MW2 3D - Page Update Info 1998-2001


 

October 09, 2001
Last fall I decided to "retire" indefinitely from computer gaming for a variety of reasons and thus the long hiatus until recently. The fact that I had left some of the main features of the website (like the FAQ) go unfinished had been bothering me, so over the last month or so I came back and tried to complete those sections of the site that could realistically be finished to an acceptable level without getting too deep into all this again. As of today, I think I've generally accomplished what I set out to do, with a few exceptions. Often when people move on (or back) to other things, their websites unfortunately disappear, but in this case I figured it would be wrong to let this site disappear or just sit unfinished after spending so much researching the subject at hand. With many of the MW2/Netmech sites having long since disappeared or changed content since the release of Mechwarrior 3 in 1999, this site does continue to serve a purpose even if it is no longer actively updated, so MechWarrior 2 3D will go on quietly providing MW2 series information and keeping the game's memory alive.

October 08, 2001
Just added a quicklink index to the FAQ page along with some additional FAQ entries.

October 01, 2001

September 10, 2001
I added the FAQ page (also added a FAQ button on the menu) and Titanium screenshots to the Netmech pages that I meant to add over a year ago. These offer a good comparision with the other versions (and they also make you wonder what the hell some at Activision were thinking with their constant re-use of that damned green blurred ground texture).

September 8, 2001
** Any Macintosh PowerMac/PowerPC/TechWorks Power3D users (or former users) out there that can help finish the RAVE Section information and/or provide some nice screenshots? **

I added a link to the FRAPS framerate utility and some made some changes in the Netmech Area (which now includes the mission information).

I'll add a these to a FAQ-ish page sometime in the future, but until then:

August 30, 2001
I really didn't expect to update this page much anymore, but some interesting info came my way and well.....what the hell, eh?

1) First of One sent me an email with an intersting link, regarding the Geforce 3's apparent ability to run the 3Dfx Glide API. Dracman has a webpage focusing on running Tomb Raider 3Dfx and 3Dfx Jane's F15 on the GF3. You can read more about it here. I don't have a GF3 (nor even MW2, for that matter...) to be able to test MW2 3Dfx out on, but I'll see what I can find out.

2) Demolishun annouced a very intersting development for MW2 Mercenaries over at the Bad Karma forums. He has more information and tools available for download at his website. You can also read the threads at the Bad Karma forums:

Post 1: http://www.badkarma.net/dcforum/DCForumID25/135.html

Post 2 : http://www.badkarma.net/dcforum/DCForumID25/139.html#

I added some more links to the Links Section as well.

Also, Kali v2.3 was recently released. You can get it here.

May 30, 2001
Must...try...to.....remember....how.....to write in......HTML.....Must.....think.....

Well, a few things to note:

  • The [former] Dejanews archive going back to 1995 is back up via Google....
  • The Rendition news server appears to have finally been disconnected.
  • An unopened Titanium Trilogy went for ~$60 on eBay recently (no comment)...
  • ATI's drivers and support continue to suck beyond belief, but you probably already knew that...
  • Oh yeah, 3Dfx died. Yes they did it to themselves starting with the Voodoo Rush, but it is a shame, really. They really started 3D accelerated PC gaming with a big bang a few years back. *A moment of silence for the fallen.*
  • Nvidia needs to improve it's damn 2D and Matrox needs to wake the hell up.....
  • And ironically, 3Dfx's old rival PowerVR is back bigtime, check out a review of the Kyro II....
  • I fixed some broken links and marked some others as broken.
  • Finally, please don't email me about wanting to buy MW2 stuff, because I don't have *anything* to sell. Just go to eBay and do a search. All this stuff shows up sooner or later....
  • Sorry Mac people, I never got any RAVE screenshots. What can I say? I tried!

November 15, 2000
Added minimum system requirements for each version. Almost done with this &%$#@ website!

November 11, 2000
Added cheat codes page (links are on each version's page under the cheats header). Quick link here: Cheat codes

November 4, 2000
Added a section for Bugs and Cheats under each version. Nothing big, because they use the same cheats as the Win95/Pentium versions. Only a few bugs listed at present.

November 2, 2000
Added 3/3 PowerVR Netmech screens into the FFA/Team Netmech pages for comparison. Revised the intro a little bit and revised and added a whole bunch of links.

October 30, 2000:
Added Win95/Pentium Netmech screenshots to the Netmech section for direct comparison. Added Netmech maps in Netmech section (click on each planet). I'm unsure where these maps are from and would like to give proper credit to whoever made them. If you know, please email me with the info. I put most of the text on the web pages into tables, so they are not so far on the left of the screen for those viewing this at high resolution. Updated the 3Dfx Voodoo section to deal with questions about the Banshee and V3 and revised the S3 ViRGE section, resolution and compatibility areas. Added 10 new ViRGE screens w/o the HUD so the images load faster (removed old ones w/ the HUD).

October 23, 2000:
Divided the PowerVR gallery into two sections, PCX1 & PCX2. I hope to have a couple of PCX1 screenshots soon, so I can show what the PowerVR edition looked like w/o bilinear filtering. Also added a link to Activision's patch directory on the links page. I made the link into the file directory rather so you can download older patch versions (i.e. the Mercs v1.08 beta 3Dfx patch) that are no longer listed or linked on Activision's main page.

October 18, 2000:
Added a Support Site category on each version's page, so if you are having problems running your Voodoo, ATI, etc. card, you have a quick link to a site or sites that may be able to help you out. Added the cover shot of the S3 ViRGE version you were able to buy from Activision. I really would like to get some RAVE shots and finish this page, but the gods of Mac hardware are cruel.

October 3, 2000:
Added two Mystique and two ViRGE screens to the galleries. I also added a correction to the Mystique resolution on it's info page.

October 1, 2000:
I have opened the Mystique Gallery (quick link here). It is the most individual looking of all the versions, but that is not necessarily a good thing. More details in the Mystique area.

Also, I finally tested the S3 ViRGE edition on a Diamond Stealth 4000 AGP Turbo 4mb ViRGE GX2 card, supposedly the fastest ViRGE chipset in 3D. Unfortunately, even on a PIII 500, 256mb of RAM, 640x480 is still slow! I would guess it was chugging along at around 12fps and even 512x384 still did not seem super smooth. I tried it with several driver variations, overclocking the card using Powerstrip Performance Tuner, and dropping the relevant old Velocity 3D drivers into the Mech2 directory and still had no luck.

I also went through the site and compressed many of the images further, hopefully helping speed up page loading times for those without DSL, cable, etc.

September 19, 2000:
Added CD/booklet images in the 3Dfx area for the Orchid Righteous 3D and another 3Dfx version (possibly from a HP desktop system).

September 15, 2000:
Just a small update.... I added information about desktop systems including the ATI, PowerVR, & Virge versions in their software bundles (under each editions respective area). I have 30 PowerVR NetMech screenshots, but I really don't have the space left for them at present. Plus, I want to [eventually] take some Mystique and RAVE screens and put them up as well. I think it's getting near the time to do a Kerensky and move this thing to a real server...

September 10, 2000:
I got a hold of a TechWorks Power3D card and MW2 and put the cd pictures up on the RAVE page. No RAVE screens...yet. I also updated the release dates for the RAVE versions and corrected the labeling section for the RAVE and 3Dfx editions. Added a NetMech category under the 3Dfx, PowerVR and RAVE sections.

August 31, 2000:
Added scans of the ATI 3D Rage booklets (color versions) and accompanying CDs. Now that this site is restructured, I can take a break away from it for a while :P

August 30, 2000:
Added two new URL's on the Mechwarrior 2 soundtrack and it's composer. These articles aren't brand new, but I figured some people might have missed them, especially the S.O.S. article on Jeehun Hwang.

August 28, 2000:
I just added the Netmech section! BTW, all the NetMech screens are from the 3Dfx edition (using Snap3Dfx ver 1.2). It is a real pain to take screens in it, because alt + tab is not suppported with early glide. You're left with ctrl + alt + del and one shot per drop (if you're lucky).

August 27, 2000:
Updated the 3Dfx page, compatibility section (info on using the V3).

August 25, 2000:
Revised site, changed to frames format. I felt the main page took too long to load. While checking my links, I unfortunately found out that the S3 Planet site is gone with all the S3 ViRGE series info.

Note: I'm kind of running low on time right now, so I don't know when I'll get to it, but I want to try to get 2-3 screenshots from each of the NetMech worlds in the future. I also want to compile a page on the bugs these versions had. When I used to play the 3Dfx version on Kali, we did some tests that seemed to show that damage distribution was different than on the Win95/Pentium version. Also, some or all of these versions did not give you a full 180 degree radius of torso twist. I'll see what elese I can find out....

August 17, 2000:
Revised the Mac RAVE info under the performance, compatibility, & notes sections.

Does anybody know what hardware this edition of MW2 Mercenaries 1.1 was bundled with?

UPDATE: It appears this thing was bundled w/ the ELSA Victory 3Dx (ViRGE DX).

Click for a larger image

July 17, 2000:
Changed format to several pages to speed up loading time. I decided to look into including info on the RAVE version.

June 27, 2000:
Site reconditioned and reopened with new simpler Geocities address (old long ass URL's really sucked!) after sitting dormant for a while. I did a bit more researching and eliminated a bunch of cards that were incorrectly included (Jazz Adrenaline Rush, Matrox 220, etc.)

Note: If you're wondering why most of the screenshots and scanned images on this site are quite large for just a screenshot, well I wanted to preserve the image quality as much as possible and maintain the feel and look of the sim. The mistake I made with my first screenshots was to include the HUD in the images, because it gets really fuzzy if I lower the quality even a little below 100% quality during the TGA to JPEG conversion in ACDSee. Screenshots rarely do a sim justice and low grade ones aren't even worth posting IMHO, so I went with them.

** Most 1998-1999 news was deleted by mistake! **

October 18, 1999:
The site is terribly disorganzed, but I just filled it with lots of new info and screenshots for the 3Dfx, PowerVR and S3 versions.

April 21, 1999:
Basic MW2 3D info site first opens and demonstrates the fact that I'm very rusty in HTML work.

January 2, 1999:
The GDL has imploded and as XXX~Kanajana, I was General for a day :P

The Crescent Hawks unit has just formed from ex-members of the M3L units House Kurita and the Gray Death Legion.

November 1998:
I recently joined the Gray Death Legion in the Mech3League (Kali Server #252). If you haven't done so yet, get Kali now! It's a great place to hang.

September 1998
Old screenshot archive started with several 3Dfx Voodoo edition screenshots.

 


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