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MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries cover
Developers
Cyberlore Studios
FASA Interactive
Publishers
Microsoft Game Studios
Re-releases Ubisoft
MW4 Compilation release Atari
Freeware release MekTek Studios
Release dates
Windows November 7, 2002
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Freeware
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person, Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Vehicle combat
Vehicles Robot
Art styles Stylized
Themes Sci-fi
Series MechWarrior
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries on HowLongToBeat
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries on MobyGames
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries 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

Warnings

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).

MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries is the second expansion pack for the 2000 sci-fi vehicle combat game MechWarrior 4: Vengeance. Unlike Black Knight, it is standalone and does not require the base game to play. It includes its own set of campaigns for various mercenary groups, as well as all 'Mechs from Vengeance and Black Knight; while the official 'Mech Paks are not included, they are compatible with this release.

The original retail version of the game received a single official patch. The game was picked up by MekTek Studios for a freeware release, which was heavily modified and included additional content, but has since been discontinued, leaving the game in unclear legal status.[1]

On modern systems, the game may have issues recognizing hardware or graphics card drivers, which can be worked around.

General information

BattleTech Wiki - A massive wiki for everything BattleTech related
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries on TheGameEngine.org - solving some technical issues.

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SafeDisc v2 DRM[Note 1].
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
A free demo version is available from GameFront.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Run the game with the /gosnovideo command-line argument

Patches

Retail game

In 2003, the retail game received its first and only patch, Point Release 1 (PR1). It can be downloaded from GameFront and Patches-Scrolls.

Free release (from Mektek)

51.03.01.0017 (2010-04): game + first patch.
51.03.01.0021 (2010-05): game + first patch + latest ATI and Nvidia Cards support.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\options.ini[Note 2]
<path-to-game>\RESOURCE\Pilots\<user-id>\options.mw4[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\RESOURCE\Pilots\[Note 2]

Video

Launcher settings.
Launcher settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
False for retail; true for freeware MekTek release.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Toggle with Alt+ Enter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
On/off only; set in the launcher.
High-fidelity upscaling
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music and Sound Effects.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
German

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
Online play
16 The official MSN Gaming Zone service has been shut down.

Connection types

Issues fixed

Game does not recognize hardware or graphics card drivers

When attempting to run the game on a modern Nvidia or AMD GPU, the error may appear: Your current hardware or driver setup is not compatible with MechWarrior 4.... Selecting the graphics card in the autoconfig_MERCS.exe setup program may also be disabled.
Rename imagehlp.dll[4]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Assets\Binaries
  2. Delete or rename imagehlp.dll.
  3. Run autoconfig_MERCS.exe as administrator.
  4. Select the correct GPU and setup options as preferred and click Continue. The game should now run correctly.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 7
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Multiplayer MSN Gaming Zone

System requirements

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU) 700 MHz
System memory (RAM) 128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1 GB (retail release)
3 GB (MekTek release)
Video card (GPU) 16 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8.1 compatible


Notes

  1. SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[2] 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.[3]
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 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