[Warcraft 3] [GUIDE] How to Install DotA

[Melderv]

How to Install DotA

• Introduction and Overview
• Reign of Chaos
• Frozen Throne
• Patch Update
• Latest Map
• Garena
• Playing DotA
• Miscellaneous
• Changelog

INTRODUCTION

Note: 6.69c is already out, and 1.24e is also out. I have not set a date as to when I will work on the this guide once more. However, I've edited this post to look much more pleasing although I'm sure very few read it. Still, I felt obliged to update this guide.

This guide is the Official Install Guide, found here. This guide contains additional information not found in the link.

This is a work in progress, and will require more information. If you feel you have something useful to contribute, please do so and post it here. If you want to see something here, post your comment as well. If you have some questions to ask, or a useful link to add, don't hesitate to post, too.

Some of this is common sense, but the following guide is a step-by-step process on how to install DotA properly and problem-freely. The guide is set up in tabs, so just follow the order I made out for you.

For more Technical Support guidelines, refer to this link: [LIST] Technical Support Guidelines

OVERVIEW

• Installing Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
• Installing Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Expansion
• Updating the Patch
• Downloading the Latest Map for DotA
• Garena

• Registering for Garena
• Installing Garena
• Using Garena

• Playing DotA

• Playing DotA in LAN
• Playing DotA in Battle.net

• Miscellaneous
• Changelog

INSTALLING REIGN OF CHAOS

Installing Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

First, place the CD in your CD drive. Open My Computer, click on the icon of the CD, and install it.

Step 1

• Click "Install Warcraft III" when the Warcraft III Setup opens.

Follow the instructions given afterwards. Accept the Terms of Agreement, after reading it definitely, and proceed to the next page.



Step 2

• Enter your name and unique CD Key. I'll be entering an example name and my own CD Key as an example, but I covered it for privacy. Click OK.

The CD Key can be only be legally found at the box of your Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.



Step 3

• Enter the installation directory. It's recommended to leave it as it is, unless you have a specific place for your game. Click OK.



Step 4
• After successfully installing, it will prompt you to place a desktop shortcut. Not necessary, because you'll be playing Frozen Throne, not this.

INSTALLING FROZEN THRONE

Installing Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

You just installed Reign of Chaos. Take its CD out, place the TFT CD, and let's install The Frozen Throne.

Step 1

• Click "Install Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne" when the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Setup opens.

Again, accept the terms of Agreement after reading it. This will lead you to the CD Key page.



Step 2

• Enter your CD Key. Click OK.

The CD Key can be only be legally found at the box of your Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.



Step 3

• Now this time, you'd want to create a desktop shortcut. Click Yes.

UPDATING THE PATCH

Updating The Patch

Let's now update our patch to the latest one. This might not be the latest several months from now, but the concept is the same. Patches are frequent updates to Warcraft itself, not DotA. You will only be able to play with other players who have the same patch as yours.

Someone who has a 1.20e patch will not be able to play against someone with the latest patch. You will also not be able to view replays from games played from a different patch. Example, if a game is played in patch 1.20e, it won't be viewable by someone who has 1.24e.

An additional note: When using 1.24e patch, you cannot play any DotA games older than the 6.62b version. 1.24e is the latest patch, please use it if you want to play the latest versions of DotA.

Please visit this thread, by Forum Staff Cp6uja_, who discusses everything about the 1.24e patch. Here is the link: All about 1.24e



Once you have downloaded your patch, it's time to install it. This is an older picture, the latest patch is 1.24e (1.24.4.6387).

Step 1

• Open the patch you downloaded. It will do it's job after. When it's done, click OK. Uncheck the box if you want.



Note: When the patch starts installing, the screen will turn black. Then it will install by itself. After it's done, the screen will go back to normal.

The good thing about latest patch, is that you don't need a CD to play the game (it has actually been this way since 1.21b).

Congratulations! You now have the latest patch for DotA.

Updating the patch can also be done through logging in to Battle.net. It will update your patch to the latest one immediately.

DOWNLOADING THE LATEST MAP FOR DOTA

Downloading the Latest Map for DotA

You can get new maps at this site.

Step 1

• Go here and download the latest map.



Step 2

• Transfer the file to your Warcraft directory. Default directory is: C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\Maps\Download



The default directory is very important. Any tampering with it will have effects on Garena and downloading from Warcraft, especially when playing with others.

Congratulations! You now have the latest map for DotA.

GARENA

Registering for Garena

Official site for Garena is here.

Garena is a program that allows you to play DotA online. It is like Battle.net, but it offers more players and more services. Another popular client is RGC or Ranked Gaming Client, but here we discuss Garena.

Download Garena using the link I provided.

To use Garena, you need an account. I'm sure you know how to make one, am I right? No further explanation here.

Installing Garena

Installing Garena is much like installing any program. You already know how to install Warcraft. It'll be a piece of cake to install this program. Oh, and the default skin for Garena is red, but there are custom skins floating around. My skin is blue.

Once you've installed it, log in using your newly created account. The more daunting part is configuring it to play DotA.

Step 1

• Double-click on the icon to open Garena. Log in and wait for it to open. Naturally, Garena updates VERY frequently. If it prompts for an update, follow it and UPDATE. You won't be able to use it if you don't. If it's done, you can open it, of course.




Step 2

• If you're using it for the first time, click Settings. The picture shows where it is. A dialog box will open.



Step 3

• First of all, click "War3 RPG". It's what you'll use to play DotA. Then, at the "Executable Settings", click Browse. Open your Warcraft III folder, and look for the "war3.exe" file. Use it. Then click OK. Bootstrap parameters are OPTIONAL.

Note: Bootstrap parameters are add-ons to attach to the Executable settings. As you can see here, I added "-window" to play in Window Mode.



That's basically what's needed to play DotA. This goes the same for other games. Just set the directory to the game and it will play it when you click Start Game.

Using Garena

You need to enter rooms and whatnot to play DotA. If you notice using the STEP 2 picture I took, I have buddies. You don't need buddies, but they're nice to have.

Step 4

• Enter a room. Click War3 RPG on the left-hand corner. The number represents how many there are inside. Then, click your country. Then, click a room, usually the full ones. If they're full, KEEP TRYING! You need to enter a room where there are many, many people.



You can now play DotA using Garena. I hope you have leaver-free games!

PLAYING DOTA

Playing DotA on a LAN

You can now play DotA on a LAN or Local Area Network.

But you have to adjust a few things as well. That's where Options comes into the picture. Click Options on the Main Menu (4th button from the top).

Step 1

• Enter your desired name. Then, click "Create Game". If there is a game present, you may choose to click "Join Game" or double-click the game itself.



Step 2

• This is a very simple step indeed. Click the "Download" folder.



Step 3

• This is also simple. Click the map you want, then click "Create Game". This will bring you to another window, which allows you to start a game.



Step 4

• Once here, you have to wait for opponents to start the game. If you're using AI, manually add the players. Have fun.



Playing DotA on Battle.net

It is pretty much the same as playing in LAN, except online.

Step 1

• Register for an account.



Step 2

• Enter your desired log-on name and enter your password for that account twice to make sure.



Step 3

• Log on using that same account.



Step 4

• If this is your first time to use the account, you have to register a valid e-mail address.



Step 5

• Click Custom Game.



Step 6

• Enter a name for your game. Select your specified map, and click Create Game.



Voila! You now have created a game inside Bnet. Wait for others to join and click Start Game.

MISCELLANEOUS

Settings

Step 1

• Adjust your VIDEO Settings.



GAMMA: Brightens or darkens up a screen.
RESOLUTION: I find the 1024x768x32 Resolution fitting for my monitor. If you have a bigger monitor, select a bigger resolution. A bigger resolution means a more detailed screen.
MODEL DETAIL: Defines how detailed model units can be.
ANIMATION QUALITY: Enhances animation, i.e. attacks and some effects.
TEXTURE QUALITY: Improves the overall texture, from the menus, the terrain and the models. Medium allows you to read the loading screen properly.
PARTICLES: Enhances detail of other objects and doodads.
LIGHTS: Sets how light affects everything.
UNIT SHADOWS: This must be on to ensure good gameplay.
OCCLUSION: Determines how an object can be hidden by other nearby objects. Best set to On.
SPELL DETAIL: High reveals all the details of the spell. Setting it to Low cause some effects not to appear in-game.

Step 2

• Set your GAMEPLAY Settings.



The only things you might need to tamper with here are:

MOUSE SCROLL: How sensitive do you want your cursor to be?
KEYBOARD SCROLL: Same here, but with the arrow keys.
ALWAYS SHOW HEALTH BARS: As of 1.22a, health bars may now be permanently shown.
AUTOMATICALLY SAVE REPLAYS: This feature automatically saves replays inside an folder named Autosaved located within your Replay folder.

Step 3

• Configure your SOUND Settings. Do what you want here.

CHANGE LOG

• June 18, 2009 - Made a carbon copy of the guide on PlayDotA forums.
• September 29, 2009 - Added spoiler tags.
• September 30, 2009 - Updated patch links.
• October 1, 2009 - Fixed patch typos, thanks Foede. Removed Useful Links since most can be found right here in this forum.
• June 10, 2010 - Updated some minimal text, links, and added a link to the Technical Support Guidelines, but no new pictures.
• November 2, 2010 - Renewed the format of the guide, removed spoiler tags, changed the font. Updated some text. Still no new pictures.

[know-it-all]

It would be perfect if you just cleaned up the leftover BBcode.

[Rune]

Whoa, nice guide

[Melderv]

I didn't know [hidden] doesn't work here. I'm removing the links to DA forums and renewing them to threads here, possibly.

[etismyname]

I would suggest you to ask IceFrog to post it somewhere on the homepage.

[Melderv]

IceFrog currently has its old version on the getdota.com install guide link.

He doesn't have a newbie section I think so I posted it here.

[Shreder]

People actually need a guide for this? It is a nice guide but it seems a little common sense to me. The Garena part is useful but I would think if you are on the DotA forums you have played the game at least once.

[Melderv]

If you've hung around DA's New Member FAQ, this question is frequently raised (most being moved from GD or Tech Support). That's why Ice even has a link for it in getdota.com.

[Darentei]

Can't go wrong on this guide. I was close to raging when I couldn't find Battle.net in there (tl;dr). About that, I really doubt Garena has more players.

[snaYkeY]

If someone needs this guide, I doubt he/SHE would have the amount of brain required for DotA a.k.a. nearly zero.

[Butcher]

nics pics, helps beginners through both bnet and garena

[Melderv]

@wafuf: I was just at MOA. I study at UST. BTW your way is the banned way,

@snaYkeY: Face it, some people really do need this guide. Some people who aren't as computer-literate as you are.

[Minimality]

You should talk about playing trough hamachi lan. Might not be that common among the general population, but at least I play 90% of my games that way.

[Melderv]

This is for basic installation and how to play it. 3rd party stuff can be excluded.

[Bartholomew_K]

Omg..........

[Divine]

epic loading time but helpful

[king_james]

Fuckin' Awesome guide. I mean, I've had dota for 3 years and knew how to do all this, but its still a good read.

[Anaroth]

well quite useful.. esp the garena part.. now those lazy ass guys tat are too lazy to figure out how garena works can see it...:P

[SubSt8]

I would HIGHLY encourage anyone that needs a guide to "install" DoTA that they ought not play DoTA.

[Aravis]

How about this one? Its the official one

And nearly exactly same