Got questions? We've got answers! 🎉
We're a community focused on preservation and education. We develop tools for working with game data files, not for running unauthorized servers. Think of us like librarians for gaming history - we help preserve and understand the technology, not circumvent protections or enable piracy.
Our work focuses on:
- Building tools to read and write game data formats
- Documenting how the game clients work
- Creating educational resources for game technology
We don't distribute game client software, assets, or help people avoid paying for games.
That's probably not us! 🙃 We're a different kind of WoW emulation community. We focus on:
- Building tools - Libraries for reading game files, not running servers
- Learning - Understanding how the game works at a technical level
- Preservation - Making sure this knowledge isn't lost to time
If you want to learn how game file formats work, how to parse MPQ or CASC archives, or understand the structure of DBC databases - you're in the right place!
Original clients (1.x through 5.x) are the versions released from 2004-2012. They use the MPQ archive format and are no longer officially supported.
Classic clients are modern recreations released by Blizzard starting in 2019. They use the CASC archive format and Blizzard's NGDP content delivery system. These are actively maintained and require an active subscription.
We support both, but our primary focus is on Classic clients since they're the actively maintained versions.
Not necessarily! We welcome:
- Testers - Try our tools and report what works or doesn't
- Documentation writers - Help explain things in plain language
- Community helpers - Answer questions in discussions
- Ideas people - Share what you'd like to see
If you do want to learn programming, we're happy to help you get started! Many of our contributors made their first open source contributions here.
Most of our projects are written in Rust - it's fast, safe, and great for systems programming. We also have some Python for prototyping and C++ for legacy compatibility.
Don't know Rust? Don't worry! The community is happy to help you learn.
These are archive formats used by World of Warcraft to store game data:
- MPQ (Mo'PaQ) - Used by original clients (2004-2012). Like a ZIP file but specialized for games.
- CASC (Content Addressable Storage Container) - Used by modern Blizzard games. More complex but more efficient for large games with frequent updates.
Our warcraft-rs project handles MPQ files, and cascette-rs handles CASC/NGDP.
NGDP (Next Generation Distribution Protocol) is Blizzard's system for delivering game content. It handles:
- Downloading game files
- Verifying file integrity
- Applying patches incrementally
Think of it like a very specialized BitTorrent system for game files.
Our tools support WoW versions from Vanilla (1.x) through Mists of Pandaria (5.x), including both original and Classic releases. See our profile README for the full list.
- 👋 Say hello in our Discussions
- 📖 Read our Contributing Guide
- 🎯 Look for "good first issue" labels in our projects
- 🤔 Ask questions - we love helping newcomers!
Mistakes are how we learn! 🌟 Seriously, everyone starts somewhere. We're here to help, not judge. Even our most experienced contributors make mistakes sometimes.
We're always looking for:
- 🧪 Testers - Try our tools with your game files
- 📝 Documentation writers - Help explain things clearly
- 🐛 Bug reporters - Tell us when things don't work
- 💡 Feature suggesters - Share your ideas
- 🤝 Community helpers - Answer questions, welcome newcomers
Check out our Discussions to see what people are working on!
- Discord - Real-time chat with 100+ active members
- GitHub Discussions - Longer-form conversations
- Mastodon - Follow our updates
Still have questions? Ask in our Discussions or join our Discord! We're happy to help! 💚