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HiRes/Widescreen Patch for Mech Warrior 3

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Reply 40 of 75, by teleguy

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In the vanilla game you can switch between 3 resolutions in the game's option menu but there are also 3 higher hidden resolutions (1152x864, 1280x1024 and 1600x1200) that are only selectable by editing a registry key and this will not update the game's menu. The devs probably didn't make these resolutions available because they can cause issues which are partially fixed by this patch.

The widescreen patch replaces the upper 4x3 resolutions with 16x9 or 16x10 ones. The Launcher's main purpose is to provide an easy way to adjust the appropriate registry key.

Reply 41 of 75, by woad

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Aye, but its not. Regardless of which resolution I select in the launcher, it stays the same (I have it set to 1024x768 in game). If I set it to 640x480 in-game, exit, use the launcher to select an obviously different resolution, its still 640x480 when I play. Hence why I'm asking if anyone can give a step-by-step walkthrough that a 6-yr old could understand 😀

Reply 44 of 75, by gerwin

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gerwin wrote:

Edit: Based on your patch v0.4, I made another patch that can add 1440x1080 (Attached).

Today I updated my personal 1440x1080 version of the MechWarrior 3 resolution patch a little
1) Replaced the original 1600x1200 resolution instead, which makes the HUD properly centered.
2) Hand picked all executable changes from the sources available.
Edit: 3) Now applies to the clean v1.2 executable.

Also attached my DxWnd configuration for this game. Using DxWnd with this configuration I can run MechWarrior 3 without issues on a Windows XP PC, even when using an AMD Radeon HD6670 GFX card. DxWnd takes care of all graphics and speed related issues AFAIK.
My default is 1440x1080 fullscreen, but that may require one to add this custom resolution in windows, as unfortunately it is not stock.

The only remaining thing that I can complain about, is that I cannot find how to force FSAA-2X this way.

DxWnd-screen.png
Filename
DxWnd-screen.png
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5.59 KiB
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3743 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Attachments

  • Filename
    MechW3_1440x1080E.exe
    File size
    5.93 KiB
    Downloads
    508 downloads
    File comment
    Updated, now applies to original executable.
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • Filename
    DXWND_v2_04_67_config.zip
    File size
    1.73 KiB
    Downloads
    279 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by gerwin on 2018-03-07, 23:35. Edited 4 times in total.

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Reply 47 of 75, by gerwin

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No, MechW3_1440x1080B requires either an original mech3.exe or a No-CD patched one, of version 1.2.22.0, being 2.384.384 Bytes. Why would you want to double patch with Teleguy's?, It will cause trouble.

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Reply 49 of 75, by gerwin

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You need to add the 1440x1080 custom resolution to Windows or use DxWnd to run it in a window at that resolution.

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Reply 52 of 75, by teleguy

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gerwin wrote:

No, MechW3_1440x1080B requires either an original mech3.exe or a No-CD patched one, of version 1.2.22.0, being 2.384.384 Bytes. Why would you want to double patch with Teleguy's?, It will cause trouble.

Doesn't work for me either. I even re-downloaded the 1.2 patch again from here http://www.moddb.com/games/mechwarrior-3/down … 2-english-patch to doublecheck.
(You can extract Mech3.exe with Universal Extract and this plugin ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/pack/i5comp21.rar so you don't have to actually apply the entire patch.)

File version says 1.2.22.0 .

PS: Could you upload a screenshot that shows how the HUD looks with the 1600x1200 preset?

Reply 54 of 75, by teleguy

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I asked AncientxFreako if he could resize the HUD like he did for the other resolutions since he owns the necessary mod tools but he's currently too busy with his other projects so I made some adjustments via hex editing.

Mech3-1440-1080c_2018_03_07_16_57_20_182.jpg
Filename
Mech3-1440-1080c_2018_03_07_16_57_20_182.jpg
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615.27 KiB
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3658 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Attachments

  • Filename
    1440x1080.zip
    File size
    1.16 MiB
    Downloads
    312 downloads
    File comment
    Test version
    will probably be removed again
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 55 of 75, by gerwin

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I investigated the matter a little:
What I had used as the reference mech3.exe, actually already was patched twice. Once with the Razor 1911 No-CD, once with a 1024x768 compatibilty patch of unknown origin.
The second patching I mentioned, I have difficulty tracing its origin, but it is somehow essential to running Mech3.exe on my system, because without it the game crashes immediately. This second patching also touches the exact same bytes that are involved with the right limitation of the target triangle.

Anyways, I updated my 1440x1080 patch above to apply to an actual original exe now. The screenhsot shows what I get with it.

Another thing though, earlier this evening the HUD was actually different and partly off the screen to the right, and I don't know what caused it and rectified it again. So I have to investigate that, and also investigate+document exactly what each small change in all these mech3.exe modifictions actually do, because it is getting rather complicated.

Attachments

  • MechW3_1440x1080D.jpg
    Filename
    MechW3_1440x1080D.jpg
    File size
    150.97 KiB
    Views
    3596 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

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Reply 56 of 75, by teleguy

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gerwin wrote:

I investigated the matter a little:
What I had used as the reference mech3.exe, actually already was patched twice. Once with the Razor 1911 No-CD, once with a 1024x768 compatibilty patch of unknown origin.
The second patching I mentioned, I have difficulty tracing its origin, but it is somehow essential to running Mech3.exe on my system, because without it the game crashes immediately. This second patching also touches the exact same bytes that are involved with the right limitation of the target triangle.

That's EOP's Res Fix.

This is what he told me via email about it:

It's been a while since I found the bug but if memory serves there's a rounding error in the line drawing code used for stuff like targeting boxes so if they get too close to the bottom (and possibly right) of the screen (like re targeting something close by) they try and draw outside the buffer and cause the process to crash. As the screen res increases the rounding error increases so it gets easier to cause the crash. It happened a lot at 1600x1200.

Unfortunately, according to one of his old forum posts, that patch only partially fixes the issue and also has to be tailor made for each separate resolution.
He made a more advanced version utilizing a launcher that takes into account the locations in the exe he missed the first time and would also fix every resolution simultaneously. I never found a working download link for the newer patch though.

This is also supposed to fix it.
https://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/238132-runn … r-3-with-dxwnd/

Last edited by teleguy on 2018-03-07, 23:31. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 58 of 75, by gerwin

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Thanks alot teleguy for the background on EOP's Res Fix. So I was messing with EOP's changes there... Sorry to hear that EOP's later work is lost.

I updated my patch again, it is now revision E. Link
It does the following:
1) Removes CD Check (addresses: 175190, 1751E0, 1751F0, 1990B0)
2) Has EOP's changes around address 197E10 (5x). So the game does not crash my XP system immediately. I now left out the other changes from EOP.
3) In-Game-Menu crash fix as found in your resolution patches, at addresses 1593EO and 159500.
4) Replaced resolution 1600x1200 with 1440x1080 at addresses 00CD60 (3x) and 179710 (1x).

teleguy wrote:

Yes, I am already using DxWnd with success here, my DxWnd config is attached next to the patch.

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Reply 59 of 75, by teleguy

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gerwin wrote:
teleguy wrote:

Yes, I am already using DxWnd with success here, my DxWnd config is attached next to the patch.

I meant the "Force clipper" and "Handle Exceptions" options mentioned in that topic, didn't realize they were already part of your config.

Last edited by teleguy on 2018-03-20, 14:08. Edited 1 time in total.