StarCraft Now Free, First Patch in 8 Years Released - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 18 April 2017 / 9,306 Views
Eight years since the last patch for StarCraft, Blizzard has updated the game once again to version 1.18.
StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War are also now free. They can be downloaded here.
Read the complete patch notes below:
Note: When patching StarCraft, please use the ‘Run as Admin’ option; it is required during your first client run to migrate saves and avoid issues from Windows system admin changes.
General
- Added windowed fullscreen or windowed mode; use Alt+Enter to switch between.
- Added UTF-8 support.
- Added cursor clamping in-game while windowed; unclamped in menus.
- Added Popular Maps to streamline finding games or game types.
- Added options to display actions per minute.
- Added Observer mode.
- Added opponent information when joining a game lobby.
- Added autosaving for replays.
- Added an option to display the game timer.
- Added UPnP support.
- Updated to a new OpenGL backend.
- Improved gameplay responsiveness during multiplayer by increasing turn rate to match LAN speeds over Battle.net.
- Improved UI layout in Battle.net sections.
- Improved behavior of available lobbies within the ‘Join Game’ section.
- Improved compatibility with Windows 7, 8.1, and 10.
- Improved anticheat capabilities.
- Improved installation and patching performance.
- Mac Beta support now available for 10.11 and up.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed palette issues to correct rainbow water, 80s Kerrigan face in the loading screen, and other graphic glitches.
- Fixed problems with LAN game discovery.
- Fixed IME support and other text artifacts in Battle.net menus.
- LAN and Legacy Battle.net fixes.
Known Issues
- The profile section is currently unavailable.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I'd never have guessed that such a legendary game would become permanently free!
Great news and awesome patch. Hoping the new Remaster coming uses CGI cutscrenes like in SC2. That would be incredible and expensive but its Blizzard.
Thinking about it, I would probably call this the best multiplayer game ever made. It brought an entire country out of a depression and it still gets updated like 20 years after release...
I do like when games companies make games freeware, it really does show they care more about the games than making profits (most the time). Westwood/EA made Command & Conquer, Red Alert and Tiberian Sun all free years ago to celebrate releases or just because.
Please make Warcraft I-III free
Everyone should get this game, specially that is now free.It is a masterpiece and easily the best RTS game ever made.
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