The All-Time PC Classic is Now Available for the World to Experience
We reported on this a while back and were brimming with excitement. But now, the day has come. Get ready for a nostalgia nuke because the original Starcraft is now free to download and own on PC and Mac. With Battlenet support and everything. We’re going back to the old-school “My life for Aiur” spams and omega Zergling rush, Confederates.
Both the first Starcraft and its official Brood War expansion come together in anticipation of StarCraft Remaster coming later this Summer. This means the game will be as busy as it ever was, meaning Battle.net is about to see a revitalization. Check below for the full patch notes and download links.
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.
StarCraft: Brood War Patch 1.18 Patch Notes
StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War are now free. Follow the links here to begin installing:
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.
Blizzard just made the announcement, so jump to. Come release of StarCraft Remastered, owners of either version will have access to the same Battlenet servers. Hence, there’s no need to worry about a split playerbase. Online action will remain steady for some time. As way of celebration, go download.
Be sure to check back for more important gaming news, updates, and revelations as they come. We’re happy to bring more. Have fun.