MechCommander 2

mc2_install_notes.txt

Making MechCommander 2 Work on Windows 10
=========================================

First, MechCommander 2 is no longer available from Microsoft as a source code download. It is, however, available on various abandonware sites. The one I found to be reliable is myabandonware.com.
 - MechCommander 2: https://www.myabandonware.com/game/mechcommander-2-7pf

In order to run Setup.exe from the ISO file there, you will need to convert the mdf file to an ISO. Some people have claimed that you can just change the extension, but that didn't work for me on Windows 10 (as of March 2018). Getting a freeware converter is fine and MDF to ISO (mdftoiso.com) works great. Just follow the instructions there.

Installation
============
 1. Download the ISO and RIP files from https://www.myabandonware.com/game/mechcommander-2-7pf
  - RIP Version English version 232 MB / ISO Version English version 585 MB
 2. Convert the MDF file in the ISO download to an actual ISO file.
 3. Right-click on the ISO and choose Mount.
 4. Right-click on Setup.exe and choose 'Run as administrator'
 5. Go through the installation process for a FULL INSTALL (so you don't need the keep the ISO mounted).
  - The destination folder will be something like "<drive>:\Games\MechCommander 2"
 6. RENAME the destination folder from "MechCommander 2" to something 8 characters or less with NO spaces. Such as "MC2" or "MechCom2".
 7. Open the RIP download and copy the contents from there to the game folder. Replace all the files.
 8. Open up the Windows Device Manager and find your Display Adapters.
 9. Right-click on your display adapter and choose "Properties"
 10. Go to the Details tab and find the "Hardware Ids" property.
  - You are going see a bunch of values like "PCI\VEN_xxxx&DEV_xxxx&..."
  - Make note of the VEN value (just the 4 characters) and the DEV value (again, just the 4 characters)
  - For example, my Intel HD 530 is VEN_8086 and DEV_191B.
 11. Open the VIDCARD.csv file in a text editor (NOT wordpad, word, or other 'rich text' editors. Notepad is ok. I use Sublime Text)
 12. Find the entries for other cards of the same vendor (Intel, nVidia, etc)
 13. Copy the last line and paste it back.
 14. Make sure the first column matches the VEN value you found in Device Manager. (Step 10)
 15. Change the second column to match the DEV value you found in Device Manager. (Step 10)
  - You should now have something that looks like: 0xVVVV, 0xDDDD, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, Vendor, card, other stuff.
  - For my card, at this point it looked like this: 0x8086, 0x191b, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, Intel, 810e, Disable1024x768...
 16. Change the 'card' column to YOUR card.
  - For me, I changed 810e to 530
 17. Change the last column (everything after the card) to 'None', making sure to leave a comma between the card and 'None'
 18. Save and exit the text editor.
 19. At this point, you can try running the game!

Game Configuration
==================
 MAKE SURE THE ISO IS MOUNTED AS THE SAME DRIVE AS WHAT YOU INSTALLED FROM!
 
 If the game starts up correctly, you should get to the main menu where you can select "Options".

 Choose your resolution and make sure to UNCHECK "Hardware Mouse" (last option in the right-hand column).

 Then launch a mission...

 If everything is configured correctly, you should get into the mission without a problem. If the mouse or graphics are flickering, you may need to play around with the Compatibility settings on the Mc2Rel.exe file or with the flags (the 'other stuff') for your video card in VIDCARD.csv.

Notes
=====
Originally, I had to right-click and choose Properties for 'Mc2Rel.exe' and set the following:
 - Compatibility: Vista Service Pack 2
 - Run as administrator
 - Disable fullscreen optimizations
 - Reduced color mode

In checking the properties on my installs, I found one of my installations has those set and another does NOT. Yet both work fine.

SUPER HELPFUL WINDOWS BATCH FILE
================================
NOTE: Change the path to the ISO and the Drive Letter that you need it to be mounted as.
This script will allow you to place a shortcut on your desktop that will take care of the tedium of manually mounting / unmounting the ISO file between games.

REM - Start of script
powershell.exe "Dismount-DiskImage -ImagePath "D:\MechCom2\MC2.iso""
powershell.exe "Dismount-DiskImage -ImagePath "D:\MechCom2\MC2.iso""
powershell.exe "Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath "D:\MechCom2\MC2.iso""

setlocal enableextensions enabledelayedexpansion

FOR %%A IN (1,1,3) DO (
  set "DRIVE="

  FOR /f %%i in ('powershell.exe "Get-DiskImage -ImagePath "D:\MechCom2\MC2.iso" | Get-Volume | Select-Object -ExpandProperty "DriveLetter""') DO SET "DRIVE=%%i"

  IF "!DRIVE!" == "E" (
    ECHO "YAY !DRIVE!"
    D:
    cd D:\MechCom2
    Mc2Rel.exe
    GOTO END
  )
  IF NOT "!DRIVE!" == "E" (
  	powershell.exe "Dismount-DiskImage -ImagePath "D:\MechCom2\MC2.iso""
  	powershell.exe "Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath "D:\MechCom2\MC2.iso""
  )
)
:END

powershell.exe "Dismount-DiskImage -ImagePath "D:\MechCom2\MC2.iso""
REM - End of script