Gaming in vmware Horizon
- Thread starter Rand__
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Since Virtualizing my Windows desktop I've the played the following games though Steam:
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
Genital Jousting
H1Z1: King of the Kill
Mini Metro
RimWorld
Borderlands 2 Game of the Year
Cities: Skylines - After Dark
Cities: Skylines
The Banner Saga
Tropico 4
Psychonauts
Banished
Bastion
Bioshock Infinite (WW)
Civilization V
Syberia Collection
FTL: Faster Than Light
From Dust
L.A. Noire Complete Edition
Fallout: New Vegas
Left 4 Dead 2
Mass Effect 2
Portal 2
Unfortunately CS:GO was a no-go. Hopefully this doesn't expand to other titles.
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
Genital Jousting
H1Z1: King of the Kill
Mini Metro
RimWorld
Borderlands 2 Game of the Year
Cities: Skylines - After Dark
Cities: Skylines
The Banner Saga
Tropico 4
Psychonauts
Banished
Bastion
Bioshock Infinite (WW)
Civilization V
Syberia Collection
FTL: Faster Than Light
From Dust
L.A. Noire Complete Edition
Fallout: New Vegas
Left 4 Dead 2
Mass Effect 2
Portal 2
Unfortunately CS:GO was a no-go. Hopefully this doesn't expand to other titles.
Ok, so its indeed limited to a few games then, thats good.
What is the impact - that you can't connect to (multiplayer) game servers for that particular game (as the link you gave implicated)?
Or are there more serious repercussions?
I thought I had read somewhere (a while ago when this came up initially here) that the steam account could get locked for 'attempted cheating' which would be ... drastic.
What is the impact - that you can't connect to (multiplayer) game servers for that particular game (as the link you gave implicated)?
Or are there more serious repercussions?
I thought I had read somewhere (a while ago when this came up initially here) that the steam account could get locked for 'attempted cheating' which would be ... drastic.
My experience was after playing a half dozen rounds or so of CS:GO it stopped letting me join VAC secured servers with this message: Disconnected by VAC: You cannot play on secure servers - Multiplayer Connection Issues (PC) - Knowledge Base - Steam Support
There wasn't any threats of banning or account locking, and I was able to get a refund.
I do worry that banning hypervisors might be a thing in multiplayer games going forward which would be a real bummer.
So, I finally got around to try the workstation card with a VM.
Unfortunately for whatever reasons the sound is distorted and I have not been able to work around that :/
This was not an issue when using it with a physical host.
So to sum up (ESX based point of view only):
Goal: To use my zero client for playing games at at least FHD quality
1. Official way would be to use Grid Kk1/2 for shared or Quadro for dedicated box -> expensive, bad gaming performance (or even more $$$)
2. Consumer Graphics Card passthrough works for AMD/Nvidia locally (i.e. directly attached monitor/usb) but not remotely via rdp/horizon view
3. one can use KVM (HDMI/USB) extenders to transport output to another location (via Ethernet) but those are not cheap for good quality, will not work directly with Thin Client but KVM switch enables reuse of monitor/peripherals
4. Another option is the Teradici workstation card which basically does the same but can be integrated into a Horizon environment
4a. Use as intended - Physical Box with workstation card, install horizon client to enable Thin Client/Horizon access, or use directly (need session type change in thin client, slightly annoying
4b. Combines 4.a and 2 (Pass though workstation card to VM as well). Works for video, I had sound issues. No direct integration with View Connection server as view agent treats this as vm and not pseudo-physical so will connect only via vm so no external video functionality. Direct connect works ok.
It would have been great to get 4b working to have double use of the hardware, but for now I think I'll stick with 4a. Basically this just moves my old PC to a remote location and enables the use of the zero client as frontend.
Workstation cards can be gotten for around €100-150 so not the cheapest solution but no (extra) heat and noise in the office is great, so I think I like it
Unfortunately for whatever reasons the sound is distorted and I have not been able to work around that :/
This was not an issue when using it with a physical host.
So to sum up (ESX based point of view only):
Goal: To use my zero client for playing games at at least FHD quality
1. Official way would be to use Grid Kk1/2 for shared or Quadro for dedicated box -> expensive, bad gaming performance (or even more $$$)
2. Consumer Graphics Card passthrough works for AMD/Nvidia locally (i.e. directly attached monitor/usb) but not remotely via rdp/horizon view
3. one can use KVM (HDMI/USB) extenders to transport output to another location (via Ethernet) but those are not cheap for good quality, will not work directly with Thin Client but KVM switch enables reuse of monitor/peripherals
4. Another option is the Teradici workstation card which basically does the same but can be integrated into a Horizon environment
4a. Use as intended - Physical Box with workstation card, install horizon client to enable Thin Client/Horizon access, or use directly (need session type change in thin client, slightly annoying
4b. Combines 4.a and 2 (Pass though workstation card to VM as well). Works for video, I had sound issues. No direct integration with View Connection server as view agent treats this as vm and not pseudo-physical so will connect only via vm so no external video functionality. Direct connect works ok.
It would have been great to get 4b working to have double use of the hardware, but for now I think I'll stick with 4a. Basically this just moves my old PC to a remote location and enables the use of the zero client as frontend.
Workstation cards can be gotten for around €100-150 so not the cheapest solution but no (extra) heat and noise in the office is great, so I think I like it
I just played Civilization V last week at my Android tablet via RDP.
I used Windows Server 2016, RemoteFX with Quadro P400. Not a lot horsepower, but was fun to play some Civilization while lying on the couch...
At first i also try to GPU passthrough P400 into W10 machine, but Civilization having troubles going full screen.
After i switched to WS2016/RemoteFX it work like expected.
I also gave a try to Europa Universalis IV and Tropico 5.
EUIV not produce 3D while i did not change graphic settings, all 3D areas at screen was black, but at minimal settings it appears. Has issue with mouse tracking at tablet, non-playable with touch screen, my diagnosis.
Tropico 5 also has some troubles with textures, but i was able to observe my island. Maybe it also can be fixed with minimal settings, but i didn't try, because Civilization was pretty enough for couch.
Sorry for WS2016 offtopic.
PS I will like WS2016 much more, once Microsoft will add 21:9 resolution support to RemoteFX. With 3440x1440 display i seeing black fields from sides with only 2560x1440 resolution. Sad, but RemoteFX support 4K resolution, but not 21:9. But i like how RemoteFX work. It's cheap and easy, no need GRID or any else expensive card.
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Based on what I've read here, it sounds like if you are using a physical computer, with a PCoIP card, it should work fine? On top of that, it's my understanding that you can install some Horizon software on physical machines with the PCoIP cards in them, and then use horizon that way? I wonder if that would cause issues in terms of latency and/or mouse movement.
I didnt manage to access the host card via horizon for a reason I can't remember - audio i think
Atm I am using rdp to physical machine for low fps stuff like 'pillars of horizon' and direct 'Connect to host' from thin client to workstation card for fps games like 'doom'
Atm I am using rdp to physical machine for low fps stuff like 'pillars of horizon' and direct 'Connect to host' from thin client to workstation card for fps games like 'doom'
Hmmm ok, when I read it, I thought you said the audio issue was when it was in a VM, but I might be mistaken.
I have heard that you can install the view agent on a physical desktop, and connect it to the view servers for use with Horizon. Do you have any experience with that? I bet it wouldn't be as good as having the workstation card when it comes to gaming though.
Yea, that's what I figured, without the workstation card, it's probably pretty pointless outside of testing. It also sounds like Teradici is beta testing 4k UHD support, with potential firmware updates for Tera2 cards. Would be interesting to see what happens with that.
Also don't have a thin client yet, just a laptop, and no way to hook it up to the 3 1080p displays I am currently using. Might just hold off and see if there is a better way to do what I want.
Also don't have a thin client yet, just a laptop, and no way to hook it up to the 3 1080p displays I am currently using. Might just hold off and see if there is a better way to do what I want.
You know, that's what I was thinking, but it's one of those newer 2016 MBPs with the USB-C ports, and there are no good docks that have true multi-monitor support like usually expected.A docking station might be helpful to you?
I'm waiting on the TB3 version of this: Tethered Docks but it still only has 2 mini-DP connections. The other thing I was looking at would be an eGPU enclosure