Duplicate an existing zone to a new slug:
wowee_editor --copy-zone custom_zones/Original "My New Zone"
Workflow this enables: scaffold one base zone, populate it with
creatures/objects/quests, then copy-zone N times to create variants
without re-scaffolding each. Designers can template a 'forest base'
zone and stamp it into Dark Forest, Frozen Forest, etc.
What it does:
- Recursive copy preserves any subdirs (e.g. data/ for DBC sidecars)
- Reads source slug from zone.json (not the dir name) to know what
prefix to rewrite — handles users who renamed dirs without
touching the manifest
- Renames slug-prefixed files (Original_28_30.whm -> NewSlug_28_30.whm,
matches both _-suffixed and .-suffixed forms)
- Saves a fresh zone.json via ZoneManifest::save which rebuilds the
files-block from mapName, so the manifest references the renamed
files correctly
Verified end-to-end: scaffolded Original, added creature + quest,
copied to 'My New Zone'. Result: 2 files renamed, zone.json
mapName/displayName/files all updated, creatures.json + quests.json
copied verbatim.
Third headless authoring command, finishing the trio:
wowee_editor --add-quest <zoneDir> <title> [giverId] [turnInId] [xp] [level]
Optional positional fields are read in order; omit from the right.
Bare 'wowee_editor --add-quest zone Title' produces a valid quest
with default values, matching the editor GUI's New Quest behavior.
Verified: appended 3 quests (250+100+0 XP) to a scaffolded zone,
--info-quests --json reports total=3, totalXp=450, withReward=3.
Mirrors --add-creature for the object placer:
wowee_editor --add-object <zoneDir> <m2|wmo> <gamePath> <x> <y> <z> [scale]
Lets shell scripts populate objects/buildings without the GUI:
for tree in 100,200 150,250 200,300; do
x=${tree%,*}; y=${tree#*,}
wowee_editor --add-object "$zone" m2 'World/Doodad/Tree.m2' $x $y 0
done
Loads existing objects.json first then appends, so multiple
invocations build up. Optional scale slot lets the caller set
non-default size (clamped to >0 by the load-time guard).
Verified end-to-end: scaffolded zone → added m2 + wmo → info-objects
reports total=2 with the correct scale range.
Appends a single creature spawn to a zone's creatures.json. First
real authoring tool that doesn't need the GUI placement system —
useful for batch-populating zones via shell script:
for npc in goblin spider wolf; do
wowee_editor --add-creature "$zone" "$npc" 100 200 50
done
Args: <zoneDir> <name> <x> <y> <z> [displayId] [level]
- displayId 0 → SQL exporter substitutes 11707 (generic humanoid)
- level defaults to 1
- Coordinates are render-space (renderX=wowY, renderY=wowX)
Loads any existing creatures.json first then appends, so multiple
invocations build up the file. The standard NPC spawner caps
(50k creatures) protect against runaway scripts.
Adds --json to --info-creatures, --info-objects, --info-quests so
the per-content inspectors match the per-zone aggregator. Schemas
match the existing --zone-summary --json sub-objects.
Now 9 inspectors support --json:
--info-extract --info-wcp --validate
--info-creatures --info-objects --info-quests
--zone-summary --list-zones --diff-wcp
CI can now drill into per-content reports the same way as the
top-level summary, e.g. fail a build if a zone's quests have any
chain errors:
wowee_editor --info-quests "$zone/quests.json" --json \
| jq -e '.chainErrors | length == 0'
Adds JSON mode to the zone discovery scanner. Returns an array of
zone objects, each with name/dir/mapId/author/description/tiles/
hasCreatures/hasQuests.
Lets CI scripts iterate every available zone and run a per-zone
gate, e.g.:
for zone in $(wowee_editor --list-zones --json | jq -r '.[].directory'); do
wowee_editor --validate "$zone" --json | jq -e '.score == 7'
done
Fifth and last commonly-used inspector to gain --json mode (after
--info-extract, --validate, --info-wcp, --zone-summary).
Adds --json output to the one-shot zone-summary aggregator. Refactor
also moves creature/object/quest data reads to a shared step before
either branch so both human and JSON outputs use the same numbers.
Schema:
{
"zone": "custom_zones/Foo",
"score": 3, "maxScore": 7,
"formats": "WOT WHM zone.json ",
"counts": { "wot":1, "whm":1, "wom":0, "wob":0, "woc":0, "png":0 },
"creatures": { "total":N, "hostile":N, "questgiver":N, "vendor":N },
"objects": { "total":N, "m2":N, "wmo":N },
"quests": { "total":N, "chainWarnings":N }
}
Now CI can gate on any combination — open-format coverage, NPC
counts, quest chain health — from a single command. Fourth and
last commonly-CI'd inspector to gain --json mode (after
--info-extract, --validate, --info-wcp).
Mirrors --info-extract --json and --validate --json. Schema:
{
"wcp": "/path/to/zone.wcp",
"name": "Wj",
"author": "...",
"description": "...",
"version": "1.0",
"format": "wcp-1.0",
"mapId": 9000,
"fileCount": 3,
"totalBytes": 177671,
"categories": { "terrain": 2, "data": 1 }
}
Lets CI scripts inspect packed zones — e.g. fail a release if a
zone's WCP doesn't include a creature category, or auto-tag a
release with the totalBytes field.
Adds an optional --json flag that emits a structured nlohmann JSON
object instead of the human-readable text. Schema:
{
"dir": "...",
"totalBytes": N, "proprietaryBytes": N, "openBytes": N,
"overallCoverage": 100.0,
"blp_png": { "proprietary": N, "sidecar": N, "coverage": % },
"dbc_json": { ... },
"m2_wom": { ... },
"wmo_wob": { ... },
"adt_whm": { ... }
}
Lets CI scripts gate on coverage:
cov=$(wowee_editor --info-extract Data --json | jq .overallCoverage)
if [ "$cov" != "100" ]; then asset_extract --upgrade-extract Data; fi
Adds two summary lines so users can see how big a 'purge proprietary
after open conversion' workflow would shrink their tree (or how
much extra a dual-format extraction costs):
proprietary bytes: 18432.4 MB
open-format bytes: 21340.7 MB (115.8% of proprietary)
Counts every BLP/DBC/M2/WMO/ADT into the proprietary bucket and
every PNG/JSON/WOM/WOB/WHM/WOT/WOC into the open bucket. The
ratio surfaces things like 'PNG is bigger than DXT-compressed BLP'
or 'JSON DBC is much smaller than the binary' without the user
having to run du themselves.
Walks an extracted asset tree and reports per-format counts plus
how many proprietary files have a wowee open-format sidecar.
Lets users (or CI) see at a glance whether asset_extract was run
with --emit-open and how complete the open-format coverage is:
BLP textures : 12340 (12340 PNG sidecar = 100.0% open)
DBC tables : 240 (240 JSON sidecar = 100.0% open)
M2 models : 8500 (0 WOM sidecar = 0.0% open)
...
overall open-format coverage: 41.2%
(run `asset_extract --emit-open` to fill missing sidecars)
Skips _NNN group sub-files when counting WMOs (only the root WMO
ships with a WOB sidecar). The headless CLI is now at 22 commands.
Loads + immediately re-saves zone.json, creatures.json,
objects.json, and quests.json. The load-time scrubs (NaN,
out-of-range, oversize) and save-time caps fire on the round-trip,
producing a cleaned-up zone without ever opening the GUI.
Useful when an old zone was created before recent hardening
batches — running this once normalizes the on-disk state to match
what the current loaders expect.
Mirrors the other --info-* family inspectors. Accepts either a
zone directory or the zone.json path directly. Prints every
manifest field: name, mapId, biome, baseHeight, tiles, flags,
audio config. Useful when diffing two zones or auditing the
audio/flag setup before packing.
Walks a zone directory recursively, finds every WHM file, and
rebuilds the matching WOC. Useful after batch terrain edits when
you want to refresh collision for many tiles in one shot. Reports
per-tile triangle counts and exits 1 if any rebuild failed.
Combines validate + creature/object/quest counts in a single
output. Useful for CI reports and quick sanity checks. Exits 0
if open-format score is 7/7 (full coverage), 1 otherwise.
Compares two WCP archives file-by-file from their info JSON: lists
added (+), removed (-), and size-changed (~) entries. Useful for
verifying that an authoring tweak changed only what it claimed to
change, and for editor-version regression detection. Exit code 0
if identical, 1 otherwise.
Renders heightmap, normal-map, and zone-map PNGs alongside a
WHM/WOT terrain pair. Useful for portfolio screenshots, ground-
truth map comparison, and quick visual validation without
launching the GUI.
Loads a WHM/WOT terrain pair and writes a .woc collision mesh
alongside it. Terrain triangles only (no WMO overlays — those need
the asset manager) but enough for first-pass walkability while
authoring.
Verified end-to-end: scaffold-zone → build-woc → info-woc reports
32k triangles for a flat 256-chunk tile.
Mirrors --unpack-wcp. Accepts either a zone name (auto-resolved
under custom_zones/ then output/) or a directory path. Default
output is <name>.wcp in the current directory. Combined with
--scaffold-zone and --unpack-wcp, the editor can do the full
zone authoring round-trip from the command line.
Mirrors --info-wcp / --list-wcp. Default destination is
custom_zones/ (matches the GUI's preferred location). With both
this and --scaffold-zone, the editor binary can fully bootstrap
a zone install without launching the GUI.
Creates custom_zones/<slug>/ with a flat-terrain WHM, default WOT,
and minimal zone.json — score 3/7 on --validate, ready to open in
the GUI for further authoring. Saves the round-trip of launching
the GUI just to make a starter directory.
Previously '--info-wcp' (no path) silently dropped into the GUI
because the option-parse loop's i+1<argc guard hid the typo. Pre-
scan and bail out with a helpful message before trying to start
the editor, so users get fast feedback on bad invocations.
--info-wcp gives counts and totals; --list-wcp gives the full file
listing sorted by path. Useful for spotting missing texture/model
entries before unpacking and shipping a zone.
Completes the --info-* family. Reports total/chained quest counts,
reward/item counts, total XP awarded, objective-type breakdown
(kill/collect/talk), and any quest-chain validation errors. Lets
zone authors spot broken chains, missing rewards, and lopsided XP
balance from the command line.
Mirrors --info-creatures and the other format inspectors. Reports
total placement count, M2/WMO breakdown, unique source paths, and
scale range. Useful for spotting empty zones, accidental scale
extremes, or duplicated placements before packing.
Mirrors the existing --info-wom/wob/woc/wot/wcp inspectors. Reports
total spawn count, hostile/questgiver/vendor/trainer flag counts,
behavior breakdown (stationary/wander/patrol), and unique displayId
count. Useful for triaging zone NPC content from the command line.
The previous --validate output told you whether *some* file of each
type existed, which was hard to act on for partially-valid zones.
Now reports the per-format file count and how many failed magic
validation, e.g. 'WOM (12 invalid: 2)' so a zone author can spot
missing or corrupted models without grepping through file listings.
Mirrors the existing --info-wom/--info-wob/--info-woc/--info-wcp
inspectors. Reports the tile coord, populated chunks, layer count,
water count, texture/doodad/WMO counts, and computed height range
across all chunks. Useful for triaging zones from the command line
without opening the GUI.
Reports name/author/description/version/format/mapId, total file count,
per-category breakdown (terrain/model/building/texture/data), and total
on-disk bytes. Useful for inspecting third-party WCPs before importing
or for sanity-checking your own exports.
Companion to --info for WOM. Reports name, group/portal/doodad counts,
total vertex/triangle/material counts. Useful for verifying converted
WMOs and debugging building rendering issues without launching the GUI.
Useful for verifying WOM exports and debugging conversion issues without
loading the GUI. Accepts either /path/to/file.wom or /path/to/file
(loader expects no extension). Reports version, name, geometry counts,
texture/bone/animation/batch counts, and bound radius.
New CLI option that runs ContentPacker::validateZone on a zone directory
and prints the open-format score (0-7) with per-file breakdown including
magic-byte validity. Exits 0 if 7/7, 1 otherwise — useful for CI checks
on exported zones.
- --convert-m2 and --convert-wmo now print progress and results to
stdout (was LOG_INFO to log file only, invisible to user)
- Failures return exit code 1 (was always 0, breaking scripting)
- Success output shows vertex/bone counts (M2) or group count (WMO)
- Error messages go to stderr for proper pipe handling
--help, --version, and --list-zones now print to stdout via printf
instead of LOG_INFO which writes to log file only. Users running
CLI commands would see no output at all — critical first-impression
bug for new users.
Also updated --version format list to include WOC.
- Wire WOB buildings into WMO render pipeline (loads→converts→renders)
- Implement JSON DBC loading in DBCFile::loadJSON() with nlohmann/json
- Wire JSON DBC override into AssetManager (custom_zones/output scan)
- Add WMO→WOB conversion with full geometry (fromWMO)
- Replace placeholder WOB export with real WMO→WOB conversion in editor
- Add --convert-wmo CLI flag for batch WMO→WOB conversion
- Store discovered custom zones on Renderer with getCustomZones() accessor
- Add isCustomZone_ member to TerrainManager
All 6 Blizzard format replacements now fully load in the client:
ADT→WOT/WHM, WDT→zone.json, BLP→PNG, DBC→JSON, M2→WOM, WMO→WOB
200 commits building a complete world editor with novel open file
formats from scratch in a single development session.
Final stats:
- 11,532 lines across 55 files
- 6 editor modes, 30+ terrain tools, 3 noise types
- 5 novel binary formats: WHM1, WOM1, WOB1, WCP1, WOT
- All 6 Blizzard formats replaced with open alternatives
- 4/6 formats fully loading in client (terrain, textures, models, buildings)
- CLI: --help, --version, --list-zones, --convert-m2
- Project system with git collaboration
- Full content pipeline: create → export → pack → share → load
By Kelsi Davis
- wowee_editor --convert-m2 <path> --data <datadir> converts a single
M2 model to WOM open format without launching the GUI
- Output goes to output/models/ with same path structure
- Useful for batch scripts to convert entire asset directories
- Example: wowee_editor --data Data --convert-m2 creature\\bear\\bear.m2
Standalone wowee_editor tool for creating custom WoW zones.
This is a rough initial implementation — many features work but
M2/WMO rendering still has issues (frame sync, texture layout
transitions) and needs further polish.
Terrain:
- Create new blank terrain with 10 biome types (Grassland, Forest,
Jungle, Desert, Barrens, Snow, Swamp, Rocky, Beach, Volcanic)
- Load existing ADT tiles from extracted game data
- Sculpt brushes: Raise, Lower, Smooth, Flatten, Level
- Chunk edge stitching prevents seams between tiles
- Undo/redo (100-deep stack, Ctrl+Z/Ctrl+Shift+Z)
- Save to WoW ADT/WDT format
Texture Painting:
- Paint/Erase/Replace Base modes
- Full tileset texture browser (1285 textures from manifest)
- Per-zone directory filtering and search
- Alpha map editing with 4-layer limit (auto-replaces weakest)
Object Placement:
- M2 and WMO model placement with full manifest browser (11k M2s, 2k WMOs)
- M2Renderer + WMORenderer integrated (loads .skin files for WotLK)
- Ghost preview follows cursor before placing
- Ctrl+click selection, right-click context menu
- Transform gizmo (Move/Rotate/Scale with axis constraints)
- Position/rotation/scale editing in properties panel
NPC/Monster System:
- 631 creature presets scanned from manifest, categorized
(Critters, Beasts, Humanoids, Undead, Demons, etc.)
- Stats editor: level, health, mana, damage, armor, faction
- Behavior: Stationary, Patrol, Wander, Scripted
- Aggro/leash radius, respawn time, flags (hostile/vendor/etc.)
- Save creature spawns to JSON
Water:
- Place water at configurable height per chunk
- Liquid types: Water, Ocean, Magma, Slime
- Rendered as translucent colored quads
- Saved in ADT MH2O format
Infrastructure:
- Free-fly camera (WASD/QE, right-drag look, scroll speed)
- 5-mode toolbar: Sculpt | Paint | Objects | Water | NPCs
- Asset browser indexes full manifest on startup
- Editor water/marker shaders (pos+color vertex format)
- forceNoCull added to M2Renderer for editor use
- AssetManifest::getEntries() and AssetManager::getManifest() exposed
Known issues:
- M2/WMO rendering may not display on first placement (frame index
sync between update/render was misaligned — now fixed but untested
end-to-end)
- Validation layer errors on shutdown (resource cleanup ordering)
- Object placement on steep terrain can miss raycast
- No undo for texture painting or object placement yet
