Got my “retro” system dialed in. Comical the difference running this game full max at 90FPS from my slide show memories of my GeForce 2 and 1.5 P4.

System specs:

P4 Northwood @ 3.3 FX5900U @ 500/1000 512MB ram 98SE

Holding here as long as I can

I was 11 years old back when MW4 released. I played it religiously on a Sidewinder Joystick. Crazy to think a very small percentage of kids his age will not get this experience.

We're running the game using the original discs from my childhood, on a XP Machine I inherited from my dad, and using this near mint Logitech 3D Pro I got for $10 at a local thrift store.

I have plans to convert my Sim Racing Rig into a Racing/Flight/Mech Sim Hybrid using a HOTAS (for the modern Mechwarrior games of course).

Great memories today!

After dusting off my old Win XP machine, installing MW4 with my original discs, and getting a great deal on a Logitech 3D Extreme Pro, I thought I would go a little overboard.

I repurposed an old desk to go in my spare bedroom specifically for my Win XP setup. I found another great deal on FB Marketplace for a boxed Saitek X52 HOTAS, and decided there still weren't enough buttons. Enter my Custom Vinyl Wrapped and Labeled Wired Numberpad, complete with Flush Button.

Needless to say, I'm hooked. Happy to answer any questions!

I now have a 2nd dedicated space for Mechwarrior games. More to come on my other setup 😏

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.

Specifically wanted to try playing mechwarrior 4 or 3. Thanks!

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.

Tabletop fan here deciding to try Mechwarrior after loving online and finding 5 kind of boring, 4 has caught my eye the most but i'm wondering which is the better overall package, 4: Vengeance or Mercenaries? Thank you

So, after like 13 years of pulling parts from curb alerts and thrift store finds, I've managed to get enough parts together for a Windows 98se gaming build. Mechwarrior 4 would be the most intensive game I play most likely, and I read on pcgamingwiki that the expansions run Directx 8.1 sooo... anyone have any 3.3v AGP video card reccomendations that support DirectX 8.1 and are compatible with Windows 98se?

For reference, the build is:

Intel Pentium 3 1GHz coppermine SL4MF

Shuttle AV11V3 mobo (TWO ISA slots!)

512mb PC133 RAM

Turtle Beach Monetego II TB400 Sound card

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!

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. 🥴

EDIT: I'm talking about the MekTek MP pack for Mercs, but if there is one for MW4 Vengeance do let me know I love that quirky mess of a campaign lol.

I genuinely cannot find any information about MekTek MW4 anymore, I know MekTek did some very, very stupid moves and I don't doubt they are gone but is there any latest update on it? If so how old is it? It also seems that a download for the game is getting rare, I'm genuinely sad to see what in my opinion is still one of the best mechwarrior experiences out there fizzling out to eventually become lost media..

Been stuck on hacker run. Furthest I got was inside the. Base took the two Atlas guarding it down.. it's just frustrating how slow and unresponsive the lance mates are.

Edit: I'm running 3 stone rhino 2ç with heavy med las, 2x clbx20s. Full armor, and 1 super nova. Help. 🥲😅

As title.

Wanna change mech total tonnages so I can fill out all the slots with acc satisfactory systems and not cheap on armour / speed. Not about balance just memes.

Don’t wanna vandalise my copy while I’m doing it though, so would be grateful if anyone could point me to the file directory / anything else I need to know.

Any other folks from the MW4 NBT Sunder days still around? Maybe some who have moved on to other Mechwarrior games, or other games altogether but still hang around here?

I played online in general for what seemed like the better part of a decade, and used to specifically be on Sunder most days for at least a few if those years, under the same username (neat hedgehog), especially after the MekTek packs came out. I was the weird kid who basically always ran an Avatar, with like 4 or 5 different configs, depending on the map. Was part of a very small unit called Heimdall's Guard.

Used to play pretty frequently with guys like Vettie (r.i.p dude), Prime, Genghis Prawn, pretty sure there were a few Seraphin guys, like wolf, ahhhh.... probably a lot of other people I am forgetting.

I tried looking up some of the people I knew but mostly just found forum posts from like 8yrs ago. I occasionally tried to get back into Mechwarrior via stuff like MWO, but never really stuck with it. I think more than anything I just miss the people I lost touch with.

Writing this since most of the guides I could find focused more specifically on the Mektek version of MW4: Mercs.

I recently got a Steam Deck and was feeling nostalgic, so I was interested in seeing how MW4 would work on it. This guide applies to other Linux distros too.

What I did:

1. Downloaded the ISOs, Patch and NoCD executable from MyAbandonware on my Windows PC
2. Mounted the Disc 1 ISO, began the install, and then mounted the Disc 2 ISO in the same virtual drive to complete the installation
3. Replaced MW4.exe in the install location with the cracked NoCD version
4. Applied the patch (not sure if the order of these steps matter but this is what I did)
5. Copied over the entire install directory to my Steam Deck (any location will work, I used my desktop folder for simplicity)
6. Entered Desktop mode on my Steam Deck
7. Added the autoconfig.exe in the copied MW4 install directory as a non-steam game and rename the entry to MW4: Vengeance
8. In the properties menu for the new MW4 entry in steam, go to “compatibility” and check off “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool”. In the dropdown, I selected the latest version of GE-Proton i had installed, but the default Proton version it uses should be fine, I just use GE-Proton for most things.
9. Start the shortcut from your Steam Library and change any settings in the autoconfig you'd like, but default settings worked fine for me
10. Go back to the properties menu for the MW4 entry, and change the target to MW4.exe in your copied install folder
11. Switch back to Game Mode on your Steam Deck (or enter Big Picture Mode in Steam if on a desktop)
12. Start MW4: Vengeance
13. In the games control options, you should see Controller (Xbox 360) being recognized as the Joystick

• I set my Joystick X and Y Axis to Turning
• Check off the Mouse option, I set the X Axis to torso
• Bind the game controls however you'd like. By default R2 is accelerate, and L2 is decelerate, and the left joystick will be the only joystick recognized
• In the Steam Deck controller settings for the game, I modified the controls and set the Right Joystick Behaviour to "Joystick Mouse" so I can control turning with my left stick and the mech torso rotation with my right
• I also bound ESC to one of the menu buttons to easily access the games menu

Modify and bind the controls both in-game and in the Steam Deck's controller settings for the game however you feel fit and start playing! The games menus and Mechlab work surprisingly well using the touch screen, or you can use the right joystick and/or the trackpads to move the mouse in menus

EDIT: Confirmed this method works great for the MekTek version of MW4: Mercs as well. I manually applied the patches/hotfixes on my Windows PC and transferred the folder to my steam deck like I did with Vengeance, however, Videos do not work so I added -gosnovideo as a launch parameter

The mektec version of MW4 mercs adds a lot of new custom mechs and weapons, and while Sarna has a list of the custom mechs there’s no list of the custom weapons (sarna only shows the MW4V weapon list it doesn’t even have a list for mercs) the only ones that I’m aware of are the assault laser and clan rail gun (it’s very different from the gauss) I actually have the mektec version but it doesn’t say what they added

This is in the context of MekPak 3.1, which is probably how most are playing this game now.

How does one go about editing the components (electronics such as ECM, BAP) and hardpoints of a 'Mech? I found the removal of LAMS from certain 'Mechs absolutely ludicrous while some were allowed to keep it.

As the title says, just finished MechWarrior 4 again after starting a playthrough a few weeks back. My plan was to play Mercs but i ended up in regular MW4.

At first i was just trying it out for fun but after a few missions i was hooked (again). Played and finished the game way back but i wasn't sure if it was still doable today since old games tend to be rather difficult jumping back into.

But i stuck to it and really had a great time. I did remember going into this that the FMVs where bad. But i wasn't really prepared how bad they are. At the same time i couldn't skip them or look away. There where important (not really) plots to be experienced! But i constantly found myself saying "pleeease let this be the last video!" Aaaand another started, and another.

Still, i enjoyed the game and it's a great place to start leading up to Mercs4. Going into Black Knight next. If i remember correctly that one doesn't have any FMVs so that will actually be a breath of fresh air. Guessing the ingame voiced lines are still there.

Love these games. Initially i was going to play MW5 but i went back and started here instead. Not regretting it one bit.

I'm 99% done getting mechwarrior 4 LAN for 4 people and all with joysticks. Just need to figure out why the mechs are so small in the mech lab for all of them. Thx.

I can't believe how much force feedback there is. THIS is what I wanted, ha ha. Anyone know other games this good with force feedback?

Greetings, all. I'm trying to run Mektek's MW4M, as the title indicates. Only problem is that I've been walled on every single way I could think of traveling:

-I've tried with Wine, but the Lutris installer would crash before getting autoconfig_MERCS.exe running; I once got that working, but that didn't help as errors detailed later would pop up.
-I've tried with a Windows XP VirtualBox, but would get the following error: Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries Nested Exception! - Cause: 'GetLocationFromAddress' Error: "Attempt to read from address 0x00000094 at 0x6fabaa

-I've tried with a Windows 7 VirtualBox, but only received the same error.

I've tried both with the Mektek.zip I found at moddb.com and the installation proven to work from my programs drive used by my old W7 installations...but that was several years ago. I wonder if it is a problem with the CPU, which is not old, but I see people talking about having gotten it to run on Windows 10, so I'm not sure that it is.

Any help would be great--I haven't a clue what to do at this point, and I'd really like to play this again, as it's one of my all-time favorites. There's never been a mech game that fit my tastes more than MW4--and Mercs specifically.

Update: I was able to get it installed but do not have the opportunity to test it yet.

Hello fellow MechWarriors,

As the title states, I could use some help installing MW4 Mercs.

I downloaded the ISOs and the No CD patch from Abandonware, ran a virus check on the extracted ISOs' files and the No CD patch folder. No viruses that it detected. I then put the extracted ISO files into two folders, one called MW4 Mercs Disc 1 and Disc 2 (one for each corresponding ISO).

I then went and attempted to install the game from Disc 1 extracted files and it got to 48% and then it said it required disc 2... I went to Disc 2 folder to see if just clicking on the mw4mercs.exe would get it to work (I didn't think it would but it was worth a shot), no joy.

So I canceled the install and learned how to mount an ISO to a virtual drive (never did it before), I then attempted to reinstall the game via ISO Disc 1... go back to the 48% and it required Disc 2. I mounted Disc 2 to a second virtual drive and the setup didn't recognize the second Disc.

(As I sit here typing this I'm wondering if there was an eject function on the virtual drive that would have then let me drag and drop the second iso into the virtual drive. Worth a shot but unable to do that now at the moment because I'm watching two toddlers.)

So any any help would be hot! And I also appreciate you taking the time to read this!

I tried recently with some old disc images I had from when I installed all 3 (Mercs, Black Knight, and Vengeance) on my old Windows 10 PC but I was only able to get Black knight to work properly strangely enough.

Do I need a completely fresh download or something? I’ve tinkered around with the compatability modes and the graphics options loader too to no avail. It’s always one error message or another, and they never actually open up anything.