Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Developers
	Relic Entertainment
GOG.com	General Arcade
Publishers
2004-2013	THQ
2013-present	Sega
Release dates
Windows	September 20, 2004
Reception
Metacritic	86
IGDB	86
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	RTS
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Subseries of Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War	2004
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade	2006
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm	2008
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II	2009
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising	2010
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution	2011
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III	2017

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view RTS game in the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War series.

General information

Lexicanum - A huge wiki for the Warhammer 40,000 series

Dawn of War Wiki

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 5 DRM.
		Game of the Year Edition.
		Master Collection.
GOG.com		Master Collection; bundled with Winter Assault, Dark Crusade, and Soulstorm. Base game and Winter Assault distributions differ only in the included executable, making Winter Assault effectively standalone.
Humble Store		Game of the Year Edition.
Humble Store		Master Collection.
Steam		Game of the Year Edition. Winter Assault files are included, but require a separate purchase to activate. Master Collection also available.
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)

Owners of retail copies can request a free Steam key from SEGA's UK support service.

SecuROM 5 DRM can be removed by installing the official 1.51 patch.^{[citation needed]}

Free demo versions are available from GameFront: base game, Winter Assault.

Version differences

The Game of the Year Edition is a re-release of the base game with patch 1.40 pre-applied, and with several exclusive skirmish/multiplayer maps. It is the only version of the base game available digitally.

The retail-only Gold Edition includes the base game's Game of the Year Edition and the Winter Assault expansion.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Expansion pack	The expansion pack includes a new faction (Imperial Guard), new maps and two new campaigns.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Winter Assault

Essential improvements

Patches

• Patch 1.51 is the latest official patch for the retail version of the game, and requires patches 1.41 and 1.50 to be installed first.
• The Winter Assault disc automatically applies patch 1.41 upon installation. If you wish to install this expansion, do so before applying any subsequent patch.
• The Steam and GOG.com versions are on their own separate release equivalent to 1.51 in terms of balance and gameplay - the only difference being Steamworks/Galaxy multiplayer used instead of GameSpy and LAN options.

Skip intro videos

Run the game with the -nomovies command line argument.

Higher resolution models

These enhancements are significantly more performance intensive. Ensure your PC is significantly more powerful than the recommended system specifications to ensure there is no loss of performance.

Full resolution models[citation needed]
Run game at least once to generate the .ini file. Go to <path-to-game> Open Local.ini. Add the following line to the file: fullres_teamcolour=1 Save and close the file.

Run the game with the -forcehighpoly command line argument[citation needed]

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Local.ini
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/4570/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Profiles\profile*\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/4570/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed		Must be configured through external graphics utility.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		No frame rate caps.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Widescreen resolution

Widescreen (Steam)[citation needed]

Launch the game, select Options and set Texture Detail to Low. Set the other graphical settings to the desired values, then close the game. Download the archive, then extract the files anywhere. Select the desired version, then extract the files into the main installation folder. Navigate to the main installation folder and open Local.ini with a text editor. Set the following lines to the desired resolution. screenwidth=YourWidth screenheight=YourHeight Notes If Texture Detail is set to Medium or High unexplored areas will appear as black in the miminap. This solution results in a stretched image. This solution results in a bugged minimap.

Widescreen resolution (Retail versions 1.2 and 1.3)[citation needed]
Download the archive and run the setup. Launch the game, then close it at the main menu. Navigate to the main installation path and open Local.ini with a text editor. Set the following lines to the desired resolution. screenwidth=YourWidth screenheight=YourHeight Launch the game.

Field of view (FOV)

This fix will greatly enhance zoom capabilities.

Install the Camera Zoom Mod[citation needed]
Download Camera Zoom Mod. Copy the .lua file to <path-to-game>\Engine\Data\

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Forcing AA will render fonts blurry and harder to read.

Forcing AA via graphics driver will result in greater AA. INI fix is probably only 2x AA.

Force Anti-aliasing (AA)[citation needed]
Run game at least once to generate the .ini file. Go to <path-to-game> Open Local.ini. Locate line screenantialias=0 and change it to screenantialias=1.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Disable vsync[citation needed]
Run game at least once to generate the .ini file. Go to <path-to-game> Open Local.ini. Locate line screennovsync=0 and change it to screennovsync=1.

Input

In-game control settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		Scroll rate only.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions		Cutscenes only.
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Italian
Japanese				Fan translation. Download here.
Japanese				Fan translation. Download here.
Korean				Fan translation. Download here. This translation only works for the original Dawn of War game and Winter Assault.
Polish				Retail only.
Russian				Retail only.
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8	Versus Removed from the Steam version.
Online play		8	Versus The official GameSpy service has been shut down; Steam version has been updated with Steamworks support, while GOG.com uses Galaxy multiplayer. Steam and GOG Galaxy users can see each other, but not join each other's games.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP		Removed from the Steam and GOG.com versions.

Ports

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

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

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues fixed

Crash on startup

Run the W40k.exe / W40kWA.exe in compatibility mode for Windows 98 / ME.

Go to <path-to-game>\Engine and create the Data folder if not found.

Frame rate drop on mouse movement

Disable hardware cursor
Go to the <path-to-game>\Drivers Open spdx9_config.txt. Locate line allowhwcursor 1 and set to allowhwcursor 0.

More than one player can't join host's multiplayer lobby

Have the second player leave in order for the third player to be able to join
Have the second player connect to the host's lobby. Have the third player try to connect. When that fails, have the second player leave. The third player should now be able to join. Once the third player has joined, the second may now also join.

Untested on more than three players.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0b
Shader Model support	2.0b

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	DivX
Multiplayer	GameSpy, Steamworks, GOG Galaxy	GameSpy in non-Steam versions only.

Mods

Dawn of War has a "Game Manager", enabling switching between mods very easy.

In general, mods work for both the patched retail (1.51) and Steam versions of the game.

It is possible to run multiple modifications at once. For instructions, see here.

Dawn of War Professional

ModDB page

Gameplay and balance mod which significantly changes the game

Restores upgrades that were removed in expansions and includes additional content created by the community. All units are designed to play a role until late game.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98	2000, ME, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 1.4 GHz AMD Athlon XP 1.4 GHz	Intel Pentium IV 2.2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	4.5 GB
Video card (GPU)	Hardware T&L compatible 32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0b compatible	Nvidia GeForce 3 ATI Radeon 8500 64 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0b 16-bit compatible
Other		REQUIRED FOR MULTIPLAYER: Internet: Cable modem, DSL modem, or 56.6 kbps modem for online multiplayer play; Network: TCP/IP compliant network