🛠️ Introducing warcraft-rs: A Powerful CLI for WoW File Formats

[danielsreichenbach]

Welcome to our first guide in the WoW Emulation community! Today, we're excited to introduce warcraft-rs, a comprehensive command-line toolset for working with World of Warcraft file formats.

🎯 What is warcraft-rs?

warcraft-rs is a Rust-based CLI tool that provides extensive support for parsing, manipulating, and creating various WoW file formats. It supports WoW versions from 1.12.1 (Vanilla) through 5.4.8 (Mists of Pandaria), making it an invaluable tool for server developers, modders, and researchers.

🚀 Key Features

MPQ Archive Management

Work with MPQ archives using commands like:

• warcraft-rs mpq list archive.mpq - List archive contents
• warcraft-rs mpq extract archive.mpq --output ./extracted - Extract files
• warcraft-rs mpq create new.mpq files/ - Create new archives
• warcraft-rs mpq rebuild old.mpq --version 4 - Upgrade archive versions

DBC Database Operations

Extract and analyze game data:

• warcraft-rs dbc info Item.dbc - View database structure
• warcraft-rs dbc export Item.dbc --format json - Export to JSON/CSV
• warcraft-rs dbc discover Unknown.dbc - Auto-discover schemas

BLP Texture Conversion

Convert game textures to standard formats:

• warcraft-rs blp convert texture.blp --output texture.png
• Supports PNG, JPEG, TGA, BMP output formats
• Handles all BLP compression types (JPEG, DXT1/3/5, palette)

Model and World Data

Work with 3D models and terrain:

• warcraft-rs m2 info model.m2 - Display model information
• warcraft-rs adt extract Kalimdor_32_48.adt - Extract terrain data
• warcraft-rs wmo validate building.wmo - Check world object integrity

💡 Common Use Cases

1. Extracting Game Assets

# Extract all textures from an MPQ
warcraft-rs mpq extract textures.mpq --filter "*.blp" --output ./textures

# Convert all BLP files to PNG
for blp in textures/*.blp; do
  warcraft-rs blp convert "$blp" --output "${blp%.blp}.png"
done

2. Analyzing Game Data

# Export item database to JSON for analysis
warcraft-rs dbc export Item.dbc --format json > items.json

# List all spell records with schema support
warcraft-rs dbc list Spell.dbc --schema spell.yaml

3. Working with Maps

# List all tiles in a world
warcraft-rs wdt tiles world/maps/Azeroth/Azeroth.wdt --format json

# Extract heightmap from terrain
warcraft-rs adt extract Azeroth_32_48.adt --heightmap

🔧 Installation

warcraft-rs can be installed via cargo:

cargo install warcraft-rs

Or built from source:

git clone https://github.com/wowemulation-dev/warcraft-rs
cd warcraft-rs
cargo build --release

📚 Why Use warcraft-rs?

1. 100% StormLib Compatible - Works seamlessly with existing tools
2. Cross-Platform - Runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS
3. Performance - Memory-mapped I/O and parallel processing
4. Comprehensive - Supports all major WoW file formats
5. Version Support - Works with multiple WoW expansions
6. Modern CLI - Progress bars, shell completions, batch operations

🎓 Getting Started

1. Generate shell completions for your shell:

   warcraft-rs completions bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/warcraft-rs

2. Explore available commands:

   warcraft-rs --help
   warcraft-rs mpq --help

3. Start with simple operations like listing MPQ contents or converting a BLP
   texture

🤝 Contributing

warcraft-rs is open source and welcomes contributions! Whether you're fixing bugs, adding new features, or improving documentation, check out the repository to get started.

📖 Learn More

• Repository: https://github.com/wowemulation-dev/warcraft-rs
• Documentation: See the repository README
• File Format Reference: http://wowdev.wiki

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Have questions or want to share your experience with warcraft-rs? Start a discussion in our Q&A section! 🎮