VMware SVGA II display driver for OS X, v1.2.5

[theshark]

thanks again Zenith.

 

Now I have v1.2.1 installed and I am able to take Screenshot with Preview too, but just realized Preview Take Screen Shot might work for me when I had v1.2.0 installed. The problem is Preview could not display the screenshot right after it was taken, so I thought screenshot didnt work. but after I saves it as pdf file, Preview is able to view the image taken. if i saved it as png (or other image format) file, other apps but Preview could view the image. basically same as what Saivert's got.

 

I have below in vmx, and System Profiler recognized vram as 128MB

svga.autodetect = "TRUE"
svga.vramSize = "134217728"

 

and vmware.log shows,

Nov 10 21:48:21.546: vcpu-1| Guest: IOAC: Screen Object On
Nov 10 21:48:21.546: vcpu-1| Guest: IOAC: SVGA3D On, 3D HWVersion == 2.0

 

just for test purpose, i doubled the vram in vmx with autodetect off,

svga.autodetect = "FALSE"
svga.vramSize = "268435456"

 

vmware.log shows vram size got decreased, and then System Profiler still shows vram as 128MB

Nov 10 21:47:26.265: vmx| Decreasing vramSize to 134217728 (configured size 268435456 too big)

 

does vmware workstation 7 determine vram size based on the hardware i have?

[g54pcys]

I have 10.6.1 up and running on VMWare 7 / Win7x32. With 1.1 video driver I had the screen auto-fitting automatically without needed to use the guest patches. With 1.2.1 this no longer functions. I tried installing the guest patches and the first time it didn't work upon reboot. I reapplied them and it did work on reboot. The third and subsequent reboots fail to work again. Is there any trick to getting auto-fit working again?

[Zenith432]

I have 10.6.1 up and running on VMWare 7 / Win7x32. With 1.1 video driver I had the screen auto-fitting automatically without needed to use the guest patches.

That can't be right as such. If you had the tools auto-fitting without patching then you were using VMware's driver, not mine.

 

With 1.2.1 this no longer functions. I tried installing the guest patches and the first time it didn't work upon reboot. I reapplied them and it did work on reboot. The third and subsequent reboots fail to work again. Is there any trick to getting auto-fit working again?

It works for me. I've made no change in that function. Which version of VMware Tools are you using? The ones from Fusion 2.0.x or Fusion 3.0? If you're using Tools from Fusion 3.0, and you replace libresolutionSet.dylib, make sure not to leave the original in the same folder. I did this initially and it causes the kind of problems you describe. What happens is that the Tools daemon loads both dylibs, there are conflicts between them, and they mess up. You should only have one libresolutionSet.dylib in that folder

- The original if you're using VMwareGfx.kext as the video driver

- The patched one if you're using VMsvga2.kext as the video driver

 

 

Update on another issue

I've found there are still problems with the "Grab" application

- Grabbing with a selection - the selection graphics is messed up and sometimes it stops selecting by itself even when you don't release the mouse button.

workwaround: you can still do selection screenshots with hotkeys outside of Grab

- Grabbing a window - the Grab application freezes the system.

 

I'm going to be looking into these problems. In the meantime, it's better to do screenshots with hotkeys and not Grab.

[theshark]

Update on another issue

I've found there are still problems with the "Grab" application

- Grabbing with a selection - the selection graphics is messed up and sometimes it stops selecting by itself even when you don't release the mouse button.

workwaround: you can still do selection screenshots with hotkeys outside of Grab

- Grabbing a window - the Grab application freezes the system.

 

I'm going to be looking into these problems. In the meantime, it's better to do screenshots with hotkeys and not Grab.

 

Found the same problem a couple of days ago. didnt get a chance to report :-) . the window one is annoying as it freeze everything but the mouse. i had to power off the VM. thanks mate for looking into it!

 

Grab is the one called by Preview to take screenshots, isn't it?

 

please see hotkeys below in case someone is interested but didn't know it. I am new to Mac too and just found it 10 minutes ago!

 

command+shift+3 Full screenshot


command+shift+4 Crosshair to allow selection of screenshot area


command+shift+4, then spacebar Camera to capture specific screen object -> this may freeze your VM 10.6.x!

 

and one more edit :-) , try SnapNDrag (freeware) to take screenshots and it does work for ALL (Full, Selection and Window) whilst Zenith is fixing issues with Grab / Preview.

[g54pcys]

I'm using Fusion 3 tools. Only 1 lib file, I'm guess the -p in cp overwrites the old file? I checked my kext folder and removed the VMwareGfx ones, and also did a chmod 775 (or 755? Can't remember, found a site about installing kexts) on the lib file just incase.

 

Seems to be working now, probably the VMGfx kexts were to blame. Thanks.

[MSoK]

That can't be right as such. If you had the tools auto-fitting without patching then you were using VMware's driver, not mine.

 

It works for me. I've made no change in that function. Which version of VMware Tools are you using? The ones from Fusion 2.0.x or Fusion 3.0? If you're using Tools from Fusion 3.0, and you replace libresolutionSet.dylib, make sure not to leave the original in the same folder. I did this initially and it causes the kind of problems you describe. What happens is that the Tools daemon loads both dylibs, there are conflicts between them, and they mess up. You should only have one libresolutionSet.dylib in that folder

- The original if you're using VMwareGfx.kext as the video driver

- The patched one if you're using VMsvga2.kext as the video driver

 

 

Update on another issue

I've found there are still problems with the "Grab" application

- Grabbing with a selection - the selection graphics is messed up and sometimes it stops selecting by itself even when you don't release the mouse button.

workwaround: you can still do selection screenshots with hotkeys outside of Grab

- Grabbing a window - the Grab application freezes the system.

 

I'm going to be looking into these problems. In the meantime, it's better to do screenshots with hotkeys and not Grab.

 

Zenith432,

 

Sorry to be asking such a basic question, but can you point me to the relevant location of the .dylib and / or .kext files for doing the changes that have been mentioned. Still getting to grips with OS X at the command line.

 

Cheers.

[Zenith432]

Sorry to be asking such a basic question, but can you point me to the relevant location of the .dylib and / or .kext files for doing the changes that have been mentioned. Still getting to grips with OS X at the command line.

I made an installer for the patches so it's not necessary to install them from the command line anymore.

[Zenith432]

VMsvga2 v1.2.2

 

Changelog from 1.2.1 to 1.2.2

 

This is a bugfix release related to several apps from OS 10.6.

 

1. Fixed crash in "DVD Player". It still doesn't work, but exits gracefully with an error message.
   
2. Fixed invisible selection frame in the Grab application.
   
3. Grabbing a window in Grab freezes the system (same result for a hotkey-based window screenshot).
   
   • This looks like a problem in the WindowServer. It takes a sequence of steps that lead it into a deadlock.
     
   • I've added ad-hoc code in the driver to prevent the deadlock, but the window-grab feature still doesn't work. I suggest using selection-grabs instead which work both in the Grab application and with hotkeys.
     

[*]Optimized some unnecessary memory allocations in the main code sequence followed by the WindowServer.

There is now a common installer for the Leopard and SnowLeopard versions (see link in Post #1.)

 

Edit [11/17/2009]: I also added an uninstall script - uninstall.sh in the top folder.

 

This completes the bugfixes for VMsvga2 release 1.2.x. Please believe me that not all broken apps in OS 10.6 can be fixed from the display driver. Some require QE/CI. Some have issues not related to the display driver.

[theshark]

it's really cool that now I can hear the shutter sounds when i take screenshots with hotkeys!! you fixed both audio and video drivers!!

 

thanks mate. you are my hero!

[jawcl]

I installed this on my virtual machine. Although, it lags a lot, how can I fix this? I have a Nvidia Geforce 9100 with 256MB of dedicated graphics and iAtkos v7 on VMware Workstation.

[sofakng]

How can I tell if this kext/driver is installed properly?

 

I think I was using VMwareGfx but just installed this one instead...

 

Also, does it provide better hardware acceleration? (should I be using that 3D switch as well?)

[Death Knight (tm)]

Hi.

I downloaded and installed this driver.

But I don't use VMWare, instead using qemu-kvm (from 64 bit linux) with -vga vmware flag.

 

I can load VMWare Tools for Windows and they work on it.

But On my Virtual Mac installation, It says:

VGA: family specific matching fails

for 5-6 times and after

SVGADev: Init: failed to get memory map BAR2 registers

when I try to start with '-v'

 

Do you plan to support qemu-kvm too? It only support 2D, no 3D but I think it will not hard to make this run for qemu too since its compatible with windows drivers...

 

thanks

[Caitanya]

Hi all,

 

I'd like to thank Zenith for his efford and at the same time I'd like to ask for some guidance. I have Snow Leopard 10.6.2 as guest on Windows 7 7600. I have an Acer Timeline 4810 and it has the Intel 4500MHD chip. Thanks to this driver everything works great, the screen is very responsive and I can even watch videos on Youtube

 

Here's my request: I've looked all over the web and can't seem to find a way to insert 1366x768 as a custom resolution. It worked before installing this driver (by modifying com.boot.plist), but this driver is so good I ain't going back. I've tried SwitchResX but it doesn't work in SL, as well as something called newscreen which didn't work either. Can anyone help? It's not that big of an issue, I have set it to 1280x768 and it quite ok except for two black stripes on each side. Can you maybe add this resolution to the driver? Is there something I can do maybe? But be warned, I'm new to OSX, but I'm learning as I go.

 

Thanks for any help, I'd really appreciate it.

 

EDIT: tried DisplayConfigX - doesn't work either.

[adamsweeting]

If the driver is working correctly then you should see a list of resolutions in the Display preferences.

[Caitanya]

If the driver is working correctly then you should see a list of resolutions in the Display preferences.

 

There is a list, I was asking about the 1366x768 resolution which is not on it. Thanx for the reply though.

 

Cheers.

[wackou]

Hi !

 

First,thanks for your great driver !

 

Now,did you try to enable QE ? I think that is hard to writte something like that =s

 

Maybe you can try to make a "fake",MacOSX view capable graphic card etc....beacuse i search how to lauch final cut studio before make a real Hackintsoh =D

 

Thans for reply !

 

Wackou

[ArgVega]

Hello I was also wondering if it would be possible to add the 1366x768 resolution.

 

I was looking through the source code and all I found was it needed to be added to the modes.cpp

 

7, 1366, 768, kDisplayModeValidFlag | kDisplayModeSafeFlag,

 

 

 

but I'm afraid thats not it, because I think the 1st num is the mode id which tells the driver how to map it. does anyone have any ideas how to add support for this mode?

 

thanks for any help

[adamsweeting]

Have you tried booting with the resolution specified in the boot plist? Or by entering in graphics mode bootflags?

[ArgVega]

yes that was my first try, but when it booted it didn't expand the guest screen size and it was all distorted like a graphics drive error.

 

I didn't know if it was due to 1366x768 being 14:9 and the original driver had it set to 4:3, I will try later today, but I didn't know if it had to be coded into the driver itself.

 

Do you know how to add that resolution to the driver?

 

EDIT:

 

Did not work, reverted back to the selected resolution which was 1280x768, it seems it must be coded into the driver itself.

 

Any ideas, I have tried comparing the previous versions but the only place I find the different resolutions is in the modes.cpp

[ArgVega]

I did a little bit more searching and believe that resolutions are indeed added in the modes.cpp, would anybody who has xcode working possibly wanna try adding this line in the modes.cpp and recompiling?

 

X, 1366, 768, kDisplayModeValidFlag | kDisplayModeSafeFlag,

 

 

X is whatever number you wanna insert in, the current build has 21 modes so it can be inserted anywhere from 1 to 22..

 

If someone can verify if this is true, I would but do not have xcode on my machine.

 

please let me know if someone wants to collaborate to add more supported resolutions

[ozl]

ok im using a prebuilt image from osx 86 10.6.2 on vmware, video and audio work fine even on quicktime all mp4 and some .avi, if this patch is to enable video on vmware, my question is if there is nothing useful for me here?

[MSoK]

ok im using a prebuilt image from osx 86 10.6.2 on vmware, video and audio work fine even on quicktime all mp4 and some .avi, if this patch is to enable video on vmware, my question is if there is nothing useful for me here?

The driver is an enhanced driver compared to the standard VMware offering, if you can do everthing you want with the standard driver, stick with it, or try Zenth432's drivers and if it does not give you anything extra or better, then revert to the standrd driver.

[mweichert]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know if this helps with viewing movies in quicktime and/or itunes? I'd like to use my macosx VM for everyday use.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[MSoK]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know if this helps with viewing movies in quicktime and/or itunes? I'd like to use my macosx VM for everyday use.

 

Thanks,

Mike

Mike,

If your Host OS supports Quicktime and iTunes directly, as in Windows, why would would you want to run them under a guestOS. If an application is OS X specific then fair enough, but otherwise the overhead is significant, especially graphics intensive applications. Sorry if I am missing the point, MSoK.

[qreed]

Thank you! Great work!

 

My VM is sooo much faster with this driver. Would love to see an auto resize in the future.

 

This forum has helped this MacNoob alot.