Johnny Matthews | Install the original Warcraft 3 on Apple Silicon

Yes, I know that Blizzard released a version of Warcraft 3 that’s compatible with modern MacOS machines. But did you know that it’s >30GB and is utter shite. I wanna play the original like the gods intended, but I don’t wanna lug around a Windows machine with CPU fans or any other active cooling nonsense. So instead, here’s how I managed to get Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne installed on any Apple silicon. This was written on 6th of August 2025.

When I started writing this guide it include a lot of steps like:

But then I realized that I can just export the CrossOver bottle and share that with you lot.

Prerequisites

You literally just need Crossover installed.

Steps

  1. Download the public Warcraft 3 Crossover archive package. Don’t be scared of the Proton Drive website – encryption is good for you.
  2. Open Crossover.
  3. In the menubar select File and then Open.
  4. Select the wc3.cxarchive package you just downloaded.
  5. Give the bottle a nice name like omfg best game 4evr and click Create.
  6. Double-click either the Reign of Chaos or The Frozen Throne icons, depending on which emotions you want to feel:

  1. Your screen might go black a couple of times, but it should eventually open to the classic Warcraft 3 welcome screen:

  1. You’re done.

Some things to note

  1. Clicking on Options will cause your game to crash. I dunno why, but I’m trying to figure it out.
  2. The text looks weird in places. Again, dunno why.
  3. Battle.net will not work. Blame Blizzard.
  4. I’ve zero idea if the World Editor works. Give it a go.