MegaMekLab is a Java program for the creation and modification of units for MegaMek.
For complete game rules, consult the Classic BattleTech rule books published by Catalyst Game Labs. These books include Total Warfare, Tactical Operations: Advanced Rules, Tactical Operations: Advanced Units & Equipment, and Strategic Operations.
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Note that not everything has been implemented across the suite at this time, which will lead to gaps.
Java programs run in their own environment, called a Virtual Machine or VM for short. These Java VMs are available on most systems from a variety of sources.
Windows users: To start MegaMekLab, run the MegaMekLab.exe file. If this fails to start MegaMekLab, see the "INSTALLING OR UPDATING YOUR JAVA RUNTIME" section, below.
Other graphical OSes: Many other graphical OSes, such as macOS, will allow you to double-click the .jar file to run it. If this does not work, try running MegaMek from the command line.
Running MegaMekLab from the command line: To do this using Sun Java, or most other implementations, navigate to the
directory containing the .jar file and run: java -jar MegaMekLab.jar.
If none of the above options work for you, see the "INSTALLING OR UPDATING YOUR JAVA RUNTIME" section, below.
Of the versions available, we now require Java 17 LTS as the bare minimal version. Newer versions should work but are not currently supported.
For Windows, follow the instructions here to ensure Java is installed correctly for the most seamless experience.
For Mac, download the installer from Adoptium directly for your version of macOS and underling platform (AARCH64 is for M-Series Mac's).
For Linux, your distribution should have a version of Java available via your package manager.
All units (meks, vehicles, infantry, etc.) are located in the data/mekfiles directory. They may be individual files or zipped up into archives (".zip"), and you may also create subdirectories if you like.
We recommend creating a folder called Customs in the data/mekfiles directory. Then using this folder to store all custom units.
As of 0.49.13, We've removed the unsupported and unofficial folders. Over the years the unsupported units dropped to only a couple. The unofficial folder is available from the Extras repository.
MegaMekLab uses two file types for units. Files with the extension MTF are meks, and all other unit types are BLK files. Both are editable with a quality text editor, but we recommend not hand editing files as it can break the programs.
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Install Gradle.
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Follow the instructions on the wiki for using Gradle.
When contributing to this project, please enable the EditorConfig option within your IDE to ensure some basic compliance with our style guide which includes some defaults for line length, tabs vs. spaces, etc. When all else fails, we follow the Google Java Style Guide.
For bugs, crashes, or other issues you can fill out a GitHub issue request.
For more information, and to get the latest version of MegaMek, visit the website.
For more information about the BattleTech board game, visit its website.
To submit a bug report, suggestion, or feature request, please visit our issue tracker
To discuss all things MegaMek, please visit our Discord
MegaMekLab is licensed under a dual-licensing approach:
All source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3). See the LICENSE.code file for details.
Game data, artwork, and other non-code assets are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC-BY-NC-4.0). See the LICENSE.assets file for details.
MechWarrior, BattleMech, `Mech, and AeroTech are registered trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC.
The BattleTech name for electronic games is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
MegaMek is an unofficial, fan-created digital adaptation and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or licensed by Microsoft Corporation, The Topps Company, Inc., or Catalyst Game Labs.
For complete information about licensing, including specific directories and files, please see the LICENSE document.
