How to play

1. Create your account

   Make your game account on the registration page. You log in to the game with the account name, not your email.

2. Get a 3.3.5a client

   You need World of Warcraft 3.3.5a, build 12340, in English (enUS or enGB). Other languages and builds will not connect.

   Ask in Discord where to get a clean 3.3.5a (build 12340) client.

   Run the game once before patching, then close it. That creates the folders you need.

3. Download the Bleakhold patches

   Grab every file marked Required from Downloads. Each file shows the exact folder it goes in. Your Data folder should end up looking roughly like this:

   World of Warcraft\
     Wow.exe
     Data\
       Patch-A.MPQ   Patch-C.MPQ   Patch-D.MPQ  ...
       enUS\                 (or enGB\)
         patch-enUS-4.MPQ ...
         realmlist.wtf

   If a file with the same name is already there, replace it. Old patches from other servers, such as patch-7.mpq or patch-8.mpq from a repack, can hide ours. Move anything you don't recognise out of Data.

4. Patch Wow.exe

   The new races and the Monk need a patched game executable. We use St0ny's AIO WoW EXE Patcher.

   1. Copy Wow.exe somewhere safe as a backup.
   2. Download the patcher and extract it into your World of Warcraft folder.
   3. Run patcher.bat, choose preset R, then type 41 and press Enter so line 41 shows [X].
   4. Press Enter on the empty input line, type Y at the summary and press Enter.
   5. Wait for Wow.exe has been patched successfully, then press Enter to close it.

5. Set the realmlist

   Open Data\enUS\realmlist.wtf (or Data\enGB\realmlist.wtf) in Notepad, replace everything in it with this line and save:

   set realmlist 185.217.124.41Copy

6. Clear the cache and play

   Delete the Cache folder in your World of Warcraft folder, start Wow.exe and log in with your account name and password.

7. Optional: HD models

   Bleakhold works with Project Reforged. Put Reforged in World of Warcraft\Reforged, download Bleakhold-HD.zip from Downloads, extract it into your World of Warcraft folder and run Install-Bleakhold-HD.bat. It moves the files into the right order for you. Run it again after every Bleakhold update.

Something went wrong?

• Invisible items or missing names: a patch is missing or an old one is hiding it. Check every required file against Downloads and clear Cache.
• The game closes on the character screen: Wow.exe is not patched, or was patched without line 41.
• Can't connect: check the realmlist line for typos and make sure it sits in the language folder your client uses.
• Wrong account name or password: the game only accepts letters and numbers in account names, and passwords are limited to 16 characters.