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Optimal VM setup

N

NeoEvaX

Well-known member
I use a Macbook Pro for my at the table Realm works (I use a custom built PC for planning and off table work).

The Macbook I am using a bit older:
15 inch Late 2011
2.4 i7
16 gigs memory
SSD
Dedicated Graphics card.

So I only really use Parallels for Realm works, while at the table. I am wondering what would the best setup inside the VM be to run it, smoothly.
My current Settings:
Hardware:
Processors: 4
Memory: 8 Gigs
Graphics Memory: 512mb

Parallels options:
Performance: Faster Virtual Machine
Adaptive Hypervisor
Tune Windows for speed
Power: Better Performance

VM OS: Win 10

Now from what I have gleaned from the forums CPUs are not as important as RAM, so 8 gigs of ram is probably good. I might be able to lower the processors to 2. And the Graphics memory probably does not need to be that high?

Any suggestions to speed things up a bit? I have noticed it definitely goes slower than on my PC tower I built.

I don't think I am going to want to move to Bootcamp (long story, but can't do it on my machine anymore), but I would be willing to look into VMWare Fusion if its better for this.

Really I want either a better Mac or a dedicated Gaming PC for this. I am just limited to how many computers Hero Lab can be on. Realm works can be on however many as I need, but Hero Lab is limited.

So, Thoughts?

On an aside, I know this has been answered before, I just want to throw the "I would love a Mac or platform agnostic (web) version soon!" into the voting pool.
 
I ran Realm Works on a Parallels set up using a Mac very similar to the specs you lay out here for over a year. I also found it to be sluggish and somewhat difficult to deal with. So much so, in fact, that I ended up buying a Dell laptop for a few hundred dollars to use, essentially, as my Realm Works to screen interface. I have since installed more programs (HeroLab, Office, CC3+, etc), and the Windows machine has become more of my GM computer than the Mac (which I still have and still use).

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to tell you about settings to optimize your virtual machine, but if you are looking at getting a new machine anyway I'd say you can't go wrong with that. As for HeroLab, while it is true that you have a limited number of machines that it can work on, you can buy several more licenses at $10 a pop (I'm pretty sure) - all in all, not too much of an investment when compared to a new computer.

I don't know your financial situation, but if you are looking to get a new laptop I would suggest getting a Windows machine and buying an additional HeroLab license (or porting over one of your current licenses if you don't need HL on more than two machines). In the long run, my guess is you will be happier with the RW performance on a full Windows install compared to a VM install regardless of how you tweak your VM settings.
 
I have thought about getting a dedicated computer. I would love a good upgrade, or maybe a dedicated machine for this. Money is a bit tight right now (baby on the way! Which really means less DMing for awhile anyway).

The issue with Hero Lab is I have already purchased all the extra licenses I can. My players are using 3 of them. One for my computer, and one for my ipad for when I play. I could probably reorganize it up a bit, or tell my friends to get their own, but I have purchased nearly every pack. Kinda a big barrier of entry for them.

Maybe I will just keep an eye open for a cheaper PC laptop. I work in IT, and I am sure I can find one that fits the specs well enough somewhere. Till then I am just going to milk my Macbook for whatever its got.
 
I just did some experimenting.

On my Win 10 desktop no matter how many tabs I opened my memory usage with RW open stayed the same at roughly 200 MB, I'm sure if you opened enough tabs and images that would increase but with up to 8 or 10 tabs and several images open it did not.

So I'd check Parallels memory usage at idle with nothing running. If you have less than well than 7 gigs in use then I doubt RAM is the problem. Keep in mind that Parallels is a VM so it is running a software layer between the programs and the actual OS, the Mac OS in this case, this will always affect performance. Particularly in programs like database applications like RW which make a lot of low level OS calls I would expect performance to suffer.
 
Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with what all I am doing. Going to have to play around with different setting to get as much speed as possible.

Too bad I cant use my giant tower to DM. I need to be mobile, since I DM at different people's houses pretty often.

Maybe it just all comes down to a new computer/a dedicated PC. Or just booting into Bootcamp to get rid of the emulation layer.
 
If you can, I'd try Bootcamp and see if you get better performance. If you do then the emulator is clearly the issue, which is what I strongly suspect. I see no reason why that hardware would not run RW reasonably well.
 
Yeah its a decent machine. It gets a bit warm, but that is kinda assumed with that computer for anything that requires some power.

A side question: Does Realm works run at all in 64 bit? I notice its 32 bit in task manager. I may not even really take advantage of 64 bit anyway, just curious.
 
I run it on my MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB using Parallels from a bootcamp partition.

Runs just as good as on a PC.
 
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