Basics of War3 mod-making?

Hi all,

I have just gotten Warcraft 3, spent five hours with the game and a couple of minutes looking at the editor. Have some pressing questions to ask about making mods for W3, so I reckon this may be a good place to ask. I done some Diablo2 modding before so MPQ and extracting files out from it are no stranger...

1) Where files in the MPQ are editable and in what format are they in? Do I overwrite files within the MPQ?

2) Is it possible to change spells or abilities in any way? If so, what files within the MPQ shall I look at?

3) Can items be customised?

I don't have the time to go through the world editor (it's 4:30am in the morning!!) so if any of those things could be done via the editor then you are given the rights to blast me for missing it in the editor all together :-D

Many thanks in advance!

Check the .txt and .slk files with notepad and exel (respecitively)
The .blp and .mdx files are a bit harder.
I know for a fact that my Wc3 Image Extractor 1.75 works on retail .blp files (if you've extracted them from the .mpq file)
Grab it in the Downloads Section from this forum (top)

The .mdx files from the retail are gonna be done soon ;)

NEVER overwrite files in the .mpq file (especially war3.mpq) unless you have a backup!
Place it in war3patch.mpq. That should do the job.



Check the .slk files... should be there somewere



Same as the spells.


Some things should be doable using the editor... check the map creation forum for help on that!

Greetz,
DJBnJack