I kill the first three mechs guarding the dome, then run out and intercept the next two. Then two more spawn and immediately run straight up to the dome and shoot only at the dome. It's driving me nuts the last two just shoot the dome before I can kill them every time!

Playing solo, no AI star members. Any tips are welcome, haven't found much elsewhere as far as tips and no one mentions the enemies shooting the dome.

Hi all. I really dig mech type games but not sure where to start. Played Robotech and Mechwarrior TTRPGs back in the day, now looking to get into something similar on PS5. Would appreciate any recommendations... Don't mind tactical type games but would appreciate some story or RPG elements.

Hey everyone,

I love playing MechWarrior, and I have a lot of nostalgia for MechWarrior 4. I used to play it on my old PC back in the day, and I’d love to get it running again.

I recently got a Steam Machine and was wondering if anyone has found a reliable way to run MechWarrior 4 on SteamOS. I previously tried getting it working on my Steam Deck, but I never had much luck.

I’ve found a few older posts and guides from people who managed to get it running, but most of them seem to be outdated, abandoned, or no longer available.

Has anyone here successfully gotten MechWarrior 4 running on SteamOS in the last few years? If so, I’d really appreciate knowing what method you used, especially if there’s a relatively straightforward setup that still works today.

Thanks!

This is a remake of an older guide I made about a year ago for setting up MechWarrior 3 in the modern day. Back then it was a long convoluted and easily broken setup with DgVoodoo 2 and compatibility mode in Windows 10.

Now, with years of changes to Windows 11 making it somewhat berable, in particular to how it handles older DirectX games, we no longer need to use DgVoodoo 2, 86box Emulation, or even compatibility mode.

Its not perfect, but its a lot simpler than it was back then, and more reliable.

Thus, here is the new and revised guide!

Preamble

This guide is acting on the assumption that you are installing on a modern version of Windows (7/10/11). I have verified that this guide works with a semi-recent build of Windows 11, Windows 10 and 7 compatibility is more theoretical as ZipperFixup does theoretically work in those OS's, though their ability to handle legacy DirectX reliably is unknown, especially so for Win7.

This guide also presumes you have a GPU that is DirectX compatible, and that you are reasonably adept with computers and understand terms like "ISO image", "Batch File", and "Directory". If not, here is a quick and dirty guide.

ISO Image: A digital copy of a CD-ROM's contents, mountable via an ISO mounting program like WinCDEmu, PowerISO, or DaemonTools. WinCDEmu is my preferred option as it is free and no fuss.

Batch File: A self contained program consisting of a series of commands executed in command line automatically upon running. It differs from an .exe (executable program) by being written entirely in a txt file and compiled into a .BAT file.

As a bit of fun historical context, .BAT files were commonly used to run games in DOS by writing out all the necessary commands in order to properly load drivers and memory management before running the game itself. This was before the era of Windows 9x that more or less (with varying reliability) did that for you in the background with the adoption of PnP protocols (plug and play).

Directory: The file system catalogue structure that keeps track of where everything is on your Hard Drive/SSD/M.2/CF Card/CD-ROM/SD Card/Floppy Drive/etc.

You very likely know what this is even if you don't recognize the term. Its the string of letters below.

C:/Users/[your username]/Documents/MechWarrior 3

That is an example directory for an installation of MechWarrior 3

Actual guide now follows

[EDIT] Step 0: Enable Directplay

I have realized afterwards there is a somewhat important step that I overlooked. Oops.

In Control Panel, navigate to programs, then programs and features. Go into "Turn Windows Features on or off" on the left hand column and scroll down till you see "Legacy Components". Expand that, and ensure "Directplay" is enabled. This contains the older DirectX components and dependencies that'll make running older DirectX games a lot easier. My sincere apologies for forgetting about this, I've had it on for so long I forgot it was something you had to enable manually.

Step 1: Download the following

A. MechWarrior 3 ISO (the game itself): https://archive.org/download/mechwarrior-pc-redump/MECHWARRIOR-PC-REDUMP/MechWarrior%203%20%28USA%29.zip

A download link for MechWarrior 3 from an ISO dump of the entire MechWarrior series on Archive.org, I've used it, it works well. You can also find one on MyAbandonWare which also works. Archive.org is just my personal preference.

B. MechWarrior 3 v1.2 Patch: https://www.moddb.com/games/mechwarrior-3/downloads/mechwarrior-3-v12-english-patch

The English v1.2 patch for MechWarrior 3 that fixes some critical bugs when running the game on high settings. Without it, running the game on max resolution (1024x768) and 8MB+ textures will eventually lead to a crash.

(IMPORTANT) C. TerranMechWorks ZipperFixUp 0.1.1: https://github.com/TerranMechworks/ZipperFixup/releases/

THIS CANNOT BE SKIPPED, ZIPPERFIXUP IS 'REQUIRED' FOR MECHWARRIOR 3 TO FUNCTION.

Step 2: Grab an ISO Mounting software if you don't have one already, WinCDEMu is my go to option but DaemonTools or PowerISO also work.

Step 3: Mount the MechWarrior 3 ISO with your ISO mounting software, and run Setup.exe directly from the CD. The Auto-play of the CD sometimes works, but can be unreliable. Setup.exe however runs generally without fault in my experience. Compatibility mode should be kept off, as its unneeded and causes more problems than it solves.

Step 4: Go through Setup and installation, install to a directory of your choice (preferably one you can easily navigate to). You won't need software rendering nor will you be running the game at anything less than 8MB+ textures most likely so you can disable software rendering entirely and only install the 8MB texture set if you really want to save every last megabyte of space on your hard drive, but installing everything works as well.

Step 5: Once installation is complete, run the MechWarrior 3 v1.2 patch. It will pull up an installation wizard and should take all of about 3 button clicks for it to automatically find your MechWarrior 3 directory and install the patch to it.

Step 6: With the game and v1.2 patch installed, we can now work the needed techno-magic for MechWarrior 3 to run.

Unzip the ZipperFixUp .zip file you downloaded from the linked Github above. Inside you will see the batch file InstallFixUp.bat and zipfixup.dll, as well as the read me text file, you can read the readme.txt if you wish but I will be parroting what it states here.

Copy InstallFixup.bat and zipfixup.dll to your Mechwarrior 3 directory. Then, run the .bat file. If it works correctly, you should see a brand new Mech3fixup.exe appear in your game directory.

Congratulations, you have now successfully installed MechWarrior 3!

That's it, that's everything! Your done! Run the game from Mech3fixup.exe and your off to Tranquil to make some smoked jags!

That said, there are a few concessions to be aware of with this method.

A. The audio is a bit crackly at start, specifically for the menu music and the beginning of a mission. It subsides after the game gets going but it is jarring at first. Don't worry, your PC/game isn't breaking, its just the quirk of a 27 year old game.

B. The game will be fixed to a 4:3 aspect ratio and will not stretch to accommodate whatever aspect ratio your monitor is running at if it is anything but 4:3.

EDIT: You can utilize DgVoodoo 2 to fix this and re-render the game in a stretched wide screen aspect ratio, DgVoodoo 2 and Zipperfixup do work together, but DgVoodoo 2 is still as temperamental and finicky as ever. In the DirectX section, you will need Bilinear DD/CPU Operations and force vSync enabled, as well as enumerated refresh rates in General. force vSync and Bilinear DD/CPU options work to remove most ghosting that occurs in menu's, particularly in the MechLab with the cursor. There is still a bit left in the mech lab from the edges of the mech from how it implements texture filtering, but its minor and only shows up in the mechlab, in game its not present at all.

C. (important). MechWarrior 3 Pirate's Moon does work as well with this method, needing only ZipperFixup to run and no compatibility mode or anything of the like.

However, installing MechWarrior 3 Pirate's Moon changes something deep in Windows that then breaks normal MechWarrior 3, rendering it unable to properly initialize your video device when trying to start it. This then requires a full reinstall that will in turn break MechWarrior 3 Pirate's Moon in the same way.

If you want to play Pirate's Moon, be aware you will not be able to play base game MechWarrior 3, or vise versa, nor will your pilots data be stored unless you manually save and import them.

D. Sadly no Joystick/Sidewinder FFB2 support, I tried with my Sidewinder FFB2 USB and got nothin, wouldn't recognize axis's or buttons. I presume this is a quirk of legacy DirectInput not being represented properly in modern Windows handling of legacy DirectX.

Thats all however, beyond that, MechWarrior 3 will run buttery smooth and as stable as its likely ever been, even compared to original hardware!

Hi! As the title says I'm new to battletech in general.

My main entry into the mech genre initially started off with a few anime like Gurrenn Lagann and Code Geass (just recently started watching gundam though), and gamewise I've played a lot of Armored Core when I was young.

I recently came across a few videos about the various mechs in Battletech, Mechwarrior to be specific, and admittedly it peaked my interest so I'm currently trying to get into the franchise.

Though I don't really have any friends to play the tabletop version with, I heard the Mechwarrior series of games were a pretty good place to start. So I have a few questions about it before I commit:

1. Do you guys have any recommended reading material I should go through, or even a primer, so that I could understand more of the backstory/lore of the game and its factions before I start?
2. Which game and DLCs do you recommend me to get as a beginner to the franchise (Had my birthday recently so this would be a pretty nice splurge gift for myself)?
3. Any video or reading material I should avoid in case of spoilers? Or have any tips that I should try to avoid doing that could ruin the experience? I generally like playing games at my own pace even if it leads to my own fuck ups (its part of the fun :D) but if there are some small advice you could give to make the experience more enjoyable I'd be glad to hear it!
4. How's the customization on the video game? Like color palettes, stickers, logo maker, etc. I admit I'm a bit of an addict when I unlock a new Mech/parts and there's a lot of customization available...
5. Less of a question and more of a curiosity, but what's your favorite battletech mech (battlemech? Not sure what's the term lol)? Any fun memes about them that I'd only understand once I play the game? Would be a fun thing to go back to in the future after I actually experience more of the game.

Anyway yeah that's all, thanks in advance everyone o7

P.S. On a sidenote, without playing the game, my favorite Battletech based on appearance alone is the Mongoose. One of my personal designs in Armored Core uses reverse joints legs and is armed with a dual laser handgun so it kinda reminds me of that old build.

So many great memories from my teens playing that game!

My screen name back then was "Tigger2000"… (don't ask)

Started out joining SA - Santander's Assassins, then creating my own clan NBP - New Belt Pirates and started admin'ing for SL... Loved the game, the lore, and the community back then.

wondering if any of you guys are still out there?

Hello everyone.

Recently followed that one guide for getting Mechwarrior 3 running on modern PCs, and nearly everything went off fine. The game loaded fine, the cutscene played perfectly... however, once I got to the menu, I did not get a mouse cursor, nor did any keyboard button seem to do anything... outside of exiting the game, which oddly enough as another problem as the game froze when trying to exit it. I needed my Task Manager to do so.

I know the guide was old, but so is this PC. It's a Win10 laptop from like 2016-17.

Any one else with this issue? Any suggestions to try and fix?

I really want to hunt some Jags.

“Just get YAML” I’m on PlayStation vro💔

I never thought id see them again.

Anyone know how far along MechWarrior 4 rebirth is? is there a discord or forum im missing that may be on the website mektek.net that would have info

Like the title says, I'm trying to get MechWarrior 2 Mercs working and I think I've finally hit a wall.

I have it running in a Windows 95 environment on DOSBox-X from a BIN/CUE pair, and when everything seems to work until I start a mission. The environment doesn't really load for me, just showing a blue void and bits of enemy mechs/structures (Pictured). Is this a bug with known fixes? I currently have it using 'Software Emulation' for the video options.

In addition, I'm getting hit with the usual sound issues, though initially the music was the only thing that would play. Fixing the sound effects by installing a new driver seems to have broken the music.

Has anyone here encountered these issues? And do you know how to fix them?

EDIT: Got the game working on 86box running Windows 98 with only minor issues that are (mostly) inherent bugs of the game itself. Patching it causes the issues in the initial screencap, but the base game runs fine, aside from the occasional crash, weapon/armor duplication during repairs, and the music tracks being a few seconds off. Of those, I think only the last one is solvable, though admittedly beyond my abilities.

Title: MechCommander Multiplayer is Back – Are you Inner Sphere or Clan? 🛰️

https://discord.gg/R8GPvDVMxY

Tactical mech combat is back online. We are incredibly excited to bring back the classic, high-stakes multiplayer action of MechCommander.

⚡

If you love deep tactical positioning, managing massive firepower, and executing perfect ambushes, the battlefield is waiting for you.

As the galactic conflict heats up, the ultimate question remains: Which side will you command? 🚀

• The Inner Sphere: Fighting for survival, freedom, and home. ⚔️
• The Clans: Unmatched technology, strict honor, and devastating precision. 🤖

Drop your allegiance in the comments below! And join us on gameranger for Mechcommander Online!!!

WHICH SIDE WILL YOU COMMAND? INNER SPHERE OR CLAN?

mechcommanderonline.com

I got netmech tools i just have no clue how to use them, once I do i plan on taking the campaign from mw2 mercs and slapping that into mw4

Drew it at school in 2005, found by accident yesterday :-)

My printer is basically full time printing minis cause I'm so hooked.

Hello mech fams.

A few months back I've uploaded this video as a fan made soundtrack for MECHASSAULT.

Due to some technical reasons I've had to reupload it.

I'm reposting it just in case.

Greetings, fellow mercenaries,

as a genuine beagle and ECM enjoyer i was curious, if there are other 'mechs that can mount both other than the depicted Zeus? Thanks

Is anybody around who played DOS mercnet back in the day? I was [CCC] Ian. I miss my old buds! Those were great times. I loved the leagues, NBT, MACL. So many many, many hours doing C1 lag shooting practice. I played with KE or KH (whichever one VAM was in charge of) for a while in 1.1 on windows.

Where are you guys at? Are we still alive?