Using a Virtual Machine to play SC4

[PaPa-J]

I am curious, does anyone play SC4 on a Virtual Machine for Windows?

I am currently running Windows 10 and after a recent security update SC4 Crashes.  I can not uninstall the update, windows won't allow it. I've tried a system restore and it still does not work.  So I was curious if I could install a Virtual Machine and run Windows XP or Windows 7 and install the game and play that way.

If it is doable, how much memory do you recommend having?  How taxing is it on the Processor?  Is game play affected in anyway?

Thanks for your input!

[McDuell]

I once experimented a bit and still have an older VM laying around which I just tested again. SC4 generally works fine on my VM. (I can't open some cities (CTD), but the cause here might well be that my plugin folder only consists of the NAM and thus is missing all the other plugin references stored in a saved city.) Scrolling seems a bit laggier in reference to my main installation, but nothing game-breaking here. I can even use the OpenGL-mode in my VM.

- Host system: Windows 7 Pro, i7-860 (4-core with HT), 8GB RAM, Radeon 5850
- Virtualizer: VMWare Workstation 12 Player
- Guest system: Windows XP Pro, 2 cores, 2GB RAM
- SC4 runs windowed with DirectX (or OpenGL). As in every other installation, SC4 only uses 1 core, which usage is maxed.

Please mind that SC4 is running fine in my VM-setup, so it might be a bit different depending on what hardware/VM solution you use. If you have lots of RAM on your host, you might give your VM up to 3-4GB of RAM depending on your plugins size. Don't use more than 4GB though as the game can't make use of the excess memory anyway.

M.

[PaPa-J]

Thanks for your reply and all the info.  I will keep these things in mind.