[Guide] Changing only player characters

[mee]

This guide is about changing only model for all players, but without changing NPC`s models. And it requires some basic knowledge about .dbc editing.

Files on images are .csv opened in Windows notepad.


Yes, it`s possible. Hard, but possible.
It takes days to complete, so i don`t take any requests for this. It`s rather "do it yourself" modification.

Screenshots:
ImageShack - Hosting :: wowscrnshot082307092116uu0.jpg
ImageShack - Hosting :: wowscrnshot082307092307gn6.jpg
ImageShack - Hosting :: wowscrnshot082307092349vd3.jpg
ImageShack - Hosting :: wowscrnshot082307161929eo2.jpg

Example files, used in my Human->Draenei 2.1.3 enGB edit. These files should work with enUS, but i`m unsure.
Filebeam - Free Fast File Hosting
RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting

Tools needed:

MyWarCraftStudio
WoWModelviewer
DBC converter
DBC editor, or simple notepad
BLP converter
Graphic editor - Photoshop, PaintNet, Gimp or even Paint.
Common sense (priceless). ;]


Files to edit:

ChrRaces.dbc
CreatureModelData.dbc
CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc
CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc
ChrRaces.dbc
CharHairGeosets.dbc
CharacterFacialHairStyles.dbc

Character hair textures in .blp files.

REMEMBER TO BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL WITH .DBC! One missing comma in line, and game will crash.

STEP 1
MODEL CHANGING


First of all, you need to know id number for race:
1 - Human
2 - Orc
3 - Dwarf
4 - Night Elf
5 - Scourge
6 - Tauren
7 - Gnome
8 - Troll
9 - Goblin
10 - Blood Elf
11 - Draenei
12 - Fel Orc
13 - Naga
14 - Broken
15 - Skeleton

And gender:
0 - Male
1 - Female


1 - Edit ChrRaces.dbc

Open Edit ChrRaces.dbc



In this image:
1 - race id number in multiple files. DON`T CHANGE this. Remember this id for later.

2 - feet show/hide indicator for this race. You may copy this number from yours desibrable race. I.e., if you change model from orc to tauren,

you may change 12 (orc feet) to 14 (tauren feet). It makes hoofs/boots visible/invisible

3 - male model id for multiple files.
4 - female model id.

(10,Feet,1610,0x102E,MaleModelID,FemaleModelID,"Be",1.0,1,7,15007,0x448,"BloodEl f",162,"Blood

Elf",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0x3F007E,"NORMAL","EARRINGS","NORMAL",1,)

Remember or write down your old and new models id. You will need them for edit CreatureModelData.dbc.

Now, in ChrRaces change old model id for number of your new model. It makes your new race visible on character creation/selection screens.
Feel free to change race abbreviations and names for abbreviatons and names copyed from your new race. It changes only names on

character/selection screen.

Done. You may close ChrRaces.dbc



2 - Edit CreatureModelData.dbc

Open CreatureModelData.dbc.



First number is model ID, related with CretureDisplyInfo. Find lines for your old and new models. Simply find Character\Human... Character\Orc, or any similar lines. Copy lines for your old models and paste them on bottom line. Give them new model ID,here is example.
I switched Humans for Draeneis, so i copyed lines 49 and 50 and pasted as new bottom lines.
Renumber pasted lines. If last original line was 2304, they sholud be 2305, and 2306.
Write down or remember new lines numbers, because now they are new lines for npc`s models.
Example.:



Now, replace old lines fory your old race with lines for your new race, but don`t change model ID (first number). Model ID should still remain

from old line.
I.e.

49,0,"Character\Human\HumanMale...

is changed to:

49,0,"Character\Draenei\DraeneiMale...

Example:



So 49 remains unchanged. Rest of the line should be from new model.

Ok, now you have separate entries for players and npc`s models.
And it was simple part. ;]



3 - Edit CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc

Open CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc




Find lines started with your old race model ID from ChrRaces.
I.e:
49,49 blablablablabla... < - human males
16125,2248,0,0,1.0,255,"","","",1,0,0,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281, <- draenei males

16126,2250,0,0,1.0,255,"","","",1,0,0,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281,-65281, <-draenei females



These lines are for player characters models. Dont`t change it for any reason. Second number is ID in
CreatureModelData.

Now, find lines with SECOND number (ID in CreatureModelData) identical with second number for players.
And now change these SECOND (and only second!!!) numbers for numbers for your new entries placed in bottom of Edit CreatureModelData.dbc.

In each line, except lines for player characters (see above). Male ID numbers for male ID numbers, female numbers for female.
I recommend use any DBC editor for this task, because it takes a lot of time with notepad.
And i recommend to avoid CSVed, since this application can corrupt files.

And now NPC`s are linked with "new" old models (bottom entries pasted in Edit CreatureModelData.dbc), and players with "old" changed models.




4 - Edit CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc

CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc is responsible for NPC`s facial features, hairstyles, weapons, costumes, etc. And should be slightly changed,

since these values are partially shared with players.

Open CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc



1 - red, is ID.
2 - blue is race ID<--------------------------------------------You have to change entries only for NPC`s from your OLD race and gender.
3 - green is gender ID, 0 for males and 1 for females.

But you need only change entries for facial features and helmets.

Facial features are hard. They are shared with players and almost always looks odd without editing. Put some "nonsence code" as a prefix for

original value (you may also decide change them for "0", but players may have facial features style "0" and it doesn`t looks good). I used to

add 11 for every number for facial features. I.e: 12 will become 1112, 1 become 111, 9 become 119.
It makes npc`s facial features unreadable for client. In game they won`t have any piercings, beards, scars. But NPC`s also have this stuff

painted on textures, so only tusks and horns are losed. And it`s still better than large holes in their faces, when facial features for players

comes in conflict with facial features for NPC`s.

Helmets always comes in conflicts with helmfixes. So take off their head gear, and change every number for helmets in every line to "0". NPC`s

still have their own hair under helmets, unless they are naturally bald.

Again, use any DBC editor for this task, because it takes a lot of time.


5 - CharacterFacialHairStyles.dbc

Open CharacterFacialHairStyles.dbc



Entries looks like that:

3,0,1,2010404113,132302,2445512,3,3,3,
3,0,2,2010404113,132302,2445512,4,4,4,

Where first number makes id for race, and second for gender.
(race id,gender id,2,2010404113,132302,2445512,4,4,4,)

Now all you need to do, is replace every single line for old race, to line for new model. Amount of lines should be equal with race and

gender, who has more lines.
I.e.: if you change yours character from race with 10 lines in CharacterFacialHairStyles.dbc to race with 5 lines, you should delete some lines. Or, if

your desirable race has more lines than old, just repeat some lines .(i.e. 5 female and 6 male lines should be replaced wit 5 female and 6

male).

Details about editing:

3,0,1,2010404113,132302,2445512,3,3,3,
3,1,2,2010404113,132302,2445512,4,4,4,

These are example lines for dwarf. Upper are for male, lower for female. If someone wants to change model for dwarf , he should replace line

for his old race with lines for dwarf ("female" lines instead of"female", and "male" for "male"), and change race id for his old race id (i.e,

when you change model from orc to dwarf, race id in edited line should be 2 - because for WoW your character is still an orc, and you only

change model). Gender id shouldn`t be changed, unless you want to change character gender.


6 - Edit CharHairGeosets.dbc

Geosets are edited, because different models have different amount of hairstyles. When you switch to race with more hairstyles, you should limit this range, or you may end with hole in your head (literally).
Open CharHairGeosets.dbc

1 column/number - ID, leave this number alone. Dont`t change it.
2 column/number - race, dont` change
3 column/number - gender, dont`t change
4 column/number - hairstyle ID, linked with race. Same as hairstyle number in WoWmodelviewer.
5 column/number - geodata, or hair shape <--- THIS SHOULD BE CHANGED



Open Wowmodelviewer and check number for hairstyles for your new model.. I.e - for draenei male hairstyles in Wowmodelviewer are 0 to 7.
For example: you switch from model witch hairstyles 0 to 14, to model with hairstyles 0 - 7.
New AMOUNT of hairstyles in COLUMN 5 should be now equal with amount for new race.

Example is on image.




Simply copying and pasting, replace hairstyles (in column 5) for OLD model with some hairstyles with OLD model (same gender).

You may leave alone lines ended with number 1. These are for bald heads.


STEP 2
TEXTURE CHANGING

1 - Edit CharSections.dbc

Open CharSections.DBC






Skin textures:

Now, remove all, whole lines for bodies (skin, pelvis, torso, lower, upper face, all textures for facial hair) from your old model and paste lines for your new model. Change race ID in pasted lines from your new race(number in second column) for ID of your old race.

6361,10,0,0,0,0,"Character\BloodElf\Male\BloodElfMaleSkin00_00.blp","","",0, <---in this example line race ID is 10 (Blood Elf). If you try switch race, i.e, from Human to Blood Elf, in pasted line change this number to 1 (human).



Names for textures are written in this file, so use your common sense.
EXCEPT lines ended with 1, they should remain unchanged, because they are for unique NPC, i.e. - Whitemane.


Hair textures (but NOT facial hair textures, they should be replaced, as above):
Since NPC`s and players share textures for hair, they should be only renamed. In these lines change only race name. I.e Human for Draenei.

Done.


2 - Edit hair textures.

Sadly, hair textures for NPC and players are always the same and its probably impossible to change it.
Check amount of textures both for old, and new model. Bigger number wins.
If your new model has hair less textures, than old, you have to copy and rename some .blp files to fill this gap.
I.e - humans have textures ranges from 00_ to 03_... and draeneis only for 00_... Fortunately, colour ranges are equal. So i copyed textures

and renamed to 01_..., 02_..., 03_...

Example texture pack is in download links.

You need to edit textures in graphic application only if textures for new race have some significant features, like for draeneis, or blood

elves. Simply, because NPC`s looks odd with ornate stripes wrapped around their heads.
Convert .blp files to TGA or PNG and remove all features, simply copying and pasting flat hair surfaces.

Now, NPC`s have their original hair colour changed, but they (mostly) still looks good.
And player hairstyles without features still are tolerable:

Without editing:
ImageShack - Hosting :: withoutpatchyc2.jpg

With editing:
ImageShack - Hosting :: withpatchkl7.jpg





Pack files into MPQ files. Hopefully you did all steps in proper way and game will not crash. Maybe. ;]



Known issues:

1 - Sometimes NPC`s hair colours doesn`t fit with their facial hair, or scalps. Whatever. It`s still better, than world full of bald NPC`s.

2 - It wasn`t been tested wit sufficient, large amount of other players. It seems that PC`s always have skins and hair, but who knows?



.

[schlumpf]

****ing nice.
+rep :| if i could ... :| sorry ^^

[septimasxx]

Nice. + rep if i can ;p

[Fault]

im sorry, im a little confused, what was the intention of this, just to change players, not npcs?

[LowK3y]

The intention (as I read) is to change only how you look, but not the npc's or other surrounding players??

in any event, I don't model change, but I've seen this come up in topics a lot, so definitely +rep if I can.


great attention to detail, as well.

[Fault]

The intention (as I read) is to change only how you look, but not the npc's or other surrounding players??

in any event, I don't model change, but I've seen this come up in topics a lot, so definitely +rep if I can.


great attention to detail, as well.

Im nearly 100% sure its impossible to not change other players

[schlumpf]

its just not affecting npcs.

[mee]

GUIDE UPDATED. I made mistake in section about CreatureDisplayInfo. Now it`s fixed.

And intention was to leave all baked NPC`s with their own racial models - they always looks awfull with changed model.

[Krazzee]

I hope this will shut up some noobs. +8 rep.

[MrClean]

Owned! +9,001 Rep! That's OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!

[Mercer]

personly the NPC's dont bother me but this is a very nice guide +rep

[V1cinity]

This guide is awesome! Im trying to follow the guide and edit everything like I should but the guide just isnt clear enough. The first problem Im running into is what program are you using in a lot of the screenshots you provided? I have DBC editor but its hard to try to use when its not the exact same thing as what you are using. Next problem is I dont understand what you are doing in part 3 and 4. Thats as far as I got till I gave up.

This is a great guide, Im just retarded. If you could make a few things a little easier then that would rock some serious face!

[mee]

Files on images are .csv`s opened in windows notepad. In this application columns are separated with commas.

In step 3, editing CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc, i switched NPC`s from old models ID`s to new ID`s created in CreatureModelData.dbc.
In CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc second column, marked with red, is first number for entry (line) in CreatureModelData.dbc.

And new lines pasted in CreatureModelData.dbc are old model data preserved from changes.

So, basically, in this step (CreatureDisplayInfo.dbc) you simply switch NPC`s from changed models to unchanged.

In step 4 (CreatureDisplayInfoExtra.dbc) entries in columns 1, 2, 3 was given only for identification purposes, because before you start changing anything, you need to know which NPC`s are from which race and gender.

But in this step you edit only columns for facial features and helmets. Simply add 11 for every number in facial hair column, and change all numbers in helmet column to 0.
Naturally only for NPC`s with your previous, old model.

[Subconsciousness]

Great guide, +rep

[V1cinity]

Oh ok, great! Thanks Mee! That sorts a lot out!