Microsoft MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial Readme File
November 2000
Microsoft Corporation, 1998-2001. All rights reserved.

Welcome to Microsoft MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial.

CONTENTS
A.	System Requirements
B.	Installation
Installing MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial
Installing Audio Compression
Installing DirectX 8
C.	DirectX Issues
D.	Gameplay Issues
E.	Configuration Issues
Operating Systems
Display
Audio
Software
Hardware
F.	3D Card Issues
G.	3D Card Drivers and Manufacturers

This file contains information to help you troubleshoot issues with MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial. You can find more information about MechWarrior: Vengeance on the MechWarrior: Vengeance Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/games/mechwarrior4/).

A.	System Requirements
·	Multimedia personal computer with a Pentium II 300 MHz or higher processor.
·	Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium, or Windows 2000 operating system.
·	64 MB of system RAM.
·	650 MB of available hard disk space for a typical install; additional 125 MB of hard disk space for swap file.
·	8x speed or faster CD-ROM drive.
·	Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
·	DirectX 8.0 or later API.
·	Sound card compatible with DirectX 8.0 or later.
·	8 MB VRAM PCI or AGP video card that supports Direct3D and is compatible with DirectX 8.0 or later.
·	Speakers or headphones for audio.
·	Super VGA, 16-bit color monitor or better.
·	Keyboard and joystick.

B.	Installation
This section describes how to manually install the software components necessary to play MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial in the event that they were not installed automatically.
NOTE: We recommend you uninstall earlier Beta or Test versions of the game before you install the Trial version.
To uninstall earlier versions of MechWarrior: Vengeance
•	On the Windows taskbar, click Start, point to Programs, Microsoft Games, and MechWarrior Vengeance, and then click Uninstall MechWarrior Vengeance.
-or-
•	In the MechWarrior Vengeance root directory, click Uninstall.exe.

Installing MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial
To install MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial
1.	Double-click on My Computer and browse to the folder where you downloaded the self-extracting exe, MW4Trial.exe. 
2.	Double-click on the self-extracting exe MW4Trial.exe.
3.	In the Unzip to Folder box, type in a path name that you wish to extract the MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial files to.
4.	Click on Unzip.
5.	Click on Close.
6. 	Double-click on My Computer and browse to the folder in which you extracted the game files. 
7.	Double-click on Setup.exe
3.	Click Install, and then follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

Installing Audio Compression
You must have audio compression installed for sound files in the game to play properly.
To install audio compression with Windows 95 and Windows 98
1.	On the Windows taskbar, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2.	Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3.	Click the Windows Setup tab.
4.	In the Components box, double-click Multimedia.
5.	Ensure the Audio Compression check box is selected.
6.	Insert your Windows compact disc into the CD-ROM drive, click OK, and then follow the instructions that appear on the screen.
To install audio compression with Windows 2000
1.	On the Windows taskbar, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2.	Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3.	Click Add New Programs, click CD or Floppy, and then follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

Installing DirectX 8
If you do not have DirectX 8 on your system, you can download it from http://www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp and install it.
If you experience video or sound problems using DirectX, always check with your video or sound card manufacturer for the latest DirectX-compatible drivers, or go to http://support.microsoft.com/support/directx/ for the latest troubleshooting information.

Getting Help
In-game Help is available in the form of Rollover Help. Activate Rollover Help by moving the mouse pointer over an item on the screen about which you want information. The Rollover Help text automatically appears in the lower portion of your screen.

C.	DirectX Issues
DirectX 8.0 or later must be installed on your computer before you can play MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial. If you do not have DirectX installed on your computer, you will receive the following message: "A required .dll file, Dplayx.dll, was not found." To fix this problem, install DirectX 8.0 by using the procedure in “Installing DirectX 8,” in section B, “Installation.”
If you did install DirectX when you installed MechWarrior: Vengeance Trial but your video drivers are not compatible with DirectX 8.0, you will receive the following message when you restart your computer: "MechWarrior: Vengeance could not initialize DirectX. Make sure that DirectX 8.0 or higher is installed and contact your hardware manufacturer for a video driver update." To fix this problem, update your video drivers (see section F, “3D Card Drivers and Manufacturers”).
Always make sure you have the latest DirectX-compatible video and audio drivers from your hardware manufacturers. If you continue to have any video or audio problems, see “Display” and “Audio” in section E, “Configuration Issues,” and section F, “3D Card Issues,” for any issues related to your 3D card. If you still have problems, get the latest DirectX troubleshooting information at http://support.microsoft.com/support/directx/.

D.	Gameplay Issues
The following are the known gameplay issues for MechWarrior: Vengeance.
Changing resolution during Setup: If you change the screen resolution while running MechWarrior: Vengeance Setup, the install screen is not fully visible. To avoid this, do not change the screen resolution while Setup installs the game.
Changing values in the Options Menu results in a crash: It may be necessary to install a newer version of mfc42.dll on some Windows 9x machines.  Copy mfc42.dll from the Goodies file folder of the Mechwarrior Vengeance Trial CD to the windows/system directory of your computers hard drive.  Reinstall the Mechwarrior Vengeance Trial.
Enabling num pad controls: If you want to use the numeric keypad, or num pad, keys for control, make sure you have pressed the NUMLOCK key to toggle them on.
Disabling the mouse Y axis: If you want to use the mouse to steer the ’Mech, you must add the following line in the [Special Commands] section of the Options.ini file (found in the MechWarrior Vengeance Trial root directory) in order to disable the Y axis on the mouse:
mousey=[true, false] (true is the default, and false means to ignore the mouse Y value)
Mapping mouse buttons: You can map the mouse buttons, but you must first assign them to a key with the mouse software. For example, button 4 would be the K key, so that when you press button 4 you would technically be remapping K to whatever control you want. This is for mouse buttons 4 and up only.
Options.ini error message: If you launch the game and receive the error message “options.ini is a required page!” you may have accidentally deleted your Options.ini file or reinstalled the game to another directory. To fix this, double-click Autoconfig.exe in the MechWarrior Vengeance Trial root directory. This creates an Options.ini file for you, and you’ll be able to successfully launch the game.
HUD font seems too large: By default, the text fonts in the HUD are set to be fairly large and legible, but this can also cause them to bleed past the margins in some resolutions. To make your font size smaller, double-click Autoconfig.exe in the MechWarrior Vengeance Trial root directory, click Advanced, select HUD Font Size, and then select a smaller size.
Fonts hard to read when graphic detail is set to low: If your computer is running Windows 98 or Windows Millennium and defaults to 640x480 resolution, change your resolution in the game to 800x600 to be able to read the font properly.

E.	Configuration Issues
Known hardware and operating system configuration issues are listed in this section. For issues with specific 3D cards, see section F, “3D Card Issues.”

Operating Systems

Windows 2000
AGP aperture size and Windows 2000 stability: If you are experiencing stability issues such as system reboots and system hangs while running MechWarrior: Vengeance under Windows 2000, first make sure you have the latest Windows 2000 drivers installed for all of your hardware and motherboard. Also, install the latest Service Packs for Windows 2000. Finally, try lowering the AGP aperture size to increase the stability of your system. Contact your motherboard manufacturer about how to change your AGP aperture size.
Windows 2000 and AMD Athlon/Duron processors: Stability issues may arise when playing on a computer with an AMD Athlon/Duron processor, which uses the AMD 751/756 motherboard chipset. Make sure you have the latest AMD software drivers and patches installed on your computer. They can be found at <http://www.amd.com/support/software.html> and <http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon-duron/amd_win2k_patch.html>.

Windows 95
Windows 95 Gold: To run MechWarrior: Vengeance on Windows 95 Gold, you must have the latest Indeo Video 3.2, 4.5, 5.11, and Indeo Audio 2.5 codecs installed. You can download them from <http://www.ligos.com/indeo/downloads/form.shtm>.

Display
NVIDIA TNT and GeForce cards: When running MechWarrior: Vengeance on a system with a GeForce or TNT card and an ASUS motherboard, you may experience a periodic crash or hang. This is a display driver issue and NVIDIA is working to resolve it. If you get this problem, contact your manufacturer for driver updates.
Via chipsets: Stability issues may occur with these motherboard chipsets when not using the latest drivers. To fix this, download and install the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard (<http://www.viatech.com>/).
AMD Athlon/Duron processors: If you experience instability when running MechWarrior: Vengeance, download and install the latest AMD processor utilities and drivers for your operating system (<http://www.amd.com/support/software.html>) and (<http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon-duron/amd_win2k_patch.html>).

Audio
Vortex 2 audio chipset (Turtle Beach Montego II, Diamond Monster Sound MX-300) compatibility with Windows 2000: You may experience choppy playback of audio during the installation of MechWarrior: Vengeance as well as other anomalies or even lock-ups in the game. The original manufacturer of the Vortex 2 chipset, Aureal Semiconductor, has gone out of business. No driver updates are available for Vortex 2-based sound cards running on Windows 2000, other than the generic Vortex 2 driver included with Windows 2000. Contact your hardware manufacturer for updated drivers. For reference drivers, visit <http://support.a3d.com/>.
Alternatively, try the following solution:
1.	Click Start on the Windows taskbar, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2.	Double-click Multimedia, and then click the Audio tab.
3.	Under Playback, click Advanced Properties, and then click the Performance tab.
4.	Drag the Hardware Acceleration slider to the left by 2 settings, and then click OK.

Software
NetMeeting disables hardware acceleration: If NetMeeting is running, or Remote Desktop Sharing is enabled, you will have no hardware acceleration to run MechWarrior: Vengeance. This also happens when NetMeeting has improperly shut down. To fix this, properly shut down NetMeeting from within the application, or disable Remote Desktop Sharing if you have it enabled.

Hardware
Microsoft Dual Strike Joystick: You need to enable FX Mode in the Dual Strike software. You also need to enable the mouse in the Options menu in the game to be able to use the free look ability during game play.

F. 	3D Card Issues
MechWarrior: Vengeance only fully supports DirectX 8-compliant video cards. It is good practice to always install the latest certified drivers for all of your hardware. 
3DLabs Permedia 2 chipset: Graphics irregularities may occur. To fix this, download and install the latest reference drivers from 3DLabs (<http://www.3dlabs.com/>).
AccelStar II 3D Accelerator: Graphics rendering may be corrupted. To fix this, download and install the latest reference drivers from 3DLabs (http://www.3dlabs.com <http://www.accelgraphics.com>/).
AOpen PA3000: With the retail drivers installed the system may hang. To fix this, download and install the latest reference drivers from AOpen (http://www.aopen.com <http://www.nvidia.com>/).
ASUS 3DexPlorer 3000: With the retail drivers installed, brief screen corruption may appear when the opening cinema begins. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from ASUS (<http://www.asus.com>/) or NVIDIA (<http://www.nvidia.com>/).
ASUS V2740: With the retail drivers installed, textures may not render properly. To fix this, download and install the latest reference drivers from Intel (<http://www.intel.com>).
Asus V-6600: Launching a game will cause a hang when using the retail drivers. To fix this, please contact your hardware manufacturer for updated drivers (<http://www.asus.com>), or download the latest reference drivers from NVIDIA (www.nvidia.com <http://www.nvidia.com>/).
ATI All-in-Wonder 128 Pro: When 32-bit color is enabled, graphic instability may occur. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from ATI (<http://www.ati.com>/).
ATI Rage Fury Maxx: Graphics may be corrupted. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from ATI (<http://www.ati.com>/).
ATI Rage Pro Turbo: Some graphics irregularities may occur. To fix this, try downloading and installing the “Special Released” drivers from ATI (<http://www.ati.com>/).
ATI Rage II+: Slight texture corruption may occur. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from ATI (http://www.ati.com/).
ATI Xpert 128: Texture corruption may occur. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from ATI (<http://www.ati.com>/).
Creative Blaster Riva TNT: Using the latest reference drivers from NVIDIA (version 6.31) the system will hang. Contact your hardware manufacture for updated drivers (<http://www.creative.com>/). Also, lowering your AGP aperture size may help, contact your hardware manufacturer for more information about changing your AGP aperture size.
Creative Labs 3D Blaster Savage4: Game resolution changes may give unreliable results. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from Creative Labs (<http://www.creative.com>/).
Diamond Fire Pro GL: Graphics may appear corrupted. Contact the manufacturer for updated drivers (<http://www.s3.com>/).
Diamond Monster II 3D: With driver version 2207 from the Diamond Web site, your computer may not recognize the card. To fix this, download and install the latest reference drivers for your Voodoo 2 from 3dfx Interactive (<http://www.3dfx.com/>). 
Diamond Monster Fusion: With the Diamond retail display drivers installed, texture corruption may occur. To fix this, download and install the latest reference driver for the 3dfx Voodoo Banshee display chipset from 3dfx Interactive (<http://www.3dfx.com/>).
Diamond Stealth II G-460: With the retail drivers installed, textures will not appear. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from S3 (<http://www.s3.com>/).
Diamond Viper V550: Texture corruption may occur. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from Diamond (http://www.diamondmm.com/).
Diamond Viper V770 Ultra: Graphics corruption and the game may even hang. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from S3 (<http://www.s3.com>/) or reference drivers from NVIDIA (<http://www.nvidia.com>/).
Diamond Viper II Z200: With the retail drivers, graphics irregularities may occur. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from S3 (<http://www.s3.com>/).
Elsa Gladiac: The game will hang or the video card will be unrecognized when the latest retail drivers (version.6.34) for this card are installed. To fix this, please contact your hardware manufacturer for updated drivers (http://www.elsa.de/), or download the latest reference drivers from NVIDIA (www.nvidia.com <http://www.nvidia.com>/).
Guillemot 3D Prophet GeForce: There may be slight graphic irregularities. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from Guillemot (<http://www.guillemot.com/>).
Guillemot Maxi Gamer Phoenix 2: Sporadic menu corruption may occur in the user interface. To fix this, download and install the latest display drivers from Guillemot (<http://www.guillemot.com/>).
Intel 810 graphics chipset: When using this chipset, always make sure you download and install the latest drivers from Intel (<http://www.intel.com/>). 
Matrox Marvel G-400: If you experience stability problems such as the machine hanging when playing MechWarrior: Vengeance in 32-bit color, download and install the latest drivers from Matrox (<http://www.matrox.com>/), or run the game in 16-bit color by selecting it with the Autoconfig.exe tool in your MechWarrior Vengeance Trial root directory.
Matrox Millennium G200 AGP: Texture flashes may occur. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from Matrox (<http://www.matrox.com>/).
Number Nine Revolution IV: Texture corruption may occur, causing the game to freeze. To fix this, download and install the latest drivers from Number Nine (<http://www.nine.com>/).
NVIDIA chipset (TNT, TNT2, and GeForce): When running Windows 2000, the game will not run in accelerated hardware mode with the NVIDIA display drivers that come with the operating system. To fix this, download and install the latest reference drivers from NVIDIA (<http://www.nvidia.com>/), or contact your hardware manufacturer for the latest drivers.
NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS: With some monitors, a split screen may occasionally occur when changing video modes. To work around this problem, press ALT+TAB to minimize the game and then ALT+TAB again to maximize it. To fix this problem, download and install the latest reference driver from NVIDIA (<http://www.nvidia.com>/), or contact your hardware manufacturer for updated drivers. Also, make sure you have the correct drivers installed for your monitor.
S3 Savage 4 chipset: When running Windows 2000, the game will not run in accelerated hardware mode with the display drivers that come with the operating system. To fix this, or download and install the latest reference drivers from S3 (<http://www.s3.com>/), or contact your hardware manufacturer for the latest drivers.
STB BlackMagic 3D: Slight graphic corruption may occur. To fix this, install the latest Voodoo 2 reference drivers from 3dfx Interactive (<http://www.3dfx.com>/). 
STB Velocity 128: The computer may hang after the opening movie, or graphic irregularities may occur when using the retail drivers. To fix this, download and install the latest reference drivers from NVIDIA (<http://www.nvidia.com>/). 
STB Velocity 4400: With the retail drivers installed, the game may freeze during the opening cinema or occasionally in other places in the game. To fix this, download and install the latest reference display drivers from NVIDIA (<http://www.nvidia.com>/). If this does not correct the problem, contact your hardware manufacturer for driver updates or for system settings that may fix the problem.

H.	3D Card Drivers and Manufacturers
Make sure that you have the latest drivers from the manufacturer of your video card. Many video issues will be resolved if you install your video card's latest drivers. MechWarrior: Vengeance may not detect some older video cards properly because their video drivers are not DirectX 8-compliant. Please contact your video card manufacturer for updated drivers or install the latest reference drivers for your video board. Note that many reference drivers are not supported by the chipset manufacturer. Listed below are some common video card manufacturers' Web sites. MechWarrior: Vengeance may not support some or all of the cards produced by a particular manufacturer.

3dfx Interactive-<http://www.3dfx.com/> 
3Dlabs-<http://www.3dlabs.com/> 
AccelGraphics-<http://www.accelgraphics.com/> 
Asus-<http://www.asus.com/> 
ATI-<http://support.atitech.ca/> 
Aztech Labs-<http://www.aztechlabs.com/> 
Canopus-<http://www.canopuscorp.com/> 
Creative Labs-<http://www.creativelabs.com/> 
Elsa Technology-<http://www.elsa.de/> 
Gateway 2000-<http://www.gw2k.com/> 
Guillemot-<http://www.guillemot.com/> 
Hercules (see Guillemot)-<http://www.guillemot.com/> 
I/O Magic-<http://www.iomagic.com/> 
Intergraph (see 3Dlabs)-<http://www.3dlabs.com/> 
Jaton-<http://www.jaton.com/> 
Leadtek-<http://www.leadtek.com/> 
Matrox-<http://www.matrox.com/> 
Number Nine-<http://www.nine.com/> 
NVIDIA-<http://www.nvidia.com/> 
Orchid (see S3)-<http://www.s3.com/> 
S3 Incorporated-<http://www.s3.com/> 
SiS-<http://www.sis.com.tw/> 
Silicon Integrated Systems Corporation (SiS)-<http://www.sis.com.tw/> 
STB (see 3dfx Interactive)-<http://www.3dfx.com/> 
VIA Technologies-<http://www.viatech.com/> 
VideoLogic-<http://www.videologic.com/>