Tools

This is a list of modern tools used by modders.

General

  • MPQEditor: Tool to view and edit MPQ archives the clients MPQ archives.

  • FuckItUp: Removes the listfiles from MPQs that makes it (slightly) harder for a novice to open them.
    • Please note that experienced modders can open more or less any MPQ archive in a few minutes.
  • ReShade: Generic graphics injector used to run custom shaders in the WotLK client, like color grading, bloom or ambient occlusion effects.
    • Note that ‘depth buffer’ effects currently do not work with WotLKs builtin multisampling, which forces you to turn this off to use such effects.

Models and Textures

  • WoW Blender Studio (WBS): A Blender plugin used to create and modify M2 and WMO files in Blender.

  • WoWModelViewer (WMV): Tool used to view WMO and M2 models in the game, and is used by tools like Noggit and WBS as a ‘model selector’.
    • For WotLK modding, the preferred version to use is r252.
  • BLPConverter: Command-line tool used to convert between BLP and other common file formats like PNG and JPG.
    • Has a GUI version here

  • BLPLab: GUI Tool used to convert between BLP and other common file formats.

  • Photoshop BLP Plugin: Plugin that allows saving and loading BLP files directly in Photoshop.

  • M2Mod: Tool and blender plugin to work with mesh data on animated M2 files (cannot edit animations).

  • Multiconverter: Tool used to retroport model files from modern versions of the game to WotLK.

Maps and Lighting

  • Noggit: The most commonly used map editor for WotLK. (Sometimes referred to as Noggit Mint)
    • Noggit Red: A fork of Noggit originally created for ProphecyRP with improvements like an undo menu and asset browser.
  • adtcreator: Simple command-line tool used to create new maps (adts + wdt) from scratch.
    • Binary shipped as part of TSWoW, but the binary bin/adtcreator/adtcreator.exe can be used independently.
  • WoW Machinima Tool: In-game tool used to rapidly preview light, cloud and shader settings. Very useful for trying things out before writing them to the Light dbc files.

Data Editors

  • WDBX: A DBC editor for WotLK

  • SpellEditor: A DBC editor specifically tailored for working with Spells and related tables.

  • FuTa: Tool used for importing alpha maps for adt textures.
    • If you don’t like the version linked, just google it instead.
  • CameraCinematic: Tool used to create/visualize more fluid camera cinematic effects.

Reverse Engineering

  • 010 Editor: A ‘hex editor’ used to view and edit binary files or executables.

  • IDA: A disassembler tool commonly used to reverse engineer and debug the wow.exe client.

  • Ghidra: Another disassembler and free alternative to IDA.

Legacy Tools

These are tools that should be avoided due to bugs or because there are much better tools around today.