Hey,

After a few days spent working on this program for use by my server's development team, I've got it to the point where I'm ready to release it. All of the features that I've planned to add to the program are currently working, as far as I've tested.

If you have any problems during the setup, have suggestions for the program, find a bug, etc... then just comment below.

Rough Description

This tool allows for easy insertion and updating of both the creature_template_outfits table used by Rochet2's DressNPCs core modification which enables the creation of custom NPCs and the creature_equip_template table.

The program allows for a quick workflow to insert, or update, as many NPCs as you desire. An earlier method, found here, also works, but it's much slower compared to using this program.

How to Setup

Luckily there is very little, if any, setup required to get this program running. The three requirements are as follows.

Requirements

• You must have Java 8 installed to launch the program.
• You must have access to an account with nearly full permissions to the creature_template_outfits and creature_equip_template tables of the world database.
• You must have Rochet2's DressNPCs core modification compiled into your core and setup on your database..

You can download the tool from here and I highly recommend. My blog currently only covers the old method of creating the DressNPCs using a stored procedure/query, but you can follow that tutorial and just enter the values into the program instead of the SQL query. Your server does not require the stored procedure linked in that tutorial.

The Interface

Because the program is still being worked on and fixed up here-and-there, the interface may undergo some changes as development progresses. At the moment it contains all initially conceived features.

The images below may appear quite small. If you wish to view them in their full resolution, then simply right-click on the image and select Open image in new tab. This may only apply to users with the Chrome browser.

In the image below you can see the initial interface of the DressNPCs Screen.



The File dropdown menu allows you to save, or load, the currently entered data. You also have the option of loading data from the database with the Import option. Please be warned that you cannot save your data unless it contains no errors. This was an intentional feature and is not a bug.



The Function dropdown menu allows you to switch to the second part of the DressNPCs Handler tool which allows you to create or update equipment sets for any NPCs that you create. I won't go into detail on how equipment sets work, but you can learn more here.



In the Weapon Handler Screen you can edit up to four equipment sets at once. For more information on how this and the rest of the program works, please read the readme file included with the program.



The Function dropdown menu allows you to switch back to the DressNPCs Screen.

The Settings File

Within the settings file you'll find the saved server address, MySQL port, characters database name, MySQL username, and the interface language. All of these values can be manually edited and it's perfectly fine to just delete the settings file and select everything again through the interface when you launch the program.

The only value in the settings which cannot be changed through the GUI after selecting it is the language. If you wish to change the GUI language, then you'll need to either delete the settings file and launch the program to select it again or change it in the settings file.

Supported Languages

If you wish to contribute a translation in your native language, then please contact me on Skype for the latest files to be translated. It will take at-least an hour of your time to translate everything required.

• English
• German

Examples of  Three Settings Files

serverAddress=example.com
port=3306
databaseName=characters
username=root
language=English

serverAddress=127.0.0.1
port=3306
databaseName=serverA_characters
username=root
language=English

serverAddress=123.456.78.9
port=1704
databaseName=characters
username=trinity
language=German


Misc Information

The program should support any version that Rochet2's DressNPCs core modification, but I have only ever tested it on 3.3.5a and I'm not even sure if he has added support for other core versions.

The current program version is 1.3.

Credits

• Renan ~ Helped to test an earlier version of the program and made a few suggestions on how to better the interface design.
• Kaev ~ Supplied the German translation for the program.

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If you want to stay up-to-date with my latest tutorials or if you just want an easier way to view all of my tutorials and releases in one place then take a look at my blog.

Hey,

I've been trying to fix this issue for the past two hours now, but I'm having no luck figuring out the cause or the solution to it. I'm using the latest version of Eluna with modified extractors following the advice from here.

The error I'm receiving when running the mapextractor is as follows.

Error loading WorldMapsAzerothAzeroth.wdt
-----------------------------------

I've tried the following "solutions" along with a few I can't recall.

• Reediting the extractors following the advice linked above.
• Recompiling the extractors.
• Repacking the the edited map files from Noggit with various settings and attempting to extract them.
• Sleuthing through parts of the mapextractor source to find the cause of the error, but I only managed to find which area was printing the error. I couldn't find anything specific about what causes the error.
• Tried using the mapextractor from here.

Any ideas for what to try or solutions would help at this point, thanks in advance.

Hey,

Over the past year both the team and I had been working on a hopefully unique RP server. We were quite close to pushing out a playable first zone as a proof-of-concept through an open test, but due to some host issues we've lost the database along with all of the daily backups.

Before I continue, I will warn you to stay away from Uniwebhosting due to their scammy business practices. They offer great servers for a fraction of the usual price as a deal and then revoke access to the servers after a period of time. This has happened to many users over the years and it will happen again. Most recently they forgot to pay the bill for all of their servers and caused all of their customers to lose access and data. You can look more into them if you want, but just take my warning into consideration.

In the files below you can find an MPQ containing an edited Tirisfal, Western Lordaeron, partially edited Eastern Lordaeron, and nearly complete Alterac. You will also find a large number of buildings with retextured roofs to fit a number of areas such as Dalaran, Kul Tiras, the Scarlets, etc... along with a number of new banners, texture swapped ships, objects, etc... to use.

Some of the other miscellaneous files include all of the Lua scripts for the server along with a new guild system and mostly-working quest system that were being developed for the server. Although you won't be able to use the guild system without manually creating the two tables required as they were erased along with our DB backups. If you wish to use the system, just PM me and I'll provide information on how to set it up. The same goes for the quest system.

There are also various files containing development guidelines, information on various parts of the server, quests, some of the NPC SQL files, etc...

If you wish to use any of the files contained within the files below, then just make sure to add in credits to the following people. I may be forgetting a few people, but the majority are as follows.

Arathonz, Dizzyeye, MountianLion, Stian Skuland, Stoneharry, Westorz, Crow, Domminust, Miles Koblin, Roban van Turnhout, Gurluas, Swiftie, Zikmo, Rochet2, Milly, Temptation_Town, Sheep, and me.

Server Documents & Scripts - Download
Server MPQ Files (Raw) - Download
Server MPQ Files (Packed, includes maps) - Download
Server Screenshots - Download

[media:2fmoecbo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kxes3KN5rE[/media:2fmoecbo]
[media:2fmoecbo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq6ISII4ZDA[/media:2fmoecbo]

Edit:

I've typed up my final development log for the server. It tells a rough story about how the server went down, what I've learned over the past year, and my thoughts on a few things. If you want to read it.

Hey,

I've been looking to add some nice touches to an area I'm working on, but I can't seem to find an object that projects a circular area of light. As an example of what i mean, equip any of the lantern items or torches and both the area around and your character will be lit-up.
I know that this is possible for objects as well as there are a handful of objects that I've seen which emit a circular area of light.

Does anyone know of an object that is just a circular area/orb of lighting or could someone direct me as to how to create one?

Thanks for any help.

Although this is quite simple, I felt that I should release it for those who may not have the time required to be able to setup something like this. I cannot fully support any questions regarding php as I only know enough to get by, but I can answer most questions regarding HTML and CSS and some Bash questions. If anyone notices an error in this guide or even some piece of code that can be optimized/changed, just comment and I'll do my best to keep this thread updated. Special thanks to my friend Tiq for helping me with all of the, admittedly, stupid errors and bugs that I encountered.

• Just in case anyone wants to know what I'm running:
     
• Windows 8, x64 -- Home
     
• Debian 7 x32 -- Server
     
• TrinityCore -- Latest version as of 18/August/2014
     
• WoTLK 3.3.5a

As this guide is quite a bit more advanced than the simple DBC editing guides I've written before, I'm going to assume that anyone reading this has at least a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, Bash, Linux have a web server up and running with php, are running MySQL for your servers database, and have a webpage already ready for the code I'm going to supply you with. I will not be going too in-depth with this guide as it only requires a few simple steps.

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The first thing you should do is navigate to, or create, a folder where you'll be storing both the script to gather the information required and the PHP file generated by the script. In this case I'll be using /path/to/valks/files/. Wherever you see /path/to/valks/files/, you'll need to replace it with the path to the directory you're using. I suggest saving the script file as UpdateStatistics.sh. The generated PHP file will be named currentStatistics.php.
#!/bin/bash

# Set the MySQL login info for ease of use:
mysqlUsername="putMySQLUsernameHere";
mysqlPassword="putMySQLPasswordHere";

# Get the total number of, currently online, players and then get the total number of players.
onlinePlayers=$(mysql --user=$mysqlUsername --password=$mysqlPassword --database=auth --skip-column-names --execute="SELECT COUNT(online) FROM account WHERE online = 1;");

totalPlayers=$(mysql --user=$mysqlUsername --password=$mysqlPassword --database=auth --skip-column-names --execute="SELECT COUNT(id) FROM account;");

# Get the unix time of when the server was last launched, and then get how many seconds the server
# has been online for, and then get the current unix time.
starttime=$(mysql --user=$mysqlUsername --password=$mysqlPassword --database=auth --skip-column-names --execute="SELECT MAX(starttime) FROM uptime;");

uptime=$(mysql --user=$mysqlUsername --password=$mysqlPassword --database=auth --skip-column-names --execute="SELECT uptime FROM uptime WHERE starttime = (SELECT MAX(starttime) FROM auth.uptime);");

currentUnixTime=$(date +%s);

##############################################################################33

# Create a string for the current number of online players.
stringA="There are currently $onlinePlayers / $totalPlayers players online.";

# Calculate the last time when the server was online based on starttime + uptime.
# Then subtract that from the current time and then decide whether or not to say
# if the server is online.
tempInt=$((starttime + uptime));
tempInt=$((currentUnixTime - tempInt));
tempInt=$((tempInt / 60));

# If the server was online less than 1 minutes ago then say that it's online.
# The uptime field of the uptime table updates every 10 minutes normally, but
# you can change that in worldserver.conf. Mine is set to update every minute.
stringB="Server Status: <span style="color: ";

if [ $tempInt -gt 2 ]
then
stringB+="#FF0000">Offline</span>"; # The hex value is for the color to display the word "Offline" as.
else
stringB+="#00FF00">Online</span>"; # The hex value is for the color to display the word "Online" as.
fi

# Construct the final String to be displayed on the webpage.
stringC="<p style="color:#FFCC00;text-align:center">$stringA || $stringB</p>";

# Output the constructed HTML into the specified php file.
echo "$stringC" > /path/to/valks/files/currentStatistics.php


After you've finished creating your UpdateStatistics.sh file, you'll need to do chmod a+x UpdateStatistics.sh to give it the necessary permissions to run. Now type crontab -e and enter the following line at the bottom of the file and save, but remember to change the path to point to your UpdateStatistics.sh file. The cronjob line below will run once per-minute, but you can change that to your liking.
* * * * * /path/to/valks/files/UpdateStatistics.sh
The next step is to get the generated string to appear on your webpage. Just enter the following line into your PHP webpage wherever you want the string to show up. If you have any issues with it not showing up then try removing the first slash at the beginning of the path.
<?php include("/path/to/valks/files/currentStatistics.php"); ?>Now for the final step. Open up your worldserver.conf file and set UpdateTimeInterval to 1. This will make sure that the script always has the latest data as-of a minute ago.
#
#    UpdateUptimeInterval
#        Description: Update realm uptime period (in minutes).
#        Default:     10 - (10 minutes)
#                     1+

UpdateUptimeInterval=1

After you've finished everything above, you should have a string that looks something like the following picture. If you wish to edit the colors of the text then just edit the hex color-values in the Bash script.

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After you've finished everything above, you should have a string that looks something like the following picture. If you wish to edit the colors of the text then just edit the hex color-values in the Bash script.



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If you want to stay up-to-date with my latest tutorials or if you just want an easier way to view all of my tutorials and releases in one place then take a look at my blog.

Before you decide to make a vendor there are a few important things that you need to figure out. These important bits of information include:

• What items will the vendor sell.
     
• Are any of the items rare or available in limited quantity?
     
• If any of the items are rare or available in limited quantity, how often should the vendor restock those items?
     
• In what order should the items be displayed in the vendor panel?
     
• Are any of the items being sold custom?

Although these are all quite obvious, the last point did manage to throw me for a loop momentarily. If you're using custom items and you've edited the item.dbc file, placed it within an MPQ in your data folder, and they still show up as red question marks in the vendor panel; then you need to upload the item.dbc file into /bin/data/dbc/ on your server and restart worldserver.

Just in case anyone wants to know what I’m running:

• Windows 8, x64 — Home
     
• Debian 7 x32 — Server
     
• TrinityCore — Latest version as of 18/August/2014
     
• WoTLK 3.3.5a

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Assuming that you already have both the NPC you'll be using as a vendor and the items that the vendor will be selling created and ready-to-use, we can begin.

You will first need to run SELECT * FROM creature_template WHERE entry=vendorNPCEntryID; on your database to view the data for the vendor NPC. Now that the record for the vendor NPC is up, you only need to edit the npcflag field and set it to 128. The NPC will now be recognized as a vendor. Now use the following query to add an item to the vendor NPC's vendor panel.
/* To insert a single item into the vendor's vendor panel use this query.*/
INSERT INTO npc_vendor (entry, slot, item, maxcount, incrtime, ExtendedCost) VALUES (0, 0, 0, 0, 0);/* To insert multiple items at once, just chain the values together as seen below. This example allows for two items to be added to the vendor's vendor panel. */
INSERT INTO npc_vendor (entry, slot, item, maxcount, incrtime, ExtendedCost) VALUES (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0);Now that you've created a vendor NPC and populated it's vendor panel with items to sell, you'll need to restart worldserver then you're ready to go!

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Field Explanations:

• entry - The entry ID of the vendor NPC. This is under the entry field of the creature_template table.
     
• slot - The position in the vendor panel where this item will be located. As you can see in the image below, the slots are numbered left-to-right and top-to-bottom. This pattern repeats over all pages, but the numbers will continue incrementing.
  
     
• item - The entry ID of the item being sold. This is under the entry field of the item_template table.
     
• maxcount - The maximum number of items carried by the vendor at any time. If you want the vendor to carry an unlimited number of the item then set this to 0 else set it to any positive number. In the image below the maxcount value is circled.
  
     
• incrtime - The time, in seconds (not milliseconds!), between restocks. As an example of how this is used... If maxcount is set to 4, incrtime set to 30, and the BuyCount field on the item in the item_template table is set to 2 then the vendor restocks 2 of the item every 30 seconds up to a total of 4 items.
     
• ExtendedCost - The value here corresponds to the ID in ItemExtendedCost.dbc and that ID controls the item's non monetary price, be it honor points, arena points, different types of badges or any combination of the above. (Taken from the TrinityCore documentation)

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If you want to stay up-to-date with my latest tutorials or if you just want an easier way to view all of my tutorials and releases in one place then take a look at my blog.

Hey,

I've been meaning to find this out for some time now, but I haven't gotten around to it until now. Does anyone happen to know where the area of a zone/subzone is defined? I assume that one of the DBC files has a set of coordinates that define the perimeter of a zone/subzone, but I haven't found one yet.

I'd like to be able to define my own zones/subzones along with removing existing zones/subzones.

Before I start typing out this guide, I will admit that I'm no expert on DBC editing and that some of this information may be incorrect. If you know of any additional information, notice an error, etc.. just comment and I'll do my best to keep this thread updated.

There are a few things that you'll need before editing a DBC file. I've seen many different programs, and even more people recommending each program over every other program, but the vast majority either didn't work or corrupted the DBC files. I'll only be recommending the programs that work for me. So, before you continue reading, please download this; it contains everything that I use. These programs will only work on Windows.

Just in case anyone wants to know what I'm running:

• Windows 8, x64 -- Home
• Debian 7 x32 -- Server
• TrinityCore -- Latest version as of 15/June/2014
• WoTLK 3.3.5a

Assuming that you've followed my instructions to download the toolsthat we'll be using in this tutorial, lets begin!

Tip:
When editing any files that can be packed into an MPQ file, you can just go into your /Data/enUS/ folder and create a new folder, lets call it patch-enUS-n.mpq, and place all of the files that you would place into the MPQ file in there. This is extremely useful if you don't want to keep on creating a new MPQ file every time you go to test new edits. When you release the edits you should place them into an MPQ file as it hides everything from the average user.

Credits to MyLilSuccy for this information.

If you already know how to edit DBC files, which I'm going to assume that most of the people reading this don't, then you can skip to the end of this post and check out my notes on the DBC files. Although I would recommend doing a quick read-through of the tutorial.

The rest of this will be a simple explanation of how to alter the Male Human Warrior's starting gear. Although this example is fairly specific, it does cover everything you'll need to edit any race, class, and gender combination.

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Now that you've downloaded the tools and have a folder of clean, unedited, DBC files to work with and revert to in-case of any unforeseen errors, lets begin!

Go to the folder containing your DBC files, copy the CharStartOutfit.dbc file into the /Tools/DBCUtil/ folder, and then double-click on DBCUtil.exe. Now go to the /Tools/CSVed/ folder, double-click on CSVed.exe, select File then Open... and select /Tools/DBCUtil/CharStartOutfit.dbc.csv. To edit a record in CSVed you simply need to double-click on the row and then click the Apply Changes button in the bottom-left corner of the edit form window. Before we go any further I must mention that the CharStartOutfit.dbc file is an utter mess and because of this I will be writing the rest of this tutorial in the belief that you are changing all of the starting outfits for all of the races and their class/gender combinations. The first thing that you should do in CSVed is to select all of the records, then right-click on a record, and delete all of them. This will allow you to create a simple, easy to read, and easy to edit file to replace the mess that Blizzard has left us with.

I will be using some customized gear as this tutorial was written as I was editing the starting gear on my server. To avoid any confusion and to allow you to easily follow this tutorial, here are the queries for the items we will be using:

View query here: http://pastebin.com/quwVRbsJ

I haven't tested this query as it's a direct export from the database on my server, but it should work and if it doesn't just tell me.

Now that you've got the three items we'll be using imported into your database and you have an empty CharStartOutfit.dbc file open in CSVed we can begin inputting our data. The first things we need to enter is a unique row ID in the first column, race ID in the second column, class ID in the third, gender ID in the fourth, and to leave the fifth column as zero. If you're looking for the race and class IDs you can find them near the end of this post. In this case we will be entering 1, 1, 1, 0, and 0 in each of the first five columns. These numbers mean that this record is the first record which represents a Human Warrior who is Male.

For the next three columns we will input 800001, 800003, and 800002. These are the entry IDs of the chestpiece, pants, and boots of the set our Male Human Warrior will start with. These IDs can be in any order, just write down which order you put them in for future reference. Columns nine to twenty-nine will all have -1 as their value as we aren't going to allow the Male Human Warrior to start with anything other than a chestpiece, pants, and boots.

Columns thirty to thirty-two will define which pieces of gear will show up on the character creation screen. Because of this you do not need to list the display ID of every single item the character starts with. Because the Male Human Warrior will start with a chestpiece, pants, and boots we will be listing all three display IDs. I've prepared four different queries for you to use with your database to find the display IDs of whichever items you're using. Pick one of them and where it says to put numbers just input the correct numbers and run the query.

View query here: http://pastebin.com/zkG5DRwe

Because we're using the custom items I've supplied we will enter 52958, 14450, and 9929 in each of the columns from thirty to thirty-two. The rest of the display ID columns from thirty-three to fifty-three will contain -1 as we have no other display IDs to enter. The final numbers to enter are 4, 7, and 8 in columns fifty-four to fifty-six. These three numbers say that the items in columns six to eight and the display IDs in columns thirty to thirty-two represent a chestpiece, pants, and boots. You can find more information on these values near the end of this post.

Now that you've finished setting up the Male Human Warrior you can click File and then Save. Now go into /Tools/DBCUtil/, delete CharStartOutfit.dbc if it still exists, and then drag CharStartOutfit.dbc.csv onto DBCUtil.exe to create the new CharStartOutfit.dbc. This file needs to be copied into your /Server/bin/data/dbc/ folder as well as added to a .MPQ file that all of your users should be given. If you require instruction on how to create a new MPQ file you can refer to this tutorial.

Your server doesn't need to be restarted after adding the CharStartOutfit.dbc to the /Server/bin/data/dbc/ folder, but your client will need to be restarted after placing the MPQ file into your /WoW/Data/ folder as far as I know.

Below are a few images to show the finished product of all this work:







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CharStartOutfit.dbc Column Information:

• Column 1 - This is a unique ID of the row.
• Column 2 - This is the Race ID.
• Column 3 - This is the Class ID.
• Column 4 - This represents either Male (0) or Female (1).
• Column 5 - Unknown. Leave this as 0.
• Columns 6 to 29 - The entry IDs of the items this race/class/gender combination will start with.
• Columns 30 to 53 - The display IDs of the items this race/class/gender combination will start with. This is only used on the character creation screen so you only need to enter the display IDs of the armor/weapons.
• Columns 54 to 77 - The InventoryType of each item.

When entering in the display IDs and InventoryTypes of each item you must write them in the exact same order as the items appear in columns 6 to 29.

InventoryTypes:

• NonEquip = 0
• Head = 1
• Neck = 2
• Shoulders = 3
• Body = 4
• Chest = 5
• Waist = 6
• Legs = 7
• Feet = 8
• Wrists = 9
• Hands = 10
• Finger = 11
• Trinket = 12
• Weapon = 13
• Shield = 14
• Ranged = 15
• Cloak = 16
• TwoHandedWeapon = 17
• Bag = 18
• Tabard = 19
• Robe = 20
• MainHandWeapon = 21
• OffHandWeapon = 22
• Holdable = 23
• Ammo = 24
• Thrown = 25
• RangedRight = 26
• Quiver = 27
• Relic = 28

Class IDs:

• Warrior = 1
• Paladin = 2
• Hunter = 3
• Rogue = 4
• Priest =5
• Deathknight = 6
• Shaman = 7
• Mage = 8
• Warlock = 9
• Druid = 11

Race IDs:

• Human = 1
• Dwarf = 2
• Night Elf = 3
• Undead = 4
• Tauren = 5
• Gnome = 6
• Troll =7
• Blood Elf =8
• Draenei =10
• Orc = 11

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If you want to stay up-to-date with my latest tutorials or if you just want an easier way to view all of my tutorials and releases in one place then take a look at my blog.