reactor - online, sensors - online...

New or Old say hi!
Post Reply
ellmo
I.S. Baby
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:19 am

reactor - online, sensors - online...

Post by ellmo »

Hello Mechwarriors,
My first post here is both introductory and a request.

I've been a fan of the entire BattleTech world since I saw MW2 demo (migth've been called shareware back then) some 15 years ago (and spent days on it), but I never really had the full version. I've played Mechwarrior 3, Mechwarrior 4 (Veng, Mercs and the current free MekTek version) and also some MechCommander 2. All these years I've been missing out Mechwarrior 2 (well there is MW1, but I don't think I'm going THAT far back). From time to time, me and my older brother, have a need to play good, classic games, like Privateer, Strike Commander, SubWar 2050, Commanche: Maximum overkill, Xenobots (a.k.a. Ultrabots in some regions). This is where my introduction stops and my request begins :)

I've read some a thread here, explaining which versions are recommended, but it's still unclear to me which version did Sir Radick mean, when he wrote "If you install Mercenaries 95 and patch to 1.1, it will be just as good if not better.". I'm specifically interested in playing MW2: Mercs, I know it can be run in either low-res or high-res versions, I assumed the low-res (they look like 320x240 or 320x200 to me) are run under DOS, while the engine was improved to run 640x480 in W95. But all the CDs presented in the aforementioned thread seem to offer both DOS and a W95 install. Even after reading the F.A.Q. I'm still a bit in the dark, so I thought I might explain what I'm looking for exactly and you could help me out ;)

I've found this gameplay video on YT, which has good graphics, and does not seem to be a titanium version, since there is a wireframe view. What kind of version might it be?
  • I'm looking for a proper MW2: Mercs version, because I've heard it has the most content, largest amount of mechs to choose from, but if you can also recommend versions of the original MW2: 31st CC, and the GBL expansion I'd be very grateful
  • It should be running on the highest possible resolution, and by highest I probably mean 640x480 or 640x400
  • complete soundtrack if possible
Also - what's your opinion on the Titanium Edition? Aside from the fact that some weapons aren't balanced well - is it playable? Is it Mechwarrior-worthy? :) I must say I love the textured polygons in this version, but I'm not sure I want to sacrifice classic MW2 gameplay for this.

Thanks for any replies!
User avatar
Sir MMPD Radick
Clan Nova Captain
Clan Nova Captain
Posts: 1625
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:07 am

Re: reactor - online, sensors - online...

Post by Sir MMPD Radick »

First off, welcome! I'm glad you made it over here :)

With regards to the thread the 1.1 patch is referring to a generic version of the 95 mercs. Basically most mercs discs you buy come with both DOS and 95 on it.
If you install 95 version it will allow you to patch to 1.1 which has textures and dynamic salvage. The drawback to this is it is very buggy.
The DOS version is much better with regards to stability.

The question really is whether you care about random crashes or not. If you do then you want to use DOS.
Now as for resolution, DOS actually by default gets a higher resolution that 95. An unedited DOS version is able to get 1024 x 768 while an unedited version of 95 is able to get 640 x 480 at most.
Of course if you hack the 95 version you can get up to 1900 x 1200, but that just makes the game crash alot. It really is not worth the resolution bump.

Now the video you mention actually is not Mercenaries but MechWarrior 2. It probably is the DOS version being shown because it is difficult to record the 95 vanilla versions. FRAPS and other tools just refuse to record it in most instances.

These below are the versions i would buy.

GBL
Mercenaries
Mech2

With regards to titanium, i would never recommend that version. It is playable but it crashes alot just like any of the 95 versions. There is less sound track, messed up weapons, and other differences.
James 3:5-10: My Reminder
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
ellmo
I.S. Baby
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:19 am

Re: reactor - online, sensors - online...

Post by ellmo »

Thanks for replying,
I've managed to combine your YT tutorials with every other guide available here and finally got my MW2 running (well not "mine" actually, but since I got it working properly now, I'm gonna buy the CD off my friend, who was nice enough to borrow it for testing, it's really incredible that these things actually work and contain uncorrupted data after 15 years!). It's MW2 Win95, but I've managed to find a DOS installer on the CD, installed it without a problem on my WinXP (SP3), then I've configured DOSbox - as your video suggested - and I've spent the last night blasting some '95 mechs into pieces. Priceless.
Got sounds, music, mouse control and 1024x768 resolution, so it works perfectly!
Thanks again for writing / recording those dummy-friendly installation guides.


However I have also installed Mercenaries in the same way, it all works no problem, but since Mercs have upgraded graphics, DOSbox works extremely choppy even in lower resolutions and playing in 1024x768 is out of the question. What's the recommended install procedure on this one? I guess I shouldn't bother with DOS installations anymore since DOSbox can't handle it well enough. So? MechVM with win95 install?
User avatar
Sir MMPD Radick
Clan Nova Captain
Clan Nova Captain
Posts: 1625
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:07 am

Re: reactor - online, sensors - online...

Post by Sir MMPD Radick »

With regards to mercs since you are on XP instead of Vista or Windows 7 you can play the DOS version directly on the OS as long as you're not running the 64bit version of XP.
Just follow the DOS install guide and fix up the bat file as directed in the guide.. (modifying it of course for mercs) and you should be good to go for single player.
James 3:5-10: My Reminder
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
ellmo
I.S. Baby
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:19 am

Re: reactor - online, sensors - online...

Post by ellmo »

Sir MMPD Radick wrote:With regards to mercs since you are on XP instead of Vista or Windows 7 you can play the DOS version directly on the OS as long as you're not running the 64bit version of XP.
Do you mean I should be able to run the DOS version straight from Windows XP shell?
If I do this, I get an error:

Code: Select all

DOS/4GW error (2001): exception 0Dh (general protection fault) at 21F:00006F12
TSF32: prev_tsf32 527C
SS       22F DS       22F ES       27F FS         0 GS         0
EAX        0 EBX      22F ECX        0 EDX        0
ESI      120 EDI     5884 EBP     505C ESP     4448
CS:IP  21F:00006F12 ID 0D COD     5244 FLG    13246
CS=  21F, USE16, byte granular, limit     914F, base  29FF790, acc FB
SS=  22F, USE16, byte granular, limit     489F, base  2A088F0, acc F3
DS=  22F, USE16, byte granular, limit     489F, base  2A088F0, acc F3
ES=  27F, USE16, byte granular, limit     7CFF, base  2A31B90, acc F3
FS=    0, USE16, byte granular, limit        0, base  2A31B90, acc  0
GS=    0, USE16, byte granular, limit        0, base  2A31B90, acc  0
CR0: unavailable
MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries
Copyright (C) 1996, Activision Studios, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Just follow the DOS install guide and fix up the bat file as directed in the guide.. (modifying it of course for mercs) and you should be good to go for single player.
Hmm, I don't recall modifying any batch files, the guides I've read / watched, used DOSbox and not the "native" Windows-built-in DOS, and the only file I've edited was the DOSbox config file.

I also actually installed the game with Win95 compatibility mode, applied Slug's Hook, changed CD-rom drive letter to D: and it worked. It had 640x480 resolution, but the video was smooth, I thought I got it, but it keeps crashing with a "Win-32 unhandled exception" when I finish a mission.

Right now I'm back to experimenting more with DOSbox, trying to give it as much power and speed as possible so I could at least play it in 640x480 without it being choppy.
User avatar
Sir MMPD Radick
Clan Nova Captain
Clan Nova Captain
Posts: 1625
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:07 am

Re: reactor - online, sensors - online...

Post by Sir MMPD Radick »

Use this guide.
James 3:5-10: My Reminder
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
ellmo
I.S. Baby
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:19 am

Re: reactor - online, sensors - online...

Post by ellmo »

Unfortunately I still get this error when I try to run either MECH2 or MERCS with dos executables under WinXP (without DosBox):

Code: Select all

DOS/4GW error (2001): exception 0Dh (general protection fault) at 21F:00006F12
TSF32: prev_tsf32 527C
SS       22F DS       22F ES       27F FS         0 GS         0
EAX        0 EBX      22F ECX        0 EDX        0
ESI      120 EDI     5884 EBP     505C ESP     4448
CS:IP  21F:00006F12 ID 0D COD     5244 FLG    13246
CS=  21F, USE16, byte granular, limit     914F, base  29FF790, acc FB
SS=  22F, USE16, byte granular, limit     489F, base  2A088F0, acc F3
DS=  22F, USE16, byte granular, limit     489F, base  2A088F0, acc F3
ES=  27F, USE16, byte granular, limit     7CFF, base  2A31B90, acc F3
FS=    0, USE16, byte granular, limit        0, base  2A31B90, acc  0
GS=    0, USE16, byte granular, limit        0, base  2A31B90, acc  0
CR0: unavailable
MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries
Copyright (C) 1996, Activision Studios, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
User avatar
Sir MMPD Radick
Clan Nova Captain
Clan Nova Captain
Posts: 1625
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:07 am

Re: reactor - online, sensors - online...

Post by Sir MMPD Radick »

*shrugs* I dunno what to tell ya then sorry :(

Other than a dual boot to 98.... or vmware
James 3:5-10: My Reminder
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
ellmo
I.S. Baby
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:19 am

Re: reactor - online, sensors - online...

Post by ellmo »

Yeah, I'm going to have to do that. I've read about those errors and they are DOS' debug exceptions, which happen to be popular and quite unsolvable in some cases of WinXP. Luckily I should have my Win98SE somewhere around - if not, I hope FreeDos or OpenDos will be able to run MECH in VMware.

Thank you for everything!

Should I succeed in running the game, I'll be glad to give a full report on how to achieve this for anyone having similar problems in the future ;)
Post Reply