RLGaming.com

so folks, what is the latest and greatest?

if i do not have the game any more, what do i buy? there is a compilation pack, right? with all the 3rd party add ons, do i need the clan and is mech packs and their evil cdilla?

BH,
what is the deal with yours? have you tried just running mw4 and mw4 mercs without the mech paks? can you do that (sorry, been out of this for a LONG time)? what happens when it stops working? have you tried reinstalling your OS since you started having this issue?

There are two major branches nowadays - Mektek's Mekpaks and NBT's HardCore - but they're not mutually exclusive. You can install HC on top of MP2.1a and basically have two versions of MW4 going. Mektek's latest release is MP2.1a, with MP3 due 'soon', but clearly the good folks at Mektek have no idea of what the word 'soon' actually means. 'Eventually' would be a more accurate word. More info about NBT's HC is available in various threads here, or over at netbattletech.com. NBT has introduced several new mechs in assorted updates to the HC beta, with plans to introduce even more in small 'patches' (as opposed to Mektek's style of releasing bunches of mechs in a huge pack).

The biggest thing, tho, is *maps*. To play on the NBT servers (which IMO are the best available) one must download bunches and bunches maps, including maps/terrains from BK and Vengeance (unless you happen to have those CDs already). All the links to these maps can be found on the NBT site - where you can also order everything on CDs.

As for the MS mech packs (and the evil Cdilla), I dunno. I'd say they're pretty much a necessity, but I'm not 100% sure if any of the Mektek and/or NBT mechs are based on them.

TD

thx TD... any way to find out about the mech paks? i would go over there and ask myself, but i am so limited on time and so out of touch right now... could you? anyone else have time to do this?

i am also thinking if we could ditch the mech paks it might solve BH's problem... just a hunch, but worth a try.

HOLY POOOPP STEEL are you coming back to MECHY?????? :shrug could it be TRUE "mine eye have seen the glory" :lol: just kidden WB bud I still on comms & have same e-mail addy get in tough if U need a wing. Tach has all the NBT needs to play mechy on NBT servers "you can find me on Sunder mostly" I still play GR & Baldur's gate So I hope to see & HEAR ya soon!!!!! BIN AWHILE


:salut: :salut:

yessir it has been a while...

i might give it a go again...depends upon all the answers to the questions. i have been getting the bug though - there just is not any other game like it - not to mention the company. ;)

looks like i have forgotten a lot. a couple of my questions may nto be relevant.

to understand, all that everyone uses now is mw4: mercs, right? (along with the pr1, mp2.1a...)

do you still need the clan and is mech paks? i understand they are for mw4: vengeance only????

if this is all true, BH can ignore my idea about the cdilla stuff from those mech paks messing things up for him.

Here's everything ya need for NBT Mercs (which is what we've mostly been playing):

http://www.netbattletech.com/nbt-mercs/downloads.html

There's a link to some utilities to 'fix' the mech packs, but I don't see anything suggesting that the MS mech packs are actually required.


***BUT***


NBT Mercs is almost over, NBT will be switching to HC within a month, so ya might want to check out the HC stuff here (u2, Mr Crick):

http://www.netbattletech.com/nbt-hardco ... loads.html
http://www.netbattletech.com/download/gameclients/

Also, from what I'm seeing via a search of the NBT forums indicates that the MS mech packs are not absolutely necessary - evidently some folks have been playing without one or the other or without both. But without them you won't have the 8 mechs included in the packs: Kodiak, Cauldron Born, Hunchback, Dragon, Arctic Wolf, Masakari, Zeus, and Highlander.

Both MS mech packs are available on Amazon.com, btw.

TD

edit: yah, it's MW4: Mercs that's the basis of everything. The MS mech packs add those 8 mechs to Mercs (they aren't there without them).

edit #2: Crick's new favorite mech (MP3): http://www.mektek.net/forums/uploads/po ... 777458.jpg

TACH :luvstruck: :luvstruck: What mech is that I WANT more than 1 get me details PLEASE :signed you rock Tach keep me upto date :rockin:


:salut:

Why, that's the jolly ol' Behemoth! 100 tons and big, big guns.

http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/r/dragonpilot ... emoth.html

TD

everything i saw said :mercs as well... i have actually only been looking at hc so far...

are those mechs not alo added by mp2.1a and hc? or are they just changed a bit if you have them in your install?

i always thought the mech paks were for :vengeance, not necessarilly :mercs. or will they work on both? like i said, it has been a while...

my aversion has been, as always, cdilla, not purchasing them...

Steel wrote:are those mechs not alo added by mp2.1a and hc? or are they just changed a bit if you have them in your install?

Nope, evidently there's some kinda legal stuff involved. MS is still selling the mech packs seperate from any bundled versions of MW4, so neither Mektek nor NBT can add those particular mechs - they can tweak them, but that's it. Or something like that.

i always thought the mech paks were for :vengeance, not necessarilly :mercs. or will they work on both? like i said, it has been a while...

They work with Vengeance and Mercs. The mechs *should* have been included in mercs - heck, you fight against them in some missions - but you can't use them yourself without the mech packs, and then only in multiplayer and instant action, not in the campaign missions.

my aversion has been, as always, cdilla, not purchasing them...

That used to bug me, too, but since I switched over to Win XP a while back, I've not noticed cdilla doing anything suspicious. Dunno about how it might affect other programs - seems like I read about it messing with some tax program a couple of years back.

I downloaded and installed the latest version of HC tonight and played around with the new HC mechs: Archer, Sha Yu, Pack Hunter, Anubis, Mist Lynx, and one or two more. The Archer looks really good. Some of the others kinda puzzled me as to why they're there, but I guess everybody's got a mech they've always wanted in the game. Mine would be a Phoenix Hawk - and, of course, there's no sign of one yet, although I have heard a rumor that there might be one in MP3. Whenever it's released. Mektek's definition of 'soon' = 'sometime before the heat death of the universe... maybe'.

Another note about HC - the weapons ranges and damages are not the same as in MP2.1a. The speed, torso twist, turn rate, accel/decel of the mechs are different, too. This latest version, tho, doesn't feel as different from 'normal' MW4 Mercs as the earlier ones did. Then again, I only played it for a few minutes.

TD

actualy there are a few issues that has kept me from playing mechwarrior.

one is the MS mechpacks, they are extremly unpridictable on my system. on time they work, then they dont. after a week walla they work again for a few days, then nada. nothing has changed on my system to promote the change in the mechpacks. but they change anyhow.

another issue i have with mercs. is that it will work fine for awhile then bammo it quits all togather. the movies wont evel load up. the process is running. and taking up CPU ussage. but it just sits there.


after all the time playing mechwarrior, i realy simply got tired of all the hasstle keeping up with all the packs, patches and maps.

the last issue that realy bummed me out is my choice in joysticks. ive been a MS joystick man since mw2. starting with the sidewinder 3d. ive graduated to the precision pro 2 but the buttons on them are simply garbage. ive bought other brands of sticks to try to use but they seem to lack the fine control i get out of the MS sticks. i think that is the most frustrating thing out of it all lol.

i still got MS installed and stuff. im just affraid to find the CD and run it. to find it probably dosnt work again and will go BOOOM!


anyhow. those are the reasons why ive sort of dropped off the mechwarrior field for all this time.

BH,
well, if I start playing again we HAVE to work on your issues!!! no other way about it!

have you ever reinstalled your system since you had these issues?

you can run without the mech packs...i am going to try that first and see how it goes.

i have a M$ force feedback joystick I just might be willing to part with...

any chance you have tried a Saitek X45 or X52? those are decent as well. right now i use a Thrustmaster F22 pro and Throttle with the digital chips made by Stckworks - add a rudder pedal (thrustmaser too i think) and I love it. I have an X45 as well, and used that for a long time 'till they had issues with XP drivers - which are all fixed now...but I like my Stickworks/Thrustmaser combo a lot.

Crick - I agree, that mech ROX! Well, at least the pic does...

BlackHawk*K wrote:the last issue that realy bummed me out is my choice in joysticks. ive been a MS joystick man since mw2. starting with the sidewinder 3d. ive graduated to the precision pro 2 but the buttons on them are simply garbage. ive bought other brands of sticks to try to use but they seem to lack the fine control i get out of the MS sticks. i think that is the most frustrating thing out of it all lol.

Heh. Speaking of fine control, I'm using a cheapie non-twist Saitek cyborg stick with the trigger pad missing (but it still works, woot). I got really tired of the more expensive sticks breaking down on me. Seems like the more ya pay for a joystick, the quicker it breaks - unlike that old 2-button CH Flightstick I used to have. An Atlas could step on that thing and it would still work. Anyway, I like the MS Sidewinders, went through two of them and would have bought another if Wally World hadn't been out of them, but dang it, they don't last! The buttons get all squirrely. I had a Saitek EVO something or other - man, it was cool, best stick ever - but the gawdang thing only lasted 2, maybe 3 months.

TD

well, i have no issues with my high end Thrustmaster - but remember it was made back in the day... It is probably 5 years old and still working quite well.

Cougar's now...they are problematic.

I got mechy installed and patched last night (didn't play - was too late when I finished). There ARE a lot of different files, I am thinking I am going to combine some stuff into a couple of zip files and put them up for download... Might be a bit easier keeping up and installing that way.

i know there are alot of nice sticks out there but im as picky with my joysticks as i am about my mice... back in the netmech95 days i used a radio shack track ball. that damn thing was the best trackball i ever used. running around in a mech with that thing gave me deadly aim and i believe it was becuse of that trackball i was so good. then one fatefull day it broke i went back to radioshack and universe shook on its foundation as i found they no longer made them! i scrambled looking for something that would work and nada... i spent the next day and night and tore it open cleaned all the switches. took some strait pin heads and glued them to where the ball slit on this plastic knob as part of the rolling system and low and behold all things were once again right in the universe. lucky for me logiteck came out with the marble mouse that has replaced it long ago. with almost the exact same trackball style just only a little bigger.

im the same way with sticks. button layout needs to be close. i need the twisty. learning a new system is like traveling to some alien world and being told to fly some spaceship ive never seen before


ok i admit either im anal or i just cant cope with controler change. either way its probably lame lol.

the sidewinder 3d was the best stick i ever had. after i wore mine out after about 3 years. i got the precision pro. that stick lasted well over a year but the precision pro 2s are just crap. the controling mechanism is great. but the buttons are like the worst thing ive ever seen. the bad thing on the P2s is the fact i got to cut the lever off the throttle in order to use it on mech. damn thing gets in my way!

if you guys get all up and going, lets pick some night that we can all get togather on TS and we can try to get back togather as a group. i dont mind being beat down in my new found noobness as a mechpilot by old friends i used to blow up ;) its too bad i cant get a second system up and going or i would get the old fort winston up and going again... ::sigh::

BH,
I just checked for it, and if it would get you playing again I will send you my old (but still highly functional) M$ Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 Joystick. I would need to fire it up and ensure all is as good as when I unplugged it, but that is the stick I mostly played with when I was active with ELH. Towards the end I had switched to my Thrustmaster setup...

Well.....would you look at that....Hello all I know I been away for a while ..new job and all,... but hey I feel me thumb twiching...... Hello Steel...good to here from you....

same Slam... hope the new job is going well.

Gator (from Wings of Fury) and I may do a short trial of MW4 w/mp21a coop tonight... not sure of time yet. i will post in the Drops forum when i know, and give you guys the info for the Ventrilo server.

get the client here:

ftp://ftp.rlgaming.com/pub/ventrilo-2.1 ... s-i386.exe

Hi Steel, depending on the time I might join in (GMT here).

Mal