[Guide] How to compile files needed for Maps, Vmaps and DBC

[florinel76]

Hello everybody,

I finally was able to set up my own server and it took me quite some time and a lot of reading and tries, and i have noticed that there are still a lot of questions about how to get the vmap extractor assembler, the map extractor and how to get the DBC.
so i decided to make a guide upon my own xperience on how to compile those files and how to use them and the steps to follow.

This guide is for an own compiled core and is mainly for the ARCEMU core and i do not know for other different emulators.
It requires that you already have the programs like the visual studio 2008 and the turtoise svn installed and it is for windows 32 bit.


Let's say that you have the latest ARCEMU revision downloaded.


1.You need o compile first the map extractor ad.exe.

Go to your "Source\trunk\extras\map_extractor" folder and open the ad.sln with your visual studio 2008.
choose RELEASE and WIN32 on the menu bar or go to Build/Configuration manager and chose the same and then close.
press F7 or go to Build/Build Solution and click it and wait until it's done.
now go back to "Source\trunk\extras\map_extractor" and you will have the ad.exe file compiled there.
copy that file in your "world of warcraft" root folder and leave it there for now.

2.Now you will compile the mpqe.exe that will extract the DBC files.

Go to your "Source\trunk\extras\MPQE" folder and look for mpqe.sln and open that with visual studio 2008.
Again as in step 1 choose RELEASE and WIN32 and click F7 or Build Solution and wait until it's done.
If it was succesful now go to "Source\trunk\extras\MPQE\bin\Release" and copy 3 files from that folder - mpqe.exe, mpqe.vshost.exe and sfmpq.dll into your world of warcraft directory at this destination "World of Warcraft\Data\enUS"

3. This step is an important step - you need to create a text document and insert a code that i will put here and then save the text document as a .bat extension (batch file)

On you desktop create a new text document than copy and paste this inside

mpqe /p locale-enUS.MPQ DBFilesClient\*.dbc

go to File\Save as... and name it dbc.bat ... at "save as type" scroll down and chose "all files" and then save.
now copy the new dbc.bat file to the same directory where you put those 3 mpqe files "World of Warcraft\Data\enUS"
Leave that there and we will get to that as well ... just remember what did you put and where...

4. Now you will compile the files for collision support (these are the ones that will create the vmaps)

Go to "Source\trunk\src\collision" and chose collision_vc9.sln. open it with visual studio 2008 again.
Do the same as before , choose RELEASE and WIN32 adn compile the files.
When you are done go to "Source\trunk\src\collision\Release" and copy collision.dll and collision.lib into your Arcemu server root directory and copy those files also in "Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\lib"

5. Next you will compile the vmaps extractor and assembler.

go to "Source\trunk\src\collision_tools\assembler" and open the vmap_assembler_vc9.sln and choose again RELEASe and WIN32 and Build the Solution. then go to "Source\trunk\src\collision_tools\extractor" and do the same.
when it's done go to "Source\trunk\src\collision_tools\assembler\Release" and "Source\trunk\src\collision_tools\extractor\bin\Win32\ReleaseAS" and copy the files vmap_assembler.exe and vmapextract_v3.exe into your "world of warcraft" root directory.

6. at this point you should have :

ad.exe, vmap_assembler.exe, vmapextract_v3.exe - all in the WOW root folder;
mpqe.exe, mpqe.vshost.exe, sfmpq.dll and dbc.bat - all in "World of Warcraft\Data\enUS"
collision.dll and collision.lib - all in the arcemu server root folder and "Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\lib"

Here it starts the fun :

so again new steps

1. go to "World of Warcraft\Data\enUS" and click on dbc.bat and let it do it's thing. when it's done you will have a folder "World of Warcraft\data\enUS\MPQOUT\DBFilesClient" go inside that folder an copy all files, then go to you Arcemu server root folder and create a DBC folder and paste those files inside it. For now leave all those created in WOW still there, we will erase all those files some other time.

2. next go to WOW root and create a folder called "MAPS" and then click on ad.exe . this process will take a while but if you know how to adjust the priority on the processor it will take quite a short time. when this file is done you will have a MAPS folder in the root WOW with a lot of info (over 500 Mb). Copy the Maps folder as well, in the arcemu server root folder but don't erase/delete anything yet.

3 next go back to WOW root folder and start Vmapextract_v3.exe . Same, it will take a long time to do it. when it's done you should have a folder called buildings in your WOW root folder. Leave it there and now create a folder called VMAPS. once this is done click on the vmap_assembler.exe and let that one also to do it's thing.

4. now when all this is done do the following:
copy the maps folder and the vmaps folder into the arcemu server root folder so now in your arcemu server you should have these folders : DBC, maps and vmaps ... (it might matter the case so maybe you should keep on lower case for maps and vmaps - i don't know )

5. now let's go to "World of Warcraft\Data\enUS" and delete the folders "MPQOUT\DBFilesClient" and also the mpqe.exe, mpqe.vshost.exe and sfmpq.dll.
then in the wow root delete ad.exe, vmapextract_V3.exe, vmaps_assembler.exe and the buildings, maps and vmaps folders.

6. next in your config folder in the arcemu server go to arcemu-world.conf and find "collision=0" and change it to "1" as it will enable the collision support.
Save it and just set up your server with the necessary configs and run it ... you shouldn't have any errors because of what we did now. If you have any type of errors related to this just post them .



Before i finish everything i just want to say that all this information i have learned from the arcemu website and i will give credit to whomever wrote those guides - I wish i would know names to put them here ... all i did was to write this guide following all the steps that i have used to compile my own server.

That's all. Hope it helps.

[rage3]

Would surely be great, if I only could even get through point 2....
MPQE.sln is in version 7.1 instead of 9.0 as all the other files. When I try to open it it says that it has to be conversed. I press "Finish" to converse it, then it says that everything was successful, but then it says "MPQE (unavailable) at the side bar. When i try to compile or reload it, it says that I should use a version that supports that type of project. Please help me. Or else I will have to stick to repacks and never be able to put in my scripted custom bosses!

[Maa]

nice thx =))

[florinel76]

Would surely be great, if I only could even get through point 2....
MPQE.sln is in version 7.1 instead of 9.0 as all the other files. When I try to open it it says that it has to be conversed. I press "Finish" to converse it, then it says that everything was successful, but then it says "MPQE (unavailable) at the side bar. When i try to compile or reload it, it says that I should use a version that supports that type of project. Please help me. Or else I will have to stick to repacks and never be able to put in my scripted custom bosses!

well i guess it is all about the revision of arcemu you are using ... download the latest and then try ... you should have the mpqe.sln for microsoft visual 2008 ... i do have it that way.

[cello1993]

After enabling collision, my NPCs siply do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, don't move neither attack, whats wrong? =(

[florinel76]

After enabling collision, my NPCs siply do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, don't move neither attack, whats wrong? =(

i suspect is something on the conf files. i didn't have any problems with my NPC ... i am actually able to do the quests with no problems ... i cannot really help you with this.