# WarCraft III

WarCraft III is a real-time strategy game created by Blizzard Entertainment. This article will describe how to install and run it and its addon The Frozen Throne on Arch Linux using Wine. WarCraft III can be run with full OpenGL support.

## Installing Wine

If you need any further help check out the Wine article. You will also want to run `winecfg` and change a few settings to your liking before running the install CD.

## Configuring Wine

This shows you how to configure Wine before installing WarCraft III and The Frozen Throne.

### Windows version

In order to make copy protection work under Wine you must switch your Windows version to 2000 or XP.

### Audio

Both OSS and ALSA work. If you expierence difficulties with ALSA you may want to switch to OSS. Please note that aoss can make your sound glitch every three seconds so it is not recommend to use it.

### Devices

In order for the copy protection to work you must add a CD-ROM device: Add a device, set path to /media/cdrom (or whatever you use when you mount CDs) and change the device type to "CD-ROM".

## Installation

The following process will detail how to install WarCraft III and the expansion The Frozen Throne and finally update to the current version.

### Installing WarCraft III: The Reign of Chaos

This is rather simple. DO NOT use cracked versions of this game.

- Place the CD in your drive and mount it (or let it automount if that's how your machine is setup).
- Open a terminal and change in the directory of the CD.
- Run

    wine install.exe

- Follow the dialog boxes of the setup and enter your key when it asks for it.
- Do not forget to leave the directory or you may have problems getting your CD back from your computer.

### Installing WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne

Please follow the same procedure as above, using the CD of The Frozen Throne instead.

### Upgrading to the current version

You can try updating via Battle.net or use an offline patch. For the first solution just hit the Battle.net button in the main menu after you have started the game. Be sure you have read the post installation tipps before running WarCraft III the first time. If you want to patch offline, follow these steps:

- Look here for the patch.
- Download the current patch and save it in the directory you installed WarCraft III.
- Open a terminal, change into that directory and run the patch via

    wine <patchname>.exe

If you have patched to version 1.22 or higher you do not need your CD anymore for starting the game.

## Post installation tricks

There are some things you might want to fix before running WarCraft III the first time because they still can cause you trouble. If one of the following registry keys or values does not exist, simply create it.

### Disabling intro movies

The movies are not displayed correctly and cannot be aborted. So we set them to be already seen.

- Open a terminal, run

    regedit

- Go to

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Blizzard Entertainment\Warcraft III\Misc

- Set "seenintromovie" to "1".

### Widescreen resolution

The option menu of WarCraft III does not support high widescreen resolutions. If you want to use one you have to put it in the registry by hand. Please note that you will loose this setting if you enter the options menu inside WarCraft III because it will overwrite your setting with the highest value it is capable of.

- Open a terminal, run

    regedit

- Go to

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Blizzard Entertainment\Warcraft III\Video

- Set "resheigth" and "reswidth" to whatever you prefer. Pay attention that you can enter either hexadecimal or decimal values.

### Alt key combo

If you like to use [Alt] + left click for minimap signal and you are using KDE or GNOME you will find that this feature does not work due to keyboard shortcuts with [Alt] that your desktop environment uses.

#### GNOME

The option to change the key binding is in System -> Preferences -> Windows.

#### KDE

Go into KDE Control Center, expand Desktop, click window behavior, then click window actions tab. You can turn off the alt combos. If you want to make window specific settings, click on window specific settings under window behavior on the side.

### Alt+Tab

Normally, using alt+tab key combo, and then coming back to the game,will make it unplayable - for example bar(s) will of your desktop will remain displayed.

There is an easy workaround: go to winecfg and make a virtual desktop with size of your current resolution. This will also allow you to play movies. You can make a special wine settings for Warcraft III.exe and Frozen Throne.exe only, so you will not need to turn on/off a virtual desktop every time.

## Running WarCraft III

You can now run WarCraft III. You can check if the installer has made you a starter in your applications menu. If so, you can use it. If you have any problems you may want to check the command to start WarCraft III. The path to your WarCraft III folder can be different depending on the location of your wine folder and the installation path of WarCraft III.

#### WarCraft III: The Reign of Chaos

    wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Warcraft\ III/war3.exe -opengl

#### WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne

    wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Warcraft\ III/Frozen\ Throne.exe -opengl

You do not need the -opengl parameter if your Direct3D rendering is fast enough. Please test this for yourself.

## Troubleshooting

### Patch 1.23

To login to battle.net with the latest version of wine make sure you have lib32-gnutls or gnutls installed.

### No Sound in 64bit

install following packages: lib32-alsa-lib, lib32-alsa-plugins

## See also

- Wine
- WineHQ's AppDB entry
- Snoopy

Categories:

- Gaming
- Wine