More Clans

If you’ve an interest in the development of Mechwarrior 2 (or you’ve been following the site), then you probably know that at one point in time, the game’s original programmer, Eric Peterson, had his Mechwarrior 2 memoirs posted at his Port of Evil forums. These posts, along with all others before 2007, were unfortunately lost.

Good news, though. He has been reposting these at his planet E blog. It’s a fascinating tale and an inside look at how Mech2 came to be, so check it out.

It’s No Accident

This is a much larger update than I had originally anticipated it being. There’s new questions to be answered, new downloads, some behind-the-scenes tweaks, and best of all, that goddamn Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries Walkthrough is finally completed.

I feel like I’ve written a small novel about the game at this point. There’s a guide to get through every single scripted mission in the game. Hell, not even the official strategy guide (and especially not the guides on GameFAQs) do this. It’s a big relief to finally have it done, and in celebration, I’m going to sit back and just enjoy just playing through a few games.

Next on my list? Descent: FreeSpace, Tron 2.0, and Yakuza 2.

Updates:
Interstate ’76 Links – Most (kind of) work now
News Archives – Old news archived
Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries Downloads – Game manuals added
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries Walkthrough – Complete
Q&A – I ’76 Question answered, old pages archived

On a Tuesday?

Ok, there’s just a quick update for this wonderful Tuesday night: that Mercenaries walkthrough is getting closer to completion. It should look better and have info on most of the missions in the game. I’m still missing a few, but fear not, they’ll be added soon.

Updates:
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries Walkthrough – One step closer to completion

More Walkthrough Updates

Just a few more updates and polishes. Most are behind-the-scenes, with broken links fixed and an updated sitemap. The big change you may notice is that there’s now a site search listed above, via google. So, if you’re looking for something in particular, just run a search, and hopefully, it’ll get you straight there.

I’m still working on the Mercenaries Walkthrough and it’s improving every week. Most of the missions are up and the HTML formatting has been added. I’m hoping to finish it up in the next two or three weeks.

Also, the Heavy Gear codes page has been added.

Updates:
Heavy Gear Codes – Page is up
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries Walkthrough – HTML formatting added

Mechin’ Bacon

Good news, I guess? Lycos had some kind of deal go through at the last minute to “save” all of the sites they’d be shutting down, so my old address is still up. Don’t use it, though, just come straight here instead.

I’ve been working on Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, and as promised, I’ve started on a walkthrough and added a strategy section. The Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries Strategy page is up and complete, so check it out.

The walkthrough, well, not so much, but you can get an idea of where it’s going by taking a look. Right now, there’s not really any HTML formatting, just exactly what I’ve got written in Notepad. If you’re thinking about writing a waltkthrough, it might be interesting to see how I piece this stuff together.

Updates:
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries Strategy – Page is up and complete
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries Walkthrough – Page is up.

Lines of Time

As promised, I’ve got my method to convert Mechwarrior 2 from the standard Windows 95 version to the 3Dfx version up. In addition, the Mechwarrior/Battletech timeline is up, which will give a good indication of when the games take place not only in dates, but also in context of the (classic) Battletech universe.

The Heavy Gear section has been revamped, much like other parts of the site. Now, it’s frameless and all the code is compliant. There’s a few updates among the pages, so take a look around.

Updates:
Heavy Gear Links – More links added
Heavy Gear 2 Codes – Santa Hat Easter Egg added
Heavy Gear 2 Downloads – Severs.dat file added
Mechwarrior 2 FAQ – 3DFX Conversion is up
Mechwarrior Timeline – Up and complete

Joystick Legacy

So, I’ve finally got the Mechwarrior 2 series up and running, for the most part, how I’d like it to. I may be over ten years late to the party, but I’m finally playing Ghost Bear’s Legacy.

There’s only one problem, though: that Logitech Extreme 3D joystick that I picked up a month ago. It’s fine for I ’76, since the game doesn’t require any rudder control. The X and Y-axis are fine, but the Z-direction, the twist, is pretty bad. Since the Mech2 series always recenters the torso to match the joystick, it means a jittery z-axis will cause the mech’s torso and aim to jitter as well, making things harder than they should be. This is alright in MW4, where the z-axis works more like a mouse, moving it left causes the torso to turn left and stay turned left rather than recenter.

Help is on the way, as I’m awaiting the arrival of a 99 cent MS Sidewinder Precision Pro from ebay.

It is possible to convert Mechwarrior 2 from the standard version to the 3D-accelerated, non-Titanium, version. In a few weeks (after I retrace my steps), I’ll get a guide up on how to do it. In the meantime, there’s a couple of updates:

Updates:
Interstate ’76 FAQ – Vista and XP SP3 install
Q & A – More questions: I 76, BZ, and HG