MechWarrior 2: Resource Forum

Alright, I've been going through the FAQ's around here, trying to first get the Titanium package going, then failing that, buying MW2/GBL/Mercs...

Let's just get my specs out of the way:
Intel 3.4Ghz CPU
2GB DDR2
Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB AGP
Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 (Damn nicer than Creative's crud, to be sure, DDL/DTS Connect is a *MUST* today)
WinXP Pro SP2

Now, before, when I went to install the Titanium versions, it always installs fine, no errors or anything. Then I go to launch the main executable, and insta-bombs back to desktop (I also develop for X-Wing Alliance and MW3, though those games are far easier to deal with, hardware troubles or not)...

I set compat to Win95, disable themes and advanced text services, try again, same result.

Now I download the MW2Hook app, follow the info to create a shortcut to the MW2Inject file, set the various games to /-startup /-mechlab mercswin.exe (just example for Mercs)...Disable the compat on the game's EXE file or else insta-crash...

Now, I go to run the game, Mercs in this instance, and I get into the blasted GUI, I can cruise through the GUI fine, but as soon as I go to launch a mission, the game shows the loading screen (loading neurohelm interface in Mercs' case), and just sits there at the loading screen, and I have to CAD out of the game...

So, I found out that Titanium sucks, so I buy the original retail versions...

Fine, I bite the bullet and install Mercs through DOS per the FAQ...I run the damn game, and my screen has garbled colors all over the place...Do I have to set my desktop to some ultra-low resolution and color depth before trying to run the DOS version of the game? Or am I just plain f*cked for even trying to run MW2 without a dedicated Win98 hardware kit?

I'd hate to find out I've spent a little over $20 for nothing, ya know? Anyone have any ideas on this?

Oh, and yes, before I used the retail versions, I did download and try the Titanium patches, no dice.

I'd love to stick with using DOS, but alas, the hosed color problem is going to ruin the whole damn thing for me...Oh, and let me guess, no one ever pursued the 'rainbow' bug with newer-model Radeon boards, eh? ::) :rolleyes:

Man, if MW2 was even halfway as simple as MW3 to fix, I would not even have to cry for help...Maybe I have to cobble up a dedicated Win98 machine, eh? Maybe I should *NOT* have sold my X850XT-PE so quickly...

Actually for the dos versions there is a simple fix. Use DOSBOX. The rainbow bug does not exist there.
I use DOSBOX myself to get around the rainbow bug. The installation instructions are pretty simple. Check out this FAQ.

Based on your hardware specs you should be able to run it just fine.
I am running with a
2x 2.2 Ghz AMD Opteron 248
2 GB DDR 400
Radeon X1950 AGP 512MB
Creative Audigy 2 Platinum Pro
XP SP3

If you have issues still, come by IRC and if I am around I would be glad to help you via remote desktop.

Now in regards to the switches you used. If you are indeed using the hook by itself, using the switches you turned off may actually be causing the problem.
However considering you even got in I doubt it.

Switches?

I'll kill those, and try just straight hooklauncher...

Ah, forgot to mention: I ended up with the ATI Rage 3D edition of MW2 itself (though it was supposedly a retail dos/win disc, it only includes the Windoze version, it seems)...

I also ended up with the Pentium edition of GBL, again, DOS does not appear to be on the disc...=/

I'm probably going to talk to the guy who sold them to me, see if I can get DOS editions or refund...Let me see if killing those switches does anything for me...Thanks.

I'll get Dosbox up for Mercs, but MW2 and especially GBL is still important for me

ouch! That majorly stinks; I know how that feels. It has happend to me three times.
I would point ya to some ebay DOS version, but I am shocked to say there are no cheap ones up for bidding at the moment. Usually there are quite a few good versions.

Hm...Even more vexing that all the torrents out there are all Titanium versions, too, so no recourse =/

Anyhow, I killed those switches, and I can get into base MW2 GUI now, but whenever I launch a mission, it instantly goes back to the GUI saying mission failed (this is probably an issue with the ATI Rage 3D stuff, even though I have a blasted ATI board...Of course, my new HD 3870 on my Vista box can't run X-Wing Alliance, MW3, or any variant of MW4...MW4 will run if I drop back to XP, but it runs just fine on my old X1950 Pro box, so I keep the new PC dedicated to new gaming, and the old PC is used for vintage games, and/or re-development of said games in the case of XWA)....

Tried GBL without switches, and this is something that I just can't figure:
Titanium, Pentium, whatever, whenever I run GBL through the MW2Hook (which is the only way the game even runs period), it boots the intro video into a window, not full-screen...Then when I try to click the game through to the GUI, or go into the game options, the game locks up and I have to close it...Again, this is all windows versions...

I'm trying Mercs now.... .....Odd how even with SATA drives (HDD's and DVD drives in my case), a game so old takes more than a minute to install =/(Probably this is due to differences in the compression methods available back when the discs were cut, since I can install massive new games in less than 30 seconds in some cases...Like as much that the new game DVD's have much faster compression) . .... ... . . ...

Well, Mercs booted into the same window as GBL does (640x480 is the highest res...I seem to recall it being higher back when I actually owned these games over 14 years ago )...GUI works good, but same problem comes up when mission launches.

I could just type up a 30-minute rant full of anti-Micro$haft invective and start another war like I did in the MW3 world, but I'll just save it and try to use DOS...Let me see if I can somehow get my paws on a DOS version of MW2/GBL...

Oh, and before I take off, will Dosbox allow me to use my Force Feedback 2 with MW2 Mercs? I assume the answer is yes, because dosbox probably uses some sort of USB emulator (or just draws from the Windows control panel)?

Heh, even MW3 ain't perfect...First I have to run a hex-hacked MW3.exe for 1600x1200, then for Pirate's Moon, I'm stuck using clumsy keyboard throttle stuff since my FFB2's throttle is non-functional...=/

Man, I'm starting to regret ever upgrading...

IMO: Worse comes to worse, I'll get my paws on the damned PSOne version of the game, dumbed-down as it is...I still have my PS2 around, and it'll stay on my massive multimedia setup on my five desks until new games like Force unleashed aren't made for PS2 Damned if I'm getting a PS3 to run games that are mostly already on PC, and second to that, the fact that unless I somehow buy one of the few remaining 60GB models on the market, my entire PS1 collection will be scrap, and even some of my PS2 games will go to hell...No, thanks.

PS3 might look better, but like politicians: It's all appearances and obscuring of the facts. The PS2 version of Force Unleashed still looks pretty good (only two reasons they didn't do a PC version were because Lucasfarts has no balls, and also because they still think all PC owners have 10 year-old hardware...Yeah, and I'll just bet Kathy Steiner-Davion wasn't in on Hanse's death ...Other reason, they fired all of their internal developers four months ago now, which is *EXACTLY* what all of their loyal PC customers told them to do, ALL THE WAY BACK IN 1998, THANK YOU! stupid idiots...That's what they get for ignoring everyone who said making games like Super Bombad Racing was under the 'really uber-bad-things' category...)

Ah, sorry, way off topic..=/

Even after all I've known since I started on PC's about 19 years ago now, I still got corrupted into upgrading my PC when it wasn't genuinely needed, seeing as I have such a loathing for arcade shooter games such as are controlling all of PC gaming today...I should have just stuck with the well-proven games and the well-proven hardware to drive them, but somehow, I managed to convince myself to do it. Pisses me off worse than Vlad Ward getting to cart that little tyrant to his den without first letting Phelan work his magic before she left...Endgame was a suckage novel compared to the rest...Everyone just dies and the real bad people just get to walk away from everything without being punished for anything they did...Yeah, real good story there, Loren...

Gah, now I have to find a way to cobble up a vintage PC...This fun stuff never seems to end...

Hm, if I can find some extra time, I may drop into IRC, maybe we can DCC me a DOS version or something?

Last note: Yes, Mercs runs fine on dosbox...Still really pissed about GBL, but considering that I started with the Craptanium version, 1 out of 3 ain't that bad...I even get higher resolution than Windoze gives me...Now, let's see who I can bully for DOS editions of MW2 and especially GBL...

Hm...

Well, this is interesting...

Ok, I've got the game installed, using the Dosbox install FAQ on the boards here...

Everything seems fine, but when I go to launch a mission, it drops out of the mission real fast, and a half-second message pops up that mentions something about the CD not being mounted or some-such..

I used CloneCD and dumped my Mercs CD to a file, simply called mw2merc.ccd (also made .img and .sub as part of process, nothing about a .cue, that comes from Alchohol 120%, I think?)...

I mounted a c-drive directory, sized it to 250MB to keep things simple, then mounted up the above mentioned image as stated through the FAQ...Installs fine, but again, everything is fine until a mission is launched, then I guess the game starts searching for a CD that naturally is not mounted...?

Maybe the FAQ needs to be updated regarding mounting the game disc? Maybe using different software to rip the image?

I have Nero, if that could be used, but from what I can tell from a half-second glance at a half-second message, mounting an image is NOT mounting a CD drive for the game to read...That obviously causes a problem...

Could be that CloneCD trialware won't do the proper cut, I have had AnyDVD for years now, but never had a use for CloneCD (given that most games made since about 2002 were on a DVD to begin with )....

So, help?

Gah, all these un-mentioned technical issues...Man, even MW3 wasn't this bad, don't get me wrong, though...I've already said I'm contemplating putting up another vintage gaming PC, but soonest I can swing that will be after the end of this year, having busted this year's budget getting my new PC rig going (which I'm really starting to regret...I put up with all of the Vista 64 crap, hacking things to pieces to make it work as well as XP does, but now, unless I buy some pansy-arse shooter-clone, the hardware isn't even being used for anything practical...Remind me to slaughter Micro$haft at the next GenCon or whatever the f*ck, they killed BTech, or else we'd have MW5 two years ago, let alone expansions and MW6 by now...Naturally all of that would use all this new hardware on the market now, instead we can either play the latest Doom-clone, or be f*cked as badly as a Commando trying to take down an Atlas )....

Sorry about all the off-topic stuff, but I really have not done multiplayer gaming of any sort since MW4 Mercs was released, just because I lost interest, and the MMO craze really needs to be killed like the vermin it is...Unless they wish to revive the MPBT idea, I don't care what era they do it in, just bring it back now that M$ has given up on BTech already...

Loosely translated: I never get out much...I spend too much time relentlessly hacking XWA, trying to get a 12-year-long project out for public use before this year is over, and having to spend nearly two WEEKS trying to fix MW2, ugh, well, that explains why I'm really pissed off...

Initially, I thought the crash at mission start was due to graphical detail settings I was using (which were maximum, naturally)...Not so. Seems that this cd-mounting issue was the cause, I just did not see the half-second message until I re-installed for the fourth time and used default settings (which seem to be the lowest)...

So, should I mount up the CD in dosbox? That isn't too hard, but given that the FAQ here says that the disc won't get detected by dosbox, I don't know which settings to use in the mounting commands, there are like two dozen, and it's been almost 15 years now since I've even used anything close to DOS...Can't remember all these little DOS CD driver switches from that long ago, gah!

You need to mount a cue file in DOSBox. MMPD suggested CloneCD, and I know it worked for me. There's a check box you need to click to get the cue file in the CloneCD ripping process.

what npsbre said is correct. You must mount the cue file from clone cd. It cannot read CCD, and mounting an img or iso directly will not work either, because it needs to read the music track addresses.

Hm, dosbox only reads CUE, then?

Alright, I'll cut a copy like that, see what happens, and sorry for the slow reply, had a crapload of stuff happen, damn Real Life(TM)

no rush!
Let us know what happens.