Modifying Spells

[cincture]

Can someone please help me? I am so stuck and I've been trying to figure this out for weeks No matter how many guides I follow, I cannot make any modified spells. I'm using WoW 2.4.3 with Mangos and the noobpack repack by 711

[Choices]

to modify spells edit DBC's

[cincture]

I have tried using DBCUtil to convert spell.dbc to and from .dbc format, but the file always corrupts. After I edit the file in notepad and try to convert it back to .dbc format, DBCUtil gets to 94% and then stops. The file is half the size of the original .dbc and DBCUtil refuses to try to reconvert that file.

I used DBC util to convert the file to .csv format.
I edited the .csv file in Notepad.
Used DBCUtil to convert the file back to .dbc format. (only reached 94% and the file is half the file size of the original)
Used MyWarCraftStudio to create the patch.
The patch file is named patch-5.MPQ (in caps).
Within the patch, Spell.dbc is in a folder named DBFilesClient.
In MyWarCraftStudio, used sortlistfile and repack commands.
The .MPQ file is in the Data folder.
Using ModelEditFix to execute WoW.

And ultimately getting a Spell.dbc is corrupted error message.

I tried using a program called MyDBCEditor to modify the .dbc file without converting it. The resulting file seemed to be uncorrputed (it was nearly the same file size as the original and DBCUtil would convert it to .csv format). But putting that file in a patch gets me the same error message.
ERROR #131 (0x85100083) File Corrupt

I've used different dbc editors/converters, and different modelfix programs. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. Can you help me?

[Gastricpenguin]

Client-side dbc files need to match server-side dbc files.

[Jotox]

Not really, server-side dbcs are used for nothing other than getting the info on maps/spells/etc., it doesn't matter if they're different from the client's. Editing the dbcs server-side is fine

[cincture]

Are server-side dbcs the ones in my emulator folder, and client-side dbcs the ones the game calls through patches in the data folder? No guide that I have read mentions putting the modified dbc in the emulator folder, only in a patch.

If I can edit the dbc server-side only, then why do I need to make a patch? Do I only make the patch if I intend to make the server public?

[Dynashock]

Making a patch is so that players (including you!) can see the changes. For instance:

I once changed the prices of bankslot prices in the DBC file, put it in the server folder and loaded up the server. I went check it out in-game. I saw that the slots still were the same price. Or so I thought! When I bought them the server would only remove 1 gold from me, but the bank clearly stated that it costed 25 gold.

Now this wouldn't happen if you made a custom patch, players would see that it certainly only does cost 1 gold. That's also why you can't edit a spell name in a server-side-only dbc file, because players will still have old DBC which tell them the name is different.
But honestly, I'm not sure how much this applies to spell editing concerning cooldowns and the like. I think it should be possible to change the cooldown and only put it server-side, but I'm not sure. It's because I have the same problems as you do when converting the file with DBCutil, there's some data loss.

[cincture]

I see, so if you edit it server-side only, the changes do go into effect, but you don't "see" them when you play the game. I made a new spell.dbc using MyDBCEditor and put it in my emulator folder with no patch (so this would count as server side only, yes?). When I loaded the game (without a modeleditfix) I could see that the spell damage had changed (finally!) but the spell name had not changed. From your explanation, I should be able to make a patch that includes the new dbc and be able to see the spell name change.

So I created a patch using MyWarCraftStudio. It is named patch-5.MPQ (in caps) and is in the data folder. Within the patch, the file is in a folder called DBFilesClient. I did sortlistfile and repack, then started the game using a modeleditfix, but I'm still getting a corruption error. I also tried making the patch without sortlistfile, and I've tried running the game without the model edit fix, too. Getting the same error message. Error #131 File Corrupt. My dbc file doesn't seem to be "corrupt" anymore because it seems to be ok server side (since the damage value does seem to have changed). Any ideas why this might not be working?

If you can't get DBCUtil to work, you might try MyDBCEditor and see if it works any better for you. It has worked a little better for me (though you can clearly see it has still only gotten me so far, heh).

[cincture]

I did some experimenting, and I found out that I cannot apply *any* client side custom patches. I downloaded a few different race edits and spell packs, and no matter what modeleditfix I use, I always get an error message that says the file in the patch is corrupt. WoW runs fine when I take the patches out. Could someone please help me figure out why my patches don't work? ;_;

[Dynashock]

I did some experimenting, and I found out that I cannot apply *any* client side custom patches. I downloaded a few different race edits and spell packs, and no matter what modeleditfix I use, I always get an error message that says the file in the patch is corrupt. WoW runs fine when I take the patches out. Could someone please help me figure out why my patches don't work? ;_;

I think that question's something more suited for the model editing section. Try asking around there, I'm sure they'll have an explanation for you.
(Sorry, I have no idea whatsoever.)

[Dynashock]

I should've quoted him, because his last question *was* more aimed at the model editing side. I and others have already answered his DBC server-side editing questions.

I'll quote him now to prevent stuff like this.

[cincture]

*solved*

I upgraded all my programs (WoW, my repack, the model edit viewer, and all) to a different version and everything seems to be working now. Not sure why it didn't work before, but as long as it's working now I don't care.

Thank you, everyone that helped me!