Readme File for Microsoft MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak and Vengeance Patch 3 and Black Knight Patch 1 © 2000-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document contains information pertaining to Microsoft MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak and the MechWarrior 4: Vengeance Patch 3 and MechWarrior 4: Black Knight Patch 1. NOTE: If MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak came installed on your computer as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) version, contact the manufacturer of the computer or other hardware it was bundled with for product support. Refer to the documentation that came with your computer or hardware for the product support telephone number. CONTENTS Section 1: MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak A. System Requirements B. Installation and Removal Installation Removal C. New Game Features BattleMechs Weapons Electronic Components Multiplayer Maps D. Technical Support Options E. Credits Cyberlore Studios, Inc. FASA Studio, Microsoft Corporation Section 2: Vengeance Patch 3 and Black Knight Patch 1 A. Installation B. Changes and Improvements C. Troubleshooting Messages for Errors During Patch Installation Section 1: MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak This ’Mech Pak is an add-on that gives you new ’Mechs, weapons, electronic components, and multiplayer maps for use with MechWarrior 4: Vengeance and MechWarrior 4: Black Knight. You can find more information about MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak on the MechWarrior 4 Web site, http://Microsoft.com/games. A. System Requirements System requirements for this ’Mech Pak are the same as MechWarrior 4: Vengeance with the following exception: • 60 MB of available hard disk space required. B. Installation and Removal Installation If your computer does not automatically install MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak after you insert the compact disc into the CD-ROM or DVD drive, perform the following procedure. NOTE: MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak is an add-on pack based on MechWarrior 4: Vengeance. Installation of MechWarrior 4: Vengeance on your computer is required before the Clan ’Mech Pak will run. IMPORTANT: If you install MechWarrior 4: Clan 'Mech Pak and then install MechWarrior 4: Black Knight, the content from MechWarrior 4: Clan 'Mech Pak will not be available in MechWarrior 4: Black Knight. To remedy this situation, uninstall Clan 'Mech Pak, and then reinstall it. To install MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak manually 1. On the Microsoft Windows taskbar, click Start, and then click Run. 2. Type “x:\setup” where x is the letter of your CD-ROM or DVD drive. For example, if your CD-ROM or DVD drive letter is D, type “d:\setup”. 3. Click Install, and then follow the instructions that appear on the screen. Removal There are two means for uninstalling MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak: from the Autorun menu and from your desktop. IMPORTANT: If you uninstall MechWarrior 4: Vengeance or MechWarrior 4: Black Knight before you uninstall MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak, removal of the ’Mech Pak must be performed from the Autorun menu. To uninstall MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak from the Autorun menu 1. Insert the ’Mech Pak disk into the CD-ROM or DVD drive. 2. Click the Add/Remove button on the Autorun menu. 3. Click Uninstall, and if you want to remove your saved games, click Remove saved games?, and then click OK. To uninstall MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak from your desktop • From the Start menu, select Programs/Microsoft Games/Clan ’Mech Pak, and then click Uninstall Clan ’Mech Pak. As noted, this technique does not work to uninstall the ’Mech Pak if you have already uninstalled MechWarrior 4: Vengeance or MechWarrior 4: Black Knight. C. New Game Features This section describes the new game features that come with MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak. BattleMechs The information provided for the ’Mechs is for default configurations. Arctic Wolf Loaded with Clan Streak Short-Range Missiles (CSTRK), this ’Mech can rapidly close in on any enemy and shower it with missiles. Chassis class: Medium Gross weight: 40 tons Armor (weight): Ferro-Fibrous (8 tons) Internal structure: Endo Steel Top speed: 115 KPH Electronic components: None Jump Jets: No Weapons loadout: Four CSTRK6 Cauldron-Born Named after the unstoppable zombies of Irish mythology, the Cauldron-Born earned its name because of its ability to take immense damage and remain operational. Chassis class: Heavy Gross weight: 65 tons Armor (weight): Ferro-Fibrous (12.5 tons) Internal structure: Standard Top speed: 92 KPH Electronic components: Enhanced optics Jump Jets: No Weapons loadout: Two Clan Long-Range Missiles (LRM) 15; two Clan LBX Autocannons (AC) 10; two Clan Extended Range (ER) Medium Lasers Masakari Easily identified by its squat torso, jutting head, and broad chest, the Masakari has become notorious among Inner Sphere MechWarriors for its deadly accuracy. Chassis class: Assault Gross weight: 85 tons Armor (weight): Ferro-Fibrous (13.5 tons) Internal structure: Standard Top speed: 83 KPH Electronic components: Enhanced optics Jump Jets: No Weapons loadout: Two Clan ER Particle Projection Cannons (PPC); Clan Ultra AC5; Clan LRM15; Clan LRM20 Kodiak A large, fast-moving ’Mech that carries impressive medium-range firepower. Chassis class: Assault Gross weight: 100 tons Armor (weight): Ferro-Fibrous (18 tons) Internal structure: Standard Top speed: 58 KPH Electronic components: None Jump Jets: Yes Weapons loadout: Two Clan Streak Medium Range Missile (CSMRM) 40; four Clan ER Medium Lasers; Clan LBX AC20 Weapons Clan Streak MRM 10 The Clan Streak Medium Range Missile (CSMRM) 10 has a lock-on guidance system that gives it an advantage over previous MRMs. Its range is greater, but at the cost of damage per missile and tonnage. Class: Missile Slots required: 1 Heat: 2.4 Damage: 7 Range: 400 Weight: 5 tons Recycle time: 7 Clan Streak MRM 20 The CSMRM20 is the same as the CSMRM10, but with a greater capacity to inflict damage at the cost of more heat. Class: Missile Slots required: 2 Heat: 4.8 Damage: 14 Range: 400 Weight: 8 tons Recycle time: 7 Clan Streak MRM 30 The CSMRM30 is the same as the CSMRM20, but with a greater capacity to inflict damage at the cost of more heat. Class: Missile Slots required: 2 Heat: 6 Damage: 21 Range: 400 Weight: 11 tons Recycle time: 7 Clan Streak MRM 40 The CSMRM40 is the same as the CSMRM30, but with a greater capacity to inflict damage at the cost of more heat. Class: Missile Slots required: 3 Heat: 7.2 Damage: 28 Range: 400 Weight: 13 tons Recycle time: 7 Electronic Components The following new component is available for loading onto select ’Mech chassis in the MechLab. Enhanced Optics: New optics augment a ’Mech’s zoom reticle by increasing the size of the zoom window. Multiplayer Maps MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak includes two new multiplayer maps, as follows. Factory: This once abandoned factory on Solaris VII has been converted into an oversized ’Mech arena. New Gothem: Set in the urban sprawl of New Gothem, ’Mechs take their battles to the streets and slug it out among the high-rises. This map is based on an original design by Patrick “MechTech” Burgel. D. Technical Support Options For all of our support offerings, visit http://microsoft.com/support/. In Canada, visit http://microsoft.ca/support/. To get started, try the following: • For articles targeted at specific issues, visit the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://microsoft.com/support/. • To work with a Microsoft Support Professional over the Internet, submit your issue at http://support.microsoft.com/directory/onlinesr.asp. • For your product’s general support policy, visit http://support.microsoft.com/directory/productsupportoption.asp. Phone Support: For toll-free support in the U.S., call (425) 637-9308. In Canada, call (905) 568-3503 (toll charges may apply). These numbers are for technical issues only -- do not use them to request game hints, codes, or cheats. TTY Users: Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services are available at (425) 635-4948 in Washington State, (800) 892-5234 in the U.S., and (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Worldwide: Support outside the U.S. and Canada may vary. For regional contact details, visit http://microsoft.com/support/. Conditions: Microsoft’s support services are subject to then-current prices, terms, and conditions, which are subject to change without notice. E. Credits Cyberlore Studios, Inc. Project Lead and Lead Designer David “Praetorian” Fifield Lead Programmer Chris “Buzzcut” Tohline Lead Artist Seth “Smokin’ Wreck” Spaulding Producer Jon “Morphius” Clark Executive Producer Joe “Excalibur” Minton Programmers Adam Saunders Aaron “Polgoli” Horne Additional Programmer John “Vice Monger” Scully Artists Bryant Johnson David “Darktoad” Silverman David White Michael “Loki” Richard Sean Wang Designers Corey “Freeze” Navage Ferret “Ferret” Baudoin Sound Engineer Jack “SaucyJack” Cameron Content Manager Charles “Walrus” Lane Additional Content Manager Cara “Clever Trousers” McCormick Marketing Jay “Dr. Lucky” Adan Playtesting Erik “Who’s Your Daddy” Hawley Additional Playtesting Eric Marcoullier Michael “Michelangelo” Pohoreski MIS Support Jonathan Wonson Cyberlore Management Team Human Resources and Office Manager Clarinda Merripen Art Department Director Seth Spaulding Programming Department Director Matt Kimmel Design Department Director Tom Henderson Vice President Ken Grey CEO Joe Minton Chairman Lester Humphreys FASA Studio, Microsoft Corporation Studio Manager Dave Luehmann Senior Producer tj wagner Program Manager Andrew Brown Art Director Heinz Schuller Development Manager John “Undead” Yovin Development Jacky Chan Jerry “Splotch” Edsall Design David Abzug Derek Carroll Peter Mayberry Sage Merril Test Manager James Mayo Test Team Tim Duzmal (Test Lead) Bruce “Wiley” Carr (Volt) Howie "ernie2" Catlin (Volt) Richard “#Slicer” Croly Jeff "DryHeaves" Kafer Adam "azero" Maloy (Volt) Prodipto "Death Sheep" Roy Pete "Walking_Target" Stephens (Volt) User Experience Melanie Henry (Modis) Robert Sillence (Volt) User Testing Bill Fulton Eric Schuh Product Support Steve Kastner Product Planner Michael Ahn Marketing Darren Trencher Lisa Krost Michelle Jacob Legal Hubert Cheng Jeff Koontz Localization Marco D’Amico Greg Ward Ji Young Kim Robert Lin Associate Program Manager Michael Turner (ArtSource) A special thanks to all of FASA Studio for creating the incredible original MechWarrior 4: Vengeance game and providing assistance with the Clan ’Mech Pak. Section 2: Vengeance Patch 3 and Black Knight Patch 1 This section contains information about the most recent changes and improvements provided by the MechWarrior 4: Vengeance Patch 3 and MechWarrior 4: Black Knight Patch 1. A. Installation The appropriate patch is automatically installed onto your computer when you load MechWarrior 4: Inner Sphere ’Mech Pak or MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak. Which patch your computer receives depends on whether you have MechWarrior 4: Vengeance installed alone or also have MechWarrior 4: Black Knight installed. NOTE: The patches are region-specific. For example, the English version does not work with the French version of the game. You must install the patch for your region, or otherwise an error occurs. B. Changes and Improvements The patches add auto-updating functionality. When connecting to the Internet through MechWarrior 4, you are now automatically notified of any new version releases or other updates that are available for download. A location for downloading the updates is given. This updating process is not mandatory; you can refuse the update and play in a multiplayer session. However, each time you connect to the Internet for multiplayer play using MechWarrior 4, you will receive the notification again. The patches modify the server browser screen to show all versions of the MechWarrior game (not just compatible games) to give a better picture of the MechWarrior community. For example, if you have installed MechWarrior 4: Vengeance and MechWarrior 4: Clan ’Mech Pak, with the patch you can also see MechWarrior 4: Black Knight games. The different game versions can easily be distinguished as follows: White games are compatible with the game version you have installed. Green games are newer versions, and red games are older versions. The patches fix several instances of a bug that caused certain ’Mechs using Jump Jets to be significantly more difficult to hit than other ’Mechs. The patches fix a bug that sometimes resulted in damage not being recorded correctly in multiplayer games. This behavior still appears occasionally as the result of games with high server lag, but the patches should reduce the instances of the problem significantly. The patches fix several bugs in which the server browser screen displays an incorrect number of players (for example, full servers report having available slots, available servers report as full, and servers report an impossible number of players, such as 20/17). However, for performance reasons the game does not constantly update the number of players on a given server. Thus, it is still possible for the displayed numbers to be temporarily incorrect or out of sync, although this problem should resolve itself over a period of 10 to 20 seconds. The patches fix a problem in which the game stops responding on dedicated servers that run the Microsoft Win32 application programming interface (API) when you select the Leave Slots for Human and Fill Game with Bots on Launch options. The patches fix a divide-by-zero error in the file Mc_listboxes.script that sometimes caused multiplayer games to stop responding when a player entered the game. The patches fix a bug that caused the game to stop responding in certain unusual instances when using the advanced firing technique called chain fire. The patches fix a bug that caused the game to stop responding in extremely rare circumstances when scrolling through items in the MechLab. The patches fix a bug that allowed duplication of weapons in Campaign mode. This duplication could happen without your choosing duplicate weapons and caused the game to stop responding in certain circumstances, with the error message “Access Violation in MW4x (0x16ACD8).” The patches fix several bugs related to running a server using a minimum installation of MechWarrior 4: Vengeance with MechWarrior 4: Black Knight installed. Despite these fixes, it is still recommended that you use a full installation of MechWarrior 4: Vengeance if you intend to run on a multiplayer server. The patches fix a bug with Win32 dedicated servers running MechWarrior 4: Black Knight that caused issues with displaying MechWarrior 4: Black Knight ‘Mech names. The patches fix a bug that prevented client inquiries verifying connection (or pings) from being displayed in the multiplayer server lobby for Win32 dedicated servers running MechWarrior 4: Black Knight. The patches fix a bug in which navigation points in multiplayer games disappeared under certain circumstances. The patches fix a bug where rules added for bots in the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight editor only loaded once. The patches fix a bug in which bot rules in the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight editor did not load all parameters. Bots populated, but the tonnages and minimum and maximum AI levels entered as bot rules did not load. The patches fix a bug in the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight editor that disallowed new rules when using new game types such as Absolute Attrition, Giantkillers, and Clan vs. Inner Sphere. The patches fix a bug in the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight editor that caused the game to stop responding when you made a bot rule that created bots with tonnages not allowed under team rules. One example is if Team 1 only allowed 30-60 ton bots, but the bots that your rule automatically generated for Team 1 were 70¬-90 tons. The patches fix a bug with the Black Knight Win32 dedicated server where client pings were not being displayed. Client pings now appear to the right of each player's name in the Multiplayer Game Lobby. C. Troubleshooting Messages for Errors During Patch Installation The following error messages may appear during installation of the patches. 0001: Illegal Input Option '