I originally made this over at our old home but since were no longer there I thought id best bring it with me as a point of reference. actually I should try get all these working again since I'm now sitting on win10
This isn’t a complete guide however as there are so many configurations of PC’s it’s impossible to factor everything in but these were made to work on a fairly clean 7x64 install. I’m also going to assume you’ve a degree of computer literacy but if you don’t know your ISO from your EXE then shoutout and I’ll try point you in the right direction, also If anyone could aid in testing these methods on ATI hardware as well as on some other OS’ then I can update this for future reference.
Mechwarrior 2/GBL/MERCS
Versions Tested: Original Retail
What is it?
The original trilogy and a starting point for many Mech fans unfamiliar with the TT. There are far too many sodding versions of these games made. Between the original retail/3DFX/Rage/PowrVR/Titanium/ATI there are so many ways of getting these to work that it’s a bloody nightmare to try and list them all. If you remember them fondly I’d probably recommended leaving it at that.
Installation issues:
Too many to list. The original MW2 and GBL were DOS only and while Mercs added support for windows 95; it was one of the first games to run on windows and it was flaky at best, I think everyone just ran it from DOS and left it at that. I did manage to get MERCS to install and run but failure to initialise the 3D Engine upon starting a mission meant I didn’t get very far, could be a directx issue. It might be worth investigating MECHVM which essentially forces them to run in a dosbox but but you’ll need to rip your discs to ISO’s to try it.
Running issues:
Never got past installation, became too much of a headache in the end. The titanium editions of MW2 and GBL were built on the MERCS engine and I know people have managed to get that working through a voodoo ritual involving 2 chickens and an urban mech.
Mechwarrior 3
Versions tested: Original retail, 1.3 Repress (Mechpack)
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
Fantastic, no seriously; After a botched op your lance and a few MFB’s are left stranded behind enemy lines essentially winging the rest of the operation whilst desperately searching for a evac off planet. Amazing visuals, great sound and chest thumping OST. Autocannons never sounded so terrifying.
Installation issues:
None that I know of.
Running issues:
Exe needs to be run in XP compatibility mode.
Mission 2 will break horribly with “jumping jeeps” and a missing Missile launcher. This is a doozy to fix as the problem is essentially your machine running too fast, so we need to slow it down. Make a new profile in your GPU and force Vsync to run at adaptive half refresh. This will force the game to run at 30 fps. Mission 2 should then be completable. I’ve had a few random crashes since playing through the campaign but I’ve not come across any other tech issues since.
i came across someone to really went to town on their gpu profile for MW3, i found i had much better results with it so you might want to configure you're nvidia profile the same way.
anisotropic filter off
antialiasing - FXAA off
antialiasing - gamma off
antialiasing - mode override
antialiasing - seting global
antialiasing - transp off
cudaall
max pre rnder fra 1
MFAAoff
multi display single
pwr managementmax perf
shader cacheoff
texture fil - aniso on
texture fil - neg LOD allow
texture fil - qual high perf
texture fil - trilin on
threaded opti - off
triple buff - on
v syncadaptive - half
You may also have crashing at the end of or during cinematics, this is due to an old codec the game tries to install. reinstall the game and under the custom install option untick the codec. modern players will come with said codec I believe.
Mechwarrior 3: Pirates moon
Version tested: Original retail
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
Add on for the original MW3, Pirates Moon added a few new mechs (Atlas, Awesome, Centurion, clint IIC to name a few), new 2 faction campaign, Night missions, better lance command system, more weapons and was bollocking hard to boot! I loved it!
Installation issues:
None that I know of
Running issues:
None that I Know of
Mechwarrior 4
Versions tested: Original retail
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
Mechwarrior 4. Personally I despised it. After MS snatched VWEG in 99 to nab the intellectual properties of FASA they then proceeded to take Mechwarrior in a horrifying new direction, gone was the deep futuristic mech simulator and replacing it was a god awful PEW PEW PEW action game. Good OST though.
Installation issues:
None that I know of.
Running issues:
The game won’t run on x64 due to an incompatible version of Securom copy protection sitting in the EXE, someone told me that forcing a 32bit argument on the exe worked but I think he was chatting ***. I found it much easier to grab a No-CD instead. Despite MS making the game and its source code free to download I don’t want to post links to a No-CD so you’ll have to exercise some google-fu. Shouldn’t take you more than a few mins to find one. When the game first runs its hardware auto detection may have issues finding your GPU be sure to make sure your video adaptor is shown in the videocard dropdown otherwise the game will start at a low resolution and won’t be changeable in game until you run the auto detection from the games directory again.
Mechcommander
Version tested: Original Retail
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
“The first Mechwarrior game of tactical command” absolutely brilliant in everything and staggeringly difficult, so difficult in fact that a patch was released giving you a starting crutch in the form of a Mad Cat, which was hilarious because none of your pilots had the skills to use it properly. hell even the manual was awesome; at 384 pages it was written like an actual mech command software manual and was dripping in lore and statistics, So much fun oh and the best Intro ever for a mech game.
Installation issues:
Forget it, Mechcommander was built with a 16bit installer which will not work no matter how hard you hit it. The solution is to copy/paste everything from the CD and dump it into a local folder, MCX.exe will run the game but you’ll still need the disc in the drive to play.
Playing issues:
Mechcommander plays exclusively with directdraw (a 2D version of D3D for those wondering what it is) so you shouldn’t have any problems. You may have a discoloured menu to begin with as directdraw initialises but just click into a menu option that isn’t options and it should go away. You can change the resolution by modifying the Prefs.cfg in the install directory and adding the line l Resolution=3 to run the game at 1280x1024. I wouldn’t advise it though as the art assets for the pre mission logistic phase wont scale upwards forcing you to plan your mission on a postage stamp.
Mechcommander Gold
Versions tested: Original retail, Mechpack version (i don't recall a version number difference, will need to check)
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
Mechcommander with the “desperate measures” expansion bolted on. The base game also added difficulty options in the options menu as well as the newly added and much needed “conserve ammo” order (hold A when issuing an attack order to use energy weapons only) oh and its completely free as well so go download it to tie you over until Battletech comes out!
Installation issues:
Exactly the same as Mechcommander
Playing issues:
Exactly the same issues as Mechcommander. If you downloaded the free ISO edition you’ll need to keep it mounted when launching the game.
Mechcommander 2
Versions tested: Original retail
Confirmed OS: 7x64, 10x64
What is it?
3D Mechcommander should have been awesome, instead it ended up being Mechcommander light. Simplistic logistic and command interface and an AI so thick it could have starred on a daytime talkshow made it far too easy and unengaging. a real shame actually. MS released it for free along with its source code and there have been some nice mods released for it since.
Installation issues:
None that I know of.
Running issues:
The game won’t run on x64 due to the same securom issue effecting Mechwarrior 4. Only way around it is to google-fu a no-cd to get around it and run the exe in compatability mode (XP SP2 does the job) if you're running the free Source Code release then you wont need a no-cd for the EXE, you’ll need the original cd/iso loaded for the game to play properly or it’ll complain about missing files when you try start a mission. Oh and you’ll also want to bin the “vidcard.csv” and “badcard.csv” files from the games install directory as the game has issues in configuring itself for modern GPU’s
I've got MW4: BK and MW4:M on the shelf behind me somewhere but I'll have to confess that after being so underwhelmed by MW4 I really didnt give much effort to them, certainly not enough to warrant the effort involved in getting them to work on a more recent os, i can imagine they'll suffer with the same securom issue's plaguing both MW4 and MC2 as it was Microsoft's anti piracy weapon of choice back some 15 years ago.
like I said these all worked for me so see how you get on with them, any problems or further advice, post away.
This isn’t a complete guide however as there are so many configurations of PC’s it’s impossible to factor everything in but these were made to work on a fairly clean 7x64 install. I’m also going to assume you’ve a degree of computer literacy but if you don’t know your ISO from your EXE then shoutout and I’ll try point you in the right direction, also If anyone could aid in testing these methods on ATI hardware as well as on some other OS’ then I can update this for future reference.
Mechwarrior 2/GBL/MERCS
Versions Tested: Original Retail
What is it?
The original trilogy and a starting point for many Mech fans unfamiliar with the TT. There are far too many sodding versions of these games made. Between the original retail/3DFX/Rage/PowrVR/Titanium/ATI there are so many ways of getting these to work that it’s a bloody nightmare to try and list them all. If you remember them fondly I’d probably recommended leaving it at that.
Installation issues:
Too many to list. The original MW2 and GBL were DOS only and while Mercs added support for windows 95; it was one of the first games to run on windows and it was flaky at best, I think everyone just ran it from DOS and left it at that. I did manage to get MERCS to install and run but failure to initialise the 3D Engine upon starting a mission meant I didn’t get very far, could be a directx issue. It might be worth investigating MECHVM which essentially forces them to run in a dosbox but but you’ll need to rip your discs to ISO’s to try it.
Running issues:
Never got past installation, became too much of a headache in the end. The titanium editions of MW2 and GBL were built on the MERCS engine and I know people have managed to get that working through a voodoo ritual involving 2 chickens and an urban mech.
Mechwarrior 3
Versions tested: Original retail, 1.3 Repress (Mechpack)
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
Fantastic, no seriously; After a botched op your lance and a few MFB’s are left stranded behind enemy lines essentially winging the rest of the operation whilst desperately searching for a evac off planet. Amazing visuals, great sound and chest thumping OST. Autocannons never sounded so terrifying.
Installation issues:
None that I know of.
Running issues:
Exe needs to be run in XP compatibility mode.
Mission 2 will break horribly with “jumping jeeps” and a missing Missile launcher. This is a doozy to fix as the problem is essentially your machine running too fast, so we need to slow it down. Make a new profile in your GPU and force Vsync to run at adaptive half refresh. This will force the game to run at 30 fps. Mission 2 should then be completable. I’ve had a few random crashes since playing through the campaign but I’ve not come across any other tech issues since.
i came across someone to really went to town on their gpu profile for MW3, i found i had much better results with it so you might want to configure you're nvidia profile the same way.
anisotropic filter off
antialiasing - FXAA off
antialiasing - gamma off
antialiasing - mode override
antialiasing - seting global
antialiasing - transp off
cudaall
max pre rnder fra 1
MFAAoff
multi display single
pwr managementmax perf
shader cacheoff
texture fil - aniso on
texture fil - neg LOD allow
texture fil - qual high perf
texture fil - trilin on
threaded opti - off
triple buff - on
v syncadaptive - half
You may also have crashing at the end of or during cinematics, this is due to an old codec the game tries to install. reinstall the game and under the custom install option untick the codec. modern players will come with said codec I believe.
Mechwarrior 3: Pirates moon
Version tested: Original retail
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
Add on for the original MW3, Pirates Moon added a few new mechs (Atlas, Awesome, Centurion, clint IIC to name a few), new 2 faction campaign, Night missions, better lance command system, more weapons and was bollocking hard to boot! I loved it!
Installation issues:
None that I know of
Running issues:
None that I Know of
Mechwarrior 4
Versions tested: Original retail
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
Mechwarrior 4. Personally I despised it. After MS snatched VWEG in 99 to nab the intellectual properties of FASA they then proceeded to take Mechwarrior in a horrifying new direction, gone was the deep futuristic mech simulator and replacing it was a god awful PEW PEW PEW action game. Good OST though.
Installation issues:
None that I know of.
Running issues:
The game won’t run on x64 due to an incompatible version of Securom copy protection sitting in the EXE, someone told me that forcing a 32bit argument on the exe worked but I think he was chatting ***. I found it much easier to grab a No-CD instead. Despite MS making the game and its source code free to download I don’t want to post links to a No-CD so you’ll have to exercise some google-fu. Shouldn’t take you more than a few mins to find one. When the game first runs its hardware auto detection may have issues finding your GPU be sure to make sure your video adaptor is shown in the videocard dropdown otherwise the game will start at a low resolution and won’t be changeable in game until you run the auto detection from the games directory again.
Mechcommander
Version tested: Original Retail
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
“The first Mechwarrior game of tactical command” absolutely brilliant in everything and staggeringly difficult, so difficult in fact that a patch was released giving you a starting crutch in the form of a Mad Cat, which was hilarious because none of your pilots had the skills to use it properly. hell even the manual was awesome; at 384 pages it was written like an actual mech command software manual and was dripping in lore and statistics, So much fun oh and the best Intro ever for a mech game.
Installation issues:
Forget it, Mechcommander was built with a 16bit installer which will not work no matter how hard you hit it. The solution is to copy/paste everything from the CD and dump it into a local folder, MCX.exe will run the game but you’ll still need the disc in the drive to play.
Playing issues:
Mechcommander plays exclusively with directdraw (a 2D version of D3D for those wondering what it is) so you shouldn’t have any problems. You may have a discoloured menu to begin with as directdraw initialises but just click into a menu option that isn’t options and it should go away. You can change the resolution by modifying the Prefs.cfg in the install directory and adding the line l Resolution=3 to run the game at 1280x1024. I wouldn’t advise it though as the art assets for the pre mission logistic phase wont scale upwards forcing you to plan your mission on a postage stamp.
Mechcommander Gold
Versions tested: Original retail, Mechpack version (i don't recall a version number difference, will need to check)
Confirmed OS: 7x64
What is it?
Mechcommander with the “desperate measures” expansion bolted on. The base game also added difficulty options in the options menu as well as the newly added and much needed “conserve ammo” order (hold A when issuing an attack order to use energy weapons only) oh and its completely free as well so go download it to tie you over until Battletech comes out!
Installation issues:
Exactly the same as Mechcommander
Playing issues:
Exactly the same issues as Mechcommander. If you downloaded the free ISO edition you’ll need to keep it mounted when launching the game.
Mechcommander 2
Versions tested: Original retail
Confirmed OS: 7x64, 10x64
What is it?
3D Mechcommander should have been awesome, instead it ended up being Mechcommander light. Simplistic logistic and command interface and an AI so thick it could have starred on a daytime talkshow made it far too easy and unengaging. a real shame actually. MS released it for free along with its source code and there have been some nice mods released for it since.
Installation issues:
None that I know of.
Running issues:
The game won’t run on x64 due to the same securom issue effecting Mechwarrior 4. Only way around it is to google-fu a no-cd to get around it and run the exe in compatability mode (XP SP2 does the job) if you're running the free Source Code release then you wont need a no-cd for the EXE, you’ll need the original cd/iso loaded for the game to play properly or it’ll complain about missing files when you try start a mission. Oh and you’ll also want to bin the “vidcard.csv” and “badcard.csv” files from the games install directory as the game has issues in configuring itself for modern GPU’s
I've got MW4: BK and MW4:M on the shelf behind me somewhere but I'll have to confess that after being so underwhelmed by MW4 I really didnt give much effort to them, certainly not enough to warrant the effort involved in getting them to work on a more recent os, i can imagine they'll suffer with the same securom issue's plaguing both MW4 and MC2 as it was Microsoft's anti piracy weapon of choice back some 15 years ago.
like I said these all worked for me so see how you get on with them, any problems or further advice, post away.
