Guide

This article is part of the Installation Guide. You can read it alone or click on the previous link to easily move between the steps.

Before proceeding, please make sure that you have compiled your sources and they are up-to-date.

Getting Started with Trinity Database (TDB)

About once per month all of the updates made from all previous months are combined into a few bulk .sql files to easily import them into your databases. These updates are similar to how Service Packs are released for Windows. Furthermore, smaller, individual .sql updates are occasionally added as the core is fixed by the developers (these can be seen in Git Extensions while selecting individual commits in the commit view with the Diff tab selected). This offers two options:

(Beginner) It is highly recommended to keep your current revision (the commit in bold text in Git Extensions) on a commit with a description similar to "DB: TrinityDB revision XX: move SQL updates to the old directory" (example). These commit descriptions mark each monthly compilation, and are also useful for knowing when a new compilation is released and can be downloaded/imported. Doing this will keep your databases 100% up-to-date each month.
(Advanced) If you decide to update your revision outside of a commit with the above description, you must also import all of the smaller .sql updates (C:\Trinity\sql\updates folder) that have been done with EACH commit up to yours, if there are any. Not importing these additional updates cause a majority of user errors. This will ensure that your databases are 100% up-to-date.

This is described in more detail in the following instructions.

Downloading the Database

Download the latest database compilation from TrinityCore Downloads.

Click the green Download button on top right next to right column.

The file is in .7z format, so you will need an archive program like 7zip to unpack it.

Important

Note: There are multiple .sql files to choose from in the .7z archive. If this is your first time installing TrinityCore, you will want to import ONLY the file with "TDB_full" at the beginning.
The other files are for updating existing world and characters databases from a previous compilation. This makes it easy to update your databases from one compilation to the next as explained in the section above.

NEVER apply the sql files in the sql\old directory on fresh instalations, those files are only needed for people updating core between TDB releases that uses long time to update between revisions.

THIS INFORMATION IS UPDATED FROM THE POINT OF CREATION OF TRINITYCORE UNTIL TODAY, AND UNLESS WE CHANGE THE SYSTEM, IT WILL CONTINUE TO BE UPDATED. WE HAVE USED THIS SYSTEM SINCE THE START AND IT IS VERY UNLIKELY THAT IT WILL CHANGE.
NEVER APPLY THE SQL FILES ON auth/character databases on fresh instalations those files are only needed for people updating core between TDB releases.
THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN UPDATED SINCE THE CREATION OF TRINITYCORE UNTIL TODAY, AND UNLESS WE CHANGE THE SYSTEM, IT WILL CONTINUE TO BE UP TO DATE. WE HAVE USED THIS SYSTEM SINCE THE START AND IT IS VERY UNLIKELY THAT IT WILL CHANGE.
NEVER APPLY THE SQL FILES ON auth/character databases on fresh instalations those files are only needed for people updating core between TDB releases.
THIS INFORMATION IS KEPT UP TO DATE SINCE TRINITYCORE CREATION UNTIL TODAY, AND UNLESS WE CHANGE THE SYSTEM, IT WILL CONTINUE TO BE UP TO DATE. WE HAVE USED THIS SYSTEM SINCE THE START AND IT IS VERY UNLIKELY IT WILL CHANGE.
(Note to wiki editors, this text is added on this way intended)