minor issues

[Jixan]

Hi guys - first just let me say thanks for all the help that's on offer here - got my copy of mercs up and running yesterday and a copy of mw2 on order.

Only a minor issue, but I was wondering if anyone knew of a solution:

I'm running on DOSBOX, and in fullscreen mode when set to 1024 in-game, with the texture mapping on, the game lags, and in big battles it can be unplayable. I can get around it by running on 640 (squint-o-vision) or by turning all texture maps off, but rather than look like mw2 with them off as I was expecting, it just becomes next to impossible to see what's going on in the environment.

Is there any techy solution to improving the performance at all? I kinda figured my PC would be good enough, but perhaps I'm overestimating it.

My specs are Vista 32 bit, with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 running at 2.40ghz 2.40ghz(says it twice in system properties for some reason) 2 gigs of ram, and a Geforce 8400 GS (icky).

Thanks in advance

[Col.Kell]

I asked the very same question to Sir MMPD Radick and npsbre, both who have said DOSBox will ALWAYS have a lag.
But if you can't stand lag like me, your other alternative is to go to the downloads section and get this "hook" that will let you play under Windows. Though it may crash sometimes...

Hope you find a solution!

[Sir MMPD Radick]

Well, if DOSBOX was multi threaded it probably would be.. but unfortunately dosbox does not use more than one core or cpu at a time...
Pretty much what Kell said was correct ... for Mercenaries.. the 95 versions work better than DOSBOX if one must have the settings high... if settings are ignore and low quality DOSBOX is just fine otherwise.
That being said 95 versions always crash more.

Bottom line is what you are doing with turning settings off is about the only way to improve performance other than getting a different version of DOSBOX.
The other version can use Direct 3d.. you may have a better time with it.

[Jixan]

Ah well, thanks for the help anyway I was a bit stupid, was forcing 1024 fullscreen size which caused the 640 res to be a tiny box in the middle of the screen. 640 is fullscreen now and while not as goodlooking, runs a bit smoother and it's still fun

Like I say, got MW2 on order, and I seem to recall the graphics aren't quite as intensive, so hopefully that'll run a touch smoother.

[Col.Kell]

hehe, don't feel bad, I have put myself in the very same boat with my craving for hi-res.

[StrangeMetal]

I finally beat Mercs last night and installed 1.1 patch too... but there's so many problems I don't know if it's even worth playing anymore.
Dynamic salvage is pretty freaking awesome, but then I have the same insanely slow lag problem with the textures and PPC instant-hits.
Sometimes when I shoot a PPC it hits my own mech! Argh so frustrating, but I want the dynamic salvage soo sooo bad.

[Skyfaller]

Titanium Trilogy Mercs has dynamic salvage and you can play in any resolution, but it has other drawbacks. Most importantly, music tracks are shortened and it is often overpriced on Ebay. Our high resolution patch requires you to play with targetting display disabled.

So you got the 1.1 patch running? Please check the date&time stamps on the files to see which files are actually changed by the patch. Assuming that MW2.PRJ is changed, the files might be too large to post here, even .ZIPped, but it might help other people to get that version running. If it's not an option, I'll have to figure out how to make these changes with PRJPP.

[Sir MMPD Radick]

yes, please if you would explain how you got it working it would be appreciated!

[StrangeMetal]

Okay. So basically what I did was pop my Mercs CD in, installed Mercs 95 v1.05. Then I applied the 1.1 patch from the resources forum. And over that, I downloaded and ran the MechProxyPatch files (over here: http://sites.google.com/site/mw2mercxp/).

First, extract into MERCS directory, then run the MercsProxyPatcher.bat. Fiddling around with MechPrep afterwards doesn't do a whole lot apparently.

Finally, set the compatibility for mercswin.exe to Windows 95.
It runs but there's some HUGE issues like I mentioned:

- After a mission, the interface palette glitches and debriefing screen is totally black
fix: click on the menu at the top to go to Combat Variables screen then right click out of the Combat Var. screen to go back into the fixed debrief screen

- During the sim, parts of the world flicker in and out of visibility even though they are in range
no fix? I applied the visible range patch to 1600 meters, but it didn't glitch like that before in v1.05...

- In combat, weapons are insta-hit for some shots and sometimes they register a hit on your own mech, I notice this happens only at a certain angle (relative to the gameworld)
no fix , I haven't actually died because of this but I have lost a few limbs when 2 PPCs decided to blow right as they were leaving the slots on my mech

- INCREDIBLE lag when you turn on ANY texturing (or even when you see it, even though it's off)
no fix: for the DC missions where you have to venture into a city to destroy the third floor office, the buildings are textured whether you have it on or off and if you approach the city the lag becomes so intense that the sim turns into a slideshow... this should NOT happen on a PC that was made a full 10 years after the game's been released...

- Momentary lag when dynamic lights appear; firing of any weapon, there's a lag when the dynamic light is rendered...
no fix.

- Game crashes randomly when receiving a radio message...
fix: re-run the game, it sometimes goes through and doesn't crash

- Game crashes at the second ice ship mission when you try to render the boarder mechs (they look like TV static...) and the game crashes
NO FIX, I had to abandon a game because of this, no way out of the mission alive...

Other than that haha it seems to be okay I guess. I really wished the 1.1 patch was more playable, it'd be much much more enjoyable if there weren't so many showstopping bugs. I have to say again the dynamic salvage adds a lot to the game. Hope all this stuff helped someone

[Sir MMPD Radick]

thanks for the info metal, i will remember that for next time!