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Warcraft III

This is the main game target for OpenWarcraft3. It is the most complete path in the tree, and the place where the engine is being shaped into a playable RTS rather than only a viewer.

The code here owns Warcraft III-specific game logic, JASS, SLK/profile parsing, MDX and W3M rendering hooks, the client-side FDF UI, and the Warcraft III test suites.

Status

Playable prototype. Not parity yet.

The current build can start from the menu, launch campaign or map content, render Warcraft III terrain/models/UI, run a server-authoritative simulation, and execute a growing slice of unit, command, combat, JASS, UI, and networking behavior. It is still an indie engine project in motion: solid foundations, visible gameplay, lots of systems present, and plenty of rough edges.

Working

  • Warcraft III MPQ-backed data loading through the shared archive layer.
  • W3M/W3X map archive loading for maps present in the configured data folder or test archive.
  • Warcraft III terrain rendering through the game renderer hooks.
  • MDX model loading and rendering, including animation evaluation paths used by units and UI models.
  • Client-side FDF UI runtime for menus, dialogs, map selection, options, single player flow, and Warcraft-style frame layout.
  • Main menu and Single Player campaign selection flow.
  • Quake-style console, cvars, command completion, and map command routing.
  • Listen-server loopback play path and UDP client/server plumbing.
  • Server-authoritative unit simulation with selection commands, movement, collision, basic pathing, animation states, health, damage, death, and inventory slots.
  • Basic RTS command and ability coverage, including move, stop, attack, train, summon, item flow, Thunderbolt-style target spell behavior, timed life, stun status, and selected aura/status hooks.
  • JASS VM and native API coverage for many gameplay-facing functions.
  • SLK/profile parsing for Warcraft III data tables.
  • Deterministic test assets and game-specific tests under games/warcraft-3/tests/.

Partial

  • Combat and abilities are functional but intentionally selective. Many Warcraft III ability codes are registered as stubs or partial local behavior.
  • Fog of war has authoritative server-side state and network sync coverage, but the full gameplay/rendering polish is still evolving.
  • UI is client-side and FDF-driven, but not every in-game panel or Battle.net-era screen is implemented.
  • Asset compatibility is strongest around original Warcraft III data, with ongoing work for later 1.29-era data and edge cases.
  • Multiplayer transport and lobby flows exist, but this is not yet a finished multiplayer product.
  • Warcraft map/background music has JASS playlist/state handling and optional FFMPEG=1 decoding; menu glue music, map skin overrides, and exact remaining retail timing semantics are still incomplete.

Not There Yet

  • Full campaign scripting and trigger parity.
  • Complete Warcraft III object-data overrides, the remaining upgrade-effect families, build rules, and race-specific gameplay.
  • Full ability, buff, autocast, item, and hero-system parity.
  • Complete save/load, replay, AI, and editor-level map behavior.
  • Production-grade user experience around errors, missing assets, and unsupported maps.

Build And Run

Build the default target:

make build

Run the Warcraft III client:

make run

Run a map directly:

make run-map

Useful validation:

make test
make test-ui
make test-jass

Notes

This target expects a legitimate Warcraft III data folder. Original assets, names, and game data belong to Blizzard Entertainment. The repository contains code, fixtures, and generated test assets, not the retail game data.

Documentation

File formats, renderer notes, UI/FDF behavior, and gameplay coverage work used by this target. Engine-wide client, server, networking, and runtime-module docs live under docs/architecture/.

File Formats

Detailed File Notes

Implementation Notes