going to mention here that I now have a mostly usable HD Audio driver for Windows 98se and newer, at least it's working on VMWare and Virtualbox and not so much with real hardware yet. For VMWare you have to edit the VMX to let you use HD Audio on a 98 VM.
https://github.com/andrew-hoffman/wdmhda