MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries Patch

The patch includes the following changes and improvements for Mech Warrior 4: Mercenaries:

• New protections that prevent players from using "trainer" tools. These tools allowed players to create 'Mechs that violated game limits on weapons and equipment.
• Improved the way heat works in order to limit exploits with energy weapons and to keep the intended flavor of the game universe. Specifically:
  • Heat is now tracked to a higher threshold.
  • You can now only override an automatic shutdown one time while the temperature of a 'Mech is in automatic shutdown range. If the 'Mech continues to stay above that temperature, it will continue to automatically shut down.
  • If you shut down manually when the temperature of the 'Mech is in automatic shutdown range, you will not be able to start up again until the temperature is below the automatic shutdown threshold.
• The "NoFog" setting in the videocard.txt file no longer disables fog. This setting was originally intended as a compatibility fix for older video cards, but its potential for giving players an unfair advantage in multiplayer games has necessitated its removal.
• The "No Respawn" checkbox in the Game Lobby screen has been replaced by a "# of waves" checkbox, which functions as follows:
  • When the "# of waves" checkbox is unchecked, respawn functionality is enabled. The resulting behavior is the same as in the retail version of MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries when the "No Respawn" box was unchecked.
  • When the "# of waves" checkbox is checked and the # of waves is set to 1-9, the functionality is similar to the retail version of MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries when the "No Respawn" box was checked, but it is limited by a set number of waves in addition to a time limit.
  • When the "# of waves" checkbox is checked and the # of waves is set to Unlimited, the functionality is identical to the retail version of MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries if the "No Respawn" box was checked (waves continue until the time limit is reached).
• Adjusted objects in the "Paradise" multiplayer map so that it no longer occasionally crashes the game.
• An occasional crash which displayed the message "Stop: Vehicle off edge" error has been fixed.
• The amount of "knock" caused by being hit by a Rotary Autocannon 2 (RAC2) has been reduced.
• The ER PPC now does 14 damage, and its range is now 925 meters.
• All 'Mechs now have the same internal heat scale. The changed 'Mechs include the Masakari, Daishi, Atlas, Hauptmann and Thanatos.
• If you own one or both MechWarrior 4: 'Mech Pak products, you can now run a dedicated server and connect to that server as a client even if both machines have the 'Mech Paks with the same Product Identification number installed.
• You can now run a Win32 dedicated server and restrict 'Mechs from either of the MechWarrior 4: 'Mech Pak products.
• When a host player fires missiles while in Passive radar mode, the missiles are no longer seen as tracking their targets on the client(s).
• Error messages for being kicked out of a game, for being banned from a game, or for using a Product Identification number that is already in use (only applies when using MechWarrior 4: 'Mech Pak products) are now correct.
• Corrected the problem where you would occasionally not respawn in No Respawn games if you used Ctrl-Z to eject.
• A host can now kick and/or ban users from a server using "connection ID" rather than user name. The following three new commands have been added to server chat:
  • -lc Lists all the connection numbers along with MP names.
  • -kc Kicks by connection number.
  • -bc Bans by connection number.
• Server lock now functions correctly on Win32 dedicated servers.
• 'Mech animations in the "Target Selection" box are now present all the time. (Previously, they sometimes didn't appear.)
• The spectator camera now shows the name of the player it is currently displaying. Previously the camera would sometimes show the name of the winning player even if that player's 'Mech had been destroyed.
• ZoneStats logs now upload correctly when using a Win32 dedicated server.
• ZoneStats logs generated locally (on your computer) now correctly record bot weapon use.
• In multiplayer, a chat message now indicates when a player is destroyed by a turret.
• The new command line "-cycle " (in both the NFM Editor and the game) makes it possible to host multiple servers on one computer using different server cycle lists.
• When using the MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries Editor, you can now create user-made MissionPlay maps that will not cause the error "Can't find Stock_MissionPlay.abl". There is a new file "objectives.abl" located in \Content\ABLScripts\StockScripts. Attach this file to something a player has no chance of killing (for example, attach them to buildings and put them out of sight of the player). If objectives.abl isn't attached to something, then mission objectives will never be displayed.
• The "RespawnLimitNumber" flag doesn't have any effect now and has been removed from the NFM Editor, and a new "RespawnWaveNumber" flag has been added to the .nfm files. The default for "RespawnWaveNumber" is 0. The numerical values for RespawnWaveNumber are - 0 specifies unlimited waves, 1-9 specifies 1-9 numbers of waves (anything else will be discarded)