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MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, the first single player MechWarrior game for a long time has jumped from the Epic Store over to Steam and it runs well on Linux. Note: copy personally purchased.

It's (sadly) not officially supported by the developer on Linux but you can play it easily thanks to the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer. No special tweaks needed, just ensure your Steam client and Proton are up to date, it's click and play. So now you too can climb into a huge mech and go stomping around without much trouble.

Here's a little initial quick-show of it in action using Proton:

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Performance appears to be great and it's quite a lot of fun stomping around. It has been for the most part smooth sailing (er, stomping?) with movies working correctly too. I did freeze up and crash on me twice though, so keep that in mind it may have some stability issues somewhere. The AI though, wow, it's pretty — stupid, and that's being kind about it. I've seen AI mechs trying to walk through big rocks and practically get stuck, because an enemy mech was on the other side somewhere. The AI just isn't particularly good.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Features:

  • A World of Destruction – Level entire cities and decimate armies of enemy forces while piloting hundreds of unique BattleMech variants.
  • Seek The Truth – Follow a path of interstellar intrigue in a quest for glory and revenge as the leader of a mercenary company reborn in the flames of near destruction.
  • The Merc Life – Manage the intricacies of running an expanding mercenary company, from the maintenance and acquisition of BattleMechs to the hiring of fellow MechWarriors.
  • Fight Together – Fight alongside your friends with four-player PvE co-op support.

Nice to see another bigger release working right away on Linux, thanks to the work from Valve and their partner CodeWeavers on Proton.

Just remember though that running it in this way on Linux is not actually supported. The usual caveats apply: it can break any time and the developer doesn't need to ensure it continues working this way. If you're not clear on what Proton and Steam Play are, be sure to check out our constantly updated dedicated page. It's a special compatibility layer for running Windows games and apps from Steam on Linux.

Pick up a copy from Humble Store or Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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18 comments
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darthbasselope May 31, 2021
Quoting: JHey,
I made the *critical* error of buying it on EPS, and I have only ever managed to get it to run once.

Does anyone know list of setting that will make it work via lutris / heroic or manual installation of EPS?

Sorry to have to ask for help, I had it working exactly once....


nvidia 460.73.01 with a 1650 Super (not expecting great perfomance but any playable setting will do)

thanks

Heroic Games Launcher works great with Epic games store. With Heroic Games Launcher you can select what version of proton you want to use as long as you have it installed with Steam.
TheRiddick May 31, 2021
There is a inner sphere addition and you can get it with base game called drop something bundle for like 57AUD on fanatical. No GOG sales atm.

I'll probably wait a bit longer, give mods and more discounts to appear.
Purple Library Guy Jun 1, 2021
Quoting: EzequielI'm a bit confused, there are tons of great games that run with Proton. Why does this windows game get an article?
I guess the guy who runs the site and gets to decide what he wants to talk about, likes Mechwarrior.
ElectricPrism Jun 1, 2021
This goes to my wishlist. I have always wanted to buy some of these games but haven't because that was before Proton existed. I have a massive nostalgia over it's predecessor by 7th Level G-NOME originally for Windows 98.

My only contemplation is whether this one is the one or not. I would like something that's full controller support at least, and I haven't checked out the competition in a while either. Not sure if it improved.
_J_30000 Jun 1, 2021
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Quoting: darthbasselope
Quoting: JHey,
I made the *critical* error of buying it on EPS, and I have only ever managed to get it to run once.

Does anyone know list of setting that will make it work via lutris / heroic or manual installation of EPS?

Sorry to have to ask for help, I had it working exactly once....


nvidia 460.73.01 with a 1650 Super (not expecting great perfomance but any playable setting will do)

thanks

Heroic Games Launcher works great with Epic games store. With Heroic Games Launcher you can select what version of proton you want to use as long as you have it installed with Steam.

thanks - I have tried all options as far as I can see it starts and then crashes immediately I cannot get to tell me whats wrong

Heroic settings seem to confuse me....

in the game settings (and universal settings for safe keeping)

wine prefix folder:
/home/xxxxxx/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/Proton-6.8-GE-2

Wine version:
Proton Proton-6.8-GE-2

anyone know where to get a clear set of instructions how to setup Heroic? I am wondering whether it needs something like VCRUN to work so such but Heroic spits out no information at all...


Last edited by _J_30000 on 1 June 2021 at 10:38 am UTC
RossBC Jun 1, 2021
-dx12 will switch it to vkd3d
Also if your running Muqss scheduler with your kernel you can you use schedtool in I mode with less cores which the game likes.

schedtool -I -n 4 -a 0xfff0 -e %command%

Mind that will do nothing if you don't have the muqss scheduler.
Find dx12 games don't crash (for me) with nvidia as well, while messing around with that stuff.

Also if you use MANGOHUD_CONFIG=vsync=3 it's less likely to stutter then the games normal use of vsync and might save your gpu from running at 100% all the time.


Last edited by RossBC on 1 June 2021 at 11:55 am UTC
Liam Dawe Jun 1, 2021
Quoting: EzequielI'm a bit confused, there are tons of great games that run with Proton. Why does this windows game get an article?
  • It's a new Steam release.

  • Wasn't ridiculously expensive.

  • I like big mechs.

  • I cover what I want to cover.

And the list goes on.
ElectricPrism Jun 2, 2021
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: ElectricPrismThis goes to my wishlist. I have always wanted to buy some of these games but haven't because that was before Proton existed. I have a massive nostalgia over it's predecessor by 7th Level G-NOME originally for Windows 98.

My only contemplation is whether this one is the one or not. I would like something that's full controller support at least, and I haven't checked out the competition in a while either. Not sure if it improved.

Just curious: you know that "Proton" is just wine, right? Some extra patches, and DXVK added, but still just wine. While DXVK was the missing piece for good performance on DX11 titles, even that existed before "Proton".
Or is it more of a case that you didn't because of wanting Steam integration?

I've been using WINE since the early 00s to play StarCraft BroodWar, Counter Strike 1.6, etc...

You have to understand people have sociological economic / behavioral reasons behind the things they do. Just because I "COULD" throw some money to buy some CD or DVD in the early 00s and then spend 5-10 hours dicking around trying to figure out the right conditions to make it work -- doesn't meant I would.

Even today, Games that run fine on Proton sometimes don't run fine when downloaded via GOG and ran on WINE.

The older I get the more I have to try to make my time count for something so if I solve a problem, I document the process and share it and move on -- sometimes becoming the benefactor in the future of my past self.

Quoting: GuestI'm only curious, repeated because text cannot convey tone of voice.

If the game controls are similar to Mechwarrior Online (and they should be, MW5 is basically that with some AI instead of other players from what I can tell) a controller may work, but isn't designed for that. MW:Online is free though, I can recommend playing that to get a feel for things.

Right on, thanks for the input. I think the game I was really interested in but couldn't remember was Heavy Gear Assault but after the initial negative reviews and steep entry price with no demo I was turned off.

Then BattleTech looked super interesting but then was turn based.

Then I was sortof interested in Titanfall 2 but because EA is the publisher it just makes me feel dirty and like I'd be investing my time into something only to have the feeling that EA will somehow ruin it in the near future, plus if any other launchers are involved It's just a automatic NO.

The only reason I buy computer games is because I appreciate how lazy Steam lets me be -- little to no Administration, it's always up to date, no screwing around with installers, etc... That's what I am giving my money for, "It just works" and "requires little to no work" just some [Tux Bux$].

I've long said that if the computer market ever splits up into multiple stores piracy come easily back with a vengeance. Some of these greedy companies greed trying to lessen Steam's cut could EASILY undermine their ability to sell games on PC at all. One of many reasons I advocate for Steam's Dominance (with a little exception for GOG cuz the no DRM thing is worth throwing money at too)


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 2 June 2021 at 7:39 pm UTC
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