02-13-2015, 04:17 AM
(02-13-2015, 03:43 AM)Malic Wrote: I have never really played Hellfire, Only Diablo and Diablo 2. So I don't know if I wanna start with the mod or not just to see how unfinished it was. Any thoughts on that way of thinking?
Personally, I always play a game in its original form (patched to the latest official version, of course) at least once. That way I have a basis for comparison with mods, and can appreciate the changes made - or object to them. I'd encourage you to do that here, too, but if you don't have a lot of free time to spend playing it or don't want to have to re-equip or restart a character after you finish to switch to this version, you may want to start here, and check out the original some day.
Three major things I'd like to mention for your consideration of playing the final official version (v1.01) first:
-If you have sensitive ears, you might find the new areas (Hive and Crypt) rather harsh sounding. Some of the monsters you can encounter make very... unpleasant noises, especially if you are using magic where you can harm or slay a multitude of them at once. 2 out of 3 Hellfire mods I've spent much time playing (3 of 4 counting my own) altered these sounds.
-Warriors and Monks rely heavily on blocking attacks (e.g. with a shield), but Blocking is crippled in vanilla Hellfire compared to the original game:
In Diablo, characters first avoid attacks with their Armor Class rating, blocking only if armor would fail to deflect the hit, and only block certain projectiles if they have 0% resistance to that type of attack.
In vanilla Hellfire, characters attempt to block first before checking if their Armor Class would deflect the attack, and will try to block all blockable projectiles regardless of their resistances.
That means without this patch-mod, melee characters that block have a really tough time because they are essentially trying to block almost everything all the time, and become so busy blocking attacks that they can't move or strike back, leading to their death.
I would recommend avoiding these two classes in the vanilla expansion.
Not sure how familiar you are with Diablo 1, so I'll throw out a few other thoughts for class choices. Rogues are great for beginners - put most points into Dexterity, get the best bow you can equip, and stay out of reach while peppering foes with arrows and dodging incoming fire. If you want something a bit more tactical, get a Sorcerer or Barbarian. Sorcerers must frequently change their choice of magic due to enemy resistances and immunities. Barbarians clobber everything up close with an axe, but must maneuver carefully when dealing with ranged attackers that run away when you get close - try to separate these foes into smaller groups, then attempt to herd them into corners where they can be pinned and eliminated easier.
-Hellfire v1.01 (final official version) may not run on some newer computers without a few newer versions of core files (no gameplay changes included). If you have trouble getting it to run, try copying just the following over:
hellfrui.dll
Storm.dll
smackw32.dll
Lastly, some useful related links:
StrangeByte's DirectDraw Wrapper:
http://khanduras.net/2014/04/repo-strang...sta-patch/
If you still have problems getting Diablo or Hellfire to run on your newer computer, this can be a lifesaver. It runs the game in Windowed mode by default instead of Fullscreen. However, Windowed mode can be problematic, especially in the game's main menu. Use ALT+Enter to temporarily change to full screen. After you have started a new game and are in town, you can use the tilde key (~) to open the wrapper menu; settings changed here are permanent, so if you tell it to be fullscreen here it should open that way by default next time you start Diablo or Hellfire.
Manual Hellfire v1.00 -> v1.01 Patch:
http://khanduras.net/repo/hellfire-1-00-to-1-01-zip/
The official Hellfire v1.01 patch program is, for some odd reason, a 16-bit application. 16-bit software emulation is not included in modern 64-bit versions of Windows, so there is no way to run the patcher. However, if you copy the contents of the Manual patch zip into your Hellfire v1.00 folder, it will achieve identical results to running the actual patch program - problem solved.
Good luck with whatever you decide, and most importantly, have fun!