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MechWarrior 4 Free Release Now Available

Posted by Soulskill on from the long-strange-trip dept.

Mr. Sketch writes with news that the free release of MechWarrior 4 has finally arrived. We've discussed the game in the past when it was announced, and later when its release was held up by Microsoft. Quoting the announcement: "One of the greatest features of MekPak3.1 and of MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries in general, is the ability to customize. MechWarrior always has been about the Mechlab, especially multiplayer. The Mechlab truly distinguishes MW4 from a long list of shooters that have come out in the past 10 years. The ability to create literally thousands of configurations allows the game to continue in popularity over its lengthy life span. Since the Free Release not only comes with the original mechs and weapons of Mercenaries, but also with the Clan and IS Mech Packs and all the Mektek mechs and weapons, here is what you are getting ... for free."

38 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Not-so-great game now free not-so-great game by Skyshadow · · Score: 4, Funny

    I remember playing MW4 and thinking, "you'd have to pay me to keep playing this game".

    Now I have proof that I was right.

    --
    Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
    1. Re:Not-so-great game now free not-so-great game by Mycroft_VIII · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually Jump jets are restricted to torso and leg slots.
      Also machine guns are tiny compared to a Mech and mostly anti-personal
      in use so putting them on the legs (when the 'ankle' is shoulder to head high
      on a human) makes some sense.

      Mycroft

      --
      https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
    2. Re:Not-so-great game now free not-so-great game by Jesus_666 · · Score: 2, Informative

      The somewhat dubious use of spending two crits, one of which is explosive, on as many points of damage nonwithstanding.

      Not that that matters in MW4; there, machine guns are actually quite powerful if used in masses. Apart from having ammo problems, a Daishi/Dire Wolf with nothing but machine guns works surprisingly well against pretty much anything.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  2. Yes, but by hellop2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    does it run on Linux?

    --
    How many more years will slashdot have an off-by-one error on your Score in your profile?
    1. Re:Yes, but by Dahamma · · Score: 5, Funny

      Come now. We all know comments like that are how the Succession Wars started.

    2. Re:Yes, but by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not relevant. All of the issues people report there are due to copy protection in the original, so the question is whether the free version has equivalent copy protection. If it works under WINE, I'd like to try it - someone borrowed my MW3 disk a few years back and never returned it.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  3. Wow, really? by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    With MW5 in legal hell, this might be the next best reason to go out and buy another joystick.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  4. BAD SLASHDOT! by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 2, Funny

    It was actually available Friday, but over 100,000 guests logged into Mektek's servers and crashed their website.

    MTX, the distribution software they created that works kind of like a blizzard patcher, mixed with a matchmaking system, had a flaw in its design that required the web servers to be up in order for the patched Free version to work.

    I don't know if they've fixed that yet, but the website just came back up today (after being down all weekend).

    And now its been slashdotted, way to go.

    1. Re:BAD SLASHDOT! by Mr.+Sketch · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah, I submitted this Friday, but it's only now making it to the front page.

      There's a new version of MTX (1.0.3.5) that doesn't require the web servers to be up:
      http://mtxgear.mektek.net/mtx/beta/SetupMTX1.0.3.5.exe

      Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with MekTek in any way. I've just been following the free release since I love the Mechwarrior series, namely MW2: Mercs.

      --
      Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
    2. Re:BAD SLASHDOT! by Rockoon · · Score: 3, Informative

      After having installed this MTX 1.0.3.5, and never having any other MTX thing installed, ever...

      The claim that it doesnt require a web server to function is bullshit. Just running it for the first time causes a blocking http request prior to its window having any controls/buttons rendered to it .. since this blocking request isnt responded to in a timely fashion (many minutes!) the blank window goes (Not Responding) because MTX is also apparently single-threaded such that it can never service its message queue. When that request finally gets serviced, well its not done.. it now renders skeletons of the controls it intends to eventually display and then goes on to another blocking request.

      It took half an hour to navigate to the area where I can initiate the download of MW4, and its been saying "Contacting MekTek tracker. Please wait 2-3 minutes" for an hour now. It is again in a blocking call, the process and its window is completely hung but using 0% CPU.

      The programmer who wrote this MTX thing is a complete moron in terms of writing things that are supposed to do what this MTX thing is supposed to do. There pretty much are no words to describe the level of crap this is, so I instead had to actually describe my observations of its spectacular failure.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    3. Re:BAD SLASHDOT! by Mascot · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That rhymes pretty well with my experience as well.

      Though, for me it started going wrong even earlier. During the installation of MTX itself, you're asked for the default directory to install games to. I changed the default to my games directory and hit save. And hit save. And hit save. It just wouldn't close the window. Eventually I X'ed it out. Then I discover some 15 MTX icons in systray, and an equal amount of processes.

      After killing off all of those, and starting MTX fresh, I ended up in the cycle you describe. Though I wasn't as patient. After waiting a minute with a skeleton window "not responding", I killed it, uninstalled, and forgot about MW4 for the time being.

      Spectacular failure is a good summary indeed. Hopefully their tweaks to the game itself are of a stratospherically higher quality.

  5. not impressed by corbettw · · Score: 4, Funny

    If I can't paint the 'mechs on the desk in my garage in my own distinctive palette and scheme, then play with them on my custom-built tabletop and with my custom-made terrain, what's the point? I mean sure, either option will embarrass my wife in front of her friends, but my way will embarrass her in front of her friends' husbands. There ain't no computer game out there that'll do that!

    --
    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
    1. Re:not impressed by arcsimm · · Score: 4, Funny

      So you've never met the folks who build their own MechWarrior sim-pits, have you? If you think a nice-looking RPG table is embarrassing, you can't imagine what having a giant robot cockpit in your living room will do to your reputation...

    2. Re:not impressed by gknoy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      On the other hand, if your garage has FOUR of them, the reaction might be exactly the opposite. It'd go from Uncomfortable Awe to "Can I play too?" for a lot of guys, I imagine.

    3. Re:not impressed by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 3, Funny

      At some point enough switches, buttons, and lights that look military-chic enough can go from creepy and/or pathetic to indescribably awesome.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    4. Re:not impressed by deniable · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Better yet, the guy who built his kids a Madcat tree-house.

  6. Cooltown! by Itninja · · Score: 2, Funny

    Finally something worthwhile to use my 50Mbps on! It's legal and everything! Feels good be righteous again.

    --
    I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
  7. Torrent Link by Krizdo4 · · Score: 5, Informative

    First download their mtx client.
    Then this site: http://www.pedaltothemetal.com/index.php/news_story/mechwarrior4_free_released.html
    was nice enough to repost the torrent file which downloads the mtx that you can use the offline mode of the client to install.

    The link is labeled: Downloadmechwarrior4mercenaries.all.to.51.03.01.0017.mtx.torrent

    1073 Seeders / 2154 Peers
    tracker runs on mektek.net

    Note: The client runs crazy slow after install. First thing I do is click Offline Mode.

    1. Re:Torrent Link by Mashiki · · Score: 3, Informative

      Grab the torrent, get a client that supports DHT and peer finding. You'll find 8-10x the number of people, or goto ISOhunt, or goto usenet(a.b.games, and alt.b.games.old) it's been posted there as well.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
  8. MTX client sucks. by voodoowizard · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those of you that hate the MTX client. Download the torrents and rename the extension from .mtx to .zip No need to "install", the zip opens up to a functional game. Just unzip to where you want it and then apply the patches manually(kind of like oblivion/fallout3 mods). Here are the torrents if you wish to skip the MTX client hell. (via reddit) Main file: http://www.pwned.com/dz/mechwarrior4mercenaries.all.to.51.03.01.0017.mtx.torrent Patches: http://www.pwned.com/dz/mechwarrior4mercenaries.51.03.01.0018.to.51.03.01.0020.mtx.torrent http://www.pwned.com/dz/mechwarrior4mercenaries.51.03.01.0017.to.51.03.01.0018.mtx.torrent I have not tried this yet but there is a mod for the game Crysis that pretty much turns it into a MW game. http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/ Probably still a bit buggy but I am sure it looks a lot better.

    1. Re:MTX client sucks. by game+kid · · Score: 2, Informative

      I have to agree on the "sucks". .net apps can be slow (to load the requisite libs and such) but mtx takes a long time to start up and get active, and there are GUI hangs that happen more than half the time, neither with actual processor jump. Both suggest failed connects (or some other background messes) that aren't getting multithreaded right.

      Good luck to MekTek, but I'll be trying this method for now.

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
    2. Re:MTX client sucks. by s13g3 · · Score: 3, Informative

      MW:LL (Mechwarrior: Living Legends) isn't all THAT buggy, for a beta. It's still in constant development since the beta release in Dec. 2009 with a very committed and talented dev. team and updates are released fairly regularly. The game is highly playable even as it stands, and will do nothing but get exponentially better as time goes by.

      --
      "Inveniemus Viam Aut Faciemus" 'We will find a way... Or we will make one!' --Hannibal of Carthage
  9. MTX + Privacy Issues by mmaniaci · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you are a tinfoiler with a specialization in network privacy, you might want to research the distributors of MW4, MekTek, before you jump in and play. Part of their business is "Geospacial Research Technology," which means this game will probably be doing some phoning home with information about you. I personally don't mind this and think a free game is well worth some targeted advertising (especially when it is in plain view). Hhuzzah for companies that can evolve their business practice!

    1. Re:MTX + Privacy Issues by djdevon3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sounds more like they have govt sub-contracts for terrain mapping technology. What if any info would it phone home? Unless you have packetized proof of what it's supposedly doing you're not helping and only speculating (which I can do about Nellie, Big Foot, and other stuff).

    2. Re:MTX + Privacy Issues by Jehosephat2k · · Score: 2, Informative

      Nonsense.

  10. Awesome game now free by gknoy · · Score: 3, Informative

    I didn't play a lot of multiplayer, but as far as Single Player goes, we must have played a different game. I remember MW4 and MW4:Black Knight as Nearly Perfect renditions of my fantasies of piloting giant robots, and MW4:Mercenaries as only a little worse than the previous MWx:Mercenaries was. (I didn't like that there were fewer non-plot missions to play.) The ONLY thing I disliked about MW4 was that the missions expected (and nearly "forced") you to upgrade 'mechs. Mercenaries was less in this direction, but I really enjoyed the dynamics of the Uziel, when it wasn't outclassed by assault 'mechs. Later on, I tried to stay in my Thor as long as possible, even though on the end missions it was almost certainly more effective to be using something like a Daishi loaded up with heat sinks and large lasers.

    I loved the slot restrictions, as they forced each chassis to have a "flavor" -- otherwise, I'd do like I did in MW2, MW2:GhostBear, and MW3 and just load up on dual (triple?) PPCs and heat sinks up to my ears. I liked that a Thor vs a Madcat vs an Uziel vs a Catapult was more than merely a difference in tonnage or jump jets, but made an actual tactical difference.

    1. Re:Awesome game now free by Moryath · · Score: 5, Informative

      Also, the slot restrictions were "canon" - they came out of the Solaris VII and Mechwarrior ("roleplaying game") sourcebooks, the same way that the weapon recharge times (otherwise you could fire a gauss rifle every round, period, same as a small laser) did. It was never intended for the tabletop game that a chassis would simply be "here's your tonnage, go nuts"; specific mechs were always supposed to have a flavor and that is important to the game.

    2. Re:Awesome game now free by tnnn · · Score: 2, Informative

      Solaris VII rules were supposed to be used during "arena" games, not normal multi mech engagements. Mechwarrior series was based on the CBT (Classical BattleTech) board game which allows customizing as well as building new mechs from scratch. While it may lead to creation of some... well... monsters, it's fun and adds to gameplay. Besides, if you simply want to customize a bit, nothing holds you back - you don't have to build a multi PPC behemoth and you can stick to "canon flavors". So what is the point of taking this possibility away (if I recall correctly devs were explaining this as "it's weird to see lasers shooting from LRM racks")?

      Ah, and as for small laser firing as often as gauss - keep in mind that in CBT board game 1 turn = 10 seconds. Don't try to imagine 1 turn of small laser fire as a single shot (as a matter of fact, multiple war games use "1 turn of shooting != 1 shot" principle) - it simply means that during one turn small laser will do that much damage and produce some heat, regardless of how many times it really did shoot. The same applies to ammo - 1 ammo round means that a weapon can fire during 1 turn - be it one gauss shell or designers-know-how-many machine gun rounds.
      Now that I think about it, I wonder if the fast firing weapons in MW aren't more powerful than in a board game - they fire more often and probably deal the "1 turn damage" during a single shot...

  11. Re:Microsoft missing an opportunity by i.r.id10t · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have the original Loki port of one of the mechwarrior games. It played very well on modest hardware with no issues for me.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
  12. MTX is a P2P Torrent Program by djdevon3 · · Score: 2, Informative

    OK so why install this MTX program if it's just a P2P torrent app that works god awfully slow. I'd rather just have a torrent link and download with my own client. This is some SERIOUS BS. This is exactly what torrent programs are for, WTF over?

  13. Re:Earthsiege 2Another Oldie but Goodie by Lehk228 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    mechwarrior 3 had you scrounging parts from fallen enemies, and what parts dropped depended on how you killed them, so the best way to kill was to blow off the legs since you probably already have enough heat sinks and jump jets anyways, the weapons and electronics kits were more valuable.

    --
    Snowden and Manning are heroes.
  14. Official Torrent Download HERE by djdevon3 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Torrents:
    http://www.mektek.net/mw4free/torrents/fil...017.mtx.torrent
    http://www.mektek.net/mw4free/torrents/fil...018.mtx.torrent
    http://www.mektek.net/mw4free/torrents/fil...20.mtx.torrrent

    Here are the official files from mektek. You can skip the bullshit MTX program to download them. Get the torrents using your fav p2p program (bitcomet, utorrent, etc..) Then launch MTX and choose Open File (*.mtx)

    "Core" file fix link: http://mtxgear.mektek.net/mtx/fixes/mw4/0020/core.zip

    Missing .dll files? Try these: http://www.mektek.net/forums/index.php?act...st&id=57250
    Put them in your Mercs root directory.

    In order to play you will have to setup Port Forwarding rules if you have a router.
    For TCP both inbound and outbound: 47624
    For TCP and UDP both inbound and outbound: 2300-2400
    Try both UPnP Enabled and UPnP Disabled on your router.

    1. Re:Official Torrent Download HERE by djdevon3 · · Score: 2, Informative

      http://www.mektek.net/mw4free/torrents/files/mechwarrior4mercenaries.all.to.51.03.01.0017.mtx.torrent

      http://www.mektek.net/mw4free/torrents/files/mechwarrior4mercenaries.51.03.01.0017.to.51.03.01.0018.mtx.torrent

      http://www.mektek.net/mw4free/torrents/files/mechwarrior4mercenaries.51.03.01.0018.to.51.03.01.0020.mtx.torrent

  15. Where to put mtx file by djdevon3 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Once you've downloaded the 017 mtx file (other two are patches):
    Move the mtx files here: C:\Program Files\mektek.net\MTX\temp\games

    Then open up the MTX program and do the Open File command.
    That will FINALLY install the game.

    In my opinion this whole freebie deal has too many steps to go through. The MTX program is a hunk of shit to begin with. Avoid using it as much as possible by downloading the torrents separately.

  16. Re:First by X0563511 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's not locking up, it's just poorly programmed. It's hanging on the connection attempts, since the MTX servers exploded.

    Disconnect your internet when you start it. You'll then have to grab the game's .mtx files elsewhere and manually install in MTX while it is in offline mode.

    See here:
    http://www.mektek.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=156383

    http://www.mektek.net/mw4free/torrents/files/mechwarrior4mercenaries.all.to.51.03.01.0017.mtx.torrent
    http://www.mektek.net/mw4free/torrents/files/mechwarrior4mercenaries.51.03.01.0017.to.51.03.01.0018.mtx.torrent
    http://www.mektek.net/mw4free/torrents/files/mechwarrior4mercenaries.51.03.01.0018.to.51.03.01.0020.mtx.torrent

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  17. Flat installer to be released by Jehosephat2k · · Score: 4, Informative

    We are going with a flat installer. The MTX thing was a total disaster. We should have this ready for downlaod via bittorrent in a few days. This will be a complete install up to version 21 (which has numerous issues fixed). Hopefully this will get everyone the game installed, and playing. Will also give us some breathing room to get this MTX thing redesigned to do what it needs to do. We never expect this many people.

    1. Re:Flat installer to be released by Reapman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Appreciate hearing from one of MekTek guys, thanks for the info. Frankly, yes, MTX is complete crap. However I'm still grateful for the work you guys have done in getting this out! Much appreciated.

    2. Re:Flat installer to be released by Jehosephat2k · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes. 1) Full installer. InstallShield, installs the entire game to version 21 (which is being validated by betas tonight and tomorrow). No patching. Done. We'll deal with future updates once the smoke clears. 1.8GB utorrent or whatever you like. No MTX involved. 2) Incremental patches for people that already installed. Once again a simple patching. I think he will make a program to do the patching to get everyone up to version 21 and then we can all take a breather and figure out how to proceed. 3) Sorry about this. We didn't expect this many people (we thought may a few thousand people tops, not the numbers we are getting). 4) Probably will put the fire under the asses of the powers that be to make an MW5. Obviously there is an interest :) 5) Sorry for any inconveniece. We do this on our own time and dime.