MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
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| Developers | |
|---|---|
| Cyberlore Studios | |
| FASA Interactive | |
| Publishers | |
| Microsoft Game Studios | |
| Re-releases | Ubisoft |
| MW4 Compilation release | Atari |
| Freeware release | MekTek Studios |
| Release dates | |
| Windows | November 7, 2002 |
| Taxonomy | |
| Monetization | One-time game purchase, Freeware |
| Modes | Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
| Pacing | Real-time |
| Perspectives | First-person, Third-person |
| Controls | Direct control |
| Genres | Vehicle combat |
| Vehicles | Robot |
| Art styles | Stylized |
| Themes | Sci-fi |
| Series | MechWarrior |
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|
| ⤏ Go to series page | |
| Subseries of BattleTech | |
| MechWarrior | 1989 |
| MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat | 1995 |
| MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries | 1996 |
| MechWarrior 3 | 1999 |
| MechWarrior 4: Vengeance | 2000 |
| MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries | 2002 |
| MechWarrior: Living Legends (unofficial game) | 2009 |
| MechWarrior Online | 2012 |
| MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries | 2019 |
| MechWarrior 5: Clans | 2024 |
Warnings
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).
General information
- Comes with all 'Mechs from MechWarrior 4: Black Knight and is compatible with the official Mech Paks for MechWarrior 4: Vengeance.
- BattleTech Wiki - A massive wiki for everything BattleTech related
- MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries on TheGameEngine.org - solving some technical issues.
Availability
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- This game is no longer available digitally.[3]
- A free demo version is available from GameFront.
Essential improvements
Skip intro videos
Run the game with the /gosnovideo command-line argument
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Patches
Retail game
- In 2003, the retail game received its first and only patch, Point Release 1 (PR1). It can be downloaded from GameFront and Patches-Scrolls.
Free release (from Mektek)
- 51.03.01.0017 (2010-04): game + first patch.
- 51.03.01.0021 (2010-05): game + first patch + latest ATI and Nvidia Cards support.
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
| System | Location |
|---|---|
| Windows | <path-to-game>\options.ini[Note 2] <path-to-game>\RESOURCE\Pilots\<user-id>\options.mw4[Note 2] |
Save game data location
| System | Location |
|---|---|
| Windows | <path-to-game>\RESOURCE\Pilots\[Note 2] |
Video
Launcher settings.
| Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Widescreen resolution | False for retail; true for freeware MekTek release. | ||
| Multi-monitor | |||
| Ultra-widescreen | |||
| 4K Ultra HD | |||
| Field of view (FOV) | |||
| Windowed | Toggle with Alt+↵ Enter. | ||
| Borderless fullscreen windowed | |||
| Anisotropic filtering (AF) | |||
| Anti-aliasing (AA) | On/off only; set in the launcher. | ||
| Vertical sync (Vsync) | |||
| 60 FPS and 120+ FPS | |||
Input
| Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Remapping | ||
| Mouse acceleration | ||
| Mouse sensitivity | ||
| Mouse input in menus | ||
| Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
| Controller | ||
| Controller support | ||
| Full controller support | ||
| Controller remapping | ||
| Controller sensitivity | ||
| Controller Y-axis inversion |
| Controller types |
|---|
| XInput-compatible controllers |
|---|
| PlayStation controllers |
|---|
| Generic/other controllers |
|---|
| Additional information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Controller hotplugging | ||
| Haptic feedback | ||
| Digital movement supported | ||
| Simultaneous controller+KB/M |
Audio
Audio settings.
| Audio feature | State | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Separate volume controls | Music and Sound Effects. | |
| Surround sound | ||
| Subtitles | ||
| Closed captions | ||
| Mute on focus lost | ||
| Royalty free audio |
Localizations
| Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| German |
Network
Multiplayer types
| Type | Native | Players | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAN play | ||||
| Online play | 16 | The official MSN Gaming Zone service has been shut down. | ||
Connection types
| Type | Native | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peer-to-peer | ||
| Dedicated | ||
| Self-hosting | ||
| Direct IP |
Issues fixed
"Your current hardware or driver setup is not compatible with MechWarrior 4" error
- When attempting to run the game on a modern Nvidia or AMD GPU you may receive the error "Your current hardware or driver setup is not compatible with MechWarrior 4..."; you may also be prevented from selecting your graphics card in the
autoconfig_MERCS.exesetup program.
| Rename imagehlp.dll[4] |
|---|
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Other information
API
| Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Direct3D | 8.1 |
| Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows |
Middleware
| Middleware | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Multiplayer | MSN Gaming Zone |
System requirements
| Windows | ||
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | ||
| Operating system (OS) | 98, ME, 2000, XP | |
| Processor (CPU) | 700 MHz | |
| System memory (RAM) | 128 MB | |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) | 1 GB (retail release) 3 GB (MekTek release) |
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| Video card (GPU) | 16 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible |
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Notes
- ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[2]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below
%PROGRAMFILES%,%PROGRAMDATA%, or%WINDIR%might be redirected to%LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStoreon Windows Vista and later (more details).
References
- ↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
- ↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
- ↑ Before posting on MechWarrior4 - General Discussion - MekTek Community
- ↑ Using DXwnd to run MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries on Nvidia GPUs : mechwarrior