Model Changing and you

[trs]

what this guide will cover
how to change your character appeance to look like another character in the wow files (ie: scourge female -> gnome male)

signs:
- is a step
* is a note
** is very very important

what you need:

A.) lots of time
B.) lots of common sense
C.) the newest most updated version of mywarcraft stuido (the newest one I know of is MyWarCraft Studio .10.6337)
D.) XnView or a program that allows you to change just a prefix of a lot of file names at one time (you can download XnView here)
E.) Model Edit Fix a program that fixed the loading of model and a few other things when starting wow (you can download Model Edit Fix here)
F.) to follow this guide step by step (and you should read it one time first then go back and work step by step)


1.) things to do before you start
**go to you World of Warcraft folder and copy your data folder and make a copy of it anywhere on your desktop of somewhere you can easily get to it
*this is the most important thing to do as you will be editing the game files which if done incorrectly will make your wow game unable to run. having a backup of your data folder will make your life much much easier
-now get a pencil/pen/chalk something you can write with\
**please notice that files are case sensitive
-go to this folder located on your computer ...World of Warcraft\Data\...
-make a new folder and call it CHARACTER all caps

2.) extracting your model
-open mywarcraftstudio and click on file>open MPQ archive
-this will open a new window to brose your computer files, go to the following location wherever it is located on your computer
-World of Warcraft\Data\Common.mpq
-at the bottom left corner there is a drop down text box click on it and change it to only view all files(*.*)
-once you have changed it to view all files click on the CHARACTER folder
-navigate to the character model of the race and sex you want your character to look like (ie: gnome>male)
(CHARACTER>Gnome>Male)
-then click on the file and then right click it and extract file
-save it in the CHARACTER folder you made in step #1
-now go back to CHARACTER in mywarcraftstudio and find the model of the character you are currently (ie: Scourge>female)
-write or remeber how the model is spelled
*remeber it is case sensitive
(ScourgeFemale.m2)


3.) extracting your textures
-open mywarcraftstudio and click on file>open MPQ archive
-this will open a new window to brose your computer files, go to the following location wherever it is located on your computer
-World of Warcraft\Data\Common.mpq
-at the bottom left corner there is a drop down text box click on it and change it to only view all files(*.*)
-once you have changed it to view all files click on the Character folder
*notice the case
-navigate to the folder of the race you want to look like (ie: gnome)
(Character>gnome)
-click on the gnome folder then right click and click on extract folder
-save the folder as gnome in the CHARACTER folder you made in step #1

4.) getting your files ready for XnView
-go to the CHARACTER folder you made in step #1
(you should have a model file and a race folder in this folder)
-open the class folder (ie: gnome)
-find the folder of the sex you do not wish to look like (ie: female) and delete the folder
*(delete the folder ...\CHARACTER\Gnome\Female)
-go back to the CHARACTER folder and copy the model in there (ie:GnomeMale.m2)
-open the race folder (ie: gnome)
-open the sex folder (ie: Male)
-paste the model in there
*paste the model in the ...\CHARACTER\Gnome\Male folder

5.) using XnView
-run XnView
-on the left hand side there should be a white box with all the files/folders on your desktop
-navigate your way to World of Warcraft\Data\CHARACTER\Gnome\Male
-once there click on any one file
-click on edit and select all
-then right click on one of the selected files and click on rename
-a new window should open
-in the middle of the new window you should see a check box named replace check it
-in the white text box to the right of replace type the race and sex of the character you want to look like (ie: GnomeMale)
**(the first letter of your class and sex should be capitilized)
*make sure your case sensitive
-in the white text box to the right of With type the race and sex of the character you are currently (ie: ScourgeFemale)
**(the first letter of your class and sex should be capitilized)
*make sure your case sensitive
-now make sure you have the checkbox to the left of Case sensitive checked
-now click on the button in the lower left corner named Rename
-now close XnView

6.) a few minior changes and we are almost done
-go to your CHARACTER folder you made in step #1
-right click on the race folder (ie:Gnome)
-rename it to the race of your character currently (ie: SCOURGE)
**(in mywarcraft stuido make sure to double check the case of your race folder by clicking on CHARACTER)
-now open that folder you just renamed
-right click on the sex folder
-rename it to the sex of your character currently (ie: Female)
**(in mywarcraft stuido make sure to double check the case of your sex folder by clicking on CHARACTER then the folder of the race you are currently CHARACTER>SCOURGE )

-7.) creating a new .mpq that wow will read
-open mywarcraftstudio
-click on Pack(P)
-click on Create MPQ Archive
-a new window should open
-navigate to the folder on your computer
- ...\World of Warcraft\Data\
-once there make a name for your new mpq archive
-the name of your archive should be patch-#.mpq
**the # shoulde be anything between 3-9
(these are what wow thinks are minor patchs blizzard has released and reads them)
-once you type in a name click on save

8.) putting your files in your new .mpq file
-in the white space on the left hand side of mywarcraft right click and click on import folder
-navigate to the CHARACTER folder you made in step #1
-click on the model file in that folder (ie: GnomeMale.m2)
-click on open
-in the white space you should now have a folder named CHARACTER
-open that folder and click on the model file in there (ie: GnomeMale.m2)
-right click and click on remove file
-now in the white space you should have the following folders
-CHARACTER -> with no files in it and 1 folder in it named
-SCOURGE -> with files in it and 1 folder in it named
-Female -> with files in it and no folder
*(CHARACTER>SCOURGE>MALE)
-now click on Pack(P)
-click on save and close archive

9.) using Model Edit Fix and Done
-if you haven't download this and extract it and place the file in your World of Warcraft folder
-you can rename the .exe to anything you like
*(notmodelediting.exe/bloodelvesarehot.exe/modeleditfix.exe/a.exe have all worked for me =P )
-once you have it in your World of Warcraft folder you need to run it
*it should open up what appears to be a black window and then wow will open
-once wow is open log on
-once on the characters models that you changed should already appear
*(your undead female should look like a gnome male)
-click on enter world
-once you enter world press the "end" key on your keyboard this will close the Model Edit Fix
*(hitint end on your keyboard will end the process for Model Edit Fix)
*(I am not aware of anyone being banned for using Model Edit Fix but I don't know everyone that plays wow)

10.) how to take the model/texture change out of the file
-close World of Warcraft
-navigate yourself to the following folder
-...\World of Warcraft\Data
-delete the .mpq you created in step 6
*(patch-#.mpq)
-wow model and textures should be back to normal now

enjoy

-------------

YouTube - Model changing in World of Warcraft,...

This video will teach you the basics of it, even if it is a bit out of date, it will help you understand how it works.

[kardz]

is this still up to date correct?

[maxprobes]

Thank you trs...

[Silvion]

I'm trying to change my Gnome male to a Blood Elf female, but in my "Character" folder in common.mpq there is no BloodElf file.

[traxis]

i followed most of this yesterday and it worked

[natuco]

Im opening the character folder/race/sex but for some reason i dont get a complete model just the model's body parts... hair , upper face , teeth e.t.c. any ideas why that's happening?

[Grimfh]

Thank you very much.

I changed my male nightelf into female human.. but the face-textures are still the "same" ( it looks very very strange ). I had more or less the same problem after changing my character into a gnome. I think I did something wrong or maybe I've forgotten something.

Does somebody know what I did wrong ?


Thanks

[giftofdeath]

I joined about an HOUR AGO and i havent found anything that lets me change my charecter looks to an illidan looks! how do i do it because so far this webisite has seemed pretty useless

[JoelVSP]

I've been pouring over this thread and a few others about changing your character models to look like another. In my case I'd like to change my Female Undead Rogue to look like either a Draenei or one of the Elves.... BUT, after following the instructions and what not, which only confused me.... I failed to get them to work.

So, I was wondering if I could get some extra help figuring out how this works exactly... I know there's a step by step above, but it wasn't working for me.

I have WoWME installed and have been using that for a while now.. just never knew I could edit stuff myself.

Some things also... it's causing my game to crash randomly.. but happens mostly while doing Battlegrounds... dunno why.. but it also happens other times too.

SO... if someone would like to help me out... feel free to message me.
-- AIM: JoelVSP
-- MSN: [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register]

[theyann]

Ain't working properly. At the end of your guide it says that I should have the folders CHARACTER->(Race)->(Sex). I do, but you also say that the Race folder should have files in it, after following all your instructions it doesn't. It just contains the Sex folder which contains all the files.

On exporting the folder it also contains the model file so what's the point in extracting that individually to begin with and then deleting it later on? I don't understand that bit.

Anyway my Tauren male still looks like a Tauren male after following all the instructions, I think they may need to be updated for the latest versions of the software. Also, all my model and skins were contained in common-2.mpq, not common.mpq.

Edit: Model successfully changed to Female Orc but the hair is bright green and she still has hooves, anyone know what further steps I need to take to fix this?