Hack to slow down Warcraft 3 game speed?

[riku]

First time playing through WC3 (RoC). I am playing on Hard and so far
have done ok, apart from a couple of very hard missions, like the
awakening of Stormrage. Needless to say, the very last mission
(Twilight of the Gods) is really killing me, no matter what I try.

The problem is that the game runs way too fast for me even on slowest
game speed. It seems to me they made the slowest game speed in WC3
much faster than e.g. in Starcraft, where I never felt the game ran
too fast to be able to keep up with the pace. This last mission really
seems to be about how much you are able to micromanage all over the
map in a given time, not so much whether you are using the proper
tactics and right units for the job.

So my question is, is there any "speed hack" for Warcraft 3
single-player campaigns that would slow the game speed down even
further? I'd say something like half the speed of the current "lowest
game speed" would be fine (to me it seems then it would run maybe
about the same as Starcraft in lowest game speed).

Yes I realize it is kind of a cheat, but unlike other kinds of cheats
(unlimited gold, invulnerability etc.), it would let me see whether I
am using proper tactics at all in this level, or if the limiting
factor for my success really is just my inability to keep up with the
speed of the game. I would like to play this first and foremost as a
tactical game, not an action game.

Also, does anyone know if there are replay files showing how people
have completed "Twilight of the Gods" and other maps on hard? I have
seen a couple of WC3 replay sites, but they seem to carry only
competitive online multiplayer replay files, not single-player
campaign files.

Thanks.

[Ham Pastrami]

Post by riku
So my question is, is there any "speed hack" for Warcraft 3
single-player campaigns that would slow the game speed down even
further? I'd say something like half the speed of the current "lowest
game speed" would be fine (to me it seems then it would run maybe
about the same as Starcraft in lowest game speed).

You can use a CPU slower like Mo'Slo. Apparently other people have had
success using Fraps vidcapping to choke the system, though this probably
requires that you have a lot of free disk space to hold the dummy video,
since the Fraps codec is not very efficient.

Post by riku
Yes I realize it is kind of a cheat,

That's ok, it's single-player. You don't have to justify anything. Play it
however the hell you want, and if someone has a problem with it, then cheat
against them in multi too.

Post by riku
I would like to play this first and foremost as a
tactical game, not an action game.

You and me both. But I've come to accept that Warcraft 3 is just not that
game, and moved on.

Post by riku
Also, does anyone know if there are replay files showing how people
have completed "Twilight of the Gods" and other maps on hard? I have
seen a couple of WC3 replay sites, but they seem to carry only
competitive online multiplayer replay files, not single-player
campaign files.

I don't recall if the game saves campaign replays. If such replays exist,
you'll probably find them as movie files at places like YouTube. There used
to be several good sites for War3 replays, but it seems like all of them
have either closed or been reappropriated for WoW vids. You might try file
hosts like FilePlanet or FileFront.

[Jim Vieira]

Post by Ham Pastrami

Post by riku
So my question is, is there any "speed hack" for Warcraft 3
single-player campaigns that would slow the game speed down even
further? I'd say something like half the speed of the current "lowest
game speed" would be fine (to me it seems then it would run maybe
about the same as Starcraft in lowest game speed).

You can use a CPU slower like Mo'Slo. Apparently other people have had
success using Fraps vidcapping to choke the system, though this probably
requires that you have a lot of free disk space to hold the dummy video,
since the Fraps codec is not very efficient.

If something like that works, I can recommend a program called "CPU
grabber" which is available on this page:

http://www.geocities.com/kulhain/

I've used it with some other games that required slow down in windows and
it works very good. You just tell it how much percentage of the CPU to eat
and it does it well.

[riku]

On Fri, 1 Jun 2007 22:03:22 -0500, "Jim Vieira"

Post by Jim Vieira

Post by Ham Pastrami
You can use a CPU slower like Mo'Slo. Apparently other people have had
success using Fraps vidcapping to choke the system, though this probably
requires that you have a lot of free disk space to hold the dummy video,
since the Fraps codec is not very efficient.

If something like that works, I can recommend a program called "CPU
http://www.geocities.com/kulhain/
I've used it with some other games that required slow down in windows and
it works very good. You just tell it how much percentage of the CPU to eat
and it does it well.

Thanks for the suggestions, although I presume CPU slowdowns will just
make the WC3 graphics and controls unplayably jerky, not necessarily
affecting the actual gamespeed at all? That is my experience when
running most games on slower PCs, the game runs at the same speed, but
just more jerkily (ie. frameskip in action).

Anyway, I ended up using "allyourbasearebelongtous" cheat to skip that
final WC3 mission. I presume the WC3 expansion pack is just as bad,
ie. chaotic missions where the challenge comes primarily from the
player's inability to keep up with the pace of the game? I have no
idea why Blizzard made Warcraft 3 single-player campaign game speed
run so much faster than Starcraft or Warcraft 2. Apparently that was
the only way to make the game challenging enough.

I used to like RTS games but if the trend is speeding them up more and
more, I guess I need to pass them in the future. Maybe concentrate on
TBS games or something. Too bad, since I really liked e.g. Starcraft
and the Age of... series (albeit even the first AOE sometimes ran a
bit too fast for my taste, even in slowest gamespeed).

About the final mission (Twilight of the Gods): I read somewhere a
suggestion that you can try to kill the enemy acolytes and new
Necropolis structure right when the undead army moves to another base,
which seriously cripples their new base. However, if you try to target
the acolyte which is building the new base, the game says the target
(acolyte) is invulnerable. Was this something that was changed in some
WC3 update so that you could not try to win the final mission "the
wrong way"?

[magnate]

Post by riku
On Fri, 1 Jun 2007 22:03:22 -0500, "Jim Vieira"

Post by Jim Vieira

Post by Ham Pastrami
You can use a CPU slower like Mo'Slo. Apparently other people have had
success using Fraps vidcapping to choke the system, though this probably
requires that you have a lot of free disk space to hold the dummy video,
since the Fraps codec is not very efficient.

If something like that works, I can recommend a program called "CPU

Thanks for the suggestions, although I presume CPU slowdowns will just
make the WC3 graphics and controls unplayably jerky, not necessarily
affecting the actual gamespeed at all? That is my experience when
running most games on slower PCs, the game runs at the same speed, but
just more jerkily (ie. frameskip in action).
Anyway, I ended up using "allyourbasearebelongtous" cheat to skip that
final WC3 mission. I presume the WC3 expansion pack is just as bad,
ie. chaotic missions where the challenge comes primarily from the
player's inability to keep up with the pace of the game? I have no
idea why Blizzard made Warcraft 3 single-player campaign game speed
run so much faster than Starcraft or Warcraft 2. Apparently that was
the only way to make the game challenging enough.
I used to like RTS games but if the trend is speeding them up more and
more, I guess I need to pass them in the future. Maybe concentrate on
TBS games or something. Too bad, since I really liked e.g. Starcraft
and the Age of... series (albeit even the first AOE sometimes ran a
bit too fast for my taste, even in slowest gamespeed).

Sorry if I'm being dim but isn't there a pause function? I used it all
the time in SC - in conjunction with the minimap - to gain enough
thinking time. It's not the actual clicking that takes the time for
me, it's the deciding what to do.

I've not fired up WC3 for a looong time - I played the first campaign
(SPOILER: where the human leader guy ends up turning into a Death
Knight), started the second one (Undead) and gave up. Too samey,
didn't have the ability to draw me in like SC did.

CC

[s***@gmail.com]

I am looking for the same thing. Of course I can use pause to think, but at slow, battles run way too fast for me to even run two skirmishes at once. I really loved the speed control on StarCraft, it was much improved. Playing WC3 again, just so I can finish it, it looks really really good for a game this old. I think when I played it through the first time, I also got stuck on the Twilight map on hard, that's why I have this memory of not finishing it... I'm too old for that now (have a life) so one playthrough on normal will fulfill my need. But I also want to play it as a tactical (like SC) and slow is just too damn fast, for battles. When almost every unit has some ability that can change the course of each battle... Going to try moslo.