Closes the editing loop on the creature-patrol catalog: dump a
.wcmr to JSON, hand-edit pathKind / moveType / waypoint coords /
delays (e.g. add a new mid-route waypoint to a city guard's
patrol, change Stormwind cathedral guards from Walk to Run kind,
extend an ICC patrol from 16 to 24 waypoints to cover a wider
area), re-import to a byte-identical binary.
First round-trip with truly variable-length payloads. The
waypoint arrays serialize as JSON arrays of {x, y, z, delayMs}
objects — adding or removing waypoints in the JSON sidecar
preserves the length-prefixed binary layout on import. The
generic --bulk-export-json / --bulk-import-json utilities work
on these too without modification, since the sidecar follows
the same magic-pattern naming convention.
Two dual-encoded fields:
- pathKind: int 0..3 OR "loop" / "one-shot" / "reverse" /
"random"
- moveType: int 0..3 OR "walk" / "run" / "fly" / "swim"
Verified byte-identical round-trip on all three presets
(patrol / city / boss). The boss preset's 12-pt + 8-pt + 16-pt
patrols (36 waypoints total = 576 bytes of waypoint payload)
round-trip exactly, confirming the variable-length encoding
preserves byte-for-byte order in both directions. CLI flag count
1053 -> 1055.
Open replacement for AzerothCore's creature_movement / waypoints
SQL tables plus the per-spawn waypoint arrays. Defines named
waypoint paths that creatures patrol along: Stormwind guards
walking the city perimeter, AQ40 trash rotating through the
chamber, ICC patrols circling the spire.
Each entry binds a creatureGuid to a sequence of (x, y, z,
delayMs) waypoints. The pathKind controls cycling behavior
(Loop / OneShot / Reverse / Random) and moveType controls the
locomotion kind (Walk / Run / Fly / Swim) — a flying patrol
ignores ground geometry, a swimming patrol stays underwater.
This is the first open format with truly variable-length
per-entry payload. Earlier formats with multi-slot fields
(WSPR's 8-reagent slots, WPSP's 4-item arrays) used fixed-size
caps padded with zeros. WCMR instead uses an inline
length-prefixed waypoint array — entries can be 4 waypoints or
4000, with the loader advancing through the file by reading the
count first then count*16 bytes of waypoint data. Cap of 64K
waypoints per path keeps a corrupted file from allocating
gigabytes.
pathLengthYards(pathId) is the engine helper that sums segment
distances between consecutive waypoints (closing the loop for
Loop kind). Tested across 12-point and 16-point circular paths
that geometrically resolve to the expected ~25y radius and
~60y radius totals.
Cross-references back to WCRT — creatureGuid points at the
spawned creature instance whose behavior mode follows this
patrol.
Three preset emitters: --gen-cmr (3 small paths showing each
pathKind variant), --gen-cmr-city (4 capital-city guard 6-point
loops with 2.0-2.5s waypoint dwell), --gen-cmr-boss (3 long
raid-zone patrols up to 16 waypoints, demonstrating that
variable-length payloads scale).
Validation enforces id+name+creatureGuid+waypoints presence,
pathKind 0..3, moveType 0..3, no duplicate ids; warns on
1-waypoint paths (creature would idle in place) and Loop with
fewer than 3 waypoints (degenerate — indistinguishable from
Reverse).
This is the 90th open format milestone. Wired through the
cross-format table; WCMR appears in all 18 cross-format
utilities. Format count 89 -> 90; CLI flag count 1048 -> 1053.
