r/mechwarrior • u/Icehellionx • Sep 09 '26
MechWarrior 3 Mechwarrior 3 Remaster
https://github.com/Icehellionx/MechWarrior-3-RemasteredSo if it interests you I built an all-in-one simple installer for Mechwarrior 3 to let it run on modern systems. You just run the .exe, point it at the ISO files for the CDs, and it installs the game, wraps them so they work on Windows 11, upscales them, adds anti-aliasing, ups the available colors to get rid of banding, does some minor clean up of the cut-scenes (not fully but they look better than base, especially the blacks), and made sure the musics working.
I tried to leave the game 'as intended' as much as possible. Just a super easy clean way to play Mechwarrior 3 without jumping through hoops.
Pirate's Moon is also supported.
*EDIT*
Cleaning out other edits so this doesn't just scale up forever.
1.2.6 is out. Should fix issues people were having with the Pirate's Moon ISO and some other issues.
26
u/Mental-Speed794 Sep 09 '26
Many moons ago, MW3 was the first game I ever bought and played on pc. This sounds awesome!
11
7
u/mysticgregshadow Sep 10 '26
someone comment if this works
5
u/Speedingbus Sep 10 '26
I too want to know if this works/isn't malware
11
u/Icehellionx Sep 10 '26
I'd tell you it isn't, but I don't think you'd take my opinion very seriously as the creator lol.
4
u/Waygyanba Sep 10 '26
I cannot get it to work on my 5080. My computer is way too overpowered for the game.
5
u/Waygyanba Sep 10 '26
Update. Got it working on a laptop with a 13600 something something no problem.
2
2
u/Xendaka_Korva Sep 10 '26
Can confirm that it is infact, NOT MALWARE, also turned out for me to get it to work you just had to install the ISO, then the remaster program will work perfectly without any errors, even on windows 10
And by install the ISO, I mean as in mounting it and selecting the Setup EXE and go through the install process.1
u/AutoModerator Sep 10 '26
This is in an effort to control Spam and other bad actors who make new accounts almost daily. Your posts must be manually approved by the Moderation team, don't worry Comstar has already sent them a message to approve it or else.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
5
u/Icehellionx Sep 10 '26
I will say I've heard it's working for most people but some people are getting issues booting it. If you do try restarting your machine and see if it starts clean. If you have issues please DM me your PC stats and if you find a particular program interfering with it I can look at getting a patch out.
3
u/Sebastian_Links COU-A Sep 10 '26
Any plans on doing something like this for Mechwarrior 4 or 4 Mercs? Took a bit of work to get those running on my current pc and last one. Also thanks for this I have avoided Mechwarrior 3 on my new computer because I didnt wanna go through the setup hassle so I cant wait to try this this weekend.
5
u/Icehellionx Sep 10 '26
I've thought about it. I focused on Mechwarrior 3 first as I know it isn't nearly as supported compared to 4.
2
u/MasterFelpes Sep 10 '26
Last I checked, those games were pretty easy to run (just use dgVoodo for vengeance) and the MekTek release for mercenaries.
3
u/Xendaka_Korva Sep 10 '26
Am currently getting a "Failed to initialize video device"
Any suggestions as to how to deal with it as I'm currently running a stripped down version of windows 10
2
u/Sebastian_Links COU-A Sep 11 '26
im am getting the same issue there is a dialog window that pops up for a split second before it says failed to initialize that says something along the lines of software render components were not installed during setup.
#3 on this page has a fix for the error but i just got off work and don't wanna go testing regedit fixes lol.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mechwarrior/comments/1u41ocj/i_just_got_mechwarrior_3_to_run_on_windows_11/
2
u/Sebastian_Links COU-A Sep 11 '26
I can confirm that this fixed it for me. works perfectly after that.
1
u/Xendaka_Korva Sep 11 '26
I managed to figure it out on my end, turns out the Remaster Dev goober forgot to include the "Install game from ISO first before starting the Remaster install."
1
u/AutoModerator Sep 11 '26
This is in an effort to control Spam and other bad actors who make new accounts almost daily. Your posts must be manually approved by the Moderation team, don't worry Comstar has already sent them a message to approve it or else.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/AutoModerator Sep 10 '26
This is in an effort to control Spam and other bad actors who make new accounts almost daily. Your posts must be manually approved by the Moderation team, don't worry Comstar has already sent them a message to approve it or else.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
2
u/cambeiu Sep 10 '26
I love that you are doing this, but I just want to point out that a remaster is not the same thing as a modern installer.
15
u/Icehellionx Sep 10 '26
Was calling that due to the the added anti aliasing, modern resolution support, anisotropic filtering, and color band fixing, and a few other cleanups. If people show interest I might go further and look at upscaling textures and stuff like that but I know that's way more controversial. I want to make sure I've got the 'base' experience nailed down.
5
u/cambeiu Sep 10 '26
Why would it be "controversial" as no one is forced to used it?
You are doing God's work, keep at it.
2
u/ihearnosounds Sep 10 '26
Probably AI related controversy would be my guess
10
u/Icehellionx Sep 10 '26
Yeah, I'm not exactly a texture artist so if I did it it would just be doubled texture resolution trying to keep them as close as I could to the start and just sharpening them and keeping them as close to the originals as possible, but if I did it would be AI and I don't know if I want to spend dozens of hours on something for people to just yell 'slop' is my only thing. I have looked into getting shadows in but it would be a big ordeal to get dynamic shadows in the game. I'd basically have to build the engine from scratch.
4
u/EricAKAPode Sep 10 '26
You're one guy making a free product, how dare you use tools that make it easier? Fuck the Butlerian Jihadis
3
u/Icehellionx Sep 14 '26
I mean.. you'd **think** but. It's a whole thing I don't even want to get ranting on.
0
u/cambeiu Sep 10 '26
If you do it with AI I'd still try it out.
If the result is not good, it is just not good, but at least your tried. Nothing to bash someone about it.
4
2
2
u/DeckOfGames Sep 10 '26
Wait, no widescreen here?
6
u/Icehellionx Sep 10 '26
This release I'm trying to keep the game as 'close to release intent' as possible' and nail that as sturdy on a lot of system before I look at stuff like that. Widescreen I'm not sure about as the cockpits are 2d textures and I don't know how much they might clip in 16x9 since they weren't made for that.
2
u/Leafy0 Sep 10 '26
I know I forced it to work at 16:10 back in the day and I don’t remember it being horrible.
1
u/MasterFelpes Sep 10 '26
If I remember correctly, dgVoodo just stretches the cockpit texture the same way it does to menus; it looks alright, but then again, I don't really remember what it looks like in its normal form
2
2
1
u/Some_Quality6796 Sep 10 '26
But does the music work???
I got music to work in my last install earlier this year. It was a nightmare. It was not exactly worth it, but very cool.
2
u/Icehellionx Sep 10 '26
Yeah, music works.
1
u/Some_Quality6796 Sep 10 '26
I'll have to look at that specifically to see what wizardry you pulled off. Excellent!
1
1
u/LucidFir Sep 10 '26
ah man that's awesome. i think we're going to see a lot of old games getting remastered now.
can you get it working specifically on steam deck?
1
1
u/MasterJeebus Sep 11 '26
Thanks for your work on this, I will need to check this out once I have some free time.
1
u/Flyinmanm Sep 11 '26
I've installed it and tried to run it with an ISO, but it when it said it needed to install I think directdraw it says it could not initiate video and now says after 5 attempts cant make it work?
I'm running a 5800x3d 64gb ram, 9070xt and its installed on my E: drive as my C: is quite full. Is there a step I've missed?
1
u/Icehellionx Sep 11 '26
Is it on the newest version I just put out earlier today?
1
u/Flyinmanm Sep 11 '26
Yeah, I just downloaded it.
2
u/lemonsworth Sep 11 '26
I had the same issue. I ran an install from the iso exe, restarted, and its working well now.
1
u/Flyinmanm Sep 12 '26
Did you create an image for the ISO before you installed,
2
u/lemonsworth Sep 12 '26
No, the steps i took were;
Downloaded Remaster & An ISO.
Right click, mount iso.
Ran Remaster.
(got the errors)
Double clicked the exe in ISO, installed.
Restarted.
Works perfect now.
Enjoyed a banger of an intro.
2
u/Icehellionx Sep 12 '26
I hope you enjoyed me doing my best to widescreen the openings and clean up the blacks in the Opening video a bit. It was a GIANT pain in the ass.
1
u/lemonsworth 24d ago
it did look alot better than i was expecting. you did a great job on this. mw3 was my intro to the mw universe as a kid and that opening cinematic has always held space in my brain.
2
1
u/Flyinmanm Sep 12 '26
Yeah I did that just after posting and it worked (not had chance to say thanks for the tip!)
Now I need to see if I can get it working when my F16 hotas as mouse and keyboard in MW3 is horrible, nothing like mw5 which you can tell was designed around m&k and joypad 😅
1
u/Icehellionx Sep 11 '26
Okay, do me a favor. When it fails it should give you the location of several dump files that can help me figure out what's causing the failure. If you can send me those via discord I might be able to track down the issue. It's been a lot of whack-a-mole trying to find specific peoples weird little glitches.
Profile on discord is
614681438490460170
1
u/Flyinmanm Sep 12 '26
Sorry I don't use discord, it seems to be related to video and Anti aliasing all the errors refer to trying to find different methods to do stuff like MSAA.
Below is the first few lines of the error message.
2026-09-11 20:19:17.313 Launch requested for MechWarrior 3; launcher=1.2.4.0; OS=Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0; 64-bit OS=True.
2026-09-11 20:19:21.772 Disc image is mounted and readable (launcher-owned).
2026-09-11 20:19:22.206 Compatibility files: ddraw=v0.7.1-dirty; CD audio helper=1.0.0.0.
2026-09-11 20:20:05.146 Stopped installation-owned CD audio helper through its shutdown protocol.
1
u/mEDIUM-Mad Sep 13 '26
It shows me an error about not finding output device
1
u/Icehellionx Sep 13 '26
If you can supply me the dump files I might be able to track down the error for you. If it fails to load it tells you where to find them.
1
1
u/infiniti_verse 27d ago
Great project, thank you for your work.
Windows 11 system here, tested it, installs fine, runs okay but 1 issue that I noticed right away with using headphones is that the game music audio is only coming through the left channel and not the right channel so its just mono audio for the music for me.
The game weapons and effect sounds are stereo, so its just the games music which is a shame because its being just a few tracks its some good atmospheric music for the game, it'd be great to get this working 100%.
Is this the case for anyone else or is it just me? I'll try testing on another system I have here and post the results soon
1
u/AutoModerator 27d ago
This is in an effort to control Spam and other bad actors who make new accounts almost daily. Your posts must be manually approved by the Moderation team, don't worry Comstar has already sent them a message to approve it or else.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/beandipdragon 24d ago
No cutscenes working?
1
u/Icehellionx 24d ago edited 24d ago
They should be? All cutscenes were working. I even took the opening cutscene and resized it to fully use a widescreen monitor. If you're having bugs please put an issue post on the github along with any bug dumps if it gives you one along with system stats.
1
u/Paladin_Thylus 24d ago
Yeah, when I fire it up it sits at a black screen for about 5-10 seconds, then just drops to the main menu. I chose to install both the iso and Pirates Moon, but have only played the base game so far.
The only other bug I've noticed is some sounds randomly blast your eardrums out, while everything else is whatever you set your volume to. Big one was on the 3rd(4th?) mission of the campaign, when a shuttle launches, and a Thor comes out to fight you, the shuttle's volume sounds like a bomb is going off inside your house, and you cant hear anything else until it goes away. I'm not sure if it's a bug with the patch or something else with MW3 running on modern hardware though.
1
u/Icehellionx 24d ago
If you could please add those as a bug report on the github page under issues so I can come back to it later.
The black screen thing is really odd. I don't know what's going on there.
I've seen some people say things get weird for them if they don't install on C, so you might check that.
1
u/Rimm9246 24d ago
Seems to work, can play missions with no crashes or anything, only problem I'm having is that I can't seem to change keybinds. I can click on a bind to highlight it but I can't change it to anything. Is there some trick to it?
1
u/Icehellionx 24d ago
It you wouls. List it at as an issue on the github link, so I can have it documented and take a look.
0
u/connected_user93 Sep 10 '26
Windows defender flags cdaudioplr.exe as a Trojan. It then breaks any further attempt at trying to install. No thanks, not worth the hassle.
3
u/Icehellionx Sep 10 '26 edited Sep 10 '26
I can't really do anything about that. It's the DRM built into the old music tracks. If it was removed the game wouldn't have music.
EDIT
Correction, it was the old media **player** that was doing it. I've tried replacing it with a different stripped down one. Hopefully it doesn't false flag Windows Defender now.
29
u/hydra337 Sep 09 '26
This sounds incredible, I’ll have to make time to give it a try.