A real installation challenge

Post up issues you are encountering with MechWarrior 2 here, this includes Netmech.
Forum rules
Search before asking!
No Swearing!
Oric
I.S. Baby
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:16 am

A real installation challenge

Post by Oric »

Ok im frustrated at this installation. I have two mw2 cds. ATI and Pentium win95 editions. I have read and gone over every bit of information on subjects relate to installations on XP from this site and google. It seems no mater which way i try things something doesnt work right. On my win7 i can get as far as launching the game using ATI/mechMV and instantly losing the mission on launch. on my XP (two dif computers) i can run ATI through MV and the game crashes after opening. Patches either dont find components or fail to find installed games. MWinjector tells me changing executable paramaters in a shortcut doesnt work.

so ive decided to delete and uninstall everything and start from scratch. Want a real challenge? help get one of the versions working. If you can leave as much detail information on your process i will follow it to the letter and keep you informed of progress or brickwalls i keep running into.

if i forgot to added anything just ask. will be keeping my eye on this thread 24/7.. LOL
User avatar
Sir MMPD Radick
Clan Nova Captain
Clan Nova Captain
Posts: 1625
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:07 am

Re: A real installation challenge

Post by Sir MMPD Radick »

Sorry to say the ATI version will not work no matter how hard anyone tries. The only way it would work is if you ran XP and below with the original ATI Rage video card and drivers. That game is video card dependent and newer ATI cards do not have the capability to run it.

As far as the Pentium editions these do not work on Windows 7, so your only option with these is a virtual machine running 98 or XP.

You need MechWarrior 2 DOS with DOSBOX that is your best solution.

Sorry that I cannot give you better news.
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.
Oric
I.S. Baby
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:16 am

Re: A real installation challenge

Post by Oric »

well on the win7 i tried using virtual xp and ran into similar problems like what im having on my other computer. it just seemed that many had similar problems with different errors and they got it to work one way or the other. i just need a little more technical assistance.. :D
User avatar
Sir MMPD Radick
Clan Nova Captain
Clan Nova Captain
Posts: 1625
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:07 am

Re: A real installation challenge

Post by Sir MMPD Radick »

Do you mean the XP mode? I do not think that will work for the game if that is what you meant game is picky, but I have been wrong before.

You need a virtual machine like vmware, virtual pc, or virtual box.
If you go the XP route you have to use the fixes listed in the FAQ section in order to get it running.
Easiest method is to use 98 SE as there are no fixes needed.

Out of those options vmware workstation works the best performance wise.
I have not tested virtual box but I know Virtual PC functions as well.

I will be glad to help if I can if you run into problems using one of those, but as I said DOS is a whole lot easier to deal with. I would not bother with this unless you can't spend $6 on ebay for a DOS copy.
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.
Oric
I.S. Baby
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:16 am

Re: A real installation challenge

Post by Oric »

ok i will try another virtual program and see how that goes. which dos version is the best to buy? i notice on ebay that there are some images of the cd's that dont match any of the game versions listed in another post on the forum. stick with one that says dos only or will any work listed for dos and windows?
Oric
I.S. Baby
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:16 am

Re: A real installation challenge

Post by Oric »

ok i seized my win7.. :shock:
I tried installing microsoft virtual pc and that doesnt work with 64bit or support a win95 platform. I still had windows virtual pc but that only supports vista, xp and win7. so then i uninstalled microsoft Virtual and installed VMplayer and it asked for a restart. so i did and BAM! i dont even have a win7 recovery disk and it came pre-installed on computer. now im stuck with XP for awhile lol
User avatar
Sir MMPD Radick
Clan Nova Captain
Clan Nova Captain
Posts: 1625
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:07 am

Re: A real installation challenge

Post by Sir MMPD Radick »

Yeowch, sorry to hear that man! That hurts even to hear!
Aw man! With regards to recovery of Windows 7, depending on the model of the system most of the newer systems instead of giving you a recovery disc they actually have a recovery partition you might check to see if there is anything like that for your model. It would not surprise me if it did, but if you erased it while you installed XP........ I hate it when companies don't give you the install media it just is not right. It doesn't cost them much to do that!

With regards to versions... any of the versions listed in the Online/Offline section pictured on this thread would be good choices.
Best advice I can give when choosing on ebay make sure it has a picture on there that matches, or if not ask the seller what is written on the disc to see if it matches. If you do not do either you will end up with a ATI Rage version or another Pentium version most likely. That is the reason why I never suggest to use Amazon for buying mech2 discs despite the better prices since a buyer cannot verify the version before buying and it ends up being a roulette game as to which version.

Well, I guess since you are on XP for now your Pentium edition does have a chance to run........
For the Pentium edition on XP the install instructions are slightly different than the normal Netmech edition in that you cannot just run slug's patch on it. I am guessing the reason for that is because there is a file content difference, but I have never examined the problem closely enough to tell for sure other than the method that needs to be used is a mix of slug's patch and kontza's method. I can give you a step by step install directions for XP with this video I created. However mechvm is a simpler solution than that, so take your pick. It depends on what you want to do. I would suggest mechvm first and if it that fails then the other method.

Good luck with getting Windows 7 back. I hope that you can get it without trouble.
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.
Oric
I.S. Baby
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:16 am

Re: A real installation challenge

Post by Oric »

ok having a problem with slugs patches. They obvious dont work with my pentium edition. I tried the compatiblity option and then tried applying the patch but it doesnt like the mech2 dir and says not patchable. then i was looking at your other meathod and i just realized that installing patch to mw2hook directory that the mw2shell.dll isnt in there.. how do i extract those files? i tried patch one and then old patch.. havent tried titanium patch...

ive watched this video before. nice. if i use MVmech what steps should i take? making a cd image or just installing the game?

i appreciate the help. we might beable to create a new how-to fix anything post with the problems im running into.. lol
User avatar
Sir MMPD Radick
Clan Nova Captain
Clan Nova Captain
Posts: 1625
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:07 am

Re: A real installation challenge

Post by Sir MMPD Radick »

Regarding the hook I created a video this morning on that topic to address that.

Now yes, the patch does not work with the pentium edition directly, but you can get around this by using the instructions below, but if you follow the video above you don't need to do what is below unless the overweight problem happens.

MechWarrior 2: Pentium Edition
  1. Install MechWarrior 2
  2. Download and Unzip XVI32
    http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/f ... /xvi32.htm
  3. Run XVI32
  4. Replace all instances of VESA480.DLL to VESA768.DLL in MW2SND.CFG with XVI32.
  5. Download and extract the replacement MW2SHELL.DLL, GDI42, VESA768 to your MW2 Dir
    http://www.mech2.org/downloads/SHELL_VESA_GDI42.rar
  6. If you do not have an archiving tool which can access .rar I would suggest that you download an Open Source program called 7-Zip.
    http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
  7. Set the Compatibility mode for Mech2.exe to 98 or 95.

Regarding MechVM the steps would be the following:
  1. Download MechVM
  2. Unzip MechVM
  3. Run MechVM
  4. Insert the MechWarrior 2 Disc
  5. Run the Installer in MechVM
That should do it for that version... I do not think you need an image for that version since DOSBOX will not be used.
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.
Oric
I.S. Baby
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:16 am

Re: A real installation challenge

Post by Oric »

ok slugs work is working with the XP. guess i didnt realize the proper way to set the link. The other information is good too i havent tried those methods yet. these videos you are making are really good. perhaps u could create a locked/tagged thread for tutorials. Im sure there are other who got confused too. now i just have to find a thread that has the control listings so i can program my command pad joystick for maximum performance. once i get the hang i will look into joinng irc and online battles again.. :D
Post Reply