UE4SS for MechWarrior 5 - Mercenaries

Description

UE4SS is an open-source scripting framework for Unreal Engine games: it loads beside the game and lets Lua mods observe and extend it, without touching any game files. This page is UE4SS packaged and configured specifically for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, because the stock release does not work on MW5 out of the box and there was no MW5 page for it until now.

Vixen Core is the first mod built on this UE4SS setup, my diagnostics companion for MW5. More Vixen mods will build on it going forward.

Fair notice about what's in the box: UE4SS ships with its own small set of built-in utility mods, including ones that enable the Unreal console and the engine's built-in cheat manager. They are standard UE4SS equipment on every game, they are listed below, and you can turn any of them off in one text file.

All credit for UE4SS itself goes to the UE4SS-RE team (github.com/UE4SS-RE/RE-UE4SS, MIT license, notice included in this download). What this page adds is the MW5-specific configuration: a signature file MW5 needs to boot UE4SS at all, settings adjusted to the values tested on this game, and install steps checked against a real working install.

Installation

Everything installs into ONE folder: your game's Binaries\Win64 directory, the folder that contains MechWarrior-Win64-Shipping.exe.

Steam: ...\steamapps\common\MechWarrior 5 Mercenaries\MW5Mercs\Binaries\Win64\

1. Unzip this download. Everything in it goes into Binaries\Win64, keeping the folder structure exactly as it is in the zip.

2. Check your result against this list. After a correct install these exact files exist (this is the fastest way to catch the classic wrong-folder mistake): UE4SS.dll, dwmapi.dll, UE4SS-settings.ini, LICENSE-UE4SS.txt, UE4SS_Signatures\FText_Constructor.lua, Mods\mods.txt, all directly under Binaries\Win64. If UE4SS.dll ended up in a folder like Win64\UE4SS_v3. 0. 1\ or next to your desktop download, it is in the wrong place and nothing will load.

3. Launch the game normally. A separate UE4SS console window opens alongside it; within a few seconds it should show a version line and mod-loading messages, with no PS scan timed out error. A UE4SS.log file also appears next to UE4SS.dll.

4. That's it. UE4SS mods (like Vixen Core) install as folders under Binaries\Win64\Mods\, each with its own line in Mods\mods.txt or an enabled.txt inside the mod folder.

About UE4SS_Signatures\FText_Constructor.lua: this file is why a plain UE4SS download does not work on MW5. Stock UE4SS cannot locate one engine function in MW5's specific build and shuts down at startup before loading anything (PS scan timed out). The bundled file supplies the missing pattern through UE4SS's own documented custom-signature mechanism (docs.ue4ss.com, "Fixing missing AOBs"). It is a plain-text