WoW Emulation is a warm, beginner-friendly community that's been growing since August 2023. We're here for anyone interested in experiencing the classic versions of World of Warcraft that captured our hearts.
We preserve and support World of Warcraft, with a primary focus on WoW Classic and archival support for original releases.
Classic Releases (CASC Archive Format with NGDP) ✨
These are our primary focus - the modern Classic recreations that let players experience WoW as it was:
- ⚔️ Classic Era (1.13.x, 1.14.x, 1.15.x) - Recreation of Vanilla
- 🔥 Burning Crusade Classic (2.5.x) - Recreation of TBC
- ❄️ Wrath Classic (3.4.x) - Recreation of WotLK
- 🌋 Cataclysm Classic (4.4.x) - Recreation of Cataclysm
- 🐼 Mists of Pandaria Remix (5.5.x) - Recreation of MoP
These Classic versions use the CASC archive format and Blizzard's NGDP content distribution pipeline. We're building a replacement for the Battle.net client that works with modern WoW Classic clients - it's almost complete!
Original Releases (MPQ Archive Format)
These older versions are supported for archival purposes:
- ⚔️ Vanilla (1.x) - Where it all began
- 🔥 The Burning Crusade (2.x) - Through the Dark Portal
- ❄️ Wrath of the Lich King (3.x) - Face the Frozen Throne
- 🌋 Cataclysm (4.x) - When the world shattered
- 🐼 Mists of Pandaria (5.x) - Discover Pandaria's mysteries
These original versions use MPQ archives for game data storage.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| cascette-rs | NGDP/CASC implementation for modern WoW Classic clients |
| warcraft-rs | File format parsers (MPQ, DBC, BLP, M2, WMO, ADT) |
| rilua | Lua 5.1.1 interpreter in pure Rust |
| wow-patcher | Game client patching tools |
| recast-rs | Navigation mesh library with WASM support |
What happens when people build together.
The Old Way: Want to work with WoW game data? Good luck. You'd need to dig through 50 GitHub repositories, join 25 Discord servers, and scour 45 forums and web archives - hoping the code still works, the links aren't dead, and someone actually documented what they figured out. Everyone solving the same problems in isolation.
What We Built Together:
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warcraft-rs handles everything from the original 2004 release through Mists of Pandaria - MPQ archives, BLP textures, M2 models, WMO world objects, ADT terrain, DBC databases. Parse it, build it, convert it.
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cascette-rs handles modern WoW Classic clients using Blizzard's NGDP distribution protocol and CASC archive format. The same workflow, but for 6.0+ game data.
Why It Matters: One place. One community. Instead of everyone reverse-engineering the same formats in parallel, we do it once, together, and share the results. Your next project starts with working code, not weeks of research.
The Problem: WoW uses Lua 5.1 for its interface and scripting. Building tooling that needs to run or analyze that code meant binding to a C library - if you could make it work on your platform.
What We Built Together: A complete Lua 5.1.1 virtual machine in pure Rust - compiler, VM, garbage collector, full standard library. Byte-identical output to the official PUC-Rio implementation. Pure Rust, no FFI, works everywhere including WASM.
Why It Matters: One community effort that everyone can build on. Embed it in your tools without fighting native library dependencies.
Building something cool? We'd love to feature it! Drop us a message in community discussions or Discord.
We're not here to compete with Classic WoW - Blizzard does their thing, and we do ours! Our focus is on:
- 🏛️ Archival - Preserving gaming history
- 🌟 Community - Keeping the magic alive together
- 🎓 Learning - Growing our skills while having fun
- 💖 Inclusivity - Creating wonderful experiences for everyone
Remember: We're all learning together! Mistakes are how we grow! 🌟
- 👋 Say hello in our community discussions
- 📖 Check out our Contributing Guide (it's super friendly!)
- 🎯 Look for issues labeled "good first issue" in our projects
- 🤔 Ask questions - seriously, we love helping newcomers!
- 💬 Community Discussions - Your questions make our community better!
- 💬 Discord - Join 100+ active members! Many are creators of WoW modding tools.
- 🐘 @wowemulation@mastodon.social - Follow us on Mastodon!
- 📧 Email us - For anything you'd rather discuss privately
- 👨💼 @danielsreichenbach - Our friendly primary caretaker
We're looking for amazing people like YOU! 👀 Whether you're:
- 🎭 Community Builders - Help us create the friendliest corner of GitHub
- 🌟 Fresh Developers - Your first PR? We'll guide you through it!
- 🧙♂️ Seasoned Engineers - Share your wisdom and help us grow
- 🎮 Testers & Players - Your feedback shapes our projects
- 📝 Documentation Writers - Help others learn what you've discovered
- 🎨 Creative Minds - Ideas, art, and enthusiasm all welcome!
No experience? No problem! Enthusiasm is all you need! 💪
- 🎓 New to Open Source? Don't worry, we've all been there!
- 🛠️ Learning Git? We'll help you through your first commit
- 🤝 Need a mentor? Just ask in discussions!
- ✨ Your contributions matter, no matter how small
- 🤗 We'll treat you with kindness and respect
- 📈 We'll help you grow your skills
- 🎉 We'll celebrate your successes with you!