Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne (WC3 FT) is a long-running Counter-Strike 1.6 mod that turns the game into an RPG: players pick a race, gain XP for kills and objectives, level up, and spend skill points on abilities. It is built entirely as AMX Mod X plugins plus custom models and sounds — there is no engine or game-DLL swap. This guide installs WC3 FT on an AMXX server.
1. Start from a working AMXX server
WC3 FT is a pile of AMXX plugins, so AMX Mod X must be installed and loading first — see the AMX Mod X 1.9 guide. Confirm amxx plugins works before adding the mod. WC3 leans on several standard AMXX modules (fakemeta, hamsandwich, cstrike, fun, and a saving backend), so make sure a normal module set is enabled in modules.ini.
2. Copy the plugin files in
WC3 FT ships as a main plugin plus a folder of race plugins and includes. Put the compiled plugins in the plugins folder:
addons/amxmodx/plugins/wc3ft.amxx addons/amxmodx/plugins/ (race sub-plugins, if the build splits them)
Follow the general procedure in installing AMXX plugin files — drop the .amxx in, add it to plugins.ini, change map. If your WC3 build splits each race into its own plugin, every race plugin gets its own plugins.ini line.
3. Install the custom models and sounds
The abilities use custom sprites, models and sounds — the lightning of Chain Lightning, the shockwave, the healing wave. These resources live under cstrike/ in the paths the plugins precache:
cstrike/models/... cstrike/sound/... cstrike/sprites/...
They must exist server-side or the server fails to precache and refuses to start the map (a "precache" error naming a missing file). They must also reach clients, so serve them over FastDL — without the download, players get missing-model errors even though the server is fine.
4. Register the plugins and load their configs
Add the main plugin (and any race plugins) to addons/amxmodx/configs/plugins.ini. WC3 FT keeps its own config — race balance, XP curve, which races are enabled — typically under addons/amxmodx/configs/. Load order: keep the main WC3 plugin above the race plugins if the build depends on it initialising first; see plugins.ini load order.
5. Choose how XP is saved
Players expect their level to persist between sessions, so WC3 FT saves XP keyed by SteamID. Builds use one of two backends:
- nvault — a local file database (the
nvaultmodule). Zero setup, data lives inaddons/amxmodx/data/. Fine for a single server. - MySQL — the
sqlxmodule writing to a database. Use this if you run several servers that must share one set of levels.
Set the saving cvars in the WC3 config to match. Whichever you pick, XP is keyed by SteamID, so on a non-Steam server you need stable IDs (Reunion configured with a proper hash salt) or players share and overwrite each other's levels.
6. Balance for your player count
WC3 FT changes the pace of the game — high-level abilities can snowball a round — so the config exposes cvars for the XP required per level, the maximum level, whether items are enabled, and per-race tuning. On a small server, cap the maximum level lower so newcomers are not facing maxed-out veterans; on a busy one, a higher cap keeps long-term players invested. Enable only the races you have tested together, because a race added by a broken sub-plugin drags the whole mod down. Advertise the race menu and the level system in your server adverts so new players know to pick a race on their first join.
Troubleshooting
- Server will not start / "host_error: PF_precache" naming a model — a custom resource the mod precaches is missing server-side. Put the exact file at the path in the error.
- Clients see missing models but the server runs — the resources are on the server but not downloading. Fix FastDL so clients pull them.
- Levels reset every reconnect — the saving backend is not writing. For nvault, the
data/folder is not writable; for MySQL, the connection cvars are wrong. Check the AMXX log. - Some abilities do nothing — a race plugin failed to load (
bad loadinamxx plugins), usually a missing module it needs. - Everyone shares one level on a non-Steam server — colliding SteamIDs. Configure Reunion so each player gets a stable ID.
Verification
Change map, run amxx plugins, and confirm the WC3 main plugin and every race plugin read running. Join, open the race menu (usually a chat command such as /changerace or a bound menu key), pick a race, get a kill and confirm you earn XP and eventually level up. Then disconnect and reconnect — your level should be restored, which proves the saving backend works. If it is, the mod is fully installed; tune the XP curve and race balance in the WC3 config to taste.
