MechCommander Redux

MechCommander Redux

An unofficial recreation of MechCommander Gold (FASA Interactive / MicroProse, 1999) for modern 64-bit systems.

MechCommander Redux rebuilds MechCommander Gold's game code as 64-bit C++. The original game was a 32-bit Win32 program built on DirectDraw, DirectSound, DirectPlay and Smacker video. Redux keeps the game's own classes, functions and logic, rewritten as modern C++, and replaces that Windows/DirectX layer with SDL3.

It is not an emulator and not a patch to the original executable. It is a from-scratch reconstruction that reads the data files from your own copy of MechCommander Gold.

Download

⬇ Download the latest version for Windows (64-bit)

⬇ Download the latest version for Mac (Apple silicon): MechCommander Redux.app, which finds your copy of the game by itself (see INSTALL-Mac.txt in the zip).

This is a zip file with the game (MCRedux.exe), the Mission Editor (MCEditor.exe) and instructions. You also need your own copy of MechCommander Gold: see Running the Game and Mission Editor for how to set it up. To see what changed in each version, or to download an older one, visit the releases page.

Table of Contents

• MechCommander Redux
  • Download
  • Table of Contents
    • Highlights
    • Planned Features
  • Changes, Bug Fixes and Known Issues
  • Legal Notice
  • Running the Game
    • Installing
    • Command-Line Options
    • Saves and Settings
  • Mission Editor
    • What You Need
    • Setting Up the Editor
    • What the Editor Changes in Your Game Folder
    • Editor Command-Line Options
    • Troubleshooting the Editor
  • Building
    • Requirements
    • Compiling
    • Technologies
    • Project Layout

Highlights

• Faithful game logic, rebuilt function by function from the original game.
• Renders at your window's resolution during missions (640x480 minimum) and scales the menu screens to fit.
• Multiplayer over TCP/UDP, in place of DirectPlay: LAN games are found automatically, and internet games connect by host:port (default port 28800).
• Windows first, with Linux planned.
• Many bugs in the original game were fixed in this recreation. See CHANGES.md for the changes, bug fixes and known issues.

Planned Features

These are presented in no particular order.

• Complete C++23 Integration (Finish modernization object and memory management, code structure, etc.)
• Complete Hardware Rendering
  • The original game used software rendering to an offscreen buffer and copied this buffer to the DirectDraw surface. This behavior is still how rendering functions.
• Port editor to modern C++.
• Matchmaking/lobby service implementation.
• Update on menus to allow full screen rendering on different resolutions.
  • The original game menus were 640x480. Higher resolutions only took over during gameplay.

Legal Notice

MechCommander Redux is an unofficial, non-commercial fan project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft, FASA Interactive, MicroProse, Catalyst Game Labs, or any other holder of the MechCommander, BattleTech or MechWarrior trademarks and copyrights.

I do not own the rights to MechCommander Gold or any of its content. MechCommander, BattleTech, MechWarrior and all related names, logos and artwork are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

This repository contains no game data: no art, audio, video, maps, missions or executables from MechCommander Gold. You must supply your own legally obtained copy of the game to play.

Please do not contact me asking for a copy of the game. I cannot and will not provide one.

Running the Game

You need a legitimate installation of MechCommander Gold. Redux contains none of the game's data, and only reads from your installation; it never modifies it.

Installing

1. Download the latest MechCommander Redux zip file (direct link).
2. Extract it. Either:
   • extract it into your MechCommander Gold folder (the one containing SYSTEM.CFG), then run MCRedux.exe; or
   • extract it anywhere you like, and point it at your MechCommander Gold folder with --data (see below).

On a Mac, drag MechCommander Redux.app to your Applications folder and open it (the first time, allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security; see INSTALL-Mac.txt).

Redux looks for the game's data in the first of these folders that contains SYSTEM.CFG:

1. The folder given with -d / --data (if it has no game, Redux shows an error listing every folder it tried)
2. The current folder
3. The folder MCRedux.exe is in
4. The folder chosen or found last time
5. On a Mac, a copy of the game (SYSTEM.CFG beside MCX.EXE) beside the app, in /Applications or ~/Applications (including inside a Wineskin, Porting Kit or Kegworks app) or in a CrossOver bottle

If it finds several copies, or none, Redux asks which folder to play and remembers the answer. Hold Option (⌥) as the Mac app opens to choose again.

Command-Line Options

MCRedux.exe [-d|--data <install folder>] [--user <save folder>] [game options]

Option	Description
-d, --data <folder>	Your MechCommander Gold installation (the folder containing SYSTEM.CFG)
--user <folder>	Where saves, preferences and temporary files go
-h, --help	Shows the list of options

The original game's own options are passed through unchanged:

Option	Description
-mission <n>	Starts mission segment n directly, skipping the logistics screens
-load <file>	Loads a saved game

For example:

MCRedux.exe --data "C:\Games\MechCommander Gold"

Premade Matches

A launcher (or a script) can set up a multiplayer match before anyone starts the game, so nobody has to pick the mission, drag names onto teams or type resource points. Start the host with -host plus the match, and each other player with -join and the -player name the host's -slot entries use:

MCRedux.exe -host 28800 -player Alice -session "Match42" -maxplayers 4 ^
  -matchmap desert_duel -team1rp 20000 -team2rp 15000 -team1tech is -team2tech clan ^
  -slot Alice 1 0 -slot Bob 1 1 -slot Carol 2 0 -slot Dave 2 1

MCRedux.exe -join 192.168.1.10:28800 -player Bob -session "Match42"

When every player named by a -slot has joined, the host checks that they are exactly the roster and that every machine has the mission file, then takes everyone straight from "Waiting for Players" to the mech bay. The ready room, the map selector and the wait for the mission's settings are never loaded: the host fills in an MPGameConfiguration (mission, points, tech bases, roster) and sends it to the guests in one message. Guests need no extra options.

Option (host only)	Description
-matchmap <name>	The multiplayer mission (.mpk), without folder or extension. Every player needs the same file in the same place.
-team1rp <n>, -team2rp <n>	Resource points for each player of the team (the session screen's figure is a team's pool, shared out among its players). Without them the mission file's figures are kept.
-team1tech <is|clan>, -team2tech <is|clan>	The team's tech base. Without them the mission's are kept.
-slot <player> <team> <slot>	Puts the player named -player on team 1 or 2, in slot 0 to 2 (the slot decides the player's drop zones). One per player, up to six.

The players in the session must be exactly the ones named, and the host must be among them. If one is missing, an extra player joined, the host lacks the .mpk, or a guest says it lacks it (or doesn't answer within 15 seconds), the host is left on the "Waiting for Players" screen with a log message and can press Go to carry on by hand. A locked mission keeps its own points and tech bases. The game checks only that each player has a file of the mission's name, not that it is the same file, so a launcher should check the files match.

Saves and Settings

Without --user, saves and preferences go to your user profile, in %APPDATA%\MechCommander Redux\ on Windows and ~/Library/Application Support/MechCommander Redux/ on a Mac, so they never touch the game folder.

Mission Editor

MCEditor.exe is a 64-bit recreation of the MechCommander Mission Editor, the tool that came on the MechCommander Gold CD for making your own maps and missions. It works like the original, but runs on modern Windows without any of the old components the original needed: no MFC 4.2 DLLs, no Microsoft Jet or DAO database engine, no Visual Basic runtime, and nothing to register with Windows. Everything it needs is built into the one .exe file.

The editor is optional. You don't need it to play the game.

What You Need

1. MechCommander Gold installed on your PC. The editor uses the game's own art, terrain and settings, so it works inside the game's folder, just as the original editor did.
2. One of these, so the editor can get its own files (its templates, tables and mission database) the first time you run it:
   • the MechCommander Gold CD in your CD/DVD drive,
   • a disc image of the CD (an .iso file), or
   • a folder where the original Mission Editor was installed in the past.

You only need the CD (or the image, or the old folder) once. After the first run, the editor has everything it needs.

Setting Up the Editor

Step 1: Find your MechCommander Gold folder. This is the folder that contains the files SYSTEM.CFG and MCX.EXE.

Step 2: Put the editor in that folder. Copy MCEditor.exe from the release zip into the MechCommander Gold folder, next to SYSTEM.CFG. If you installed the game the same way, MCEditor.exe will be next to MCRedux.exe. MCEditor.exe doesn't need any other files next to it.

If you'd rather keep MCEditor.exe somewhere else, you can, but then you have to tell it where the game is each time you start it, with --data (see Editor Command-Line Options).

Step 3: Get the CD (or the image) ready.

• With the CD: put it in the drive before you start the editor.
• With an .iso file: double-click the .iso file in Windows Explorer, or right-click it and choose Mount. Windows opens it as if it were a real CD, under a new drive letter in This PC.
• With an old editor folder: there's nothing to prepare. You'll choose the folder in the next step.

Step 4: Run the editor for the first time. Double-click MCEditor.exe. The first time, the editor notices that its own files are missing and opens a window called Mission Editor Setup, asking where to copy them from:

• If the CD or a mounted .iso is there, the editor finds it by itself and fills in its drive (for example D:\). Just click Install.
• Otherwise, click Browse and choose either the CD's drive, or the folder where the original editor was installed (the one with a Teditor folder inside it; choosing the Teditor folder itself works too). Then click Install.

It only takes a moment. When it's done, the editor starts normally, and you won't see the setup window again.

Nothing on the CD is run: the editor reads its files straight out of the Mission Editor setup package on the CD (MCEDSETP\DISK1), and checks each one as it unpacks it. Nothing is written to the Windows registry for this either.

What the Editor Changes in Your Game Folder

• It adds a Teditor folder with the editor's own files (23 files: templates, tables, the starting inventories, the unit "brain" templates and the mission database).
• It adds six small sound files to Data\Sound: the clicks and sounds the editor plays.
• When you save your work, it writes your maps and missions into Data\Terrain and Data\Missions, just like the original editor.

It never replaces a file that's already there. If you want to be safe, make a copy of your MechCommander Gold folder before you start making missions.

The first time the editor opens its mission database, it converts Teditor\FitAbl.mdb (the original's Microsoft Access file) into a new file, FitAbl.db, next to it, and uses that from then on. The original FitAbl.mdb is left untouched.

Editor Command-Line Options

MCEditor.exe [-d|--data <game folder>]

Option	Description
-d, --data <folder>	Your MechCommander Gold folder (the one containing SYSTEM.CFG), if MCEditor.exe isn't in it

The easiest way to use it is a shortcut: right-click MCEditor.exe, choose Create shortcut, open the shortcut's Properties, and add the option to the end of Target, for example:

"C:\Tools\MCEditor.exe" --data "C:\Games\MechCommander Gold"

Troubleshooting the Editor

What you see	What it means and what to do
"... isn't a MechCommander Gold folder: it has no SYSTEM.CFG."	MCEditor.exe isn't in your game folder. Move it there (step 2), or start it with --data and your game folder.
"... has neither the Mission Editor's files (a Teditor folder) nor its setup ..."	The folder you chose isn't the CD, a mounted CD image, or an installed editor. Click Browse and choose the CD's drive itself (for example D:\), or the folder that contains the old editor's Teditor folder.
"Couldn't make ...", "Couldn't copy ..." or "Couldn't write ..."	Windows didn't let the editor write into your game folder. This usually happens when the game is installed under C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86), which normal programs aren't allowed to change. The best fix is to move (or reinstall) MechCommander Gold to a folder of your own, such as C:\Games\MechCommander Gold, because the editor also saves your missions there. Running MCEditor.exe as administrator (right-click, Run as administrator) also works.
You clicked Exit in the setup window by mistake	Nothing was changed. Start the editor again and it asks again.
Help > Help Topics (or Help on a right-click menu) doesn't open	The original help file uses Windows Help (.hlp), which Windows 10 and 11 can no longer show. This doesn't affect the rest of the editor.

Building

Requirements

• Visual Studio 2026 (Community, Professional or Enterprise) with the Desktop development with C++ workload, which includes the v145 toolset and the Windows SDK.

That's all. SDL3 is included in the repository and built as part of the solution, so nothing else needs to be installed.

The version number (major.minor.release.build) comes from Nerdbank.GitVersioning: version.json sets the first three parts, and the build number counts the commits since that version was set. The build runs it through the .NET SDK (8 or later), which Visual Studio usually installs. Without the .NET SDK, or outside a git checkout, the build still works but reports version 0.0.0.0. To start a new version, edit version.json; the build number starts again from 0.

Compiling

Open src/MCRedux.slnx in Visual Studio 2026, select the x64 platform and either the Debug or Release configuration, then build the solution.

From a Developer Command Prompt:

msbuild src\MCRedux.slnx -p:Configuration=Release -p:Platform=x64 -m

The output goes to src/build/bin/x64/<Configuration>/:

File	Purpose
MCRedux.exe	The game
MCEditor.exe	The Mission Editor
mc_tests.exe	The test suite
SDL3.dll	SDL3 runtime

Compiling on macOS

The game and the test suite also build for macOS on Apple Silicon, with CMake and Xcode 16.3 or later; the game runs on macOS 14 or later (the Mission Editor is Windows only). The GPU renderer runs on Metal: the build compiles the HLSL shaders with glslang (dxc has no macOS build) and translates them to Metal's shading language with SPIRV-Cross.

xcode-select --install
brew install cmake glslang spirv-cross
cmake -S src/mac -B src/mac/build
cmake --build src/mac/build --parallel "$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)"

The output goes to src/mac/build/: MechCommander Redux.app (the game: open it, or run "MechCommander Redux.app/Contents/MacOS/MechCommander Redux" --data <your MechCommander Gold folder>) and mc_tests (the test suite). The source lists come from the Visual Studio projects, so a file added to them builds on macOS too. Without the .NET SDK the version is 0.0.0.0, as on Windows.

Releases

Releases come from the Release workflow on GitHub (Actions → Release → Run workflow). It builds main, runs the tests, tags the commit v<version> (the same version the build puts in the exe) and publishes a GitHub Release with the game zip MechCommanderRedux-win-x64.zip (MCRedux.exe, SDL3.dll, MCEditor.exe, and src/docs/README.txt and INSTALL.txt), a symbols zip, MechCommanderRedux-win-x64-symbols.zip, and the Mac app, MechCommanderRedux-mac-arm64.zip (MechCommander Redux.app and src/docs/INSTALL-Mac.txt, built on a macOS runner; signed ad hoc, as there's no Apple developer account). The zips have the same names in every release, so the Download link always gets the newest one. It refuses to run twice for the same commit, since the tag would already exist.

Technologies

• C++23 (MSVC /std:c++latest)
• SDL3 for windowing, input, audio and timing
• SDL3's GPU renderer (Vulkan where available) to present the game's 8-bit frame buffer, scaled to the window
• TCP/UDP sockets in place of DirectPlay for multiplayer
• A built-in Smacker video decoder for the game's cutscenes
• MFC (linked statically) for the Mission Editor, as the original editor used
• SQLite for the editor's mission database, in place of Microsoft Jet/DAO
• miniz to unpack the editor's files from the CD's InstallShield setup
• MSBuild / Visual Studio 2026 (toolset v145)

Project Layout

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