A Guide to Modernizing the Wrath of the Lich King (3.3.5a) Client

Hello there! My name is Marotheit, and I wanted to share a guide on modernizing your World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (3.3.5a) client installation for private servers. This guide encompasses a lot of information I found spread out amongst the World of Warcraft forumverse, assembled in one location for my friends, family, and fellow nerds.

In this guide, I will discuss the basics of client-side patches, provide sources (and mirrors) to popular patches, cover some additional visual settings, and end with some additonal steps. Let us begin.

Note: This guide has not been endorsed or approved by any particular private servers or their moderation teams. You may encounter technical issues, game crashes, or even banishment. I personally have not had any issues, but do continue at your own risk.

Client-Side Patches:

Client-Side Patches are pre-compiled data packages for World of Warcraft that are initialized upon launching the game. Patches often contain enhancements for the game in the form of improved textures, updated models, and various interface changes (like custom loading screens or music). These patches are shared in .MPQ format and stored in the World of Warcraft\Data folder.

The best place to find patches you may be interested in includes the Model Changing Network, the now defunct Modcraft.io through the Wayback Machine, and various private server forums around the internet.

Applying certain patches may have an impact on your client's performance, so be wary of your framerate. In addition, running many patches has been known to max out the 2GB of available memory the Wrath of the Lich King client has access to, leading to random game crashes. You can fix this problem by using Large Address Aware (if you have enough memory) to allow the client access up to 4GB of available memory.

It is important to mention that because of the way many files are shared between different systems in the game, some patches may have unforeseen issues and not all patches are compatible with one another, so you must be careful about which ones you decide to add to your installation. As a general rule of thumb, patches that both effect the same item(s) (such as lighting, animations, models, textures, music, etc.) may not be compatible with one another.

Installing Client-Side Patches:

After you have downloaded all components of a patch and ensured the game is fully closed, unzip all folders until you see patch-X.MPQ. All patches should be placed in World of Warcraft\Data, relative to your Wrath of the Lich King client location. If you have two patches with the same name, rename the number or letter following patch- to an available number or letter.

You should never overwrite the original patches provided to you during the initial setup process (this being common.MPQ, common-2.MPQ, expansion.MPQ, lichking.MPQ, patch.MPQ, patch-2.MPQ, or patch-3.MPQ), otherwise your installation will cease to work.

Patches are initialized in numerical, then alphabetical order. In rare instances, some patches must load before others to ensure compatibility. You can find the initialization order I use for the below patches here.

If you wish to uninstall a patch, simply delete it from the World of Warcraft\Data folder.

Patch Recommendations:

Below is a list of popular client-side patches for Wrath of the Lich King, game version 3.3.5a. The intent of most of these patches is to enhance your Wrath of the Lich King installation with assets from newer World of Warcraft releases.

While each source should contain the most up-to-date version of any given patch, the original threads are sometimes removed with no prior warning by their hosts, and have been mirrored here for ease-of-access and archival purposes. I did my best to include before and after examples for many of the patches, when applicable.

Model Changes:

• Updated Battleground Models by vvladoon updates the appearance of battleground models and textures to more closely resemble those introduced in Cataclysm and onward.
• Updated Character Models by Leeviathan and vvladoon updates the player and humanoid NPC models to use models introduced in Warlords of Draenor. [Before/After] As an important note, this patch will sometimes cause issues when interacting with Goblins. If you run into this issue, simply uninstalling the patch will allow you to converse with Goblins. Continue at your own risk!
• Updated Creature Models by vvladoon updates the creature, enemy, and mount models to more closely resemble those introduced in Cataclysm and onward. [Before/After 1] | [Before/After 2]
• Updated Item Models by vvladoon updates many item models to more closely resemble those introduced in Cataclysm and onward.
• Updated Spell Animations by vvladoon reimagines many spell animations to feature a more modern feel. As an important note, some servers feature an anti-cheat that flags players with modified spells databases. Continue at your own risk!

Texture Changes:

• Sunlight Alpha Texture by Nicolas modifies the texture assigned to the sun to make it appear more realistic, resembling the texture used in the Alpha build of World of Warcraft. This is included in YetAnotherWaterPatch thanks to vulpe.
• Updated Environment Textures by Finsternis and vvladoon updates the environment tileset textures used throughout the world. [Before/After]
• Upscaled Clothing Textures by sh1tdev and vvladoon upscales all Classic, Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King clothing textures by 4x to allow clothing to appear sharper and more detailed. [Before/After 1] | [Before/After 2]

Other Patches:

• Blood Mod by Inico adds blood puddle animations to combat that disappear over time.
• ChromieCraft Challenge Modes by Roboto adds support for challenge modes on ChromieCraft. Be sure to also install the included AIO AddOn.
• ChromieCraft Cosmetics by Roboto adds support for cosmetic icons on ChromieCraft.
• Clean Icons (WotLK Edition) by suicidalkatt, AcidWeb, and Avarath upscales and homogenizes the icons to appear sharper and more detailed. Because this is not a patch, but texture replacements, they should be placed in World of Warcraft\Interface, relative to your Wrath of the Lich King client location.
• Dungeon Maps by Trimitor adds instance maps for Classic and Burning Crusade instances. Be sure to also install the included WDM AddOn.
• LoginTweaks by Marotheit removes much of the extra login screen clutter and adds a convenient 'Remember Password' option. Also available in an ElvUI flavor. As an important note, using the 'Remember Password' feature stores your password in plain text, so understand you would be forgoing security in exchange for convenience.
• Old World Music Rescore by Leeviathan replaces the older vanilla zone music with the rescored music introduced in Cataclysm.
• Shadowlands Menu by vvladoon updates the login screen, character creation/selection menu, and loading screens to the ones introduced in Shadowlands. My flavor removes the loading screens and character creation icons. [Before/After]
• Updated Loading Screens by vvladoon updates the loading screens to use artwork introduced in Legion.
• YetAnotherWaterPatch by Milly, Elrena, Inico, vulpe, and Marotheit replaces the water, lava, and slime textures to make them appear similar to textures introduced in later expansions. I've experimented with many of the popular water mods out there and compiled the assets I liked most from all of them. [Before/After]

Visual Settings

Beyond basic graphical settings (i.e., the standard graphical presets) there are console commands you can run in-game to increase graphical variables higher than Blizzard allowed through the in-game video settings menu. On that note, you should probably only perform these commands on a higher-end PC. Running the following commands will result in extra details around the world becoming more noticeable.

You should finalize your video settings before attempting to use these macros, as modifying any graphical options through the video settings menu will reset all graphical variables to their default values. Similarly, if you try the below console commands and do not enjoy the extra graphical fidelity, simply change your graphical preset in the video settings menu to reset all graphical variables to default. You can use the console variables wiki page to see what each command changes individually.

The commands below have been seperated into three easy to use macros for your convenience, but can be performed individually if you prefer.

Ultra+ Graphics 1:

/console environmentDetail 150
/console farclip 777
/console ffxnetherworld 1
/console ffxspecial 1
/console groundEffectDensity 192
/console groundEffectDist 140
/console groundEffectFade 1000
/console gxmultiesample 8
/console horizonFarclipScale 6

Ultra+ Graphics 2:

/console particleDensity 100
/console reflectionMode 3
/console shadowmode 3
/console shadowtexturesize 2048
/console skycloudlod 3
/console spellEffectLevel 200
/console ssao 2
/console terrainMipLevel 0
/console textureFilteringMode 5

Ultra+ Graphics 3:

/console violencelevel 5
/console waterDetail 3
/console weatherDensity 3

ReShade

ReShade is a post-processing injector that can add ambient occlusion, anti-aliasing, color correction, film grain, depth of field effects, and more visual effects to games that do not normally include this functionality. This can provide graphical improvements that would normally be impossible using an unmodified World of Warcraft client.

Through testing, I have discovered the Wrath of the Lich King client is only compatible with ReShade versions 4.9.1 and below. If someone is able to get the latest version of ReShade working with the client, feel free to message me and I'll update the guide to the latest version.

To install and configure ReShade, follow the step below.

1.) Download ReShade v4.9.1, and extract the zip to a location of your choosing.

2.) Launch the downloaded ReShade Setup executable.

3.) Click the 'Click here to select a game and manage its ReShade installation' button and navigate to (and select) the World of Warcraft executable.

4.) Select 'Direct3D 9' as the rendering API.

5.) You will be prompted to select the effects packages you wish to install. I recommend the default options (the full 'Standard effects' installation and the full 'SweetFX' installation). Click the 'OK' button when you have completed this step.

6.) At this point, assuming the installation was successful, you may exit the ReShade Setup window.

Upon opening the World of Warcraft client, you will see a ReShade toast at the top of the screen, prompting you to press the Home key to begin the ReShade tutorial. Any changes are reflected in real time, so find a scenic spot in the world and adjust settings to what looks best for you.

Extra Steps

At this point, your graphics should appear more in line with modern version of World of Warcraft. Below are a few extra steps you can use to take your installation even further.

Using a Batch File to Clear Your Cache Before Startup

You can use a batch file to clear your cached files before you launch World of Warcraft. This is a good way to avoid common issues from appearing in-game. Simply download this batch file (or create a batch file with the text below) and place it into your Wrath of the Lich King client install location. You should launch the game using this batch file from now on.

@echo off
rd /s /q "Cache"
start WoW.exe
exit

Push Your Graphical/Performance Configuration Further

You can set some graphical and performance settings even higher by editing your configuration file. Navigate to World of Warcraft\WTF and open Config.wtf in a notepad. Add the lines below to push your World of Warcraft settings even further.

SET M2Faster "3"
SET gxTextureCacheSize "512"
SET objectFade "0"
SET screenshotQuality "10"

Additionally, you can overwrite the lines below to enable Windowed Fullscreen, which many players are unable to enable successfully from within the client.

SET gxWindow "1"
SET gxMaximize "1"
SET windowResizeLock "1"

After your done, save the configuration file and open World of Warcraft to observe your changes. If the game has issues loading, you can simply delete Config.wtf (which will reset all your saved options) and try again.

Install VoiceOver

This adds text-to-speech support for gossip and quest texts. Be sure you install both the 3.3.5a Voiceover AddOn and the Vanilla Sounds pack into your AddOns folder.

Install Discord Rich Presence for World of Warcraft

This enables World of Warcraft (with the help of Python) to interact with Discord Rich Presence to display gameplay information beside your user profile. Useful for guilds and friend circles who use Discord.

Install ElvUI-Glues-WotLK

This retextures the login, character selection, and character creation screens for use with ElvUI. This is included in the ElvUI version of LoginTweaks, so feel free to skip this step if you decide to use LoginTweaks.

Conclusion

Thank you for your time. If you see anything that can be improved or expanded upon (or especially if you find a nice patch,) please let me know by creating an issue here. You can view the changelog here. I am always interested in improving the guide. Shoutouts to vvladoon, Leeviathan, Nicolas, Finsternis, sh1tdev, Inico, Trimitor, Milly, Elrena, and vulpe for all their work. They inspired me to write this guide.

I use these settings on ChromieCraft, so if you appreciate this guide and decide to discover your new home, add me as a friend and feel free to use me as a Recruit-a-Friend. My Account ID is 40720.

—Marotheit.