Comparison shots from eight versions of MW2 (56kers beware)

[thecrankyhermit]

I've gotten ahold of all the MW2 versions that I think matter:
Three versions of MW2:31CC - DOS, 3DFX, and Titanium.
Two versions of GBL - DOS and Titanium
Three versions of Mercs - DOS 1.06, Windows 1.1, and Titanium.

I've taken one shot from each version, to show the difference in the graphics. Shots of different versions of the same game are taken from the same place. So, here they are.

MechWarrior 2 DOS


MechWarrior 2 3DFX:


MechWarrior 2 Titanium:



Basically, the 3DFX looks a lot nicer than DOS, with texture-mapped worlds that are faithful to the original look. Titanium has nicer looking vehicles than 3DFX, both in terms of meshes and textures, but worse looking terrain and skyboxes, and are not as faithful to the DOS version.


Ghost Bear's Legacy DOS:


Ghost Bear's Legacy Titanium:


Here, Titanium seems like an all around enhancement, though somewhat annoyingly the mechs seem to be missing the Ghost Bear emblem.


Mercenaries DOS 1.06:


Mercenaries 1.1:


Mercenaries Titanium:



Here, Mercs 1.1 has nicer looking textures, and supports 800x600, but the look is rather changed. Also, the draw distance is shorter, and things like buildings just instantly appear once you get close enough. Titanium looks nearly identical, but only up to 640x480.

[Skyfaller]

Thanks for posting these.

While I'm a fan of Titanium Trilogy for its graphics, many shun it for various reasons. I'd also like to mention that Titanium Trilogy can be made to support higher resolutions, either by using 3DFX emulation, or by patching.

[Col.Kell]

wow.

I'd like to get myself a copy of the titanium edition of mercs or 31cc, only problem is that there are some serious problems like incomplete wireframe, unbalanced weapons, and many minor problems.

Which 3d enhanced versions are you using? Is there any special hardware or software requirments for playing titanium?

[Skyfaller]

Problems in Titanium Trilogy:

• Incomplete Wireframe. Apparently, some weapons are not displayed in wireframe. The only way I can think of for fixing this is a new rendering engine and sim. More
• Shortened music tracks. The game does not have a lot of copy protection, so you can create a new CD with the long tracks. This has been elaborated in other thread. More
• Changed weapon stats. We could fix this, but what values would be right?

Don't know what other flaws see in Titanium.

[thecrankyhermit]

Which 3d enhanced versions are you using?

All but the DOS versions are 3D enhanced. Aside from Titanium Trilogy, that leaves two 3D enhanced versions - MW2 3DFX, and Mercs 1.1. MW2 3DFX requires a special promotional version of the game, which was by far the hardest to find a copy of. Mercs 1.1 is just a patch applied to the DOS version, though getting the patch to install properly and then make it work in WinXP was an enormous pain in the ass.

Is there any special hardware or software requirments for playing titanium?

Make sure you install the games with the 3D accelerated option. You'll need an unofficial patch too - you can get it here:
http://www.box.net/shared/0kakqsrb3t

And to annotate the above list:

* Incomplete Wireframe. Apparently, some weapons are not displayed in wireframe. The only way I can think of for fixing this is a new rendering engine and sim.

I think of the wireframe mode as being a feature they disabled in Titanium (also in Mercs 1.1). You need to hex edit just to use it, and it's rather flawed when you do. If I play Titanium, I just won't use the wireframe mode.

* Shortened music tracks. The game does not have a lot of copy protection, so you can create a new CD with the long tracks. This has been elaborated in other thread.

In Mercs, it's simple to fix the music tracks, if you have a copy of non-Titanium. Just use the pre-Titanium set list, and it will work perfectly. For the others, it's not so simple. The music tracks aren't shortened. Instead, several of them are outright missing, and the missions are often coded to play a completely different track.

* Changed weapon stats. We could fix this, but what values would be right?

Not an issue in Mercs. The weapon stats are based on Mercs throughout all of Titanium. This causes balance issues in MW2 and GBL, but obviously not in Mercs.

[Col.Kell]

Here, Titanium seems like an all around enhancement, though somewhat annoyingly the mechs seem to be missing the Ghost Bear emblem.

Assuming the GBL insignia XEL is there but just not assigned, I do have a nice, simple hex editing fix here. You can change the insignia assignments of mech stars to any XEL file found in the game (if you put in a value greater than 06 you get some very strange textures on your mech).

[Cyril]

i dont remember, did GBL have full wireframe?

[Sir MMPD Radick]

yes.

[thecrankyhermit]

All three DOS versions support wireframe mode, and so does MW2 3DFX. Mercs 1.1 and Titanium do not.

[Cyril]

but mercs dosent have full wireframe. which makes it unplayable for me.


which is really sad, since it seems to be the most editable game.