2. Installation Walkthrough

A. Download the game in your web browser. Make a note of where you are saving the download on your PC.

B. Locate where you saved the download and start the installation process.
Good examples of where to install the game would be:
1. Your Desktop: C:\Users\Admin\Desktop
2: Program Files: C:\Program Files

C A. For Windows 7/8.1 -
The game should now boot up normally in most cases unless you are using a new graphics card the game does not recognize.
If the game is not recognizing your graphics card go to " Part 2 ".

C B. For Windows 10 - check if the game will launch normally. If not, do the following from Part 1 and Part 2 below:

Part 1: Enable Legacy Components
Step 1 -> Click Start Menu button
Step 2 -> Click the gear / cog symbol ( settings )
Step 3 -> The windows settings screen pops up
Step 4 -> Search for "Windows Features" and look for " turn windows features on or off "
Step 5 -> Windows Features Screen pops up
Step 6 -> Make sure " Legacy Components " and " Direct Play " are checked ON
Step 7 -> Try to launch the game. If the game still has issues proceed to " Part 2 ".

Step 8
Also, you may need to turn off your user account control settings.
Control panel -> user accounts -> change user account control settings -> never notify.
-When you do this you are stopping the built in windows security from blocking MW4.


Part 2: Graphics Card Workarounds
The most common problem by far is that graphics cards are too new for Mechwarrior 4. There are 3 tested and proven methods that work to mask your graphics card from the game. You may have to try only one or all three depending on how your PC and GPU (graphics card ) react to the MW4 game launch.

Part 2 Strategy 1:
A. Go to file path: Your Game folder -> Assets -> Binaries -> name imagehlp.dll to imagehlp1.dll . You are renaming the original file so that MW4 skips over trying to make sense of your graphics card.
B. If the game does not launch after step A (above), do not change files back. Leave them edited. Proceed to Strategy 2 (below).

Part 2 Strategy 2:
A. Use your device manager to disable your graphics card.
B. What you are looking for is a visual indication that your PC is using a very basic graphics display driver. Signs such as an unusual resolution or large icons.
C. Leave GPU disabled
D. Try launching the autoconfig then see if the game will launch.
E. If you have a successful launch, go through the EULA and past the movie to the normal game menu.
F. Exit the game ( turn it off ).
G. Enable your graphics card again from the device manager.
H. From here, we have had cases where the game now launches normally and works fine.
I. If this did not work for you, you probably want to let us have a look at your PC on discord but if you are determined to do this alone you can go below to " Strategy 3 ".


Part 2 Strategy 3:
A. We have run into cases where it was necessary to mask the GPU from the game using a "GPU wrapper" The one we have had success with is DGvoodoo.
B. DGvoodoo link: dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2.html Download " dgVoodoo v2.62.3 "
C. Open the zipped dgvoodoo zippled file
D. mechwarrior 4 uses Direct X and is a 32 bit game so click dgvoodoo2 -> MS -> x86
E: in the x86 folder you should see 4 .dll files. -> highlight them all -> copy -> paste into your game folder.
F: You may also want to copy and paste the "dgvoodo.cpl" (that launches the dgvoodoo config screen ) into your game folder. How you organize things is up to you.
G: I would recommend spending 3 minutes reading this instructions guide on using dgvoodoo: dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/QuickGuide.html