MechWarrior 4 Known Video Issues (310630)

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The following video issues are known to occur with MechWarrior 4. Most video issues can be resolved by updating to the latest video card drivers.

Game Difficulties After You Change Screen Resolution

In MechWarrior 4: , click Options on the main menu,
Click the Video tab, and then set screen resolution in the screen resolution list.

Note that you may be able to set options that your video card does not support. If you experience game difficulties after you change your resolution on the Options screen, use Autoconfig_Mercs.exe to reset your screen resolution:

In the folder where the game is installed, double-click Autoconfig_Mercs.exe, By default this file is located in:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Mechwarrior Mercenaries

-or-

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Black Knight Vengenance
Click Advanced, and then select the appropriate screen resolution from the resolution list box. Try 640 x 480 x 16.

Do Not Change Screen Resolution During Setup

If you change the screen resolution while you are running MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries Setup, the installation screen is not fully visible. To avoid this problem, do not change the screen resolution while Setup installs the game.

Fonts Are Hard to Read When Graphic Detail Is Set to Low

If your computer is running Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition and the computer defaults to 640 x 480 screen resolution, change your resolution in the game to 800 x 600 to be able to read fonts properly.

Heads-Up Display (HUD) Font Seems Too Large

By default, the text fonts in the HUD are set to be large and legible, but this setting can cause them to bleed past the margins in some screen resolutions. To make your font size smaller, in the folder where the MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries is installed double-click Autoconfig_Mercs.exe, click Advanced, click HUD Font Size, and then select a smaller size from the list.

Number Nine SR-9 Pro Video Card

You might experience periodic instability with the game, or the game may stop responding ("hang"). If you experience problems with a Number Nine card, Microsoft recommends that you upgrade your card.

ATI Video Cards

ATI All-in-Wonder 128 Pro

When 32-bit color is enabled for this card, graphic instability might occur in the game. To fix this problem, download and install the latest drivers from the following ATI Web site:http://www.ati.com/

ATI RADEON 7000 or 7500:

If your system uses either of these video adapters, runs Windows Millennium Edition, and has game screen resolution set to 640 x 480 or 1600 x 1200, the system may stop responding when you start to play the MechWarrier 4: Mercenaries. This problem occurs with both the retail and latest drivers.

To fix this problem, use Autoconfig_Mercs.exe to reset your screen resolution:

In the folder where the game is installed, double-click Autoconfig_Mercs.exe.

By default, this is:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Mechwarrior Mercenaries
Click Advanced, and then select a screen resolution other than 640 x 480 or 1600 x 1200.

ATI Rage II+

If your system uses this video adapter, slight texture corruption might occur in the game. To fix this problem, download and install the latest drivers from the following ATI Web site:

http://www.ati.com/

ATI Rage Pro Turbo

If your system uses this video adapter, some graphics irregularities might occur in the game. To fix this problem, download and install the "Special Released" drivers from ATI:

http://www.ati.com/

ATI Xpert 128

If your system uses this video adapter, texture corruption might occur in the game. To fix this problem, download and install the latest drivers from ATI:http://www.ati.com/.

nVidia Video Cards

GeForce 256

When you attempt to launch certain missions while in 1600 x 1200 x 32 resolution, your computer might restart. If you have this problem, turn off 1600 x 1200 x 32 resolution bit depth.

TNT and GeForce Cards If you run MechWarrior 4: Black Knight on a system with a GeForce or TNT video adapter and an ASUS motherboard, the game may periodically stop responding or quit. If you have this problem, contact your manufacturer for driver updates.

Creative Blaster Riva TNT

If your system uses the latest reference drivers for this video adapter from NVIDIA (version 6.31), the system stops responding when you run the game. Contact the hardware manufacturer for updated drivers:

http://www.creative.com/

Also, lowering your AGP aperture size might help. For more information on doing so, contact the hardware manufacturer.

Via Chipsets

Stability issues might occur with Via motherboard chipsets if you are not using the latest drivers. For example, the game may stop responding when a single game screen (such as the Star Systems or Orbital View screen) is displayed for several minutes. To fix these issues, download and install the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard from http://www.viatech.com/. In addition, flash-upgrade your computer's basic input/output system (BIOS). For instructions on how to do this, contact Via or the manufacturer of your motherboard.

AMD Athlon/Duron Processors

If your system experiences instability when you run MechWarrior 4, and you are using the AMD Athlon or Duron processors, download and install the latest AMD processor utilities from the following AMD Web sites:

http://www.amd.com/support/software.html

-or-

http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon-duron/amd_win2k_patch.html

3DFX Voodoo 5 5500

Some operating systems have problems displaying the mouse cursor and other pictures on systems using this video adapter. The original manufacturer of the Voodoo 5 5500 video card, 3dfx, has gone out of business. No driver updates are available for 3dfx cards. Contact your hardware manufacturer for any updated drivers.

NOTE: More information on specific video adapter issues is available in the Readme.rtf file in the game's installation folder. For MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries the default location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Mechwarrior Mercenaries.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.