[GUIDE] Making your own realmlist switcher.

[Gamer]

[GUIDE] Making your own realmlist switcher.

Ok, this guide will teach you how to make a simple realmlist.wtf switcher that allows people to switch between private servers and retail servers.

Note: I use VB 2005 Express Edition for compatibility reasons (some don't have the new framework that 2008 needs), but this guide will work for both.

This guide assumes a very basic knowledge VB.NET (being able to drag things onto forms and changing properties of objects in design mode)

1. Start by making a windows application. (File -> New Project -> Select windows application). You can call it whatever you like. Click OK.
   
   
2. Select your form and change the text property to whatever you want the form title to be. Next drag 3 buttons, two text boxes and two labels onto the form, and change their text properties so they look like this.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Call the textbox (NOT LABEL, your can write in textboxes, but not in labels) next to "Realmlist.wtf location:" txtRealm, and the textbox next to "Private Server Address:" txtServer. Note, this is name, not the text the control displays.
   
   
4. Next, double click on the button titled "set custom private server" and enter the following code:
   
   

   Dim ServerString As String = "set realmlist " & txtServer.Text
   My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText(txtRealm.Text, ServerString, False)

   Explanation: The dim line creates a variable ServerString which contains: set realmlist server-they-entered.com The next line, writes the text contained in the variable ServerString to the filename contained in txtRealmlist.
   
   
5. Next, double click on the set US realmlist button and put
   
   

   Dim ServerString As String = "set realmlist us.logon.worldofwarcraft.com" & vbNewLine & "set patchlist US.version.worldofwarcraft.com"
    My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText(txtRealm.Text, ServerString, False)

   Explanation:See first button explanation
   
   
6. And for the EU button:
   
   

   Dim ServerString As String = "set realmlist eu.logon.worldofwarcraft.com" & vbNewLine & "set patchlist eu.version.worldofwarcraft.com"
    My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText(txtRealm.Text, ServerString, False)

Explanation:See first button explanation


Congratulations! You are done.

Now, run the program, enter the location of your realmlist.wtf file. (must enter the full address including filename. eg. C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\realmlist.wtf).

(Pre patch 3.0.3 use the realmlist.wtf in the root wow folder,
3.0.3 client, use the file in your-wow-folder\Data\enUS\realmlist.wtf replacing enUS if necessary.)

Enter the private server address you want to go to. eg. logon.wowscape.net. Click click set. Alternatively, click set us or set eu to play on the offical servers.

Any feedback about which parts were confusing/unclear also appreciated.

[EXE3]

Don't ask for rep. besides, posts like these have already been posted.
It's still nice though.

Greetz

[Gamer]

Thanks for the rep thing, edited.

Forgive me if I missed any, but I checked through the VB forum and could only find one thread about this topic, which had various errors in it and wouldn't compile. So hopefully this will still help people.

[JinX9001]

BTW for people who are still running on private server who haven't adjusted to WOTLK and ask you to keep it unpatched. The realmlist isn't in the Data/US or /Eu Directory its in the main C://Program Files/World of Warcraft Directory, For those who chose to install it in its default directory. :P

[Gamer]

(Pre patch 3.0.3 use the realmlist.wtf in the root wow folder,
3.0.3 client, use the file in your-wow-folder\Data\enUS\realmlist.wtf replacing enUS if necessary.)

But thanks for that anyway

[Opalis]

Thanks for this, didn't know you could shorten all the stream-writer stuff down into one line

[moonrains]

guys i cant understand the number 3 instruction. can anyone help me with this? and also how to save the file? tnx

[Gamer]

guys i cant understand the number 3 instruction. can anyone help me with this? and also how to save the file? tnx

Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Click the top white textbox you have created. Change the name property in the properties section to txtRealm. Then for the second textbox change the name property to txtServer.

[moonrains]

thanks for the guide. How about if iam going to save many servers?. How to do it?

[Gamer]

Ok, well this is where it gets a bit tougher. I can't give you all the answers and you need a basic knowledge of VB to do it.

Hints:
Learn to write to a text file and then read that value back in. There are plenty of sites that explain how.

eg:

When you close the program:
Saves the name of a server to a the text file txtData.txt in the Debug/bin/ folder of your application:

My.Computer.FileSystem.WriteAllText("txtData.txt",*SomeServerNameToBeSaved,False)

When you reopen the program:
Reads the text file and puts the text from it into SomeTextBox.

SomeTextBox.Text = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText("txtData.txt")

[moonrains]

thanks again and happy new year!!!!!!