So I wanted to create a thread and make sure with other people I am not going against the TOS or anything.
I am currently assuming because the feature is clearly built in, that it isn’t but here we go.
Addons is not the only, though most common thing people think, but there already is many liked mods even for classic that might even replace the map textures, UI texturing etc.
I am a FFXIV player, and also just a tweaker when it comes to my personal game experience and - well, just curious so I was not sure if it would work, but found out with help of some addons a way to give my client a Final Fantasy Fanfare as level up sound, from the mentioned competition, and other such things. I actually successfully replaced and tested functional many UI and tones, though my interest was not to go beyond that as the music, most sounds of casting etc. are iconic and just lovely.
Knowing at least stuff like UI texture tweaking is widely accepted for map mods etc. I assume given it even works that it is allowed but still, better sure than sorry.
TL;DR:
Texture mods for UI made me interested to test around with sounds, now I am not even entirely sure if this is OK and possibly detected.
Sounds are stuff you can actually do with WoW’s Addon API.
You don’t need to modify the contents of any game files to do that.
Just learn some LUA or find an addon someone would have already made.
I was using Tsukuyomi EX’s theme for raid boss battles in Legion for example by making my own DBM plugin to make use of DBM’s sound core.
Textures, not so much. That would require modifying game files, but just as it is in XIV, this is generally a big nono.
Last I recall, Blizzard do more than SE do when it comes to verifying the integrity of their game files, so while it’s a no no in both games, you’re more likely to be caught doing it in WoW.
TLDR: You can do more with addons than you realise, game file editing is a no no in both WoW and XIV, WoW does more to catch it than XIV does.
Hey Jahid
Verstab’s right that any kind of file modifications are strictly forbidden, though as mentioned I have seen addons that legitimately play custom sounds using the standard Addon API, so I’d suggest looking into that side of things to accomplish what you want
And I now have Wayward Daughter stuck in my head again. Thanks Verstab 
Not going to lie, I put it on right after writing that post lol.
No idea why, but it worked so well in tomb of sargeras.
What I am generally talking about is the seemingly built in feature of WoW to load extrenal files from the Classic Folder.
This seemingly is built in unless it is an oversight or something.
To be extremely clear I have not touched the archives in DATA folder, that all is intact as it is, all “replacements” of mine were done by saving them to classic\sound\interface\ etc. And I know some addon add additional or different textures for UI in classic\interface\texture\ etc.
I did this more of a curiosity to see if “addons” like AtlasWorldMap and AbyssUI that have additional and replacing textures for the client that still are shared and seem good.
Again, unless this is for addon system to function and everything else is unintentional, well, I better get off and stop this asap. To clarify again this is what I have done, nothing else .
I also managed most of my sounds through addons my main goal is to make a addon that loads additional sounds to simplemedialibrary but there is not much modern examples for it.
I get most of my main usage of custom sounds through this, for addons that alert from whispers to mentions in chat I can use my wider array of own sounds for that and through legit addon system. This was more of a curiosity.
(Have to say, hearing a positionally tracking Final Fantasy Fanfare from full orchestra in positional manner when nearby Horde levels up and you congratulate them; priceless… Possibly literally)
Yeah the addon api is totally capable of loading external files. That’s how a lot of these things work. Don’t worry, that aspect is intentional.
You’re just not allowed to edit or replace existing files or prevent them from being loaded in a way as to trick the client into changing how it may present an asset or what not.
So adding “jahid-new-mixtape.ogg” and making an addon load it and use it? That’s fine.
Replacing “tirisfal-glade-ambient.ogg” with darude sandstorm renamed to “tirisfal-glade-ambient.ogg” so the client loads it and plays it? Not okay
I dig it.
Just wondering since few community mods do that, to map but it’s understandable.
I worked up and created a functional standalone addon with my custom sounds to use with other libsharedmedia addons so I can undo any unruly experimentation.
From a previous thread a few months ago, it seems that at one time, if you placed a file in the sounds directory, with the same name as a built in one, it would use the one in the sounds directory not the built in one. This was to allow players to change the default sounds without altering the client.
However it seems that the developers have chosen to end that, and any files in the sounds directory are now ignored.
Well, no - in Classic they work.
I used following directory
Classic\sound\interface
And filenames just like you described
Length Name
126996 auctionwindowclose.ogg
131718 auctionwindowopen.ogg
144083 error.ogg
129743 friendjoin.ogg
144083 igquestfailed.ogg
140964 iplayerinvitea.ogg
244616 iquestactivate.ogg
297651 iquestcomplete.ogg
135063 itellmessage.ogg
130379 iuiinterfacebuttona.ogg
242759 levelup.ogg
126996 ucharactersheetclose.ogg
131718 ucharactersheetopen.ogg
130379 ucharactersheettab.ogg
130379 uchatscrollbutton.ogg
126996 uescapescreenclose.ogg
131718 uescapescreenopen.ogg