Receiving a Fatal Error during game launch or while actually playing can be caused by a few problems. Please try to see if the problem has been corrected after trying each item below, as each solution listed has been reported to solve these problems for other customers.
1. Download war3.reg from
http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/war3/other/ and save it to your Windows Desktop. Once the file has been downloaded, double-click on it to import the registry info. This file will set Warcraft III to mute sound, run with the basic settings for video and set the refresh rate for the monitor to 60Hz. Once the game has started, you may select the options menu and adjust the video and sound settings as desired.
2. Add –Opengl tag after shortcut.
a. Click Start
b. Highlight Programs
c. Highlight Warcraft III without clicking on it.
d. Right click on the Warcraft III icon
e. Click Properties
f. In the Target field add –opengl after the quotation mark
Example: "C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\Warcraft III.exe" -opengl
g. Click OK
h. Try the game now.
3. 1. Make sure the latest video drivers you are using are compatible with the latest version of DirectX or you could experience video problems. Contact your video card manufacturer to ensure compatibility if you cannot find the information on the page you downloaded your video drivers from. Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX from
http://www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp. 4. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your Video and Sound cards. You'll want to check with your computer manufacturer or the Video/Sound card manufacturer's website for the current drivers that match the model of card you have in your system. A list of manufacturers with contact information can be found at
http://www.blizzard.com/support/?id=msi0369p. 5. Download and install the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard. Check the motherboard manufacturer's website for updated chipset drivers, first. If you can't find updated drivers at the manufacturer's website, the next two most common locations for chipset drivers are
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2 and
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/ 6. Before starting the game, make sure there are no other programs running in the background except for Explorer & Systray. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to see a list of programs running in the background.
(Advanced Users Only, Beginners/Intermediate users skip to step 7 Below)
If your system is overclocked it may be producing too much heat, which will adversely affect program performance. If the system is producing high amounts of heat, but is not overclocked, we would suggest you add a fan to your system to help distribute heat in the case.
7. If you have installed any video codec packs, such as Nimo's Codec pack, for video editing or playback please uninstall them and try the game. These codec packs, especially ones with DivX codecs, may conflict with the video codecs in the game causing the game to crash or not start properly.
(Final Step)
If you continue to have problems, we would appreciate more information about your computer hardware and drivers.
Please attach any text files in the "Warcraft III\Errors" and "Warcraft III\Logs" folder to your reply along with two files, your dxdiag.txt and msinfo.txt, for further diagnosis.
To obtain the systems diagnostic files, follow the instructions below:
1. Click on Start then Run.
2. Type in DXDIAG and press Enter or click OK, this will open the DirectX diagnostic tool. Run the DirectDraw, Direct3D and DirectSound tests found under the Display and Sound tabs before creating the dxdiag.txt file.
3. Click on the Save All Information Button (save this file to your windows desktop and name it dxdiag).
4. Click on the More Help tab and open the Microsoft system information tool (MSInfo).
5. Click on File and choose Export (save this file to your windows desktop as a text file and name it MSInfo). Please make sure to save this file as a .txt file and NOT as a .nfo file.
6. Attach the dxdiag.txt and msinfo.nfo files to a reply to this email.
Also, it is VERY important that you include the brand and model number of your Motherboard and Video Card.
{WR306}
Thanks,
Nathan L.
Technical Support
Blizzard Entertainment
If you respond to this email, please attach all previous messages and files relating to this issue.
#1 worked for me. If that doesn't work, #2 should. If not, then its your drivers etc.