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Custom MPQ

Chaosy

Tutorial Reviewer
Level 40
Joined
Jun 9, 2011
Messages
13,220

Custom MPQ tutorial step by step

by Chaosy


Introduction

I have seen this question many times recently so I decided to make a short tutorial on how to do it.
If you don't know anything about using a custom MPQ it basicly allows a multiplayer map to extend the 8 mb limit on battle.net.
We put models and skins in one of the MPQs that Warcraft 3 uses to run the game and save them there instead of in the map.
However everyone who plays your map will need this modified MPQ so it would be smart to tell those
who download the map to backup the MPQ before they download yours.​

What is needed?

An MPQ editor I would suggest this one - Ladik's MPQ editor
Warcraft 3 (no shit Sherlock)​

Let us start then

First of you need to locate your WC3 directory. Normally found at "C\Program Files\Warcraft III"
In your WC3 folder you will hopefully find some MPQ files, I have choosen to edit the "War3x.mpq".
So open it up with your MPQ editor.
Sorry for the Swedish language but I still think the pic is helpful. In English it says "open with"

Open%20With.jpg


Once the editor is open it should look like this.

inside%20editor.jpg


Now, you should create a new folder to put for stuff in. Right click "mpqname.mpq" in the left folder section and then "new folder"

new%20folder.jpg


Now that we got our folder we can start adding files. Make sure you select your folder.

add%20files.jpg


I will add this model

Anyway, once the model is imported it should look like this.

files%20are%20added.jpg


Now open the WE and get into the object editor. Once in the object editor you choose a unit and then go to the model field. Then you put the path for your model. "FolderName\modelname.mdl"

insert%20model%20path.jpg


Once you have done that youre done your model should now appear ingame.

finished.jpg

Hey! You have not showed how to use skins and textures!

I waited with this because I wanted the basic method to be fully understood.

Icons - Icons are imported exactly the same way as models you just put them into a folder and then use the path. However it's smart to organize your files by having one folder for models and one for icons. For example you can create a new folder inside your first folder. So the paths could be "AwesomeMap\Models\ModelName.mdl" and "AwesomeMap\Icons\IconName.blp"

Skins - A downloaded skin needs to be imported at the path the uploader tells you too.

show%20skin%20path.jpg

so in this case we click on the unit folder and then the creep folder and so on and then we replace the current texture with the downloaded one. Not harder than importing a model

Textures - Those needs to be placed at the base of the MPQ, meaning not inside a folder. Notice when you import a .blp file via the import manager you remove the "war3mapimported\" from the path right? That tells us that the textures we import wont be placed in the "war3mapimported" folder. It should be placed within the red markings

texture%20mpq%20import.jpg

Example:
I got a WoW model (not ripped by me) it has the following files:
blp%20example.jpg

and then we place the model into our folder

place%20in%20folder.jpg

then we place the textures at the base of the mpq

show%20files%20in%20folder.jpg

set the path ingame

choose%20model.jpg

profit

model%20with%20blp%20in%20game.jpg


However this is just for most textures. Some textures uses different paths but then you just import them as they were a skin and put them at the path provided by the model creator.
If you don't like having your texture files at the base of the MPQ you can actually fix that by editing the models the texture(s) are attached too. However I am no model expert so I can't show how to do that part.
However I found this thread that should explain it to you.

Sound and Music - These are rather simple to import but it seems that wc3 doesn't load every music file found in the music folder. You need to replace some original sound / music in order to make it display in the sound editor. In war3x.mpq uo go to Sound\music\mp3\and replace one of the files there​

Credits

Sindorei300 - Featured model​
 
Last edited:
Level 6
Joined
Feb 5, 2012
Messages
1,685
Nice tutorial... though some players and most in our place... Internet Cafe' computers are locked and you can't open wc3 folder. So there will be still a problem.

Actually if this method is really good and convenient Icefrog would use this in Dota since dota is now on 8.3 mb and 0.4 mb more it wont reach the limit.

But again this is good... nice tutorial +rep..
 

Chaosy

Tutorial Reviewer
Level 40
Joined
Jun 9, 2011
Messages
13,220
thanks :)
yes this would not work on lans unless you got acces to the files. But if you dont got acces to the files you wont be able to download maps either so.

edit: added a example with a model which use 5 textures.

edit: added a short explaination on how to import sound and music into the MPQ
 
Last edited:
What happens if I replace the default music files of WC3 with custom ones and only some players in the (bnet) game have the altered MPQ?
Will there be a desync or crash or will the other players just play the default files instead?

This could basicly be a perfect method to allow unlimited custom mp3 imports at high quality.
 

Chaosy

Tutorial Reviewer
Level 40
Joined
Jun 9, 2011
Messages
13,220
I thought it was in beta stage, my bad then I guess.

Anyway, you can make really smart use of this, you only add textures in the MPQ this way the map will be playable without the MPQ but it will enchant the experiance.
For a optinal solution, (not TM) you could merge 2 existing MPQ's into one leaving one empty. That would reduce the download size by a whole lot.
You could even extract the files directly into the WC3 directory. (this would mess up the folder completely, but it would be a solution to the size problem.)
 
Level 14
Joined
Sep 28, 2011
Messages
968
You just need to change the WE string data and stuff of this kind.
The list of the 3D models that the editor will show is in the WC3 MPQ somewhere.
So if you use custom MPQ you can add models to the world editor list for example the hidden ones.
 

Zed

Zed

Level 7
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Messages
280
Chaosy, You can change a model's texture path by using MDX Pather :)
 
Level 2
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Messages
19
Can I make a folder inside another folder? Just for organizing.. When I made one, I put a model file then it won't appear after that when I reopen MPQ Editor the files are named Files00000000.xxx.. Please help
 
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