Further 1.1 Woes

[archonambroseus]

Man, I feel really bad for constituting literally 100% of this forum's activity in the past week, but I'm absolutely determined to get this running properly, reasons being dynamic salvage and the fact that I got sick of my oh-so-meticulously outfitted Atlases dying to the overweight bugs.

So after finding out that DOS Mercs doesn't respond well to 1.1, I tried a number of Windows 95 methods. As in every one on this site. I'll list the problem each method has. This is on Windows XP SP3 run off of a 2.6 GHz Pentium iMac. I don't know exactly what version my CD is; it's red with simply "MS-DOS WINDOWS 95" on it along with the other standard affair.

Just Running The Program in 95 Compatibility Mode: Game stalls at "synchronizing neurohelmet" (waited 3+ minutes to no avail)
MechVM: White Screen during missions (as in no environment shows up, and on the mechs only the cockpit shows up)
Kontza's Method: White Screen
crankyhermit's Addition to Kontza's Method: White Screen. Also the sound effects don't work despite this being a 95 install, therefore not needing the WAV file

Finally, Slug's Hook. This one gets a special mention because unlike the other versions, this one actually works. Glory hallelujah. HOWEVER (and this is a pretty huge "however"), the frame rate literally drops down to around .5/second if you get close to anything. The problem persists even with every graphics setting turned down to the minimum and with /-heaphack /-frameratelimit. If turned down to 320x240 resolution, it's barely playable (maybe 5 FPS), but the absolutely atrocious graphics make it almost as bad as just running with < 1 FPS.

Additionally, I tried several install methods for patch 1.1 and saw no noticeable differences, aside from the official patcher being finicky and the warp13 patch never being willing to install.

I'm pretty much at wits' end here, but wanted to see if the friendly folks here could offer any further support. I've probably spent literally 12+ hours of the past 48 working on this and really can't think of much else to do. However, I'd say that Slug's Hook shows the most promise unless there's a well-known fix to the white screen problem.

Thanks for all the help so far, and hope to be able to squash the last little (ok last gigantic) pesky bug!

[Skyfaller]

The Win95 versions are known be difficult to get running, but we're still not out of options:

• With MechVM, did you try to rename _dplay.dll to dplay.dll? Often the game crashes because that DLL is missing.
• Did you try running the sim using 3DFX emulation? Try downloading Zeckensack's 3DFX emulator and unzip it in Mercs directory.
• Try to get Mercs Titanium. Many don't like Titanium, but I do. It has textured terrain, animated clouds and dynamic salvage.

[archonambroseus]

Thanks for the response! I'm in the process of trying out the 3DFX emulator (you're talking about zeckensack's Glide wrapper, right?). I can't seem to get it to make a profile for Mercs, but even setting the globals all the way down doesn't seem to help much.

Another peculiarity that I noticed in the Hook version of 1.1 is that turning off terrain/object textures doesn't really seem to do anything. I have literally noticed no difference (in frame rate or appearance) with terrain textures off and turning off object textures shuts them off for mechs but not buildings, which given that the missions I've tried is the 1st plot DCMS mission you get (not counting the training), it could just be the building textures.

Anyways, I'll keep trying your suggestions and if worst comes to worst I'll try to track down a copy of Titanium. Thanks again!


[edit]

Just made an interesting discovery, although I don't think anything will come with it. It looks like Slug's Hook is not the differentiating factor from the above trials. I tried another (not the first, let me tell you!) install of Mercs, updated it to 1.1 via sir MMPD's method, then set up the hook. Rather than the low frame rate problems, I ended up with the same blank screen with cockpits.

I've also mucked around in MechPrep extensively now since the white screen glitch obviously stems from a rendering problem - I just don't know how to fix it. So far no luck, but I'll keep at it for a while more.

[edit 2]

I still haven't been able to get GlideWrapper to read or interface with Mercs. Could this be because I'm using GW on XP and running Mercs through emulation?

[Skyfaller]

I still haven't been able to get GlideWrapper to read or interface with Mercs. Could this be because I'm using GW on XP and running Mercs through emulation?

After installing GLIDE wrapper, you need to select 3DFX in Mercs as a rendering target:

"Install dgVoodoo then set the Video Options in the game to 3DFX."
http://www.mektek.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=85858

[archonambroseus]

Ah, got it. I'll give it a shot after work!

[Sir MMPD Radick]

If that does not work, i would just stick with DOS if I were you.

[Keebler]

No satisfactory solution, I take it?