I don't know anything about C programming but I do know in other languages it's not hard to check for a file and then try to fetch from a web site to download it, has that been considered for WQ3? I'd bet it has but thought I'd raise the concern since I know there are a handful of folks that LOVE this game and want others to join. If I can't join, I'd bet others are having the same troubles at some time...
(since it knows when there isn't a correct version of a map, I'd say it's 1/2 the way done, right, just need to download the right map. simple

-rob
-Dadamungo