[TUTORIAL] Custom NPC

[Eatos]

Since the old guide is a bit broken and kinda useless i decided to write my own guide for this.The things we need for this task are:
   * WoW Model Viewer any version
   * Photoshop editor
   * Tallis
   * Blp to Png converter

First we will start by opening WoW Model viewer and creating our creature
Go to Characters->The Pick the race you want for your own creature
Next thing we gonna do is add equipment to it or well we can set his appearance: skin, hair, facial features and so on.
In this example i have chosen worgen male.

And chose all equipments what do you want him/her to have.

Now before i export it I usually make a list and write displayids of the items i have chosen for his/her's equipment.
Next thing we need to do is to export a texture for our creature but before that write in a notepad displayids of the following items type: Shoulder,Cloak ,Weapons,Helm.
And Set them to none.


Now go to File->Export Model -> 3DS
and save it.You will see a .tga file open it in photoshop.Sometimes Model Viewer bugs when you export certain races but i have found a solution for it.

If you want to export or to create for example BloodElf but model viewer is not exporting it right. simple export any other race then search in bakednpctextures for a texture of already existing bloodelf and change heads! (Will explain this method later)
Then save it as .png


Now start Tallis and open CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc and CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc
Those 2 we will need to edit.
In CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc you are interested only in 4 fields.
field #0 - DisplayId
field #1 - Modelid
field #2 - Soundid
field #3 - ExtraDisplayInfo

-In field1 you need to add exact modelid of your creature: If you have chosen Human for your base your modelid would be either 49 or 50 depending on the gender.
In my case i have chosen Worgens which are custom therefor my modelid is also custom.If you dont know what modelid is for your creature you can always find it out by going to CreatureModelData.dbc and first field represent your modeldid
So for my worgen modelid is 5005(male), 5006(female)
Moving on.
In field#2 i leave it blank and in filed#3 i put a unique number such as for example 21407.
And this is how should it look when you first edit CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc


Now lets start editing CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc
But first to define fields:
field0 - id ( The number from field3 in CreatureDisplayInfo - in our example 21407)
field1 - race id of your creature in our example again it is my custom value and it is 26
field2 - gender 0 male , 1 female
filed3 - Skin Color
field4 - Face Type
field5 - Hair Type
field6 - Hair Style
filed7 - Beard Style
field8 - Helm (displayid)
field9 - Shoulder (displayid)
field10 - Shirt (displayid)
filed11 - Chest(displayid)
field12 - Belt (displayid)
field13 - Legs (displayid)
field14 - Boots( displayid)
filed15 - Rings (displayid)
field16 - Gloves (displayid)
field17 - Wrist (displayid)
field18 - Cape (displayid)
field19 - CanEquip ( 1 - if you do .morph in this creature you will be able to see all other of your equipments , or 0- for not)
field20 - Texturename

Now all these informations you can gain from Model Viewer.
Skin as you can see is 0
Face type  = 1
Gender = 0
Hair color = 3
Hair style = 1
facial feature = 4
Helm - 59184
Shoulder - 60505
Shirt - 0
Chest - 59128
Belt - 0
Legs - 0
Boots - 0
Braces - 0
Gloves - 39644
Wrist - 0
Cloak - 58988



Now save those .dbc files and close Tallis.
Now drag your saved .png files onto blp converter and convert it to .blp

Now it is time to patch it all.
Download Ladik MPQ
and create new patch
we will need first to create new folder call it DBFilesClient and put in there CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc and CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc
Then Create another folder name it Textures-> Inside it create new folder name it BakedNpcTextures and in that folder place your converted .blp file.



Now On TC there are sometimes problems when you are creating new creatures especially with new models, keep that in mind you need to fill 2 tables creature_template and creature_model_data

Now place CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc and CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc in your server dbc folder too and if you have done everything right your creature should appear fine

[Steff]

Nice. Will try this.

[LordAres]

What MPQ are these in CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc and CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc

[Ascathos]

What MPQ are these in CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc and CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc

All .dbc files in pre-cataclysm are within local files.

[Steff]

@LordAres

Modcraft tutorial part 2. Extracting clien tfiles

[Sentinel]

Thanks for great tutorial. I made my own NPC, but I have a problem with body. There are stripes on it. What's the problem? And sorry for my English, I'm russian.

[Steff]

I think converter problem.Install shellExtention or convert back to see if its included in your backed BLP file.

[Sentinel]

I almost forgot. I see this if I stand not far from NPC. But If I stand closely NPC became normal. Like on this screen.

[Steff]

Try with other BLP converter. Use version 6 for test.

[Sentinel]

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=800
I used this. Now It's all OK. Thanks =)
Now I must to make a model fot Lord and Mage Vampires for my new Instance =)

[Steff]

I use BLPConverter6. Its included in my tutorial pack. Works also fine for me.

Here are 2 for Maruum i converted with it.


http://imagr.eu/up/50fd259c8be238_WoWSc ... 122456.jpg

[Fidena]

How come when I export the model from Model Viewer, it comes out as a .3ds file, not a .tga?

[Ascathos]

How come when I export the model from Model Viewer, it comes out as a .3ds file, not a .tga?

Depends on version I assume. But you should get both, a .tga and a .3ds.

[Fidena]

Well  I got it to work, which is progress, definitely.

However, I have this problem now:



I can't get the hair or tabard to work through CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc

Edit: I got the tabard to work by switching the model, but I can't get the hair to work. I had to disable hair when I exported it, and when I try to enter the hair on the DBC, it has no effect in-game.

[Amaroth]

Edit: I got the tabard to work by switching the model, but I can't get the hair to work. I had to disable hair when I exported it, and when I try to enter the hair on the DBC, it has no effect in-game.

Field "Wrist" (18*) in CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc is not for adding wrist displayID, there is a mistake, its used for tabard. Put  there any displayID of tabard, for instance 6255 worked fine for me.

About ANY hair/beard problems:
1) check if you have right race ID (1 for human, for another check ChrRaces.dbc)
2) check if you have gender ID (its MOSTLY 0 for male and 1 for female, but for instance for BE its switched)
3) check your fields 6, 7, 8*.:
#6 - hair STYLE, not color, in WmV its ordered like "hair color, hair style, facial featrure, in DBC are color and style SWITCHED
#7 - hair COLOR, see #6
#8 - facial feature (beard, piercings,...)

I hope I was helpful.

*For MyDBCEditor, which means ID column is marked as 1., not as 0.