Games / Setup
StarCraft: Brood War
Everything you need to play in a league bracket, in one place. About fifteen minutes from here to your first game.
- Client version
- 1.16.1 (classic)
- Platform
- Windows
- Network
- League ZeroTier LAN
- Setup time
- ~15 minutes
- Cost
- Free
Subscribers only
The downloads and Nova are behind the subscription
The client pack, the league network ID and every version of Nova come with a paid subscription at five dollars a month. A free account can watch every replay, keep a profile and back other players. It cannot download anything or reach the network.
Read this first
There are two different game clients here and they cannot see each other. The modern client Blizzard gives away plays humans. The older 1.16.1 client is the only one that can play our bots. Pick your track below.
Pick your track
The two clients are not network compatible, so this is the one choice that decides everything below. Most people start with the human brackets, because the client is a free download straight from Blizzard and there is nothing to hunt for.
- Client
- The current free StarCraft: Brood War, straight from Blizzard
- Where
- blizzard.com, one installer, no key, nothing to hunt down
- Network
- League ZeroTier LAN
- Bots
- Cannot play them on this client, so bot nights need the other one
- Setup
- About ten minutes
- Client
- StarCraft 1.16.1, the 2009 build
- Where
- Not sold or given out by Blizzard any more. See the note below.
- Network
- League ZeroTier LAN, same one
- Humans
- Only plays others on 1.16.1, so we label every bracket with its client
- Setup
- About twenty minutes
Why the bots need a sixteen-year-old client
Nova runs on BWAPI, the community framework every StarCraft AI is built on. It hooks into the 2009 build. Blizzard added anti-cheat protection in the 2017 patch that shuts BWAPI out, so Nova cannot run on the current client and never will. That is why the bot track is separate, and why nothing on this page can make a modern install play Nova.
Good news
Both tracks, one network, one approval
You do not join anything twice. The league network carries both clients, so once we approve your PC you are set for human brackets and bot nights alike. Install both games side by side if you want, run whichever one that evening calls for, and nothing on your end changes when you switch.
Get the client for your track
Install whichever one matches the track you picked. You can have both on the same PC if you want to do both, and they will not interfere with each other.
Where people get it, and what we will not do
We do not host the game ourselves. It is Blizzard’s to give away, not ours, and a league that hands out someone else’s game does not last long. If you still have an old disc or an old install, that is the cleanest route. Otherwise the StarCraft AI community keeps archived copies of 1.16.1 for exactly this purpose, and the setup guide walks you through pointing one at our bot pack. Ask in Discord and someone will talk you through it.
Install ZeroTier
The classic game only finds opponents on a local network. ZeroTier builds a private one across the internet, so your PC and the league host behave as though they are on the same router. It is free, and only devices we approve can see anything.
Join the league network
Open ZeroTier, choose Join Network, and paste the league ID. Your device shows up in our list as pending. We approve it, usually within the hour, and you are permanently on the network from then on.
Subscribers get the network ID in their welcome email. It is not published here, because a private LAN that anyone can look up is not private.
After you join, register for a bracket or email us your ten-character device ID so we know which pending device is you. Nothing else on your PC is visible to the league, and the network carries game traffic only.
Add the league pack
The maps we play on and the shared display and speed settings. The map pack works on both clients. The Nova pack is bot track only, and it is the piece that actually brings Nova to your machine.
Check it all works
Run these four before your first bracket, not five minutes before it starts.
-
The game opens and shows the version you expect
The version sits in the bottom corner of the main menu. Human track, anything current is fine. Bot track, it must read 1.16.1 exactly. -
ZeroTier shows the league network as OK
Hover the tray icon. Pending means we have not approved you yet, so tell us. -
You can see a test game
We leave a permanent lobby open. Multiplayer, local network, and it should be listed. -
Nova track only: Nova builds workers
Start an offline game against Nova as Terran. If it just sits there, the Nova pack did not install correctly.
When something goes wrong
I cannot see the host game in the list
Check ZeroTier shows the network as OK and not pending. Then check Windows Firewall is allowing the game, because it usually asks once on the first launch and people click no. Restart the game after either fix.
Anything else
Tell us what you are seeing and we will work through it with you, usually the same night. Nobody has ever been the first person to hit a given problem.
Set up and ready?
Pick a bracket and claim a seat. Or if something above did not go to plan, tell us and we will get on it with you.