Difference between revisions of "Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition"

Revision as of 01:57, 21 March 2023

This page is for the Battle.net-compatible and GOG.com enhanced releases. For the original release, see Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness.

Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans	1994
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness	1995
Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans	Cancelled
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition	1999
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos	2002
World of Warcraft	2004
Hearthstone	2014
Warcraft III: Reforged	2020

General information

Wargus & Stratagus patch - For playing on modern systems (in Wargus patch setup select Warcraft II - it's a hidden option).

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
GOG.com		Enhanced 2019 release. Includes a key to play online through Battle.net, shown in the game's library entry. Warcraft I & II Bundle is also available.

Version differences

The GOG.com version features two builds: the first one is the classic version without DRM and with access to the Battle.net server, and the other one is the enhanced version with GOG's custom DirectX wrapper with additional features, but without Battle.net access. It also comes bundled with IPXWrapper, which both versions can use.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest version for the retail release is 2.02. It is available for Windows and Mac OS (Classic).

It is included in both the classic and enhanced GOG.com versions.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Blizzard Entertainment\Warcraft II\
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Save^{[Note 1]}
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video

GOG.com release DirectX wrapper settings menu.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		The GOG.com enhanced version has stretch full-screen, pillarboxed full-screen, and pixel-based scaling as options.
Multi-monitor		The GOG.com enhanced version has stretch full-screen with options that allow multi-monitor resolutions.
Ultra-widescreen		The GOG.com enhanced version has stretch full-screen with options that allow ultrawidescreen resolutions.
4K Ultra HD		The GOG.com enhanced version supports 4K resolutions.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	Use Windowed Mode for WarCraft 2. The GOG.com enhanced version supports windowed mode.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	The GOG.com enhanced version supports borderless full-screen.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	The GOG.com enhanced version supports up to 16x anisotropic filtering.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	The GOG.com enhanced version supports up to 8x MSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	The GOG.com enhanced version supports v-sync.
60 FPS	The GOG.com enhanced version supports greater than 60 FPS.
120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

In-game input settings menu.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		Screen edge map scroll speed can be adjusted.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

In-game audio settings menu.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Separated into music and all other game audio.
Surround sound		A system with a surround sound setup may not play audio; see Issues fixed.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8	Uses obsolete IPX protocol; use IPXWrapper.
Online play		8	Via Battle.net Classic

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	6112-6119
UDP	6112-6119

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

IPXWrapper

Already included in the GOG version.

This tool provides a workaround the obsolete IPX protocol used in multiplayer. Extract it to <path-to-game>.

Issues fixed

Game crashes on startup or refuses to start

An issue in the code causes the game to trigger Data Execution Prevention protections.

Fix Data Execution Prevention setting
Ensure Data Execution Prevention (DEP) setting is set to Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only or add a DEP Exception for `Warcraft II BNE.exe` and `Warcraft II BNE_dx.exe`, then reboot the system.

No audio in-game

If the operating system is set to use surround sound audio, game audio may not play.

Change operating system audio mode to stereo
Press `⊞ Win`+`R` to open a Run window, type `mmsys.cpl` and click OK. Under the Playback tab, `Left Click` your default output device, and then `Left Click` Configure. Choose Stereo and follow the configuration wizard instructions.

Graphical issues (retail, "classic" version on GOG.com)

Change renderer (see DirectDraw troubleshooting for solutions)

Other information

In-game miscellaneous settings menu.

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	2	GOG.com enhanced version uses a D3D9 wrapper.

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System
Cutscenes	Bink Video, Smacker Video Technology
Multiplayer	Battle.net Classic

Source ports

Name	Description
Wargus	Alternative open-source engine. Aims to improve stability and availability on other platforms such as OS X and Linux. Compatible with the GOG.com version.

Cover Art Gallery

Original Warcraft II: Battle.Net Edition cover art.
GOG 2019 release art.

System requirements

Original retail release

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95	NT
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium-class
System memory (RAM)	16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	80 MB
Video card (GPU)	SVGA-compliant video card

Mac OS
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	7.6
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC 601
System memory (RAM)	16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	80 MB
Video card (GPU)	256 colors

GOG.com digital re-release

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	7, 8.1, 10
Processor (CPU)	1 GHz or faster
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1 GB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Users running older versions of Windows 10 Redstone may experience a crash on launch when running the game's executable. Patching your operating system to the newest version (Redstone 5) should correct this issue.

The GOG.com release does not support Mac OS nor OS X.

Notes

↑ When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

[gamedir-1] When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[Note 1]

@@ Line 117: / Line 117: @@
 |fov notes                  =
 |windowed                   = hackable
-|windowed notes             = Use [http://forum.war2.ru/index.php?topic=897.0 Window Mode for WarCraft 2]. <br> The GOG.com enhanced version supports windowed mode.
+|windowed notes             = Use [https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/2601-warcraft-ii-windowed-mode/ Windowed Mode for WarCraft 2]. <br> The GOG.com enhanced version supports windowed mode.
 |borderless windowed        = limited
 |borderless windowed notes  = The GOG.com enhanced version supports borderless full-screen.

Developers

	Blizzard Entertainment
Beyond the Dark Portal	Cyberlore Studios
Release dates
Windows	September 30, 1999
Mac OS (Classic)	October 4, 1999
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Top-down view
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	RTS
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Warcraft