The Warcraft 3 prerelease material thread

[Etzer]

Your SISTERS bed. Well anyways, gimme a sec.

OK, could you find some more pics of the stickers, because i am not completely sure if that is the one i have...

 

[Hallfiry]

Your SISTERS bed. Well anyways, gimme a sec.

OK, could you find some more pics of the stickers, because i am not completely sure if that is the one i have...

Yeah, it's my sister's bed were I placed all these things for the photos^^

Sry, that's the only photo of the Australian sticker, I could find, but you could post a picture of your sticker

 

[Etzer]

Oh yea. I will do that tomorrow. It is quite late here

 

[Hallfiry]

It is quite late here

Uhm... you are in Denmark... I am in Bavaria... same time zone I think
it's ~21:40 that's not late oO

 

[Etzer]

Yes it is. I am veeeryyy sleepy...

 

[RED BARON]

Thats a damn nice collection Coolman21 Shame that you don't have that real sized ork

 

[Hallfiry]

Thats a damn nice collection Coolman21 Shame that you don't have that real sized ork

Actually I saw the full sized orc on ebay, there were some of them produced and you could win them. The one on ebay was sold from switzerland I think for something like 1600€ as far as I remember.

 

[syltman]

Damn that's an awesome collection.

 

[Hallfiry]

My collection still grows,
I'll get an original WC3:RoC Press Kit this week

 

[syltman]

My collection still grows,
I'll get an original WC3:RoC Press Kit this week

pics or it didn't happen

 

[Hallfiry]

pics or it didn't happen

Reminds me of /b/
I've got a few pics, but I'll have to wait until it arrives^^
---------------EDIT---------------
The press kit arrived today

 

[RED BARON]

Actually I saw the full sized orc on ebay, there were some of them produced and you could win them. The one on ebay was sold from switzerland I think for something like 1600€ as far as I remember.

Hehe, I've only seen it in a store (as decoration) myself.

 

[Hallfiry]

The press kit arrived yesterday and you may have ssen the scan of the cd I uploaded and the 2700x3600 footman picture. Here's a rare trailer from the press kit, that I actually had never seen before:

 

[RED BARON]

The press kit arrived yesterday and you may have ssen the scan of the cd I uploaded and the 2700x3600 footman picture. Here's a rare trailer from the press kit, that I actually had never seen before

Wow, yea thats definitely a new one.. I've seen a good deal of the scenes used in this before.. but not in this combination. Also Blizzard is really making some big claims in this trailer, like the Ultimate intensity

 

[Hallfiry]

I uploaded the press kit for my fans^^
Download from Rapidshare

 

[Revilo]

Found a trailer for warcraft adventures not sure if youve got it, just unzip and run to watch.

 

[RED BARON]

This collection is ever increasing

Are you collecting SC2 stuff as well?

 

[Hallfiry]

Are you collecting SC2 stuff as well?

Nope

 

[RED BARON]

Nope

Okay, else that would be a place where I could have given some in the future

Any new stuff?

 

[Hallfiry]

Here are 3 Blizzard Product Catalog ads for Warcraft III:

 

[RED BARON]

Here are 3 Blizzard Product Catalog ads for Warcraft III:

Lolz, it kinda looks like a more awesome game, than it actually is.. even though it was still awesome..

And also, they reused the same pictures all over.. how strange a decision.

 

[Miss_Foxy]

I'm pretty much amazed, hope that Blizzard would consider a Warcraft IV poster looking better, to surprise players with both the game release as well as the graphics

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

I just noticed I like some things more - the snow, the grass, the decidious trees. Why did they ever remove them.

 

[Rui]

Indeed, those doodads were awesome. Either Blizzard just likes their games not to have quality stuff or they have higher and lower quality stuff and eventually need to make a mid-line -- let's not forget the hidden icons, most of which are of great quality but were never used in the game.
Interesting that they made the decision to cut out the Demons in such a short interval of time. The files that related to them could be hacked to turn a player's units and buildings to sheep until a recent patch fixed the exploit.

 

[RED BARON]

I'm pretty much amazed, hope that Blizzard would consider a Warcraft IV poster looking better, to surprise players with both the game release as well as the graphics

You do know that what he shows is the Wc3 Poster, not IV?

-----------------------------

But yea, a constant wondering is why better graphics was skipped, when they already had them.. and at least why they didn't include them at any point.

 

[Hallfiry]

Wow, I really make an update^^
Here's the backside of an old Diablo II manual from 2000 that mentions Warcraft III

 

[WherewolfTherewolf]

But yea, a constant wondering is why better graphics was skipped, when they already had them.. and at least why they didn't include them at any point. :bored

Probably because people's comps just couldn't handle them then
R.I.P. beta Frost Wyrm model

 

[Deolrin]

Hah, awesome.

 

[Tleno]

God, why did they just got ridof all the models and stuff they didn't used ingame?
I mean imagine yourself having all those models and icons... that would be so great...

 

[RED BARON]

Wow, I really make an update^^
Here's the backside of an old Diablo II manual from 2000 that mentions Warcraft III

Sorry for the late responds, but neat Always a good thing to see the future of the past. Makes for some interesting thoughts about that time.

 

[Hallfiry]

I bought a new old Magazine just for you:
PcGamer June 2001

[EDIT:]
I got one more magazine, PcGamer June 1997(!)

 

[Deolrin]

That's just awesome.

 

[Revilo]

/drool
Look at those trees
/drool

 

[Tleno]

Indeed, those trees are so much better that ones we have now...Blizzard's logic is kinda strange...

 

[Orcnet]

wow! I didn't know the shadow hunter hero was a really really old release for the warcraft expansions, nice!

 

[Hallfiry]

And again a little page from a magazine (PcPlayer January 2000). Completely in German, sorry.


EDIT:
UPDATE! I added 11 screenshots from the Korea version.

EDIT:

I made a list of magazine articles about Warcraft III that I've got:

(Articles with many pages are underlined)

(German magazines:
-GameStar
-PC Games
-PC Player

US magazines:
-PC Gamer
-PC Accelerator
-Incite)

1997:
06 Pc Gamer, 6 pages, Warcraft Adventures

1999:
01 PC Games, 4 pages, Article about Bill Roper
11 PC Gamer, 7 pages
11 PC Games, 2 pages
11 GameStar, 4 pages

2000:
01 GameStar, 1 paragraph
02 PC Games, 6 pages
03 GameStar, 3 pages
03 PC Player, 7 pages + 5 bonus pages
04 PC Accelerator, 10 pages + 1 bonus page
05 PC Games, 1 page
05 GameStar, 1 paragraph
06 GameStar, 3 pages
07 GameStar, 1 paragraph
08 Incite, 1 page
09 GameStar, 1 paragraph
11 GameStar, 2 pages
11 GameStar, 1 paragraph
13(Christmas) PC Player, 2 pages

2001:
01 PC Games, 1 paragraph
01 PC Player, 1 page
01 GameStar, 9 pages
02 GameStar, 1 paragraph
04 PC Games, 2 pages, Blizzard Anniversary
05 GameStar, 1 page
05 PC Player, 1 paragraph
06 GameStar, 1 paragraph
06 PC Gamer, 1 page
07 GameStar, 1 paragraph
10 GameStar, 1 paragraph
11 GameStar, 1 page

2002
08 PC Games, 1 page, Warcraft 3 Ad

EDIT:
When looking through the Beta mpq I found some graphic files that are quite interesting.
I put them into one picture and scaled it to double width and height so you can see it better on big screens^^

See where the tiles were used

This is a screenshot from a video filmed by NipoGames (as far as I remember)
The Wacrraft 3 Version is from around March 2001 or earlier and I call it the Three Resources Nightelf Version, because it was the first version that featured Nightelfs and there are 3 version of it:
-no top bar
-orcs/humans/nightelfs/(undead) and gold as resources (no undead screenshots)
-humans(/orcs/nightelfs/undead), mana stones and gold (only human screenshots)

 

[Archian]

The terrain tilesets, doodads etc. looks so much more smooth. Any way for us to get those models and textures? Would be insanely cool to host them here at this site.

 

[Kyrbi0]

At first I got all excited that Hallfiry was back with more.

 

[Abelhawk]

This is amazing! Thanks everyone for compiling this exhaustive list. I thought there was very limited information about WarCraft 3's past versions, but I've learned a lot from these. I remember some of these screenshots from looking at them online when I was like 11 years old. A part of me wishes that there were a playable version of that old version that was more RPGish. The world looks so much bigger and funner to explore.
Besides those vague memories, all I had were some interesting screenshots on the back of my box that showed different models (e.g. peons pushing catapults).

 

[Dr Super Good]

The terrain tilesets, doodads etc. looks so much more smooth. Any way for us to get those models and textures? Would be insanely cool to host them here at this site.

May need screenshots to back that up. Smoothness can be faked by things like anti-aliasing or downsampling.

 

[deepstrasz]

This thread is just indescribable.

 

[Hallfiry]

Wait wait wait. This thread isn't locked anymore?
Then have fun with some warcraft videos:
Hallfiry's unofficial Blizzard Archive

 

[Jackyy.BaDitO2]

Hi Hallfiry. I got my hands on the original Scores of the Warcraft 3 Alpha soundtrack by andrea pessino. (all 3 of them!)

I'm not bullshitting

are you intrested in them?


I've also remastered the first one already

 

[Hallfiry]

Hi Hallfiry. I got my hands on the original Scores of the Warcraft 3 Alpha soundtrack by andrea pessino. (all 3 of them!)
are you intrested in them?

Yup, would be nice having them on BlizzardArchive. Send them to me via PM and I'll upload them

 

[Reidor]

I've also remastered the first one already

You can sent on my email .wav or .mp3 file? (email - [email protected])
And yes when will be 2 and 3 tracks?

Btw, i have this scores from last year, the truth i said Andrea, that not will publish them

 

[Kyrbi0]

*raises a tentative hand up*

 

[PurgeandFire]

Hi Hallfiry. I got my hands on the original Scores of the Warcraft 3 Alpha soundtrack by andrea pessino. (all 3 of them!)

I'm not bullshitting

are you intrested in them?


I've also remastered the first one already

I saw this on reddit. I love it! <3

 

[Reidor]

when remaster versions other tracks?

 

[Mgeterno11]

You can see how the quality as dropping from 1999 to 2002. The 1999 version looks prety futuristic and HD. Even better than the game wich 1920X1080 resolution.

I would be mostly interested in Beta picture of abilities. e.g. the Mountain King's goldmine, the Dreadlord's dress, and the old version of the Lich's death and decay, which was very demonic.

How do I remake the old WC3 ablilties? How do I find the old MPQ file to make them?

 

[Dr Super Good]

You can see how the quality as dropping from 1999 to 2002. The 1999 version looks prety futuristic and HD. Even better than the game wich 1920X1080 resolution.

WC3 has never supported 1080p. It only supports 4:3 ratios. Sure you can use 1080p but the aspect ratio is wrong which ruins the play experience.

A lot of early development footage is a combination of mockups and prototyping. It does not reflect what is functional, practical or even obtainable in an end product. One can still take screenshots of a game even if it runs at 1 FPS on the best hardware of the time. One cannot play a game running at 1 FPS no matter how good it looks.

I would be mostly interested in Beta picture of abilities. e.g. the Mountain King's goldmine, the Dreadlord's dress, and the old version of the Lich's death and decay, which was very demonic.

How do I remake the old WC3 ablilties? How do I find the old MPQ file to make them?

The code needed to run the abilities was almost certainly removed from the release versions of Warcraft III. Even if you can get the assets used by the ability from the MPQs, the ability mechanics cannot be recovered as they are part of the executable.

Keep in mind that the abilities were likely removed for a reason. This could be anything from buggy mechanics that could not be fixed to being impossible to balance.

As cool as all the cut prototype stuff seems, someone at Blizzard decided that what we got in release was better and he likely did so with good reason/intent.