[TUTORIAL] [RELEASE] Forget MPQ : don't pack anymore

[Mjollna]

Hi everyone !

Those who follow the chatbox have probably seen a few weeks ago some exe tweaking Schlumpf made, allowing (again) the Wow client to read files that are not packed into a MPQ, like Noggit does.

That really makes adt testing a lot easier/faster, so I strongly encourage everyone worldbuilding to go for it.

I'm detailing here how to reproduce it, so that there's no need to use MPQ anymore.
Again, say thanks to Schlumpf for finding it and sharing

How it works

In your (Windows) Wow.exe, look for the following pattern:

Code: [Select]

E8 ? ? ? ? 6A 00 E8 ? ? ? ? 6A 02You can use 010 editor, edit > search, tick "use wildcards", set to "hex bytes" and paste pattern. You should have only one entry.

You can also use this tool by Schlumpf to replace the pattern instead of 010 editor : viewtopic.php?f=59&t=1829&p=11827#p11827

Replace the beginning of the pattern with:

Code: [Select]

90 90 90 90 90 6A FFWhich gives for Windows Wow 3.3.5a 12340:

Code: [Select]

90 90 90 90 90 6A FF E8 2A EC 01 00 6A 02

The explanation for the curious ones

Search for string "World of Warcraft\Client". Will be referenced on four places. Once with "SendErrorLogs" right behind. That's a call to SRegLoadValue and SRegSaveValue. From there, go up. You will see two calls to StormSetOption, one with first argument being 10, the other one being 11.
Right in between, there will either be a call to two functions or an inlined function containing an if. On windows, it will most likely not be inlined.
If there is no branch, dive into the second function called. That one should contain a branch.
That branch is for checking the command line for a different data folder given. You're interested in the functions above. Those are SFile::DisableSFileCheckDisk(); and SFile::EnableDirectAccess(0);.
You want to remove the call to DisableSFileCheckDisk and change the argument for EnableDirectAccess to something having bits 1 and 2 set.

Some notes

Refreshing the map

Ok, there's probably a better method for that, but that's the quickest I've come up with.
If you want to quickly refresh your adts without quitting the client on your favorite private server, you can :

• Paste your newly edited files in your wow folder.
• Click this macro twice:
  
  Code: [Select]
  .go -17000 -17000 0 0
.go [your coords on your map]

That first teleports you in an empty continent area (ie : fast to load), and then re-teleports you on your map.
The map change makes the client reload the adts from file.

Other advice

If you have two installs (one for Noggit and one for Wow) you can have both programs opened at the same time and do some copy/pasting/refresh to see your changes ingame quickly.

Be sure to always make a copy of your adts in another safe place from time to time. You never know, some quick file overwriting can happen quickly.

TL;DR

• Download this wow.exe (Windows 3.3.5a 12340)
• Save you original Wow.exe, paste the one you've downloaded in your Wow folder.

[Zim4ik]

Really helpful. Thanks)

[schlumpf]

As posted in Replace binary patterns in files with given data:

Allow local files

• Windows (tested on 12340): "E8 ?? ?? ?? ?? 6A 00 E8 ?? ?? ?? ?? 6A 02" "90 90 90 90 90 6A FF"
• OSX (tested on 15464, 15689): "E8 ?? ?? ?? ?? C7 04 24 00 00 00 00 E8 ?? ?? ?? ?? C7 04 24 02 00 00 00" "90 90 90 90 90 C7 04 24 FF FF FF FF"

[Steff]

I like MPQs. Hold my WoW folders clean. Files are outside the client in the project folder and if i want to test, one click on the patchtester and wow starts. So I have no problems with MPQ packing. There are so much other things that are realy bad.

[Mjollna]

To be completely honest, I have only one 335a test install to run run both Noggit and the client.

So now this exe change is saving me a lot of copying / packing steps : when I want to see my files ingame, I just close Noggit, (very often copy my files in another place to keep intermediate saving steps), and open client, as simple as that.

That also saves a lot of path potential errors, since both programs work on the same files.

The only thing I really have to remember is to not open both programs at the same time.

[Steff]

Yes as long you have only one project and dont look or play on other server. Then you have to coyp around all the folders and files every time. What is more then just one MPQ and a realmlist.

And this is only my opinion. I think there are many people that will like this.

[Mjollna]

The goal is also to get rid of a lot of beginner questions related to mpq packing.
No mpq, no problem, no questions, less technical stuff to understand, more place for art.

[Zim4ik]

This stuff works for m2 or wmo's, Mjollna?

[fean]

This works for any files, your wow folder can looks like this :

And all of the files in DBFilesClient, world, tileset (as my screenshot shows) will be read (adts, m2, wmo, dbc...), and you don't need to pack all your modifications in an MPQ.

[schlumpf]

You can also move the files into Data/ or set the data path via a command line variable to seperate them from mpqs.

[Steff]

That again is somehting that makes it usefull. So i could just create some shortcuts for every programm ans set the project path just as source. But on the other hand do i often use wow and noggit the same time. Thats why i have 2 clients on the HD. So i can search problems ingame and fix them direct in noggit.

[Fyrion]

Test it about 30 minutes. Everything works fine, it's a nobel progress in the history of development

[XxXGenesisXxX]

Works great thank you.

I had a bit of a problem with it changing my "Interface/GlueXML" folder turning it into "Interface/GlueXML.old". However the "wow_unsig" worked on top of this and now it all runs fine. Thanks heaps. This will be great for fast testing.

[codyt99]

my brain hearts can some one add me on skype and help me do this plz.

skype - xxcookiemonsterxx99

[Zim4ik]

This thing works with cata alpha 11927 too.