NiM>BeF: Crash upon StealthStand?

[Zurhho]

Hi,
It has been around three weeks since I started use .MPQ to change stuff in my WoW. I have read a lot of guides on how to make model edits on my own, and results were generally successful without any bug (spell effects, enchant glow, mount swap, reskin, weapon/armor swap, etc). I've split the question into long (with more info) and short (the question in two sentences) sections.

Short Version
Will NiM > BeF always have graphic error, which will cause the game to crash? Any ways to fix it?

Long Version
There is one model edit I cannot get it to work perfectly: specific Race + Gender swap. My main character is a Night Elf Male Rogue, and I have longed to change the model to a Blood Elf Female (faction change is an option, ofc; but I have strong connection to my current guild, and do not wish to ditch them).

I read both of the guides written by Evilpookie and ubermonkey, and attempted to follow the guides to achieve my goal, which is to have my NiM as BeF with the character customization I wanted (Skin color, Hair Color, Hair Style, Earrings).

Try 1) used ubermonkey's guide ([Guide] Race to Race. All Working Features.). Slightly confusing without the pictures, but I think I did it correctly. Finished and logged on; crashed. Rage deleted the .MPQ, due to tiredness and disappointment.

Try 2) used Evilpookie's guide ([Guide] Race to Race). Pretty simple and straight forward concept. Finished and logged on; my rogue is a female with beard. Kept the .MPQ, and went to sleep.

Try 3) pondered for a while; decided to combine what I have learned from both guides together. Used WMV and MWCS to find skin/style number. I swapped .blp files of the Face/SkinColor/HairColor to get the combination I wanted; to avoid editing CharSections.dbc. Used CharacterFacialHairStyles.dbc and CharHairGeosets.dbc to get the combination I wanted. I replaced NiM facial hair with NiF tattoo, since I cannot figure out how to get style 0 (Clean Shave). Result of all the hassle I've gone through is rewarding; until I hit stealth.



I get this weird graphic error that I cannot find the source. When I enter stealth, and not moving, my new BeF rogue's forearms started to twisting around, and shooting panels around. The error doesnt crash all the time, but when it does, it is always Error #132.

ERROR #132 (0x85100084) Fatal Exception
Program: D:\World of Warcraft\WoW.exe
Exception: 0xC0000005 (ACCESS_VIOLATION) at 001B:004A31AB

The instruction at "0x004A31AB" referenced memory at "0xA2F72E1C".
The memory could not be "read".

or

Exception: 0xC0000005 (ACCESS_VIOLATION) at 001B:005FAC25

The instruction at "0x005FAC25" referenced memory at "0x12DC595C".
The memory could not be "read".

Sometimes it crash after 30 minutes, but sometimes after 30 seconds; really annoying for when I am raiding in ICC25 (crashed 3 times during Lich King). In the end, I had to delete the .MPQ from WoW\Data

Try 4) Took a break for a while. Decided to give it another try, with another apporoach. Assumed that I extracted outdated .anim files from .MPQs, I decided to look for a working X > BeF for 3.3.3. I downloaded Elysium40's HuM > BeF edit (based on ubermonkey's work). Made a lv 1 HuM rogue, tested stealth animation; worked fine without graphic errors. Then I extracted that HuM > BeF .MPQ, and used that as the base of my NiM > BeF edit. Did not have to do as much work as I did in Try 3. Finished and logged on, still find the same graphic error upon idling in stealth.

Ran out of ideas and tricks to fix this, so I decied to come on the forum and ask for help. Would love to use NiM > BeF edit during raiding, without crash.

[Zurhho]

Fixed it myself. The main problem was the .skin and .M2 files I used.

After downloading a working NeM>BeF edit, and digging through the content, I found that my problem can somewhat be solved by making another .MPQ for the enUS folder.

So the .MPQ treepath is like this:
"Character\NightElf\Male" + "Item\ObjectComponents\Head" > patch-D.MPQ > Data
"DBFilesClient" > patch-enUS-D.MPQ > Data\enUS

with that change, and an updated M>F model, I was able to play my rogue without graphical errors during stealth. Not sure if I will still get crashes, but I will have to test it out more.