IW4x: Client

IW4x is a community-driven project that aims to revitalize and enhance the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) multiplayer experience by providing a stable platform with support for dedicated servers and modding.

A Steam installation of Modern Warfare 2 is required to run IW4x, copies from the Microsoft Store are not compatible.

IW4x is currently distributed through the AlterWare Launcher.

Compiling from Source

Important

Clone the git repository instead of downloading the ZIP, as the latter will not work.

1. Clone the repository - git clone https://github.com/iw4x/iw4x-client.git
2. Run generate.bat to initialize and update submodules and generate the Visual Studio solution
3. Open/build the generated solution file build\iw4x.sln with Visual Studio

To use the iw4x.dll, you must have a valid Modern Warfare 2 installation with the IW4x Rawfiles installed.

Development Setup

Build to MW2 Directory

1. Right-click the IW4x solution in Visual Studio
2. Select Properties
3. Set the output directory to your MW2 install path

Setup Debugger

1. Right-click the IW4x solution in Visual Studio
2. Select Properties
3. Select Debugging
4. Set the Command value to the path of your iw4x.exe inside your MW2 game files

Tip:

• Switch to Windowed mode in-game, as breakpoints will lock the window.
• Pressing F5 will launch the game and attach the debugger.
• The default hotkey for stopping the debugger is Shift+F5.

Premake arguments

Argument	Description
--copy-to=PATH	Optional, copy the DLL to a custom folder after build, define the path here if wanted.
--copy-pdb	Copy debug information for binaries as well to the path given via --copy-to.
--force-unit-tests	Always compile unit tests.
--disable-binary-check	Do not perform integrity checks on the exe.

Command line arguments

Argument	Description
-tests	Perform unit tests.
-entries	Print to the console a list of every asset as they are loaded from zonefiles.
-stdout	Redirect all logging output to the terminal iw4x is started from, or if there is none, creates a new terminal window to write log information in.
-console	Allow the game to display its own separate interactive console window.
-dedicated	Starts the game as a headless dedicated server.
-bigminidumps	Include all code sections from loaded modules in the dump.
-reallybigminidumps	Include data sections from all loaded modules in the dump.
-dump	Write info of loaded assets to the raw folder as they are being loaded.
-nointro	Skip game's cinematic intro.
-version	Print IW4x build info on startup.
-nosteam	Disable friends feature and do not update Steam about the game's current status just like an invisible mode.
-unprotect-dvars	Allow the server to modify saved/archive dvars.
-zonebuilder	Start the interactive zonebuilder tool console instead of starting the game.
-original-str-parsing	(ZoneBuilder mode only) Parse .str files in the same manner as the CoD4 Mod Tools.
-disable-notifies	Disable "Anti-CFG" checks
-disable-mongoose	Disable Mongoose HTTP server
-disable-rate-limit-check	Disable RCon rate limit checks

Disclaimer

This software has been created purely for the purposes of academic research. It is not intended to be used to attack other systems. Project maintainers are not responsible or liable for misuse of the software. Use responsibly.