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
- Exports 129x129 grayscale PNG showing terrain elevation
- Auto-normalizes to 0-255 based on actual height range
- Useful for zone documentation, thumbnails, and previews
- Auto-exported alongside WOT/WHM/normals on every save
- 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
- Zone export now creates WOB placeholder files for all placed WMO
buildings in output/MapName/buildings/
- Full WMO→WOB conversion (with geometry) requires group file loading
which is complex — placeholders reserve the path structure for now
- All 6 format conversions now auto-run on every zone export:
ADT→WOT/WHM, BLP→PNG, DBC→JSON, M2→WOM, WMO→WOB, WDT→zone.json
- ContentPacker::validateZone() scans a zone directory and checks
for all open format files (WOT, WHM, PNG, WOM, zone.json, etc.)
- openFormatScore(): returns 0-5 based on how many open formats present
- summary(): human-readable list of found formats
- Foundation for quality gate on WCP export: warn if zone uses
Blizzard formats that could be converted to open versions
- Zone export now converts all placed M2 models to WOM open format
- Deduplicates: each unique M2 path converted only once
- WOM files saved to output/MapName/models/ with original path structure
- Uses WoweeModelLoader::fromM2() for M2→WOM conversion
- Combined with PNG texture export, zones can now be fully distributed
without any Blizzard proprietary files
Full open format export pipeline:
Terrain: ADT→WOT/WHM | Textures: BLP→PNG | Data: DBC→JSON
Models: M2→WOM | Buildings: WMO→WOB (manual) | Map: WDT→zone.json
- TextureExporter: converts Blizzard BLP textures to standard PNG
for fully open redistribution of custom zones
- collectUsedTextures(): finds all texture paths referenced by terrain
- exportTexturesAsPng(): loads BLP via asset manager, writes RGBA PNG
using stb_image_write to output/MapName/textures/
- Zone export now automatically converts all used textures to PNG
- Client's PNG override system already loads these automatically
(checks for .png alongside .blp before loading)
Format replacement progress:
- DONE: ADT→WOT/WHM (terrain)
- DONE: WDT→zone.json (map definition)
- DONE: BLP→PNG (textures — auto-exported on zone save)
- TODO: DBC→JSON, M2→open model, WMO→open building
