Warcraft3: Frozen Throne LAN problem

eclipse said:

Hi all,
I can't get the LAN games to work with my 11 year old boy.

I have both Warcraft3: Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne installed on each machine, and each machine has its own install with Legitimate CD key's from Battle.net

Each install also has the 1.24c patch

But I'm still having problems getting the LAN to work: they can't recognise the other machine.

I'm running a G5 Mac running Leopard OSX 10.5.8 (as of course the G5's got dropped with Snow Leopard)

The other mac is a kick-butt 8 core 12 gig RAM Intel Mac Pro for graphic design work, running OSX Snow Leopard 10.6.2

What do I have to turn on and off on each machine to get the LAN to work in Warcraft3?

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I assume that you have a total of 4 different legitimate CD-Keys: 2 keys for Warcraft 3 and the expansion on one machine, and 2 keys for warcraft 3 and the expansion on another. However, I must add that in order to play LAN you don't need to have legitimate keys. I have managed to play on LAN with 4 computers using only one CD key. However, we could not connect to the Battle.net.

You don't mention if you have connected one mac to another. Physically connecting to the other mac using Ethernet or WiFi is not sufficient. You will also need to establish the connection from the Finder.

In order to do that:
1)Make sure file sharing is turned on in both computers. Open System Preferences->Sharing and check the "File Sharing" option. That will give you each computer's LAN address.
2)Connect the 2 computers using one of the 2 ways: Go to the finder, and On the Go menu, select the "Connect To Serve option. In there, you have 2 options: a)Enter the exact address of the other computer as it is shown on System Preferences on File Sharing. or b)Click "Browse" and you will see the other computer available for selection, along with any other machine that can be shared. Of course the second method is easier, but it works best on 10.5.8 or higher.

That's it. Now, open Warcraft 3 on both machines, Create a LAN game from one machine, and check the other machine to see your newly created game available for selection.

eclipse said:

Thanks for all that.

Yes, I have 4 keys, and might consider Battle.net (but can one save a game and come back to it later if all parties are agreed?)

I'm a long time mac user but no uber-geek by any means... and I've had Warcraft Frozen throne working between these 2 computers before, without having to 'mount' them on each other by actually connecting via Go?

Is there some incompatibility between Leopard on my old G5 and Snow Leopard as far as sharing / making each other file serves? As I can see right now, I can create my wife's Snow Leopard machine as a file server but she cannot reciprocate.

or is there a different routine / syntax for connecting from Snow Leopard? I've tried browsing to my computer, and only the master folder account name comes up. But when I connect from Leopard to Snow Leopard all sorts of options comes up, including her master account name, and specific hard drives within, etc.

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As far as I know over LAN, CD keys do not matter. You could have only one copy installed on both and it should work without a hitch. This is only an issue when you connect to Battle.Net

You ARE able to save games on Battle.net (as long as they are custom games -- not say, random team or solo). So you and your son could both go on Battle.net, one of you would have to host it (that in itself could be another problem) and then either of you can join it... you can pause it or save the same for a later time. Just host the saved game when you choose to come back to it.

I'm not sure why you would be experiencing troubles. But yeah, turn off firewalls? I doubt forwarding ports would make a difference but if you know how it couldn't hurt.

Hello All.

I'm trying to play Frozen Throne with a Mac/PC over LAN, I can connect to the pc and start the game, but after 10 or 15 minutes one of the computers are disconnected from the game. I tried to connect using an airport express, and TP-Link router, and direct connection. I don't think the problem is the connection, because when there is some problems in the connection, normally the game wait for the other player. In my case the other player is dropped directly.
I'm using the 1.24c patching and my operational system is the Snow Leopard, and the PC is Windows 7

eclipse said:

What does forwarding ports mean?

Lastly, I try using Finder's "GO" menu to "Connect to server" but the Snow Leopard computer won't connect to the Leopard G5... is this normal? (Gulps)

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Port Forwarding is just opening a specific "line" for your computer and a server to communicate with. But if your in a small town or have computerly challenged neighbors I would recommend just turning DMZ on. (Basically it just opens all these "lines" so servers can communicate) It really shouldn't be a problem as nearly noone goes around trying to hack into that kind of stuff in smaller towns.

eclipse said:

I'm connected via ethernet, not wireless, and am in Sydney, Australia. That's 4 million people (potential scammers).

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Well is your whole network on ethernet? If so you could disable wireless and enable DMZ, and be safe. If you have wireless clients you could create a closed network in which the SSID (the name of then network) and therefore be safer. If you do not feel comfortable opening all ports, pm me and ill walk you through port forwarding.

eclipse said:

I guess I just don't know this stuff well enough to make a decision like that.

I have a G5 running leopard and Mac-Pro running Snow Leopard on ethernet router, but the router is also a wireless which has a Compaq PC connected.

So ultimately it would be cool to get the PC laptop on the same game.

But it all changed when I upgraded my wife's Mac-Pro to Snow leopard... then the Warcraft wouldn't talk. I haven't really looked at this stuff for a while.

The Snow Leopard won't connect through finder's "GO" —*connect to server menu either.

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Do you have iChat? I could connect to you, and try to get the w/c and mac pro connected. Its hard to tell with you just describing the bare basics.

I'm going to jump in to make sure you don't get too side-tracked.

For a LAN game to work
- Port forwarding (or DMZ) is not required as a LAN does not require routing
- Both games must be at the same version. Patch from here.
- Firewalls must permit connections to take place. Check in System Preferences -> Security -> Firewall tab. Set to allow all incoming connections (your router protects you from the internet - local traffic should be trusted) or set access for specific programs. To set access for specific programs, add the file "Warcraft III.app", not "The Frozen Throne".
- Check these on both computers

and that's basically it.

If using the set access for specific programs, it is a good idea to host/join the game while running in a window. This way the allow/deny connection dialog box is not hidden by the game. To swap into (and out of) windowed mode, press 'Command-M'. Once everyone has joined, you can return fullscreen.

There are a few other quirks that may still prevent a game from working, and I suspect that may be the case. To track this down, can you describe how each computer is connected to each other? Something like this will do

Intel Mac --(cable)--> Modem --(cable)--> Wireless Router --(cable)--> G5 Mac

For each device please post a make and model so it can be determined exactly what they are doing.

Also, getting this to work on the Compaq laptop is much the same process. Once you get the Macs setup, we can look at getting it fixed up too (although I can almost guarantee that I will need to know exactly how it is connected to your other computers with make and models of hardware provided).

I'm down in Wollongong myself =)