Changing Yourself?

[ArianZg]

I'm very new to this site,but I did find some very interesting things.As I searched a bit,I found the warlock pet skins addon.It was very cool,but since I'm not a warlock it was of no use to me.Then I got the idea that something could be done on your char.If it was possible to du something like that on a pet,it should be also be able on a player.I am a litle bored with my troll,so i thought it could be replaced with the Yarr! priate or noggerfogger skeleton model.Since I don't no anything about .lua,I would like if anybody of you professionals do it,or at least tell me it's not possible.

NOTE:My english is not anywhere near perfect,so please don't hate my for my sppeling mistakes

[demonkunga]

I am haveing a few problems with this, i have gotten most of it to work great, but when I change my default base character form I still have the original character skin showing and havent found out how to get that changed yet. Also happened once for a mount I tryed.... but mainly the character base form... any help? Thanks

[diff3reNt]

Is there a way to make something change only for you? Like if I want my gnome to look like an undead I dont want all other gnomes turning undead too...

[gromlv]

i think i got it

buth damn patch is placeing on so cannot test

yust a question.....does i shold leave my maked files in DATA folder or move them to mpq files?

+ i changed

simple shoulders (had 3 diferent colors) to epic ones lol who had only 1 color

does it will make eny diference?

or myby i shold simply deleate that color text from texture name?

[Nilandra]

Well it seems i can't open Model in my data..
when i double click it it says : Can't open file bla bla
then i try opening it with another program
it works! but i can't read those signs
rlly weird

help :P

[Teif]

one of the more recent patches (if not the latest actually) effectively ended the era of extracting and modifying the contents of the mpq files and then overriding the originals by placing the new files in the /data/... folder.

editing the look of your character or anything non-ui related has been disallowed for quite some time actually - although there's not much Blizzard could do to determine if you were doing this save for having wow scan the contents of your data folder during run time to determine if any "illegal" *.blp or similar were present.

anyways, to sum up - according to Blizzard it should now be impossible to override the standard .mpq files thus rendering it impossible to edit the player model or add custom skins to items.

[Nilandra]

ok then i am not in the mood for ****ing my char up

[Reticulum]

< removed >

Your one warning: Don't post instructions on this site telling people how to break Blizzard's rules. Thanks. - Cairenn

[thisguycory]

I am trying to change my daggers, but the graphics I wanna change them to aren't in MWS. Do I have to find the skins for these? Or am I S.O.L?

[dafire]

To change your daggers put the old one in your bag and equip the other one.

For changing skin, read the post above yours again.

[Dae]

Not possible. Sry.

Actually, thats not true, Guillotine, its just a little more difficult, as it is a bit different. First, you'll need MyWarcraftStudio(Link ). This application has the ability to open and extract from the .MPQ files in your ../World of Warcraft/Data folder(.MPQ files are basically Blizzard's own proprietary .ZIP files). While there are other programs that can do this as well, MyWarcraftStudio is by far my personal favorite(especially for this application) as it has a built in preview window. Install this program.

If most or all of this thus far makes little or no sense to you, then I suggest you stop here, and stick with the pre-made model variants.

Now, once you have the mod installed, we can start changing models. I want to stress first that none of this violates the ToS in any way, as all of it is 100% clientside. Any changes you make will only be seen by you, and only while playing on that computer. Now for the fun part...

Take what you want to replace(ie. your pet white wolf). Open MyWarcraftStudio(MWS), open the Models.mpq(in your World of Warcraft\data folder). Next, open another window of MWS(doubleclick the shortcut/exe again), and open Textures.mpq(also in your World of Warcraft\data folder. Also, make sure you opened it in the SECOND MWS window, so you now have 2 windows, one of the model files, the other of the texture files). Now, go through the models and find the model type that you want replace your wolf with(ie. a raptor). Keep in mind that EVER instance of the wolf model(ie. every wolf in the game, and anything else that uses its model, like the warg) will be replaced by the new model you are installing. Now, find the wolf in the model window, note the name that the .m2 file is called, then go to the raptor, click on it to preview the model, then right click on the .m2 file and click export. Save it as the name of the wolf's .m2 file (Should by default save to the Data folder, where you want them).

Ok, so your wolf now looks like a raptor, but still has the texture of the wolf. Looks kinda weird, don't it? Ok, go to that texture window. Now, find the wolf section, note the name of the .blp file of the color of wolf you have. You may have to check a few and look closely, as these are the flat texture applied to the wolf mesh, so they will look really different. Just look for coloring patterns. Next, find the raptor section, find the texture thats the color you want, again, click it to preview it, then right click it and hit export, then name it the same as the wolf .blp file (Also should default to your Data folder, where you want them). Now, you should have a brand new raptor. It will still SOUND like the wolf, though, as if you want to make it sound like a raptor, go into the Sound.mpq file, and follow the same procedures as for the model and textures.

Also, a note: You CANNOT(and I mean PERIOD) replace a model that only has one texture (ie. a wolf) with one that has 2 or more textures (for example, most flying creatures have 2, one for the body, and one for the wings. Onyxia, on the other hand, has 3 texture.). The original number of texture must mach the new number of texture, otherwise the game will take an error(if you are going from 2 texture to 1. ie. Replacing gryphons with wolves.) or will simply not apply any but the original number of textures(if you are going from 1 texture to 2. ie. Replacing your wolf with a gryphon. The gryphon's wings will jsut be plain white, no textures at all). For example, you could replace your wolf with a panther, or a raptor, or a troll even, but not a hippogryph. You could also replace gryphons with hippogryphs, or bats, or chimera's, but not with Onyxia, dragon whelps, or trolls(god I want to ride a troll to and from IF. Ultimate sign of servitude, but 'tis not to be). You can check the number of texture in the Texture .mpq. Just look for 2 texture named the exact same thing except it will have _01 or _02 on the end, and every color will have its own _02(so don't confuse it with the different colors, which can also be just numbered. The 2nd texture will be SIGNIFICANTLY different than the first(ie a gryphon's body and its wings)) Only known exception is Ragnaros, since his hammer is qualified as a secondary texture, not a double texture, so he counts a a single texture model, and his hammer will always be the right color.

In order to change your character in his base form into something different, you will end up changing EVERY other member of that race(and any other race that uses that model) into the new mesh and, if they use the same texture as your character(unlikely, considering the possible variations) the new texture. If not, just like the wolf-to-raptor above, they will have the old texture mapped on the new mesh. To change you character, though, just replace the race .m2 file, and the texture file for your particular skin color(which may take some trial and error to find the right one).

It should be noted that these methods can also be used to change your armor and weapon(s) to look like anything you want them to. Just explore through the file trees if your curious what you can replace. Try it out, and if it doesn't work, all you have to do is delete whatever file you extracted to to make it not work out of your data folder.

[Gothica]

Well i tryed the program ...
I wanted to change a model skin of shoulders
But.. the result was kinda lol

[Gothica]

omg...Pfff i dosent repair with repair.exe i need to reinstall the game...

[DerekTD]

Hey, I like your Interface setup. What addons are you using? If you can, could you send your interface folder to me?

[Shonie]

Looks like he is using Insomniax to me.

[Hojoeflow]

Um, yeah see, whats happening is i'm doing everything right for the wolf/raptor change but it when i try and run WoW it gives me this evver message saying "Failed to open archive model.MPQ: The system cannot find the file specified." What do i do?

[Cairenn]

Originally Posted by Hojoeflow Um, yeah see, whats happening is i'm doing everything right for the wolf/raptor change but it when i try and run WoW it gives me this evver message saying "Failed to open archive model.MPQ: The system cannot find the file specified." What do i do?

*Repeats herself*

Originally Posted by Cairenn For info, model replacement has been categorically stated as being a big "no no". They deliberately broke the "easy" way of doing it recently. The "less easy" way of doing it is very easily checked on their end. Anyone doing it runs the very real risk of being banned. Also please note that giving directions explaining how to be able to continue to do it will get you removed from this site, as well.

[DreamRose311]

I know its been made so that you can't do this anymore, but the reason I was looking for it is I have a sort of spider phobia and was hoping to be able to change them to look like one of the other monsters in the game. Is there anyway that I can still do this without making Blizzard angry? I understand that the creators of Blizzard worked very hard on this game and don't want people changing their product, but it would be much easier to play if I didn't have to avoid spider quests or be careful of where I run in certain areas. I'll understand if theres another giant resounding no, but needed to ask because I've been searching for how to do this for a while now. Thank you for your time...

[Cairenn]

Unfortunately, it is a no. This is the one situation where Blizz themselves wish it was possible, but they have no way of allowing it to work for this one situation while still blocking it for all the cheat purposes. Trust me, I've spoken with enough of their devs to know that they wish it could be otherwise as well. =/