Summary

This game WILL run on windows XP, but it MUST be the dos version.

To install it, you have to run MINST.EXE (not _MINST.EXE) straight from the CD. It will give you error messages, but you can bypass them all. Once you have, it will install properly.

The game works, and has issues, but pretty much all of them are fixable. The issues may include:

Unable to get into the "Clan halls" (use nolfb.com to fix)

CD Music doesn't play or plays only once (use sapucdex.exe to fix)

Game sound is choppy or distorted (use VDMSound to fix)

Mouse is stuck in a corner, or is sluggish (use mouse2kv to fix)

Jump Jets do not recharge, and/or your own weapons damage you when fired. (use a CPU Killer program to fix)

1024x768 mode doesn't work (use "vgafix" to fix)

All of these programs are available in the VDMSound download on the Vorgon Zetafleet site. I'm not sure if linking is allowed here, so just search for it in google.

Dos box appears to be unnecessary.

The Netmech dos program also works.

As a strange quirk, the Netmech windows 95 version works under win95 compatibility mode, even if Mechwarrior 2 windows 95 doesn't work.

My cd doesn't even have a minst.exe, only a _minst.exe

I am able to play this game with no issues, using no compatibility hacks or anything. The sneaky backdoor trick I used was to install using DOSBox (this is a third-party program, not just a console window), and I installed from the DOS folder on the CDROM. This is NOT the Titanium Edition. If anyone has any success at all with getting the Titanium Edition to function AT ALL under Windows XP, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.