Warnings
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).
General information
- BattleTech Wiki - A massive wiki for everything BattleTech related
- MechWariorsUnited - A community with patches and multiplayer maps
- Mech3Mod - A community with mods
- MechWarrior3.org - A huge fansite for MechWarrior 3 (archived)
Availability
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- This game is not available digitally.
- Free demos are available from GameFront: singleplayer, multiplayer.
Version differences
- The Gold Edition includes the base game and the Pirate's Moon expansion.
Monetization
DLC and expansion packs
Essential improvements
Patches
- The latest patch for the game (v1.2) can be downloaded from the Files section. The patch is available in English, French, and German.
Official map pack
- An official map pack has been released, and is available here.
Game data
In-game general settings/options menu.
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
Video
In-game video/audio settings.
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High-Res Patch and Widescreen Fix (Hor+)[3]
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- Download the HiRes Patch from here and Widescreen Fix from here.
- Extract the Hi-Res Patch first and then extract the Widescreen Fix, overwriting any files from the Hi-Res Patch.
- For 4K, download dgVoodoo2, choose an internal 16:9 resolution (lowest as possible is better), and then choose 4K in dgVoodoo2's DirectX tab.
- Launch the game from the HiRes Patch's launcher.
Notes
- FOV is fixed.
- HUD is only corrected for 16:9 and 16:10.
- Does not support Pirate's Moon expansion.
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Input
In-game control settings.
Audio
| Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
| Separate volume controls |
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Speech volume is tied with music. |
| Surround sound |
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| Subtitles |
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| Closed captions |
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| Mute on focus lost |
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| Royalty free audio |
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Localizations
| Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
| English |
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| French |
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| German |
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Infantry can not be crushed, as they vanish when a 'Mech aims at them or approaches them. |
Network
Multiplayer types
| Type |
Native |
Players |
Notes |
| LAN play |
| 8 |
|
| Online play |
| 8 |
The official multiplayer service has been shut down. |
Issues fixed
Installing under modern Windows
For many people, the version of Installshield which MechWarrior 3 uses refuses to start, and instead just hangs. This appears to be caused by conflicting programs running in the background. Singling out which program this is can be quite difficult. A simple workaround is to create a new account with administrative privileges, and install MechWarrior 3 under that.[citation needed]
Alternatively, open task manager, go to details tab, right click setup.exe, click "analyse wait chain", tick both boxes to end both processes. Repeat these steps until setup launches.
Adding compatibility for modern Windows
The following methods apply to both MechWarrior 3 and the Pirate's Moon expansion pack (except for the official patch step, as none were ever released for Pirate's Moon).
Method 1
- This method fixes most rendering, FPS, and loading issues with the game. Also helps with 'rainbow colours' artifacts in game'.
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Use dgVoodoo 2[citation needed]
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- Install the 1.2 Patch.
- Download and setup dgVoodoo 2.
- Once the initial setup is done, go to the
MS\x86 subfolder.
- Copy the
D3DImm.dll and DDraw.dll files and paste them into <path-to-game>.
- Set the
Mech3.exe compatibility options to Windows 98 / Me compatibility mode, with administrator rights and display scaling disabled.
- Run the game.
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Method 2
- Use this method only if dgVoodoo cannot be run properly.
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Configuring compatibility settings[citation needed]
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- Install the 1.2 Patch.
- Set compatibility settings for
mech3.exe to Windows 98 / Me.
- Through the graphics card's control panel, enable "Vertical sync" and "Triple buffering".
- Run the game.
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Fix bouncing APCs/AMS not working
Use a tool like Rivatuner to limit the game's framerate to 30fps. Enabling V-Sync helps too.
Game won't start (Windows 10)
- If the game won't start and you encounter an application error message
Variable game speed
- Game speed may constantly shift between too fast and too slow when the computer uptime is high.
Pirate's moon 4th pirate mission crashes often
- Caused by corruption of data used by the game's physics code.
- The game physics may still glitch out and destroy the player's mech, but the chances of completing the mission normally remain higher than on an unpatched game.
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Instructions
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- Download unofficial patch from archive.org
- Copy file to install folder
- Run the patched .exe
- Try to complete the mission
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Other information
API
| Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
| Direct3D |
6 |
|
| Software renderer |
|
|
| Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
| Windows |
|
|
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Middleware
|
Middleware |
Notes |
| Multiplayer |
MSN Gaming Zone |
|
System requirements
| Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
| Operating system (OS) |
95 |
98 |
| Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 166 MHz
| Intel Pentium 200 MHz |
| System memory (RAM) |
32 MB |
64 MB |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) |
240 MB |
390 MB |
| Video card (GPU) |
2 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6.1 compatible
| 8 MB of VRAM |
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]
- ↑ 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%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
References
