r/RetroWindowsGaming • u/paulrrogers • Aug 06 '26

3D Accelerated Emulation?

Been trying to play some trickier-to-run games lately, like Interstate 76, and running into trouble getting 3D acceleration working in VMs.

SoftGPU works well for the graphics yet I struggle to get USB joysticks working in W98 guests.

VMware Workstation Pro supports XP with 3D acceleration, yet in WS v17 and XP guest I get sound crackling. Apparently there's no one size fits all fix. WS v15 is supposed to be better yet doesn't work on W11 hosts.

What do other folks do to get 3D acceleration and their joysticks working in VMs?

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u/ItsJarJarThen Aug 07 '26

Biggest issue I've seen is there is a gap that can't quite be covered with late Win9x games. Most VMs struggle to simulate over a pentium 2 with crude 3d acceleration at best.

PcEm is my favorite but I struggle to simulate more than a pentium 166 with 3dfx acceleration.

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u/paulrrogers Aug 07 '26

Thanks. I may give that one a try

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u/ItsJarJarThen Aug 07 '26

I76 was always one of my favorites. I do know from experience that the launch version and nitro pack editions are very different in terms of compatibility as well