New Interface AddOn Kit for Authors

[Cairenn]

With the recent release of patch 4.0.1 many add-on authors may have noticed that the AddOn Kit will no longer automatically extract the lua/xml and art files from the player’s installed version of WoW. These files are now available on the World of Warcraft site in our Technical Support pages here and can be downloaded directly.

Please note, this is for AddOn Authors, not end-users. It is important to be aware that customizing the interface can be a very technical endeavor, and you should not attempt it unless you have a good working knowledge of XML and Lua.

[Tekkub]

Erm... this isn't a new addon kit, it's just the files the kit is supposed to extract :P~~~

Does blue intend to update the page every beta/ptr patch?

[Elkano]

Talking about that, is there any working mpq browser for 4.x, yet? So that one could extract single art files without having to load the whole package.

[Xrystal]

I found an MPQEditor app a little while back that seems to work with the files. At least the ones I extracted anyway

Ah here we go:

http://www.zezula.net/en/mpq/main.html

[SDPhantom]

Originally Posted by Xrystal I found an MPQEditor app a little while back that seems to work with the files. At least the ones I extracted anyway Ah here we go: http://www.zezula.net/en/mpq/main.html

A note to add, the general release version works fine on the core MPQs, the patch MPQs require the beta version and to be opened in patched mode over the core MPQs... the patch files don't necessarily contain the entire patched file, rather the changes in that file since the previous patch. This is what patched mode was made for. Also note the new MPQ files cannot be accessed while the game client is running, there is a built-in locking mechanism with the MPQ archives. There is a bug with MPQEditor in which it doesn't consider the "/base/" directory for patching files.

This analysis was over the Cataclysm Beta client, the 4.0.1 live client may differ.

[Ketho]

German and Simplified Chinese are still missing though

[Seerah]

The code will be the same, just not the localizations, of course.

[TSquared]

The German one was missing on the web link, but the download is there:
http://us.media.blizzard.com/wow/interface/WoW_Interface_deDE.zip

Simplified Chinese is only used for China, but they are still on LK.

[Ketho]

Originally Posted by TSquared The German one was missing on the web link, but the download is there: http://us.media.blizzard.com/wow/interface/WoW_Interface_deDE.zip Simplified Chinese is only used for China, but they are still on LK.

Thanks~~

[samishii23]

To any one who was considering copying the internal FrameXML LUA/XML files from the MPQs... Even if you do that its useless, the XML / LUA files within the v4 MPQs have been converted to machine code.

I've uploaded a file removed from build 13164 (v3.3.5), and one from build 13205 (v4.0.1)
The header seems to be a PTCH, DIFF, and HXFRMR... Possible clues to what kind of encoding it may be... Who knows though.

Edit: After a little bit of research, its probably a "bsdiff" file format thats based on the bzip2 protocall.

I have a hunch though... BLPs are basicly a JPEG file with an Alpha parameter tacked onto the RGB... Looking at the New LUA file in note pad... The 1st 4 characters are PTCH then a little ways in you see the BSDIFF meaning blizzard probably made another inhouse file "Type" to make it more difficult to see / view / modify their stuff, but basicly all they did was make a extension that just added on a "pre" header to the file type before the "Original" data headers...

Just a theory anyways... Trying to figure out how to de-compress it... lol

Edit:I doubt that the PTCH hunch of blizz making a new type again is correct. The above bsdiff patch talks about making "Patch" files for easily updating binary files, with reduced size. So theres probably a dll lurking in one of the MPQs with the proper headers to decompress the new FrameXML files. =\

Thats above my level of coding at the moment though. Hope I gave someone a haed start though

[Duugu]

The aren't "encoded".

The "encoded" parts contain patch data for the corresponding files. (data starts with "PTCH") See http://www.zezula.net/en/mpq/patchfiles.html for more.

You need a mpq editor that is able to handle these patch files (http://www.zezula.net/en/mpq/download.html) to extract the default interface files.

[Tekkub]

If you just want the interface files (and their history)... http://github.com/tekkub/wow-ui-source

If you're just interested in deciphering the new format, well that's a different matter entirely now isn't it?

[samishii23]

Originally Posted by Duugu The aren't "encoded". The "encoded" parts contain patch data for the corresponding files. (data starts with "PTCH") See http://www.zezula.net/en/mpq/patchfiles.html for more. You need a mpq editor that is able to handle these patch files (http://www.zezula.net/en/mpq/download.html) to extract the default interface files.

Whoa... Thats actually a nice read. Thanks

[samishii23]

Originally Posted by Cairenn With the recent release of patch 4.0.1 many add-on authors may have noticed that the AddOn Kit will no longer automatically extract the lua/xml and art files from the player’s installed version of WoW. These files are now available on the World of Warcraft site in our Technical Support pages here and can be downloaded directly. Please note, this is for AddOn Authors, not end-users. It is important to be aware that customizing the interface can be a very technical endeavor, and you should not attempt it unless you have a good working knowledge of XML and Lua.

I've read up before that Blizzard doesn't really update this Kit that often, or in a timely manor ( obviously because they don't support Addon making, which I've been told alot lately... ). I think I'll toss a couple of links into my profile that'll link to most recently updated "Kit" files for the community.

[DonCorneo]

Originally Posted by samishii23 I've read up before that Blizzard doesn't really update this Kit that often, or in a timely manor ( obviously because they don't support Addon making, which I've been told alot lately... ). I think I'll toss a couple of links into my profile that'll link to most recently updated "Kit" files for the community.

"! X:\...\WoW\wow_interface_addons_13205.zip: The archive is either in unknown format or damaged" error when trying to extract Addon/FrameXML archive.

[samishii23]

Originally Posted by DonCorneo "! X:\...\WoW\wow_interface_addons_13205.zip: The archive is either in unknown format or damaged" error when trying to extract Addon/FrameXML archive.

I didn't have any problem with it, even re-downloading the archive myself.
Edit: MPQ Editor by Zezula (updated to latest V) aren't properly patching the files for recent build(13329).
Emailed Zezula. Don't know what to do though until can extract properly or he fixes the Editor.
Edit: I found my problem. Updated both packages.

[A_Nolan]

where do we find the xml/lua files for the new PTR's i am asking because they removed multiple table codes for the reputation frame and i need to know what the compatible table lines are so i can upgrade to 5.2

sorry for the bump but i searched for AddOn Kit lua/xml and the other two were over 2 years old so this was the most recent

[Tekkub]

https://github.com/tekkub/wow-ui-source/tree/ptr

[Seerah]

You are able to extract it yourself now from the client since the start of Cata.

http://www.wowpedia.org/Viewing_Bliz...interface_code

[zork]

Originally Posted by Tekkub If you just want the interface files (and their history)... http://github.com/tekkub/wow-ui-source If you're just interested in deciphering the new format, well that's a different matter entirely now isn't it?

This. I use Tekkubs source all the time when I hack Blizzard code or try to check out ui templates.