Can't host LAN game

[Yugata]

So I've run into a bit of problem where I can't host a game on LAN. It always shows the "Game not Found" error and I can't figure out why. On single player, I can play any game just fine. This only shows up when I try to host a game on LAN. This is becoming a problem because now I can't test multiplayer with other people. I need help figuring out why this is suddenly happened.

I've tried turning off my firewall, and disabling antivirus already, and that didn't work.

Note: I can't host ANY GAMES AT ALL on LAN!
Single Player I can play any game.

 

[PurgeandFire]

Have you done port forwarding? And can you join other people's games?

Be sure that all antiviruses are disabled (not just your main one). Sometimes you'll have an antivirus on your computer without even realizing it because Windows installers have so much junkware.

Which OS are you using?

 

[Yugata]

I can join other people's games just fine. Normally I play DotA AI with my siblings, so they would host it. I can join like normal.
I'm using windows 7 (that's.... the OS right?)

This happened so suddenly though. Two days ago I was able to host games just fine, test running my map on LAN. The following morning (yesterday) I suddenly couldn't host. All night my laptop was turned off.

 

[PurgeandFire]

Have you installed anything else recently or made updates to your computer? Try reinstalling wc3.

 

[Ezekiel12]

The same thing happened to me only two days ago!
I was using the wc3 version switcher and some other things at that time.

I swapped most files in the wc3 folder with backups but nothing helped. Installed wc3 anew and tried to update but then it told me that it "could not find war3x.mpq", which was certainly there. Then deinstalled the newly installed wc3 again and just tried to run the old wc3 folder which was still there and voila, it worked again! Without changing one file inside!

So my guess is that was caused by some registry entries... maybe.. but no idea what could have changed those.

Anyway, backup your files and use uninstall.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Installed wc3 anew and tried to update but then it told me that it "could not find war3x.mpq", which was certainly there.

Would either be the lack of the appropriate registry keys (telling WC3 where the game is installed) or file permissions (not allowed to see/read the archive file).

Windows 7 installations are especially prone to file permission problems. This is because by default everything in the Program Files folder requires administrator permission to modify (to stop viruses modifying programs). Usually when you install software (installer needs administrator permission) it sets the files such that they have user access permission so can be used by user level processes (the game). However older games like WC3 do not do this when installed since this was not a problem with older operating systems. As such you either need to manually force user level permission to all of the game files (can be done under the installation folder properties) or you need to run the game and editor in administrator mode.

 

[rulerofiron99]

Try installing or moving the game files to a different location (not Program Files or User folders).

Can you start games fine in single player? Having issues with hosting in multiplayer only could indicate a problem with your network adapter. Try delete & reinstall your network interface. (Device Manager -> right click ethernet -> delete (keep drivers) -> click scan for hardware changes and allow it to reinstall)

 

[Yugata]

So far nothing has worked.
Things I've Tried:
1) uninstalling and reinstalling
2) using administrator mode
3) moving the folder

On the bright side, this motivated me to clean out a crap ton of maps I'll never play. I can still start games just fine in single player.

Edit: NVM, I got it fixed! I changed a compatibility setting and now I can host on LAN again! Idk how it changed, but it works now.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Edit: NVM, I got it fixed! I changed a compatibility setting and now I can host on LAN again! Idk how it changed, but it works now.

The network stack changed between XP and Windows 7 quite considerably. It is possible that the way your network is configured is exposed to the Windows 7 version of the APIs yet impossible in the XP version of the APIs. Hence WC3 receives unexpected values, or does unexpected (hacky) things with its net code which cause the error as it is not compatible with the Windows 7 version of the APIs.

Running in compatibility mode forces the APIs used to have the same behaviour as specified by the compatibility mode chosen (eg XP). This removes any possible new behaviour or behaviour changes so the program should function as expected. In fact if it reads the version of the APIs the program should even think that it is running on that version of the operating system.

In the end using compatibility mode should only be required by poorly written programs. The API fundamental behaviour should remain the same between OS versions. If something does break then almost always it is the result of the API not being used correctly.

 

[Yugata]

In the end using compatibility mode should only be required by poorly written programs. The API fundamental behaviour should remain the same between OS versions. If something does break then almost always it is the result of the API not being used correctly.

Well, I think I understand that explanation maybe? What is API?
I'm guessing that the problem came from my own fault is what you're saying.
(Which is most likely true, lol)