Readme File for Microsoft MechWarrior 4: Vengeance Patch 3

and Black Knight Patch 1

© 2000–2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This readme contains information about the changes and improvements provided by MechWarrior 4:
Vengeance Patch 3 and MechWarrior 4: Black Knight Patch 1.

CONTENTS
A. Installation
B. Changes and Improvements
C. Troubleshooting Messages for Errors During Patch Installation

A. Installation

If you opted to load the patching utility executable file to your computer before installing the patch instead
of installing the patch directly from the Web site, perform the following installation procedure.

To install the MechWarrior 4: Vengeance Patch 3 or MechWarrior 4: Black Knight Patch 1

1. Go to the folder where you saved the patch utility executable file.
2. Double-click the Mw4p3.exe or Mw4xp1.exe file (as applicable), and then follow the instructions that
appear on the screen. Once the patch has installed, no further action is required.

File Mw4p3.exe installs MechWarrior 4: Vengeance Patch 3 and file Mw4xp1.exe installs
MechWarrior 4: Black Knight Patch 1. The MechWarrior 4: Vengeance patch must be installed. The
MechWarrior 4: Black Knight patch is required only if you have MechWarrior 4: Black Knight installed.

B. Changes and Improvements

The patches add auto-updating functionality. When connecting to the Internet through any MechWarrior 4
game, you are now automatically notified of any new version releases or other updates that are available
for download. A location for downloading the updates is given. This updating process is not mandatory;
you can refuse the update and play in a multiplayer session. However, each time you connect to the
Internet for multiplayer play using MechWarrior 4, you will receive the notification again.

The patches modify the server browser screen to show different versions of the MechWarrior game (not
just compatible games) to give a better picture of the MechWarrior community. The different game
versions can easily be distinguished as follows: White games are compatible with the game version you
have installed. Green games are newer versions, and red games are older versions.

The patches fix several instances of a bug that caused certain ’Mechs using Jump Jets to be significantly
more difficult to hit than other ’Mechs.

The patches fix a bug that sometimes resulted in damage not being recorded correctly in multiplayer
games. This behavior still appears occasionally as the result of games with high server lag, but the
patches should reduce the instances of the problem significantly.
The patches fix several bugs in which the server browser screen displays an incorrect number of players
(for example, full servers report having available slots, available servers report as full, and servers report
an impossible number of players, such as 20/17). However, for performance reasons the game does not
constantly update the number of players on a given server. Thus, it is still possible for the displayed
numbers to be temporarily incorrect or out of sync, although this problem should resolve itself over a
period of 10 to 20 seconds.

The patches fix a problem in which the game stops responding on Win32 dedicated servers when you
select the Leave Slots for Human and Fill Game with Bots on Launch options.

The patches fix a divide-by-zero error in the file Mc_listboxes.script that sometimes caused multiplayer
games to stop responding when a player entered the game.

The patches fix a bug that caused the game to stop responding in certain unusual instances when using
the advanced firing technique called chain fire.

The patches fix a bug that caused the game to stop responding in extremely rare circumstances when
scrolling through items in the MechLab.

The patches fix a bug that allowed duplication of weapons in Campaign mode. This duplication could
happen without your choosing duplicate weapons and caused the game to stop responding in certain
circumstances, with the error message “Access Violation in MW4x (0x16ACD8).”

The patches fix several bugs related to running a multiplayer server using a minimum installation of
MechWarrior 4: Vengeance with MechWarrior 4: Black Knight installed. Despite these fixes, it is still
recommended that you use a full installation of MechWarrior 4: Vengeance if you intend to run a
multiplayer server.

The patches fix a bug with Win32 dedicated servers running MechWarrior 4: Black Knight that caused
issues with displaying MechWarrior 4: Black Knight ’Mech names.

The patches fix a bug that prevented client inquiries verifying connection (or pings) from being displayed
in the multiplayer server lobby for Win32 dedicated servers running MechWarrior 4: Black Knight.

The patches fix a bug in which navigation points (or nav points) in multiplayer games disappeared under
certain circumstances.

The patches fix a bug where rules added for bots in the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight editor only loaded
once.

The patches fix a bug in which bot rules in the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight editor did not load all
parameters. Bots populated, but the tonnages and minimum and maximum AI levels entered as bot rules
did not load.

The patches fix a bug in the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight editor that disallowed new rules when using
new game types such as Absolute Attrition, Giantkillers, and Clan vs. Inner Sphere.

The patches fix a bug in the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight editor that caused the game to stop responding
when you made a bot rule that created bots with tonnages not allowed under team rules. One example is
if Team 1 only allowed 30–60 ton bots, but the bots that your rule automatically generated for Team 1
were 70–90 tons.

The patches fix a bug in the MechWarrior 4: Black Knight editor in which editing the respawn limit count
rule resulted in the limit incrementing by 1.

C. Troubleshooting Messages for Errors During Patch Installation

The following error messages may appear during installation of the patches.
0001: Illegal Input Option '<Option>'. Either the specified option is an invalid option, or you do not have
the appropriate user level to use the option.

0002: Insufficient Memory. Insufficient memory is available to run the patch. The patch needs more
memory free for its internal tables.

0004: Specified Update Directory '<DirName>' does not exist. A directory to update was specified that
does not exist.

0005: Specified [Update|Backup] Directory '<DirName>' is not a valid directory. A directory name
was specified for either the Update or the Backup directory that is not a valid directory name. An existing
file with the same name as the specified directory can cause this message.

0006: Cannot Find Patch File '<FileName>'. The patching utility executable file (MW4.exe or
MW4x.exe) was not able to locate the specified patch file.

0007: Error Opening Patch File. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was able to locate the patch file but could not
open the file to read it. A corrupted disk can cause this error.

0008: MW4.EXE and Patch File incompatible - Need to update MW4.EXE. The current version of
MW4.exe or MW4x.exe and the patch file are incompatible. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe can update patch file
versions older than itself but not newer versions. You need to obtain a later version of MW4.exe or
MW4x.exe to apply this patch.

0009: Invalid Patch File '<FileName>'. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to read correct information
from the specified patch file. The file is either not a patch file or has been corrupted. Obtain a new copy of
the patch file and then rerun the patch.

0010: Failure Creating Backup Directory '<DirName>'. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to create
the specified backup directory.

0013: Failure Opening Backup Destination File '<FileName>'. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to
open a new file to copy the original file to.

0014: Failure Writing Backup File '<FileName>'. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to write the
original file to the backup version.

0015: Old File does not exist. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe needs information from the existing version of a
file in order to create a new file and was unable to locate the old file.

0016: New File already exists. A file with the same name as the new file being created already exists.
The existing file is copied to the backup directory if the Backup option for MW4.exe or MW4x.exe is on.

0017: Failure Opening Old File: 'filename'. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was able to locate the old version of
a required file, but the open operation on the file failed. Try rerunning the patch.

0018: Failure Opening New File: '<FileName>'. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to open the named
file while attempting to open it to create a file for the updated version of the game. A disk or network error
can cause this error. The existence of a directory with the same name as the file that the patching utility is
trying to open can also cause this error.

0019: Failure Writing to File. An error occurred while MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was trying to write
information to a new file.

0020: Failure Reading from File. An error occurred while MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was trying to read
information from an old file.

0021: Failure Seeking to Position in File. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to find a specified
position within a file. A corrupted disk probably caused this problem. Try rerunning the patch.
0022: Failure Renaming File. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to rename a file. A corrupted disk
probably caused this error. Try rerunning the patch.

0024: New File already exists. The specified file has already been patched. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe
does not need to patch this file.

0025: Verify of New File Failed. Possible Internal Error. The file that MW4.exe or MW4x.exe created is
not valid.

0026: Failure Creating Overflow File: 'FileName'. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to open a file for
its overflow information. A full disk drive probably caused this error.

0027: Overflow File Write Failure. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to read from the overflow table it
created to hold data that did not fit in its internal tables. A corrupted disk or insufficient room on the disk
for the file probably caused this error.

0028: Overflow File Read Failure. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to read from its overflow table. A
full disk probably caused this error.

0029: Insufficient Disk Space to Apply Patch - You need at least <Size> bytes free on drive
<DriveLetter> for <Feature>. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe needs at least the specified number of bytes free
to perform the patch process. If the Undo or Backup option is selected, the patching utility needs room to
back up all of the files making up the original game and also room to create the patched version of the
game. If both Undo and Backup are not selected, the patching utility only needs room to back up the
biggest of the files being patched.

0030: Error opening serialization file '<FileName>'. Either MW4.exe or MW4x.exe could not find the
serialization file, or the open operation on that file failed. Try rerunning the patch.

0031: Error reading serialization file '<FileName>'. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe cannot find the correct
position in the serialization file or read the correct number of bytes from the file. Possible causes are
invalid positions and lengths specified while running Patchbld.

0032: Failure Setting File's Time/Date Stamp. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to set the time-date
stamp for an updated or backed up file. A disk failure or network file-sharing problem probably caused this
error.

0033: Failure creating temporary file. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to create a temporary file to
hold a new file or overflow information. Try rerunning the patch. If rerunning the patch does not work,
reduce the number of temporary files required by disabling Backup and Undo on the MW4.exe or
MW4x.exe command line.

0034: Neither command line parameter specified is an existing directory. Multiple parameters were
given on MW4.exe or MW4x.exe command line that were neither valid patching utility options or existing
directories. If multiple parameters are specified, at least one must be a valid existing update directory.

0035: Only one file and one directory may be specified on command line. More than one patch file
and one update directory were specified on MW4.exe or MW4x.exe command line.

0036: Old file not found. However, a file of the same name was found. No update done since file
contents do not match. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe was unable to locate an exact match for a file to be
updated, although the patching utility was able to locate a file with the same name as the original file.
However, the file found did not have either the same size or checksum as the file that the patching utility
is seeking to update. A checksum is a count of bits done for comparison purposes.

0037: Error opening error message file. MW4.exe or MW4x.exe could not open the file MW4.err or
MW4x.err for storing error messages. Try rerunning the patch, or specify the NOERRORFILE option on
the MW4.exe or MW4x.exe command line.
‘This is impossible’ error message. A server is being run on a minimal installation of MechWarrior 4:
Vengeance. A server should only run on a full game installation.

‘Failure opening New File c:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\MechWarrior:

Vengeance\resource\RTxxxxx’ error message (xxxxx = random numbers or letters). Insufficient free
disk space exists to install the patch. The patch requires a minimum 230 MB of free disk space. After
increasing memory capacity, rerun the patch.

If you experience an internal page fault (IPF) error while installing the patch on a computer running
Microsoft Windows 98, make sure your virtual memory is active. To do so, right-click My Computer, click
Properties, click the Performance tab, and click Virtual Memory.

You might experience a 0036 error when installing the patch on a Nordic, Italian, or Brazilian game. If you
encounter this error, uninstall and reinstall MechWarrior 4: Vengeance and rerun the patch.