request Which WoW modding/emulation software do you want to see?

[Kaev 106]

Heyho,

yesterday Skarn told me about the little conversation that some of you had about paying developers and stuff like that.

In my opinion it isn't like that we (read as: developers) aren't motivated because we want to get money for our stuff.
Many people actually want to create useful tools for the modding and/or emulation scene, but just don't have good ideas or the needed experience for projects they could do.
But that's a point where you could bring your ideas in!

Tell us which software would make your life much easier.
It doesn't matter if you would like to see a launcher, a renaming tool, a tool which will automate a process or a CASC editor. Just tell us what you need.

I'll list every requested software in this post. Let's hope that some developer out there can fulfill your wish.
Edit: I'm not as active as i'm used to be, that's why probably some ideas are missing and/or not linked.

Our requests:

• .db2 editor (cata-legion) (requested by Skarn)
• CASC editor (requested by Skarn)
• M2 plugin for 3D Software (e.g. Blender) supporting animations (in developement by Koward) (requested by Skarn)
• Zone light editor (requested by Skarn)
• Continent creator (requested by Skarn)
• Visual DBC editor (e.g. placing POI on map, talent trees and so on) (requested by Skarn)
• Visual editor for editing login screen and character creation (requested by Poisonleaf)
• DBC to SQL and SQL to DBC tool (requested by sshroud)
• Spell editor (cata) (requested by Смердокрыл)
• WMO editor (requested by Смердокрыл)
• All-in-one-texture tool for armors (requested by Alastor Strix'Efuartus)
• Advanced MySQL editor (requested by Amaroth)
• ADT, M2 & WMO Legion to WoD (requested by MrXJKz)
• WBD5 format (DB2) (from Legion or WoD) to CSV (with structures) (requested by MrXJKz)
• Automatic downgrade Itemdisplayinfo, TextureFileData, Filedata from Legion to WoD and WotLk (requested by MrXJKz)
• Texture searcher for M2, WMO, etc. (requested by MrXJKz)
• HoTS and Overwatch Blender Add-on (requested by MrXJKz)
• .phys enabler from Legion to WoD (requested by MrXJKz)
• Visual Database Editor like Truice (requested by Amaroth)

 

(I obviously don't list something like "a good, working map editor", because that's something that everyone wants to have.. )

[Skarn 469]

Speaking about the DB2 thing, there is a very good tool by Luzifix but it sadly is not getting updated to versions higher than WoD or MoP (do not remember exactly). So, at this point it probably would be better to ask Luzifix about it.

CASC editor is something we need to move modding to WoD. As far as I know, it is possible to make it but it will be bound to one version because on each version some codes there are different. I was told that people were not doing it because it looked like a bad idea to code it and it does not look professional enough. Well, f*ck that logic. At least it would be better to have a tool that works for the last released version which is logical as WoD is going to be ended this summer.

I can name a few high priority tools that I'd say we need:

• Some kind of M2 Plugin for popular 3D software like Blender or Maya supporting animations. As far as I know it is being pretty effectively developed by Koward.
• Map editor. Yes, the current ones suck. I have seen schlumpf doing things on Noggit QT branch, so in that case I still have some hopes. I do not have even a slight hope for Neo anymore. People simply lost their interest in it.
• Zone light editor. It is annoying as hell to add lights to zones manually. The best option would be to fix a tool called Sharpwow for this purpose. It is able to render a zone where you can add lights. But it has some bugs and terrible UI. One could remove all the planned mapeditor functionality from there and leave only lighting. Would be quite nice. Ask Cromon for the source.
• Continent creator. I am currently working on one personally, but it will be a 010 editor base script, so one could probably code a better option. Yet, this will be released as a script Soon™.
• Some tools for visually editing DBCs. See LeorFinacre's World Editor. Like placing POI on map, something to manage worldmap related things, talent trees and things like that. Also abandoned and I do not recommend to continue on that code base as it is crashy as hell.

So, that's my list for now. 

Speaking about the discussion about financial support, we talked about that because that would be an additional encouragement for programmers. It is always more pleasant to do stuff when your work is rewarded. Also I guess it kind of pissing off for developers when they are coding things for free for community and someone else raises money using them. I also do so, but I could imagine how it feels for devs.

[Poisonleaf 85]

Just my idea but maybe a software that allows you to modiffy the log-in screen and character creation fully?
 

Positioning, Fonts, extra features like quality selection, swapping out background for images and video's,
Maybe even let it work together with WMV to add 3D objects into it?

[wungasaurus 120]

52 minutes ago, Poisonleaf said:

Just my idea but maybe a software that allows you to modiffy the log-in screen and character creation fully?
 

Positioning, Fonts, extra features like quality selection, swapping out background for images and video's,
Maybe even let it work together with WMV to add 3D objects into it?

You realize that one can just do all that in lua, so it already exists? There even are templates for models etc. As you want "fully", there is no way to have that without you manually writing lua/xml anyway, so just go and learn it. It isn't that hard. Stuff is already there. Building a framework to simplify it is not worth the effort when your direction of "fully" isn't even known.

[dashker 23]

3 hours ago, Skarn said:

Speaking about the DB2 thing, there is a very good tool by Luzifix but it sadly is not getting updated to versions higher than WoD or MoP (do not remember exactly). So, at this point it probably would be better to ask Luzifix about it.

CASC editor is something we need to move modding to WoD. As far as I know, it is possible to make it but it will be bound to one version because on each version some codes there are different. I was told that people were not doing it because it looked like a bad idea to code it and it does not look professional enough. Well, f*ck that logic. At least it would be better to have a tool that works for the last released version which is logical as WoD is going to be ended this summer.

I can name a few high priority tools that I'd say we need:

• Some kind of M2 Plugin for popular 3D software like Blender or Maya supporting animations. As far as I know it is being pretty effectively developed by Koward.
• Map editor. Yes, the current ones suck. I have seen schlumpf doing things on Noggit QT branch, so in that case I still have some hopes. I do not have even a slight hope for Neo anymore. People simply lost their interest in it.
• Zone light editor. It is annoying as hell to add lights to zones manually. The best option would be to fix a tool called Sharpwow for this purpose. It is able to render a zone where you can add lights. But it has some bugs and terrible UI. One could remove all the planned mapeditor functionality from there and leave only lighting. Would be quite nice. Ask Cromon for the source.
• Continent creator. I am currently working on one personally, but it will be a 010 editor base script, so one could probably code a better option. Yet, this will be released as a script Soon™.
• Some tools for visually editing DBCs. See LeorFinacre's World Editor. Like placing POI on map, something to manage worldmap related things, talent trees and things like that. Also abandoned and I do not recommend to continue on that code base as it is crashy as hell.

So, that's my list for now. 

Speaking about the discussion about financial support, we talked about that because that would be an additional encouragement for programmers. It is always more pleasant to do stuff when your work is rewarded. Also I guess it kind of pissing off for developers when they are coding things for free for community and someone else raises money using them. I also do so, but I could imagine how it feels for devs.

There was one continent creator but i don't have it T_T

[Poisonleaf 85]

19 minutes ago, wungasaurus said:

You realize that one can just do all that in lua, so it already exists? There even are templates for models etc. As you want "fully", there is no way to have that without you manually writing lua/xml anyway, so just go and learn it. It isn't that hard. Stuff is already there. Building a framework to simplify it is not worth the effort when your direction of "fully" isn't even known.

Alright, It was just a random idea I just had, if it's not that much of a difference then it would indeed not be worth the effort.

[Skarn 469]

3 hours ago, wungasaurus said:

You realize that one can just do all that in lua, so it already exists? There even are templates for models etc. As you want "fully", there is no way to have that without you manually writing lua/xml anyway, so just go and learn it. It isn't that hard. Stuff is already there. Building a framework to simplify it is not worth the effort when your direction of "fully" isn't even known.

You are right and wrong. There is no need for that kind of software. Though, the one done by Mordred is fully user-friendly and allows you to build stuff in a visual way.

[sshroud 2]

M2 importer/exporter for Blender would be a big one, I really hoppe Koward's m2 plugin will be available for Blender. Another tool I think would be great, and not too ambitious, is a tool that converts the DBC tables into SQL tables, and can be exported back as DBC. This way it would be a lot easier to work on it(queries) and deal with it using version control.

[Kaev 106]

9 minutes ago, sshroud said:

M2 importer/exporter for Blender would be a big one, I really hoppe Koward's m2 plugin will be available for Blender. Another tool I think would be great, and not too ambitious, is a tool that converts the DBC tables into SQL tables, and can be exported back as DBC. This way it would be a lot easier to work on it(queries) and deal with it using version control.

I've already seen a DBC to SQL tool somewhere..

[sshroud 2]

13 minutes ago, Kaev said:

I've already seen a DBC to SQL tool somewhere..

Me too, never found a link for it, but I'd love an open source implementation so I can write a simple script to automate the job. Building dbc files from a DB and deploying them into an MPQ. Fortunately the MPQ part is covered as Ladik's MPQ Editor has command line support.

[Adspartan 208]

8 hours ago, Skarn said:

• Zone light editor. It is annoying as hell to add lights to zones manually. The best option would be to fix a tool called Sharpwow for this purpose. It is able to render a zone where you can add lights. But it has some bugs and terrible UI. One could remove all the planned mapeditor functionality from there and leave only lighting. Would be quite nice. Ask Cromon for the source.

If I remember well sharpwow can't open maps saved with noggit because he's expecting a chunk that seems to be optional that noggit doesn't save if empty. It should be easy to fix that if that's the problem.

As for the source : https://code.google.com/archive/p/sharpwow/source/default/source

[Смердокрыл 191]

A spell editor for Cata would help A LOT. 
Also, a WMO editor, since Cromon's isn't supported anymore.

[Skarn 469]

1 minute ago, Смердокрыл said:

A spell editor for Cata would help A LOT. 
Also, a WMO editor, since Cromon's isn't supported anymore.

Is not it done? The WMO editor, I mean.

[Смердокрыл 191]

1 hour ago, Skarn said:

Is not it done? The WMO editor, I mean.

It is done, but many people (including me since recently) can't use it due to various errors, and Cromon seems to be ingoring questions in the thread.

[Skarn 469]

7 hours ago, Смердокрыл said:

It is done, but many people (including me since recently) can't use it due to various errors, and Cromon seems to be ingoring questions in the thread.

Get SlimDX and Net Framework installed and it will work unless you are running Windows XP on your toaster.

[Смердокрыл 191]

3 hours ago, Skarn said:

Get SlimDX and Net Framework installed and it will work unless you are running Windows XP on your toaster.

I've tried downloading them and I don't think it helped. But I'll try again.

Do I need SlimDX 4.0 or 2.0?

[megamoocow 34]

We have many random tools that do a few thing's that we need done, but before we start wanting new tools (which would be nice don't get me wrong!) i want to see Nogg-it get finished. I would love to see a team get on that tool and fix it and get it as bug free and feature complete as possible! heck put some of the WMV stuff in it so we can preview models right from the MPQ! also allow import/export of adt's a built in light mapper so we can place light's! If we could get as many as 5 good coders on that tool, they would be heros of the WOW modding world, but it seems people get fired up about some new world making tool then when that dies we are all back to Nogg-it again.

 

Anyways fix/improve good ol Nogg-it!

[Kaev 106]

20 minutes ago, megamoocow said:

We have many random tools that do a few thing's that we need done, but before we start wanting new tools (which would be nice don't get me wrong!) i want to see Nogg-it get finished. I would love to see a team get on that tool and fix it and get it as bug free and feature complete as possible! heck put some of the WMV stuff in it so we can preview models right from the MPQ! also allow import/export of adt's a built in light mapper so we can place light's! If we could get as many as 5 good coders on that tool, they would be heros of the WOW modding world, but it seems people get fired up about some new world making tool then when that dies we are all back to Nogg-it again.

 

Anyways fix/improve good ol Nogg-it!

I explained this in the starting post: Many developers just don't have experience in e.g. rendering 3d things so they can't just continue Noggit. Also the Noggit code is pretty "untidy". Other tools are usually easier to develope, because you don't need such experience, so i started this thread to get some ideas.

[Alastor Strix'Efuartus 406]

Generaly i had idea about creating this tool but if anyone would be wiling to help me ( in VB.NET) then i'll accept any help
So what i want to do is ...

Tool that would search for armor sets in directory Item\TEXTURECOMPONENTS\XXXX  ( Extracted directory )

it would look for propeth armor sets and then connected them all into one to be viewed like one piece to let you browse these armor sets and then decide which one use / edit or what ever you want so point is to let you browse armors not like "UpperTorso" part but as whole view 

 

so Example  - BODY_LEATHER_RAIDROGUE_O_01

it would search for that one and since these are result 

 

Program would picked up Original one then created Female and Male version then created that same for all colors aviable

and then i would showed you results like original with button to switch between F/M  and ofc button for additional colors too

 

[dashker 23]

7 hours ago, Alastor Strix'Efuartus said:

Generaly i had idea about creating this tool but if anyone would be wiling to help me ( in VB.NET) then i'll accept any help
So what i want to do is ...

Tool that would search for armor sets in directory Item\TEXTURECOMPONENTS\XXXX  ( Extracted directory )

it would look for propeth armor sets and then connected them all into one to be viewed like one piece to let you browse these armor sets and then decide which one use / edit or what ever you want so point is to let you browse armors not like "UpperTorso" part but as whole view 

 

so Example  - BODY_LEATHER_RAIDROGUE_O_01

it would search for that one and since these are result 

 

Program would picked up Original one then created Female and Male version then created that same for all colors aviable

and then i would showed you results like original with button to switch between F/M  and ofc button for additional colors too

 

so for example you can substract an string from a vector that you can put the file name for example you can use a matrix of values for all the filenames or a list and then, find an exact string, for example "Head" and then show it

[Amaroth 549]

What I would find usefull and very noob-user-friendly would be some kind of MySQL editor similiar to Truice, BUT with possibility to add/edit documentation and to change settings for tables. So anyone would be able to update settings of his application to match his database version (someone uses new TCs, someone quite old TCs, someone doesn't use TC at all...) or to even be able to work with some custom fields he might have added into his database tables. And also, anyoneone could edit hints for different fields, or even make a translation of documentation. Both these kind of setting might be packed up in one data file which could be shared, so community would be able to update documentation, share it, translate it...

Function "check database compatibility" would be also great, editor would check if all DB tables on MySQL server exist in his settings and if all their fields are in his settings. Something would be missing? OK, lets generate basic settings for missing content (field name, field type). And notify user, that something new had to be added and give him immediately question, if he wants to make custom settings for that field. Does he want to rename it for himself into something more self-explanatory? Does he want to add some hint to it, which will tell him, what value does what in that field? Main devs of project would be updating documentation file for their database and share it with team developers. I personaly think this would be a great tool for everyone in team who is just a GM, but no real experienced modder.

I was thinking about doing this myself, but I am far from being good experienced programmer and don't have enough time for such project. Actually, this editor might be very good even for something different than WoW, if it will be as flexible as I requested above. Different profiles for different things... And so on. Possibility to edit some particular record in "Truice style" or to open a whole table in "Navicat style"... I would gladly help with creating settings and documentation for tables as I know most of TC databases very well, I just can't do that coding.

[dashker 23]

10 hours ago, Amaroth said:

What I would find usefull and very noob-user-friendly would be some kind of MySQL editor similiar to Truice, BUT with possibility to add/edit documentation and to change settings for tables. So anyone would be able to update settings of his application to match his database version (someone uses new TCs, someone quite old TCs, someone doesn't use TC at all...) or to even be able to work with some custom fields he might have added into his database tables. And also, anyoneone could edit hints for different fields, or even make a translation of documentation. Both these kind of setting might be packed up in one data file which could be shared, so community would be able to update documentation, share it, translate it...

Function "check database compatibility" would be also great, editor would check if all DB tables on MySQL server exist in his settings and if all their fields are in his settings. Something would be missing? OK, lets generate basic settings for missing content (field name, field type). And notify user, that something new had to be added and give him immediately question, if he wants to make custom settings for that field. Does he want to rename it for himself into something more self-explanatory? Does he want to add some hint to it, which will tell him, what value does what in that field? Main devs of project would be updating documentation file for their database and share it with team developers. I personaly think this would be a great tool for everyone in team who is just a GM, but no real experienced modder.

I was thinking about doing this myself, but I am far from being good experienced programmer and don't have enough time for such project. Actually, this editor might be very good even for something different than WoW, if it will be as flexible as I requested above. Different profiles for different things... And so on. Possibility to edit some particular record in "Truice style" or to open a whole table in "Navicat style"... I would gladly help with creating settings and documentation for tables as I know most of TC databases very well, I just can't do that coding.

but if edit the db i think is important to parse the dbc's and can edit it

[Amaroth 549]

I'm sorry, your post makes no sense to me.

[dashker 23]

22 minutes ago, Amaroth said:

I'm sorry, your post makes no sense to me.

for example, you want to add a new model, you will have to know the creaturedisplayinfo id to put into the creature_model_info.

And if you can edit the dbc's too, you can add more instances or maps or anything else to the DB more easily.

[Amaroth 549]

Ah. Of course, that would indeed be a neat feature as well. In general, putting this together with advanced DBC/DB2 editor which was already requested would be great, I just didn't want to make it too hard to make, its something what could be added later though.