MekTek MTX client

I recently found a group that is re-releasing a free version of Mechwarrior 4. Initially, the MW4 project release was rumored to be held up by Microsoft. I’m sure there were a few licensing issues that needed to be ironed out. The group is MekTek and to download the release, you have to download and install a (what appears to be) mangled bittorrent/http client that acts a little like the Steam client in many ways.

After installing the MTX client and clicking Games Available, you’ll see a list of games and addons that are available. As of time of this writing there are two, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries and AssaultTech1: Battletech.

Click File, Options and you can choose between a bittorrent and http download source. If using bittorrent, be sure any routers you may be accessing the web through allow port 57030 to forward to your PC. I’ve been using the bittorrent method, and so far haven’t been able to download the content more than half-way. I suspect it’s due to few seeders.

Choose the Installer tab under File, Options and you are able to point your download content and installed games to a location of your choice, a must-have feature for those with two disks.

MTX Installer options

Save your Options and return to the Games Available tab.

Click the game you wish to install and choose Install Game from the menu that pops up. The MTX client will attempt to download and install the selected game.

While I believe it’s a great idea, the current MTX client at version 1.0.2.4, seems very buggy on Windows 7. I’ve received several errors in the first 5 hours of use that have forced the client to close. Every few minutes, it locks tight and refuses to do anything. Saving your options are hit or miss, as this has been the largest source of errors so far. The interface is extremely over-GUI’d and in my opinion, would work better without all the glitz.

I can’t comment on the MechWarrior release yet, as I haven’t managed to successfully download it. When I get it installed, I will post my findings.