Unlocking the PC version of X5

[Link-NM]

A while ago I decided to give a check on some of my old uploads on my personal blog. That took me to this post where I talked about how I fixed my old copy of Mega Man X5 on PC. I decided to take a look at the PCGaming Wiki link I shared there since I wanted to make sure my instructions still worked. To my surprise, the download I used from there was gone

Of course, since it's a wiki I tried searching through the article's history and apparently the download and patch shared there was killed. I then noticed since when it was gone and possible reasons: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Talk:Mega_Man_X5

So I talked with @ViperAcidZX and she pretty much confirmed me nothing new has happened since then. So I checked my copy of X5 and, yeah, my copy does work even today on Windows 11. And I pretty much remember and based on what I wrote in my article that the only thing the patch did was replace the main executable of the game.

To sum it up, if you have a copy of Mega Man X5 for PC that doesn't work anymore because of DRM, try replacing the main exe with this file:
https://files.catbox.moe/7cvyt1.7z

It's in a 7zip file. As far as I know, that's the only thing the patch did to fix the game not working anymore. (I lost the original zip containing the patch, btw. But as far I recall, it was actually the full game, so it's probably why it got taken down.)

[Link-NM]

We really need a mod here to take care of all these bots. Any new topic gets drowned too and older topics are pretty hard to get to.

[TheRedFlash]

This is pretty interesting, especially since most people seem to forget the old native PC versions exist. Thanks for the preservation effort! On that topic, have you heard of Final Weapon? It's a modified/fixed version of X4 using the PC port as a base.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnx9pfmWHc4

There's similar projects for X4-6 that I thought were applied to the PC port as well, but it seems I am mistaken.

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6131/

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4035/

[kevinmahoney95]

I've played the PC ports of X4 and X3. I liked them. However, I find that their use-case is kind of niche today. I was only playing them because I had this super old laptop and I was trying to find out some ways I could inject new life into it.

[TheRedFlash]

You should really look into Final Weapon, it's genuinely the best way to play X4 game. I think the only issue is that most people (reasonably) do not turn to the PC versions when modding, as interesting as it would be as a base. It's still weird they exist tbh.