Tux Racer in Linux Guests Broken by 3.1.0 -> Fixed in SVN

[Caleb]

Tux Racer (​http://tuxracer.sourceforge.net/) has display problems when running on an Ubuntu 8.10 guest on Virtualbox 3.1.0 (latest guest additions and Ubuntu updates installed.) The game runs and doesn't crash, but texture colors and transparencies are wrong. Note in the attached screenshot that trees seem to be floating; this is because the "ground" is rendered as transparent. Occasionally, terrain is rendered in random colors. The physics still work, and display problems aside, the game is still somewhat playable.

Note that this game worked perfectly up to 3.0.12

Host: Windows Vista SP2 on a late 2008 Intel Macbook (Intel GMA X3100 graphics) with Boot Camp drivers

[Caleb]

A screenshot of display errors in the game

[Caleb]

Confirming that the bug is still present in 3.1.2

[Sander van Leeuwen]

Please check if 3.1.4 beta 1 solves the problem: ​http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=27300

[Caleb]

Unfortunately, as soon as I open Tux Racer and try to play a course on 3.1.4 beta (with the new guest additions installed), the Virtualbox GUI crashes:

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: VirtualBox.exe Application Version: 3.1.4.0 Application Timestamp: 4b61be90 Fault Module Name: ig4icd32.dll Fault Module Version: 8.15.10.1912 Fault Module Timestamp: 4aaa7ee4 Exception Code: c0000005 Exception Offset: 000ffed0 OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.48 Locale ID: 1033 Additional Information 1: 1ec0 Additional Information 2: 1ec0fd70d07d060e5bfcf53c69ad1739 Additional Information 3: 2c48 Additional Information 4: 2c48940de5e7d1cb2e131ad6a0ca2feb

[Caleb]

Just as an update: my host is now Windows 7 with Boot Camp 3.1 drivers (I upgraded from Vista)

[Caleb]

OK, I ran some more tests, and I found that the crash only occurs if you try mixing Compiz in the guest and Tux Racer. Without Compiz, I can get the game to startup and run.

However, the performance on some levels is very poor. For example, the "Volcanos" level, which has many textures, drops to around 4 fps. (Performance was much better on older versions of Virtualbox, before 3.1).

[Caleb]

Forgot to mention, the "Volcanos" level can be found on the practice menu.

Also, I noticed a new phenomenon with this build that I didn't see with Virtualbox before version 3.1. It's very subtle, but I sometimes can notice small red lines near the horizon. I have attached a screen capture of this effect.

[Caleb]

Small red lines can be seen near the horizon

[Caleb]

Now that I think of it, the performance problems with levels like "Volcanos" were present in pre 3.1 releases as well. I think I was just more observant because I was trying to make sure the problems were fixed in 3.1.4 beta. However, the texture display problems are fixed with 3.1.4 (beta 1 and 2).

[Frank Mehnert]

Should be fixed in 3.2.0.