A virtual PC is just that. It can (supposedly) do anything a real PC can. The advantage is that you have more (or at least easier) control over the way the virtual "hardware" is set up. Another advantage is that what is inside the virtual machine can only affect that simulated computer, not your real one: For instance, a virus infection inside the simulated PC won't affect your real system. You can install software that you don't trust (beta software perhaps, or some new-fangled OS) on the virtual machine without putting your normal system in danger. Don't like Vista? Just delete the virtual machine!

The disadvantage is that the machine is not as fast as real hardware. The processor itself can be virtualised to the point where performance is quite good and sometimes almost on par with the host system. The simulated video card or sound card will take a lot more processing power than the real thing, though.

If you can install an operating system on a real computer, you should be able to install it on a virtual computer. If you can run games on that OS on a real computer, you should be able to run them on the virtual computer. That doesn't say anything about whether they are playable (performance-wise), though.

Check out this blog from one of the people working on Virtual PC at Microsoft. His blog often mentions the games he runs in there:
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/

You won't find Vmware/Virtual PC mentioned here much because these forums are mostly for DOS games.

Most Windows games work just fine in Windows XP, although there are a few Windows games that require the usage of Vmware/Virtual PC.

Vmware/Virtual PC are not for DOS gaming and are only usefull for non-d3d windows games which most of those run just fine under Windows XP.

As for FreeDOS, barely anyone actually uses it for DOS gaming which is why it also is not mentioned here.

Most Windows games work just fine in Windows XP, although there are a few Windows games that require the usage of Vmware/Virtual PC.

There will be more that don't as 64 bit Windows becomes more main stream. The fact that DOSBox now runs Win3x as well as it does makes the loss of the ability to run 16 bit programs less of a concern.

I think it would be a good idea for VOGONS to create sub-forums for discussing the when's and how's of using virtual machines for gaming. It may be early days yet, but I think the time is right to do it now with the announcement of free versions of Virtual PC and WMware Server.

Maybe it should be 3 sub-forums? For MS VPC, WMware, and Others (for XEN, QEMU, and perhaps DOSBox running DOS-images??).

Probably just a general virtulization/emulation forum. I can't see use getting that much traffic for each seperate product...hell we probably won't even get that much for one. VPC/Vmware has been out for ages and they are really not mentioned that much here.....and honestly do you really think (unless VMware/VPC become alot better as in better sound support/DX/OGL), that they will be used that much in the future?

Sure those of us with the smarts (or dumbness.....) to use these products to get our games that will work no other way will use these products but the masses at large will just assume that the game does not work and give up.

VMWare and VPC have not been mentioned often here in the past because they were too expensive to be used strictly for gaming purposes; this has suddenly become a non-issue, so interest in these programs is bound to increase.

Vmware Server has been free (although in beta for quite some time).

Virtual Server has been free for quite some time. (Although no sound support).

Qemu has always been free and runs 1995 era 9x games and other 2D games just fine.

Bochs is a PITA so no wonder no one mentions that.

DOSEmu has been around forever but no one ever uses that here (DosBox rules of course).

Yes, interest will increase but it will be ignorance mostly. Now instead of people getting their Windows games working in host windows (which most will if they bother to use compatibility mode or to search the internet), they will try their game once in host Windows, get some odd error message like, "Not supported in NT", They try compatibility mode or their compatibility mode option has disappeared and it still doesn't work, so they search the internet and discover "ALOT" of people using VPC for their old games. So now we have a ton of ignorant users installing games in VPC when they should be using them in Windows.

Heck, alot of people even now use VPC over XP/VDMSound/DosBox because they think VPC is "better". (ie it works barely but it works so they are happy).

I think our official stance on VMware\VPC on these forums should be:

1. Don't ask us about DOS games in Vmware\VPC unless you are 1995+ era games on pre-1ghz processors. (Unless support for DOS changes in the future). (Or some other game like System Shock/Blood that is demanding on newer PC's).

2. Don't ask us about D3D/OGL games in VMware\VPC.

3. Make sure that user has tried the game in their host Windows before using VPC. 95% of the time (probably higher) the game should work. If the user insists on using a game in VPC that works perfectly fine in Windows and wants some help on an emulation related issue then they can bugger off.

VMWare Server and Virtual Server were never intended to play games and they do so very poorly (not to mention that Virtual Server's IIS interface makes Bochs look terribly simple by comparison and restricts the program to WinXP Pro and Server '03).
Qemu is probably a bit too cumbersome for an average user; I shouldn't have to manually run something like Kqemu in order to get full functionality and performance.
You're exactly right about Bochs; it is best left alone.
DOSEmu is a Linux-only program and thus has a very small potential audience. Also, while I've never used DOSEmu, DOSBox is probably much a better program anyway.

Having said all that, I agree that virtualization is not yet the magic bullet; compatibility modes and MSACT are still the best way to make most Windows games work and most DOS games are perfectly happy after a bit of help from VDMSound. And if nothing else, dual boot is still a viable option for many people.

However, there are exceptions. Take Pod for example. To make Pod work on my system, I can either just install it in my Win98 VM and have it run right away, or I can download and install three patches, then go get dgVoodoo and install and configure that, and then it will probably work (or it might start refusing to recognize the game CD for copy protection purposes and I get to start all over). It took me entirely too long to figure these things out and then even longer to download all this stuff, but VMWare with Win98 ran the thing happily with no help at all. So, while the game can be said to "work perfectly fine" in WinXP, it's a heck of a lot of trouble to get it there. My point is simply that there are exceptions that must be taken into account and we shouldn't refuse to help people just because they have some reason for preferring VMWare or VPC (or even Parallels).

Also, we have to take Vista into account. Unless compatibility is very greatly improved before the final release, that figure of 95% is going to drop like a rock.

First I must say that work with VPC seems to be really easy. Whoever manages to play with DosBox should be able to make a virtual Win98SE-PC.

I installed VPC and Win98SE in less than an hour. I only used the original Software, no updates or whatever, and I also did not tweak the system in any way. Just a clean install.
Then I tested two of the more demanding Dos-Games which are not very playable with DosBox, both in "High-Res".

1. ROTH
ROTH has a "Win95Run"-File. I started it - and everything just worked. The sound was a bit choppy, especially the slow background music could be annoying, and there where some hickups in the voices, but the movement felt more fluid than DosBox. In the game itself there weren't any severe slowdowns, and the music isn't that much of an issue. I guess some would prefer the VPC-solution over DosBox.

2. CM
CM can be configured under W98, but to start it, you first have to restart in DosMode. In the setup menu, SBPro works best, but in the game itself - well, you mostly hear either nothing at all or distorted sound. Next: movement. DosBox is too slow for fluid movement, but W98-DosMode does it. You can move absolutely fluidly, that is, if your keyboard responds. Often times, the movement key you press is kind of locked, so if you - say - move left, you turn left infinitely, until you hit escape (for the menu) and then go back to the game.
From what I see, it is totally unplayable in W98-DosMode, what is a shame because otherwise it would be perfect if not for these strange sound issues and these silly keyboard lockups. W98-DosMode is noticeably faster than DosBox.

That is it for now. I guess there won't be a "Virtual" Forum here, so I do not want to bore you with more findings regarding VPC - or VMWare, in case I'll give it a shot, too.