Open warcraft 3 maps by clicking them

[Solu9]

This is probably the stupidest question I'll ever ask here.

I recently screwed up my computer by accidentally downloading Milkshape via Softonic.com (DO NOT DO THAT)... What it did was redirecting my browser to some shady search engine every time I opened Chrome.
Anyway. I found a way to get rid of it I thought. I had to delete some files while browsering the Run \ regedt32 Local keys. After deleting what seemed to be what I needed I was horrified that my Warcraft 3 (among other programs such as MS Office) would not open. I then tried unintalling Chrome and reinstalling it, and that worked. If only I had done that to begin with...
So. I uninstalled WC3 as well, but I got an error message! I then booted windows in safe-mode and voila I could install again AND even run WC3 in normal mode afterwards.

So loooong story short. Normally I could open maps directly by double clicking them. But not anymore. I have to open the editor first and then open the map from within. I changed the default program to open maps with, to the Editor. However when I click the maps it simply opens the default editor and I still need to open my maps from within.

I have probably missed something simple but I can't see it...

 

[KaerfNomekop]

when I click the maps it simply opens the default editor and I still need to open my maps from within

you mean this isn't what's supposed to happen


my life has been a lie

 

[Solu9]

Uhm no. If I double click fx. the map (2)BootyBay.w3m it should open the map (2)BootyBay.w3m and not just the editor.

 

[redwings1340]

oh, hmm, interesting. This happens to me too. Opening a map not inside the editor only opens the editor and not the map. I don't know why.

 

[PurgeandFire]

Were you using Jass NewGen Pack before?

 

[Solu9]

Nope. Never got around anything but GUI.
So that can't possibly be the problem. I can still open maps from within the editor. But usually I can just click on the map file itself and it loads that map in the editor right away. <- That, does not happen anymore (after the reinstall). It just opens the editor no matter what map file I click, and then I have to open the map manually.

It's not a big deal, just an annoyance I have been without for as long as I can remember (I guess that makes it a really big annoyance)...

 

[vypur85]

Actually I had the same damn problem before. Lol. Then again, just live with it eh. Perhaps someday you'd serendipitously find that it works again...

 

[Imp Midna]

Blizzard definitely did not add the double-click feature by default, probably because they couldn't decide whether a double click should open the map in the map editor or in warcraft 3 to play it. And a separate entry in the context menu for both options would have been overkill i assume.
As you know, the world editor opens maps directly in warcraft 3. It does so by calling wc3.exe with -loadfile parameter. The exact same parameter is also supported by worldedit.exe. If you just rightclick and use "open with", windows just opens worldedit.exe with your filename as a parameter, which is not supported by the world editor. WE then decides to ignore the wrong parameter and just boot up normally.
You probably set windows up to correctly use -loadfile at some point in time and forgot about it. When softonic was swarming your computer with all kinds of shit, it probably bombed your registry keys (god knows how and why), so you will have to do that again.

I don't know the exact registry keys you have to create, but i know a handy command line tool that at least exists on my machine (windows 7 home, 64 bit). It might not be there in your windows, just give it a try.
1: open up a command prompt with admin rights (its somewhere in your start-menu, or just search for "cmd")
2: use assoc to bind filename extensions to a filetype
3: use ftype to bind the filetype you defined to a special way of opening it upon a double-click.

Something like this:

assoc .w3x=WC3MAP
assoc .w3m=WC3MAP
ftype WC3MAP="C:\Program Files(x86)\Warcraft III\worldedit.exe" -loadfile "%1"

WC3MAP is just some name that might suit to the files. ftype takes a command line to be executed when you doubleclick such a file. In this example, .w3x and .w3m files are defined to be WC3MAPs, and when you doubleclick on a WC3MAP, windows executes the command line ["C:\Program Files(x86)\Warcraft III\worldedit.exe" -loadfile "%1"], where [%1] will be replaced by the full path to the file you doubleclicked on, which will make windows call worldedit with the parameters -loadfile <filename> instead of just <filename> as a parameter.

 

[KaerfNomekop]

Learned a bit from that, but the steps didn't work

Spoiler

so I opened up regedit and changed the command lines for w3m_auto_file and w3x_auto_file from

"D:\Warcraft\World Editor.exe" "%1"

to

"D:\Warcraft\World Editor.exe" -loadfile "%1"

It works now

 

[Solu9]

Imp Midna I always love your posts. But as usual I'm having a hard time understanding it

Bu seriously though. I am baffled that such complicated measures are being mentioned. I mean... since the very first time I installed WC3 many years ago I have ALWAYS been able just to click on the maps. There has never, ever, been any reasons to change anything in regedit.

I do not understand why this seems to be so complicated when it used to be so simple...

 

[Imp Midna]

Maybe they removed the feature with an update? I've never had that feature in my game. And that changing this requires you to edit a registry key is kinda obvious, as it is the only place where you can change variables of windows itself.
Actually, the solution is so damn easy that im a little bit buffed that you can not find tutorials on the internet. Like, if you broke it down, you could create a single textfile, tell the guys to copy and paste the text into a text file and rename it to something.bat or something.reg (depending on which way you want to go) and just doubleclick it and boof, you have it back.

 

[Solu9]

Actually, the solution is so damn easy that im a little bit buffed that you can not find tutorials on the internet.

Alright alright, take off the top hat and the monocle. All I'm saying is that I really didn't think I had to go through all that just to make a damn map open when double clicking it. It can't be an update since my WC3 was fully updated before I reinstalled it the day before yesterday.

I'll try your suggestion, since it looks like KaerfNomekop got it to work. It just seem like an unnecessary detour.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Imp Midna]

*takes off his monocle*
*hesitates, but likes his hat too much to just take it off*

Well, i am aware of what you wanted so say. What i actually intended to do was motivating some random person
*slowly turns to mudkip
*gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaze
*slowly turns pack
some random person to fill the hole and write that tutorial that seemingly can not be found out there on the internet. I'm sorry if it looked like i had any other intentions. As for that...
...
gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaze

 

[KaerfNomekop]

*Mudkip is afeard and can't move!*

 

[vypur85]

I seldom reply to these.
But... wtf, man?!

 

[Solu9]

This thread has turn out to be quite weird...

*gazes into the horizon with emptiness in my eyes, wondering where my life went wrong*

 

[O.A]

O_O

(what the hell's going on out here)

Seriously though, i remember opening maps that way too a couple of years back, but then it didn't work anymore all of a sudden. I just assumed it happened somewhere around the 1.25 patch, and that was the reason for it, so i never looked into it...

 

[KaerfNomekop]

I just assumed it happened somewhere around the 1.25 patch, and that was the reason for it, so i never looked into it...

Maybe Solu9 was using an older version that still supported this? Then the Softonic thing made the program realise it was out of date and update itself.

 

[Solu9]

Nope. Solu9 used an up to date version of Warcraft 3.