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MechWarrior

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
MechWarrior
MechWarrior cover
Developers
Dynamix
Publishers
Activision
Release dates
DOS September 16, 1989
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Vehicle combat
Vehicles Robot
Art styles Stylized
Themes Sci-fi
Series MechWarrior
MechWarrior on HowLongToBeat
MechWarrior guide on StrategyWiki
MechWarrior on MobyGames
MechWarrior on Wikipedia
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

MechWarrior is a singleplayer first-person vehicle combat game in the MechWarrior series.

General information

BattleTech Wiki - A massive wiki for everything BattleTech related

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Prompts for answers from manual, code wheel, etc.
Requires the manual to answer copy protection questions.
DOS

Essential improvements

You can force the sound card with the following options:
  • A - AdLib
  • T - Tandy MT-32
  • R - Roland
  • S - PC Speaker

Graphic options can be forced as well:

  • 1 - EGA
  • 2 - Tandy
  • 3 - CGA

MW 1 A is EGA and AdLib card.

Run in DOSBox

To run MechWarrior correctly in DOSBox make the following changes to the DOSBox configuration file:[1]

Game data

Save game data location

System Location
DOS <path-to-game>\*.GAM
In-game settings are stored in each save rather than shared.

Video

In-game options menu
In-game options menu

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
320x200 only.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
For DOSBox toggle with Alt+ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS
120+ FPS

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Layout is quite archaic compared to modern standards. The manual has a list of the keys on page 27. Changing the controls may be achievable in DOSBox using the remapper.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
For DOSBox set in the DOSBox configuration file.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Limited native support.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
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 feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Everything is text-based.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English

Issues fixed

Game freezes when completing a mission

Change mpu401=intelligent to mpu401=uart in the DOSBox configuration file[1] (see run in DOSBox).

Battles don't start / end instantly in a victory when playing in DosBox

Try disabling EMS and XMS via the DosBox config. If this isn't enough, LOADFIX -a or LOADFIX -32 can potentially help as well.


Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DOS video modes EGA, CGA, Tandy

System requirements

DOS
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 6.2
Processor (CPU) Intel 286
System memory (RAM) 640 KB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 2 MB
Video card (GPU) VGA graphics card


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Settings recommended by Gemini in Ancient DOS Games --- Episode 32: MechWarrior