Here’s a tutorial on how to play SC2 without a beta key. There are still some limitations listed below, but we’ll update this post when we find ways around them. You can watch a video on how to do all this here.
Tutorial:
1) download and install the beta
2) launch beta and it should update to the latest patch from Blizzard
3) close the beta
4) unzip lazylaunch AND the other launcher into your starcraft install DIR so that the beta .exe, the lazy launch .exe and the launcher .exe are all in the same folder.
5) download maps and put them into the /maps folder in your install directory
***the “other launcher” includes AI so steps 6 and 7 are not completely necessary but recommended as the AI from different forums are updated frequently
6) download some AI and create a subfolder in the /AI folder with the same name as the AI you are downloading.
7) place ONLY the “Base.SC2Data” file from the AI you downloaded into the folder you just created
8 ) Launch “Starcraft II – Beta Launcher.exe”
9) choose your map and difficulty (dont worry about the game version or any of the other options for now)
10) CLICK PLAY!
11) check blizzardbeta.com for updates to the launchers and AI
Playing without a key will let you play against computers. Get ready for some comp stomps (or being stomped by comps).
-You’re limited to matches vs 1 to 5 CPU’s depending on the map chosen
Without a beta key, you’ll be prevented from
-Saving your game
-Playing the Campaign
-Choosing your race (there are ways around this)
-Playing LAN matches
First, download everything you need:
Get the SC2 beta installer.
Also get the latest lazy launcher. (mirror)
Also download this launcher:
Here or (mirror)
Download an AI from here:
http://darkblizz.org/Forum2/ai-scripts/
Download maps with AI from here: (they’ll have AI in their title)
http://www.nibbits.com/sc2/maps/
Also, here are a few places to get maps:
http://darkblizz.org/Forum2/ai-scripts/ … e-ai-maps/
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5410210/starcraft2_Maps.zip
http://www.sc2maps.net/
