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

[nobbie]

Sure, the set item recipe could be easier, but the chipped emerald (color green) is intended and part of a basic structure among the huge amount of recipes :)

chipped diamond (color: white) = recipe has to do with normal/superior items
chipped sapphire (color: blue) = recipe has to do with magic (blue) items
chipped topaz (color: yellow) = recipe has to do with rare items
chipped emerald (color: green) = recipe has to do with set items

The single exception are unique items, where an ID scroll seems to be the best solution. Chipped gems of any type are very easy to cube from a simple healing potion though, so it's not a big deal.

[ForeStorm]

Have you tried using DarkWizzad's MPQDraft to make a .exe of the .mpq instead of replacing? I tried it, and I dont' think there's a difference from the .exe'd MPQ version that the MPQ replacing... MPQDraft can be found here.

[nobbie]

Thanks for the pointer. No, I haven't tried MPQDraft yet because the conventional MPQ compilation and distribution worked fine so far :)

[Malakar]

Ah, the SoJ. Reminds me of back in the days of 1.05 (or was it 1.06?) when I gambled them on a regular basis. It actually provided a way to transfer gold into a real form of currency *gasp*. Now they're nearly impossible to get, yet there are several things that require SoJs. Who does that reward? Dupers. =/

[Smoketest]

Thanks for the pointer. No, I haven't tried MPQDraft yet because the conventional MPQ compilation and distribution worked fine so far :)

It works, but since I have my own mod running as default (using -direct -txt), and since I like what your mod does, I have to export the modified files and merge them with my own changes to get a working deal. It's some work, but the end result is worth it to me.

[Smoketest]

Could you double-check your SKILLS.TXT file for renamed entries?

I've found that Excel (mine is from Office 97) doesn't like entries that start with "-1" when a file is loaded as tab-delimited text. I ended up having a few NAME# entries in the calculation columns, which broke skills like Amplify Damage, Weaken and Holy Freeze. I fixed the problem by enclosing the negative values inside parenthesis.

[nobbie]

Could you double-check your SKILLS.TXT file for renamed entries?

I've found that Excel (mine is from Office 97) doesn't like entries that start with "-1" when a file is loaded as tab-delimited text. I ended up having a few NAME# entries in the calculation columns, which broke skills like Amplify Damage, Weaken and Holy Freeze. I fixed the problem by enclosing the negative values inside parenthesis.

I too noticed that problem with Amp Damage and other skills when I wrote the mod. It's an MS Excel problem, i.e. the "-par5" entry in "aurastatcalc1" for "Amplify Damage" in Skills.txt. Use "D2 Excel" from the Phrozen Keep instead if you work with Skills.txt. It's just a small Excel tool, but at least it works correctly :) From the TXT files of my mod, only Skills.txt is affected by that MS Excel bug, though.

[CasmirRadon]

I'm looking forward to starting out with this mod later tonight, I've always played single-player only and find it aggravating to deal with so many game aspects which are obviously tailored for multiplayer games.

I found this mod however while trying to find a fix for my most hated game feature of all. The clvl / mlvl curve. Currently I have a level 28 Assassin that just got to Act V normal, now I find myself feeling forced to go revisit act IV just to mindlessly level up (boring) because the monster levels in hell are closer to my own.

As a single player I do not feel it is fair to expect me to constantly moniter my level in comparison to monster levels just to make sure I'm always earning enough experience to make playing worthwhile. It's so frustrating that I never end up making a high level character (above 35).

Since it doesn't seem to be a feature that will be added to this mod (although I would love it if it were), does anyone know off-hand of another mod that might offer this?

[Smoketest]

Have you tried the /players x command? It tells the game to pretend it has the specified number of players in it, thus increasing monster HPs, drops, and experience when killed. The accepted values go from 1 to 8, with 1 being normal and 8 being like a full multiplayer game, but even at 2 or 3 you'll notice vastly improved experience returns without making the game overly challenging. Plus you can always change the setting, although monsters that have already spawned near your location won't be affected by new values.

With my sorceresses, I usually start with players 3 and then when they get their main skills, I ramp it up to players 8 and keep it that way. Consequently, without replaying maps I end up being about level 33 by the time I enter Act 5, 48 by the time I beat Baal in Normal, 75+ by the time I beat him in Nightmare, etc. My melee characters sometimes have to scale back to players 3 if their equipment isn't the greatest, but even at that setting it's still quite easy to stay ahead of the clvl/mlvl curve.

I somewhat agree on the point about the game being slanted toward multiplayer. This is most evident with the Paladin, who has quite a few of his skills designed with other players in mind. (The side benefit is that you have fewer skills to spend points on in singleplayer.) This mod helps make Hell difficulty quite doable with a solo singleplayer character, which Blizzard apparently forgot about when they made patch 1.10.

[Smoketest]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried D2 Excel now, and I love the ability to make the first column always visible, in addition to the always visible top row. This makes it much easier to see what I'm editing. The only thing I don't care much for is the editing hotkeys; they aren't what I'm used to after years of using Microsoft products, and certain games that run on said products. Still, this is my new editor for D2 .txt files.

[nobbie]

Like Smoketest said, use the "/players X" command with varying values from 2 to 8 for "X" to simulate multiplayer games and gain more experience solo.

As far as the original 1.10 patch goes, well, it is just too difficult for single-player in Hell mode, even for very seasoned players. 1.10 brought even more items and rune words, and the interesting skill synergies, but the combined effect of much faster, stronger monsters, a lot more minor bosses/champions and the partly weird monster distribution in Act 5 Nightmare/Hell was a bit much of the good. While writing the Mod, I've learned especially one thing: it is VERY difficult to balance out a game like Diablo II for three difficulties and both solo- and multiplayer. I'm lucky that I could play the game with all classes and many character builds since it came out (I had six level 99 realm charcaters in 1.09), so that I could simply follow my feelings and instincts when I revised patch 1.10. I could not have done it without my experience. The original patch 1.10, although it has again some great ideas, would have required a lot more testing and final tuning in my opinion, but here lies a general problem with every commercial game: the programmers, who work on the games, neither have the time nor the vast experience of hardcore players for extensive balancing, and so the customers get often a mediocre end product.

There will be some more changes in my Mod to item and rune drops and the Druid's and Assassin's summons based on reports of players who have played through the Mod from Normal to Hell difficulty. I think I can upload the revised Mod by the weekend or next week. Stay tuned :)

[nobbie]

The "1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD" got some major changes:


- Added new Horadric Cube recipes that allow to create so-called "TEMPERED ITEMS" (see the ReadMe.txt quote below)


An example of a "tempered" Amulet and Ring (at max. level 99)


- Added Horadric Cube recipes that allow to upgrade the base item types of Set Items to their exceptional/elite types (see the ReadMe.txt quote below)


An upgraded "Death's Guard" sash, which can now carry 16 instead of just 8 potions


- Set items have now an extra drop bonus throughout all game difficulties, so that completing a set is easier

- Item + rune drops have been completely revised for more balance because the drops were too good in some cases, erspecially when you get more Magic Find gear and start doing (superunique) boss runs. Since the quality of rare affixes in the MOD can be partly much better now, this had to be compensated through a lower chance on rare items. The same goes for rune drops, which can be much better in the MOD.

- The Suicide Minions (and their bosses) in Act 5 can now drop items as well

- The Druid's "Spirit Wolf", "Dire Wolf" and "Grizzly", and the Assassin's "Shadow Warrior" and "Shadow Master", were still somewhat too weak and have their resistances boosted

- The ready-to-use level 99 characters got some new decent unique elite upgrades in their stashes for testing, i.e. "Witchwild String" Diamond Bow, "Skystrike" Spider Bow, "Ribcracker" Stalagmite, and more.

- The April Fool's "fun items" (Tyrael's Blessing, Van Helsing's Avatar, Korlic's Hew) have been removed now. The items that can be dropped are now the same again as in the original 1.10 patch.

- Deckard Cain can now be found in the same location in Act 5 as on the realms (near your private stash). The reason for his replacement in single-player was that identifying items through Cain was annoying when he was still in his old location near the Harrogath gate. Cain can't walk around in his new place because the D2 Map Editor does not yet support path editing, but he does turn towards your character if you want something from him :)


Quotes from the ReadMe.txt about the new item additions:

"Tempered Item" Creation Recipes
----------------------------------------

Before the Diablo II "LoD" patch 1.10 was released, there have been some talks about an interesting new item type called "Tempered Items". The Horadric Cube routines for creating these new items have been implemented, but recipes for making them weren't, unfortunately. The "LoD Classic Style MOD" however, makes this new item creation now available for AMULETS and RINGS. A dozen new useful Cube recipes allow to create especially "tempered" amulets and rings, including mods that are particularly hard to come by for young characters in the early stages of the game, i.e. Mana/Life Leech, Mana Regen or Mana. "Tempered Items" are very interesting because they allow detailed customization of items using a pool of recipes. You can "cook up" exactly the item you want for a special purpose, i.e. a Dual-Leech (= Life + Mana Leech) Amulet with Magic Find for your "Magic Find"-Barbarian. More recipes for tempering other item classes (armors, weapons) might be added later, but the abundance of very good items in "LoD" (unique, set, rare and crafted items) and their upgrade options (to exceptional/elite) would make such recipes probably a rather superfluous addition.

"Tempered Items" can be recognized in the game by their DARK GREEN colored (random) item name, which follows the same naming convention as rare items. Before you can "temper" an item with additional mods, the item must be transformed into a basic tempered item using a special Cube recipe. This basic tempered item gets a fixed basic item level requirement, i.e. level 3 for amulets and rings, and it has not yet any magical affixes. After the transformation, you can then use the special tempering recipes to add and increase step by step the magical mods you want on the item. Every temper step currently adds 8 levels to the basic item level requirement, i.e. 2 temper steps add 16 levels to a level 3 amulet, resulting in a level 19 tempered amulet. So, for amulets and rings, you can temper 12 times before you reach an item level requirement of 99 (also see the NOTES). The temper recipes are kept very simple, so that they can be used early on (starting in Act 2 Normal), and they are powerful enough to make upgrades interesting up to the end game (Act 5 Hell).

The following "temper" recipes are currently available:


Tir + Jewel + Magic Ring   -> tempered Ring, basic item level = 3
Tir + Jewel + Magic Amulet -> tempered Amulet, basic item level = 3


El  + Chipped Amethyst + tempered Amulet -> +2-4 Strength
El  + Chipped Amethyst + tempered Ring   -> +30-50 Attack Rating

El  + Chipped Sapphire + tempered Amulet -> +1-3 Cold Damage, 2 Sec. Duration
El  + Chipped Sapphire + tempered Ring   -> +8-12 Mana

El  + Chipped Emerald  + tempered Amulet -> +2-4 Dexterity
El  + Chipped Emerald  + tempered Ring   -> +8-12% Poison Resistance

El  + Chipped Ruby     + tempered Amulet -> +8-12 Life
El  + Chipped Ruby     + tempered Ring   -> +8-12% Fire Resistance

El  + Chipped Topaz    + tempered Amulet -> +4-5% Better Chance On Magic Items
El  + Chipped Topaz    + tempered Ring   -> +8-12% Lightning Resistance

El  + Chipped Skull    + tempered Amulet -> +1% Life Leech, +1-2% Mana Leech
El  + Chipped Skull    + tempered Ring   -> +1 Replenish Life, +3-5% Mana Regen

==> Every "temper" step currently adds 8 levels to the basic item level requirement <==


NOTES:

Although "Tempered Item" creation recipes are not (yet) implemented in the original 1.10 patch, the items created with them will be recognized correctly by the 1.10 patch and not deleted if the character is used in the original game.

There is *NO* cap on the item level requirement when tempering items, so be careful that you don't exceed level 99 while upgrading them, or you'll inevitably make your items unusable if their level exceeds the maximum character level of 99!

Set Upgrade to Exceptional/Elite Recipes
-----------------------------------------------

In addition to the original patch 1.10 Cube recipes for upgrading normal rare and unique items to exceptional/elite rare and unique items, the "LoD Classic Style MOD" also provides recipes for upgrading SET items in the same manner. The ingredients for the Set upgrade recipes are identical to those of the original recipes for upgrading normal UNIQUE items to exceptional/elite unique items. The formulas are as follows:


Ral + Sol + Perfect Emerald + Normal Set Weapon = Exceptional Version of Weapon

This formula changes ONLY the base item type from the normal to the exceptional version. For example, a Long Sword is turned into a Rune Sword. It does NOT convert the item to the exceptional set version of the set item. The set item bonuses remain the same; only the item it's based on is upgraded. If the item is socketed, then jewels or runes and their mods will also remain.


Tal + Shael + Perfect Diamond + Normal Set Armor = Exceptional Version of Armor

This formula changes ONLY the base item type from the normal to the exceptional version. For example, a Quilted Armor is turned into a Ghost Armor. It does NOT convert the item to the exceptional set version of the set item. The set item bonuses remain the same; only the item it's based on is upgraded. If the item is socketed, then jewels or runes and their mods will also remain. Armor refers to any sort of armor, including helms, boots, belts, gloves and shields, not just body armor.


Lum + Pul + Perfect Emerald + Exceptional Set Weapon = Elite Version of Weapon

This formula changes ONLY the base item type from the exceptional to the elite version. For example, a Bill is turned into a Colossus Voulge. It does NOT convert the item to the elite set version of the set item. The set item bonuses remain the same; only the item it's based on is upgraded. If the item is socketed, then jewels or runes and their mods will also remain.


Ko + Lem + Perfect Diamond + Exceptional Set Armor = Elite Version of Armor

This formula changes ONLY the base item type from the exceptional to the elite version. For example, a Tigulated Mail is turned into a Loricated Mail. It does NOT convert the item to the elite set version of the set item. The set item bonuses remain the same; only the item it's based on is upgraded. If the item is socketed, then jewels or runes and their mods will also remain. Armor refers to any sort of armor, including helms, boots, belts, gloves and shields, not just body armor.


NOTES:

While these armor/weapon upgrades make sense for many rare items with good mods but weak base items, they're really useful only for selected set or unique items. For example, it wouldn't make sense to upgrade the Long Battle Bow from the Vidala set to a Large Siege Bow, or even a Crusader Bow, because neither the bow itself nor the Vidala set bonuses provide enhanced damage mods that would justify an upgrade. The "Hwanin's Majesty" or "Aldur's Watchtower" expansion sets, on the other hand, can be upgraded to nice sets for the end game in Hell difficulty. Another good tip would be an upgrade of the gloves and sash from the "Death's Disguise" set to exceptional or elite, so that they have better defense values and more space for potions (in the upgraded sash). These two "Death's Disguise" set items alone provide very nice bonuses for any melee or ranged character (see the "Arreat Summit" website for more information).

Although these set upgrade recipes are not (yet) implemented in the original 1.10 patch, the item upgrades created with them are fully compatible with the 1.10 patch, and will not be deleted if the character is used in the original game.

You can download the updated MOD as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD


All information about the new additions and changes can be found in the ReadMe.txt files.

Examples of the new items can be found on the ready-to-use level 99 characters.

I would be interested in some feedback about the new additions and changes, so please let me know how they work for you :)

Another MOD upgrade will follow SOON™ when Blizzard makes the stats of the new realm-/ladder-only rune words available (hopefully).


Have Fun! :D

[w0qj]

hi nobbie,

many thanks for all your hard work--in many ways, your Classic Style MOD is the way D2X v1.10 patch should have turned out...

just one question on Tempering Receipes, as this is a new concept:
***is there a limit of maximum 6 different affixes (3 prefix + 3 suffix) for Tempered Items?


So you start out with a "Magic" ring, such as:
Chromatic Amulet of Negation, ie:
[30% Resist All]
[Magic Damage reduced by 4]



So you add one round of Tempering of:
El + Chipped Skull + tempered Amulet -> +1% Life Leech, +1-2% Mana Leech


so should you get ONLY the below affixes (no other affixes, unlike Crafting)?
[30% Resist All]
[Magic Damage reduced by 4]
1% Life Leech
1-2% Mana Leech

[nobbie]

Yes, if you "temper" a ring or amulet, ALL of its previous attributes are deleted. Then you can add affixes from a pool of (currently) 6 different affixes. This procedure was originally in the 1.10 Cubemain.txt file (from Blizzard), I've just expanded on that idea.

[w0qj]

hi nobbie,

tks for your very quick reply!!

a) so we cannot use a "Rare" amulet as Temper receipe input?
what would be the result?


B) suppose we temper the same amulet 3 times, each time adding:
1% Life Leech
1% Mana Leech (we get this all 3 times Temper, for sake of simplicity).

so after 3 Temper on same amulet, we get:
3% Life Leech
3% Mana Leech
and 2-6 random Rare affixes (max 3 prefix & 3 suffix).


***BUT the rare affixes get re-rolled in each of the 3 times we perform Temper, right?

[nobbie]

1.) You cannot use a rare Amulet as input for creating a tempered base Amulet (see the ReadMe.txt)

2.) Tempered Amulets and Rings don't get any additional "re-rolled" affixes - they just get the affixes from the temper recipes

[nobbie]

A question for you all regarding a change in the MOD:

After setting a cap of 80%-90% for normal PI monsters in Hell now (Wraiths, Swarms, Frenzytaurs etc.), I've been playing with the idea to set a cap of 80%-90% for every immunity of normal monsters in Hell. That would remove the description "Immune To XXX" under the life bar of every normal monster in Hell and therefore make things especially for spell casters more interesting, because they don't know anymore in advance what high resistance the monster has. Another advantage would be that every elemental spell can do some amount of damage to any normal monster no matter what immunity it previously had. What do you think about such a change for the MOD, and at which % should I set the cap for the previous immunities (lightning, fire, cold, poison)?

[CelticHound]

Immunity caps:

Will it make Lower Resist too much a cheese?

-- CH

[nobbie]

Immunity caps:

Will it make Lower Resist too much a cheese?

-- CH

Not if the cap is at 80%-90%. Note that the monsters got a huge boost in 1.10 (hitpoints, speed, AI, AR, damage etc)!

[Smoketest]

I'd say that, for what are currently immune monsters, make unarmored monsters have up to 75% resistance and armored monsters up to 90%.

I already tried something like this in my own game with pretty good results (the comments are mostly for Hell Difficulty, where these things are more of an issue):

- Cold-only, fire-only, lightning-only, physical-only, etc., builds can make it, though they'll use more mana and/or attacks on super-resistant monsters. Previously they would have to run past or camp such monsters to continue through the map, or start a new game and hope for better results.

- Monsters have the same limitations as players, making things fairer across the board.

- Superuniques, but not Act Bosses, which get their immunities from being x-enchanted, still have immunities, so they pose a challenge, but at least you don't have a map full of them so they're easy to skip if you can't kill them somehow.

- You can leech from every monster (assuming 10% leechable skeletons, etc.), though the amount will still vary.

- Lower Resist won't need as many skill points to be as effective as before, since resistances are capped lower. Not a big deal since superuniques will still have immunities.

- Decrepify is no longer necessary for making PIs non-PI. It is still great for slowing and weakening monsters.

- Berserk becomes an option rather than a requirement for barbarians that have little to no magic and/or elemental damage in their attacks. It's still handy for faster killing of PR monsters, but no longer required.


That's all I can remember at the moment. One other thing to watch for is that the Stoneskin attribute will still make PIs out of monsters with a hefty PR. That's probably a small price to pay though, since it's better to have a few immune monsters rather than an entire map full. I don't mind building for survival, but being restricted in how I build the character due to maps full of silly immunities is just no fun.