Diablo II "LoD" CLASSIC STYLE MOD for v1.10

[Zingydex]

Thanks all for the feedback :) So, capping the previous immunties at 80% is about right, or is it a bit too low or high?
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Looks right to me - just 5% higher than the resists a monster gets from being [insert element here]-enchanted, which is a negligible difference in most cases. Low enough to kill through, but high enough to keep me from bulldozing everything, which eventually gets old.

[nobbie]

Thanks for the info :)

The "LoD Classic Style MOD" got its own Game Selection Screen now!



You can download the updated MOD as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD

Have Fun! :D

[SNoble Jr.]

Hoo, boy! Nobbie, your mod just gets better and better with every update.

The removal of the immunities is a very good idea. Finally, no more PIs for my Fanatic Zealot to hate. :D

One thing that bugs me, though, is the removal of the Tyrael's and Van Helsing's sets. Sure, they were only meant as joke sets, but still, they were good.

But anyway, this mod is stilll absolutely fantastic. Oh, and the new main menu is sweet.

Thanks for all your hard work put into making this mod, Nobbie!

[nobbie]

Thanks for the compliments, SNoble Jr :) I'm sorry, but the two rather overpowered fun sets will not be reimplemented. If you have some basic modding knowledge, you can however re-add the sets to latest MOD update. All you need is to extract the table files Sets.txt and SetItems.txt from the older MOD version, compile their *.bin's with the "-direct -txt" game start option, and put both the *.txt and *.bin files into the MPQ of the latest MOD. You'll also need to re-add at least the English language version of the previous MOD's Patchstring.tbl file, because only this table file has the string entries for the Tyrael and Van Helsing Set.

[nobbie]

The "LoD Classic Style MOD" has got yet another update:

- The Normal Monster Immunities, which had been lowered to 80% resistances in the previous version, have now been lowered by another 5% to 75% (equal to the resistance of an elemental-enchanted monster)

- The Char Selection Screen is now new as well, incl. a brief overview what the MOD has to offer

- The blue-violet speckles in the image dithering of the Game Selection Screen, which were caused by the colorshift-routine for the original "LoD" screen, have been removed

The updated MOD can be downloaded as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD

Have Fun! :D

[nobbie]

The "LoD Classic Style MOD" has got an update for Multiplayer!

New, more attractive Character Icons for each class have been added to the MOD. The reason for this cosmetic change was that the original icons looked like rather stiff "hero" portraits, and the Necro's face looked just pitiful :) The new character portraits are now taken from the Char Select Screen animations, which look much better. The new images can of course only be seen in parties in Multiplayer games.



The updated MOD can be downloaded as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD

Have Fun! :D

[Zingydex]

New, more attractive Character Icons for each class have been added to the MOD. The reason for this cosmetic change was that the original icons looked like rather stiff "hero" portraits, and the Necro's face looked just pitiful :) The new character portraits are now taken from the Char Select Screen animations, which look much better. The new images can of course only be seen in parties in Multiplayer games.

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Now all I need to do is find someone to play an IP game with. ;)

EDIT: I'm loving the experience boost. I tend to overtrain anyway, this just makes it easier. :D

[nobbie]

I'm loving the experience boost.  I tend to overtrain anyway, this just makes it easier.  :D

I always found it silly that you have to resort to "/players 4 to 8" to gain resonable experience especially during the first two acts, and Normal difficulty in general, which most casual players play. The 25% boost fixes that :)

[Zingydex]

I always found it silly that you have to resort to "/players 4 to 8" to gain resonable experience especially during the first two acts, and Normal difficulty in general, which most casual players play. The 25% boost fixes that :)
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Reasonable is one thing, but I tend to go nuts. For example, when I start a character, I usually clear the Blood Moor and Den of Evil in players 8, ending up at level 5-6 by the end. In the Mod, I end up around level 8. So much the better for later, since I tend to make "long-haul" builds that don't really get rolling till level 20-30 anyway.

[KryptMaker]

Question with respect to your mod. Does the Cow level remain open after we kill the King? Would be nice to be able to do some leveling/mfing there.

[nobbie]

Question with respect to your mod.  Does the Cow level remain open after we kill the King?  Would be nice to be able to do some leveling/mfing there.
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The Cow Portal behaves as in the original patch.

[nobbie]

Now all I need to do is find someone to play an IP game with.  ;)

You can add the new party icons for realm-play using the original 1.10 patch. You'll need an MPQ archiver like ShadowFlare's "WinMPQ v1.62" (available for download at the "Phrozen Keep" website at http://phrozenkeep.it-point.com ). First, make a backup copy of the original 1.10 Patch_D2.mpq file in your "Diablo II" installation folder. Then load the Patch_D2.mpq file of my "1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD" into "WinMPQ" and extract the seven *.DC6 icon graphic files from the "data\global\ui\HIREABLES\" folder in the archive. Now load the Patch_D2.mpq file of the original 1.10 patch into "WinMPQ" and add the complete "data\global\ui\HIREABLES\" folder you have just extracted from my MOD. Save the updated archive as Patch_D2.mpq, copy it back to its original location in your "Diablo II" installation folder and log on to Battle.net. When you join a party, you should now see the new character party icons.

This are the names of the icon files that need to be added under a "data\global\ui\HIREABLES\" folder in the patch archive:

amazonicon.DC6
AssassinIcon.dc6
barbarianicon.DC6
DruidIcon.dc6
necromancericon.DC6
paladinicon.DC6
sorceressicon.dc6

Have Fun! :D

[nobbie]

The "LoD Classic Style MOD" has got an update for Hirelings!

Hirelings got their "Experience/Level" value reduced by 75%, resulting in 4 times faster leveling. This was especially necessary for the Act 1 and 2 Hirelings in "Normal" difficulty, who previously had significant problems to catch up with the quickly increasing character level of their owner. Also, if one decides to switch the Hireling to another type in the middle of the game, it's now much easier to level him up again. Note that the modification of the "Experience/Level" value also results in lower experience requirements between levels, so that a Hireling from the MOD automatically loses levels when it is loaded into the original 1.10 game, where experience requirements between levels are higher. The Hireling must be leveled up here further again, if it shall have its previous MOD level.

I've also created another Game Selection Screen, which now features some of my favorite game art graphics from "Classic Diablo II":



The updated MOD can be downloaded as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD

Have Fun! :D

[Zingydex]

The "LoD Classic Style MOD" has got an update for Hirelings!

Hirelings got their "Experience/Level" value reduced by 75%, resulting in 4 times faster leveling. This was especially necessary for the Act 1 and 2 Hirelings in "Normal" difficulty, who previously had significant problems to catch up with the quickly increasing character level of their owner. Also, if one decides to switch the Hireling to another type in the middle of the game, it's now much easier to level him up again. Note that the modification of the "Experience/Level" value also results in lower experience requirements between levels, so that a Hireling from the MOD automatically loses levels when it is loaded into the original 1.10 game, where experience requirements between levels are higher. The Hireling must be leveled up here further again, if it shall have its previous MOD level.

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Finally Act 2 Normal mercs become useful! Before, it was virtually impossible to make progress leveling those buggers (and the Rogues) because your main character gains experience several times faster than your merc through most of Normal, often rendering them worthless despite their much-touted virtues because they simply can't keep up level-wise.

EDIT: An interesting side effect of this new change is that mercs leveled up in the normal 1.10 game GAIN levels when you load the character in the mod. I picked up my level 26 trapsin for the first time since downloading the update and found her merc had shot up to level 37. Not that I'm complaining, just pointing this out.

EDIT AGAIN: I've been using the mod in tandem with ATMA's bottomless stash to create a sort of offline database of items (set and unique), similar to the Arreat Summit - since I can't get on the Internet 24/7. While doing so, I noticed that it's apparently impossible to cube up the Cow King's set. Either it's not enabled in SP, or not just available through the CubeMOD - I've tried actually standing in the Cow level (after clearing some space, of course) and cubing, so that's not an option either. Since I'm not about to go back to endless MF runs (in this case trying to do so without taking out the Cow King himself, who's the only cow with a decent chance to drop the set), is there anything that can be done about this?

[nobbie]

Yes, the Cow King set can unfortunately not be made with the Cube MOD.

[nobbie]

The "LoD Classic Style MOD" has got again some changes/fixes!

- Hirelings have their "Experience/Level" value now reduced by 2/3, resulting in 3 times faster leveling. This is a bit less than in the last MOD update, but still fast enough.

- The Countess Rune Drops in the last two MOD updates were accidentally just the same as in the original patch, because I had reorganized the rune classes. This has been fixed, and the Countess should drop again as good as she used to in the MOD.

- Gambling Chances for Uniques are now the same for all difficulty levels (6 times better than in the original).

- A slightly weaker version of the Rune Word "Leaf" especially for Sorceress Orbs has been added.

NOTES:

This rune word (Tir Rune + Ral Rune), which gives +3 skill points to all Fire Skills (Sorceress, Druids) when used in 2-handed Staves, is now also available for the 1-handed Sorceress Orbs! "Leaf" in Orbs however gives just +2 instead of +3 to all (Sorceress) Fire Skills, because the 1-handed Orbs allow the use of an additional shield.
This special version of "Leaf" for Sorceress Orbs is only active in this MOD, and will not work anymore in the original game!

- The Gem Drops in Normal difficulty have been tweaked a bit for better balance.


Last but not least, an important hint!

Even though the Single-Player "Patch_D2.mpq" is mostly not used for playing in the Closed Battle.net, you should always copy the original "Patch_D2.mpq" back to the "Diablo II" installation folder before connecting to the Battle.net. One reason, for example, is the display of the Immunities/Resistances for normal monsters in "Hell" difficulty. These are taken from the client-side MPQ on your PC, so if you use the MOD on Battle.net, you won't see those Immunities for the normal "Hell" monsters anymore.


The updated MOD can be downloaded as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD

Have Fun! :D

[Zingydex]

Last but not least, an important hint!

Even though the Single-Player "Patch_D2.mpq" is mostly not used for playing in the Closed Battle.net, you should always copy the original "Patch_D2.mpq" back to the "Diablo II" installation folder before connecting to the Battle.net. One reason, for example, is the display of the Immunities/Resistances for normal monsters in "Hell" difficulty. These are taken from the client-side MPQ on your PC, so if you use the MOD on Battle.net, you won't see those Immunities for the normal "Hell" monsters anymore.
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Or you can just do what one person suggested earlier and install the MOD in a different directory, thereby eliminating the problem.

[nobbie]

The "LoD Classic Style MOD" has got an update regarding Experience Penalties.

These penalties have been raised again a bit, because leveling has been improved in the latest releases by the following changes:

a.) the 125% Experience points that killed Monster give (introduced for faster leveling especially in the early game) and

b.) the removed Immunities of normal "Hell" Monsters (replaced by 75% Resistances), which now allows (specialized) Caster characters to level up faster

To compensate these improvements, the new Experience Penalties now kick in past character level 70 (instead of level 80) and are as follows:

From Level 1 to 70: 100.0 % Experience
From Level 71 to 75: 87.5 % Experience
From Level 76 to 80: 75.0 % Experience
From Level 81 to 85: 62.5 % Experience
From Level 86 to 90: 50.0 % Experience
From Level 91 to 95: 37.5 % Experience
From Level 96 to 99: 25.0 % Experience


The updated MOD can be downloaded as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD

Have Fun! :D

[nobbie]

Two additional updates have been added to the "LoD Classic Style MOD":

1.) The first Rune in the "Rune Cycler" of the "Cube MOD" is now ZOD instead of EL, so that a Scroll of Town Portal can be easily transformed into 35,000 pieces of Gold with just one button-click (a ZOD Rune is worth 35,000 Gold in "Hell" difficulty when sold to a vendor).

2.) The drop rates for lower runes have been decreased a bit in "Nightmare" and "Hell" difficulty because they dropped very often.


The updated MOD can be downloaded as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD

Have Fun! :D

[nobbie]

Another update for the "LoD Classic Style MOD" has just been made.

- The Number of Monsters in the Chaos Sanctuary has been increased again because it was a bit too low.


The updated MOD can be downloaded as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD
Update Date: October 26, 2004

Have Fun! :D