Patch Update: Player & Vehicle Replacements, Missing Shotgun SFX Workaround
Creating more cheats for Mercenaries: PoD that override the current player model with any mesh of my choice. Right now, it overrides for certain models to avoid infighting between cheats, but I'm likely going to remove this condition to make it easier to use. Featured here are the civilian cameraman, the allies heavy, and a normal civilian. I'm testing other character models to see what can be used. This likely works for custom models too.
Post automatically merged:
Made more progress, I figured out how to replace vehicles. Here I've replaced the airport baggage truck with the forklift, which is considered cut as it only appears in a vehicle testing area.
Post automatically merged:
Found a way to modify weapons, so I tried fixing the missing shotgun SFX through a patch. I think it's much better than silence. pic.twitter.com/phOE6E4pYs
— PsxRestore (@PsxRestore) July 26, 2025
Last edited by PsxRestore,
Patch Update: 8 New Player Replacement Cheats
Added 8 more cheats for player model swapping in Mercenaries: PoD. While the updated PCSX2 patch and cheats will be included in HD Textures v3, it'll be provided as a separate download, as well as on my Github.
I wanted to repurpose the in-game cheats for player model swapping, but I might reconsider it to make them all easier to use.
I wanted to repurpose the in-game cheats for player model swapping, but I might reconsider it to make them all easier to use.
Possible Shotgun SFX Fix & More Player Replacements
I've added more player model swap cheats. There are more, but they're accessible through the in-game cheats, unlike these. I'm likely to add the rest so we don't have to remember different cheat codes for them.
Previously, I was swapping out the shotgun's soundbank with the rifle's soundbank as a workaround. This morning, I was able to get its vanilla soundbank to work in-game. I'm still tinkering with the patch as it could benefit the other weapons too. https://t.co/595muWFkW0 pic.twitter.com/DtFnI0WV2z
— PsxRestore (@PsxRestore) July 28, 2025
Last edited by PsxRestore,
That should be handled by the game pre-configuration that is included with the texture packs. It will also enable certain patches too, so I recommend reviewing those as well.
No, but they will be in V3, which might be releasing soon. I actually made more cheats and patches since then but wanted to share them in a new video. I've been sidetracked by outside projects, but eventually I'll update the thread. If it comes down to it, I'll upload WIP versions on Github and update them over time, though I'd like to avoid that altogether!
WIP HD Model Pack
I'm back, and while I'm finishing up the custom patches, I thought I'd share screenshots of a separate WIP HD model pack that's meant to complement this HD texture pack.
Last edited by PsxRestore,
Welcome back to the forum 
. Hope all is well with you in the new year. Textures on the m4 look very good compared to before so I'm sure as you finish the pack up it will be great. Mattias looks like he is a man on a mission with a itchy trigger finger in the screenshot 
.
. Hope all is well with you in the new year. Textures on the m4 look very good compared to before so I'm sure as you finish the pack up it will be great. Mattias looks like he is a man on a mission with a itchy trigger finger in the screenshot .
WIP HD Model Pack Update (More Weapons)
Thanks, glad to be back! The new year's been great for me so far, so I hope you and everyone on GBATemp have been doing well!
Sharing more screenshots of the WIP HD model pack. I don't know how often I'll update this, but I might update posts to avoid bumping the thread!
Sharing more screenshots of the WIP HD model pack. I don't know how often I'll update this, but I might update posts to avoid bumping the thread!
Last edited by PsxRestore,
WIP HD Characters
Hey, everyone! Since my last post here, I've been working mostly on weapon and prop HD models. I intend to showcase them in a future video. For now, I wanted to share progress on HD characters! I'm making small adjustments, increasing detail without causing instability, but it's showing promise.
Last edited by PsxRestore,
Mercenaries Metamod ( PNACH )
To answer your question, the HD model pack will likely be released separately from the HD texture pack. I'm still working on HD Textures v3, which focuses on manual edits. I am using 2k to 4k textures for the HD models, and it usually depends on the scale of the model in-game.
Mercenaries Metamod
This is a collection of PNACH patches for Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction that covers a wide selection of additions and tweaks, including custom store items, player character swaps, rendering improvements, weather/season control, custom HUD, and expanded vehicle and character spawn variety. To allow patches for dynamically allocated memory, it uses a custom MIPS system that hooks the game process to scan memory for signatures and creates pointers for them. Native game pointers were also discovered and utilized for these patches.
Download Links
Update (4/15/2026): Version 2 is out.
Mercenaries Metamod
This is a collection of PNACH patches for Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction that covers a wide selection of additions and tweaks, including custom store items, player character swaps, rendering improvements, weather/season control, custom HUD, and expanded vehicle and character spawn variety. To allow patches for dynamically allocated memory, it uses a custom MIPS system that hooks the game process to scan memory for signatures and creates pointers for them. Native game pointers were also discovered and utilized for these patches.
Download Links
Update (4/15/2026): Version 2 is out.
Last edited by PsxRestore,
With the Master Code cheat enabled, there is a reproducible and visible stutter or framerate drop (from 59.94 to 51.xx) whenever I swap weapons, or get on or get off a vehicle. The PCSX2 OSD still shows 100% speed so I don't think it's an issue with my PC's speed. I'm using the gamesettings provided by the mod and have tried both the performance option and the default gamesettings.
1. enable the cheat
2. swap weapons / get on vehicle / get off vehicle
3. observe stutter and check OSD to confirm framerate drop
4. disable the cheat
5. repeat #2
6. observe no stutter and no framerate drop according to OSD
1. enable the cheat
2. swap weapons / get on vehicle / get off vehicle
3. observe stutter and check OSD to confirm framerate drop
4. disable the cheat
5. repeat #2
6. observe no stutter and no framerate drop according to OSD
Mercenaries HD Textures V3 Preview
I released an update for Metamod that addresses this and add more patches. Thank you for reporting!
Post automatically merged:
A small preview of what I've been up to with Mercenaries HD Textures v3!
Last edited by PsxRestore,
Mercenaries Metamod V3 Release
New
Mercenaries Metamod V3
Download Links:
Download Links:
-Added Installer for Windows
-Added new hook in loading screen that loads additional templates, allowing all vehicles and more characters for use.
-Implemented custom texture pool for more dynamic PCSX2 texture replacement patches.
-Updated Patches:
• Widescreen (Xbox): Fixes performance hit by optimizing it for PS2, and when the PDA is in use.
• Extended LOD (HD): Optimizes values to fix a performance hit.
• FPS Unlock v2: Due to older PNACH patches utilizing unlabelled cheats, which load at a higher priority, Metamod's FPS Unlock v2 patch is unlabelled to ensure it's automatically applied last. This fixes older patches preventing Metamod from hooking.
-Added/Updated Rendering Cheats:
Extended Draw Distance:
• Terrain: Increases the default rendering distance of the terrain.
• Models: Increases the default rendering distance of models.
Upscaled Loading Icons: Fixes PS2 loading screen icons!
-Updated Merchant of Menace Extender:
• Implemented submenus in each category to organize all custom items. Use left and right on Metamod categories to change vehicles, supplies or air strikes.
• Added custom shop items:
Vehicles:
Helicopters:
• Wz-9 Light
Tanks:
• Type 80
• Type 96
• T-54
• T-62
Supply Drops:
• SK Heavy Reinforcements
Air Strikes:
• B53 Nuclear Bomb
• Updated custom shop items:
• M1 Tank: No longer spawns from crates, stays upright on delivery.
• M1978: No longer spawns from crates, stays upright on delivery.
• Rebalanced custom shop item prices: Reinforcement, helicopters, and tanks have fairer prices.
• All shop items can now be purchased and used throughout the game.
• Merchant of Menace Extender no longer tries to unlock all shop items! It only adds custom items now.
• Fixed bug where unused texture lookup interfered with loaded templates. Custom shop items should now spawn as requested.
• Fixed bug where numerous blank/duplicate items would get added.
• Fixed being unable to select other items (priced at $0) on loaded saves.
-Added Difficulty Cheats:
• Tougher Enemies: Weaker NPCs take as much damage as Hero NPCs and the player.
• Weaker Allies and Player: Hero NPCs and the player take as much damage as weaker NPCs.
• Weaker Player Only: Sets player max health to 200 hitpoints! Alternative for when you want ally NPCs to be stronger.
• Vanilla Difficulty: Reverts damage tables to vanilla values! ( Use when other difficulty cheats have been in effect! )
-Added Factions Cheats:
NK:
• Friendly: Makes NK faction friendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes NK faction friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes NK faction unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes NK faction unfriendly towards civilians!
SK:
• Unfriendly: Makes SK faction unfriendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes SK faction friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes SK faction unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes SK faction unfriendly towards civilians!
Mafia:
• Unfriendly: Makes Mafia unfriendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes Mafia friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes Mafia unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes Mafia unfriendly towards civilians!
China:
• Unfriendly: Makes China faction unfriendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes China faction friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes China faction unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes China faction unfriendly towards civilians!
Allies:
• Unfriendly: Makes Allies unfriendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes Allies friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes Allies unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes Allies unfriendly towards civilians!
Neutral Relations: Sets all factions to be neutral with the player.
Vanilla Factions: Reverts faction relation tables to vanilla values! ( Use when other faction cheats have been in effect! )
-Added/Updated Player Model Swap Cheats:
Prokat:
• Alt Outfit: Swaps current vanilla character to outfit alt.
• Vanilla Character: Reverts to starting character
China:
• Heavy: Adds the Chinese Heavy Soldier
SK:
• Heavy: Adds the SK Heavy Soldier
• Spy: Recategorized as SK, previously "China"
-Added/Updated NPC Cheat:
Civilians:
• Heavy Civilian Density: Tweaked spawning and rendering radius.
• High FPS Animation: Disables LOD system for all NPC animations so they can run at high FPS.
-Added HUD Cheats:
Crosshairs:
• Cross
• Dotted Circle
• T-Shaped
• Pinpoint
• Vanilla
PDA:
• Xbox-Style PDA: Scales GPU window to match that of the Xbox version. Swaps the PS2 button texture for the Xbox button texture.
• Full-screen PDA: Zooms into the GPU's screen. Best suited for 4k Widescreen!
• Vanilla PDA: Original PDA size and positioning.
Debug:
• Disable HUD: Will force disable the HUD.
• Enable HUD: Will force enable the HUD.
-Added Camera Cheats:
• FPS (WIP): A custom FPS camera mode!
• Alt TPS: An alternative third person camera scheme.
• Vanilla: Reverts TPS camera to original setup.
-Added/Updated Vehicle Cheats:
Civilian:
• Improved Sports Car Handling: Fixed pointers for mass and torque. Improved turning speed at max speed.
Increased Vehicle Variety (Expands the variety of vehicles that spawn):
• Civilian
• NK
• SK
• Mafia
• China
• Allies
Texture Swaps:
• UN Flag -> US Flag: Swaps UN flag for US flag on vehicles.
• Mafia Flag -> ExOps Flag: Swaps Mafia Flag for ExOps Flag on vehicles.
Heavy Vehicle Density: Fixed performance hit by accounting for vehicle count and increase variety to scale density.
-Added Weapon Cheats:
Muzzleflashes:
• Photoreal: Replaces stylized muzzleflash with a photorealistic remake of it.
• Realistic: Replaces stylized muzzleflash with realistic muzzleflash.
• Vanilla: Reverts muzzleflash texture.
Bullet Tracers:
• Xbox-style: Uses the Xbox colors for bullet tracers instead of the PS2's version.
• Star Wars: Makes bullet tracers red!
• Vanilla: Reverts bullet tracers to vanilla.
• Real Weapon Names: Weapon pickups will use their real-life names when displayed in the HUD
-Added new hook in loading screen that loads additional templates, allowing all vehicles and more characters for use.
-Implemented custom texture pool for more dynamic PCSX2 texture replacement patches.
-Updated Patches:
• Widescreen (Xbox): Fixes performance hit by optimizing it for PS2, and when the PDA is in use.
• Extended LOD (HD): Optimizes values to fix a performance hit.
• FPS Unlock v2: Due to older PNACH patches utilizing unlabelled cheats, which load at a higher priority, Metamod's FPS Unlock v2 patch is unlabelled to ensure it's automatically applied last. This fixes older patches preventing Metamod from hooking.
-Added/Updated Rendering Cheats:
Extended Draw Distance:
• Terrain: Increases the default rendering distance of the terrain.
• Models: Increases the default rendering distance of models.
Upscaled Loading Icons: Fixes PS2 loading screen icons!
-Updated Merchant of Menace Extender:
• Implemented submenus in each category to organize all custom items. Use left and right on Metamod categories to change vehicles, supplies or air strikes.
• Added custom shop items:
Vehicles:
Helicopters:
• Wz-9 Light
Tanks:
• Type 80
• Type 96
• T-54
• T-62
Supply Drops:
• SK Heavy Reinforcements
Air Strikes:
• B53 Nuclear Bomb
• Updated custom shop items:
• M1 Tank: No longer spawns from crates, stays upright on delivery.
• M1978: No longer spawns from crates, stays upright on delivery.
• Rebalanced custom shop item prices: Reinforcement, helicopters, and tanks have fairer prices.
• All shop items can now be purchased and used throughout the game.
• Merchant of Menace Extender no longer tries to unlock all shop items! It only adds custom items now.
• Fixed bug where unused texture lookup interfered with loaded templates. Custom shop items should now spawn as requested.
• Fixed bug where numerous blank/duplicate items would get added.
• Fixed being unable to select other items (priced at $0) on loaded saves.
-Added Difficulty Cheats:
• Tougher Enemies: Weaker NPCs take as much damage as Hero NPCs and the player.
• Weaker Allies and Player: Hero NPCs and the player take as much damage as weaker NPCs.
• Weaker Player Only: Sets player max health to 200 hitpoints! Alternative for when you want ally NPCs to be stronger.
• Vanilla Difficulty: Reverts damage tables to vanilla values! ( Use when other difficulty cheats have been in effect! )
-Added Factions Cheats:
NK:
• Friendly: Makes NK faction friendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes NK faction friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes NK faction unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes NK faction unfriendly towards civilians!
SK:
• Unfriendly: Makes SK faction unfriendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes SK faction friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes SK faction unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes SK faction unfriendly towards civilians!
Mafia:
• Unfriendly: Makes Mafia unfriendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes Mafia friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes Mafia unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes Mafia unfriendly towards civilians!
China:
• Unfriendly: Makes China faction unfriendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes China faction friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes China faction unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes China faction unfriendly towards civilians!
Allies:
• Unfriendly: Makes Allies unfriendly to all factions!
• Friendly to Player: Makes Allies friendly to the player!
• Unfriendly to Player: Makes Allies unfriendly to the player!
• Attack Civilians: Makes Allies unfriendly towards civilians!
Neutral Relations: Sets all factions to be neutral with the player.
Vanilla Factions: Reverts faction relation tables to vanilla values! ( Use when other faction cheats have been in effect! )
-Added/Updated Player Model Swap Cheats:
Prokat:
• Alt Outfit: Swaps current vanilla character to outfit alt.
• Vanilla Character: Reverts to starting character
China:
• Heavy: Adds the Chinese Heavy Soldier
SK:
• Heavy: Adds the SK Heavy Soldier
• Spy: Recategorized as SK, previously "China"
-Added/Updated NPC Cheat:
Civilians:
• Heavy Civilian Density: Tweaked spawning and rendering radius.
• High FPS Animation: Disables LOD system for all NPC animations so they can run at high FPS.
-Added HUD Cheats:
Crosshairs:
• Cross
• Dotted Circle
• T-Shaped
• Pinpoint
• Vanilla
PDA:
• Xbox-Style PDA: Scales GPU window to match that of the Xbox version. Swaps the PS2 button texture for the Xbox button texture.
• Full-screen PDA: Zooms into the GPU's screen. Best suited for 4k Widescreen!
• Vanilla PDA: Original PDA size and positioning.
Debug:
• Disable HUD: Will force disable the HUD.
• Enable HUD: Will force enable the HUD.
-Added Camera Cheats:
• FPS (WIP): A custom FPS camera mode!
• Alt TPS: An alternative third person camera scheme.
• Vanilla: Reverts TPS camera to original setup.
-Added/Updated Vehicle Cheats:
Civilian:
• Improved Sports Car Handling: Fixed pointers for mass and torque. Improved turning speed at max speed.
Increased Vehicle Variety (Expands the variety of vehicles that spawn):
• Civilian
• NK
• SK
• Mafia
• China
• Allies
Texture Swaps:
• UN Flag -> US Flag: Swaps UN flag for US flag on vehicles.
• Mafia Flag -> ExOps Flag: Swaps Mafia Flag for ExOps Flag on vehicles.
Heavy Vehicle Density: Fixed performance hit by accounting for vehicle count and increase variety to scale density.
-Added Weapon Cheats:
Muzzleflashes:
• Photoreal: Replaces stylized muzzleflash with a photorealistic remake of it.
• Realistic: Replaces stylized muzzleflash with realistic muzzleflash.
• Vanilla: Reverts muzzleflash texture.
Bullet Tracers:
• Xbox-style: Uses the Xbox colors for bullet tracers instead of the PS2's version.
• Star Wars: Makes bullet tracers red!
• Vanilla: Reverts bullet tracers to vanilla.
• Real Weapon Names: Weapon pickups will use their real-life names when displayed in the HUD
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