How do I learn making WoW mods?

[Mike JezZ]

Hello,

I want to learn how to make mods for WoW...

Is this easy, or hard?

Can a mortal dude like me learn it? And if yes, how?

[crispytown]

here is a nice guide on how to make an add-on...
http://wow.mmhell.com/articles/inter...ers_guide.html

I would also check out this site...
http://www.wowwiki.com/Main_Page

[robodude666]

Originally Posted by Mike JezZ Hello, I want to learn how to make mods for WoW... Is this easy, or hard? Can a mortal dude like me learn it? And if yes, how?

Sadly, there are very few tutorials on WoW Mod making. I would suggest:

Go to http://www.lua.org/pil/ for the online version of the book: Programming in Lua. I believe this is a better guide than the manual blizzard and everyone else directs you to.
Go to http://wowwiki.com to get info about functions (as was suggested above)
Go to http://www.blizzard.com/support/wow/?id=aww01671p and download the version for your system (Windows or Mac). This NEW AddonKit features 2 tutorials. The Hello World tutorial (VERY VERY basic tutorial) and the ShowMeTheMoney Tutorial which teaches you how to show how much gold you have. Both of these Blizzard tutorials teach you basic frames and how to setup your mod, what files you need, .etc

The thing I suggest the MOST is Farang's tutorial: Frames located at http://fara.webeddie.com/frames/ This tutorial goes over basically everything you need to know about frames, how to make a form (checkboxes, .etc) and how to submit it. It is like an 15 page tutorial but very helpful. The tutorial is designed for 1.6 but works fine on 1.9.x.

Also, Farang is nice enough to have a listing of all the types of frames and other XML stuff at http://fara.webeddie.com/ui/

I suggest you first do the 2 tutorials in the addonkit from blizzard, then Farang's Frame tutorial. Farang will go over some of the things said in the addonkit tutorials but he describes things better I think. Use the XML listing and Wowwiki.com to look up functions or xml stuff. WowWiki.com has an xml listing also i think.

After I get better at this stuff (been doing it for like a day) I am going to create lots of tutorials about all the things I had questions about when I was starting.

I hope this helped and happy mod making!
robodude666
Toriand of Zul'jin

[JIM the Inventor]

The best piece of advice I can give is ... Take an AddOn that exists, is small, and does something distinctive. Make a copy of it and put the files in a safe place. Then open the originals and systematically destroy things.

I'm serious! Progressively enabling and disabling code is the way that a lot of programmers work. It's all about dividing big jobs into manageable pieces.

So ... in an XML file, you can carve out pieces of code by putting <!-- and --> around the sections you want to disable.

In a LUA file, you put --[[ and ]] around the sections you want to disable.

Example of an enabled function:

function HelloWorldofWarcraft(redAmount, greenAmount, blueAmount) DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage( "Hello world!", redAmount, greenAmount, blueAmount ) end

The same function, disabled:

function HelloWorldofWarcraft(redAmount, greenAmount, blueAmount) --[[ DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage( "Hello world!", redAmount, greenAmount, blueAmount ) ]] end

And the result within the game:

- If the AddOn formerly put "Hello world!" in your chat box, then it will stop doing so.

[Thorvak]

Originally Posted by JIM the Inventor The best piece of advice I can give is ... Take an AddOn that exists, is small, and does something distinctive. Make a copy of it and put the files in a safe place. Then open the originals and systematically destroy things.

Turning things on and off don't exactly create anything you just learn the boundaries of how much you can mess something up. for the most part if somethings on its probably on for a reason whatever that may be its not smart to just go turning random things off if you cant read the code to know what your doing, at the very minimal you need some experience with code or at least the ability to read it and see what certain things are. granted turning things on and off will help you find out what other things are but still not the best idea. still though he does have a good point. turn **** on and off and you'll be able to read it soon enough to know what does what.

[tinyu]

It maybe a little outdated (hopefully a more up-to-date version is written) but it will help.



http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft...7590160&sr=8-1

[Torhal]

Originally Posted by tinyu It maybe a little outdated (hopefully a more up-to-date version is written) but it will help. http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft...7590160&sr=8-1

It is far from out-dated, due to the web-based supplement and addendum at the World of Warcraft Programming site.

[tinyu]

i mean the book itself, im sure it wouldnt contain the latest changes to the WoW API.

[Torhal]

Oh, definitely not. Things like the parameter changes to CLEU and whatnot.