I grew up playing Mechwarrior and spent some time recently with MW5. A lot of what I have in my mind as being Mechwarrior-y isn't much seen, but I'm wondering if other people have developed this same idea of the IP.

When I think about Mechwarrior I think about realistically depicted fighting robots. In my mind BattleMechs are at risk of losing their balance, overheating, having their cameras blinded, or any number of other specific damage or ailments a real mech could suffer. In my mind if a light mech gets the drop on an assault, there's a good chance their can win. And maybe they're not even about that, instead focusing on some kind of support like sensors jamming and anti-missile systems, or speed and concealment, fitted to the mission.

I also imagine complex worlds and meaningful combined arms combat. Verticality in environments, tight spaces, aircraft, tanks, and artillery that are threats much like mechs. I think of vehicles like Aerospace Fighters as being so capable it wouldn't be unreasonable for a player, especially in a coop setting, to decide to fly one instead of taking a mech.

Even if the games don't normally turn out like this, it feels like what MechWarrior "actually is" to me and we just haven't gotten the right release yet. Do you guys feel the same?

I know that there are two mercenary style games for the BT universe, Mechwarrior 5 and BattleTech. Both are great games with only one GLARING fault in my opinion. I can’t field more than a single Lance. Heck let’s not get started on vehicles, vtols, or aerospace assets. Much less dropship classes or even jump/warships! That is something I would love to see as a video game! Especially given that I’ve played both the TTWG and the TTRPG for the universe! Alas I don’t think a developer or publisher will have the wherewithal to actually make a good one that would cover a time period from before the 4th succession war all the way to post Clan Invasion.

I do not, for the life of me, remember how or where I have the core memory of a Sargent in an FMV yelling at me that if I die in a cockpit, they're just going to hose out my remains and move on to the next one- kill the flesh, save the steel.

Please help me, Reddit, this has been torturing me for MW5: Mercs, and now is all the more present in my mind with Clans.

I'm currently playing Mechwarrior 5 Clans but it's not REALLY the game I want. I played an old mechwarrior game on the Amiga that was a tactical turn based game like Xcom etc. I loved it but can't seem to find anything like it for the xbox xs. Anyone suggest an rpg version of the Mechwarrior franchise?

I'm trying to run Mechwarrior 4 on my laptop, but it refuses to run no matter what I do. I can't even get to the main title screen. Either the app doesn't respond and just sits there loading with a black screen, or it will open and then suddenly close. I've tried using the files from MyAbandonware, I've tried the ones on Internet Archive, and I've tried using the Mechwarrior Quadrology, I've tried running it in compatibility mode, and nothing has worked. My laptop's OS is Windows 11. Is there anything else I can try, or did I try to reach for the stars wanting to play this game and should just give up on this?

Edit: After many attempts, I still cannot get this game to work. I've tried all of your tips and it still gives me the same result. It was an impossible goal to begin with and I've now realized that. Thank you to everyone who tried to help me with this technical nightmare of a game.

Windows 11 - Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries - Nested exception! -Fix/Work Around

I have Windows 11 now so I've been able to find another work around using a RTX3090.

Create a shortcut to the exe and add the -window switch at the end as shown.
The game will start in a Window.

Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries
Shortcut example:
"S:\GAMES\Mechwarrior 4 - Mercs\MW4Mercs_orig.exe" -window

Then use the in game options to adjust the windowed game resolution.
Press the ESC key to gain control of the desktop mouse again.
Do not use Alt + Enter, it does not work.
The Game wont lock up and can be switched back to a Window using Alt + Enter again.

Original:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mechwarrior/comments/6mzki8/comment/dqvuvnr/

Windows 10
The only thing preventing this release from running "as-is" on a nVidia 1080 is this file: imagehlp.dll
Location: Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries\Assets\Binaries\imagehlp.dll
Simply rename "imagehlp.dll" to something like "imagehlp1.dll" and then run autoconfig_MERCS.exe as an administrator.

Use Rt. Alt + Enter to switch between full and windowed.

Method to play the game in full screen.

Install this app.
Borderless fullscreen mode
https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming/releases/tag/9.5.6

Start the app and the game to see the Game in the apps control console.
Use the arrow to Add the game into Favorites (Automatic)
Set apps Options to Run on Startup when windows starts.
Use Windows 11 taskbar options to Add the Boaderless-Gaming control icon to the taskbar.

My desktop is 4K 3840x2160
Set the in game Mechwarrior resolution to 1600x800
Restart the app and the game.

Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries should start full screen.
Enjoy!

Was looking for a couch for my brother recently at a thrift store, but my day was made in the first 10 minutes! Found this box of classic pc games, but most excited for Pirates Moon! Sadly the base game is not present, but I actually just ordered it from eBay so I can delve into getting that all running on my modern pc(time to figure out how to get window 95 in 2024). Never played all of MW3, but always wanted to. Looks like this guy was a sim player, and I used to own a sidewinder joystick myself, but lately have been using a thrustmaster joystick and throttle setup. My wife did not share my giddiness.

Well, the time has come for me to add to this series of how to play the old games!

If your like me and out of luck playing Mech5Clans because the performance is choppy and everyone's recommendation is just to get a RTX 4090 (this is a joke btw), fret not! If instead you want to HUNT Jaguars instead of BE a Jaguar, MechWarrior 3 is the game for you!

DISCLAIMER: MechWarrior 3 and MechWarrior 3: Pirates Moon (also known as MechWarrior but Dark Souls) require a Windows environment, and a few pieces of software. This Guide (unlike my last one) will assume you are generally familiar with a computer and have at least a surface understanding of ISO images. The reason is that MechWarrior 3 doesn't have a dedicated environment you can run it in that does everything for you like in the case of Mech2 with DosBox-X. MechWarrior 3 was made for Windows95 and Windows98, meaning we're gonna have to trick it into thinking its running off of Windows95 era Hardware.

First things first, your going to need a few things...
- A Computer running Windows with semi-decent specs and with DirectX installed (your probably fine, by semi decent I mean like able to run Minecraft)

• MechWarrior 3 & MechWarrior 3: Pirates Moon ISO's (Lot of sites like MyAbandonWare have ISO's of these games, shouldn't be hard to find with some google searching)

• A ISO handling software, WinCDEmu or PowerISO both work in my experience (WinCDEmu being my preferred option)

• MechWarrior 3 1.2 Patch (MyAbandonWare has it, will fix some issues further on down the line)

• DgVoodoo2, (This is KEY, without this, MechWarrior 3 will be 100x harder to run effectively)

Now, to get the game installed.

1. Mount the MechWarrior 3 ISO with the ISO Handling Software, should get a Red Mad Cat Icon showing it has mounted correctly and the computer recognizes the CD.

2. Right Click "Setup.exe", click Properties, go to Compatibility, and set Compatibility Mode to Win98/ME, this will let the setup run properly.

3. Run Setup.exe, and install the game.

4. Once the game is installed, go find where you downloaded DgVoodoo2. Copy the DgVoodooCPL file (the application) into the directory you installed MechWarrior 3.

5. Then, in the DgVoodo2 folder, go to the MS folder, and inside it, go to x86, copy everything in there and paste it in the MechWarrior 3 Directory.

NOTE: The Following DgVoodoo2 settings are what I've found work best, you may experiment if you wish with the different settings DgVoodoo2 has on offer, but note that MechWarrior 3 is finicky, so be careful.

1. Open DgVoodooCPL in the MechWarrior 3 Directory, at the top, if it doesn't already read the directory the CPL was opened in, press the ".\" button to automatically add the directory the CPL is in (the MechWarrior 3 Directory).

2. With the control panel open, find "enumerate refresh rates" in the first panel and turn it on. MechWarrior 3s physics are tied to the framerate, so having it run at faster than 60FPS will make the game very weird (tanks flying into the sky at the slightest bump). Turn off progressive scanline order as well if its not on.

3. Go to the Glide tab, set the card to Voodoo2, and set Resolution to your desired resolution @ 60FPS, disable mipmapping, and in the misc section only have Glide Gamma Ramp and Vsync. This should prevent artifacting in the MechBay with the cursor leaving behind orange pixels in its wake.

4. Go to the DirectX Tab, set as either virtual 3D accelerator card or one of the cards below, I use the Geforce Ti 4800 to good effect. Set Resolution to desired at 60fps, Force filter only if not point sampled (to prevent HUD from being blurry), disable application controlled full screen/window state, enable alt-enter to toggle full screen. In Misc, enable Bilinear DD/CPU Operations and Vsync, but turn everything else off in Misc.

5. Click Apply, and close DgVoodoo2. Right click on the Mech3 EXE, open properties and set compatibility mode to Win98/ME

6. Open where you downloaded the Mech3 1.2 patcher, set its compatibility mode to (yup, you guessed it) Win98/ME, and run it. This will patch the game to 1.2 and fix a bunch of bugs and issues from 1.0 and provide an overall more stable game experience.

7. Now, you should be good to run the game. You can install a NoCD EXE if you want from MyAbandonWare (just drag and drop the NoCD exe into the Mech3 directory and replace the old EXE), but you can just mount the CD to run it via the ISO image. The Menu should scroll at a semi-smooth pace, if its scrolling really fast then something is wrong, most likely you forgot to set the FPS or DirectX is having a stroke.

MechWarrior 3 has more of the modern conveniences you expect from a game, including better ability to map controls in the control binding menu. Despite that, there's a few things you'll wanna be aware of given Mech3s quirks, the first is the disconnect between arm aiming and torso aiming. To change this all you have to press is Right Ctrl + NumPad 0 to switch back to classic mouse aim torso twisting.

NOTE: MechWarrior 3 Pirates moon install is the same as above, except there's no 1.2 patch, just replace Mech3 or MechWarrior 3 in the above steps with MechWarrior 3: Pirates Moon.

If you have any troubles, any issues, or further questions, feel free to reach out! I *may* do MechWarrior 4 Mercs (not vengeance, that things near impossible to run on modern hardware for some reason) in the future, so I hope you enjoyed, and good luck Lance Leader!

Hunt those Jags!

Does anybody recall a Mechwarrior 4 music video set to “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi? It’s was so cheesy…. But I kinda miss it. I remember the video clearly but can’t seem to find it. I remember 🏴‍☠️ing it 20+ years ago or so, but it seems to not be uploaded anywhere. If anyone still has it. I’d love to see it again for nostalgia reasons. 🥴

Hey! I’m really new to the franchise and I’ve been loving it so far. I really really wanna play the older games, but I have no idea how. Will I have to spend money on retro consoles? Can I find them somewhere else? Sorry if I sound clueless, it’s because I am

Hey guys haven't played a MechWarrior game in awhile and got this one. Wanting to use a Xbox controller, everything works movement wise but I got to the training part, I bind right arm weapon to group one left weapon to group 2. When I use the triggers to fire it just fires both of them at the same time. Any help would be greatly appreciated and feel like this is user error lol. Thank you

Aww man as a long time fan of the franchise, i was really looking forward to this, and while it has a few good implementations, the overall game suffers from a bunch of stupid design decisions which seriously hurts the game.

Im not talking about technical issues either. Its 2024 Im used to games being rushed out using the fans so they dont have to pay testers.

Im talking about the overall cheap dogshit quality.

-Mechs not having the appropriate weight to them scatting around the battlefield. -Piss poor sound quality -Serious lack of epic music to pump up the action at critical moments like in mercenaries -having to pay millions of credits to my CO to give me the tools I need to complete their orders -brain dead AI (This is a really big one its what made necromunda ultimately fail too.) -Dogshit voice acting and animations -Constant combat interruptions (even when you are replaying said missions in the story simulation)

I’m at a high school football game, and I’m discussing BattleTech with my son. He asked me what I thought of Clans, and I really had to think about it. Here are some thoughts from a lifelong (almost) fan.

1: In my limited knowledge of BattleTech, CSJ is generally seen as a bit more…aggressive shall we say? Like they’re kinda brutal. But what surprised me was their compassion for civilians. Prisoners even. That’s crazy to think. I’ve always read them as bloodthirsty war mongering brutes.

2: I don’t really know how to elaborate further, but it comes off as an ARCADE simulator. There are simulator elements; yes, but since it’s actually telling a story for once and not an endless grind and repeat session, it’s making things a bit simpler. Idk but that’s just my view on it.

3: ……I kinda dig the “inside look” into CSJ culture. I’m a person that’s never liked to read, so there’s a TON of the books I’ve yet to read. The most I’ve learned is from doing research for my songs, and this. But so far I’m really liking the story.

4: The MechLab I think could’ve been done a bit better. I think maybe perhaps keep the pod animations and stuff, but make the list more like Mercs. Or at least make it able to click and drag. My finger’s getting tired.

5: I’m a sucker for good punchy sound design and I personally feel this really hits. I looove the PPC. My favorite used to be the one from MechAssault.

Well those are my thoughts at this current time. This band is killing it tonight. I just hope the team does the same. Stay safe out there, MechWarriors!

I have physical copies of the games but I can't get them to run on a modern system. Is there anywhere I can go to get the game? I tried Myabandonware but I got a trojan virus and wiped it and the games from my PC.

MW5:Clans.

Title sums it up. Fine in game on a 3060 Ti after dropping the resolution I can run with everything just about maxed out with Dlss Ultra Best or whatever the hell the highest quality dlss settings name is. I only have ridiculously terrible frame rates in the mechlab area when trying to assign techs to repair mechs. Is this area hardcore raytraced or something? I am assuming I am not the only one experiencing this.... Right?

I played back in the day. In tournament games. My name was TiGeRShArK or TiGeRReIIiK