MTM2.com

Hey guys, I've been playing this game ever since it came out. I quit around 2003, when I turned 8. I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit. I have used multiple MTM2 downloads to try and install it, but it won't work. I set Compatibility mode to XP SP2, run it as admin, it gets to 100%, then freezes up. Every time. I can't install the patch. It gives me the error of not being able to find the game install. I assume this is because after 100%, it creates the registry keys and shortcuts, which the patch looks for. I own the CD and it's back at home, I'm at college atm. Any ideas?

I have a Win 8.1 laptop but I never tried it as I don't use it for gaming. Your post inspired me to try and see what happens.

Bottom line is. It can be done. It's a bit of a hassle. I will add a tutorial on the main download page.

To give you a brief description:

- Down the game from here
- Unzip the archive to a temporary folder.
- Install the game. Choose complete installation.
- The installation will freeze at the end. Close it down (ctrl+alt+del and close it the installation from the task manager)
- The game SHOULD run at this point. Try to start it and see what happens. Go to wherever you installed MTM2 and run monster.exe. You might be prompted to download DirectPlay by Windows 8.1. Do it.
- Download CowPod
- Open CowPod, click Edit>Registry Info
- If Reg Info is empty click Edit>Reset As>MTM2
- Download the patch
- Downlod and install WinRar
- Open WinRar. Open mtm2pat.exe using WinRar. Extract all the files in your main MTM2 directory, overriding monster.exe and any other files.
- Run CoWpod again, open the Reg Info, click Edit>Reset As>MTM2 (this step might be unnecessary but do it for safety as CowPod now recognizes the game as patched)
- Voilla. Now you can mount 99 pods.
- You might run into graphical problems, like the horizon line cuts all objects. Try installing nGlide

Just a side note: I found out the reason why the mtm2 patch cannot be installed "traditionally" on Win 8.1

It seems that the registry settings for MTM2 are saved in a different location than what it used to be for Win 98 and all the way up to Win 7. The mtm patch tries to look for the registry in the traditional place, hence it cannot find the installation.

Edit: I suspect the game installation might be freezing because of the very same registry issues, with win 8.1 not allowing MTM2 to create the registry entries in the traditional place.

You're a life saver, thanks. Already had nGlide installed. Followed instructions to a t. Worked great!

I'm only getting 23fps with nGlide and settings maxxed out except for the two I was told to disable. Here goes some more troubleshooting.

Are you using a laptop? If yes, is it a laptop with two different video cards?

You can try uninstalling nGlide but I fear that it might be a necessity to have it installed (due to the mentioned horizon line cutting).

But between you and me. A framerate between 20-30fps is desired. Once you go above 30fps the trucks don't handle so well, they slide in the corners and AI trucks cannot complete laps.

So I did more tests on my laptop and I found the following:

- I can reach 300fps running in software mode.
- I get between 20-25fps if I run Direct3D mode. Seems to be a severe issue with Win 8.1 here.
- I get 70 fps using nGlide. Please note, after you install nGlide you have to select the 3dfx renderer inside the game.

I have a gaming laptop so it comes with two video cards. An integrated Intel video card and an Nvidia gaming video card. The Nvidia one gets 20 more fps (90fps) in 3dfx but no change in software and Direct3D mode. However, strangely enough, I have no horizon cutting issues with Nvidia in Direct3D but I do have the problem with the integrated video card.

Further notes:

- There seems to be no horizon cutting issues in software mode, regardless of the video card. However if you plan on using the mtm renderer patch, it's not compatible with software mode (will turn your screen white after 1 race).

Edit: I don't have the time right now but I'll probably look into it soon to see if there's any video card settings that maybe throttles the game in Direct3D mode. Not in-game settings but from the external video card settings, like Nvidia's Control Panel (for example).

Detailed Win 8.1 install explanation available here now.

It's a Dell Latitude E6410. It has a nVidia Quadro NVS 3100m. No integrated. So... a POS. I can run Battlefield 2 on 60 FPS all high settings, Battlefield 3 at low everything at 29 FPS. Quake Live at 80FPS, Quake III at 120FPS, Trackmania at Medium for 40-ish FPS. MTM2 gets 23 FPS on nGlide. Haven't tried it with anything else yet. 3dfx mode selected in game. I'm also on a slight overclock in any 3d game.

3dfx mode is oddly CPU dependent.

From the web:
Windows 8.1 doesn't properly support DirectDraw, which breaks a lot of old games.


You can apparently enable it though with a registry edit.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\YourGame\\GameExecutable.exe"="$ DWM8And16BitMitigation Layer_ForceDirectDrawEmulation"
It won't get good performance though.
Also, install DirectX 9C. It's not installed by default apparently.

Dual Core i5 2.6GHz It's really throwing me for a loop, since it should be performing much better. It's a business laptop though.

9C is already installed. I'm a gamer. Have 100s of games on this machine.

Okay that's weird. 60FPS using nGlide and 3Dfx out of nowhere. I have no problems running now. What the f***.

I haven't installed DirectX9C. I'll try and do that and see if it improves anything on my end.

This is the first time I'm dealing with Win 8.1 and any "legacy" software. They really did change quite a bit with it. Think I'll stick to Win 7 on my desktop for quite a long time at this rate.

OK, so regarding low fps count in Direct3D mode. I've found several discussions online. Win 8.1 doesn't have DirectDraw enabled but it has an emulation. Just like Windows Vista and Win 7. However it seems that there is a bug in the Win 8.1 emulation software that affects games using DirectX9 and older. This is a universal problem with every old game that uses DirectDraw according to the forums and there is no viable work around (or at least I haven't found a discussion that has a solution).

So bottom line, MTM2 will not run with more than 20fps in Direct3D. Only way to get it to work OK is either through Software Renderer or hope that nGlide/3Dfx works OK.

Good to know to "old" 90's gamers like us, now I hate Win 8 even more

I read early reports that apparently the Win8/8.1 issue has been fixed in Win 10 (so far at least as Win 10 builds change almost daily). MTM2 works without problems.