Hellfire Patch v1.02.A5: Classic HF with less bugs and more polish!

[RadTang]

I can help with testing. Without anything extra my current CPU usage is about 27% !

Unless you have other programs running, it sounds like the game is still running in its normal state. i5 has 4 cores and Diablo will try to utilize 100% of one, which should keep you up at 25% CPU usage minimum so long as the game is open.

If you haven't already, in the mod file (cowqueston.dat - Marsh named it, I still haven't changed it, haha) there is an option disabled by default. Search for 'Reduced CPU usage' and erase the # symbols from in front of each of the four seperate lines that section is comprised of. Save the file, then restart the game. If you did this correctly, once you are through the menus and into the actual game where your character is standing on screen, your computer should report far less CPU usage by Diablo - but the game should run just as well as before.

BTW. Just found Acolyte's Amulet - thx for fixing it ! Now, with +50 mana and +10% res all it's very useful for my new sorcerer.

I tried to make some previously shoddy uniques useful, but not too useful. Hope those stats seem fair. And you're welcome!

BTW2: Before I've managed to run Diablo / Hellfire on Win 8, I was using virtual machine with W98

Windows 98? That's some dedication. Either that or you did't have access to Windows XP. I think Diablo ran about as well there.

Speaking of Linux, another forum member here was talking about offering instructions for setting up a virtual Linux system that can run Diablo perfectly smooth. I'm gonna be keeping an eye out for that. Haven't used Linux much, and practical examples are always helpful for learning.

Have fun!

Thanks! I will check the reduced CPU usage anyway. I only run Firefox + some chat program. Windows 98 needs a bit of work to be put. I don't know why not XP, lol. It's easier and not that much heavier for the real PC (except some really serious testing or you need the DOS mode badly but then you can use DosBox - much better thing for running DOS stuff).

My previous PC was running XP - Pro and later some modded versions too. Diablo ran OK on every one.

Edit:

checked the CPU usage of regular Hellfire (1.02) - nothing changed (still ~27% for me). By the way, your fixes to that amulet ARE STILL APPLIED even though the game uses the original description (intended?)
CPU usage of Hellfire 1.02.A5 after applying that fix: orbiting about 0-1%. I will check it from time to time and edit this post for any changes.

Ooops. Returned to the game and it crashed. I haven't even unpaused. Hellfire stayed in the manager so I had to kill it.
2nd try. Reloaded my save and alt-tabbed. Same result. This time Hellfire is not on the list.
3rd try. This time I've seen a picture for a sec and then it crashed.

Contents of Hellfire.err (last modified by 3rd attempt to recreate this behavior):

Exception code: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION
Fault address: 61B70E81 01:0000FE81 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdva.dll

Registers:
EAX:EFEFEFEF
EBX:00000000
ECX:00925270
EDX:61B70E50
ESI:0818B4B8
EDI:0093B5C0
CS:EIP:0023:61B70E81
SS:ESP:002B:0018EF10 EBP:0018EF18
DS:002B ES:002B FS:0053 GS:002B
Flags:00010282

Call stack:
Address Frame Logical addr Module
61B70E81 0018EF18 0001:0000FE81 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdva.dll
62987677 0018EF48 0001:00046677 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdag.dll
62967954 0018EFF0 0001:00026954 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdag.dll
6294DA47 0018F008 0001:0000CA47 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdag.dll
642D433B 0018F020 0001:0000333B C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiu9pag.dll
64338553 0018F040 0001:00047553 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ddraw.dll
64311484 0018F0BC 0001:00020484 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ddraw.dll
74F9EEC6 0018F100 0001:0001DEC6 C:\Windows\system32\apphelp.dll
004181DD 0018F19C 0001:000171DD G:\Sierra\Hellfire\Hellfire.exe
0047EEE7 0018FF80 0001:0007DEE7 G:\Sierra\Hellfire\Hellfire.exe
75B57C04 0018FF94 0001:00007C04 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\KERNEL32.DLL
778EAD1F 0018FFDC 0001:00059D1F C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
778EACEA 0018FFEC 0001:00059CEA C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll

Seems that alt-tabbing is strictly prohibited with reduced CPU usage turned on.

Alt-tabbed to check the CPU usage. The game crashed.
Gotta check it without reduced CPU usage - but it wasn't crashing as far as I remember.
Yes, no problems. Seems that this crash is related to reduced CPU usage.

4th attempt with alt-tab - crashed.
Here's error from Hellfire.err

Exception code: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION
Fault address: 61B70E81 01:0000FE81 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdva.dll

Registers:
EAX:EFEFEFEF
EBX:00000000
ECX:00875200
EDX:61B70E50
ESI:055CB4B8
EDI:0088B5C0
CS:EIP:0023:61B70E81
SS:ESP:002B:0018EF10 EBP:0018EF18
DS:002B ES:002B FS:0053 GS:002B
Flags:00010282

Call stack:
Address Frame Logical addr Module
61B70E81 0018EF18 0001:0000FE81 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdva.dll
62987677 0018EF48 0001:00046677 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdag.dll
62967954 0018EFF0 0001:00026954 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdag.dll
6294DA47 0018F008 0001:0000CA47 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiumdag.dll
642D433B 0018F020 0001:0000333B C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\atiu9pag.dll
64338553 0018F040 0001:00047553 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ddraw.dll
64311484 0018F0BC 0001:00020484 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ddraw.dll
74F9EEC6 0018F100 0001:0001DEC6 C:\Windows\system32\apphelp.dll
004181DD 0018F19C 0001:000171DD G:\Sierra\Hellfire\Hellfire.exe
0047EEE7 0018FF80 0001:0007DEE7 G:\Sierra\Hellfire\Hellfire.exe
75B57C04 0018FF94 0001:00007C04 C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\KERNEL32.DLL
778EAD1F 0018FFDC 0001:00059D1F C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
778EACEA 0018FFEC 0001:00059CEA C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll

I've compared both logs.
Here's a list of differences:
3rd try: ECX:00925270
4th try: ECX:00875200

3rd try: ESI:0818B4B8
4th try: ESI:055CB4B8

3rd try: EDI:0093B5C0
4th try: EDI:0088B5C0

Other are unchanged.
Maybe they are result of different game state. I don't know. I'm posting it in hope it would help.

Sorry for the long post and a streak of edits.