Hi,
Is it possible to display NPC models using PHP/SQL (i.e. A Web CMS) - apart from visiting 3rd party websites like wowhead? I'm working on a CMS atm, and I'm considering literally screenshotting every Display ID using some kind of script.
I'm wondering how plausible it would be, to basically:
1) Position camera in WoW, then let script run to morph NPCs to every display ID (1-24,000) every 3/4 seconds
2) Take small screenshots (about 275x200px) every 3 seconds for example
3) Have the screenshots named $id.png (maybe smaller format JPG?) - so the display ID is the name of the file
4) IMG for NPC could be retrieved to using PHP/SQL query + IMG location (same name as variable)
The only issues is the storage might be 2GB - not exactly an ideal solution for a CMS. And anyway, it seems like a very backwards method - hence why I'm asking for advice!
Obviously every NPC model is contained within the MPQs - but how could you go about harvesting them? How does the serverside Display ID link to a model?
NB: The Display ID is the important thing as it would largely be custom NPCs - using many of the models already in WoW. Hence it would be ideal to have a Display ID reference!
Thanks for reading!
/Cuana