Ironman 'save' options?
#1
Hi All,

Long term lurker here... really saddened by Pete's recent passing. Dating all the way back to those halcyon DSF days, I enjoyed his insighful, helpful, and often sharp-tongued posts. He didn't know it, but he added quite a bit of joy to my life.

I'm revisiting Ironman now. I had several solo and team runs come close years ago. I had more time then - gaming sessions would consist of completing 4 levels at a time (church, cats, caves, hell), with new games started for each. I'd use 'paper' muling.

These days, I don't have 3-4 hours to dedicate to a session. Are there any utilities to 'save' a MP game? I've started a SP run (can save there of course), but it just doesn't feel the same. What is the commonly accepted approach? Also, has the community stuck with 1.07?
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#2
Hi,

I don't know about any commonly accepted approach, but assuming you do solo MP games, i.e. not playing team ironman: What about running Diablo inside VirtualBox (or VMWare)? VirtualBox lets you save the current state of a running virtual machine, in this case a running Diablo session, which you then can restore later to continue playing.

You could use a tool like VMWare Converter to create a virtual machine out of your physical machine where Diablo is installed, to minimize work. (VirtualBox can handle VMWare images)

-Kylearan
There are two kinds of fools. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better." - John Brunner, The Shockwave Rider
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#3
Thanks for the reply Kylearan - VirtualBox works like a charm! I had tried Windows Virtual PC before, but DirectX wasn't supported. This isn't an issue with VirtualBox. I rolled up an XP SP3 install, mounted the D1 .iso, and patched to 1.07 - it runs great. Now if I could get IPX working on my Windows 7 64 bit host, I'd be all set to mule for variants and all kinds of fun things!



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#4
(12-28-2011, 09:05 PM)thraeneth Wrote: Now if I could get IPX working on my Windows 7 64 bit host, I'd be all set to mule for variants and all kinds of fun things!

I tried getting IPX to work on Windows 7 for some time, as I have a number of old games that are restricted to it as the only LAN connection, but it seems that running these games inside programs that can emulate IPX is the only option (DOSBox, VirtualBox + XP and so forth).

In Diablo's case however, neither is necessary to get LAN working on W7. As luck would have it I just recently found out that modders managed to get the Local Area Network (UDP) option into Diablo, much as Blizzard patched it into StarCraft a few years back with IPX becoming so antiquated.

Since it seems you had no trouble setting up VirtualBox, the steps required to get UDP in Diablo should be a piece of cake for you. I posted everything you need here in this thread:
The death of IPX protocol... [UDP Fix]
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#5
Hi Belix - I came across your UDP fix earlier but it only applies to 1.09, right? storm.dll is altered? I last played on a regular basis right about the time 1.09 was released, and I remember the uproar over bugs and feature changes. I was planning on sticking with 1.07 (currently have a solo rogue cave-in run in the cats), but has everyone finally accepted 1.09?

I did find an IPX over UDP utility which would be version independent - http://www.solemnwarning.net/ipxwrapper/ Haven't had time to check it out yet though.
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#6
(12-28-2011, 10:34 PM)thraeneth Wrote: Hi Belix - I came across your UDP fix earlier but it only applies to 1.09, right? storm.dll is altered? I last played on a regular basis right about the time 1.09 was released, and I remember the uproar over bugs and feature changes. I was planning on sticking with 1.07 (currently have a solo rogue cave-in run in the cats), but has everyone finally accepted 1.09?

I did find an IPX over UDP utility which would be version independent - http://www.solemnwarning.net/ipxwrapper/ Haven't had time to check it out yet though.

I don't think there was any uproar over 1.09. From a gameplay perspective, it is practically identical to 1.07.
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#7
(12-29-2011, 03:02 AM)Nystul Wrote: I don't think there was any uproar over 1.09. From a gameplay perspective, it is practically identical to 1.07.

Really? My memory must be fuzzy - thought there were pathing issues, a sprite limit problem, etc. etc. Could just be I was playing V&K and didnt want it to break that...

Thanks for the info!

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