How to Build Your Own Private World of Warcraft Server
World of Warcraft private servers are definitely something that are both growing and changing everyday. One of the cool things is that there are many different private servers out there. However, I almost always seem to run into problems while relying on only one private server. My characters are deleted, the server goes down constantly, the entire server goes down completely, or sometimes the connection speed just gets destroyed due to too many people all using the servers at the same time.
The great thing is that I’ve found the best way around this now. I can still play private WoW, not have to pay for it, and have great connection speed without any issues. How do I do this? I simply create my own private World of Warcraft server. I can’t have problems with the server not working when I want it to if I’m the one that determines when it does and does not!
Creating a private World of Warcraft server can take some time, but it’s easier than you would think. Thanks to many dedicated programmers out there, there are pre-made programs that you can simply run to host World of Warcraft. The program that I have chosen to use is called ArcEmu. ArcEmu is basically a hosting program for people who aren’t into re-programming the entire game of WoW to make it work their own way. There are other programs out there, but for the sake of this tutorial, rely on ArcEmu for creating your private server.
The website for ArcEmu is ArcEmu.org. Here, you can download the appropriate version of the game client which you would like to host over your private server. Download this file. Next, simply take files from the tools folder (i’m sorry, but the files you need are going to vary by patch file) and place them in your C:/program files/world of warcraft directory. Then, run the executable.
If the executable file fails to run, you will need to install and update to the latest version of microsoft.net framework, luckily the programmers at ArcEmu have placed a file for this update right in the tools folder in the ArcEmu zip.
From here, simply move your maps from the World of Warcraft folder to the ArcEmu folder. Then, run “Start Database” from the Arc Emu folder. This will cause the game to start running in the background. Then, load “Arcemu-logonserver” this will allow other connections and “world” to connect. Once both of these are up and running, load “arcemu-world” and this will load every file from the world of warcraft. Of course this will take a moment.
From here, simply load World of Warcraft and play! The wonderful thing about this is that you can even play WoW without an Internet connection. The downside is that you’re going to be missing the social aspect of the game, and you may get bored of it. However, having admin power definitely is fun.
If you’re interested in making your server public, so that more players can connect and play with you, look into my other article concerning making private WoW public, which will be written soon.
I know that my guide was sort of confusing, because I couldn’t give instructions for all patches separately. If you were lost at any point, try a video guide. Here is the best tutorial I’ve seen online for creating private WoW servers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_AXe3aqyPw
Good luck, and free to comment with any questions, I’ll do my best to get back to you immediately!
