Character graphics Fix Pack v1.1 (for Diablo & Hellfire)

[Belix]

Edit: It's ready; download at the end of this post. Now also for plain Diablo!

Hello Lurkers!

I'm happy to finally bring you something I've wanted to create now for years:
an overdue fix for some of Diablo's character graphic animation flaws. These improvements are focused mostly on Hellfire's Bard, but a handful of things have been done for the Rogue in general, and for bow-wielding Warriors and Barbarians.

I say some because there are too many anomalies in the character graphics to properly correct without having either the source models or the time and skill required to edit thousands of frames of animation by hand. I sadly do not have these things.

That said, I have finished improvements to a whopping 795 frames. Here are some examples so you can judge for yourself. =)

EDIT 9/12/18: The preview images that used to be here seem to have been broken for some time now. I don't think I have the originals any more. Sorry about that!

Before                        After
 

Before                        After (notice in original she 'snaps' out of place)
 

Before                        After
 

Before                        After (notice darkness and snapping on left)
 

New in v1.1!
Before                        After (desaturated stun animation fixed)
 

[Scroll down this thread to see a couple more examples]

There are too many frames to show them all here, but you get the idea. This file reduces or eliminates some previously noticeable shifts in brightness, incorrect character positioning between animations, and some discolorations. View the included document for a full list of improvements.

Important bits from the included documentation:

Compatibility:
-Tested and works on Battle.net.
-Tested and works with Diablo v1.09 and Hellfire v1.01.
-Should work with all Windows versions of Diablo & Hellfire.
-Should work with all mods for Diablo & Hellfire, unless they use or ignore patch_rt.mpq.
-Tested and works with the following Hellfire Mods:
Hellfire: Fixed (all versions)
Marsh's Unofficial Hellfire Mod
The Dark (does nothing here, since the Plate Armor graphics aren't used)

Installation:
Hellfire Users: Copy the included patch_rt.mpq into your Hellfire directory. Simple as that!
Diablo Users: Please make a backup copy of your original v1.09 patch_rt file, then copy the included patch_rt.mpq into your Diablo directory. Done!

The differences may seem subtle here, but Diablo runs at 640x480 where these images take up more of modern displays and can be considerably more jarring. Download it today and finally put an end to the Blinking Bard:

[LennyLen]

Nice work.

[Hammerskjold]

Well done. That looks great.

[Belix]

Thank you gentlemen for the kind words.

There is one more animation I'm struggling with yet that I want to make look nice, but I may wrap it up and upload it after that's done.

Meanwhile, here are two more to look at:

Before                        After (neon blue outline fixed)
 

Before                        After (notice the magic ponytail - Blizz's fault)
 

[Belix]

Just a quick update: I believe I've finished work on the animation fix pack this afternoon, but I decided to wait on uploading so I could look into the best method for supporting the original Diablo as smoothly as possible. The only extra mpq file Diablo reads outside of the main data file is patch_rt.mpq; so patch_rt.mpq is the file I must use to apply these changes to Diablo through (because I doubt people would trust a self-executing MPQ in its place, which is the only reasonable alternative).

I'll be uploading it here tomorrow after I finish creating a dual Diablo & Hellfire compatible version, to make using it as simple as possible for both audiences.

[Belix]

Uploaded and ready for download in the first thread. I hope someone else's eyes can appreciate it as much as mine do.

Mod authors have my permission to use all of the updated .cl2 files in their projects if they so wish.

p.s. Are there any Mac users out there who can confirm or deny that this works properly with the Mac version of Diablo? That would be much appreciated!

[qualakon]

Are you able to incorporate the graphics from The Hell for Assassin/Gladiator instead for Bard/Barbarian?

You can download the files from here: http://diablo.gamepedia.com/Download_%28The_Hell%29

Would be great as there are some substantial changes made, not 100% perfect but a step in the right direction.

[Belix]

Are you able to incorporate the graphics from The Hell for Assassin/Gladiator instead for Bard/Barbarian?

Greetings qualakon,

I am aware of The Hell mod's efforts to grant the Rogue proper dual-wielding graphics (which would be really cool for the Bard!), but until their work is complete I won't ask permission to include it here. As far as I know, the animation changes have yet to fully encompass any single armor appearance. In its current state it would look too inconsistent for my tastes (and consistency is exactly what this project aimed to improve, after all).

Regarding the Barbarian, he cannot dual-wield one-handed weapons in plain Hellfire; that was a new feature added by The Dark and The Hell. His only weapon hand special is to use a Maul (normally two-handed) in one hand, allowing him to hold a Shield with it at the same time. So the Warrior dual-wield graphics, while looking much more complete, would seem odd in plain Hellfire.

Thank you though. I think they did a reasonably nice job with what I saw of the Warrior dual-wielding, and if they finish the Rogue and she looks as good, I would be very interested in asking permission from them to include that here. I do hope they finish it so the handful of us Diablo fanatics still around might enjoy it; I for one will likely still be at it until I develop carpal tunnel!

p.s. I have plans to work on at least one more animation; look for v1.1 coming soon!

[qualakon]

I look forward to whatever you release. I am in awe as I'll never be able to create in the same was as this. Anything you put out seems to be great!

I thought Hellfire Barbarian's were able to dual wield but apparently not! Verified myself. Makes more sense now when the mod maker refused to put it in Chochlik as well.

Rumour has it that Mordor et al are hanging up their hats and calling it quits. I don't know if he's serious but he made a post about it asking us for what we'd like to see.

Look forward to v1.1

[Belix]

A newer version, v1.1, is now available for download in the original post which fixes the stun/hit animation usually used by Plate Bards wielding swords (you can see a preview of the correction as I added new images for it). The 6 of you who downloaded the original version during the week it has been available might wish to update if you play Bards.

Enjoy!

I am in awe as I'll never be able to create in the same way as this. Anything you put out seems to be great!

I used to feel that way, but over the years I've developed some skills bit by bit doing various other odds and ends, and found myself able to revisit Diablo and do something about these little visual quirks I formerly accepted. Perhaps, in time, unrelated things you've done will enable you to do something similar. And it may occur as a sudden realization like it did to me: "Hey, I can do x now.. Neat!"

And, thank you. I had hoped that the dash of extra time needed to share this work with others would make someone out there happy.

Rumour has it that Mordor et al are... it quits.

Unfortunate. I don't know if it is related, but I heard they had some problems with cheaters playing the mod; I guess history really does repeat itself (I'm sure we all remember the cheat festival that was Battle.net). If they shut down I hope they offer some documentation about some of the changes they made and how. I believe they fixed several bugs that were still present in the final versions of Diablo and Hellfire.

[FireIceTalon]

Does the graphics card or drivers have anything to do with the icons next to a person's char in a bnet channel not showing up (the little rectangle with the char icon, level, and dots)?? I use Vista, but within the last couple years these icons have disappeared (though ocassionally ill log on and will see them, but they go away whenever someone joins or leaves the channel).

[Belix]

Regarding the channel icons, I'm fairly certain that problem is due to newer versions of Windows (V/7 for sure), and that everyone experiences it regardless of video card brand or drivers. As far as I know, no proper fix for this exists (I'd be glad to be wrong about that though).

You might be able to force some of them to reappear by holding the mouse button down in the user list and dragging the mouse around a bit. I have at times been able to restore most of the icon list this way, but I have no idea if everyone can do that or just certain systems/hardware. I'd be curious to hear if you get the same results if you try it.

Since it breaks again on channel entry/exit, probably not worth the effort except to check a specific person's character/level.

[FireIceTalon]

Yea its really strange. I can click on someone char icon to check their level or whatever, but only 1 person at a time heh. I noticed when I am in a channel by myself, my own icon appears just fine. Further, I installed Diablo another machine in the household that uses Win 7, and the icons appear just fine^^, yet on my Vista machine no such luck. Tis odd. Windows in general seems to be D1's biggest enemy these days, though for whatever reason Blizz disabled the ability to whisper people unless they are on your friends list.

[Belix]

Strange. I don't know anyone else who uses W7 who can see the icons. Maybe they would of disappeared had you lingered longer? Or maybe something that causes it was disabled on that system (the possibilities are numerous... Aero for instance). Sometimes the most unexpected little things can cause problems like this.

Blizzard disabled Diablo whispering to combat Battle.net abuse (same reason they restricted Diablo to certain channels many years ago). Diablo is the only client that can connect to Battle.net without a CD-key, thus someone could for example connect up to 8 (infinitely more with proxies) Diablo 1 accounts and proceed to blockade channels, whisper flood other users and so forth. Normally Blizzard would of banned CD-keys for this type of behavior, but since Diablo lacks such a mechanism, they chose to make Diablo not worth abusing by removing privileges. I'm glad they chose to restrict the game rather than drop support for it entirely, but it is a shame the many had to pay for the misbehavior of a few.

[Belix]

I discovered another set of disorientated Rogue renders when I began playing a new Bard recently. Similar to her Plate + Staff attack animations problem, several directions of animation for the Rogue using Sword Only + Light Armor + Lightning Cast have her rotated clockwise one direction too far. Quite likely when I look into fixing this I'll find one direction missing entirely again as with the staff, but I can fix most of the directions at least.

[DaveCorsetti]

Great fix pack man! Thank you!