MC - Player's Guide - Darkest Hours - Skirmish mode Solomissions tutorial - Modding MechCommander

Hello MechCommanders,

in the last days i received some complaints about the "presentation" of MechCommander content. I would like to remind you that my work is for free. I don't do it for any company - neither i'm getting paid for anything i publish. Although i would like to remind you, that all the MechCommander content that got released here on modDB during the last month - in the first place just was a rudimentary recreation of ealier existing NoGutsNoGalaxy hosted web content. Although i would like to remind you, that i have no artist work group or any professional programer team in background to do things - i'm a one man show. Of course i have to admit that some articles have a really bad language and are full mistakes in written form. But that results on the fact that most of the information and content is written by different persons with different nationalities - all in english. The next thing that comes in place is the pure mass of information and the connected canon lore - that brings MechCommander with itself. I can understand that - when you visit my profile and discover the MC stuff for the first time - you may see not the single thing you are searching for on the first view - but - when you start routing through this content you most certainly will find an answer for any question you may have. Especially when you find and use the "overview" pages and link collections for my guides. All of this is still under construction and many things will get overhauled - so i please you to have patience - and when you have a certain question - never mind to leave a comment on a relating article. Together we can make the presentation greater - and not looking like made by a chimp on steroids.

Back to topic: After my focus went back to MechCommander i decided to continue my modwork way further. Summed up the Darkest Hours standalone is finished. The original and expansion campaign merges work smooth and better than any original version built. With version 4.2 i released it's final update. This update includes more optional solo-missions and offers technical compatibility to the last official solomission release for Darkest Hours - containing about ~160 additional scenarios that where originally content of MSZone wayback when gameservers where online. In addition the basic Darkest Hours built contains already Skirmish versions of ALL existing campaign missions. What actually blew up the origin solo-mission count from 3 total solomissions to 134. But this still wasnt all. Darkest Hours although includes never officially released single player campaigns made by customers. The 2nd Refusal War, The Offense, Yankee Company & MechWarrior campaigns are available as solomissions for Darkest Hours users. Just "choose" solomission game mode and explore way more missions ... - the following information are just lists containing the total mission numbers and names and how they are divided / splitted:

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Original campaign missions:

1. RizZ0100
2. RizZ0102
3. RizZ0103
4. RizZ0104
5. RizZ0105
6. RizZ0106
7. RizZ0201
8. RizZ0202
9. RizZ0203
10. RizZ0204
11. RizZ0205
12. RizZ0206
13. RizZ0301
14. RizZ0302
15. RizZ0303
16. RizZ0304
17. RizZ0305
18. RizZ0306
19. RizZ0401
20. RizZ0402
21. RizZ0403
22. RizZ0404
23. RizZ0405
24. RizZ0406
25. RizZ0501
26. RizZ0502
27. RizZ0503
28. RizZ0504
29. RizZ0505
30. RizZ0506

Expansion campaign missions:

1. XRiz0101
2. XRiz0102
3. XRiz0103
4. XRiz0104
5. XRiz0201
6. XRiz0202
7. XRiz0203
8. XRiz0204
9. XRiz0301
10. XRiz0302
11. XRiz0303
12. XRiz0304

Vanilla solo-missions:

1. ACEHUNT
2. PAREDUX
3. THEGUNS

For me as player & teenager - the game had not enough missions to play. But the game was good at all. I loved it! - I played it! - I came back to it multiple times. You would like to play and enjoy the original game with it's missions above? No problem!

1. Download the Original MCGold.iso
2. Download the Original Pre-installed game folder (& optional High Resolution exe files)
3. Extract the folder to your game folders and start game from there while *.iso is mounted. You can although use the original CD - of course.

Keep in mind that physicallly the game can't be installed on newer systems (64bit and above) - but it can be played. For more information have a look into my game guides & install instructions - and keep my resolution notices in mind. Further instructions you'll find when you follow the links above / below.

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Original Xenocide campaign:

1. OP1MIS1
2. OP1MIS2
3. OP1MIS3
4. OP1MIS4
5. OP2MIS1
6. OP2MIS2
7. OP2MIS3
8. OP2MIS4
9. OP3MIS1
10. OP3MIS2
11. OP3MIS3
12. CAMPALRT
13. OP3MIS4
14. OP4MIS1
15. OP4MIS2
16. OP4MIS2a
17. OP4MIS3
18. OP4MIS5
19. OP4MIS6

Expansion Bengal Lancers campaign:

1. blop1m1a
2. blop1m2a
3. blop1m3a
4. blop2m1a
5. blop2m2
6. blop2m3a
7. blop2m4a
8. blop3m1a
9. blop3m2a
10. blop3m3
11. blop3m4
12. blop3m5

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Original X-Ray campaign:

1. Paranoia4U
2. Graduat3
3. Nile_v6
4. O5M4v6
5. op2m3v5
6. Op3M1V5
7. Op5M3V7
8. x2_4_F
9. x2_5_F
10. x4_2_F
11. x5_1_F1
12. XRayO1M1
13. XrayO1M2
14. XRayO1M5
15. XRAYO3M5v1
16. XRAYO4M1v2
17. XRAYO4M6vFINAL
18. XRAYop4mis3V2a
19. XRAYOp4Mis4V2
20. X_1_3_F
21. X_1_4_v4
22. x_1_6_F
23. X_3_2_F
24. X_5_2_F2

Expansion DSC Raid:

1. zzDSCCorzinwa1
2. zzDSCCorzinwa2a
3. zzDSCLeyland1
4. zzDSCLeyland2
5. zzDSCLeyland3

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Original Exodus campaign:

1. 2_2_v1
2. 2_2_vpi
3. Exo1_8b
4. Exo_N1
5. Exo_N2
6. Exo_N3
7. Exo_N4
8. Exo_N5
9. E_1_0
10. E_1_1
11. E_1_10a
12. E_1_11
13. E_1_3
14. E_1_4
15. E_1_5
16. E_1_6
17. E_1_7
18. E_1_9

Expansion Turncoat campaign:

1. TC0101
2. TC0102
3. TC0103
4. TC0104
5. TC0201
6. TC0202
7. TC0203
8. TC0204
9. TC0301
10. TC0302
11. TC0303
12. TC0304

The usermade customer campaign standalones, created 2002 by modders and released as fullversion by magicX 2006 where a good extension to the actual final mission count of MechCommander. Those campaigns had just the problem that they where unfinished released. Xenocide and Exodus where the most stable - but X-Ray wasn't even technically finishable. There are several missions causing serious conflicts with the game engine. Some cause they are too overloaded with objects and overlays - others cause the AI and objectives aren't working without trouble. Many bugs in the code and a broken salvage system made X-Ray the worst version. I think i could solve most of the bugs - and released reloaded versions with many bugfixes and updatet resolution choices. I extended the three standalone builts with a russian demo mod version called "TheRepulse" - containing additional eight "tutorial" missions. The Repulse solomission list you'll find below.

You would like to play the four customermade standalone campaign builts? No problem - you just need to...

1. Download the original MCGold.iso
2. Download one of the three pre-installed usermade campaign folders (overview) & start game from there while *.iso is mounted. You can although use the original CD - of course.

Keep in mind that physicallly the game can't be installed on newer systems (64bit and above) - but it can be played. For more information have a look into my game guides & install instructions - and keep my resolution notices in mind. Further instructions you'll find when you follow the links above / below.

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The Repulse - Short russian mod campaign demo built:

1. Mission 1
2. Mission 2
3. Mission 3
4. Mission 4
5. Mission 5
6. Mission 6
7. Mission 7
8. Mission 8

2nd Refusal War - Short campaign:

1. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_01
2. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_02
3. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_03
4. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_04
5. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_05
6. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_06
7. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_07
8. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_08
9. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_09
10. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_10
11. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_11
12. 2nd_Refusal_War-P_12

The offense - short campaign:

1. 1Drop
2. 2Regroup
3. 3Factory
4. 4BigGuns
5. 5Spaceport
6. 6Infotake
7. 7Defend
8. 8Cleanup
9. 9Final

The MechWarrior campaign:

1. MW3_1_1
2. MW3_1_2
3. MW_11_v1
4. MW_12_v1
5. MW_13_v1
6. MW_14_v1
7. MW_21_v1
8. MW_22_v1
9. MW_23_v1
10. MW_24_v1
11. MW_31_v1
12. MW_32_v1
13. MW_33_v1
14. MW_34_v1
15. MW_35_v1
16. MW_41_v1
17. MW_42_v1
18. MW_43_v1
19. MW_44_v1
20. MW_45_v1
21. MW_46_v1

Yankee Company short campaign:

1. yankee11
2. yankee13b
3. yankee14a
4. yankee15
5. yankee16
6. yankee21
7. yankee22
8. yankee23

Rare solomissions by RustyDios:

1. Island
2. MtSteal
3. Recruits

Those solomissions are available as solo-missions in skirmish mode only. They where never released as campaigns. So they are - right now only existing as single missions for solomission feature. I hope you enjoy those missions in spite of that at all. Some of them may not work or have some corrupted file content inside. I will have a further look on this later on by a long term run.

Those missions are basic content from MechCommander Gold - Darkest Hours v4.0 & above. These missions are for Darkest Hours versions only. They will not work with the original version cause they contain modded content that is not compatible with the basic game file structure anymore. Without the SOL-Pack 3 content below MechCommander Gold Darkest Hours v4.2 contains 195 different solo mission scenarios to choose from in skirmish single player solomission game mode feature.

You would like to play MCG Darkest Hours? No problem, you just need to...

1. Download MCG Darkest Hours Fullversion (Freeware since 2006).
2. Mount the *.iso inside the game folder and start game from folder by executing it on the resolution you desire.

RizZ note: Darkest Hours users have the comfort of an including MCGold.iso. So when you play my remastered Darkest Hours version - you don't need to download the MCGold.iso seperately. Just download the free fullversion final - extract it & enjoy playing through. The including *.iso is the original one - so it is compatible to all versions above and can be used for all pre-installed standalone folders that are listed above. See here for more information:

• MechCommander - Downloads (1) / Alternate (2) - (look into the descriptions)
• Install instructions for dummies (MC1/MCG)
• Install instructions for MCG Darkest Hours players
• Install instructions for LINUX / MAC users
• Beginner's Guide
• Player's Guide
• Overview - All campaign standalones

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Dropship command - old mission database:

1. airport
2. airport2
3. airport3
4. airstrik
5. Alamo
6. alphbrav
7. assault
8. atstand
9. avengera
10. avengrb
11. Back-to-the-Front
12. barmcost
13. Base Liberation
14. basehill
15. bayraid2
16. bgoceans
17. blines
18. briar
19. CAMPARLT
20. Canyon
21. castle
22. Cerm1
23. CermDemo
24. ChkPt4c
25. citadel
26. clanjam
27. cloakdag
28. cluster
29. CommanV2
30. Comm_Interrupt
31. Convoy (corrupted files)
32. Counterstrike
33. ctyscape
34. CuttingTeeth
35. C_S_FoolsGoal
36. DeathSpiral
37. deepreco
38. Defense (corrupted files)
39. Deserter
40. DominoZ
41. dt2
42. elhscout
43. engage
44. escape01
45. Explorer
46. farm
47. fi_or_fl
48. Gettysburg
49. gratos2
50. GreatWall
51. hanoi
52. helm
53. highway
54. hitnrun
55. hydro
56. Industrial Strike
57. ironfist
58. Island
59. Isleroad
60. jfbase
61. jfv1p1
62. jf_cw07 (corrupted files)
63. jjbreak
64. kaifeng
65. kapela3
66. kappa
67. keifeng
68. LastStand
69. LLD
70. LoneWolf
71. Maginot Line
72. MazeMadness
73. MC2Demo_V1
74. mountain guns
75. Nova Strike
76. Op_Excalibur_p1
77. outpst23
78. PA-1-1
79. PA0102
80. PA_S_Rodan
81. PirateA
82. Politics
83. PortDefense
84. Premiss
85. Prowl
86. P_S_BANAWE_v1
87. RabdWlfs
88. Raid
89. Recruits
90. RedDawn
91. Reinforcements
92. Research
93. ReTakeV2
94. Retribution
95. River Canyon
96. River
97. RockyBay
98. Sal1
99. SaveMitch
100. ShoalM1
101. ShoalM2
102. ShoalM3
103. Siagon
104. SierraSprawl
105. skovold
106. SL_Depot_v3
107. snafuv2
108. SpyHunt
109. Strike on Ueda
110. Striker2
111. subdivde
112. Surgical
113. Swot
114. Tankers
115. test4
116. The Rock Part Two
117. TheCanal
118. TheDamn
119. TheHunt
120. ThePass
121. TheRock1
122. TheWait
123. TheWall
124. TimberRaid
125. Traitor
126. TrakoV6
127. TrialV2
128. T_S_ISTukDef_v1
129. valley2
130. Vega121
131. Vega121_s
132. WildSide
133. WorkRevg
134. Wretch

Those solomissions got released wayback when Microsoft had it's MSZone servers still online. After MSZone was put down for MechCommander the files where archived by Sarna.net. I found the files on sarna and downloaded them. The problem was that several files on sarna got corrupted (maybe by a defragmantation process over the years) - but i remastered and recompiled what i found and could use - and made an optional solomission package of it. This is the third solomission package i released. The previous two solomission packs went into Darkest Hours standalone as solomissions only. This pack is so huge that i decided to make it optional. Another reason for making it optional is that i never tested all missions and can not guarantee that ALL missions will work. Some may crash when you enter them. I found some that are not working and marked them on the lists above. Those solomissions contain scenarios that where very famous wayback in the online MechCommander community. The map "death-spiral" for example i remember is one of the most epic assault maps i have ever played. Enjoy discovering this "Darkest Hours" compiled exclusive solomission content. It guarantees hundeds of hours additional playing fun time. And when i will ever finish my next standalone - some of those missions will be familiar to you then.

You would like to play those solomissions? - You can download and complicated install the original versions from sarna net on a naked basic vanilla folder - or simply download my remastered MechCommander Gold Darkest Hours fullversion and update it with the MCG-DH Sol-Pack-3 Update. Update / install instructions are in the file (RizZme.txt).

Thanks for enjoying my MechCommander content. It's a pleasure to entertain you.

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So we have...

• _45 Original missions
• +89 Customer missions
• +61 missions by MC modders
• +134 Dropship command missions from MSZone

... 329 solomission scenarios total!

So MechCommander Gold Darkest Hours v4.2 with optional Sol-Pack3 offers more than 320 solomission skirmish scenarios to play. With it's basic campaign merges the whole single player content blows up to 450 single scenarios that can be played in 2 game types - solomissions and single-player campaign mode.

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(c) by RizZen (2017-2020)

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