WoW-Converter: export all WoW models to Warcraft 3

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Update: per the feedbacks above, I have improved UX of Local File. Now it will auto-correct the pasted text and suggest all available skins if the model has many. You no longer has to copy OBJ file as path and manually remove the asset folder prefix.

In this new version, you just need to choose the model on wow.export, press Ctrl + C to copy its path.

Then paste in the Local file input box, the value will be auto-formatted and it will show all options already exported by wow.export:

Note that in the example above, in wow.export I only exported ghoul2grey and ghoul2red skins, so the UI only shows those. If I want the ghoul2white then I need to choose and "Export OBJ" it first.

Works for both base model and attached items.

 

[YourArthas]

It's getting better and better! I hope mdx800 version will complete the testing phase soon

 

[All_Time_Pro]

i just want to give a shoutout to Warcraft Sandbox for helping me with this issue, it cannot be overstated how helpful he has been with newbies like me and he even updated his version with the autocorrect feature. I've been trying to figure out how to port for a month now using older systems but this is by far the easiest version to interact with.

Spoiler: spoiler 1

Spoiler: spoiler 2

(other users the correct path for me was creature\nightelfchildfemale\nightelfchildfemale_skin.obj

Thank you!

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

It's getting better and better! I hope mdx800 version will complete the testing phase soon

MDX800 is out now in both web and local app. However due to the nature of both data formats, not all models can be beautifully converted from 1000 skin weight to 800 vertex groups, especially those new fancy models. However it's safe to say this tool's 1000->800 implementation is quite on parity with RMS/TRMS.

 

[Power]

MDX800 is out now in both web and local app. However due to the nature of both data formats, not all models can be beautifully converted from 1000 skin weight to 800 vertex groups, especially those new fancy models. However it's safe to say this tool's 1000->800 implementation is quite on parity with RMS/TRMS.

Most creature models that are not based on Character models can be safely ported in to 800. But Character models wont look pretty

 

[YourArthas]

Most creature models that are not based on Character models can be safely ported in to 800. But Character models wont look pretty

I guess our regular dividing them to parts method will work then?

 

[Power]

I guess our regular dividing them to parts method will work then?

Yeah most likely xD

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Sometimes when I use local installation and try to export from Wowhead, it shows me the following error:
The "path" argument must be of type string. Received undefined

At least I got it, for example, for the following link:

Setesh

Setesh is one of the four constructs that protect the reorigination device hidden inside the Halls of Origination. He is the lord of destruction.

www.wowhead.com

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Sometimes when I use local installation and try to export from Wowhead, it shows me the following error:
The "path" argument must be of type string. Received undefined

At least I got it, for example, for following link:

Setesh

Setesh is one of the four constructs that protect the reorigination device hidden inside the Halls of Origination. He is the lord of destruction.

www.wowhead.com

It's likely because of a wow.export issue that have been fixed recently. Did you install the latest version?

 

[The Nightmare Book]

It's likely because of a wow.export issue that have been fixed recently. Did you install the latest version?

I will reinstall, but it seems that I've tried to export Cataclysm model but loaded Classic Era into wow.export.

It won't work even if you use Wowhead URL. So tried with Classic models - it worked without issues.

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

I will reinstall, but it seems that I've tried to export Cataclysm model but loaded Classic Era into wow.export.

It won't work even if you use Wowhead URL. So tried with Classic models - it worked without issues.

Yes obviously it won't work since the older WoW local data doesn't have the newer model.

 

[ZugZug2151]

I must say that this tool is incredible and completely removes the need for using WoW base model characters (which aren't even available to find now) and messing with the geosets one by one.

However, I'm having a problem. I want to equip shoulder pads to my character, but it won't work. I'm using local files method. Do they need to be in the exact same folder as the character model? Because WoW.export exports the shoulderpad obj to another folder in "object components".

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

I must say that this tool is incredible and completely removes the need for using WoW base model characters (which aren't even available to find now) and messing with the geosets one by one.

However, I'm having a problem. I want to equip shoulder pads to my character, but it won't work. I'm using local files method. Do they need to be in the exact same folder as the character model? Because WoW.export exports the shoulderpad obj to another folder in "object components".

The shoulder item obj file can stay where they were original exported, no need to be in the same folder at all. You can attach shoulders and head similarly to weapons, just choose the correct attachment points (Shoulder Right/Left or Head, or Helm?). If the wowhead URL already other shoulder/head, those can be removed in RMS later.

Pls share screenshots on what doesn't work and I can see why.

 

[Resonance Cascade]

Thank you very much for releasing this tool publicly and freely for the use of the community. Hopefully our chats in Discord months ago helped you advance this project forward. We are blessed to have great minds and skillsets such as yours here.

 

[Rommel]

Thank you once again for this tool. The more I work with it, the more I like it, it's incredibly useful and well-made)

If I may, there's one more suggestion. Would it be possible to extract interactable object models (that can be previewed on Wowhead) the same way NPCs are extracted now? Some objects have very interesting animations and sadly no NPC versions, like this one:

Summoned Maw

Summoned Maw is a World of Warcraft object. In the Interactive Objects category. Added in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. Always up to date.

www.wowhead.com

 

[Power]

Thank you once again for this tool. The more I work with it, the more I like it, it's incredibly useful and well-made)

If I may, there's one more suggestion. Would it be possible to extract interactable object models (that can be previewed on Wowhead) the same way NPCs are extracted now? Some objects have very interesting animations and sadly no NPC versions, like this one:

Summoned Maw

Summoned Maw is a World of Warcraft object. In the Interactive Objects category. Added in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. Always up to date.

www.wowhead.com

You can basically rip anything. For this model you have to locate it locally in the wow tools program, export it as OBJ and then paste the path of the model into the local export of the tool and voila!

I uploaded a video somewhere in this thread , check it

 

[Rommel]

Worked like a charm, though took a bit of extra effort. Thank you!

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Update:

• Add particle emitters. Works for most models.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Preview of these example models on the online web version: highlord-tirion-fordring, the-lich-king, sha-of-doubt, lady-deathwhisper
• Fix some annoying UI bugs, and some conversion bugs.
• Update collision shapes to be more closely match the model.

 

[Power]

This tool is getting better and better!

 

[YourArthas]

Midnight ripping season will be wild Be prepeared for M3(wow m3, not hots or sc2) stuff though if anyone can solve that it's you.

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Update:

• Fix bug that models with glow textures in 2nd+ material layer didn't convert correctly.
• Fix bug that texture anims are incorrect in many cases.
• Fix UI bug that WMO models couldn't be exported easily.

 

[@Maxim]

Sir some NPCs have missing equipment, just like rokhan - Rokhan

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Sir some NPCs have missing equipment, just like rokhan - Rokhan

This NPC's model has something called "collection" for his body equipments, I think this added since Shadowlands. The tool doesn't support that yet.

 

[YonatanDS2]

amazing tool! ive been waiting for years for someone to make this. it will make populating wc3 maps a lot quicker

also, will you be able to import npc from the dressing room at some point in the future?

 

[Rommel]

Sorry if this has already been answered: I keep getting this error:

Cannot read properties of undefined (reading '0')

I tried converting the local file version of creature\mechagonspidertank\mechagonspidertank_junker

Spoiler: Like this

TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading '0') at C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:222307:50 at Array.forEach (<anonymous>) at M2MetadataFile.m2trackToAnimation (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:222296:28) at C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:222369:31 at Array.map (<anonymous>) at M2MetadataFile.extractMDLTexturesMaterials (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:222367:53) at convertWowExportModel (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:223055:52) at AssetManager.parse (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:223268:39) at CharacterExporter.exportBaseMdl (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:226546:38) at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

This update vastly extends the amount of (almost) perfectly exported models:

• Fix all bugs related to attachments. E.g. blood elf models can now equip weapons. Weapons equipped on attachment points like "Sheath Main Hand" or "Sheath Offhand" now works correctly.
• Fix a vast amount of bugs related to particle emitters, geoset anims, WoW replaceable textures missing.
• When providing a classic wowhead URL, the tool will try to export the classic model if it still exists in WoW retail game files. By changing wow.export's wow installation to Classic (MOP) or Classic Era, it will always be able to find classic models.
• Add ear geosets that were previously missing to all models.
• Add support for collection-based equipment. Example Rokhan above: Huy's wow-converter

Sorry if this has already been answered: I keep getting this error:

Cannot read properties of undefined (reading '0')

I tried converting the local file version of creature\mechagonspidertank\mechagonspidertank_junker

Spoiler: Like this

TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading '0') at C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:222307:50 at Array.forEach (<anonymous>) at M2MetadataFile.m2trackToAnimation (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:222296:28) at C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:222369:31 at Array.map (<anonymous>) at M2MetadataFile.extractMDLTexturesMaterials (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:222367:53) at convertWowExportModel (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:223055:52) at AssetManager.parse (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:223268:39) at CharacterExporter.exportBaseMdl (C:\snapshot\wow-converter\build\server.bundle.js:226546:38) at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)

@Rommel I am not sure what your error is. But probably it has been fixed in this update:

 

[Rommel]

What am not sure what your error is. But probably it has been fixed in this update:

Thanks!

I converted it online via NPC Wowhead option, and it all works perfectly. Local file ones will keep testing on.

Thank you again for easily the tool of the year

 

[@Maxim]

This NPC's model has something called "collection" for his body equipments, I think this added since Shadowlands. The tool doesn't support that yet.

Wow, that was fast! Rokhan now works perfectly—thank you. This update also fixes the missing equipment for demon hunters. However, I noticed a bug: the demon hunter NPCs don’t export with their blindfolds and horns, similar to Kayn Sunfury (Kayn Sunfury) with his weapon (Illidari Warglaive). Also, the right-hand weapon has the wrong rotation, though I can easily fix that in Retera. Additionally, the hair is using the wrong texture. Please fix these issues as well if you have time.

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Wow, that was fast! Rokhan now works perfectly—thank you. This update also fixes the missing equipment for demon hunters. However, I noticed a bug: the demon hunter NPCs don’t export with their blindfolds and horns, similar to Kayn Sunfury (Kayn Sunfury) with his weapon (Illidari Warglaive). Also, the right-hand weapon has the wrong rotation, though I can easily fix that in Retera. Additionally, the hair is using the wrong texture. Please fix these issues as well if you have time.

Demon hunter and some other new races like earthen... have character customization collection, that is not supported yet. The glaive has wrong rotation because did you attach the same glaive to both hand? You need to find the offhand version then it will be correct.

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Update:

• Add dressing room feature, 1st version. You can use wowhead URLs containing "/dressing-room#..." from either creating your own character from Dressing Room - World of Warcraft or visit any Wowhead Outfits and open its Dressing Room.

Spoiler: Examples

• Black coat elf: Dressing Room - World of Warcraft, result: Huy's wow-converter
• Frost prince: Dressing Room - World of Warcraft, result: Huy's wow-converter
• Moon elf: Dressing Room - 11.2.5 PTR, result: Huy's wow-converter

• You can get dressing room URL from Outfit page, e.g. Frost prince by right click on the Dressing Room button and "Copy link address".

• This is the 1st dressing room version, so there are some limitations:

Spoiler: Dressing Room limitations

• These are not yet supported: dressing room mount, additional selectable weapon visual effects, individual shoulder transmog, Orc upright models...
• Rarely there will be incorrect texture applied to the base body.
• Dracthyr characters will not convert correctly.
• If you get the error "Input file contains unsupported image format", it means there is an issue with the dressing room URL or conflict with your wow installation.
  • Make sure the dressing room URL is correct and "final" by open it in a completely new browser tab, then copy the URL again from the browser's URL bar. Some old-format dressing room URL will turn into new format supported by the tool after you do so.
  • Or you might be using URL of an older expansion e.g. /mop-classic/dressing-room#... while having wow.export pointing to Retail WoW.
  • The last resort is to re-draft the character from another working dressing room URL.
• Some models will have visual effects but not moving, this is due to WoW's UV2 map is not portable to WC3's single UV map.

• HD->SD conversion algorithm is no longer experimental, now it is very powerful being able to almost perfectly convert high complexity HD WoW models into SD. It is better than all open source HD->SD conversion implementations I have seen, e.g the ones in RMS/TRMS.
• The tool can now export mounts and game objects, for example:
  • Mount: Invincible's Reins -> Huy's wow-converter
  • Object: Summoned Maw -> Huy's wow-converter

Spoiler: Mounts and objects

• Significantly more powerful particle emitters conversion.
• Significantly more accurate geosets selection, e.g. human female no longer always has the extra hair geoset.
• Added an optimization option to automatically resize output textures to smaller than 1024/512/256px.
• Some UI/UX improvements and bug fixes.

 

[deepstrasz]

God of time saving.
Congratulations for the infinite effort!

 

[Power]

Amazing work! One of the best tools ever made!

 

[peterw]

This is an amazing tool, however i'm facing some issues. First, some models have texture problems. The texutre just shows when you are too close to the model, it seems like there is a black layer uppon the model. I tried to open the model via Model Editor to mess with geosets and layers, however, i'm not an expert, so i couldn't find the reason.

Second issue: Model has a STand Animation working correctly, however, any other animation is not working, the model goes to "T" position

Model extracted and converted via Huy's wow-converter, using the dressing Room. Could somone explain what am i doing wrong?

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

This is an amazing tool, however i'm facing some issues. First, some models have texture problems. The texutre just shows when you are too close to the model, it seems like there is a black layer uppon the model. I tried to open the model via Model Editor to mess with geosets and layers, however, i'm not an expert, so i couldn't find the reason.

View attachment 548084

Second issue: Model has a STand Animation working correctly, however, any other animation is not working, the model goes to "T" position

View attachment 548086

Model extracted and converted via Huy's wow-converter, using the dressing Room. Could somone explain what am i doing wrong?

Can you share more details, which dressing room URL did you use?

 

[peterw]

Can you share more details, which dressing room URL did you use?

Full URL:

Dressing Room - World of Warcraft

I attached the image from the prompt options used. My Warcraft version 1.31.1, World Editor 1.31b

The Weapon and Shield were attached through dressing room, so in the prompt i removed the "Attached Itens", leaving in blank. I don't know if there's something to do with this.

I performed a test using basic unit like a critter Snake, and once again the "walk" and "attack" animations didn't work. The snake turned from stand to "straight" position, almost like a hardned horizontal stick hahahaha. In these two cases only the stand animation Worked. I tried to unmark the "sort Sequence" option from the prompt, but did'nt change anything =D

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Full URL:

Dressing Room - World of Warcraft

I attached the image from the prompt options used. My Warcraft version 1.31.1, World Editor 1.31b

The Weapon and Shield were attached through dressing room, so in the prompt i removed the "Attached Itens", leaving in blank. I don't know if there's something to do with this.

I performed a test using basic unit like a critter Snake, and once again the "walk" and "attack" animations didn't work. The snake turned from stand to "straight" position, almost like a hardned horizontal stick hahahaha. In these two cases only the stand animation Worked. I tried to unmark the "sort Sequence" option from the prompt, but did'nt change anything =D

So it is wc3 pre-reforged? Did you try to convert the model as SD 800?

 

[peterw]

So it is wc3 pre-reforged? Did you try to convert the model as SD 800?

Yes i tried both, tried with complex and simple models, using the NPC url instead of dressing room... i don't know why, maybe there's something to do with the pre-forged version =(

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

The hosted version wc.quangdel.com has been moved to wow.quangdel.com

 

[Resonance Cascade]

If there is any chance you could add an option to output the textures in default .png format from wow.export that would save significant time. Converting from .blp with all the texture paths is very time consuming and the tools for .blp are very old and inefficient. Tools for the .png format textures exported from wow.export are plentiful. This primarily comes into play because to make models WC3 game ready many textures have to go into a photo editing application to add teamcolor.

When using a dressing room customized model with 11-20 textures this process becomes very time consuming. I assume the tool is converting the textures from the .png output from WoW-Export to .blp so hopefully just omitting this conversion from the process would be a fairly simple feature to implement.

Thank you this tool is a huge time saver.

If someone knows of a command line .blp conversion utility to any other image format (.png, .tga, .dds, .jpg, anything) please let me know.

 

[Power]

If there is any chance you could add an option to output the textures in default .png format from wow.export that would save significant time. Converting from .blp with all the texture paths is very time consuming and the tools for .blp are very old and inefficient. Tools for the .png format textures exported from wow.export are plentiful. This primarily comes into play because to make models WC3 game ready many textures have to go into a photo editing application to add teamcolor.

When using a dressing room customized model with 11-20 textures this process becomes very time consuming. I assume the tool is converting the textures from the .png output from WoW-Export to .blp so hopefully just omitting this conversion from the process would be a fairly simple feature to implement.

Thank you this tool is a huge time saver.

If someone knows of a command line .blp conversion utility to any other image format (.png, .tga, .dds, .jpg, anything) please let me know.

You can use the Local version, conversion is way quicker. Also when you are using local export you can have all the png files in your export folder. All you have to do is change the path of the textures.

 

[YourArthas]

If there is any chance you could add an option to output the textures in default .png format from wow.export that would save significant time. Converting from .blp with all the texture paths is very time consuming and the tools for .blp are very old and inefficient. Tools for the .png format textures exported from wow.export are plentiful. This primarily comes into play because to make models WC3 game ready many textures have to go into a photo editing application to add teamcolor.

When using a dressing room customized model with 11-20 textures this process becomes very time consuming. I assume the tool is converting the textures from the .png output from WoW-Export to .blp so hopefully just omitting this conversion from the process would be a fairly simple feature to implement.

Thank you this tool is a huge time saver.

If someone knows of a command line .blp conversion utility to any other image format (.png, .tga, .dds, .jpg, anything) please let me know.

Why not just use blp lab batch converter?

 

[Resonance Cascade]

All you have to do is change the path of the textures.

No you have to go track down 20 textures in wow.export for each exported texture that was converted to .blp then manually export them and then go change all the texture paths on the model. Instead I am just going to command line recursively convert each exported texture to another format.

You are thinking of a simple doodad or static NPC whereas I am exporting dressing room player characters with custom equipment.

Why not just use blp lab batch converter?

Is there not a command line tool for converting WC3 format .blp (BLP1) to any other format?

This tool does not understand how to convert WC3 BLP1 format textures:

BLPConverter

World of Warcraft Addons, Interfaces, Skins, Mods & Community.

www.wowinterface.com

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

No you have to go track down 20 textures in wow.export for each exported texture that was converted to .blp then manually export them and then go change all the texture paths on the model. Instead I am just going to command line recursively convert each exported texture to another format.

You are thinking of a simple doodad or static NPC whereas I am exporting dressing room player characters with custom equipment.

Is there not a command line tool for converting WC3 format .blp (BLP1) to any other format?

This tool does not understand how to convert WC3 BLP1 format textures:

BLPConverter

World of Warcraft Addons, Interfaces, Skins, Mods & Community.

www.wowinterface.com

I added your feature request into the backlog. Meanwhile, before any dressing room export, you can delete everything in your wow.export output folder. For example here is that folder in my computer:

After wow-converter exports, all the PNGs will be there at the exact path locations, including the base texture drawn from the equipments.

The textures between export runs will accumulate, so you need to clean wow.export folder again before the next run.

 

[Resonance Cascade]

Thank you that is extremely helpful Huy and I can now batch recursively convert all the .png textures to .dds and change the .mdl paths to match. You are amazing.

 

[Power]

This tool does not understand how to convert WC3 BLP1 format textures:

BLPConverter

World of Warcraft Addons, Interfaces, Skins, Mods & Community.

www.wowinterface.com

You can use BLP lab to mass convert blp to png or any other format you desire. This tool is quite good!

BLP Lab v0.5.0

This tool originates from here BLP Laboratory (short name is BLP Lab) is the application for viewing and converting image files. Current version is 0.5.0 build 500 Features: - Supports following file formats: BMP, JPG, TGA, PNG, BLP (supports BLP2 textures), DDS (supports non-complex...

www.hiveworkshop.com

 

[Dnister]

Wow, this app is amazing!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to create it!!! I've been dreaming of something like this for a long time!!
I've been testing it, and I noticed that when it converts, it doesn't preserve some animations, like the characters' gestures.

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Wow, this app is amazing!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to create it!!! I've been dreaming of something like this for a long time!!
I've been testing it, and I noticed that when it converts, it doesn't preserve some animations, like the characters' gestures.

yes there are some rare animations in Retail wow not converted, I haven't figured out why. But I notice the same model on WoW Classic (currently Mists of Pandaria) will convert all anims just fine, so if your model exists in WoW Classic then pls try there until I fix this issue. You might want to set Max Texture Size to 512px since WoW Classic has many AI upscaled 2k textures, we don't need such resolution in WC3.

 

[John13]

Amazing tool ! and the best thing is that it keeps improving

 

[Footman16]

I've got to say I was sceptical of how "easy" a lot of tools claim to be but this is truly a very easy to use tool. It's really, really easy to use and convert. This and Twilac's Retera Model Studio is all you need to take whatever model and convert it for use in Wc3, ofc optimisations and stuff are still necessary but in terms of accessing the resources this is an incredibly powerful tool. Textures as well at your fingertips.

 

[Warcraft Sandbox]

Update:

• Allow exporting character with customizable Mount model.

Spoiler: Mount examples

Lich King riding Invincible Reins
Trade Prince Gallywix riding Sky Golem
Aladdin and the Flying Carpet
Darion Mograine and Crimson Deathcharger

• Currently the model plays only attack and death animations of the mount. In a future update I will programmatically combine character attack animations with mount's animations.

• Now support collection-based character customization, i.e. Demon Hunter's horns, Earthen's body gems, Mechagnome's gadgets...
• Dressing room conversion can now export weapon's visual effects on a best-effort basis. Example: Executioner weapon effect - result: Huy's wow-converter
• Add "Browse Models" tab to easily search and browse all WoW model assets (e.g. creatures, doodads, spell effects...). Visit wow.quangdel.com/browse or the same URL path locally.

Spoiler: Browse Models

Dimensius: Huy's wow-converter
Blacksmith doodad: Huy's wow-converter
Arcane explosion effect: Huy's wow-converter
Infernal effect: Huy's wow-converter

• Several bug fixes related to particles that allow exporting a greater amount of spell effects. Note: particle conversion is not always perfect but best effort, due to WC3 doesn't support as many graphic shaders as WoW.
• Other bug fixes and UI improvements:
  • Fix missing geosets in some character races like Undead' arm/face or Dwarf's beard.
  • Add attack options Bow, Gun, Thrown
  • Now the tool can automatically detect suitable attack options based on given weapons.
  • No longer needs to change file input type (wowhead/local/displayID), the tool now can auto-detect input type based on pasted text.
  • Texture PNG->BLP conversion is now significantly faster by utilizing all CPU cores.
  • Correct in-game Portrait by cloning Stand anims into "Portrait" anims.
  • Improved keyframe optimization to give smaller model size and fix a very rare bug.
  • Add a UI button to clean up everything inside export-assets folder.
  • Various improvements to web model viewer and "export in progress" loader.