Minecraft has been around for a while now — ages in Internet years — and we’ve seen some incredible structures and locations built in the blocky world simulator. Sure, the scope of builds became virtually limitless once people figured out they could throw together some code and use a script that analyzes data from an outside source and then automatically translate it to in-game Minecraft blocks, but even then, some builds are just ridiculous. Case in point, World of Warcraft built in Minecraft. The project has been under construction for quite some time, but the beta was just released.
The project was built in Minecraft 1.1, and can be downloaded through a torrent here. Be careful, though, as the download is 2.17 GB, but extracts to around 24 GB. The (enormous) package contains not only map files for Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, but also plugins for running it on a Bukkit server.
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Minecraftforums user Rumsey thankfully didn’t build the maps by hand, but built some software that used voxelization, which converts everything in WoW into Minecraft blocks. Rumsey notes that once the software has been set up, it takes around 24 hours for the process to convert WoW, and requires no human intervention. Set it and forget it. However, before the conversion, Rumsey had to build some other custom software to help him choose Minecraft textures that best matched textures in WoW.
The current beta of the WoWĀ Minecraft map has over 68 billion blocks creating 275 square kilometers of content. The convertedĀ WoW world reaches far beyond the Minecraft ceiling height limit, so Rumsey had to create a plugin that teleports players to a new area once they attempt to break through the limit.
Rumsey also points out that the current state of the map includes all underground areas, but not anything that is a separate instance. The conversion process does indeed work on instanced dungeons, but at the moment, Rumsey states they’re not a top priority. He’s working on converting other locations in WoW, such as Northrend, Outland, Tol Barad, and the Lost Isles.
So, even though the conversion process was mainly completed with software, this project is nothing short of impressive, and if you have the 24 GB of space, you can now download the beta and explore WoW in a world where you can rebuild whatever bits you don’t like.
(via Minecraft Forums)
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