About
MechCommander 2 is a 2001 real-time tactics game based on the BattleTech/MechWarrior franchise, developed by FASA Interactive and distributed by Microsoft. MechCommander 2 Omnitech is a mod aiming to create an upgraded, more easily moddable version of MechCommander 2, built on the source Microsoft released under its Shared Source license. It's built in Visual Studio 2010 (Express is sufficient) using the Release configuration, since Debug currently has compilation bugs.
How it differs from the original
The mod's explicit goal is not new campaign content — the authors note plenty of good campaigns already exist — but rather exposing tactical possibilities and moddability the original developers either didn't explore or couldn't due to technical or business constraints.
Getting started
Open Build/MechCmd2.sln in Visual Studio 2010 (the free Express edition works), set the configuration to Release, and build — the Debug configuration currently fails to compile.
History
Microsoft released MechCommander 2's source under its Shared Source Limited Permissive License, which was later renamed the Microsoft Public License during Open Source Initiative review and approved on October 12, 2007; the Free Software Foundation considers it a free-software license but incompatible with the GNU GPL.