MechWarrior 2: Resource Forum

Apparently, Mercenaries 95 is supposed to work fine with MechVM, but it doesn't.
Every time I try to start a mission, it just comes back to the debreif instantly. Running the Dos version using DosBox through MechVM works, but is insanely slow and choppy.
Whats wrong?

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Original Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries (DOS/Win95)
Using MechVM to run it

Edit: Mercs 95 3DFX seems to work, but it gets a bit choppy when looking at other mechs (even more so if theres more than one), also particles that come off limbs and missles cause huge slowdown (but disabling particles fixes this, though I kind of miss the effect). Any ideas to increase performance?

First post here, but I have the answer to this after much trial and error.

Simply put, you need a self-booting copy of Windows 98. I've tried various configurations with Windows XP and Windows 7 x64, but none of them work 100% to my satisfaction. Additionally, there is no way to play Mercs 95 with the 1.1 patch (dynamic salvage, etc.) in any operating system other than Windows 98.

The easiest way to do this is to use Virtual PC 2007. It's a program that lets you emulate an older operating system. I'm using Windows 7 x64 to emulate Windows 98, and it works perfectly without need for other programs. An important thing to know is that Virtual PC 2007 is NOT Windows Virtual PC. They are two different programs, one was independently developed and the other comes bundled with Windows 7. The two programs cannot even coexist without registry hacking, due to licensing restrictions. I tried using Windows Virtual PC because it is easy to get, but it emulates Windows 98 very poorly. Stick with Virtual PC 2007.

If you do not have a physical copy of self-booting Windows 98, then an ISO image will work. I will not explain how to obtain that, because that treads into illegal filesharing territory. The emulated Windows 98 can still recognize your 'real' hard drives, so that is how you will install Windows 98 into your virtual computer. After that, install MW2:Mercenaries 95 normally and you should encounter no problems. Patch the game to your preference (I like 1.1 the best) and enjoy!