[fbelisarius]

Hi! This is my first time on this site; I'm pretty new to the wow modding scene and modding in general so any advice you could offer would be much appreciated. 

I am trying a simple removal/alteration of an eye texture that has been bothering me for some time, to start things off. I've managed to edit the relevant .blp (deathKnightEyeGlow.blp) to suit my needs, but I can't seem to work out how to import the blp file back into my root folder (i.e. the game itself). Please tell me how I would go about doing this. 

[Balkron]

World of Warcraft client files are in .MPQ patches. To open them, you need to download MPQ Editor (link)

First of all, you need to find where this texture is contained (which one of patches). If you want to override it, you can create a custom patch.

This is default Data folder MPQ structure. You can create custom patches as folders. Just name your folder in same way:

Put your files in same folder:

For example, I want to change eyeglow for Blood Elf. All I need to do is create same folder structure:

patch-S.MPQ/Character/Bloodelf/female/deathknighteyeglow.blp

Where deathknighteyeglow.blp is your updated texture.

There will be a guide for beginners soon, don't worry about it. Anyways, if you have any questions or need help, you can ask for it here.

[fbelisarius]

Thank you for your response. Where are the .MPQ patches located? I am not seeing them anywhere in world of warcraft's root folder. 

[Balkron]

9 minutes ago, fbelisarius said:

Thank you for your response. Where are the .MPQ patches located? I am not seeing them anywhere in world of warcraft's root folder. 

World of Warcraft\Data\

That's for 3.3.5 game version (Wrath of the Lich King)

This version is the most available for modding here. For now it is possible to mod any client version (from Classic to Legion), except BfA.

Since Legion there is no MPQ file system anymore. Blizzard started to use CASC. For CASC manipulations try to find guides around the forum or any info on wowdev.wiki.

In the future there will be a huge guide about Legion modding, so you need to wait for a while.

[fbelisarius]

Ahh, that's a shame. Why are we unable to mod BfA? Doesn't it use the same CASC system as Legion? 

[Balkron]

25 minutes ago, fbelisarius said:

Ahh, that's a shame. Why are we unable to mod BfA? Doesn't it use the same CASC system as Legion? 

It is possible to mod both BfA and Legion, but for BfA there are no tools yet.

[fbelisarius]

How would I go about getting the result I want in BfA then? I am guessing it wouldn't be all that involved, seeing as I have already altered the .blp file, I just can't figure out how to import it. BLP2PNG...CASCview...CASCexplorer...none of these programs seem to have an import feature. They either just extract or convert. 

[Balkron]

18 minutes ago, fbelisarius said:

How would I go about getting the result I want in BfA then? I am guessing it wouldn't be all that involved, seeing as I have already altered the .blp file, I just can't figure out how to import it. BLP2PNG...CASCview...CASCexplorer...none of these programs seem to have an import feature. They either just extract or convert. 

Quote

 

Replacement: CASC

On April 3, 2014, with the beginning of alpha testing for World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, Blizzard announced that they were testing a new proprietary file format dubbed CASC (Content Addressable Storage Container) to replace MPQ in World of Warcraft. Among the improvements touted for it include a reduction in file corruption by creating a self-maintaining system, improved in-game performance and faster patching. The CASC format was initially tested in the internal alpha for Heroes of the Storm, and later in the alpha and beta tests for Warlords of Draenor before it is implemented within the main game itself prior to the expansion's release.  Both StarCraft II and Diablo III were later changed to using CASC for their main data.

 

CASC is proprietary 'closed' file format. Many WoW modders right now working on CASC to make it available for users. I don't know much about CASC myself, the facts that I know are:

• people can mod Legion by changing existing files and put custom files instead
• there is CASCHost which gives you an opportunity to create an own WoW Legion server with CASC support
• afaik CASCHost makes own builds of files, so you can create custom CASC patches and mod Legion
• for BfA Blizzard chaged their client, so it's obfuscated
• in BfA textures and all the files have an IDs, so there is no more file-paths inside. Many of the IDs are decrypted, but that's not enough.

I'm just 3D modeler and designer myself, I don't know much about actual client structure and file formats, so you may find your answers in our Discord.

[fbelisarius]

5 minutes ago, Balkron said:

 

CASC is proprietary 'closed' file format. Many WoW modders right now working on CASC to make it available for users. I don't know much about CASC myself, the facts that I know are:

• people can mod Legion by changing existing files and put custom files instead
• there is CASCHost which gives you an opportunity to create an own WoW Legion server with CASC support
• afaik CASCHost makes own builds of files, so you can create custom CASC patches and mod Legion
• for BfA Blizzard chaged their client, so it's obfuscated
• in BfA textures and all files are have an IDs, so there is no more file-paths inside. Many of IDs are decrypted, but that's not enough.

I'm just 3D modeler and designer myself, I don't know much about actual client structure and file formats, so you may find your answers in our Discord.

Thanks for the info. I'll give discord a shot. 

[Mr. DK]

On 11/9/2018 at 7:09 PM, Balkron said:

CASC is proprietary 'closed' file format. Many WoW modders right now working on CASC to make it available for users. I don't know much about CASC myself, the facts that I know are:

• people can mod Legion by changing existing files and put custom files instead
• there is CASCHost which gives you an opportunity to create an own WoW Legion server with CASC support
• afaik CASCHost makes own builds of files, so you can create custom CASC patches and mod Legion
• for BfA Blizzard chaged their client, so it's obfuscated
• in BfA textures and all the files have an IDs, so there is no more file-paths inside. Many of the IDs are decrypted, but that's not enough.

I'm just 3D modeler and designer myself, I don't know much about actual client structure and file formats, so you may find your answers in our Discord.

Let me correct this:

• people can mod Legion by changing existing files or adding custom ones with the help of cascHost
• there is CASCHost which gives you an opportunity to create an own WoW CDN which lets you patch clients via streaming
• CASCHost can make static cdn files or host content for you. (I would reccomend static use since the host is not very stable)
• for Legion the client is "obfuscated" (because f the last point)
• Since Legion most of the Files have ID's instead of paths. This can be a hurlde but in most cases comes down to looking up a ID on a list instead of a dbc

[Balkron]

5 hours ago, Mr. DK said:

Let me correct this:

• people can mod Legion by changing existing files or adding custom ones with the help of cascHost
• there is CASCHost which gives you an opportunity to create an own WoW CDN which lets you patch clients via streaming
• CASCHost can make static cdn files or host content for you. (I would reccomend static use since the host is not very stable)
• for Legion the client is "obfuscated" (because f the last point)
• Since Legion most of the Files have ID's instead of paths. This can be a hurlde but in most cases comes down to looking up a ID on a list instead of a dbc

Thank you for the info. Afaik, all Legion IDs are known since Blizzard leaked all of them with the Classic patch.