February 2026 - News archive

Yesterday, Thomas Laurenson released version 0.9.7 of mpqcli. I have contributed all the changes in this release, some of which turned out pretty big.

The major thing in this release is game profiles. By using the --game option, you can have mpqcli target the specified game, using the correct compression methods and settings. This allows it to be used to create archives and add files to MPQs for StarCraft I and WarCraft II and all the other games. Great news for us old school guys still digging around in the nineties games!

The full changelist is as follows:

Added:

• Game profile support for create and add subcommands via -g/--game option
• Game profiles for Diablo, StarCraft, Warcraft, WoW, and more
• Game setting override options for create subcommand
• Compression override options for add subcommand
• Support for unfamiliar/unknown locales via raw hex LCID
• Additional built-in locales: ptBR, esMX, ptPT

Fixed

• Subcommands now properly verify locale before operating on files
• Error messages now include locale context in remove, extract, and read.
• MPQ archives are now properly closed across all subcommands
• Non-zero exit codes returned on failure in extract and remove
• list subcommand now shows long output when properties are requested

Changed

• Improved locale printing and display throughout

Find version 0.9.7 of mpqcli here.

(As an aside, when travelling to New Zealand a few weeks ago, I met up with Thomas Laurenson and had a drink with him. Really nice guy!)

In rapid succession, TheNitesWhoSay has released version 2.07, 2.08 and 2.09 of the StarCraft I map editor Chkdraft.

News in version 2.07:

• Have units on classic minimaps render with the appropriate sizes
• Add ability to render classic minimap webps in map_gfx_utils
• Fix resource coloring on classic minimaps

News in version 2.08:

• Add ability to create locations for sprite units
• Accurate mini-map unit display sizes
• Fix map and minimap color displays for remastered colors, fix resource minimap color
• Fix create location menu options updating the layer but not the dropdown box to locations
• Fix trigger string-clearing issue
• Fix actions being added to history when trigger values were unchanged
• Fix blank strings showing up in string suggestions after opening a map with fragmented strings
• Fix resources not reciprocal respecting the mineral distance flag with resource depots
• Fix display of carrier shadows
• Fix a crash that occurred when using non-empty default triggers with new maps

News in version 2.09:

• Improved load time for large scenarios (3-5 times faster)
• Triggering performance improved for maps with large trigger quantities
• Fixed a crash that occurred when compiling text for an individual trigger from the trigger gui
• Fixed a bug where the string editor edited game strings when it should edit editor strings

Version 2.09 is available here.

TheNitesWhoSay have released version 2.06 of Chkdraft yesterday, a map editor for StarCraft I. The tool describes itself as "A remake-in-progress of the beloved Scmdraft to fill the holes left behind".

News in version 2.06:

• Support for DatExt mods and Cosmonarchy in particular
• Add profiles json files and the profiles UI, including live-reloading, replacing the old settings.ini file
• Add ability to drop-to-open multiple map files at once
• Add ability to customize the unit and sprite trees in the profiles json
• Add ability to treat a regular filesystem folder like a casc or mpq for data loading
• Now relies on a stable release of nf hist
• Clang can now be used on linux to compile map_gfx_utils and generate pictures of maps
• Many bugfixes (including and beyond those of recent pre-releases) especially those related to profiles and sounds

The release is available here.

I just made a small fix to MPQDraft. Before, when creating SEMPQs (self-executing MPQs), it used to force you to specify an MPQ and optionally plugins. Now, either an MPQ or plugins are required, i.e. you can now omit MPQs if you specify plugins. This functionality is used by Cosmonarchy, which utilises a hot-loader plugin that downloads the latest MPQs on the fly, allowing frequent updating without having to rely on re-distribution of SEMPQs.

Also in this release are translation of the GUI into Swedish and Korean. Both are AI-translated, with the former language quickly verified by myself while the latter is completely unverified. If you have corrections or want to contribute a new translation, then please reach out.

See the MPQDraft page here, for a download link.