Post by {ICM} Pete on Dec 1, 2021 19:16:00 GMT -6
Hi there Problems Getting The Game To Work ? Well here i've put together all the info gathered by MechWarrior's over the years and put all in one place for easy access on how to get MW4M to run on win 7 to 11, There's walkthough's and some videos all with useful stuff to help get you up and running. Try Download this version of the game its fully patched to the latest Mektek version and includes the HD patch and most all the maps made for the game , . And I know it works on all versions of windows 7,8,10,11.{BUT ALL THE STEPS OUTLINED BELOW ARE FOR WIN 10/11 ONLY.}
Download MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries Here
Yeah it would make things a lot easier if everyone had the same copy of windows but unfortunately we don't so what works on one mite not work on another so with this in mind READ THE WALKTHOUGH CAREFULLY and follow all steps outlined below. Has the problem lies within win 10/11 all the previous versions of windows the game works fine without any issues.
1/: Once downloaded and unzipped run the autoconfig FIRST and then the MW4M.exe and run both as administrator in some
case's you may have to set the compatibility of the autoconfig_mercs.exe and MW4mercs.exe to Windows 7.
2/: And only run the autoconfig once if ur game launch's there's no need to run it again,
3/: Make sure to select your video card from the drop list, Oh and if ur card is listed twice select the second one
has it seems to make a difference.
4/: Then set ur res to 1920x1080x32 and save then try launch the game if it starts go to options and select video and
make sure the same res has above is selected or whatever ur desktop res is but no higher than 1920 x 1080 is
recommended.
5/: Also sometimes u may have to reboot a few times just to pick up new setting has it may not do it on the first
reboot.
6/: Also make sure Directplay is Enabled.
windowsreport.com/enable-directplay-windows-10/
7/: Once you run the game for the first time there will be a popup from windows defender asking to allow though the
firewall MAKE SURE YOU ALLOW IT, And a agreement popup also which you have to AGREE TO.
8/: Only use dgvoodo has a last resort most things can be fixed with windows 10 scaling.
Also If the game refuses to start or shows a black box that disappears, unplug any USB devices that are
connected except keyboard and mouse (i.e. headset- printer) and try to launch the game if the game starts, You can plug the devices back in again and you should be good, In some cases you may need to "Restart your PC once changes have been made so that your PC doesn't misread unplugged USBs as though they're still plugged in, like the headset."
"Once the game launch's close out the game then restart the PC. Open "MW4Mercs" again to confirm it is stable then it should be safe to plug in any disconnected USBs after the game launch's,
Yes and an on the odd occasion it's posable that when your extracting the game it may get corrupt and it usually happens with the built-in extractor in windows 10 and can also happen with 7Zip and to any file. Most software like Winzip , Winrar very rarely have any issues, If this does happen tho you need to delete the whole directory and re extract another one. Set Autoconfig and MW4 Mercs.exe to Win7 Compatible mode and run as Administrator then try launch the game.
Also If your graphics card is to [advanced "NEW"] for the game you might get an error message saying that your hardware is incompatible. Try the following Go to the installation folder Mechwarrior Mercenaries Assets-Binaries Now locate the file called imagehlp.dll. Right click on it and select Rename. Change the file name to this imagehlp.dll.backup. This will disable the .dll file that is causing the issue.
Oh also if ur game doesn't fit right on the screen or the resolution doesn't seem to work right there's a good chance its the windows 10 scaling , Its set to 125 by default and that's to high for MW4M set it to 100 and it should be good and just set it back when finished playing.
Also here are some helpful installation walk through's done by DKL Merlin and Legend
mechwarriorleagues.com/files/mw4win10help.pdf
mech4rebirth.boards.net/thread/13/2-installation-walkthrough
And this one is unknown who wrote it but has some useful info on it
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/427633077007810570/867532816714563584/install_mercs.docx
Also here's a useful video with stuff on it to help get the game working by Volkar.
How to Run All Mechwarrior 4 Games on Windows 10
-32
This forces the game to run in 32 bit. Older games were made before 64 bit came out and will not run properly on a 64 bit system unless you force the game to run in 32 bit.
-window
Some older games will freeze or crash when starting in full screen. Running the game in windowed mode can fix this issue. Once the game starts in a window you should be able to switch to full screen by clicking the square full screen icon in the banner bar.
-f 1024x768
This will start the game in the desired screen resolution. Back in the day when this game was made, allot of people still used CRT monitors with screen resolutions that had a max resolution of 1024x768. This game may have issues with newer monitors and graphics cards that run higher resolutions by default. Other resolutions that this game was designed to run in were 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024.
-gl
This forces windows to emulate OpenGL architecture when running this game. Allot of Older games used OpenGL and it is required to run. Today there are a lot of alternatives to OpenGL and windows 10 may not run OpenGL by default when running this game.
-GameTime.MaxVariableFps 60
Back when this game was made a lot of systems had a max refresh rate of 60 FPS. Most computers now will run at a minimum of 60 FPS and go much higher. This can cause weird anomalies in this game such as mechs rotating super-fast in the mech lab or the mouse cursor will leave pixel remnants of itself whenever you move it across the screen. If you are having issues with the games FPS not synchronizing with your system, you can lock the games FPS to 60 with this command.
/gosnovideo
This games start up videos use older formats that do not seem to work with newer systems, causing the game to crash at start up. Use this command to prevent the videos from running.
/gosnojoystick
There seems to be some kind of a driver conflict with the joystick when running this game on newer systems like windows 10 causing the game to crash at startup. Use this command to disable the joystick functionality in the game.
-noautoconfig
This command will prevent the Auto Configuration Utility from running when the game starts, this is helpful if the Auto Configuration Utility runs every time you start the game.
And if all of the above fails come to our discord channel and we'll try get you up and running
discord.gg/Ur5duF3TPS
Setting up with Game Ranger
Download it here www.gameranger.com/
Once downloaded and installed go to edit top left side of the GR lobby window then options and from the game list select MW4M and then go to browse and go to where your game is located and double click on the MW4 exe then close the options box ,And then click on the drop down list where it says all games and select that to my games then it will only show games you have installed, Also if your using win 10 make sure to run as admin and in win 7 compatibility mode has it can give you an error 58.
Ok here's a quick video showing how to setup GR once you have downloaded and installed.
youtu.be/J3Z1qKK-h54
Port-Restricted Cone NAT Router Error Support For Game Ranger
www.gameranger.com/support/network/?i_ip=3232235531&x_ip=1389934141&r_ip=3232235521&rt=3&pp=1
Here's a block host file that stops the adds in game ranger, To use: right-click on mvps.bat and select: Run as Administrator that's it done.
winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.zip
Download MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries Here
Yeah it would make things a lot easier if everyone had the same copy of windows but unfortunately we don't so what works on one mite not work on another so with this in mind READ THE WALKTHOUGH CAREFULLY and follow all steps outlined below. Has the problem lies within win 10/11 all the previous versions of windows the game works fine without any issues.
1/: Once downloaded and unzipped run the autoconfig FIRST and then the MW4M.exe and run both as administrator in some
case's you may have to set the compatibility of the autoconfig_mercs.exe and MW4mercs.exe to Windows 7.
2/: And only run the autoconfig once if ur game launch's there's no need to run it again,
3/: Make sure to select your video card from the drop list, Oh and if ur card is listed twice select the second one
has it seems to make a difference.
4/: Then set ur res to 1920x1080x32 and save then try launch the game if it starts go to options and select video and
make sure the same res has above is selected or whatever ur desktop res is but no higher than 1920 x 1080 is
recommended.
5/: Also sometimes u may have to reboot a few times just to pick up new setting has it may not do it on the first
reboot.
6/: Also make sure Directplay is Enabled.
windowsreport.com/enable-directplay-windows-10/
7/: Once you run the game for the first time there will be a popup from windows defender asking to allow though the
firewall MAKE SURE YOU ALLOW IT, And a agreement popup also which you have to AGREE TO.
8/: Only use dgvoodo has a last resort most things can be fixed with windows 10 scaling.
Also If the game refuses to start or shows a black box that disappears, unplug any USB devices that are
connected except keyboard and mouse (i.e. headset- printer) and try to launch the game if the game starts, You can plug the devices back in again and you should be good, In some cases you may need to "Restart your PC once changes have been made so that your PC doesn't misread unplugged USBs as though they're still plugged in, like the headset."
"Once the game launch's close out the game then restart the PC. Open "MW4Mercs" again to confirm it is stable then it should be safe to plug in any disconnected USBs after the game launch's,
Yes and an on the odd occasion it's posable that when your extracting the game it may get corrupt and it usually happens with the built-in extractor in windows 10 and can also happen with 7Zip and to any file. Most software like Winzip , Winrar very rarely have any issues, If this does happen tho you need to delete the whole directory and re extract another one. Set Autoconfig and MW4 Mercs.exe to Win7 Compatible mode and run as Administrator then try launch the game.
Also If your graphics card is to [advanced "NEW"] for the game you might get an error message saying that your hardware is incompatible. Try the following Go to the installation folder Mechwarrior Mercenaries Assets-Binaries Now locate the file called imagehlp.dll. Right click on it and select Rename. Change the file name to this imagehlp.dll.backup. This will disable the .dll file that is causing the issue.
Oh also if ur game doesn't fit right on the screen or the resolution doesn't seem to work right there's a good chance its the windows 10 scaling , Its set to 125 by default and that's to high for MW4M set it to 100 and it should be good and just set it back when finished playing.
Also here are some helpful installation walk through's done by DKL Merlin and Legend
mechwarriorleagues.com/files/mw4win10help.pdf
mech4rebirth.boards.net/thread/13/2-installation-walkthrough
And this one is unknown who wrote it but has some useful info on it
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/427633077007810570/867532816714563584/install_mercs.docx
Also here's a useful video with stuff on it to help get the game working by Volkar.
How to Run All Mechwarrior 4 Games on Windows 10
Command Line Explanations and Functions
To use right click on the MW4M exe and go to properties then at the end of the command line u type ur command ,
Also in order to add "-32 -gl -GameTime.MaxVariablesFps 60 /gosnojoystick" to the command line target you must first create a shortcut for "MW4Mercs". And that this line is added after the quotation marks. here's some examples: C:\MW4 HD ALL MAPS\MW4Mercs.exe" -32
C:\MW4 HD ALL MAPS\MW4Mercs.exe" -window
To use right click on the MW4M exe and go to properties then at the end of the command line u type ur command ,
Also in order to add "-32 -gl -GameTime.MaxVariablesFps 60 /gosnojoystick" to the command line target you must first create a shortcut for "MW4Mercs". And that this line is added after the quotation marks. here's some examples: C:\MW4 HD ALL MAPS\MW4Mercs.exe" -32
C:\MW4 HD ALL MAPS\MW4Mercs.exe" -window
-32
This forces the game to run in 32 bit. Older games were made before 64 bit came out and will not run properly on a 64 bit system unless you force the game to run in 32 bit.
-window
Some older games will freeze or crash when starting in full screen. Running the game in windowed mode can fix this issue. Once the game starts in a window you should be able to switch to full screen by clicking the square full screen icon in the banner bar.
-f 1024x768
This will start the game in the desired screen resolution. Back in the day when this game was made, allot of people still used CRT monitors with screen resolutions that had a max resolution of 1024x768. This game may have issues with newer monitors and graphics cards that run higher resolutions by default. Other resolutions that this game was designed to run in were 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024.
-gl
This forces windows to emulate OpenGL architecture when running this game. Allot of Older games used OpenGL and it is required to run. Today there are a lot of alternatives to OpenGL and windows 10 may not run OpenGL by default when running this game.
-GameTime.MaxVariableFps 60
Back when this game was made a lot of systems had a max refresh rate of 60 FPS. Most computers now will run at a minimum of 60 FPS and go much higher. This can cause weird anomalies in this game such as mechs rotating super-fast in the mech lab or the mouse cursor will leave pixel remnants of itself whenever you move it across the screen. If you are having issues with the games FPS not synchronizing with your system, you can lock the games FPS to 60 with this command.
/gosnovideo
This games start up videos use older formats that do not seem to work with newer systems, causing the game to crash at start up. Use this command to prevent the videos from running.
/gosnojoystick
There seems to be some kind of a driver conflict with the joystick when running this game on newer systems like windows 10 causing the game to crash at startup. Use this command to disable the joystick functionality in the game.
-noautoconfig
This command will prevent the Auto Configuration Utility from running when the game starts, this is helpful if the Auto Configuration Utility runs every time you start the game.
And if all of the above fails come to our discord channel and we'll try get you up and running
discord.gg/Ur5duF3TPS
Setting up with Game Ranger
Download it here www.gameranger.com/
Once downloaded and installed go to edit top left side of the GR lobby window then options and from the game list select MW4M and then go to browse and go to where your game is located and double click on the MW4 exe then close the options box ,And then click on the drop down list where it says all games and select that to my games then it will only show games you have installed, Also if your using win 10 make sure to run as admin and in win 7 compatibility mode has it can give you an error 58.
Ok here's a quick video showing how to setup GR once you have downloaded and installed.
youtu.be/J3Z1qKK-h54
Port-Restricted Cone NAT Router Error Support For Game Ranger
www.gameranger.com/support/network/?i_ip=3232235531&x_ip=1389934141&r_ip=3232235521&rt=3&pp=1
Here's a block host file that stops the adds in game ranger, To use: right-click on mvps.bat and select: Run as Administrator that's it done.
winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.zip
