Note: This will not work if you have already updated.
Sadly, it has become necessary to make this post. Updating breaks campaign saves. They just stop working - no error message, nothing. If you’re in the middle of a long campaign mission - the Rexxar campaign in particular, it’s frustrating to lose hours and hours of progress.
This guide is to explain how to stop the game from updating, thus [temporarily] preserving your saves, and allow you to finish the mission you’re currently on.
Credit to Vedymin who I first saw make this suggestion (full explanation below):
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Turn off updates in the Battle.net app. From the Warcraft 3: Reforged page in the app, select ‘OPTIONS’ below the logo, then select ‘GAME SETTINGS’. This will open a new window. Select ‘GAME INSTALL/UPDATE’ from the sidebar. Scroll down to ‘GAME UPDATES’. Change the radio button to ‘NEVER AUTOMATICALLY APPLY UPDATES’. Click ‘DONE’ to save this change.
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Quit the Battle.net app for good measure, to avoid accidentally updating the game. Right click the icon in the Windows system tray, and click ‘EXIT’.
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Create a modified shortcut to launch the game instead. Navigate to your Warcraft III install folder (your location will vary). This folder contains a folder named ‘x86_64’; open this. There will be multiple .exe’s, including the world editor and the game .exe, titled ‘Warcraft III.exe’. Right click the ‘Warcraft III.exe’ and select ‘CREATE SHORTCUT’. You can now place this shortcut wherever it is convenient for you. For this example, place it on the desktop.
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Change the parameters of the shortcut. By default, the shortcut is named ‘Warcraft III.exe - Shortcut’. Right click it, and select ‘RENAME’. Name it something obviously different than the normal game. I named mine ‘WC3 PATCH DODGE’. Now right click the renamed shortcut and select ‘PROPERTIES’. On the default page, the first field which you can edit should be ‘TARGET:’. It should say the location of the ‘Warcraft III.exe’.
"[...]\Warcraft III\x86_64\Warcraft III.exe"
is mine, note the quotes. After the quotes, amend the following to the ‘TARGET:’ field:
-launch
There is a space between the end of the quote and ‘-launch’. Your ‘TARGET:’ field should now read:
"[...]\Warcraft III\x86_64\Warcraft III.exe" -launch
Click ‘OK’ to save the change. -
Launch the game using your new shortcut; PLAY IN OFFLINE MODE. The game will still prompt you to update if you are connected to the internet, even with the Battle.net app closed. YOU MUST NOT update; be very mindful of your clicks. Simply click ‘PLAY OFFLINE’ at the bottom-middle of the screen when the game launches. Do not login. If you do login, and are prompted to update (BAD!), you must alt-tab the game and force close it.
I am still on v1.32.3.14857 x86_64 as of writing, and my saves from March 22 work. I am not using the Battle.net app. If you wish to play online (if you enjoy 300 ping and desyncs), you will need to update and know that your PAST SAVES WILL NOT WORK. You may, however, per the reason myself and others have looked for this solution, wish to complete a mission in the Rexxar campaign (leaving the campaign as a whole unfinished), and then jump online. You should (I have yet to get far enough to test this) be able to select the next mission and your progress will carry over, but you’ll have to use the shortcut to bypass the launcher AND NOT UPDATE until you finish a mission. Thanks for reading, hope this helps.