Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Free Stomping: Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries

By Alec Meer on April 30th, 2010 at 8:05 pm.

STOMP

Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp. Stomp. Following up from Jim’s post a little while ago, The Thing That He Said Was Happening Has Now Happened. To whit, a reiggered version of Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries can now be downloaded and played for no-pennies, courtesy of proactive fan/developer collective MekTek. Yep, they’ve priced this juicy bone from the very jaws of the slavering Microsoft hound, which means all it now costs you is 1.7Gb of bandwidth. It comes with a clutch of MekTek’s improvements and additional units, weapons and the like too. Yeah, you’d better be grateful.

Download links and setup guides await you here. Stomp. STOMP.

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157 Comments »

  1. 30/04/2010 at 20:19 BeamSplashX says:

    Bleh, torrent stand-in programs seem like a waste of time but I’d rather not wait on a mirror.

    In other news, YAY Mechwarrior 4!

  2. 30/04/2010 at 20:22 Torgen says:

    Yes, I”m such a Mech whore that I installed their whatever and let it have its way with my computer, just to get Mechs. I hope I don’t regret this…

  3. 30/04/2010 at 20:22 mandrill says:

    Downloading now! Who’s up for some stompy stompy then? EU based. I can make wednesday nights :D

  4. 30/04/2010 at 20:24 Psamtik says:

    Am I doing something wrong? I followed the instructions according to what they mentioned on their press release, and I installed MTX, their steam/impluse-like program, but I can’t see it listed under “Games Available”, nor does any other game for that matter.

    • 30/04/2010 at 20:32 Torgen says:

      I thought maybe the downloader needed to reboot, and I no longer have MW4 or Assault Mech listed under available games either.

    • 30/04/2010 at 23:32 Retrofuture says:

      It’s just AWFULLY slow at updating, especially if you interrupt it. If you have a properly set up torrent program, go into the Yourdrive:\mektek\MTX\temp\games\torrents folder, grab the torrent and download it that way. Much faster.

  5. 30/04/2010 at 20:24 Vinraith says:

    That’s the best news I’ve heard all week, I’m off to download some stompy goodness.
    On a related note, I was always a bigger fan of Mechwarrior 3 than of 4 (3 felt truer to the tabletop game). Anyone know of any good mods for 3 to bring it up to some kind of modern graphical level?

  6. 30/04/2010 at 20:25 Fitzgamon says:

    *GASP!* Does this mean I can once more gallivant about in a catapult filled to the brim with copious numbers of missiles and rockets, unleashing an unending torrent of explosive rain from the safety of a hill top as my comrades stomp about in atlases and madcats? If so, huzzah!

    • 30/04/2010 at 22:12 Tom O'Bedlam says:

      I’ve always been a big fan of the Solaris maps, especially in a little Uziel.

      DEATH FROM ABOVE!

      Nothing says victory like smashing up all your torso armour by crushing the cab of an atlas :D

    • 01/05/2010 at 00:31 Mr Labbes says:

      My best results I always got when piloting an Uziel. Maybe it’s just because I find the design the coolest, but it’s still a great mech.

  7. 30/04/2010 at 20:26 Doug F says:

    I just finished a certification exam that had taken over my last 2 weeks of game time with studying, and my wife is out of town for the weekend.

    STOMP STOMP STOMP

  8. 30/04/2010 at 20:29 Torgen says:

    Hmm, seems to be no seeds, as I’m sitting here at “Infinity Min” left to download.

    • 30/04/2010 at 20:38 Torgen says:

      Ok, restarted a third time and connected to the seed. Yeeha!

      (goes to dig out his HOTAS)

    • 01/05/2010 at 00:31 Veret says:

      As I sit here waiting for the client to actually connect, I noticed some interesting output in the log: “[4/30/2010 7:13:05 PM] Downloading and installing new game. This will take sometime. Please wait.” I thought it was a typo at first, but they’re really just being extremely clever. “Sure, all your attempts to download will actually take. Eventually.”

      Oh grammar, how I love you.

  9. 30/04/2010 at 20:30 Veret says:

    Ooh, can’t wait. STOMP STOMP STOMP SHOOM Target destroyed! Target destroyed! Target’s dead. Target down. Target-is-terminated! Target eeee-liminated!

    These are the sounds of my youth.

  10. 30/04/2010 at 20:30 moyogo says:

    Hmm mechwarrior… raven with flamethrowers heating people up until they explode or i explode from overheat! good times

  11. 30/04/2010 at 20:32 Theory says:

    Is this tied to their MTX thingy? I’m hoping on a standalone download.

  12. 30/04/2010 at 20:45 Psamtik says:

    Not sure what happened, but it now works. I had restarted the client before twice but it still didn’t appear. I guess 3rd time’s the charm. Thanks though!

  13. 30/04/2010 at 21:01 Oneironaut says:

    I used to have Mech Warrior 2 and it’s expansion. Haven’t played any of the series since, but I’ve got the download for this one started. Should be fun.

    • 30/04/2010 at 21:20 Jad says:

      That’s exactly my experience as well. MW2 and MW2:Mercenaries and no further in the series.

      I do feel like I was more diverse in my tastes as a kid, as I didn’t read up on the gaming news and I didn’t buy my games, my parents did. I got Mechwarrior 2 for my birthday because a friend had it (and he had it because his dad liked sim games), and then a month later I got Warcraft II for Christmas because somebody at my dad’s job had offhandedly mentioned playing it. Two games that really couldn’t be more different, and I loved them both.

      Nowadays I don’t really play either type of game, because I know that while I’ll enjoy a RTS, I’ll enjoy a FPS or RPG more, and my free time is much more limited than it was when I was young. I do feel like I miss out a bit on diverse gaming experiences that way though.

      Guess I’ll rectify that somewhat by downloading this tonight.

    • 30/04/2010 at 23:53 ExplosiveCoot says:

      I’m in this boat as well, although MW2: Mercenaries was one of my all-time favorite games. I’m guessing that MW4 will be twice as good, right?

  14. 30/04/2010 at 21:13 Ed from Brazil says:

    WHOOOOOO It’s running so fine.
    Guys, if your download is slow, just open the MTX folder, in one of the sub sub folders there’s the .torrent file. then just use that on utorrent or something. After it’s done, copy the big file back to the Temp folder in MTX and restart the silly app. It’ll verify the big file and install the game.

    Nice things: MW4 Mercs now has full widescreen support and you can also use all the new mechs and guns in the Single player too.

  15. 30/04/2010 at 21:32 cdm says:

    MTX is currently some buggy shite, unfortunately.

  16. 30/04/2010 at 22:14 DMJ says:

    I need this game because in real life I inexplicably don’t own a sixty-ton stompy robot armed with enough weaponry to conquer France.

  17. 30/04/2010 at 22:30 Freudian Trip says:

    Is there a LAN function for this game. I’d love to blow my friend away [/nohomo]

  18. 30/04/2010 at 22:31 Magic H8 Ball says:

    rofl, .NET Framework required. gg.

    • 01/05/2010 at 01:21 MD says:

      ?
      Isn’t the .net framework required for all sorts of things? It always seems to be one of the first things I have to install on a fresh windows installation.

      Anyway, hooray at this! Shockingly I’ve never played a Mechwarrior game before, but I’ve been hoping for a new multiplayer game lately, and the enthusiasm of almost everyone here is infectious.

  19. 30/04/2010 at 22:32 Guus says:

    I’ve never played any of the MW games before so this’ll be a fun intro, let’s see what all the fuss is about eh?

  20. 30/04/2010 at 22:48 the wiseass says:

    Unfortunately their horrible horrible HORRIBLE client doesn’t work and keeps crashing. So I guess that’s that.

    • 30/04/2010 at 22:48 the wiseass says:

      I seem to be stuck in some kind of update loop. No stompy stompy for me :(

    • 30/04/2010 at 23:48 RetroFuture says:

      Kill the mtx process, go into your mtx folder and copy the files in the temp-loader folder over the top of the ones in the mtx folder. Run mtx.exe. Should eventually start up and start downloading the patch for you :)

    • 01/05/2010 at 02:34 Sam C. says:

      Kill the mtx process, go into your mtx folder and copy the files in the temp-loader folder over the top of the ones in the mtx folder. Run mtx.exe. Should eventually start up and start downloading the patch for you :)

      @RetroFuture: Thanks, that fixed it for me! It might have to update more than once, just repeat the copying procedure. Wish it was just a standalone…

    • 01/05/2010 at 09:33 the wiseass says:

      Yes, thank you, that worked! Maybe I’ll be stomping around after all :)

  21. 30/04/2010 at 23:13 Mac says:

    Ugh this MTX shite is shit. This is going to be a long download, sigh. Yeah, if anyone sees a proper mirror for this, please post ASAP!

  22. 30/04/2010 at 23:27 Rich says:

    Wow, the single-player campaign is in supposedly in there.
    That’s more than I could have hoped for.

    • 01/05/2010 at 00:24 Dominic White says:

      Not only in there, but you can find/buy all the new mechs and weapons during the campaign as well.

      As for the slow downloads right now, the torrent I’m looking at shows no less than 5500+ people downloading, and that number is rising steadily. I think it’s safe to say that it’ll have a decent sized multiplayer scene.

  23. 30/04/2010 at 23:55 Kovah says:

    Holy shat! I’m getting 5kb/sec at best on the download. Says it’ll be done in around 3000 minutes. So maybe I’ll have something to do on Sunday.

  24. 01/05/2010 at 01:34 wedge98 says:

    I downloaded via utorrent and loaded the utorrent file(File->open File
    Then click install on bottom right
    the go through updates if needed
    Also, Under options change from toreent to http(www) method for updates as it seems to be faster.

    This new variant ROCKS!!!!!

    There is NO online lag, tons of servers and the play is just great. YAY!!!! Mechwarriors UNITE!!!

  25. 01/05/2010 at 01:35 Davie says:

    Yay, Mechwarrior! I got into video games a little later than most, so now I can finally see what everyone’s on about.

    …if I could get the fucking downloader to function properly. This thing constantly freezes, takes hours to update, has a horrible and ugly interface, and generally is poorly designed and a pain in the ass to use. You’re not going to outdo Steam, people. So why subject me to this nonsense? What’s wrong with a good old mirror?

  26. 01/05/2010 at 02:10 DeepSleeper says:

    So, wait. Are they still putting out Black Knight and that other campaign? I admit I don’t care a bit about the rest of the stuff they’ve crammed in, I wanted the three expansions in a way that worked decently in Win7. They seem to be focused entirely on Mercenaries. What gives? Did I misremember their original press release?

    • 01/05/2010 at 03:15 EthZee says:

      The Mechwarrior 4 Free release contains MW4:Mercenaries, the content from the DLC (and supposedly from Black Knight), and the additional MekPaks. It doesn’t contain anything from Vengeance, other than what is also in Mercenaries.

  27. 01/05/2010 at 03:04 Flakfizer says:

    Is their program just a downloader or does it need to run alongside the program?

  28. 01/05/2010 at 03:17 Hesp says:

    Why are so many poeople complaining about something thats free?

    If MTX is such a hardship, dont download.

    If its sooo hard getting it DL’d, maybe you should of started it last week when the client became available, with copy protection still on it, then just waited a week for the copy protection removal patch.

    • 01/05/2010 at 03:20 DeepSleeper says:

      We’re complaining about it because it works poorly. Perhaps if we complain, they will make it better instead of leaving it half-assed.

      If there’s no outcry nothing gets changed. Don’t sit and take poor quality, it’s a bad thing all around, even for free things.

  29. 01/05/2010 at 03:36 Arca says:

    Echoing all the calls of ‘MTX is a load of arse’, etc. etc., but using the other torrent link works just fine. So I recommend that if you’re having problems with MTX.

    It seems to me that they spent more time making MTX pretty than they did making it functional – it takes longer to get it’s arse in gear than most other apps on this computer.

    But anyway, this is the Talk-About-MW-4-Topic not the Bitch-About-MTX-Topic, so on to MW4:

    Solaris = fun. Should be a lot more interesting with the Clan/IS/Mekpak mechs and weapons officially supported. There are some setups I’d like to test in the full game but just couldn’t before because of the lack of proper combined support, and the Instant Action doesn’t really cut it. But no more!

    Also: Do the Trial versus the clanners (rather than the night base attack) and take whatsherface prisoner. She is a FANTASTIC lance leader and mech pilot. Plus Spectre telling Castle to stick a sock in it is priceless.

  30. 01/05/2010 at 04:18 Coded One says:

    I’m absolutely lost… So I DLed the torrent file. Now I have a file called mechwarrior4mercenaries.all.to.51.03.01.0017.mtx Does anyone know where I’m supposed to put this to get MTX to recognize it?

    • 01/05/2010 at 04:46 Davie says:

      You have to open MTX and go to the Available Games tab; MW should be in there.

    • 01/05/2010 at 05:14 Coded One says:

      SO! I got it to install, but now it says I need to insert Disc 2!

      I tried replacing the core.mw4 file, but that didn’t seem to help. All I can say is that this MXT software, is the absolute shittiest software I have ever dealt with in my entire life. I honestly can’t think of one piece of software that was worse than this.

  31. 01/05/2010 at 05:15 Lemon scented apocalypse says:

    “TRULY MTX IS BALLS” – thus spake Zarathustra

  32. 01/05/2010 at 05:45 Serph says:

    I downloaded the whole thing on uTorrent, but when I try to run it from MTX, the entire thing freezes. Nothing shows up on the available programs list when I open the file. It’s like they are actively trying to get LESS people to play the game.

  33. 01/05/2010 at 05:50 Coded One says:

    All I wanted to do was play Mechwarrior… Now, my very soul is crushed. Will you at least keep us posted as to when it becomes not a royal pain in the ass to download this?”

  34. 01/05/2010 at 06:13 Pode says:

    From what I’ve been able to learn at great cost of time and frustration, the free release is version XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.00000000000000000020 (SRSLY, x.20 was too fucking hard?). MTX must download version .0000000017 (after 20 minutes to start up), then restart in order to detect the existence of patch version .000000000018, download that (after crashing), and only then will you finally be allowed to start downloading version .0000020

    It is absolutely critical that you under no circumstances attempt to play version .0000000018. This version requires a MW4 CD and will bitch at you to insert disk 2. If you go to their home page and follow the directions about copying the core.mw file, you will break your version of .00000000018 so that it fails checksum and CANNOT be updated. This in itself wouldn’t be so bad but for the minor inconvenience that programs installed thru MTX can ONLY be removed via MTX, and MTX crashes when you attempt to uninstall anything. SO you get one and only one attempt ever to install successfully. I have FINALLY been able to purge my system of any trace of the accursed crap, including registry entires, and can now hope to begin the process all over.

    I love me some Mechwarrior, and that I’m willing to go through this for a game that may very well not run on my box (old CD version has video card incompatibility) says a lot about how grateful I am to these guys for putting it out there, but I swear to God if I meet the MTX programmer I’m going to light him on fire.

    • 01/05/2010 at 06:30 Coded One says:

      Goddammit… That’s exactly what happened to me. MXT is truly utter bullshit isn’t it?

    • 01/05/2010 at 06:40 Pode says:

      “MTX is truly utter bullshit isn’t it?”

      In ways I never knew were possible. It refuses to size itself to the primary monitor and insists on starting up across both, causing my video card to hang for minutes at a time as it struggles to render that hideous UI on two screens. It’s not a new card by any means, but I get decent frame rates in 1-2 year old games, a STATIC fucking black, grey and red box shouldn’t bring my PC to its knees. Is the texture a fractal or some shit? Why? Why is this so F-ING difficult? What was wrong with “click here to download an installer?”

    • 01/05/2010 at 09:10 Serph says:

      I have a sneaking suspicion that MTX was programmed by Satan himself on a computer of blood, steel and disembodied screams, then brought into this world by a creature so monstrous that anyone who beheld it would lose all sense of reality. It is meant to strike sheer terror into the heart of gamers everywhere.

  35. 01/05/2010 at 06:15 Kovah says:

    Gah, I’d decided to try and start the download again before I went to bed with the hope that I’d have better luck later… but no, the downloaded program itself will no longer work, related to the entire site going down I assume. Oh well, guess I’ll try again in the morning.

  36. 01/05/2010 at 06:23 bergotronic says:

    Hmmm – ENTIRE Site is down and MTX does not work when the mek tek servers are down. Grrrrrrrrrrreat.

  37. 01/05/2010 at 06:54 DarkNoghri says:

    Hmmm. Tried starting the download yesterday (before update). Program seemed okay, if a bit slow. Fast forward to today. Having updated MTX a couple of times, it pretty much locks up when I open it. Reinstall. Locks up when it asks what folder to install games to. Website is down, so I can’t even go download the new version.

    And to top it all off, the .torrent, which I’m downloading in utorrent, is getting me 2 KB per second. :/

    I am disappoint.

  38. 01/05/2010 at 07:17 tycho says:

    How NOT to launch your mod:-

    1) Require a shitty client gateway program that crashes all the time.

    2) Require the program to connect to your website to do pretty much anything.

    3) Host your website on a budget connection that folds when your mod turns out to be popular.

    4) Sit back and wait for the Inbox vitriol.

  39. 01/05/2010 at 07:24 Zogtee says:

    Does anyone know this? And is able to answer without going into a nerdrage?

  40. 01/05/2010 at 08:35 Magic H8 Ball says:

    Anonymous Coward said:
    I’ve never played any of the MW games before so this’ll be a fun intro, let’s see what all the fuss is about eh?

    While a fun game, MW4 is nowhere near the greatness of MW2. Controls are simplified and the bobbling is very toned down. Sometimes you feel like you’re just flying a helicopter on a fixed altitude, not walking in a fifty ton mech.

    (Unless they tweaked it for the free release – but I guess thanks to MTX we’ll never know)

  41. 01/05/2010 at 08:49 Robots are Metal says:

    http://www.filefactory.com/file/b1656e1/n/mechwarrior4mercenaries.all.to.51.03.01.0017.mtx.torrent

    here a mirror for you to open in your own tool until mektek comes up again.
    I’m one of 300 seeds in my part of the cloud right now, sending to 100 of around 3000 people.

  42. 01/05/2010 at 08:57 Sarlix says:

    So no one managed to get any stompy action then?

  43. 01/05/2010 at 09:13 Dworgi says:

    Jesus Christ. I downloaded the file through uTorrent, but it’s not showing up in the available games, even after doing the whole “Open File”. Is this because the website is down or what?

    Also, I don’t understand why MTX is required, or why it has to be fucking skinned, or why it’s so incredibly terrible. Linking to a torrent file is not that difficult – people CAN figure it out… Proprietary downloaders are completely pointless, especially when it’s just running a BitTorrent client underneath it all.

  44. 01/05/2010 at 09:52 bill says:

    Hmmm… I think I’ll wait until next week and hope someone breaks it out as a stand-alone installer or torrent.

    Waited one year for it, I can wait a few more days if it saves all this grief and messing up of systems.

    If anyone figures out a nice stand-alone install, please post it on RPS.

  45. 01/05/2010 at 10:07 Quijote3000 says:

    I have some good memories of the oooold tabletop game so I thought it would be interesting to try. After suffering the MTX program, I finally got it installed, but I only got the message “please place disc 2 of merchwarrior 4: Mercenaries into the drive”

    And the forums of mektek (and the whole site) are down. Anyone knows how to fix this?

  46. 01/05/2010 at 10:30 Ghiest says:

    Mektek has bastardized Battletech beyond words, not only that it’s not a real mess to install and play, utter ballsup. I’ll go back to MWLL instead.

  47. 01/05/2010 at 10:43 Sunjumper says:

    So, I let the installer run over night and today the game was installed and in its .0020 version.
    My initial impressions were rather negative as all the intro movies a choppy as hell and the sound is disaster of cut offs and bad synchronisation.

    The game it self though seems to run fine without graphics or sound glitches. And while the abominable MTX is need to download the game and its patches, the game it self seems to run fine without it.

  48. 01/05/2010 at 11:35 IncredibleBulk92 says:

    Using MTX really makes you appreciate how awesome Steam is.

  49. 01/05/2010 at 12:05 HexagonalBolts says:

    (I think) my university has stopped torrents from working, I know they stop things like limewire, is there anyway I can get the file without using a torrent?

  50. 01/05/2010 at 12:20 wolf74 says:

    The Site is down due to the 8000+peersI show 1100 seeders. I’m seeing swarm speeds of 45kb/s to 500 kb/s. If you download the Torrent outside of MTX to install it you have to open MTX click on file / Open File (*.mtx) point it to your torrent that finished to install it could take a bit to install. This will get you the Core file installed

    Version .0017 Core install
    Version .0018 adds the Unseens back in game (If you don’t know what Unseens don’t worry it just more mechs to you)
    Version .0020 Removes the Disk 2 CD Check and Fixes a lot of minor bugs

  51. 01/05/2010 at 13:17 int says:

    I’ve always been an Earthsiege guy but gratis is always appealing.

  52. 01/05/2010 at 14:52 William Main says:

    I’m working on loading up the stuff onto Left Mouse Button’s FTP, but it will take a while. Might be better though than dealing with the MTX trash. I’ll update if I succeed.

  53. 01/05/2010 at 14:55 Dominic White says:

    I can understand the Mektek guys underestimating the interest in the game. There was maybe 10-20 people online playing MW4 at peak while they were working on the free release.

    Within a few hours of getting their torrent up, over 10,000 people are trying to get hold of the game. No wonder their site exploded.

  54. 01/05/2010 at 14:56 strugatzki says:

    By the way, the .mtx file is just a ZIP-Archive in disguise. It might be possible to install it without using the MTX application altogether. Anyone tried this?

    • 01/05/2010 at 15:50 Bluebreaker says:

      decompress the .mtx like a normal zip, and run the MW4Mercs.exe. It worked for me.

    • 02/05/2010 at 07:23 Arca says:

      I figured this out by myself – and yes, and it works like a charm. I’ll reinstall properly when the website stops fucking around*, but until then I’m enjoying running around the Solaris Light Circuit with an Assault Laser-toting Panther. Damn thing is a wee bit overpowered.

      * I absolutely “love” how MTX automatically assumes you have a nonfunctioning internet connection if it can’t contact the Mektek site, despite the fact the rest of your network is working a-ok. It’s ridiculous…

  55. 01/05/2010 at 15:01 EthZee says:

    Hm. It seems a fair number of people are having problems.

    I’d agree that MTX at the moment is a fairly bad piece of work, but they’re apparently working on a new version [to be released SOON(tm)]. I also avoided the rush by downloading MTX a few days ago, and downloading Mercenaries then; then just updating when the free-patch was released.

    I’m quite pleased! The new mechs are fairly awesome. I’m liking the Behemoth and Tenchi.

    FOR THOSE UNABLE TO TORRENT:

    It is possible to download Mercenaries, and by extension the free version, from MTX via HTTP. You need to set it in the options to download by http instead of torrent, and it should work properly. Obviously, this may have to wait until their server comes back online. But that’s how to do it, just for future information.

  56. 01/05/2010 at 15:53 the wiseass says:

    I downloaded the torrent file, but unfortunately it won’t let me install the game with the MTX client. At least it doesn’t work with “File > open File”. What should I do now, any suggestions?

  57. 01/05/2010 at 15:58 Flaringo says:

    Try renaming the file-extension to .zip. Then you extract and run the exe.

  58. 01/05/2010 at 16:22 LordTim says:

    Ubisoft should look into hiring these guys. They know how to do it right.

  59. 01/05/2010 at 16:43 Snargelfargen says:

    The .20 patch removed the cd check. You can get it by clicking the update game button in MTX. I think it should be a little faster. At least, it downloaded at 250 kbps yesterday morning.

  60. 01/05/2010 at 17:13 dethgar says:

    Anyone got a link to the torrent or a mirror? I would google, but putting the world torrent into google causes it to have a mass diarrhea of torrent sites.

  61. 01/05/2010 at 17:23 hoboss says:

    But all their sites are out of order. You cant launch MTX.

  62. 01/05/2010 at 18:14 Alexander Norris says:

    MTX simply does not work for me. I’ll launch it, it’ll start showing the main window, and then it will hang, doing nothing.

    • 01/05/2010 at 18:22 Vinraith says:

      @Alexander

      That’s because their servers are down, and MTX can’t function without them. We’re going to have to give them time to sort out their problems, unfortunately, before we can do anything beyond torrent the game files.

  63. 01/05/2010 at 18:17 mandrill says:

    This was to be expected really. The mek paks and addons that mektek have produced have always been a pain in the rear to install (having to do them in the right order and differently if you had black knight etc etc.)

    MTX is rubbish and tells me I have no internet connection when I boot it up. the UI is hideous. and it lags my whole machine out whilst its running. Not impressed.

    what’s more is that now that mektek’s website is down we have no way of getting information or complaining directly to them. This is exactly the kind of thing twitter is for!

    • 01/05/2010 at 20:07 DarkNoghri says:

      MTX was sluggish Thursday night when I tried it, but it was just locking up yesterday. Reinstall, still locking up. Grab new MTX version from somewhere, install, and it tells me that I need to have an internet connection. While I’m downloading a torrent. Ha!

      Apparently, MTX needs a connection to their website/servers (which is kind of weird. To open it I need a connection? I don’t even have an account). I think that message about needing a connection is because their servers are down. It assumes they’ll be up, and that thus it’s your fault, when clearly it’s not.

      The amusing thing is I’m pretty sure they made posts a while back about upgrading their server backend. It obviously wasn’t enough.

  64. 01/05/2010 at 18:32 Coded One says:

    ALLRIGHT! So I’m on a quest to try and install this without the MXT shit. So I’ve torrented the file, unzipped it and all that shenanigans. However, the version that I have says I need to Insert Disc 2. There was a supposed fix on the first page of comments, but that site is riddled with malware and viruses.

    Any help?

  65. 01/05/2010 at 18:36 Lastfreethinker says:

    FYI, I just extracted the files from the .mtx file and I can play it just fine. The reason I did this is I downloaded it using bit torrent and then MTX says I do not have the file and it doesn’t show up in available games (I moved it to the temp dir) So far everything seems to be working.

  66. 01/05/2010 at 19:56 Dominic White says:

    Just echoing something I said elsewhere:

    MTX isn’t a bad idea on paper – MekTek are trying to turn Mechwarrior 4 into a well-maintained, autoupdating (and they do seem to be tweaking, tuning and fixing quite a lot) multiplayer game with multiple regional master servers and all that jazz.

    Unfortunately, they’re amateurs, and had nowhere near the required infrastructure for such a launch. That said, I’m amazed at how many people tried to get the game, too. At least 10,000 just hours after launch, and that number probably went up a fair bit before their site imploded.

    If they can get their site back up with the required bandwidth, and then fix whatever bug in MTX causes it to DEVOUR YOUR PROCESSOR ALIVE, all should be sunshine and lollipops.

    Until then, just relax for a couple days. I’d be complaining a lot more if this was a retail MMO, but this is a bunch of hobbyists who have slogged through a year of legal wrangling (including having to formally become a company and get the requisite insurance, because that’s what Microsoft demands of them) just to give us a free game. For free. I figure I can cut them a little slack.

    It’s probably costing them a lot more than it’s costing me.

    • 01/05/2010 at 20:25 Vinraith says:

      @Dominic

      Well said. I think a little calm and patience is the best way to handle this. It’s a free game, we’ve been waiting for it for a long time, waiting a little longer isn’t going to hurt us. I can’t imagine the nightmarish time MekTek is having in the midst of all this, at this point leaving them alone and letting them sort out the problems is the best thing for everyone.

    • 02/05/2010 at 02:11 sinister agent says:

      TAKE YOUR CALM AND YOUR PATIENCE AND SHOOT ITS FACE OFF. GIMME MY FREE GAMES YOU FILTH.

  67. 01/05/2010 at 20:13 jsutcliffe says:

    How does MW4 compare to MW3? MW3 was proper stompy sim-ful awesome, and I’d gotten the impression that MW4 was dumbed down to make it more accessible. Is that correct?

    • 01/05/2010 at 20:16 Dominic White says:

      It’s a little more accessible, but a lot more balanced. MW3 was an exercise in hilariously retarded min-maxing. MW4 changed mech loadouts to be appropriate hardpoints, so no more putting fifty machineguns on a mech, including a dozen on your knees (that magically fired with pinpoint accuracy while running) for giggles.

      The Mektek packs have brought in pretty much everything that was considered missing, while improving on that balance further.

    • 01/05/2010 at 20:17 Vinraith says:

      @jsutcliffe

      I can’t speak for Mercenaries, but the base MW4 was indeed “dumbed down.” MW3 was much truer to the tabletop game, and much “simier.” That said, MW4 was still fun, and I suspect thsi new version of Mercenaries will be by far the best iteration MW4 has seen.

      I was asking up the thread, though, if anyone knew of any good graphical updated for MW3. That game rocked.

  68. 01/05/2010 at 20:17 Stryker Lance says:

    God damn, what a bunch of whiney f*ckers you are.

    All of this comes via the hard work of some long time fans, who aren’t getting a single dime out of any of this, who are probably having a nightmare of a weekend because a horde of whiney b*tchers like you aren’t getting your free crap fast enough.

    • 01/05/2010 at 21:20 dethgar says:

      I’m pretty sure that even though there is a free release, MekTek is a company and does plan on getting money somehow, likely ads in the lobby software. I don’t think they’d blow the capital they have just for kicks.

  69. 01/05/2010 at 20:18 jsutcliffe says:

    Ah, I never really cared about multiplayer — didn’t know there were balance issues in MW3.

  70. 01/05/2010 at 21:44 Wolf74 says:

    Well from the info I have gotten. We the poeple who wanted MW4: Merc Smoked the ISP router to the the Mektek servers. Last Number of connects to the server before the Route gave up the ghost was in the range of 100,000 (No that not a typo). Even thoe the Site is down the Torrent is still feeded. (I’m helping seed as much as I can. I am see swarm speed on ave between 40KB/s & 500KB/s , Early today I saw some person in England get 950KB/s for about 10min.

  71. 01/05/2010 at 21:50 Magic H8 Ball says:

    So anyone managed to actually run the game?

    Is the SP campaign in? That’s pretty much only thing I care about.

    • 01/05/2010 at 22:18 Dominic White says:

      Yes, everything is in. It’s the full release WITH a huge fan-made expansion. You can buy a ton of new mechs, equipment and weapons in the campaign as well.

    • 02/05/2010 at 23:37 DarkNoghri says:

      Keep in mind, it appears to be only the Mercenaries campaign. Vengeance and Black Knight’s may come later, though.

  72. 02/05/2010 at 00:38 mandrill says:

    I switched the torrent to utorrent as suggested above and now have it, but am going to give the mektek boys some time to get their act together before trying to play it.

    If they had over 100k people try to dl it I’m sure they can crank up their ad revenue. I’m also willing to bet M$ are kicking themselves right now.

    • 02/05/2010 at 04:54 12kill4 says:

      “I’m also willing to bet M$ are kicking themselves right now.”

      Oh please, you really think Microsoft kick THEMSELVES? They hire a firm to outsource an arse-kicking collective from Sweden who then paddle their arse’s with diamond studded platnium boards.

  73. 02/05/2010 at 06:42 Alfie Noakes says:

    I downloaded and patched it with zero problems. Honestly can’t see what the fuss is about. Yeah, MTX is a steaming heap, but it’s not hard to go and make a cuppa while it gets on with it’s business of patching etc.

    The real problem is that I’m a very fickle gamer and my first impression (“Wow… A zillion year old game”) was not followed by an overwhelming urge to play it.

  74. 02/05/2010 at 08:07 bill says:

    Yeah. I know what you mean. I tried watching the Lord of the Rings movies last week, and I had to stop after 10 minutes. They’re just so outdated.

  75. 02/05/2010 at 08:18 Magic H8 Ball says:

    Dominic White said:
    Yes, everything is in. It’s the full release WITH a huge fan-made expansion. You can buy a ton of new mechs, equipment and weapons in the campaign as well.

    Oooh. Now If only the torrent didn’t have 0.02 seeders to leechers ratio…

  76. 02/05/2010 at 09:46 BIG D says:

    This is all i get from that link!

    Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to mektekdev.com

  77. 02/05/2010 at 17:56 Goddhand says:

    Knowing those old fossils over at WizKids (or FASA or Virtual World or whatever they call themselves this week) as well as I do, I’m not the least bit shocked that something they put out didn’t work. Here’s lookin at you Firestorm. Ten years later, you still haven’t learned how to code for sh*t.

  78. 02/05/2010 at 18:12 Vinraith says:

    The servers appear to be back up. I just installed my previously downloaded .torrent through MTX, updated, and ran the game without any trouble. It’s an awesome piece of work, made no less so by having to wait a couple of days for it.

  79. 02/05/2010 at 18:34 strugatzki says:

    Does anyone have the .torrent links for the updates, as well?

  80. 02/05/2010 at 23:15 mejobloggs says:

    Doesn’t .NET come installed by default on Windows?

    Or is that only Vista/7, and XP you have to manually install?

    Anyway it’s a bit silly not to have it imo

  81. 03/05/2010 at 00:44 ilves says:

    So as I’m personally stuck behind a uni firewall that completely blocks out any type of torrenting or torrent programs, anyone have any clever ideas as to how I might be able to get myself a copy of this? Any non-torrent mirrors up anyone’s aware of?

  82. 03/05/2010 at 01:31 Narune says:

    Where do I find this last update for the No CD fix?

  83. 03/05/2010 at 04:12 Krpeq says:

    Use the http option in the mtx utility. Since their website is back up now, it works fine.

    The nocd update is also on mtx.

  84. 03/05/2010 at 12:44 the wiseass says:

    So I finally managed to install the game only to be unable to play because of a mouse problem. I looked around on their forums and found this topic with people having the same bug:

    http://www.mektek.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=156184

    Anybody else on here having similar troubles with their mouse?

  85. 03/05/2010 at 18:37 geldonyetich says:

    Methinks I’ll wait a bit before trying to take this bun out of the oven. It hasn’t baked yet.

  86. 03/05/2010 at 19:43 Dain says:

    The number of Mechs available is somewhat daunting now! Not sure where to start, I’m incredibly rusty at this.

  87. 03/05/2010 at 20:00 EJ says:

    Site seems to be back up and working, and their client software has (already) been updated to fix the two big complaints in the comments here – works offline now and not-skinned for speed.

  88. 03/05/2010 at 21:24 Matrix101 says:

    I never played those. Wanted to try, installed that MTX “stuff”, and tried but unable to download it (I work in IT, I can handle PC crap usually).
    That MTX reminds me of the ultra crap Sony soft to put proprietary music file on small Sony MP3 devices (the SonicStage program, a master piece of nightmare).

    Well too bad, I have quite a backlog of games waiting for me, this MTX is really too bad. So uninstalled, some folders & registry cleaning and bye bye MekTek.
    Idea is good, but realization is incredibly unprofessional.

    Steam is really god-like compared to this…
    Bye

  89. 03/05/2010 at 21:28 Vinraith says:

    Just a quick confirmation of what several others have said: The client has been updated to resolve the big problems, the servers are back up to allow downloading, installing, and updating the game, and in short everything is finally working the way it should be. The process is now quite simple, and the game itself is really excellent.

    • 03/05/2010 at 21:45 wyrmsine says:

      Not too sure about that – I’m still having massive, processor-consuming diificulties with the MTX client… I’ve been watching it crash and slowly crash again over the last hour, without ever even being able to start the game.

    • 04/05/2010 at 13:05 strugatzki says:

      I cant quite agree, either.. still hangs my whole system.

  90. 04/05/2010 at 13:09 strugatzki says:

    Since MTX doesn’t seem to make any progress:
    As noted above, the .mtx files are merely .zip archives, so you can install the base pack by extracting the first .mtx. About the differential patches, though: I could see in the manifest-files (the single file in the main directory of the archive) that there’s a mapping from the numbered files in the patch-directory to their distribution counterparts. Has anyone tried applying these, manually, too? Maybe they’re compatible with the GNU patch binary..

  91. 07/05/2010 at 06:21 Daedalus40 says:

    Hello, I was trying to update my Mechwarrior 4 copy through MTX, but I keep getting this Trojan.Startpage.G alert. The anti-virus thankfully blocks it, but then the MTX update stops with an error.

    Anyways, I need to update this because I have the Disc 2 dilemma too. What do I do?

  92. 04/06/2010 at 05:52 Cpl.Clegg says:

    MTX and Mektek is Trash……it wiped out my whole computer and many of my friends too

  93. 13/06/2010 at 20:27 wanderlust says:

    I wouldn’t mind MTX being kinda sloppy if this were purely a free release, however it’s more then that, this is kind of a promo item because they’re about to reboot Mechwarrior, and with that view in mind, I’m tempted to be more critical about MTX…

  94. 30/11/2010 at 10:22 rei says:

    Yep, the bottom of the comments thread for a six months old article on Mechwarrior 4 is where I come for all my data recovery needs. Would you like some Ugg boots stuffed with v14gr4?

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