I put together a Mercs 1.1 XP patch
Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:03 pm
Big thanks to Kontza for making the Mercs patching method and the MechPrep tool. I wouldn't have been able to get Mercs 1.1 working in the first place without them.
This took a lot of trial and error, and I'm not even sure what all the steps involved were, but I've gotten Mercs 1.1 XP to run on 3 different machines now, and I've put together a patch that should be a lot simpler to use than the confusing mess that currently exists.
There were three main issues that I encountered:
The official 1.1 patch frequently will not install properly.
Kontza's patch takes some effort and technical knowledge to apply properly.
MW2Hook is in my experience completely useless.
A warning: I have only tested this on the version with the jewel case that says "Enhanced Direct 3D Video and 3D Positional Sound." I have no idea if this works on other versions, and I'm pretty sure it won't work on Titanium Mercs.
To use this patch, first install the game fresh, into a clean directory. You can use the DOS installer or the Windows installer. Do not attempt to launch the game, or install other mods or patches.
If you used the DOS installer, then you must copy the "WAV" folder from the CD into the installation directory. If you used the Windows installer, it should already be there.
Next, download this:
http://www.box.net/shared/uoqhgbmhy3
Open it, and extract the contents of the folder inside "mercs11p" (don't extract the folder - extract the contents of the folder) into the directory where you installed Mercs, overwriting anything.
Go into that directory and run "MechPrep." Select your resolution, then click "Save GFX Prefs" and "Exit."
Right-click the file "MERCSWIN.EXE," select "Properties," and set the compatibility to "Windows 95." Do this for "mercnet.exe" too.
Now run MERCSWIN.EXE. If all goes well, the intro movie will play, and you will get the main menu. The first thing you should do is to test out Instant Action. If it works, great. From now on you should be able to launch this game just by running MERCSWIN.EXE, provided you don't uninstall.
One annoyance, is that it seems like no matter what resolution you pick in "MechPrep," the game will always use 800x600. Nevertheless, you MUST run MechPrep at least once in your computer's lifetime or the game will fail once a mission begins. I'm not even really sure what this does - I can use an installation that was backed up prior to running MechPrep, so the files will be unmodified by MechPrep, and the game will still work just fine.
Also, I've heard about a MechLab bug, but I don't know the details of it, so I couldn't say whether it's present here or not.
One last thing. If you have multiple CD-ROM drives, physical or virtual, the disc must be in the lowest-lettered one, or you won't get any music. This is a common issue with games that use redbook audio, but I thought it worth a mention here.
This took a lot of trial and error, and I'm not even sure what all the steps involved were, but I've gotten Mercs 1.1 XP to run on 3 different machines now, and I've put together a patch that should be a lot simpler to use than the confusing mess that currently exists.
There were three main issues that I encountered:
The official 1.1 patch frequently will not install properly.
Kontza's patch takes some effort and technical knowledge to apply properly.
MW2Hook is in my experience completely useless.
A warning: I have only tested this on the version with the jewel case that says "Enhanced Direct 3D Video and 3D Positional Sound." I have no idea if this works on other versions, and I'm pretty sure it won't work on Titanium Mercs.
To use this patch, first install the game fresh, into a clean directory. You can use the DOS installer or the Windows installer. Do not attempt to launch the game, or install other mods or patches.
If you used the DOS installer, then you must copy the "WAV" folder from the CD into the installation directory. If you used the Windows installer, it should already be there.
Next, download this:
http://www.box.net/shared/uoqhgbmhy3
Open it, and extract the contents of the folder inside "mercs11p" (don't extract the folder - extract the contents of the folder) into the directory where you installed Mercs, overwriting anything.
Go into that directory and run "MechPrep." Select your resolution, then click "Save GFX Prefs" and "Exit."
Right-click the file "MERCSWIN.EXE," select "Properties," and set the compatibility to "Windows 95." Do this for "mercnet.exe" too.
Now run MERCSWIN.EXE. If all goes well, the intro movie will play, and you will get the main menu. The first thing you should do is to test out Instant Action. If it works, great. From now on you should be able to launch this game just by running MERCSWIN.EXE, provided you don't uninstall.
One annoyance, is that it seems like no matter what resolution you pick in "MechPrep," the game will always use 800x600. Nevertheless, you MUST run MechPrep at least once in your computer's lifetime or the game will fail once a mission begins. I'm not even really sure what this does - I can use an installation that was backed up prior to running MechPrep, so the files will be unmodified by MechPrep, and the game will still work just fine.
Also, I've heard about a MechLab bug, but I don't know the details of it, so I couldn't say whether it's present here or not.
One last thing. If you have multiple CD-ROM drives, physical or virtual, the disc must be in the lowest-lettered one, or you won't get any music. This is a common issue with games that use redbook audio, but I thought it worth a mention here.