thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-03-30, 19:59:

Someone just gave me the MW2 Battlepak, doesn't seem to be compatible with this tool. Is there anything I can do to help get it compatible?

Overwrite the mw2installer files with these. After installation, copy the MW2SND.CFG to the game folder.

Caution: When playing missions, try to save the game after each mission. There are FreeLibrary errors so the game may crash on any mission launch

Updated installer with better memory management and support for Battlepack. Patched the winmm timer bugs thanks to @nervoushammer.

For Battlepack or Titanium Software editions, use the 480p mode using the .CFG file in attachment.

Installation of SDBs are tested to not be required, will be phased out at a later release

Update: the memory leak issue still exists. On investigation... The "better memory management" corresponds to correct memory freeing on mission exit

Thanks!

Carrera wrote on 2025-04-02, 09:40:

Thanks!

I have identified the mission memory leak, but I will need some time before I investigate it again. Other than that, almost everything else works. Maybe if 320x240 mode of Battlepack is excused 😉

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2025-04-02, 06:20:

Updated installer with better memory management and support for Battlepack. Patched the winmm timer bugs thanks to @nervoushamme […]
Show full quote

Updated installer with better memory management and support for Battlepack. Patched the winmm timer bugs thanks to @nervoushammer.

For Battlepack or Titanium Software editions, use the 480p mode using the .CFG file in attachment.

Installation of SDBs are tested to not be required, will be phased out at a later release

Update: the memory leak issue still exists. On investigation... The "better memory management" corresponds to correct memory freeing on mission exit

Hello!

Installation was successful. I get an error saying display must be set to 256 colors before proceeding. I'm not sure exactly what that means 🤣

thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-04-02, 13:18:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2025-04-02, 06:20:

Updated installer with better memory management and support for Battlepack. Patched the winmm timer bugs thanks to @nervoushamme […]
Show full quote

Updated installer with better memory management and support for Battlepack. Patched the winmm timer bugs thanks to @nervoushammer.

For Battlepack or Titanium Software editions, use the 480p mode using the .CFG file in attachment.

Installation of SDBs are tested to not be required, will be phased out at a later release

Update: the memory leak issue still exists. On investigation... The "better memory management" corresponds to correct memory freeing on mission exit

Hello!

Installation was successful. I get an error saying display must be set to 256 colors before proceeding. I'm not sure exactly what that means 🤣

Use this one:
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.

The one you chose sets the desktop as 32-bit, while the one I linked changes the virtual surface to 256 color. I will merge them both later when I test all of the,

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2025-04-02, 13:32:

Use this one: Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows. […]
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thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-04-02, 13:18:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2025-04-02, 06:20:

Updated installer with better memory management and support for Battlepack. Patched the winmm timer bugs thanks to @nervoushamme […]
Show full quote

Updated installer with better memory management and support for Battlepack. Patched the winmm timer bugs thanks to @nervoushammer.

For Battlepack or Titanium Software editions, use the 480p mode using the .CFG file in attachment.

Installation of SDBs are tested to not be required, will be phased out at a later release

Update: the memory leak issue still exists. On investigation... The "better memory management" corresponds to correct memory freeing on mission exit

Hello!

Installation was successful. I get an error saying display must be set to 256 colors before proceeding. I'm not sure exactly what that means 🤣

Use this one:
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.

The one you chose sets the desktop as 32-bit, while the one I linked changes the virtual surface to 256 color. I will merge them both later when I test all of the,

YAY! it works OMG I'm so excited. You sir/ma'am are a wizard. I haven't played yet so I don't know if it will bug or anything, but it booted and I watched the cutscenes. Minor thing I noticed is that in the filename it has a typo 'Centrury' instead of 'Century'.

thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-04-02, 13:50:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2025-04-02, 13:32:

Use this one: Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows. […]
Show full quote

thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-04-02, 13:18:

Hello!

Installation was successful. I get an error saying display must be set to 256 colors before proceeding. I'm not sure exactly what that means 🤣

Use this one:
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.

The one you chose sets the desktop as 32-bit, while the one I linked changes the virtual surface to 256 color. I will merge them both later when I test all of the,

YAY! it works OMG I'm so excited. You sir/ma'am are a wizard. I haven't played yet so I don't know if it will bug or anything, but it booted and I watched the cutscenes. Minor thing I noticed is that in the filename it has a typo 'Centrury' instead of 'Century'.

Okay I will remember to fix that in the further updates. If you get any freezes or crash in mission, let me know

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2025-04-02, 14:29:

thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-04-02, 13:50:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2025-04-02, 13:32:

Use this one:
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.

The one you chose sets the desktop as 32-bit, while the one I linked changes the virtual surface to 256 color. I will merge them both later when I test all of the,

YAY! it works OMG I'm so excited. You sir/ma'am are a wizard. I haven't played yet so I don't know if it will bug or anything, but it booted and I watched the cutscenes. Minor thing I noticed is that in the filename it has a typo 'Centrury' instead of 'Century'.

Okay I will remember to fix that in the further updates. If you get any freezes or crash in mission, let me know

After playing a bit, it crashes when trying to open the holographic display in the Jade Falcon campaign. It crashed on the Help option as well, not the Keshik, the other one. I was able to load training missions fine. An error was popping up DLL something, but it didn't cause the game to crash. It was mostly happening when exiting a mission.

The mouse is inverted, and I couldn't figure out how to switch it. Up is down and down is up when moving torso.

Here's a screenshot of the error message

Oh and the game starts out in Windowed then switches to full screen when I launch a mission

thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-04-03, 01:52:

After playing a bit, it crashes when trying to open the holographic display in the Jade Falcon campaign. It crashed on the Help option as well, not the Keshik, the other one. I was able to load training missions fine. An error was popping up DLL something, but it didn't cause the game to crash. It was mostly happening when exiting a mission.

I just noticed the Holographic issue, checking now. About the Help option (Techical Help you mean), I don't think it crashed but rather kicked you out of the game to the browser? Technical Help uses the old WinHelp format which isn't available on Windows 10 and 11. It is possible to have it back, do a google search for WinHlp Windows 10 and you will get something.

The DLL error comes from the ANET code, which was buggy back in the day as well. Happens in other games like Heavy Gear 1. Safely ignorable.

thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-04-03, 01:52:

The mouse is inverted, and I couldn't figure out how to switch it. Up is down and down is up when moving torso.

Yes the mouse has always been inverted for me...

thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-04-03, 02:04:

Oh and the game starts out in Windowed then switches to full screen when I launch a mission

Yes Battlepack is a fullscreen game. If you are talking about not being able to get to the shell after mission in windowed mode, that's a bug but I can't say when it is getting resolved. However I don't think it affects the game's playability much

Update: figured out the holographic crash issue: incomplete game installation

Updated the installer, making settings more Global. Memory leak should be gone in this release:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2025-04-03, 07:14:

Updated the installer, making settings more Global. Memory leak should be gone in this release:

This should fix the holographic issue or is this for a different version?

thaddeusjl@gmail.com wrote on 2025-04-03, 20:49:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2025-04-03, 07:14:

Updated the installer, making settings more Global. Memory leak should be gone in this release:

This should fix the holographic issue or is this for a different version?

Yes this should fix it.

Nope. Doesnt

myne wrote on 2025-04-05, 06:55:

Nope. Doesnt

Doesn't? Heap or holographic?

Same. Leaks, dies.

I swear something changed in Windows in the last 1.5years.

First, I thank BEEN, myne and any others whose contributions I might not have mentioned for putting all this together.
I succesfully used myne's installer to get MW2: Mercs 3dfx Edition running nearly perfectly on Windows 10. The only problem is... I can't get the music to play.

I've mounted the CD image (as bin/cue) using Virtual Clone Drive. I tried fiddling around in the settings for DxWnd, but no luck. I also searched around for any information or documentation about how to set up CD audio in DxWnd. Couldn't find anything specific, so I'm just going off of intuition and what the UI seems to tell me when I click "Modify" for the pre-written Mechwarrior 2 - Mercenaries 3Dfx Interactive Edition task config. Here's the specific things I tried in DxWnd.

• Added a fake CD drive in the I/O tab, set to the same drive letter (F:) and put the path to the root of the virtual disk drive (F:\) in the text field. Also put the CD label "MERCS3DFX" in that field.
• Checked "Set CD audio path" and put the root of the mounted disk (F:\) in the below text field. This caused the game to freeze at a black screen before showing the intro cinematic. The other things I've tried simply had no effect.
• Opened the CDAudio tab, changed "CDA drive" to F: from "def." and changed CD Audio Emulation to "Windows 9x MCI."
• Tried using a rip of the DOS disk by specifying the path to the files in the I/O tab, in the Fake CD path field.

I can't really grasp what many of the other options mean, so I haven't fiddled with them yet. i.e. I can't grasp how "Use audio files" works, since there is no field to specify a path for audio files. I also don't understand what "RIP CD Audio" does.

crazyeyes wrote on 2025-04-21, 20:53:

The only problem is... I can't get the music to play. […]
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The only problem is... I can't get the music to play.

I've mounted the CD image (as bin/cue) using Virtual Clone Drive. I tried fiddling around in the settings for DxWnd, but no luck. I also searched around for any information or documentation about how to set up CD audio in DxWnd. Couldn't find anything specific, so I'm just going off of intuition and what the UI seems to tell me when I click "Modify" for the pre-written Mechwarrior 2 - Mercenaries 3Dfx Interactive Edition task config. Here's the specific things I tried in DxWnd.

• Added a fake CD drive in the I/O tab, set to the same drive letter (F:) and put the path to the root of the virtual disk drive (F:\) in the text field. Also put the CD label "MERCS3DFX" in that field.
• Checked "Set CD audio path" and put the root of the mounted disk (F:\) in the below text field. This caused the game to freeze at a black screen before showing the intro cinematic. The other things I've tried simply had no effect.
• Opened the CDAudio tab, changed "CDA drive" to F: from "def." and changed CD Audio Emulation to "Windows 9x MCI."
• Tried using a rip of the DOS disk by specifying the path to the files in the I/O tab, in the Fake CD path field.

I can't really grasp what many of the other options mean, so I haven't fiddled with them yet. i.e. I can't grasp how "Use audio files" works, since there is no field to specify a path for audio files. I also don't understand what "RIP CD Audio" does.

I can't comment about how, and if, Virtual Clone Drive supports CD audio. PowerISO and UltraISO didn't so I replaced it with DAEMON Tools later.

Anyways coming to the last part of your doubt, "Rip CD audio" just rips the CD audio to a "music" folder in the game dir. It is a fixed path since the game will read audio files, with the "Use audio files" setting from here only.

The default setting in DxWnd, is "Play from CD". You should check WMP if your BIN/CUE is a mixed mode CD, just in case your dump was bad.

The Set CD audio path method isn't necessary here

In case you see sound tracks there, then you can just directly extract them, rename files as "track02.wav", "track03.wav",... and put it in the "music" folder of the game and use "Use audio files". Format should be wav, mp3, ogg or flac.