The information below has been reverse engineered from the .Map files for all five cores, research into the exact format for each of the chunks contained in the file is ongoing.

Each map is made up of a grid of 64 x 64. The map filename is built up via the following formula:-

For Each of the maps contained in Maps.dbc, the MapID is used (padded by zeros), followed by the Y and X cords in the grid.

So 0002035.map is made up of the following:-

000 (Map ID 0 = Azeroth)
 20 (Tile 20 on the Y Axis)
 35 (Tile 35 on te X Axis)

Header

  Identifier: 4 Bytes = 4d 41 50 53 (MAPS)
 Map Version: 4 Bytes = This changes for each core version (see table below)
Build Number: 4 Bytes = 34 30 00 00 (12340)
 AREA Offset: 4 Bytes = 28 00 00 00 (40 Bytes)
   AREA Size: 4 Bytes = 08 02 00 00 (520 Bytes)
 MHGT Offset: 4 Bytes = 30 02 00 00 (560 Bytes)
   MHGT Size: 4 Bytes = 10 00 00 00 (16 Bytes)
 MLIQ Offset: 4 Bytes = 40 02 00 00 (576 Bytes)
   MLIQ Size: 4 Bytes = 10 00 00 00 (16 Bytes)
 Hole Offset: 4 Bytes = 50 02 00 00 (591 Bytes)
   Hole Size: 4 Bytes = 00 02 00 00 (512 Bytes)

Map Version

4 Bytes = 7a 31 2e 33 (z1.3) - **MaNGOSZero**
4 Bytes = 73 31 2e 33 (s1.3) - **MaNGOSOne**
4 Bytes = 73 31 2e 33 (v1.3) - **MaNGOSTwo**
4 Bytes = 73 31 2e 32 (c1.3) - **MaNGOSThree**
4 Bytes = 73 31 2e 32 (p1.3) - **MaNGOSFour**

AREA Chunk

Identifier: 4 Bytes = 41 52 45 41 (AREA)
      Data: Area Size - 4

MHGT Chunk

This chunk contains the height map information for the tile

Identifier: 4 Bytes = 4d 48 47 54 (MHGT)
      Data: MHGT Size - 4

MLIQ Chunk

This chunk contains the liquid map information for the tile

Identifier: 4 Bytes = 4d 4c 49 51 (MLIQ)
      Data: MLIQ Size - 4

Hole Chunk

This chunk is currently unknown, although an educated guess is that these are defined holes in the terrain - possibly for areas like tunnels that lead onto another tile.

Data: Hole Size = Define flags for chunks with holes

"MMaps" is an abbreviation for "Movement Maps." They essentially handle the movement of creature path-finding and paths on a particular map.

What do they do to improve things ?

In simple terms, they will prevent creatures and npcs from passing through the map (I.E. running through a hill, a tree, or a wall).

How do they manage that ?

• MMaps load individual tiles for individual areas of each map. By doing so, it forces the creature movement on the maps to obey a set of rules.
• By establishing these "rules", it prevents creatures from passing through these "tiles", which creates the effect of creatures understanding their environmental surroundings.
• This also enforces LOS (Line of Sight) when a creature is in combat.

As you can see, this is a very important addition to the Core, as they enhance many aspects of overall game-play.

For more information, see: navmesh

Vmaps stands for MaNGOS WoW Vertex Map Physics Info and are used to implement vertical clipping related issues. They are required for spells, which require the caster to have its target in line of sight and random movement generators (fear for example).

They are extracted from the client and will be stored in a MaNGOS own format.

Generation

The generation takes place in two steps.

First, all important WMO files are exported from the MPQ files and written to the buildings subdirectory.

Additionally a file containing information about the positions of these WMOs in the world is generated from ADT files and will be written to the buildings folder.

In a second step, these information are assembled to .vmap and .vmdir file.

Extracted WMO format

The extracted wmo files in the Buildings subdirectory have a special format - they arenot to be mixed up with the client internal format of the same name.

byte[8] magic "VMAPxxx"
uint32 nVectors
uint32 nGroups
nGroups times:
uint32 liqudflags
uint32 "GRP "
uint32 moba_size
uint32 moba_batch
uint32 mobaex
uint32 "INDX"
uint32 wsize
uint32 nIndexes
nIndexes times:
float[3] movt
uint32 "VERT"
uint32 wsize
uint32 nVertices
nVertices times:
float[3] vertice
uint32 "LIQU"
uint32 LiqExsize
uint32 hlq_xverts
uint32 hlq_yverts
LiquidEx_size/4 times:
float LiquidEx