On VirtualBox, Fix for Camera/Mouse/Cursor Control Problem
Posted: 25 Apr 2020, 17:31
I've just installed Morrowind for the first time, and I ran into a small issue that made it unplayable on Virtualbox. As soon as I moved the mouse, the view would go crazy, as if I were spinning round and round while staring at the floor. I could use the keyboard to move around, but every attempt to change my view with the mouse would fail.
Here's what the fix was, in case it helps anyone else.
To be clear, this is:
- The GOTY edition purchased from GOG.com (a massive .exe file download)
- Installed on Xubuntu 16.04 in VirtualBox using PlayOnLinux, to get access to the MW data files.
- Then installed with openmw-launcher
I could open openmw-launcher and click Play, and MW would launch beautifully and go through the whole opening sequence. But again, when I tried to move the mouse, I was staring at the floor.
The fix, on VirtualBox, is to go into Fullscreen mode. This is distinct from whether openmw itself is running in windowed or fullscreen mode, although it's probably better to keep openmw in fullscreen mode. But I mean that VirtualBox itself has to be in Fullscreen mode, so that your mouse CANNOT move outside the running instance of Xubuntu.
You can do this on the VirtualBox menu under "View -> Full-Screen Mode"
Or the keyboard shortcut is "Host+F", where "Host" is the key shown in the bottom right of your VirtualBox. It defaults to "Right Ctrl."
So if you press "Right Ctrl + F", you should be able to toggle VirtualBox into fullscreen mode, and then you can move your mouse around and view things properly. Whew.
If you need to mouse out of VirtualBox, you press "Host" (probably Right Ctrl) and then you have your mouse back.
When you want to return to VirtualBox, make sure to click on it before trying to move around.
I hope this helps! This is probably an issue common to playing games in Virtualbox, because I couldn't find anything specific to openmw, but maybe someone else will find this helpful.
Bill
Here's what the fix was, in case it helps anyone else.
To be clear, this is:
- The GOTY edition purchased from GOG.com (a massive .exe file download)
- Installed on Xubuntu 16.04 in VirtualBox using PlayOnLinux, to get access to the MW data files.
- Then installed with openmw-launcher
I could open openmw-launcher and click Play, and MW would launch beautifully and go through the whole opening sequence. But again, when I tried to move the mouse, I was staring at the floor.
The fix, on VirtualBox, is to go into Fullscreen mode. This is distinct from whether openmw itself is running in windowed or fullscreen mode, although it's probably better to keep openmw in fullscreen mode. But I mean that VirtualBox itself has to be in Fullscreen mode, so that your mouse CANNOT move outside the running instance of Xubuntu.
You can do this on the VirtualBox menu under "View -> Full-Screen Mode"
Or the keyboard shortcut is "Host+F", where "Host" is the key shown in the bottom right of your VirtualBox. It defaults to "Right Ctrl."
So if you press "Right Ctrl + F", you should be able to toggle VirtualBox into fullscreen mode, and then you can move your mouse around and view things properly. Whew.
If you need to mouse out of VirtualBox, you press "Host" (probably Right Ctrl) and then you have your mouse back.
When you want to return to VirtualBox, make sure to click on it before trying to move around.
I hope this helps! This is probably an issue common to playing games in Virtualbox, because I couldn't find anything specific to openmw, but maybe someone else will find this helpful.
Bill