Halp, unable to launch War3.exe!

[frostloh]

This problem started when I reformatted my desktop because of some virus or hard drive problem that made my PC get a BSOD on startup. I had previously copied Warcraft III onto an external hard drive. The game worked fine when I plugged the EHD into my father's laptop. However, when I tried to copy the game into my C:\Program Files War3.exe gave me this error when I started the application.



When I run Warcraft III.exe or Frozen Throne.exe, I get the following error message:



So far Google says that I have to reinstall the whole game but since I don't have my game CD anymore that's a goddamned pain in the ass. Can anyone tell me why it works on the laptop and not the desktop? The only reason I can see is because the laptop is Windows 7 whereas the desktop uses Windows XP. Also, any solution for making the game execute properly is greatly appreciated!

 

[rulerofiron99]

Possibly something in the registry.

Start -> Run -> "regedit"

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Blizzard Entertainment\Warcraft III

And export the whole Warcraft III folder (from the laptop that works), then import it to the PC's registry.

Otherwise, if you have access to your CD-key (you can also find this in registry AFAIK), you can download the game directly from battle.net.

 

[frostloh]

Thanks for the help, but I don't really understand what you're trying to tell me. Do you mean I need to copy my Warcraft III folder from my external hard drive into the registry? Do I do it via the Import tab?

 

[rulerofiron99]

No.

Every bit of software has two "parts" on your computer
- The installed data (in C:\Program Files\My Program), which is the program's actual content
- Registry data (in the registry), which tells your computer how to use the program. For example, in what resolution to start the program.

Now when you copied your warcraft to your second PC, you just copied the first bit, which as far as I know does not include your CD Key, which is in the computer's registry.

What I'm trying to explain to you is to get the CD Key from the registry of the computer on which it works, and import this to your second PC's registry.

If you don't feel comfortable using the registry (things can go very badly if you do it wrong, including breaking your Windows), you should rather Google the problem a bit more.

 

[RiotZ]

If you just copied it from computer to computer, it's not working because you don't have the registry entries like Ruler is saying above. The easiest way to fix this is to reinstall the program off of the CD.

If you don't have the CD anymore, go to Blizzard's website, register your key, and download the game.

If you don't have the key, go to bla, and download a bla with an iso of the game so you can mount it, make sure you have a bla program that can run bla file types, and a program that can mount isos.

 

[frostloh]

That's what most people are saying, however I find it strange that I could run wc3 when I ran it from the external hard drive using the laptop when in a hotel. Just went downstairs to test again, and yep it worked with no problems on the laptop. I've already tried importing the Warcraft III registry entry from the laptop into the PC as rulerofiron99 suggested. I saw that there were more files in the registry entry from the laptop but warcraft III in this computer still isn't working :/ oh well.

@2nd suggestion I don't have the warcraft III CD case anymore, or else its buried so deeply in some godforsaken part of my house that I can't find it.

@3rd suggestion The government in my country banned us from using bla websites by banning the IP address or some shit. This is what happened.

Obstacle after obstacle lol.

 

[RiotZ]

Find the computer it was previously loaded onto, find it in the registry, write down your key.

Or I'll send you an iso.

 

[frostloh]

I don't know how to find it in the registry, so please send me the iso...have to sleep now.

 

[RiotZ]

I don't know how to find it in the registry, so please send me the iso...have to sleep now.

Type in your start bar, regedit, open your registry.

Go to Edit -> Find

Type in Warcraft, Wacraft 3, The Frozen Throne, TFT, etc, until you find a folder with a key in it that matches a CD key. This could take you a long time, but it's either this or buy WC3 again...



Sending an iso will take a long ass time for upload/download, plus you'll have no CD key = no battle.net.

Basically what I said here... http://www.ehow.com/how_5806242_serial-number-registry-files.html

 

[frostloh]

Thanks guys, finally fixed this after days of trouble. I did a ton of stuff before trying to start wc3 because I didn't really have confidence in the solutions since every one of thme i tried prior to this had failed. Once of the following solutions worked, I'm not sure which.

defrag computer
clean registry (scan for errors)
scan/remove viruses
install advanced system care which did a forkload of stuff
install microsoft c++ 2005