[Game] MechWarrior 4 (Free release!)

[Murphy]

Hi,
remember how last year after the trailer for the new MechWarrior game by Piranha Games came out it was announced that MechWarrior 4 would be released for free? This was announced in July, iirc and the estimated release date was mid-august. Then it was "next weekend" for a couple of months until finally they said they had to clear this with Microsoft first. It almost looked like it would never come out, but apparently they sorted out their issues and you can now download MechWarrior 4 with their Mekpaks and enhancements through their program MTX.

Go here for more info and links:
http://mektek.net/projects/mw4/

 

[Nenjin]

I was just on my way here to post this!

Haven't played the series since the OG Mechwarrior (Ghost Bear's Legacy, ect...), but I'm excited! 'Community' releases almost always make an ok product a great product, and I've been jonesing for Mech action for a while now.

 

[Amerikaner]

Never played any mechwarrior games. Is the gameplay outdated? Is it popular? Does it support big resolutions?

 

[Nenjin]

I can't say for the newer ones.

Is the game play outdated? That's, well, the completely wrong question to ask when it comes to Mechwarrior games.

The games are based on a table-top mech game. So all game play in one way or another ties back to that. The series has gotten further from it's table-top roots as it's gone on, and has gotten less popular as a result. But the community and the game are getting a big reboot. Mechwarrior (aka Battletech) has a huge fan base.

I don't know about MW4, but I'd assume it supports big (widescreen?) resolutions.

Anyways, if you like 1st/3rd person giant robot combat, where you in some cases get to build and customize your robot to varying degrees, Mechwarrior is good times. The MP can be a lot of fun too. Like I said, I haven't stayed with the series since the first one because the newer ones offered you less and less mech customization and building, which is the bread and butter of the table-top game.

But Mektek basically took MW4 and updated the crap out of it, and I've heard it's very different from the game that was initially released.

 

[Murphy]

Never played any mechwarrior games. Is the gameplay outdated?

There isn't much like it so it's hard to say whether it's outdated or not. It's not a regular first/third-person shooter with Mech models but you pilot Mechs. They handle a bit like a clumsy mixture of a car and Freespace 2 figher craft.

Does it support big resolutions?

They updated the game to support big (and widescreen!) resolutions. I'm running the game at 1680*1050 and it looks great (for being MW4...).

 

[Nenjin]

Yeah, that should be stressed. Mechwarrior does a great job of making you feel like a pilot rather than the robot itself. Especially when your mech gets limbs blown off, or your core goes critical.

 

[NoxNoctum]

Nice! Downloading now. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Nenjin]

Maybe I'm just seeing this through nostalgia-colored glasses but...how does MW4 manage to look worse than I remember some of the older titles looking?

Anyways, the work they've done has made this game exactly what I wanted. The customization is great, the rules are all there...it's awesome. Now I'm just trying to get reacclimated to mech controls...I'd forgotten how many there were, and how important stuff like weapon groups and torso turning and **** like that is. There's a little bit of info overload going on, even for someone who has played Mechwarrior before. They pretty much drop you into game with no real tutorial, and I'm feeling a little rushed trying to relearn the game during the campaign missions.

I'd also forgotten how you can run your bank account into the ground by not playing missions right. They really covered all the details.

Still, happy as a pig in a blanket with this. Now I just need to introduce a few friends to it and see if we can't get a little clan going.

 

[Olivier]

My cd wwere not working anymore. So i can download the game for free now? C=

 

[omarfw]

i prefer the crysis mechwarrior mod. it's amazing

 

[Murphy]

The game is quite a handful. I can't even draw from previous experience because I only played the demos of some MechWarrior games a while back. The closest I ever got to this was playing MechAssault, which isn't comparable at all.

How do you control your Mech, Nenjin?
Mouse+keyboard, keyboard or do you have a joystick? I played with mouse and keyboard for a while now but I'm thinking of turning down the sensitivity a bit and switching to keyboard only. Any advice?

 

[Olivier]

this -->

 

[omarfw]

the joystick or some sort of extra external controller is ideal with the massive amount of controls, but with some tweaking a simplified keyboard mapping scheme works fine too. the default controls are a bit iffy.

 

[NoxNoctum]

Their websites's down. Anywhere else to get it?

 

[Murphy]

You can download MTX from here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1HD0ND6Y

The game itself can then be downloaded through MTX either via http or via torrents. I assume http is down like the website, but torrent could work.

MTX is disgustingly slow since the free release. It wasn't near as bad a few days ago. If it hangs a lot and is unresponsive just let it go and try again in a few days.
They guys really tried their best and care a great deal about this but apparently they (and their program) are completely overwhelmed at the moment.

If you already downloaded the game through MTX and it's updated to the latest version (.20) you can just start it with the shortcut and it'll work. No need to wait for MTX then.

 

[Nenjin]

My set up is like this...(and I'm still tweaking it)

Mouse = Turning (very important)
1 - 0 - Throttle %
Num 8 - Accelerate
Num 2 - Decelerate
Num 4 - Turn Left
Num 5 - Center Legs on Torso
Num 6 - Turn Right
Num 7 - Torso Twist Left
Num 9 - Torso Twist Right
Num 0 - Jump Jet
Backspace - Reverse Direction
Mouse 1 - Fire Select Group/Weapon
Mouse 2 - Fire Group 3 Weapons (Missles for me)
Scroll Wheel Up - Select Next Weapon Group
Scroll Wheel Down - Select Previous Weapon Group
\ - Change Firing Mode
End - Target Nearest Enemy
Page Down - Target Next Enemy
Delete - Target Object Under Reticle
Insert - Flush Coolant
F1 - F3 - Command Lance 1 Members
F4 - Command Lance 1
F5 - F8 - Command Lance 2 Members
F9 - Command Lance 2

A lot of the other commands (Change Radar Range, Map, Cancel Automatic Shutdown, Light Amplification, ect...) I leave as is since I don't need to use them that often. The ones I have are the ones that are essential to game play.

The thing to know is: Turn with your mouse. Torso twisting is nice, but if you TT too far, it turns your mech. Also you can't rebind the left and right keys away from "Look in cockpit", so they're basically worthless for movement.

I know the strat is to circle strafe around guys while TT, but I can't get it to work that well. Having your mech turn using the keyboard keys, along with having them turn with the mouse just makes control screwy. Using the mouse for TT instead of turning means you have to constantly recenter yourself while you strafe. There's just really no good solution to it that I can see.

So I tend to move at 20% walking speed and just wail on guys head on. Two clan gauss rifles dead center makes short work of damn near anything. Served well so far at normal difficulty, but I'm sure online play is a whole different story. In the Solaris matches I tend to run away from the big fights and pick guys off from the edges. That saves me having to fire on the move a lot. I think the better you start doing in Solaris, the more the AI starts gunning for you in particular.

Also....missles are a *****. You have to hold your aim dead center for like 4 seconds to get a target lock, and the AI rarely stands still for that long.

 

[Reddog]

I simply get '403 Forbidden' when I try to go to that mektek link or even try to navigate there through google, is their site down?

 

[Murphy]

Yes, it's down. I read it was hit by some 100k people and the guys at Mektek weren't prepared for that kind of onslaught. Apparently this wrecked a server of their ISP and they now have to pay for it. They're doing everything they can to get it back up and running. This is second hand information though.

I feel so sorry for them because with a mandatory program like MTX people are bound to complain anyways and now that their server is shot the program isn't working either! It's slow as hell, hangs all the time,... It's completely unacceptable for any released piece of software and people blame it on MTX now. Not unreasonable, of course, but it's still sad.
The program was working absolutely fine a couple of days ago (it was possible to download the game already but until I posted this topic you needed the CDs of the game to start it) and it only broke down because the server did.

The only mistake Mektek is really responsible for is greatly underestimating the response to the free release.

Here is another mirror for MTX:
http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/85817/mechwarrior-4-mercenaries-free-release-downloader-mtx

And if you are savy with torrents you might find this page useful:
http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/54576/MechWarrior-4-Mercenaries-Re-Released-As-Free-Game

Once you HAVE the game you don't have to bother with MTX for now (until future updates and I assume by then they sorted out their problems).

I have it (I preloaded it and got the .20 update before the crap hit the fan) and I just have to click my shortcut and the game starts immediately.

 

[Nenjin]

Even before the internet **** storm hit, MTX was performing very poorly. Not sure why they felt they needed a front end like that....there are way more resource efficient ways to update.

Once everything is installed and patched though, you can safely ignore MTX.

 

[Reddog]

I'll use those torrent links, cheers!

Also Nenjin re: the controls, personally I always found it best to have the keys turn and drive forward/back and use the mouse for torso twist. To 'strafe' imagine you are walking past a target while twisted and aimed towards it, you can turn and keep them in your sights or you you can TT right to the limit and then it turns your mech so you can strafe sharply around them easily. It takes a bit of getting used to but once you have yourself set up this way you have the most versatile options for movement.

Missiles always were a ***** in the series, but I can see why they make them hard to lock on as they can be really dangerous, especially when you get those bastards who run a heavy with a few batteries equipped and fire them all at once. Personally I always preferred a combination of lasers and gauss rifles, and of course jump jet to the head kills when you want to be a real bastard!

I hope this get's some interest in Mech4 as it will be awesome to play some multiplayer