[Oct 13] Main Thread - Shadowlands Pre-Patch: 3D Accelerator Card Not Supported

Hi there, blue post in this thread states that they are aware that a small portion of the playerbase are using outdated systems to play the game and that they’re working on a fix that may take a few weeks to allows us to play on these systems again. The change was due to forcing the game to use shader models 5 which are much newer than what older GPUs used, so it’s a matter of allowing them to render shadows with the old shader models.

For now, the -allowSoftwareRenderer workaround is one option stated in this thread, depending on your cpu and how long you can get our settings you may be able to run the game at around 15-20 fps.

There is a Game Developer post on this thread:

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/3d-accelerator-is-a-bogus-requirement/684304/12

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OMG - there is a God!
I ran the latest WoW update and logged into the game just fine. Even though the FPS was crappy (I’ve been used to the for years) the game was playable once again like before.

Thank you, thank thank you!
Good thing I got the Headless Horseman’s mount last year (after 9-10 years of trying).

I’m still trying to get a new laptop though. Looks like it’s going to be a Surface Pro 7. Hope this will be good enough.

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Working here as well. Thank you for the quick fix!

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Still unable to open the game :frowning: currently playing on intel hd 3000.

well, the game let me back in after almost 2 weeks down…at graphics setting 1 of 10 instead of the 3 of 10 I played at pre-patch…guess I should be grateful. It’s an “Empire Strikes Back” moment…(“I’ve altered the bargain, pray I don’t alter it farther!”) kind of thing

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Finally… The last update fixed it. The popup “Your 3D accelerator card is not supported by World of Warcraft” is gone.

I play on a Intel HD 3000. I have cleared the cache and reinstalled the game and it’s now working. You can do the same.

Can anyone confirm the need to reinstall the game completely? I say that because there’s a chance that this is related to the hardware change detection that kicks in when you try to run the PTR client for example.

I know it’s probably the better idea, but if there’s more info (like the location of cache folder, or the configuration to reset) that can achieve same result, that would be good to know.

i’ll try that, just for curiosity what model of processor you have? Mine’s an old 2nd gen i3.

Edit: Did you also reinstalled battle.net launcher or just the game?

Runs on my hd 3000.
Didn’t need to reinstall anything. Just patched.
3d warning poped up for a second but then went away.
Steady 20-25 fps in older zones and 15-20 in newer.

If i could ask for anything i’d ask for an option to completely turn off shadows on everything.

Thanks for the effort.

Thank you for answer, that help a lot (bad connection in the place I’m moving to, so if I can avoid 3 days of download, that is a good thing).

I can finally launch it after today’s update! I’m so happy to be able to play again. Didn’t have to reinstall or do anything, just update and go, and my graphics aren’t any worse than before prepatch. (And yeah, I know I need to get a new computer, but I just can’t afford it right now.) Thanks for taking the time to add back support for the older machines, it’s very much appreciated.

Thanks Blizzard for listening and the quick fix!

Just the game.

Mine is a 2nd gen i5.

i5-2450M
Intel HD 3000
6gb ram

Will the DirectX 10.1 support work for the actual expansion, or is it only prepatch?

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Hey I just got this bug today 2/22/21 and I don’t know why. WoW ran just fine last week. I have an ASUS TUF Gaming laptop. Just curious as to why it just stopped working for no reason?

Which GPU does the laptop have though? There are a LOT of ASUS TUF models and they all have different specs.

Problem solved.

After many months of selling bootleg Top Ramen… I was able to scrape up enough money to get an Alienware M17 R4 - no issues with starting or playing the game.

Thanks WoW Devs for the work around and ability to play when I was on my Obi Wan Kenobe laptop. Now, “there’ll be no one to stop us now!”