WoWee - World Of Warcraft Engine Experiment

A native C++ World of Warcraft client with a custom OpenGL renderer.

Compatible with Vanilla (Classic) 1.12 + TBC 2.4.3 + WotLK 3.3.5a. All three expansions are broadly functional with roughly even support.

Legal Disclaimer: This is an educational/research project. It does not include any Blizzard Entertainment assets, data files, or proprietary code. World of Warcraft and all related assets are the property of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Blizzard Entertainment. Users are responsible for supplying their own legally obtained game data files and for ensuring compliance with all applicable laws in their jurisdiction.

Status & Direction (2026-02-18)

• Compatibility: Vanilla (Classic) 1.12 + TBC 2.4.3 + WotLK 3.3.5a are all broadly supported via expansion profiles and per-expansion packet parsers (src/game/packet_parsers_classic.cpp, src/game/packet_parsers_tbc.cpp). All three expansions are roughly on par — no single one is significantly more complete than the others.
• Tested against: AzerothCore, TrinityCore, and ChromieCraft.
• Current focus: protocol correctness across server variants, visual accuracy (M2/WMO edge cases, equipment textures), and multi-expansion coverage.
• Warden: Full module execution via Unicorn Engine CPU emulation. Decrypts (RC4→RSA→zlib), parses and relocates the PE module, executes via x86 emulation with Windows API interception. Module cache at ~/.local/share/wowee/warden_cache/.

Features

Rendering Engine

• Terrain -- Multi-tile streaming with async loading, texture splatting (4 layers), frustum culling
• Water -- Animated surfaces, reflections, refractions, Fresnel effect
• Sky System -- WoW-accurate DBC-driven lighting with skybox authority
  • Skybox -- Camera-locked celestial sphere (M2 model support, gradient fallback)
  • Celestial Bodies -- Sun (lighting-driven), White Lady + Blue Child (Azeroth's two moons)
  • Moon Phases -- Game time-driven deterministic phases when server time is available (fallback: local cycling for development)
  • Stars -- Baked into skybox assets (procedural fallback for development/debug only)
• Atmosphere -- Procedural clouds (FBM noise), lens flare with chromatic aberration, cloud/fog star occlusion
• Weather -- Rain and snow particle systems (2000 particles, camera-relative)
• Characters -- Skeletal animation with GPU vertex skinning (256 bones), race-aware textures
• Buildings -- WMO renderer with multi-material batches, frustum culling, 160-unit distance culling
• Particles -- M2 particle emitters with WotLK struct parsing, billboarded glow effects
• Post-Processing -- HDR, tonemapping, shadow mapping (2048x2048)

Asset Pipeline

• Extracted loose-file Data/ tree indexed by manifest.json (fast lookup + caching)
• Optional overlay layers for multi-expansion asset deduplication
• asset_extract + extract_assets.sh for MPQ extraction (StormLib tooling)
• File formats: BLP (DXT1/3/5), ADT, M2, WMO, DBC (Spell/Item/Faction/etc.)

Gameplay Systems

• Authentication -- Full SRP6a implementation with RC4 header encryption
• Character System -- Creation (with nonbinary gender option), selection, 3D preview, stats panel, race/class support
• Movement -- WASD movement, camera orbit, spline path following
• Combat -- Auto-attack, spell casting with cooldowns, damage calculation, death handling
• Targeting -- Tab-cycling, click-to-target, faction-based hostility (using Faction.dbc)
• Inventory -- 23 equipment slots, 16 backpack slots, drag-drop, auto-equip
• Spells -- Spellbook with class specialty tabs, drag-drop to action bar, spell icons
• Action Bar -- 12 slots, drag-drop from spellbook/inventory, click-to-cast, keybindings
• Trainers -- Spell trainer UI, buy spells, known/available/unavailable states
• Quests -- Quest markers (! and ?) on NPCs and minimap, quest log, quest details, turn-in flow
• Vendors -- Buy, sell, and buyback (most recent sold item), gold tracking, inventory sync
• Loot -- Loot window, gold looting, item pickup
• Gossip -- NPC interaction, dialogue options
• Chat -- Tabs/channels, emotes, chat bubbles, clickable URLs, clickable item links with tooltips
• Party -- Group invites, party list
• Warden -- Warden anti-cheat module execution via Unicorn Engine x86 emulation (cross-platform, no Wine)
• UI -- Loading screens with progress bar, settings window, minimap with zoom/rotation/square mode, top-right minimap mute speaker, separate bag windows with compact-empty mode (aggregate view)

Building

Prerequisites

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install libsdl2-dev libglew-dev libglm-dev \
                 libssl-dev cmake build-essential \
                 libunicorn-dev \          # for Warden module execution
                 libstorm-dev             # for asset_extract

# Fedora
sudo dnf install SDL2-devel glew-devel glm-devel \
                 openssl-devel cmake gcc-c++ \
                 unicorn-devel \          # for Warden module execution
                 StormLib-devel           # for asset_extract

# Arch
sudo pacman -S sdl2 glew glm openssl cmake base-devel \
                 unicorn \               # for Warden module execution
                 stormlib                # for asset_extract

Game Data

This project requires WoW client data that you extract from your own legally obtained install.

Wowee loads assets via an extracted loose-file tree indexed by manifest.json (it does not read MPQs at runtime).

1) Extract MPQs into ./Data/

# WotLK 3.3.5a example
./extract_assets.sh /path/to/WoW/Data wotlk

Data/
  manifest.json
  interface/
  sound/
  world/
  expansions/

Notes:

• StormLib is required to build/run the extractor (asset_extract), but the main client does not require StormLib at runtime.
• extract_assets.sh supports classic, tbc, wotlk targets.

2) Point wowee at the extracted data

By default, wowee looks for ./Data/. You can override with:

export WOW_DATA_PATH=/path/to/extracted/Data

Compile & Run

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Kelsidavis/WoWee.git
cd WoWee

mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc)

./bin/wowee

Controls

Camera & Movement

Key	Action
WASD	Move camera / character
Mouse	Look around / orbit camera
Shift	Move faster
Mouse Left Click	Target entity / interact
Tab	Cycle targets

UI & Windows

Key	Action
B	Toggle bags
C	Toggle character
P	Toggle spellbook
N	Toggle talents
L	Toggle quest log
M	Toggle world map
O	Toggle guild roster
Enter	Open chat
/	Open chat with slash
Escape	Close windows / deselect

Action Bar

Key	Action
1-9, 0, -, =	Use action bar slots 1-12
Drag & Drop	Spells from spellbook, items from inventory
Click	Cast spell / use item

Debug & Development

Key	Action
F1	Performance HUD
F4	Toggle shadows

Documentation

Getting Started

• Project Status -- Current code state, limitations, and near-term direction
• Quick Start -- Installation and first steps
• Build Instructions -- Detailed dependency, build, and run guide

Technical Documentation

• Architecture -- System design and module overview
• Authentication -- SRP6 auth protocol details
• Server Setup -- Local server configuration
• Sky System -- Celestial bodies, Azeroth astronomy, and WoW-accurate sky rendering
• SRP Implementation -- Cryptographic details
• Packet Framing -- Network protocol framing
• Realm List -- Realm selection system
• Warden Quick Reference -- Warden module execution overview and testing
• Warden Implementation -- Technical details of the implementation

Security

• GitHub Actions runs a dedicated security workflow at .github/workflows/security.yml.
• Current checks include:
  • CodeQL for C/C++
  • Semgrep static analysis
  • Sanitizer build (ASan + UBSan)

Technical Details

• Graphics: OpenGL 3.3 Core, GLSL 330, forward rendering with post-processing
• Performance: 60 FPS (vsync), ~50k triangles/frame, ~30 draw calls, <10% GPU
• Platform: Linux (primary), C++20, CMake 3.15+
• Dependencies: SDL2, OpenGL/GLEW, GLM, OpenSSL, ImGui, FFmpeg, Unicorn Engine (StormLib for asset extraction tooling)
• Architecture: Modular design with clear separation (core, rendering, networking, game logic, asset pipeline, UI, audio)
• Networking: Non-blocking TCP, SRP6a authentication, RC4 encryption, WoW 3.3.5a protocol
• Asset Loading: Extracted loose-file tree + manifest.json indexing, async terrain streaming, overlay layers
• Sky System: WoW-accurate DBC-driven architecture
  • Skybox Authority: Stars baked into M2 sky dome models (not procedurally generated)
  • Lore-Accurate Moons: White Lady (30-day cycle) + Blue Child (27-day cycle)
  • Deterministic Phases: Computed from server game time when available (fallback: local time/dev cycling)
  • Camera-Locked: Sky dome uses rotation-only transform (translation ignored)
  • No Latitude Math: Per-zone artistic constants, not Earth-like planetary simulation
  • Zone Identity: Different skyboxes per continent (Azeroth, Outland, Northrend)

License

This project's source code is licensed under the MIT License.

This project does not include any Blizzard Entertainment proprietary data, assets, or code. World of Warcraft is (c) 2004-2024 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

References

• WoWDev Wiki -- File format documentation
• TrinityCore -- Server reference
• MaNGOS -- Server reference
• StormLib -- MPQ library

Known Issues

Water Rendering

• Stormwind Canal Overflow: Canal water surfaces extend spatially beyond their intended boundaries, causing water to appear in tunnels, buildings, and the park. This is due to oversized water mesh extents in the WoW data files.
  • Current Workaround: Water heights are lowered by 1 unit in Stormwind (tiles 28-50, 28-52) for surfaces above 94 units, with a 20-unit exclusion zone around the moonwell (-8755.9, 1108.9, 96.1). This hides most problem water while keeping canals and the moonwell functional.
  • Limitation: Some park water may still be visible. The workaround uses hardcoded coordinates and height thresholds rather than fixing the root cause.
  • Proper Fix: Would require trimming water surface meshes to actual boundaries in ADT/WMO data, or implementing spatial clipping at render time.