Guest Share Posted April 27, 2014 http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/MechWarrior_4:_Mercenaries MW4:M was a freeware game, but apparently now it suddenly is not, and yet the game is still avaiable for download from the official servers through a special utiliy and even from fileplanet itself. http://www.fileplanet.com/211778/210000/fileinfo/MechWarrior-4:-Mercenaries-(MTX-Files) What do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roughjericho 0 Share Posted April 28, 2014 I removed the original freeware links from the page because all of them were defunct, including the MTX Extract utility. As for the freeware status of the game, MecTek had removed the game downloads from the original site. According to Egomane, a moderator of the MechWarrior Online forums (http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/156437-mw-4-mercs-no-more-mtx-now-what/page__p__3320998?do=findComment&comment=3320998): "Technically next to Microsoft only Mektek had that right for their special version of MW4 and the extra content they provided. Because it was technically free, no one cared about it being distributed by other means, though it still wasn't legal to do so. With Mekteks decision to stop their MW4 support and to create their own game instead, the only one with distribution rights is once again Microsoft. Because of that, we can not allow alternative sources to be posted to the MWO forums." TL;DR the freeware status of MW4:M is up in the air, as MekTec has more or less abandoned the series and Microsoft has made no move to publish the game on their own channels. I'm going to remove the links you posted on the page, as I have no idea if they're legal or not. Edit: Also in the same thread, by the same moderator: only Mektek was allowed to distribute the free release. No one else! So all the alternative sources for the files where essentially illegal. Any download source, that was not the Mektek server, was a license violation. That's where they looked the other way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirh 103 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I think that we eventually should read the freeware game version license. That could be conclusive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roughjericho 0 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Trouble is, I have no clue where that license is, as all content pertaining to MechWarrior has been wiped from MekTek's website. Right now, the alternate download locations are questionably legal, so I'm not too sure we should promote them as a means of getting the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirh 103 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Trouble is, I have no clue where that license is, as all content pertaining to MechWarrior has been wiped from MekTek's website. Right now, the alternate download locations are questionably legal, so I'm not too sure we should promote them as a means of getting the game. The license is almost certainly readable during the installation, and probably is even included in the installation folder The questionable legality could be solved exactly by reading it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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