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First post, by BEEN_Nath_58

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I am trying to play the 3Dfx release of MechWarrior 2 on Windows 11 but the HUD elements wouldn't load. Along side, the game when paused doesn't display the menu but it is there as you can move it using the keys. The game has a black screen with nGlide so can you please check what's the problem?

There are multiple 3Dfx versions but I assume most should work the same. The game requires the same tweaks in DxWnd as the DirectDraw versions to launch it, but the behavior is same when DxWnd DirectX is disabled as well. Also this game needs the IgnoreScheduler tweak.

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Reply 2 of 59, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Matchstick wrote on 2022-05-17, 18:12:

I am pretty sure you need to be running a Glide wrapper, like nGlide or dgVoodoo.

The best option would probably run DosBox-X.

Yes I tested it. DosBox-X crashes the game with general protection fault before it launches and PCem performance is better not said.

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Reply 4 of 59, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Dege wrote on 2022-05-19, 16:52:

Is there a playable demo of the 3Dfx version, or maybe the game itself is abandonware? Where can I download the needed stuff?

I never found a Demo of any versions of the game. I noticed a version on Internet Archive while searching "MechWarrior 2 3Dfx". It's the same as mine with a Orchid Righteous 3D branding on CD.

Now on being able to run the game, I wrote some steps here
A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.

Just follow the part of running the game in Pentium Edition.

The reason DxWnd was needed because the game needed some obscure settings (a definite result from BitBlt, asynchronous I/O, a modified version of EmulateHeap shim...). The game also needs the shim IgnoreScheduler so that the game doesn't freeze on startup. For your testing, you could easily disable DxWnd's DirectX part and it should work well (as it has). Good luck

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Reply 5 of 59, by Deffnator

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BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-05-19, 18:45:
I never found a Demo of any versions of the game. I noticed a version on Internet Archive while searching "MechWarrior 2 3Dfx". […]
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Dege wrote on 2022-05-19, 16:52:

Is there a playable demo of the 3Dfx version, or maybe the game itself is abandonware? Where can I download the needed stuff?

I never found a Demo of any versions of the game. I noticed a version on Internet Archive while searching "MechWarrior 2 3Dfx". It's the same as mine with a Orchid Righteous 3D branding on CD.

Now on being able to run the game, I wrote some steps here
A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.

Just follow the part of running the game in Pentium Edition.

The reason DxWnd was needed because the game needed some obscure settings (a definite result from BitBlt, asynchronous I/O, a modified version of EmulateHeap shim...). The game also needs the shim IgnoreScheduler so that the game doesn't freeze on startup. For your testing, you could easily disable DxWnd's DirectX part and it should work well (as it has). Good luck

you forgot to mention that to run SDB files you need to install the win10 compatibility suite, since MS removed it from win10 installs.

Reply 6 of 59, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Deffnator wrote on 2022-05-20, 03:22:
BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-05-19, 18:45:
I never found a Demo of any versions of the game. I noticed a version on Internet Archive while searching "MechWarrior 2 3Dfx". […]
Show full quote
Dege wrote on 2022-05-19, 16:52:

Is there a playable demo of the 3Dfx version, or maybe the game itself is abandonware? Where can I download the needed stuff?

I never found a Demo of any versions of the game. I noticed a version on Internet Archive while searching "MechWarrior 2 3Dfx". It's the same as mine with a Orchid Righteous 3D branding on CD.

Now on being able to run the game, I wrote some steps here
A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.

Just follow the part of running the game in Pentium Edition.

The reason DxWnd was needed because the game needed some obscure settings (a definite result from BitBlt, asynchronous I/O, a modified version of EmulateHeap shim...). The game also needs the shim IgnoreScheduler so that the game doesn't freeze on startup. For your testing, you could easily disable DxWnd's DirectX part and it should work well (as it has). Good luck

you forgot to mention that to run SDB files you need to install the win10 compatibility suite, since MS removed it from win10 installs.

I don't think MS removed the sdbinst.exe from Win10/11. I have linked to that .sdb file there so it can be installed with sdbinst.exe

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Reply 7 of 59, by Matchstick

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BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-05-20, 04:41:
Deffnator wrote on 2022-05-20, 03:22:
BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-05-19, 18:45:
I never found a Demo of any versions of the game. I noticed a version on Internet Archive while searching "MechWarrior 2 3Dfx". […]
Show full quote

I never found a Demo of any versions of the game. I noticed a version on Internet Archive while searching "MechWarrior 2 3Dfx". It's the same as mine with a Orchid Righteous 3D branding on CD.

Now on being able to run the game, I wrote some steps here
A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.

Just follow the part of running the game in Pentium Edition.

The reason DxWnd was needed because the game needed some obscure settings (a definite result from BitBlt, asynchronous I/O, a modified version of EmulateHeap shim...). The game also needs the shim IgnoreScheduler so that the game doesn't freeze on startup. For your testing, you could easily disable DxWnd's DirectX part and it should work well (as it has). Good luck

you forgot to mention that to run SDB files you need to install the win10 compatibility suite, since MS removed it from win10 installs.

I don't think MS removed the sdbinst.exe from Win10/11. I have linked to that .sdb file there so it can be installed with sdbinst.exe

Look into REMOVED.

Due to the nature of this "Collection" I cannot provide more information.
But install the Lite version, and you can get MW2 and it's addons, and it has the option to run 3DFX mode, it's all preconfigured via a dosbox implementation.

Last edited by DosFreak on 2023-09-10, 14:32. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 8 of 59, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Matchstick wrote on 2022-05-20, 20:37:
Look into REMOVED. […]
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BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-05-20, 04:41:
Deffnator wrote on 2022-05-20, 03:22:

you forgot to mention that to run SDB files you need to install the win10 compatibility suite, since MS removed it from win10 installs.

I don't think MS removed the sdbinst.exe from Win10/11. I have linked to that .sdb file there so it can be installed with sdbinst.exe

Look into REMOVED.

Due to the nature of this "Collection" I cannot provide more information.
But install the Lite version, and you can get MW2 and it's addons, and it has the option to run 3DFX mode, it's all preconfigured via a dosbox implementation.

As far as I remember the game never had a 3dfx DOS release. Sad right? The only DOS release I ever saw or read looks the same as the one people call "Pentium Edition" or "Windows 95 Edition".

Hopefully Dege knows what to do here, as there isn't much problem in the rendering. And I sent him instructions where to get the game as well.

As from the attachment, there is only a plain scene with no UI elements, that's what is left to be returned as well as the Pause (Escape) menu.

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Last edited by DosFreak on 2023-09-10, 14:31. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 10 of 59, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Dege wrote on 2022-05-21, 15:15:

Thanks! I think I cannot check it out now, only one day next week. But till then, I'm confused, is it a DOS or Windows 3Dfx version of the game?

This is a Windows 32-bit 3Dfx game, of course. You may need to use OTVDM to install the game since the setup is probably 16-bit.

Notably I found an old thread where people managed to run this exact game with a 6600 GT when using the older dgVoodoo1.

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Reply 11 of 59, by Dege

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I followed the installation guide and installed the game. But, when I try to launch a mission, the game just freezes in the loading screen.
It's also interesting that MW2.DLL from the patch v1.1 does not reference any Glide stuff (nor any other file from the game) while the original install does.
I have a feeling I'm doing sg wrong.

Reply 12 of 59, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Dege wrote on 2022-05-23, 18:09:

I followed the installation guide and installed the game. But, when I try to launch a mission, the game just freezes in the loading screen.
It's also interesting that MW2.DLL from the patch v1.1 does not reference any Glide stuff (nor any other file from the game) while the original install does.
I have a feeling I'm doing sg wrong.

Well I told to follow just the "Running" part because the 3Dfx version doesn't have a patch, it was already patched from launch. The 1.1 patch is for the Windows port of the actual DOS game which isn't 3Dfx based.

Install just the game, install the ACT fix and importing the DxWnd profile should ensure that you can run the game fine.

In case you didn't install the 1.1 patch (which you aren't supposed to), you can reproduce some steps yourself-

The game needs the IgnoreScheduler shim to bypass a black screen freeze at the start of the game after the intros, and during a mission load. While both the Pentium Edition (Win95 port of DOS, the guide that I linked) and the 3Dfx Edition use the same executable name and I made sure to exclude the attributes of the file to ensure compatibility, there might be something else not activating the shim that freezes the game. You can reproduce the same shim with ACT easily.

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Reply 13 of 59, by BEEN_Nath_58

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BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-05-23, 19:02:
Well I told to follow just the "Running" part because the 3Dfx version doesn't have a patch, it was already patched from launch. […]
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Dege wrote on 2022-05-23, 18:09:

I followed the installation guide and installed the game. But, when I try to launch a mission, the game just freezes in the loading screen.
It's also interesting that MW2.DLL from the patch v1.1 does not reference any Glide stuff (nor any other file from the game) while the original install does.
I have a feeling I'm doing sg wrong.

Well I told to follow just the "Running" part because the 3Dfx version doesn't have a patch, it was already patched from launch. The 1.1 patch is for the Windows port of the actual DOS game which isn't 3Dfx based.

Install just the game, install the ACT fix and importing the DxWnd profile should ensure that you can run the game fine.

In case you didn't install the 1.1 patch (which you aren't supposed to), you can reproduce some steps yourself-

The game needs the IgnoreScheduler shim to bypass a black screen freeze at the start of the game after the intros, and during a mission load. While both the Pentium Edition (Win95 port of DOS, the guide that I linked) and the 3Dfx Edition use the same executable name and I made sure to exclude the attributes of the file to ensure compatibility, there might be something else not activating the shim that freezes the game. You can reproduce the same shim with ACT easily.

Oh and you may need a dplay.dll in the game folder as well, from Syswow64 or game cd

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Reply 17 of 59, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Dege wrote on 2022-05-25, 07:48:

I fixed it, but Glide\ForceEmulatingTruePCIAccess must be enabled to get it working properly.

The other solution is wrapping the game to dgVoodoo1 Glide and wrap that further by dgVoodoo2. 😀

Thanks. Can you upload the build to test it. dgVoodoo1 + dgVoodoo2 works fine though 😀

Oh and since I am on this topic, is there a way so that the game doesn't scale the image? I want to run within the resolution ratios of 4:3, dgVoodoo2 scales them to 16:9

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Reply 19 of 59, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Dege wrote on 2022-05-25, 16:47:

http://dege.fw.hu/temp/Glide_WIP86_1_Mech2_3Dfx.zip

For the aspect ratio, set scaling mode to stretched_keep_ar. And, again, for the game Glide\ForceEmulatingTruePCIAccess is also needed.

This version is possessing problems. After pasting the Glide.dll and enabling Force Emulating True PCI Access, the HUD elements on the top right loads fine, but the map in the bottom left doesn't load. This happens with having the DDraw.dll and D3DImm.dll as well, and I am using a GTX 1050Ti so that driver isn't a problem. Also the pause menu doesn't load with this. The bottom left HUD begins to load and stops and doesn't load.

Another problem is, the top left map is always loaded in black border, which should again be in green.

Edit: The top right HUD text also loads in black and turns to green, if I am using a scaled aspect ratio only.

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