Hello everyone,
this tutorial explains the relevent contents of your WoW Client. Inside the CASC everything is organized in a folder structure.
It is key to maintain this structure of the client will not load your data. So I will explain what belongs in the folders.
General folder overview- cameras - Contains flying camers for cinematics
- character - Contains all textures and m2 for player models, aswell as some extra races
- creature - Contains all other creatues that are not inside the character folder
- dbfilesclient - Contains all dbc's and db2's
- dungeons - Contains textures for Wmo's
- interface - Contains lua files that define the ingame interface. Aswell as icons and other visual stuff for the interface
- item - Contains item m2's aswell as textures for items
- particles - Contains particle effects
- sound - Contains sound files
- spells - Contains spellrelated textures and m2's
- textures - Contain misc textures like guildemblems
- tileset - Contains ground textures
- world - Contains objects, Wmo's, maps
Some folders have been left out since they are not really important for modding.
If you are interested you can have a look for yourself.
Important file types- BLP - Blizzard Picture is Blizzards own image format. You find texture, maps and interface elements with this type.
- DBC/DB2 - DataBase Client files store the data for the client. You can think about them like excel files. You have rows and columns of data describing many things. For example what maps you have or the races, spells and much more.
- LUA - Are script files in the language Lua that defines the actions for the interface. Like what happens if you click the login button.
- XML - These files define the look of the interface. It places images, models and UI elements.
- M2 - Models like creatures, trees and other small stuff.
- SKIN - Texture information for M2s
- WMO - World Models are bigger models like houses, bridges or full cities and dungeons like stormwind or Deathmine.
- ADT - A Maptile of a map like Azeroth. Every map can have 64 x 64 tiles in full size.
- WDT - A map definition file. It defines if and what ADTs on the map exist or if the map is built only out of one WMO like instances.
- WDL - A lowres heighmap of all ADTs of the map. This file is used to display far away mountains.
Replacing Client FilesThe simplest way tp mod the client is replacing exiting files. A example would be changing the Color of a Item.
Todo so create a folder called item within your WoD Client. Locate the texture you want to replace and copy it with its folder structure. Edit the blp as you like and place it in your folder. You modified WoW will load this file and repalce the original one.
Though its very easy its not recommended to replace original files. A better way of creating items can be found in the tutorial explaining Item creation.
WDBX and DBC/DB2In WoD there is a new db format called DB2. Both files can be opened with the WDBX editor. There are different editors out there but I reccomend using WDBX.
When opening up a file with WDBX you will be asked wich version to use. Pick WoD 6.2.4.
It should then look something like this:
Dont be afraid. I will explain alot of that in more depth once we need it.
