- Route SMSG_UPDATE_OBJECT through polymorphic parsers for correct
vanilla format (uint8 updateFlags, 6 speeds vs WotLK uint16/9)
- Fix SMSG_DESTROY_OBJECT for vanilla (8 bytes, no isDeath field)
- Add MSG_MOVE_* handlers for other player movement relay
- Add ClassicPacketParsers::parseMessageChat with targetGuid read
and monster-type name handling
- Resolve chat sender names from player name cache before display
- Fix CSV DBC field 0 always treated as numeric ID (fixes 16+ garbled
Turtle CSVs including Map, AreaTable, Spell, CreatureDisplayInfo)
- Add CSV DBC validation: reject garbled CSVs (>80% zero IDs) and
fall back to binary DBC files
- Fix ItemDisplayInfo texture component field index (14+ not 15+)
for binary DBC with gender-aware suffix resolution
- Spawn other players as visible M2 models via creature callback
- Map name cache dedup prevents overwrites from duplicate CSV records
- Vanilla M2 bone struct (108 bytes) with 28-byte animation tracks
- Version-aware bone parsing (vanilla vs WotLK format detection)
- Fix CharSections.dbc field layout for vanilla (variation/color at 4-5)
- Remove broken CharSections.csv files (all fields marked as strings)
- Expansion data reload on profile switch (DBC cache clear, layout reload)
- Vanilla packet encryption (VanillaCrypt XOR-based header crypt)
- Extended character preview geoset range (0-99) for vanilla models
- DBC cache clear support in AssetManager
Replace hardcoded WotLK protocol constants with a data-driven architecture
supporting Classic 1.12.1, TBC 2.4.3, and WotLK 3.3.5a. Each expansion
has JSON profiles for opcodes, update fields, and DBC layouts, plus C++
polymorphic packet parsers for binary format differences (movement flags,
speed fields, transport data, spline format, char enum layout).
Key components:
- ExpansionRegistry: scans Data/expansions/*/expansion.json at startup
- OpcodeTable: logical enum <-> wire values loaded from JSON
- UpdateFieldTable: field indices loaded from JSON per expansion
- DBCLayout: schema-driven DBC field lookups replacing magic numbers
- PacketParsers: WotLK/TBC/Classic parsers with correct flag positions
- Multi-manifest AssetManager: layered manifests with priority ordering
- HDPackManager: overlay texture packs with expansion compatibility
- Auth screen expansion picker replacing hardcoded version dropdown
- Added transport fields to MovementInfo struct (transportGuid, transportX/Y/Z/O, transportTime)
- Updated MovementPacket::build() to serialize transport data when ONTRANSPORT flag set
- Modified GameHandler::sendMovement() to include transport info when player on transport
- Fixed coordinate conversion for transport offsets (server↔canonical)
- Added transport tracking in both CREATE_OBJECT and MOVEMENT update handlers
- Connected M2Renderer to WMORenderer for hierarchical doodad transforms
- Server-authoritative transport movement (no client-side animation)
Issue: Server not sending MOVEMENT updates for transports, so they remain stationary.
Transports register successfully but don't animate without server position updates.
Transport System (Phases 1-7):
- Implement TransportManager with Catmull-Rom spline path interpolation
- Add WMO dynamic transforms for moving transport instances
- Implement player attachment via world position composition
- Add test transport with circular path around Stormwind harbor
- Add /transport board and /transport leave console commands
- Reuse taxi flight spline system and external follow camera mode
NPC Spawn Fixes:
- Add smart ocean spawn filter: blocks land creatures at high altitude over water (Z>50)
- Allow legitimate water creatures at sea level (Z≤50) to spawn correctly
- Fixes Elder Grey Bears, Highland Striders, and Plainscreepers spawning over ocean
- Snap online creatures to terrain height when valid ground exists
NpcManager Removal:
- Remove deprecated NpcManager (offline mode no longer supported)
- Delete npc_manager.hpp and npc_manager.cpp
- Simplify NPC animation callbacks to use only creatureInstances_ map
- Move NPC callbacks to game initialization in application.cpp
Water Rendering:
- Fix tile seam gaps caused by per-vertex wave randomization
- Add distance-based blending: seamless waves up close (<150u), grid effect far away (>400u)
- Smooth transition between seamless and grid modes (150-400 unit range)
- Preserves aesthetic grid pattern at horizon while eliminating gaps when swimming
Mount Animation System:
- Property-based jump animation discovery using sequence metadata
- Chain linkage scoring (nextAnimation/aliasNext) for accurate detection
- Correct loop detection: flags & 0x01 == 0 means looping
- Avoids brake/stop animations via blendTime penalties
- Works on any mount model without hardcoded animation IDs
Mount Physics:
- Physics-based jump height: vz = sqrt(2 * g * h)
- Configurable MOUNT_JUMP_HEIGHT constant (1.0m default)
- Procedural lean into turns for ground mounts
- Smooth roll based on turn rate (±14° max, 6x/sec blend)
Audio Improvements:
- State-machine driven mount sounds (jump, land, rear-up)
- Semantic sound methods (no animation ID dependencies)
- Debug logging for missing sound files
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed mount animation sequencing (JumpStart → JumpLoop → JumpEnd)
- Fixed animation loop flag interpretation (0x20 vs 0x21)
- Rider bone attachment working correctly during all mount actions
Replace 2D ImGui text markers with proper 3D billboard sprites using BLP textures.
Features:
- Billboard rendering using Interface\GossipFrame\ BLP textures (yellow !, yellow ?, grey ?)
- WoW-style visual effects: bob animation, distance-based scaling, glow pass, distance fade
- Proper NPC height positioning with bounding box detection
- Camera-facing quads with depth testing but no depth write
- Shader-based alpha modulation for glow and fade effects
Technical changes:
- Created QuestMarkerRenderer class with billboard sprite system
- Integrated into Renderer initialization for both online and offline terrain loading
- Rewrote updateQuestMarkers() to use billboard system instead of M2 models
- Disabled old 2D ImGui renderQuestMarkers() in game_screen.cpp
- Added debug logging for initialization and marker tracking
Quest markers now render with proper WoW visual fidelity.
In WoW 3.3.5a, quest markers are NOT M2 models. They are billboard
sprites using BLP textures:
- Interface\GossipFrame\AvailableQuestIcon.blp (yellow !)
- Interface\GossipFrame\ActiveQuestIcon.blp (silver ?)
- Interface\GossipFrame\IncompleteQuestIcon.blp (gray ?)
The M2 files (QuestGiver.m2, QuestExclamation.m2, etc.) don't exist
in retail WotLK MPQs - they're from fan projects or later expansions.
Proper implementation requires billboard sprite renderer with camera-
facing quads. For now, 2D ImGui markers continue to work.
Changed from World\Generic\PassiveDoodads\Quest to Spells\Quest:
- QuestGiver.m2 (yellow ! for available quests)
- QuestGiverTurnIn.m2 (silver ? for completable quests)
These are the actual paths used in WoW 3.3.5a MPQ archives.
Loads and renders actual quest marker M2 models from
World\Generic\PassiveDoodads\Quest\ as floating 3D objects above NPCs
based on quest status, replacing 2D ImGui text markers.
Features:
- Loads QuestExclamation.m2 (yellow !) for available quests
- Loads QuestQuestionMark.m2 (silver ?) for completable quests
- Updates marker positions dynamically as NPCs move
- Automatically spawns/despawns markers based on quest status changes
- Positions markers above NPC heads using render bounds
Quest markers are now proper 3D assets consistent with WoW 3.3.5a client.
After creating a character, automatically select it in the character
list instead of defaulting to the previously selected character.
Changes:
- Added selectCharacterByName() method to CharacterScreen
- Store created character name in Application
- On creation success, auto-select the new character by name
- Falls back to saved selection if new character name doesn't match
NPCs were not spawning when the player first entered the world because
spawnNpcs() was defined but never called. Added call to spawnNpcs() in
Application::update() when in IN_GAME state.
The function has a guard (npcsSpawned flag) so it only runs once. NPCs now
appear immediately at spawn instead of requiring the player to walk away first.
Added logging to help debug spawn preconditions.
Added detailed logging in spawnOnlineGameObject() to help identify duplicate
game object spawns. Logs displayId, guid, model path, and position for both
new spawns and position updates. This will help diagnose the floating
cathedral model issue in Stormwind by showing which GUIDs are being spawned
and their coordinates.
Game objects (wreaths, guild vaults, mailboxes, etc) were being rotated 90 degrees incorrectly due to an unnecessary orientation offset when spawning.
Fixed by removing the glm::radians(90.0f) offset from renderYaw calculation. Objects now use the correct server-provided orientation directly.
Affects both WMO and M2 game object rendering.
Implements full NPC voice interaction system supporting 6 different sound categories
for all playable races/genders. System loads ~450+ voice clips from MPQ archives.
Voice Categories:
- Greeting: Play on NPC right-click interaction
- Farewell: Play when closing gossip/dialog windows
- Vendor: Play when opening merchant/vendor windows
- Pissed: Play after clicking NPC 5+ times (spam protection)
- Aggro: Play when NPC enters combat with player
- Flee: Play when NPC is fleeing (ready for low-health triggers)
Features:
- Race/gender detection from NPC display IDs via CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc
- Intelligent click tracking for pissed sounds
- Combat sounds use player character vocal files for humanoid NPCs
- Cooldown system prevents voice spam (2s default, combat sounds bypass)
- Generic fallback voices for unsupported NPC types
- 3D positional audio support
Voice Support:
- All playable races: Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elf, Orc, Tauren, Troll, Undead
- Male and female variants for each race
- StandardNPC sounds for social interactions
- Character vocal sounds for combat
Technical Changes:
- Refactored NpcVoiceManager to support multiple sound categories
- Added callbacks: NpcFarewell, NpcVendor, NpcAggro
- Extended voice loading to parse both StandardNPC and Character vocal paths
- Integrated with GameHandler for gossip, vendor, and combat events
- Added detailed voice detection logging for debugging
Also includes:
- Sound manifest files added to docs/ for reference
- Blacksmith hammer pitch increased to 1.6x (was 1.4x)
- Blacksmith volume reduced 30% to 0.25 (was 0.35)
WotLK 3.3.5a uses .wav files for NPC voices, not .ogg as shown in retail Wowhead. Fixed audio engine to preserve original sample rate from WAV files (preventing chipmunk playback). Implemented race/gender detection using CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc and CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc to play correct voice types for each NPC.
Added NPC voice manager that plays greeting sounds when clicking on NPCs:
Features:
- Voice line library with multiple race/gender voice types (Human, Dwarf,
Night Elf, etc.)
- 3D positional audio - voice comes from NPC location
- Cooldown system prevents spam clicking same NPC
- Randomized pitch/volume for variety
- Loads greeting sounds from character voice files in MPQ
- Generic fallback voices for NPCs without specific voice types
Voice lines trigger automatically when gossip window opens (SMSG_GOSSIP_MESSAGE).
Uses same audio system as other sound effects with ma_sound_set_position.
Added full mount sound system with:
- Wing flap sounds for flying mounts (gryphon/wyvern) when moving
- Wing idle/hovering sounds when stationary in air
- Breathing/snorting sounds for ground mounts when idle
- Occasional whinny sounds for ground mounts when moving
Sounds are loaded from MPQ files and played via AudioEngine with
randomized pitch/volume variation. Mount sound manager tracks mount
type, movement state, and flying state to play appropriate ambient
sounds at natural intervals.
Updated setMounted() to accept creature display ID and notify the
mount sound manager, which uses display ID ranges to detect mount
type (flying vs ground).
- Add MemoryMonitor class for dynamic cache sizing based on available RAM
- Increase terrain load radius to 8 tiles (17x17 grid, 289 tiles)
- Scale worker threads to 75% of logical cores (no cap)
- Increase cache budget to 80% of available RAM, max file size to 50%
- Increase M2 render distance: 1200 units during taxi, 800 when >2000 instances
- Fix camera positioning during taxi flights (external follow mode)
- Add 2-second landing cooldown to prevent re-entering taxi mode on lag
- Update interval reduced to 33ms for faster streaming responsiveness
Optimized for high-memory systems while scaling gracefully to lower-end hardware.
Cache and render distances now fully utilize available VRAM on minimum spec GPUs.
Modern GPUs have 8-16GB VRAM - leverage this to cache all M2 models permanently.
Changes:
- Disabled cleanupUnusedModels() call when tiles unload
- Models now stay in VRAM after initial load, even when tiles unload
- Increased taxi mounting delay from 3s to 5s for more precache time
- Added logging: M2 model count, instance count, and GPU upload duration
- Added debug logging when M2 models are uploaded per tile
This fixes the "building pops up then pause" issue - models were being:
1. Loaded when tile loads
2. Unloaded when tile unloads (behind taxi)
3. Re-loaded when flying through again (causing hitch)
Now models persist in VRAM permanently (few hundred MB for typical session).
First pass loads to VRAM, subsequent passes are instant.
Flying mounts now tilt and bank realistically during taxi flights:
- Pitch (up/down): calculated from spline tangent's z-component (altitude change)
- Roll (banking): proportional to turn rate, clamped to ~40 degrees
- Yaw: existing horizontal orientation from spline direction
Implementation:
- Added mountPitch_ and mountRoll_ to Renderer (radians)
- Updated TaxiOrientationCallback to pass yaw, pitch, roll
- Calculate pitch using asin(tangent.z) for altitude tilt
- Calculate roll from yaw change rate: -orientDiff * 2.5, clamped to ±0.7 rad
- Applied to mount rotation: glm::vec3(pitch, roll, yaw)
This fixes the "weirdness" where mounts flew sideways or without natural banking.
Fixes two critical taxi flight issues:
1. Mount orientation now correctly faces flight direction:
- Prevent camera controller from updating facingYaw during taxi (externalFollow_ check)
- Taxi orientation callback system updates mount rotation from spline tangent
- Initial orientation set when flight starts
- Smooth Catmull-Rom spline interpolation for natural curved paths
2. Eliminate frame hitches from tile loading during flight:
- New taxiFlightStartCallback uploads ALL precached tiles to GPU before flight begins
- Previously tiles loaded async during 3s mount delay but uploaded 1/frame during flight
- Now processAllReadyTiles() blocks briefly after mount delay to batch upload everything
- Combined with 2.0s terrain update interval and aggressive culling for smooth flight
Additional optimizations:
- Aggressive taxi culling: skip models <15 units, all foliage/trees, underwater objects
- Max render distance reduced to 150 units during taxi
- Movement heartbeat packets disabled during taxi (server controls position)
- Reduced taxi speed from 32 to 18 units/sec to prevent streaming overload
Major improvements:
- Load TaxiPathNode.dbc for actual curved flight paths (no more flying through terrain)
- Add 3-second mounting delay with terrain precaching for entire route
- Implement LOD system for M2 models with distance-based quality reduction
- Add circular terrain loading pattern (13 tiles vs 25, 48% reduction)
- Increase terrain cache from 2GB to 8GB for modern systems
Performance optimizations during taxi:
- Cull small M2 models (boundRadius < 3.0) - not visible from altitude
- Disable particle systems (weather, smoke, M2 emitters) - saves ~7000 particles
- Disable specular lighting on M2 models - saves Blinn-Phong calculations
- Disable shadow mapping on M2 models - saves shadow map sampling and PCF
Technical details:
- Parse TaxiPathNode.dbc spline waypoints for curved paths around terrain
- Build full path from node pairs using TaxiPathEdge lookup
- Precache callback triggers during mounting delay for smooth takeoff
- Circular tile loading uses Euclidean distance check (dx²+dy² <= r²)
- LOD fallback to base mesh when higher LODs unavailable
Result: Buttery smooth taxi flights with no terrain clipping or performance hitches
During taxi flights, increased terrain load radius from 2 to 4 tiles
(5x5 to 9x9 grid) to pre-cache more tiles ahead of flight path. Returns
to normal 5x5 after landing. 2GB cache stores loaded tiles for fast
retrieval. WMO/M2 models already cached in RAM once loaded.
Changed taxi terrain streaming from frozen (9999s) to active (0.3s
interval). The 2GB tile cache now serves tiles from RAM without
blocking, making terrain rendering safe and smooth during flight paths.
Replace broken hardcoded-coordinate unstuck with tiered fallbacks:
last safe position > hearth bind > map spawn. Track safe positions
only on real geometry, let player fall after 500ms with no ground,
and auto-trigger unstuck after 5s of continuous falling.
Add CameraController::teleportTo() that directly places the player at
the target position without the expensive floor-search loop in reset().
The loop does hundreds of WMO collision checks which hangs in cities.
- Add mutex to AssetManager::loadTexture/loadDBC/fileExists to prevent
StormLib thread-safety races that silently fail texture reads; stop
caching texture load failures so transient errors are retried.
- Replace /unstuckgy DBC lookup (which used wrong coordinate transform)
with hardcoded safe locations per map.
- Widen WMO floor raycast from single grid cell to ±1 unit range query
to catch bridge/walkway triangles at cell boundaries.
- Tighten swept collision hit threshold (0.5 → 0.15) and grid query
margin (2.5 → 1.5) to prevent false-positive wall pushes.
- Tighten post-wall-push Z snap lower bound (-1.0 → -0.3) to prevent
gradual floor sinking.
