Andrewgosu
The Silent Pandaren Helper
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How To Use The Same Model For Different Skins
Required elements:
- Frozen Throne
- Yobguls File Converter
- Notepad
- Power MPQ
Before we get started, download and install Power MPQ and Yobguls File Converter. After that, proceed to step 1.
Step 1 - Extracting the model
Firstly, open Power MPQ. If you’re doing it for the first time, a prompt window will open, telling you to choose a language. I’ll choose English, you can choose your favorable one. After done that, you see a blank window.
Before we proceed, we need to decide which model to duplicate, because most of the models are located in the Reign of Chaos War3.mpq and the add-on ones are in the Frozen Throne War3x.mpq.
I have decided to duplicate the Pandaren Brewmaster model, so I know, it’s located in the add-on .mpq. To open the War3x.mpq, locate your Warcraft III folder and click on it.
A lot of different files should appear. Click on the "ext" bar to categorize the file types by extension names. That makes it easier for us to find the desired .mdx. When found it, select it and extract it to location, where you could later find it. When completed, proceed to step 2.
TIP: Unit model paths start with "Units/...".
Note: Do not extract models, which have a "_portrait" suffix. They are the unit portraits you see in-game.
Note: Do not extract models, which have a "_portrait" suffix. They are the unit portraits you see in-game.
Step 2 - Assigning the model a new skin path
Before you can open Yobguls File Converter, you have to copy " ijl15.dll" and "mss32.dll" files from the Warcraft III directory to the Yobguls folder.
Note: Yobguls File Converter will crash after a successful conversion and when it's closed, so don't be alarmed. It's the fault of lousy coding. Hey, at least it does what we want, right?
After opened it, find the .mdx file you extracted from the .mpq previously, "PandarenBrewmaster.mdx" in my case. Convert it into .mdl.
That leaves you with the .mdl version of the model, which is openable with any text editing program. I shall open it with Notepad, for convenience.
A lot of text should appear. Ignore that and leave anything unchanged. Scroll down until you find something the textures. These vary for different models, bu they all start with "TEXTURES #" text.
Now, we are especially interested in "Image "units\Creeps\PandarenBrewmaster\PandarenBrewMaster.blp"," line. This is the line which assigns the model it's skin path.
Assign a new path, I'll rename it to "units\Creeps\PandarenBrewmaster\Pandamonium.blp". Make sure the name doesn't overlap with skin paths for other models.
Save the file and proceed to step 3.
Step 3 - Converting .mdl back to mdx. and importing it to WE
For the final step, we just need to convert the .mdl file back to .mdx and import it into World Editor.
Open Yobguls File Converter again, if you have closed it. Locate the modified .mdl file and convert it back to .mdx (the same procedure found in step 2, only vice versa, so no additional screenshots to illustrate are not needed. Hopefully).
After the conversion, import it to your map by opening World Editor, selecting Module->Import Manager and in the Import Manager File->Import File.
Find your modified model and import it.
After that, you only need a custom skin for it. I found a very nice skin created Black_Stan from the Hive Workshop. It can be found here.
I downloaded and imported it into my map.
Now comes the important part: assign the imported custom skin the skin path you assigned to your modified model. In my case, "units\Creeps\PandarenBrewmaster\Pandamonium.blp".
However, if you use the imported model, it will turn out as a green and black chequered box. That is one of the plenty World Editor bugs. To fix that, save your map, close WE and reopen your map.
You are all done.
Thanks for reading this tutorial. Feedback is appreciated.
