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MechCommander

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
MechCommander
MechCommander cover
Developers
FASA Interactive
Publishers
MicroProse
Release dates
Windows June 24, 1998
Taxonomy
Monetization Freeware
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person, Third-person
Controls Multiple select, Point and select
Genres Strategy
Vehicles Robot
Themes Sci-fi
Series MechCommander
MechCommander on HowLongToBeat
Icon overlay.png
MechCommander guide on StrategyWiki
MechCommander on MobyGames
MechCommander on Wikipedia
Icon overlay.png
MechCommander
Subseries of BattleTech
MechCommander 1998
MechCommander 2 2001

MechCommander is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person and third-person strategy game in the MechCommander series.

The game was re-released in September 1999 as MechCommander: Gold, featuring the content of the would-be expansion pack Desperate Measures with a new campaign, mechs, terrain and an editor. The Gold release would later be released as freeware.

General information

BattleTech Wiki - A massive wiki for everything BattleTech related
MechCommander Gold Wiki - A small wiki for the game
Mechcommander Gold 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)
Windows

Version differences

MechCommander: Gold is an expanded re-release which contains the Desperate Measures campaign, new mechs, new terrain and an editor.

Demo

A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Desperate Measures Included with MechCommander Gold. Not available separately, despite original plans to the contrary.
Windows

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\PREFS.CFG[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\data\savegame[Note 1]

Video

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Toggle with Alt+↵ Enter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Ray tracing (RT)
Color blind mode
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music, Voice, Sound FX
Surround sound
Subtitles
Affects radio chatter and video briefing
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Can't Alt+Tab ↹.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Russian
Fan translation, download

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
6 IPX, TCP/IP, serial/modem. Supported by GameRanger; otherwise, use IPXwrapper.
Online play
6 The official MPlayer.com and MSN Gaming Zone services have been shut down.

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Running the game on 64-bit Windows

Although the game installer is 16-bit, the actual game is 32-bit.
Setting up the game manually[citation needed]
  1. Create a new folder called where the game will be contained.
  2. Copy the contents of the MechCommander CD and paste them into that folder.
  3. Set MC.exe / MCX.exe to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP3.

Use higher resolutions in game

Set higher resolutions[citation needed]
  1. Go to the installation folder.
  2. Open PREFS.CFG.
  3. Add the line l Resolution=X at the bottom of the file.
  4. Replace X with:
    • 0 for 640x480 (default)
    • 1 for 800x600
    • 2 for 1024x768
    • 3 for 1280x1024.
  5. With the game running in higher resolution, you can use the zoom in feature (press '+') to play in highest detail with slightly more battlefield visibility that the game offers by default in the unzoomed state.

Notes

Menus are fixed to 640x480. In game resolution can be increased, but menus will not stretch to fill the screen.

Rainbow color problem on Windows Vista/7

Check DirectDraw troubleshooting for a proper fix.

Other information

API

Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Cutscenes Smacker Video Technology
Multiplayer MPlayer.com, MSN Gaming Zone

System requirements

Windows
MinimumRecommended
Operating system (OS) 9598
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 133 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB64 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD) 200 MB600 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA compatible
2 MB of VRAM


Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 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