Warcraft 3 1.28 Pre-patch PSA

[StoPCampinGn00b]

1.28 Pre-patch Public Service Announcement

The new patch is on its way, and to make sure things go smoothly on your end, we recommend the following before patching to the latest upcoming version.

1. If you have modified any of Blizzard's official files, you MUST back them up before patching. This includes any time you patch Warcraft 3, no matter the version.

Specifics on the modified files:

Blizzard is changing the patching system. The new system synchronizes the official blizzard files (mpqs, exes, dlls, w3ms, w3xs, etc), which means that if you modified any of those files on your computer, all of your changes WILL BE LOST WHEN YOU APPLY THE PATCH! The new system is like modern battle.net; the game will now check and sync your installation files with their servers, if your local files do not match they will be overwritten without warning. Please backup your installation if there is any data that you value.

Spoiler: How to backup your Warcraft III Game Installation

For Windows
1)Press the superkey(Windows Button) + e
2)Type in C:\Program Files(x86)\
3)Find the "Warcraft III" folder
4)Right click and navigate to "Send to" and select "Compressed Folder"
5)Save the .zip to a safe location
6)Warcraft III is now backed up

For Mac
1)Open a Finder Window
2)Press Command + Shift + G
3)Type in /Applications
4)Find the "Warcraft III" folder
5)Right Click and then click "Compress Warcraft III"
6)This will create "Warcraft III.zip" put this in a safe location
7)Warcraft III is now backed up

Any other files, such as custom maps and custom files, will not be affected.​

It is also recommended to register your CD key with Battle.net if you haven't already, in case of losing keys. Lost keys will not be able to be recovered if not registered on the website.


EDIT:
Summary of what is important to know in what was mentioned through other pages of the thread.

I also want to remind everyone why this thread was made. Blizzard's new patch is going the change the whole patching system. There may be more to 1.28 it what's coming and not coming. The old patching system was made in Windows 98, and is going to make way for the 2017 version. The old patching system and old code made patching the game and implementing major changes, both melee / ladder and modding / custom games, difficult. Upgrading the patching system and upgrading other parts to present day allows patching to be more efficient and faster all across the board. Because of this, official game files will be overwritten should you choose to patch. The Hive Staff in contact with Blizzard (with the help of a Blizzard employee) decided to post this before hand so the modding community will know to backup those specific files should people have edited them. Once you have back up'd your files, you are free to add them back in until next patch comes to back them up again. The rest of the WC3 community has no need for this announcement, as it'll just be some file mumbo-jumbo to players with pre-mature hype, hence why it's Hive news as opposed to a widespread Blizzard announcement.

 

[Kam]

I had a conversation with a senior team member yesterday and I am pleased with the longer term plans.

 

[SpasMaster]

I am curious if this will eventually lead into BattleNet 2.0 integration.
Still not sure if that's possible at all, but who knows. Thanks for the heads-up guys!

 

[KingLichTR]

Thanks for the warning and good news I hope they can make these patches a bit faster.

 

[A Void]

Where did you get this information and why is it not on classic games forum on Battle.Net?

 

[mrwhite-]

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

Where did you get this information and why is it not on classic games forum on Battle.Net?

Thanks to Kam, we now have constant contact with Blizzard, you heard the story. And this is what we discussed with Brad, one of the classic team members coding the game for the future patches.

This is not in the classic games forum because it was not necessary for the general wc3 community. This PSA is mainly for modders, usually those more advanced who edited the game files.

 

[DD_legionTN]

1.28 patch version? I'm expecting 1.27c though since I believe they mentioned about it that it will be released at mid of January (and never releasing it at all). So they going to skip 1.27c and directly go to 1.28?

This news makes me excite about what is going to be changed in 1.28...

 

[DracoL1ch]

cool, whole idea behind making mpqs intact been thrown away. can't wait to see how miserable reward it provided

 

[Deleted member 212788]

Does this apply to our own custom maps/campaigns or is that only regarding the default existing ones such as Blizz campaigns and Blizz maps?

 

[Drayen]

cool, whole idea behind making mpqs intact been thrown away. can't wait to see how miserable reward it provided

love your enthusiasm

 

[DracoL1ch]

love your enthusiasm

I hate when fuckers plays with empty promises, thats all. Not to speak how retarded is to ignore primary targets (mapmakers) while working on the game which alive only because of them.

 

[A Void]

Thanks to Kam, we now have constant contact with Blizzard, you heard the story. And this is what we discussed with Brad, one of the classic team members coding the game for the future patches.

This is not in the classic games forum because it was not necessary for the general wc3 community. This PSA is mainly for modders, usually those more advanced who edited the game files.

I hope this means that logging in to Battle.Net will require your CD key attached to Battle.Net account? Btw, still waiting for widescreen support. Not sure why they are focusing on less important things.

 

[brad_c6]

I hope this means that logging in to Battle.Net will require your CD key attached to Battle.Net account? Btw, still waiting for widescreen support. Not sure why they are focusing on less important things.

The patching system is the foundational method for delivering content to the players and the old system has been causing significant problems (The BNUpdate patcher was written in the 1990s with very different architectural goals compared to today's world). For example I fixed the command bar button problem a long time ago (about the same day the community found it) but the old system is so unstable that we couldn't release it without breaking other things. It's like putting on roofing shingles on a house with a nail gun vs a manual hammer; sure the result is the same in the end but one will produce better results much faster.

 

[pyf]

1.28 patch version? I'm expecting 1.27c though since I believe they mentioned about it that it will be released at mid of January (and never releasing it at all). So they going to skip 1.27c and directly go to 1.28? [...]

@DD_legionTN: please read this post Clásico wrote on January 25:
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/bnet/topic/20752885082#post-6

 

[Trigger.edge]

Nice blizzard! You will do it again

 

[Xarwin]

I hope the waiting will be worth it.

 

[Eagle XI]

Does this mean you cant play total conversion mods like DoC over the official bnet anymore ?

 

[deepstrasz]

Does this mean you cant play total conversion mods like DoC over the official bnet anymore ?

If this new patch means only modding inside the game without changing its files, we'll reach a similar point when people avoided getting past 1.26a.

 

[IcemanBo]

Customized .exe and .mpq won't be allowed? why ;o

 

[_lycan]

Does this have any melee changes? so excited

 

[DrTema]

Well if it still will be possible to use .mix archives, the modding could survive.

 

[A]mun]

They really should've implemented widescreen support by now, being at that - more game options (inventory hotkeys anyone? still using Lescos Warcraft Toolkit for them).

I hope they go in the right direction with the patching... because i for one still like playing this game, mostly custom maps.

 

[Eat_Bacon_Daily]

Does this mean replays will not be broken following new patches?
Also does this mean the patch will be on schedule for Q1?
This news gets me super excited!

On a side worry, I hope MMH and ENT don't have their bots broken

 

[Drayen]

I hate when fuckers plays with empty promises, thats all. Not to speak how retarded is to ignore primary targets (mapmakers) while working on the game which alive only because of them.

As disapointing as a no-content patch is, If they have to spend weeks just on building how the patch is made, that is a tremendous amount of time lost. Considering how hard they are trying to work on the game's infrastructure to speed the process up, it is clear they aren't thinking of just doing one or two small feature/balance patches and calling it quits. Someone pointed out that Starcraft1 is listed as "sold out" on the bnet forums and that an event is happening friday with rumors behind it, I don't know exactly what will happen there, but I think we can expect this for Wc3 as well and perhaps more.

 

[infrenus]

I for now will wait the next patches to update. I can understand why they are doing it, but as I dont have an multiplayer presence at all, this patch will most cause harm than good to me.

 

[Misha]

i just hope they don't intend to rewrite the way we do stuff, or they can kiss their fanbase good bye

 

[karaulov]

Blizzard create only bad patches. They do it only to the detriment of users.

 

[KILLCIDE]

Some of you need to read through the thread.

The patching system is the foundational method for delivering content to the players and the old system has been causing significant problems (The BNUpdate patcher was written in the 1990s with very different architectural goals compared to today's world). For example I fixed the command bar button problem a long time ago (about the same day the community found it) but the old system is so unstable that we couldn't release it without breaking other things. It's like putting on roofing shingles on a house with a nail gun vs a manual hammer; sure the result is the same in the end but one will produce better results much faster.

 

[A Void]

Guys, calm down. This only affects Blizzard files when patching, anything that is new or wasn't installed by default will not count. Mixtapes .mix, custom .dll's or local files will not be affected. You can mod the game trough local files if you want, as long as it doesn't affect game files themselves.

 

[Dr Super Good]

I am curious if this will eventually lead into BattleNet 2.0 integration.

It should be obvious by now that this is BattleNet 2.0 integration. You may even find that the MPQs get removed from the install directory and replaced with a CASC file system.

Where did you get this information and why is it not on classic games forum on Battle.Net?

They are apparently in contact with Blizzard, who seems against public announcements still for a game that is over 10 years old...

I had a conversation with a senior team member yesterday and I am pleased with the longer term plans.

...

They could try a more transparent maintenance program but I guess they need third party people to relay it for some reason.

This is not in the classic games forum because it was not necessary for the general wc3 community. This PSA is mainly for modders, usually those more advanced who edited the game files.

Or not, seeing how I have not modified any of my game files for a very long time. Unless you count the registry, part of how JNGP hooks in, but that is not a file...

cool, whole idea behind making mpqs intact been thrown away. can't wait to see how miserable reward it provided

MPQs will be gone outside of maps. I am fairly certain it will use CASC to fit in with all other current Blizzard games. CASC supports lighter weight patching as it does not have to create patch files which slow load times (WoW and later before CASC) or retransmit the an entire patch MPQ (WC3).

Does this apply to our own custom maps/campaigns or is that only regarding the default existing ones such as Blizz campaigns and Blizz maps?

Your maps will remain unchanged and still use MPQ, just like how all SC2 maps still use MPQ. The CASC system is only for the distribution of the game and integration with BattleNet 2.0 client.

I hope this means that logging in to Battle.Net will require your CD key attached to Battle.Net account?

It most likely will. Further more one can expect a shutdown of the old BattleNet.

It does have benefits though. Unlike BattleNet 1.0 where accounts expire, BattleNet 2.0 (Blizzard) accounts do not expire and have a much larger friend list as well as other features.

For example I fixed the command bar button problem a long time ago

The what problem? Surely it would be better to fix the "local declared local handle variable reference counter leak on return" problem as that has been a plague for over a decade now. Unless it has been fixed as a hidden note in one of the patches of course (I have not re-tested within the last year and do admit there have been huge changes internally such as how blp files are processed)...

Does this mean you cant play total conversion mods like DoC over the official bnet anymore ?

You can, just the people need to bundle it as a map. Seeing how maps are now limited to 128 MB or something ludicrous that should not be a problem.

Customized .exe and .mpq won't be allowed? why ;o

To prevent hacking/cheating online...

Nothing will stop you running a custom exe which still loads custom MPQs. Just the official launcher will always start the official and integrity checked exe which will load data from the official and integrity checked CASC archive. Basically how WoW, SC2, HotS, HS, and OW work (all modern Blizzard games). Map archives will still be MPQ files, like how they are in StarCraft II.

On a side worry, I hope MMH and ENT don't have their bots broken

Yes they will be broken and probably gone forever. However they will likely adopt the StarCraft II approach to hosting which is equivalent to robots (no peer to peer so no port forward) but forces at least 1 human player per lobby (so the game list will be useful once again!).

 

[Tal'Rarity]

So they're finally executing the end of WC3...? That is quite saddening.

 

[Kam]

So they're finally executing the end of WC3...? That is quite saddening.

I think you are not understanding the patch. Wc3 is going to have a long life moving forward.

 

[Tal'Rarity]

I think you are not understanding the patch. Wc3 is going to have a long life moving forward.

If we lose bots we lose what's left of our player base which has a 100% chance of destroying multiplayer games. If you meant solo-play or with AI then sure you are correct.

 

[Kam]

If we lose bots, we lose what's left of our player base which also has a 100% chance of destroying multiplayer games. If you meant solo-play or with AI then sure you are correct.

I understand this process is frustrating. You all need to understand that this game was created for Windows 98. It is currently being rebuilt in nearly every way. This means that back-end work must happen before "exciting" changes like melee balance adjustments. The pro community and a number of other people are working with Blizzard to insure this process happens correctly. You also need to understand that no company has ever revived a 15 year old game to match current day standards out of pocket. This is a learning process for them as well. Their goal is not to destroy the scene, statements like that are foolish.

 

[Tal'Rarity]

I understand this process is frustrating. You all need to understand that this game was created for Windows 98. It is currently being rebuilt in nearly every way. This means that back-end work must happen before "exciting" changes like melee balance adjustments. The pro community and a number of other people are working with Blizzard to insure this process happens correctly. You also need to understand that no company has ever revived a 15 year old game to match current day standards out of pocket. This is a learning process for them as well. Their goal is not to destroy the scene, statements like that are foolish.

Melee? No I meant what WC3 is really about... The custom games section. They won't add multi-realm/server hosting and they definitely won't add reconnection possibility, from the history Blizzard has shown us... This will be the start of the end of WC3, maybe they're making room for WC4 however I doubt it... Most likely some other game. Foolish or not doesn't change the fact Blizzard has a terrible history of working with their older games and only caring for $$$ while screwing their games and players. I understand what Blizzard made the game for however their players did far more work and made more progress then they ever could. I really hope I'm wrong and they have smartened up, guess we shall see unless you have further spoilers/news.

 

[DracoL1ch]

I understand this process is frustrating. You all need to understand that this game was created for Windows 98. It is currently being rebuilt in nearly every way. This means that back-end work must happen before "exciting" changes like melee balance adjustments. The pro community and a number of other people are working with Blizzard to insure this process happens correctly. You also need to understand that no company has ever revived a 15 year old game to match current day standards out of pocket. This is a learning process for them as well. Their goal is not to destroy the scene, statements like that are foolish.

step 1 in the guide "how to not destroy the scene" : show ur roadmap to community. I can't hear you right now, bullshit's horn sounds too loud.
Since the very start it been repeated promises. Then 27b shown that those who patch the game have no connection to the prior modmakers (else bullshit with negative icon positions "fix" won't happen). Then, again, nothing changed but "great future ahead". 15-yo game has no future, you may only make it's die much slower. So far nothing achieved

 

[PurgeandFire]

Does this apply to our own custom maps/campaigns or is that only regarding the default existing ones such as Blizz campaigns and Blizz maps?

Only Blizzard files will be overwritten. So if you have any files that you made yourself in the Warcraft III directory, you're fine. Those won't be changed.

e.g. if you edited Arthas to have a party hat and put that model in the war3.mpq, that will be overwritten.
e.g. if you edited Arthas to have a party hat and put that model in your Warcraft III directory as a file named "ArthasParty.mdx", it won't be overwritten since that is your own file.

Does this mean you cant play total conversion mods like DoC over the official bnet anymore ?

Customized .exe and .mpq won't be allowed? why ;o

You can. Not sure about what it'll be like in the future, but in 1.28a these "syncs" will only be made each time you patch. So you can just redownload DoC and play it after you patched, and everything should be just fine (but again, future patches will probably overwrite it). Just note that these changes are made with modding in mind, they aren't trying to hinder it in any way.

The key thing is to back-up your mods/changes to the default MPQs. Custom exe and mpq files (e.g. Nirvana, or any MPQDraft mod) can still be used, and they won't be overwritten during the patching since they aren't Blizzard's files.

P.S. doesn't DoC use a custom MPQ too? I don't remember. But if it does, it should be fine and unaffected.

Does this mean replays will not be broken following new patches?
Also does this mean the patch will be on schedule for Q1?
This news gets me super excited!

On a side worry, I hope MMH and ENT don't have their bots broken

I think replays are always broken in new patches. And yeah I hope their bots don't break. But I think those issues were mostly because of that one maintenance that involved battle.net itself.

 

[Drayen]

If we lose bots we lose what's left of our player base which has a 100% chance of destroying multiplayer games. If you meant solo-play or with AI then sure you are correct.

The latest maintenance round was focused on changing files and improving hardware. I'm fairly sure bots will not be needed in the future.

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

Some of you are making statements as facts out of thin air. DSG is saying all the bots will break, Dat-C3 saying they won't do anything for custom games, DracoL1ch being his usual self on these patch threads. There's not much wrong with speculation in general. However, note that anything that is not coming from brad_c6, Kam, PurgeandFire, Ralle, and I, on this thread, is pure speculation.

It's going to be rough ride for the passionate users until the game is fixed and improved all across the board. Blizzard knows it and we know it. If you're patient or understanding enough, you won't need to worry.
But if you just want to keep acting like you act understand the inner workings of what Blizzard actually has to do to update the game better than everyone else, then make tantrums and call bullshit on it, man, you're really in for something. Lol.

 

[Tal'Rarity]

The latest maintenance round was focused on changing files and improving hardware. I'm fairly sure bots will not be needed in the future.

You think they'll add reconnection, ability to host on other servers/realms and latency/ping control? They barely know how to edit their own games anymore from the looks of it, it'd be nice if that was true however even the custom games list really sucks now compared to what we have now. Considering SC2 was area-locked... I wonder.

Some of you are making statements as facts out of thin air. DSG is saying all the bots will break, Dat-C3 saying they won't do anything for custom games, DracoL1ch being his usual self on these patch threads. There's not much wrong with speculation in general. However, note that anything that is not coming from brad_c6, Kam, PurgeandFire, Ralle, and I, on this thread, is pure speculation.

It's going to be rough ride for the passionate users until the game is fixed and improved all across the board. Blizzard knows it and we know it. If you're patient or understanding enough, you won't need to worry.
But if you just want to keep acting like you act understand the inner workings of what Blizzard is actually has to do to update the game better than everyone else, then make tantrums and call bullshit on it, man, you're really in for something. Lol.

Well they have already done a lot for custom games, destroying memory bug and disabling or is it suppose to be called patching features away from us? Good luck with that wishful thinking... Been enjoying Warcraft since the first one so I can say I have been patient and there was a decent understanding until around a decade ago and since then their quality has plummeted. Figured now was the time to try to speak up... Maybe help them realize what feature's they shouldn't "patch/fix" completely out.

If bots are on their list of "fixing" then I sure hope they're adding what should have been already in their game made by them instead of their players doing all their work for them with zero credit and communication given out... It sure isn't looking good I can tell you guys that right now.

 

[TheBronze]

I hate to be one of those negative people, but Blizzard has the potential to do a lot of damage here. Their record with B-net 2.0 is one of complete incompetence... "the technology isn't there yet".... "people don't want chat rooms"...

The bots that connect people from different servers are really important for the scene and any replacement of those needs to be an improvement, not a step back!

That cannot be stressed enough: separating the playerbase would be a step backwards. Breaking custom maps would kill the scene too.

Lo and behold I have a strong feeling Blizzard will do at least one of those, but at very least I will get to quote this post in the future. Blizzard should be doing what another user stated, and lay out their goals for the community to see, what are these grand plans?

 

[karaulov]

Why did Blizzard not write what they will doing in the new patch? (It only remains to guess what they will break this time)

 

[TheBronze]

I understand this process is frustrating. You all need to understand that this game was created for Windows 98. It is currently being rebuilt in nearly every way. This means that back-end work must happen before "exciting" changes like melee balance adjustments. The pro community and a number of other people are working with Blizzard to insure this process happens correctly. You also need to understand that no company has ever revived a 15 year old game to match current day standards out of pocket. This is a learning process for them as well. Their goal is not to destroy the scene, statements like that are foolish.

I don't think you read the post you quoted. He is talking about breaking bots, which has nothing to do with anything you wrote.

In the end Blizzard can break the bots all they want if the system that replaces them for finding custom games returns the same, or more functionality.

But we've got nothing to go on saying they will (or won't) so we are left to speculate. And the silence deafens.

 

[DracoL1ch]

heh, really? "as usual"?
There were a few changes in 27 which made it non-compatible with 1.26 even with proper tools. so, something changed inside, and blizz have no idea what exactly. They blame a new cmake or whatever they do use. Same for icon positions. Something related to ANeg. Who knows what else become half-broken?

Im still cant understand how can anyone willingly defend this way of patching game, with no real touch with the community. Sure you can call Kam community leader or whatever, but in fact he isn't mapper. He doesnt know what mapmakers need. As wishlist shown in the past, low-priority requests often get to the first line, even though there's thousands of much more universal, commonly required stuff. Calling features "too hard 2do" isn't option when you talking about PATCHING game. Who the fuck ever said it will ride in the park?

 

[Misha]

okay mods, answer me this.. will my models/textures need fixing after this and other patches? I'd rather not do that..

 

[Kam]

okay mods, answer me this.. will my models/textures need fixing after this and other patches? I'd rather not do that..

We have not discussed any alterations to how models, textures, or icons will function.

 

[A Void]

Some of you are making statements as facts out of thin air. DSG is saying all the bots will break, Dat-C3 saying they won't do anything for custom games, DracoL1ch being his usual self on these patch threads. There's not much wrong with speculation in general. However, note that anything that is not coming from brad_c6, Kam, PurgeandFire, Ralle, and I, on this thread, is pure speculation.

It's going to be rough ride for the passionate users until the game is fixed and improved all across the board. Blizzard knows it and we know it. If you're patient or understanding enough, you won't need to worry.
But if you just want to keep acting like you act understand the inner workings of what Blizzard is actually has to do to update the game better than everyone else, then make tantrums and call bullshit on it, man, you're really in for something. Lol.

Sometimes speculation is sweeter than the bitter truth. Overhyping it isn't exactly going to help. They already broke hiding command buttons method, what else?

 

[Ralle]

Well they have already done a lot for custom games, destroying memory bug and disabling or is it suppose to be called patching features away from us? Good luck with that wishful thinking... Been enjoying Warcraft since the first one so I can say I have been patient and there was a decent understanding until around a decade ago and since then their quality has plummeted. Figured now was the time to try to speak up... Maybe help them realize what feature's they shouldn't "patch/fix" completely out.

I have no idea how you can even try to make this sound like a good thing. Do you have any idea what the memory bug even meant? It means that random people can execute random code on your computer. This is EXTREMELY unsafe. Even ignoring the fact that in order for Warcraft 3 to run you need to run it as administrator. That is a very dangerous combination. The memory bug was dangerous and Blizzard did what they had to do to fix it. I understand that people crave new features and I assure you, Blizzard knows, they crave it too. But giving arbitrary access to people's computers without oversight is NOT the way to do this.

This new patch may break things, yes, but these things can be fixed. They do everything they can to not break things but it still happens and they fix them. During all my contact with them I am convinced they are trying to do the right thing. It will be a bumpy road but I think it will be much better after they fix the update system. The system that is holding them back from giving us what we really want. My advice, have patience. Run the old version if you are tired of this, but follow the progress and I assure you that you will want to update soon enough.

Stop being such haters. You should all at least be cautiously optimistic about this. People are working around the clock to update an old game and they're probably even losing money on it. Why are they doing this? To destroy the game and make you buy the other games? No, because Warcraft 3 is simply that awesome. Give them time to update infrastructure and become familiar with the code base. It is not easy.

Sometimes speculation is sweeter than the bitter truth. Overhyping it isn't exactly going to help. They already broke hiding command buttons method, what else?

For example I fixed the command bar button problem a long time ago (about the same day the community found it) but the old system is so unstable that we couldn't release it without breaking other things.

And the updater kept them from publishing the fix.

 

[Skyfira]

I also want an answer to Misha's question. In addition I really want to know how this affects our ability to use certain tools. For example WC3 Viewer user allows us to access mpq files within the game in order to extract mdx files, blp files, etc. But if the mpq files are being integrated into their new system, how will we access those files?

To add on to that, how will this affect custom models and textures? Will they still be mdx and blp?

There's so many more questions I want answers to. Will they be changing how triggers work? So many custom maps will break if they do.

What exactly is this patch doing? Is it supposed to be an HD Remaster aka better graphics and models? And how does that affect our modeling community? For years now, our modelers on this site have created models in a way that fit WC3 style. Models have always been lightweight, usually 300kb or lower, but now we could possibly have HD WC3 models so all those custom models made throughout the years will look archaic and obsolete. The same could be said for custom Skins as well. I just can't see that being very healthy to our community. This also presents another problem, if the standard for model creation becomes HD, then any new custom models you can expect to reach 1mb or higher in file size, adding that all up, the new 128mb limit for maps isn't as colossal as it seems.

Yes Wc3 was getting terribly old, I understand that, but that is exactly what I liked about it. I could always come back and know that nothing has changed and get back to what I was working on before. For a long time I have been working on a map, and I have waited patiently to make sure I get it just right (I also work very slow) before I release it. My main concern is that I have absolutely no idea how much of an impact this patch will have and I fear the worst: that it will ruin what I have been working on for so long.