>> mechcommander-gold/mechcommander-gold-on-windows-7

Mechcommander Gold on Windows 7

Tested: windows 7 32 bit, windows 7 64 bit, windows vista 32 bit, windows vista 64 bit

Mechcommander Gold can be run on Windows 7 but you’ll likely have to follow a few steps to ensure it works on your machine. The first issue is installation, as the game uses a 16bit installer which is unsupported on 64 bit operating systems.

Freeware installation – Before you start, know that Mechcommander Gold has been released as freeware, so you can freely download ISOs for the game from the web. You can find freeware download links in the Mechcommander Gold freeware download post.

Installation from disc/ISO – Note you’ll still have to have the disc inserted or have the ISO mounted to run the game, unless you find a no-cd executable for the game:

Windows 7/Vista 32 bit – If simply running setup from the disc/ISO doesn’t work right away, right click on your cd/iso and select explore. Then set the following files to run in Windows 95 compatibility mode and attempt the installation again:
_ISDL.exe CPUID.exe SETUP.exe
Windows 7/Vista 64 bit – 64 bit Windows does not support 16 bit installers such as the one for Mechcommander gold. There is a workaround though – create a directory named MCG (name is unimportant) and then manually copy the entire contents of your MCG disc/iso into this folder and start the game using MCX.EXE in your new directory.

Compatibility – To ensure that you don’t run into some common crashes and bugs associated with the game on Windows 7 you’ll want to follow these additional steps:

Create a shortcut to MCX.exe (if you don’t have one already).
Add the following compatibility tab settings to your MCX.exe shortcut:
- Run this program in compatibility mode Windows 95
- Run in 256 colors.
- Disable desktop composition (to get around the corrupted textures glitch)
- Run this program as an administrator
Run the game from the shortcut

If you’ve followed the above steps and are still having issues running Mechcommander Gold on Windows 7, please post in the comments below. To increase your chances of a solution being found include as much detail as possible (which version of the game you’re running, what operating system you have, what video card you have and steps to reproduce the issue). Screenshots are also very useful!

Sources: link 1

Posted in Mechcommander Gold | 46 Comments

simply alt plus enter when this problem occurs, and do it twice. Google mechcommander forum for people who will help you.

the problem still occur after i try do it over and over again

Can you be more specific? Which version on Windows are you on, and what error messages if any are you getting?

I have the issue and have tried both above fixes. It’s in game as well, windowed mode works fine though. Using W7 ultimate 64 bit.

Which issue are you referring to? I’ve updated the post to include some recommended compatibility settings when running the game that might fix a lot of potential issues.

I dont have a problem with the launcher, it installs fine, the game playes the opening cinema fine,and when i start the missions, the briefings are fine. its just that when i click “start mission” the entire game crashes before it even starts to load the mission. help?

Hmm I haven’t heard of this error before. Some questions:

Do you get any error messages after the crash?
What version of Windows 7 are you using?
Are you running MCG with Windows 95 compatibility, 256 colours and run as admin selected?

Where you able to fix this?

It’s asking me to insert the disc, I have no disc. I just downloaded it.

I just updated the writeup a bit. Depending on where you got it from you likely still have to have the disc inserted to run the game.

Most freeware download sites give you an ISO so you can just mount that and it will recognize it as your game disc. If you don’t want to do that, find a no-cd exe for the game and replace your original MCX.exe with the no-cd exe and run the game using that.

Followed all the steps and anytime I enter full screen the textures all become corrupt once again. Nothing I do seems to change it, and playing it in a tiny window doesn’t really seem to be a viable option. Any help would be appreciated.

Hopefully you won’t have to play in windowed mode. I have a few questions for you:

Which version of Windows are you on?
Are you running the game from the shortcut with at least ‘Disable desktop composition‘ enabled? Without this option selected I get corrupted textures every time I start the game.
Have you tried starting a mission? While really annoying, I haven’t heard of these texture glitches affecting the actual gameplay, just the menu.

Sure. Like I said I followed all your steps.

I’m running Enterprise Windows 7×64 bit from the shortcut that you instructed to create with the necessary compatibility settings. And yeah I’ve tried to start the first mission quite a few times to test it and every time the corrupt textures carry over to the actual game.

i am having the same issues, how do i fix this

I contacted Hannibal_805 by email about this issue. His game ended up looking like this. If you have the same problem here are some things you can try:

Attempt 1 – Turn off all other programs when you’re starting the game, especially things like skype and fraps that might conflict with the game display with pop-up and overlays.

Attempt 2 – Next, if you haven’t tried it already, toggle some of the compatibility options on and off in your shortcut. There may be a specific configuration of these settings other than the one I specified that will resolve this issue for you.

Attempt 3 – Switch to a basic Windows theme. Composite desktop themes often seem to be the cause of these issues. You can switch the theme in Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Personalization.

Attempt 4 – Download a different version of the game. If you got the game from a user created torrent there’s always a chance that some of the files are missing/corrupted. You can get a freeware version of the game directly from here.

If any of these attempts fix the issue for you please let me know. If not, you may be out of luck :( This seems to be a fairly rare issue (you are the only two that have reported it).

Note: Windowed mode will get around this corruption issue, but the view area is quite small. If you’d rather play in Windowed mode instead, check out this post on how to increase your in game resolution: http://www.thegameengine.org/mechcommander-gold/mechcommander-gold-high-resolution/

Best of luck!

Thanks in advance for the help.

Hi, I am having an issue where mechcommander crashes consistently during the start of Part 1 Mission 2 of the original campaign displaying the following error:

EXCEPTION (Access violation at 0x006B9B20)
Address : 0x006B9B20
Location : ScenarioMap::cellPassable() +0x50
File : G:\mcx\ai\Move.cpp(936)

Processor/Stack EAX=0x001757BC EBX=0x0423388C ECX=0x001C9B46 EDX=0x03B46FDC Flags=0x00210202
=============== ESI=0x00004000 EDI=0x00000007 EBP=0x0018F5F8 ESP=0x0018F5E4 EIP=0x006B9B20
0x006D26FF InterfaceObject::UpdateMouseState() +0x184F L:\mcx\iface\Iface.cpp(5459)
0x006C88B6 UpdateMouseStateCallback() +0x16 L:\mcx\iface\iCallbk.cpp(303)
0x00615846 aCallback::exec() +0x16 G:\mcx\gui\Asystem.cpp(6142)
0x0061455C aSystem::run() +0xCC G:\mcx\gui\Asystem.cpp(5407)
0x00610EE1 RealWinMain() +0x301 G:\mcx\gui\Asystem.cpp(3081)
0x0075F82A WinMain() +0xCA L:\mcx\rmain.cpp(74)
0x00762CF2 WinMainCRTStartup() +0xCE

Machine Details
===============
Executable name : D:\Programs\MCG\MCX.EXE
Current time, date : 21:00:24 Monday 5/12/2014
Executable time, date : 10:02:58 Monday 7/26/1999
User name :
Machine name :
Processor : AuthenticAMD MMX
Operating system :
Version : 4.10.2222
Time since booted : 24h 20m 22s
Physical memory : 267,862,016 bytes (255 Meg)
Available physical memory : 235,843,584 bytes (224 Meg)
Swapfile size : 1,879,617,536 bytes (1792 Meg)
Swapfile available : 1,860,378,624 bytes (1774 Meg)
Virtual memory : 2,143,289,344 bytes (2044 Meg)
Available virtual memory : 1,958,490,112 bytes (1867 Meg)
Memory load : 5%

PCI bus
=======
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ISA bus
=======

DLL Version numbers
===================
amstream.dll – Version 6.6.9600.16384
quartz.dll – Version 6.6.9600.16384
devenum.dll – Version 6.6.9600.16384
dsound.dll – Version 4.07.00.0700
dinput.dll – Version 4.07.00.0716
Could not find ‘d3dhalf.dll’
d3dim.dll – Version 4.07.00.0700
ddraw.dll – Version 4.07.00.0700
dplayx.dll – Version 4.07.00.0700
Could not find ‘dplay.dll’
ntdll.dll – Version 6.3.9600.17031
rpcrt4.dll – Version 4.00.1073
Ir50_32.dll – Version 6.3.9600.16384

Information returned by Game
============================

ScenarioTime: 019.95
ScenarioTurn: 486
MoverUpdateFreq: 000.00
TurretUpdateFreq: 000.00
WorldStateUpdateFreq: 000.00
WeaponFireUpdateFreq: 000.00
MissionAppName : MechCommander Expansion Release Version: 02.99.07.2601 — MIS0102
DrawingVFXElement : vblip5
VFXType : 46

Any idea what the issue is?

From the logfile my guess would be that you have an incomplete/corrupted install of the game. Likely the issue is that something is missing that needs to be loaded for mission 2. Try downloading the game from here instead, if you haven’t already.
http://www.thegameengine.org/mechcommander-gold/mechcommander-gold-freeware-download/

Thanks for taking the time to post the full trace!

Hi alexgophermix,

Thanks for the reply! I did download from this site/ link to begin with, but am willing to try it again (I absolutely adore this game!). Do you have another idea if a corrupted install isn’t the issue? I have performed all recommendations in this article already, but when performing it for the first time, it is possible I copied something somewhere I shouldn’t have!

Just confirmed, it is related to the ‘l Resolution=3’ addition to the PREFS file that causes the crash… It seemed to work on Mission 1 but not Mission 2 or the Expansion campaign. I will try different resolutions to see how those behave…

Thanks for keeping me up to date. It seems unlikely that a resolution change would cause a mission not to work. Please keep me posted!

Hey, so I tried ‘l Resolution=2’ and did not appear to have any issue. I am going to keep playing like this and will report back if I have further issue. The issues with resolution level 3 were immediate on the expansion campaign and the mini map had draw errors even when Mission 1 worked. Maybe it is my gpus? I have crossfired 7870s.

Thanks for you help and original posts!

Very strange! Thanks for the investigative work. Could you by any chance post a screenshot of what you mean by mini-map draw errors? Also what is the native resolution of your monitor?

The only resolution related issue I’ve seen before is that setting the game resolution higher than what is supported by your monitor causes startup crashes. What you’re describing is a first!

The draw error is only related to the “outline box” showing view area. Depending where you move, it resizes to very exaggerated proportions. Its almost like the resolution is too high to the extent the actual map (which the mini map is simulating) cant draw enough outside the movable area to compensate for the high resolution and view area. The mini map box appears fine on resolution 2.

My screen has a 1920×1200 max resolution.

Got some further details (tell me when to stop haha). Resolution 2 has been largely successful, but had a late mission fail on Op1 Mis5 (farms) and on the 3rd solo mission. Did not retry playing either. Maybe back to your corrupted files concern, but I did a fresh download and full copy/ install after my initial issues.

Maybe try to install from the other link? Also make sure your video card drivers and your directx are up to date. The inconsistent behaviour suggests either something wrong with the files or your drivers.

Please feel free to keep posting! You can never have too much information :)

I’ve been getting this error. I’ve tried adjusting the resolution to 2 and 3, but no luck. It was downloaded from the links listed at thegameengine, and I copied all the contents of the .iso (after mounting) to a folder. Any ideas?

ASSERT (00000005 – could not open scenario file )
Address : 0x006F6F2E
Location : No .PDB file found
File : No .PDB file found

Stack
=====
0x0072B7F2 Mission::StartScenario() +0xD2 L:\mcx\mission\mission.cpp(1253)
0x006DCD97 BriefingScreen::handleEvent() +0xB27 L:\mcx\logistics\logbri.cpp(1011)
0x006116DC handleEvent() +0x72C G:\mcx\gui\Asystem.cpp(3647)
0x006128EA CheckMouse() +0x10A G:\mcx\gui\Asystem.cpp(4378)
0x00615846 aCallback::exec() +0x16 G:\mcx\gui\Asystem.cpp(6142)
0x0061455C aSystem::run() +0xCC G:\mcx\gui\Asystem.cpp(5407)
0x00610EE1 RealWinMain() +0x301 G:\mcx\gui\Asystem.cpp(3081)
0x0075F82A WinMain() +0xCA L:\mcx\rmain.cpp(74)
0x00762CF2 WinMainCRTStartup() +0xCE

Machine Details
===============
Executable name : E:\MCX.EXE
Current time, date : 21:33:36 Monday 7/28/2014
Executable time, date : 10:02:58 Monday 7/26/1999
User name :
Machine name :
Processor : AuthenticAMD MMX
Operating system :
Version : 4.10.2222
Time since booted : 430h 25m 32s
Physical memory : 267,862,016 bytes (255 Meg)
Available physical memory : 235,843,584 bytes (224 Meg)
Swapfile size : 1,879,617,536 bytes (1792 Meg)
Swapfile available : 1,860,378,624 bytes (1774 Meg)
Virtual memory : 2,143,289,344 bytes (2044 Meg)
Available virtual memory : 1,943,011,328 bytes (1853 Meg)
Memory load : 5%

ISA bus
=======

DLL Version numbers
===================
amstream.dll – Version 6.6.7600.16385
quartz.dll – Version 6.6.7600.16385
devenum.dll – Version 6.6.7600.16385
dsound.dll – Version 4.07.00.0700
dinput.dll – Version 4.07.00.0716
Could not find ‘d3dhalf.dll’
d3dim.dll – Version 4.07.00.0700
ddraw.dll – Version 4.07.00.0700
dplayx.dll – Version 4.07.00.0700
Could not find ‘dplay.dll’
ntdll.dll – Version 6.1.7600.16385
rpcrt4.dll – Version 4.00.1073
Ir50_32.dll – Version R.5.10.15.2.55

Information returned by Game
============================

ScenarioTime: 000.00
ScenarioTurn: 0
MoverUpdateFreq: 000.00
TurretUpdateFreq: 000.00
WorldStateUpdateFreq: 000.00
WeaponFireUpdateFreq: 000.00
MissionAppName : MechCommander Expansion Release Version: 02.99.07.2601 — Logistics
DrawingVFXElement :
VFXType :

What’s the native resolution of your monitor? Also does this crash happen when the game starts or when you open a specific map. If so, which map?

From the error "No .PDB file found" it sounds like there’s something fudged with your install.

How are you running the game? If you’ve created a shortcut make sure the shortcut points to the .exe in your copied folder (not your cd). It might also be worth comparing the CD contents with your copied folder contents to see if there’s anything that didn’t copy over.

Start with that and let me know how it goes.

Edit: You can also try forcing the game to run in Windowed mode to see if that helps by opening prefs.cfg and changing b DirectDraw=TRUE to b DirectDraw=FALSE. See http://mechcommander.co.uk/topic/6955196/1/ for more info.

I cant get the game to start, i get the command prompt black box for half a sec and it crashes to desktop. Windows 7 ultimate x64

Command Prompt? Are you running any mods? I don’t think I’ve ever seen Command Prompt come up while the game is starting. Is there any chance you could get a screenshot of it?

Recently started playing but starting the first mission the game goes to this sort of debug menu.
Not really sure what to do from here.

ASSERT (00000005 – could not open scenario file )
Address : 0x006F6F2E
Location : No .PDB file found
File : No .PDB file found

Machine Details
===============
Executable name : E:\MCX.EXE
Current time, date : 01:25:42 Sunday 2/1/2015
Executable time, date : 14:02:58 Monday 7/26/1999
User name :
Machine name :
Processor : GenuineIntel Pentium II MMX
Operating system :
Version : 4.10.2222
Time since booted : 29h 22m 30s
Physical memory : 267,862,016 bytes (255 Meg)
Available physical memory : 235,843,584 bytes (224 Meg)
Swapfile size : 1,879,617,536 bytes (1792 Meg)
Swapfile available : 1,860,378,624 bytes (1774 Meg)
Virtual memory : 2,143,289,344 bytes (2044 Meg)
Available virtual memory : 1,857,241,088 bytes (1771 Meg)
Memory load : 5%

ISA bus
=======

Information returned by Game
============================

Hi, thanks for posting all the help. I’m running vmlite xp mode on 64 bit windows 7. Game works fine but can’t get it fullscreen. Can get vmlite to go full screen but the game stays as a really small window with a massive white border all the way round. Any ideas? Cheers

hey guys missing some file when I launch the missions any ideas?

ASSERT (00000005 – could not open scenario file )
Address : 0x006F6F2E
Location : No .PDB file found
File : No .PDB file found

Installed all ok but now it’s asking me to insert MechCommander compact disc? How do i by pass that.

I’m having an issue that is not listed here on the comments yet.
http://imageshack.com/a/img924/5356/rLRHPB.jpg
I couldn’t make a screenshot, so I recreated the screen in paint.net
I only get a glitched fraction of the screen in the top left corner that seems to have 1 fps. This applies to the titlescreen, opening video and (when I blindly click) the the briefing session. (german here. Trying my best to tanslate)
Sounds and music are there and it seems only the visuals are the problem here.
I remember playing it last year and it worked fine then. The only hardware change was the main harddrive to an SSD.
I can not recall what else I did different back then.
Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit
I tried various compatibility combinations. (95, XP, 98, 256 colors, admin, etc…) none of them worked.
Yes, I have downloaded it from three different sites, tried run it from the EXE and tried run it as virtual drive.

I have my original MCG CD, and have copied it to a folder on my Computer as described above. I have created a shortcut and moved it to my desktop and edited the preferences as detailed above. I am running Windows 7 Professional 6-bit and get the following error message immediately when attempting to run the game from the shortcut:

[quote]
ASSERT (00000000 – Error opening art file)
Address : 0x00613833
Location : No .PDB file found
File : No .PDB file found

Stack
=====
0x00610EA7 RealWinMain() +0x2C7 G:\mcx\gui\Asystem.cpp(3074)
0x0075F82A WinMain() +0xCA L:\mcx\rmain.cpp(74)
0x00762CF2 WinMainCRTStartup() +0xCE

Machine Details
===============
Executable name : C:\Users\Timothy\Desktop\MC2GOL~1\MCX.EXE
Current time, date : 09:54:23 Wedensday 6/22/2016
Executable time, date : 10:02:58 Monday 7/26/1999
User name :
Machine name :
Processor : GenuineIntel Pentium II MMX
Operating system :
Version : 4.10.2222
Time since booted : 14h 44m 21s
Physical memory : 267,862,016 bytes (255 Meg)
Available physical memory : 235,843,584 bytes (224 Meg)
Swapfile size : 1,879,617,536 bytes (1792 Meg)
Swapfile available : 1,860,378,624 bytes (1774 Meg)
Virtual memory : 2,143,289,344 bytes (2044 Meg)
Available virtual memory : 2,035,093,504 bytes (1940 Meg)
Memory load : 5%

ISA bus
=======

Information returned by Game
============================

ScenarioTime: 000.00
ScenarioTurn: 0
MoverUpdateFreq: 000.00
TurretUpdateFreq: 000.00
WorldStateUpdateFreq: 000.00
WeaponFireUpdateFreq: 000.00
MissionAppName :
DrawingVFXElement :
VFXType :
[/quote]

So, here is my issue. The game seems to run fine, no crashes or anything like that, but on full screen the entire game is off center. I’d take a screenshot, but when I do it comes out completely normal.

Basically, the right 20% of my screen is the black border, while the actual game screen seems centered to the left. For point of example, on the title screen it completely cuts off the M in ‘Mech’. This also means I can’t easily hit the tabs on the menus and other things that are on the left edge of the screen. I’ve tried changing almost all of the compatibility settings, and nothing seems to work.

Of note, this only happens when it is full screen. In windowed version it is fine.

I know it’s pretty low tech, but could you maybe send me a picture of your screen, if screenshot is not capturing it.

From what you describe my guess would be you’re using an aspect ratio on your monitor that is not supported by the game, hence the cutoff

The cinematics are failing to play, both opening and briefing. With briefing, it shows the guy’s face, but he doesn’t say anything, and just cuts the video. I’m running Windows 7 on an HP Probook 455 G3.

Do you need the videos to work for the game to work? A lot of these older games have trouble playing cinematics because they use very outdated video formats that are often no longer supported

I’m getting an issue that I don’t see anyone else reporting.

In both the original game and in a popular user-created campaign (the Xenocide/Bengal Lancers campaigns), I can play everything fine – until I get to the end of operation 3, mission 4. It forces the cutscene video with the “hold the line” bit, the good guy mechs are triumphant… and then, the game unceremoniously crashes to desktop. aborting the video does no good, still a crash to desktop. Seeing as how operation 4 exists, this kind of stinks.

I am running the game on windows 7 pro 64 bit.

Thanks for any possible help!

So I have a fairly weird problem on my Win8 Dell Notebook: Game starts up fine, cinematics are fine, graphics are fine, input works fine but when I start the mission, Keyboard + Mouse shorts don’t work. I.e. F1 selects the right group, Space+click to get them to haul it somewhere or telling them at what range to engage does not.

It worked for me following your Windows 7 64 bit instructions, thank you very much!

Hi, I’ve looked through all the available help and I haven’t seen my problem yet. The game boots fine, there are some artifacts in the video but nothing big. When it gets to the main menu the screen starts rapidly flickering and does not stop even into mission. Pressing alt enter fixes this issue but it’s hard to play in the tiny window. Any help is appreciated.

What version of windows are you on and what video card are you using? You can still disable desktop composition on Windows 8 and 10 if you happen to be using those but it’s much harder now http://superuser.com/questions/1016170/temporarily-disable-desktop-composition-in-windows-10

A better solution would be to increase Mechcommander’s very low starting resolution (640×480) to something more reasonable like 1280×1024 via this tutorial and continue to play in windowed mode http://www.thegameengine.org/mechcommander-gold/mechcommander-gold-high-resolution/

The ‘cellPassable’ crash is not caused by a corrupt install. It has something to do with moving the cursor around the edge of the screen in certain resolutions; it’s probably caused by moving the cursor into an invalid map cell. You can see from the stack trace that the game is trying to run an AI function to see if it can find a path through the cell under the cursor. This is used to update the appearance of the cursor when moving it around the terrain.

Mechcommander Gold on Windows 7

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