MechWarrior 4 Update v1.0

MechWarrior 4 Update v1.0

This patch addresses numerous gameplay issues while also introducing several new features. See more info for full details.

Microsoft MechWarrior: Vengeance

Readme File for the MechWarrior 4 Patch

March 2001

Microsoft Corporation, 1998-2001. All rights reserved.

Welcome to Microsoft MechWarrior: Vengeance. This Readme file contains information about the most recent changes and improvements provided by the MechWarrior 4 Patch.

Important Note: You must upgrade to the patched version in order to see multiplayer servers that are running the patch.

CONTENTS

A. Installation

B. Previous Gameplay Issues

C. New Features

D. Current Gameplay Issues

E. Troubleshooting Error Messages During MechWarrior 4 Patch Installation

This patch contains information to help you troubleshoot issues with MechWarrior: Vengeance. You can also find information about MechWarrior: Vengeance and Microsoft Product Support Services in the printed manual and on the MechWarrior: Vengeance Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/games/mechwarrior4/).

A. Installation

MechWarrior: Vengeance must be installed on the system before installing the patch. To install MechWarrior: Vengeance Patch, double-click on PatchApply.exe located in the folder where the patch files were extracted.

B. Previous Gameplay Issues

This section lists gameplay issues previously found in MechWarrior: Vengeance and describes the solutions provided by the MechWarrior 4 patch.

· Divide by Zero message: The Divide by Zero message no longer occurs randomly when you scroll through the master server.

· Video playback: Video playback performs correctly.

· Nested exceptions: Problems with nested exceptions occurring in Microsoft Windows 95 during the SafeDisc check have been fixed.

· Game lock-up: Exiting the game or declining the EULA will not cause the game to lock up.

· Neomagic 256XL+ chipset: You can now run the game using the Neomagic 256XL+ chipset.

· Controllers: The game will not fail with game controllers that have no buttons or more than 32 buttons.

· Yamaha sound cards: EAX errors will not occur when using Yamaha sound cards with older drivers.

· Support for two auxiliary mouse buttons: Using two auxiliary mouse buttons is supported.

· Team Only Radar: Enemy ‘Mechs are no longer selectable using the Q & W keys.

· Support for multiple ’Mech variants: Having more than 65 ’Mech variants in the dropdown list will not cause the game to crash when you select one.

· Command line launch: Launching the game via the command line will not misreport the dedicated server and number of players.

· Player ’Mech speedup: No longer occurs.

· Servers list: You can see the servers listed in ZoneMatch without having to re-launch the game.

· ’Mech movement: Keyboard users will no longer see the ’Mech turning around in a circle during a training mission.

· “Foot off edge” crash: Fixed most common occurances.

· Atlas AMS: Atlas AMS will now respawn every time.

C. New Features

This section describes the new features provided by the MechWarrior 4 patch and how to use them.

· Team chat indicated in multiplayer shell and ’MechLab: To see the word “team” before your call sign, indicating that you are using team chat, type -u followed by your message.

· Number of players per team announced in chat whenever someone joins or leaves a team: During a team game, a message that includes the number and head count of teams containing at least one team member will be displayed according to the following rules:

1. When a player connects to the game, the message will be displayed only to the incoming player.

2. When a player who is on a team disconnects from the game, the message will be displayed to everyone in the game.

3. When a player changes his current team number, the message will be displayed to everyone in the game.

4. When the host changes a bot's current team number, the message will be displayed to everyone in the game.

5. When the host removes a bot that is on a team, the message will be displayed to everyone in the game.

· Host can kick and ban players from game: Using the "-b" identifier for ban and the "-k" identifier for kick, the host can kick or ban any player during the course of the game. The host must be in chat or team chat mode to kick or ban a player. Both kick and ban have the same usage syntax:

-k|-b "[Player Name]"

[Player Name] is the name of the player you want to kick or ban. The name must be enclosed by quotation marks. If there is more than one player with the same name, a list of these players will be displayed in the chat box, along with their numbers, kills, deaths, and scores. The host can then use the number displayed to kick or ban that specific player.

· Dedicated server chat appears: The dedicated server chat box now displays all incoming messages.

· Look Back (Behind) can be mapped to key: To map Look Back to a key, either create a new pilot, or reset your key configuration from the options page. This feature is for US versions only.

· Dedicated server support for no audio/video with frame rate limiter: The -serve command line option now allows you to run the game without requiring audio or a hardware renderer. If you have hardware support but wish to have the server run in software only, you can use the /gosUseSW switch. This switch only works with -serve and not on its own.

· Password switch for command line dedicated server: When used with the -serve command line option, you can specify a password with -password. The password cannot contain spaces and should not be enclosed in quotation marks.

· Auto torso centering option can be turned off: To turn off auto torso centering or to change the auto centering options, perform the following procedure in the Options.ini file:

Under [special commands] AutoTorsoCenter=, you can set these values:

LeaveTorsoAlone: 0

CenterTorsoToLegs: 1

CenterLegsToTorso: 2

Note: The default position is CenterLegsToTorso(2), if nothing is set in the Options.ini file.

· Game length is increased: The game timers now have 90- and 120-minute settings.

· Counter for SPEED HACK: Using the PC Over Clock hack utility to increase ‘Mech movement to “super fast” will hold the ‘Mech in place until turned off.

· Cancel Button: A cancel button has been added in the "Connection is being established..." screen to exit back to the game lobby if the server is not responding.

· Missing credits: Credit list updated..

D. Current Gameplay Issues

The following are known gameplay issues in MechWarrior: Vengeance.

· Dedicated servers with minimum installs receive a request for CD 2 after clicking Start: If the user clicks Cancel after receiving this message, CD 2 will be requested again when Launch is clicked. Dedicated servers require the CD for launching the game because of encryption. CD 1 or CD 2 can be in the drive with full installations.

· Client receives “Do not have map” message: This problem occurs if the user puts the MW4 file in the Maps folder instead of the Missions folder.

· Servers with minimum installs cause frame hits when accessing map files: Users should do a full install of the game so that all map files will be installed and not accessed on the CD.

E. Troubleshooting Error Messages During MechWarrior 4 Patch Installation

The following error messages may appear during the installation of the MechWarrior 4 patch.

· 0001: Illegal Input Option '

'

The specified option is either an invalid option, or the patch user does not have the appropriate user level to use the option.

· 0002: Insufficient Memory

PATCH needs more memory free for its internal tables. There is insufficient memory available when running the patch.

· 0004: Specified Update Directory '

' does not exist

The patch user specified a directory to update that does not exist.

· 0005: Specified [Update|Backup] Directory '

' is not a valid directory

The patch user specified a directory name for either the Update or the Backup directory that is not a valid directory name. An existing file with the same name as the specified directory could cause this message.

· 0006: Cannot Find Patch File '

'

PATCH was not able to locate the specified patch file.

· 0007: Error Opening Patch File

PATCH was able to locate the patch file but could not open the file to read it. This could be a DOS error or due to a corrupted disk.

· 0008: PATCH.EXE and Patch File incompatible - Need to update PATCH.EXE

PATCH.exe and the patch file are incompatible versions. PATCH.exe can update older versions of patch files but not those created with a newer version of the data file format. You need to obtain a later version of the Patch program to apply this patch.

· 0009: Invalid Patch File '

'

PATCH.exe was unable to read correct information from the specified patch file. The file is either not a patch file or has been corrupted. Obtain a new copy of the file and then rerun PATCH.

· 0010: Failure Creating Backup Directory '

'

PATCH was unable to create the specified backup directory.

· 0013: Failure Opening Backup Destination File '

'

PATCH was unable to open the new file to copy the original file to.

· 0014: Failure Writing Backup File '

'

PATCH was unable to write the original file to the backup version.

· 0015: Old File does not exist

PATCH needs bytes from the existing version of a file in order to build the new file; however, it was unable to locate the old file.

· 0016: New File already exists

A file with the same name as the new file being built already exists. The existing file will be copied to the backup directory if the Backup option is on.

· 0017: Failure Opening Old File: 'filename'

PATCH was able to locate the old version of a file but the open failed. This is probably caused by a DOS error. Try rerunning PATCH.

· 0018: Failure Opening New File: '

'

PATCH was unable to open the named file while attempting to open this file to create a file for the updated version of the system. This can be caused by a disk or network error or if a directory exists by the same name as the file that PATCH is trying to open.

· 0019: Failure Writing to File

An error occurred while PATCH was trying to write bytes to a new file.

· 0020: Failure Reading from File

An error occurred while PATCH was trying to read bytes from an old file.

· 0021: Failure Seeking to Position in File

PATCH was unable to seek to a position within a file. This is probably caused by a DOS error or a corrupted disk. Try rerunning PATCH.

· 0022: Failure Renaming File

PATCH was unable to rename a file. This is probably caused by a DOS error or a corrupted disk. Try rerunning PATCH.

· 0024: New File already exists

The specified file has already been patched. PATCH does not need to patch this file.

· 0025: Verify of New File Failed. Possible Internal Error

The file that PATCH built is not valid. Users should never see this message.

· 0026: Failure Creating Overflow File: 'FileName'

PATCH was unable to open a file for its overflow information. This is probably caused by a DOS error or by a full disk drive.

· 0027: Overflow File Write Failure

PATCH was unable to read from the overflow table it created to hold data that did not fit in its internal tables. This was probably caused by a DOS error or a corrupted disk, or there was insufficient room on the disk for the file.

· 0028: Overflow File Read Failure

PATCH was unable to read from the overflow table it created to hold data that did not fit in its internal tables. This was probably caused by a DOS error or a corrupted disk.

· 0029: Insufficient Disk Space to Apply Patch - You need at least

bytes free on drive

for

PATCH needs at least the specified number of bytes to perform the patch process. If UNDO or BACKUP is ON, PATCH needs room to back up all of the files making up the original system and also the room needed to build the new system. If both BACKUP and UNDO are OFF, PATCH only needs room to back up the biggest of the files being patched.

· 0030: Error opening serialization file '

'

PATCH either could not find the serialization file or the open failed. If the open failed, the probable cause is a DOS error. Retry the operation.

· 0031: Error reading serialization file '

'

PATCH cannot seek to the correct position in the serialization file or read the correct number of bytes from the file. Possible causes are invalid positions and lengths specified while running PATCHBLD.

· 0032: Failure Setting File's Time/Date Stamp

PATCH was unable to set the time/date stamp for the updated file or for a freshly backed up file. This error should never occur; but if it does, it has probably been caused by a disk failure or network file-sharing problem.

· 0033: Failure creating temporary file

PATCH was unable to create a temporary file to hold the new file or to hold overflow information. Try rerunning PATCH and if it still does not work, reduce the number of temporary files required by disabling BACKUP and UNDO.

· 0034: Neither command line parameter specified is an existing directory

Multiple parameters were given on the PATCH command line that were neither valid PATCH options or existing directories. If the user specifies multiple parameters, at least one must be a valid existing update directory.

· 0035: Only one file and one directory may be specified on command line

The user specified more than one patch file and one update directory on the PATCH command line.

· 0036: Old file not found. However, a file of the same name was found. No update done since file contents do not match

PATCH was unable to locate an exact match for the original file to be updated, but PATCH was able to locate a file with the same name as the original file. However, the file found did not have either the same size or checksum as the actual original file that PATCH is seeking in order to perform the update.

· 0037: Error opening error message file

PATCH was unable to open the file PATCH.ERR for storing error messages. The probable cause is a DOS error. Retry the operation, or specify the NOERRORFILE option on the PATCH command line.

If you experience an IPF (internal page fault) error while installing the patch on Windows 98, please make sure your virtual memory is active. This can be checked by right-clicking on My Computer, clicking on properties, clicking on the Performance tab, and clicking on Virtual Memory.