Running Stick Online through a Virtual Machine

[sly 3 4 me]

This topic has been revamped and the information has been adjusted as of May 8th, 2011.

The red font will be used for topic summary information. The information before and after the red is also worth a read. Green and other colour font will be used for informative areas. Maroon will be used for steps which are needed by all individuals, regardless of which OS they will be running.

This topic is to help people who either don't have two computers and would like to play on two of their accounts to help level each faster, or if you are annoyed with using two computers. This method requires the use of real Hard Drive space on your primary disk drive and it is recommended to use atleast 4GB. With the operating system and a few applications it should only be around 2-3GB. This method is in no way violating any of the rules in the read-me of Stick Online.

This process will allow you to run two Stick Online clients.

The required paraphernalia for this method is:

A CD/DVD or an ISO with the operating system you would like to run the virtual machine on. It is advised to use either the same operating system you are using right now. (Windows 7 Ultimate and using Home Premium or ultimate as the Virtual Machine. And Windows XP with Windows XP on the Virtual Machine)

The Virtual Machine program¹ is used with Windows operating systems. Virtual Fusion² can be used to run Windows through a Mac if you'd like to try a method such as that(There might be a better way for Mac computers to run two consoles).

¹:The file is 104 MB and contains the .EXE for the installer, no key is required as it does not need activation.

²:The file is 151 MB and contains the installer and a .txt file with a 30 day license key. The key was given with the download, if you would like to extend the trial then you could try to download another trial or 'find a license key which lasts longer. 

A stable amount of RAM(At least 1GB) to run both copies of the operating system. It may be different if you are using different Operating Systems.

A computer with a decent processor(2 cores is best, having each using 1 core; 1 core may cause lag.)
At least 4GB of available Hard Drive Space for the Virtual Machine (For Vista and Windows 7 it is advised to use 8GB)

Future updates: Explaining more in depth as to how to reduce lag.

Note: This post/guide in no way links to any copies of Windows operating systems, genuine keys, or programs bypassing activation, copies of such will be needed beforehand and are not provided in links within the following guide.

1.To begin you will need to download VmWare Player³, or the VmWare Fusion⁴ for Mac users.

³:The file is 104MB. If you are prompted to update (I can't remember if that's the latest version) the program after installing it is best to do as such for maximum performance.

⁴: Not sure how the VmWare Fusion runs, so I can't explain anything on it.. It's 151MB for the file though.

2. Run the installer and create a shortcut to VmWare Player on the desktop and click on it once it has finished installing, the shortcut should look like 3 yellow arrows pointing in three different directions. The program will then request a restart of the computer, it's best to do this now before continuing.

3. Before clicking anything insert your Windows operating system CD/DVD into the disk drive or find where you have your .ISO located. Now that the program is opened there should be four options on the right side, click 'Create a New Virtual Machine'. With this method it will request either the installer disc or the ISO of the disc.

4. Choose your preferred method and click next. Follow the instructions on screen for your chosen operating system. It will ask for a product key for the OS during installation. The process of how you 'obtain' a product key is not up to me if you don't have one, but it will be needed before you can finish the installation.

5.Create a name for the Virtual Machine afterward, it does not matter what the name is, it's best to avoid having it be the name of your computer on your primary operating system. Restarts of the Virtual Machine 'computer' will occur during installation and initial bootup after the OS is installed.

After the installation completes it will install VmWare Tools onto the new Virtual Machine for maximum interaction ability. If you do not see the image, you will need to manually install it from the site. it should look like a grey rectangle with the words VM in white in the middle of the rectangle. It should not have a red X through it, this means it is not active.

Here's an image of how to re-install it or check if it's currently active:



Finishing notes:After the installation finishes all of the current drivers should be fine and accessible as the way your normal operating system performs, if not then you may be required to install a network driver, check the Device Manager if you are unsure if you have all the drivers you need. It should look like a normal desktop now. I can't tell you which resolution is best for your monitor, but try making it at least enough for what the game asks of on start-up of Stick Online, which is 1024x768. I will update this guide if people would like to know more information or are having trouble in any section.

Troubleshooting and lag reduction: I had discussed with Petro on how to reduce his lag. He was using Windows 7 Home Premium as the main machine OS and Windows Professional as the VM OS. He was receiving a large amount of lag no matter what we tried. Eventually it was decided he would try to run Windows 7 as the VM aswell, the lag was completely gone. This next part is how to disable the pop-ups which may occur on the VM because the copy of the OS may not be updated or completely protected.

The pop-ups caused by these notifications will cause lag to the Virtual Machine, so it is best to disable them.

                                                                 

                                                    Windows XP:

   1. Open the Control Panel
   2. Double-click on the Security Center icon security center icon
   
   3. Click on the option "Change the way Security Center alerts me"
   
   4. Uncheck the alert settings boxes you wish and click Ok
   




                                                                                     Windows 7:
                               It's best to simply disable the Action Center to remove all of the possible pop-ups.
   
1. Open the Control Panel and switch to one of the icon views. Select the System Icons module (you might have to scroll down to find it). Locate the Action Center option and select Off on the drop down box to the right. Close the dialog box and the settings will take effect.



2. Alternative if the first one doesn't work and Action Center turns back on: Open the Action Center and select Change Action Center Settings in the left pane. Deselect all the items and click OK. The Action Center will no longer have any problems to report.'



Finally, Windows which are open in the Virtual Machine can decrease the Frames Per Second on the Stick Online console in the Virtual Machine. If you are using CactusCat's 'Hotkeyz' and pause them, the small caption 'Hotkeyz is Paused' will cause the Virtual Machine to lag once you press f1. It will decrease the FPS to around half.

[thekolla]

I didn't read your guide, but i figured it out myself.

I am running Oracle VM VirtualBox with windows xp on my vista machine right now. It is pretty neat :D!

[sly 3 4 me]

Nice, I have had this VM installed for a while, i had used it for windows 98 for a different reason before, but figured it'd work for windows xp too.

[thekolla]

Ends up mine doesnt work very well, stick online wont run and it wont let me install my video driver.

So im going to follow your tutorail, if i get it to work ill post a screenshot in the ingameshots :p.
Thanks for writing the tutorial!

[thekolla]

Sly, can you give me suggestions on what settings to put, stick online is laggy

I have a nvidia geforce 9800gt
3 gb's of ram
and a dual core processor at 3.00ghz

I gave the VM more then half of my ram and it is still slow, any tips?

[sly 3 4 me]

Which operating system are you using as your main system? I can try to make a video tutorial of how I'm running it. I'm not sure if the video recording software can record the window inside the window though.

[thekolla]

I am using windows vista home. And i am running windows xp home in the VM.

[tehrozzy]

What are the list of specs you've assigned to your VM? I cant seem to get stick online to load
"Failed to initialize drawing surfaces. Make sure your specs are good enough and drivers are up to date"
ok the specs bit isn't what it actually said, but that's what it meant.

[thekolla]

You know, when you install windows on virtual you still have to install a service pack, thats what i had to do

[sly 3 4 me]

What are the list of specs you've assigned to your VM? I cant seem to get stick online to load
"Failed to initialize drawing surfaces. Make sure your specs are good enough and drivers are up to date"
ok the specs bit isn't what it actually said, but that's what it meant.

Check to make sure you have enough RAM allocated to the VM. It should be atleast 512MB. Does the message say: "Failed to initialize drawing surfaces. Please check that your graphics card meets the minimum requirements and that your drivers are up-to-date. If your graphics card has little memory, try switching your computer to a lower resolution."? Check to see if the directdraw acceleration is enabled in the directx diagnostics, it's listed under the display tab. It can be reached by initializing dxdiag under the run menu. I am running my Virtual machine on a resolution of 1024 by 768. After I do this I then alter the VM window itself to make it so the stick online window fits in it perfectly. I'm allocating 1GB of ram to the VM. Check the settings in the directx diagnostics to see if you have 3D acceleration enabled too. And yes, the CD I used has a slipstreamed version of windows xp professional SP3 with the latest updates.

[tehrozzy]

Yeah thats what it said. I'll try updating directx first :P
Heh, i was actually running a cracked XP Pro and Virtualbox. Changed to VMplayer and a legit XP Pro (Found the disc and serial :D), still installing but atleast itll be able to update properly.

[tehrozzy]

I know, double post, but i needed the bump for an faster answer
Is vmplayer scaleable like virtualbox? like is there a setting so i can just clickdrag its window size?

[sly 3 4 me]

I updated the main post and colour-coded it. Also, sorry for the delay, YFL; Vmware Player is scalable, here is an image of me adjusting the entire window to crop out the background and taskbar of the OS and simply have it only be the Stick Online client:



I had posted the picture in the in-game shots topic around 3 weeks ago.

[Forum]

3. Before clicking anything insert your Windows operating system CD/DVD into the disk drive or find where you have your .ISO located. Now that the program is opened there should be four options on the right side, click 'Create a New Virtual Machine'. With this method it will request either the installer disc or the ISO of the disc.

Whats .iso? Also what windows operating system cd and for the product key for windows could that key be the one used for registering my current windows otherwise i just confused on this. Please read this, thanks.

[sly 3 4 me]

An .ISO is an image file. It's basically the CD/DVD ripped into a file. It contains all of the information a CD/DVD would contain. If you didn't know what it was, then it's most likely you don't have an .ISO of your CD/DVD. Not sure what the second sentence means, but I think you're asking for what it means to have the key be on your current operating system partition. It's best to not use the current key you are using for you main partition because Windows Genuine Verification is annoying. If you use the current key you have on your main OS it may become 'suspicious' and the key will be invalidated. If it's invalidated they make you call a phone number and tell them as to why you have used it so many times. It's better to 'obtain' a key from somewhere else or use one which you have from another computer.