11-02-2003, 04:15 AM
That may or may not be a thing of the past. Don't thank me, though - thank Peter Hu. It was his deep involvement with the modding community that the Phrozen Keep that brought about a motherload of changes geared entirely towards mod-makers (as noted in the patch.txt). Many of those changes brought what's known as "hardcoded" modifications into the realm of "softcoded", making .dll editing MUCH less necessary. Things like adjusting Gambling odds, skill swapping, etc. that used to need extensive .dll editing can now be edited directly via the text files, greatly improving not only the customizability of the game, but also the ease of modding for old vets and newbies alike.
The modding community is constantly hard at work trying to figure out all the new changes that came about from 1.10 (over the beta version, and even over 1.09d), but so far it's looking pretty incredible. 1.10 may not have been a boon for everyone, but it delivered one thing as promised: features for modders. :D
The old versions of the mod, both with and without the .dll edits, do not require the .dll's to be used with the mod in order to play it. You will, of course, have some notably missing features and/or bug fixes due to a lack of modified .dll files, but the mod is still entirely playable, at least on a PC (I would assume it's no different than on a Mac). Most of what the .dll's did, in the past, was Gambling odds and annoying bugfixes, but there were some significant improvements (as noted in the version.txt file of the old mod versions). Again, though, it was completely playable - whether you could live with the losses or not, though, was up to you. ;)
I'm actually working on converting some more 1.09d modding into the 1.10 version. I have completed a few small changes, most notably (and the one I JUST now finished) being the complete rehaul that Hirelings got. Hirelings are no longer a super powerhouse. Being of equal level, with equal equipment, your merc will perform just as good (or bad) as you do. This leveled the playing field significantly in 1.09d, but as for any far-reaching effects it will have in 1.10, I cannot say just yet. SO MUCH has changed in 1.10 that a good deal of the old changes are virtually worthless, and thus would be a waste of effort to convert (most notably Skills changes - combined with entirely modified skills and monsters, as well as the addition of Synergies, not to mention that the old skill-related files are now composed of 3 seperate files, it's just too much work and hassle for almost zero gain). However, such is not the case for all (not nearly so), and even those old changes that will be left behind won't be forgotten completely - they'll just be reborn from scratch in the new version, after I get a better feel for 1.10's overall "balance", etc. Skills were such a huge focus in the old mod that it's very painful for me to have to start all over, since I spent (literally) years fine-tweaking all the old skills. However, with the dawn of a new patch comes a new chance to play around, and the inclusion of Synergies gives me one more feature to toy with (most likely it will remain, but it's not 100% certain). Plus, skills are much more flexible and customizable now, so from the ashes of great loss rises the birth of great gain.
I'm going to continue working on the mod for at least a little while longer tonight, and then I'll probably shelf it for awhile. I'm toying with the idea of converting over the old Crafting recipes, or at least a portion of them, but I may hold off for awhile. Rune Words most certainly will not make it over yet, if at all, since so much has changed it would probably be easier to start anew. Likewise for a few other things. One big change that people will really feel is the loss of Elites. For now, I plan to keep this change to see how it works out. However, I may just end up re-enabling them and working around them. I would prefer to keep only Normals and Exceptionals, as I found them to be MUCH more balanced than Elites, but it may prove more work trying to balance the game around Elites than to balance Elites within the game. We shall see. In fact, I think I may just re-enable Elites for now, and just let it sit at that for awhile. My guess is the game would be too difficult without them, lack of monster regen or no. We'll see.
One thing's for certain: this mod is far from dead. I'll probably put up a new version of the mod tonight, but it's not guaranteed. It's looking hopeful, though. Try out the mod, and tell me what you think. Obviously most things are going to be way out of whack, but I have to start somewhere, so that is what I am doing. I look forward to your feedback.
The modding community is constantly hard at work trying to figure out all the new changes that came about from 1.10 (over the beta version, and even over 1.09d), but so far it's looking pretty incredible. 1.10 may not have been a boon for everyone, but it delivered one thing as promised: features for modders. :D
The old versions of the mod, both with and without the .dll edits, do not require the .dll's to be used with the mod in order to play it. You will, of course, have some notably missing features and/or bug fixes due to a lack of modified .dll files, but the mod is still entirely playable, at least on a PC (I would assume it's no different than on a Mac). Most of what the .dll's did, in the past, was Gambling odds and annoying bugfixes, but there were some significant improvements (as noted in the version.txt file of the old mod versions). Again, though, it was completely playable - whether you could live with the losses or not, though, was up to you. ;)
I'm actually working on converting some more 1.09d modding into the 1.10 version. I have completed a few small changes, most notably (and the one I JUST now finished) being the complete rehaul that Hirelings got. Hirelings are no longer a super powerhouse. Being of equal level, with equal equipment, your merc will perform just as good (or bad) as you do. This leveled the playing field significantly in 1.09d, but as for any far-reaching effects it will have in 1.10, I cannot say just yet. SO MUCH has changed in 1.10 that a good deal of the old changes are virtually worthless, and thus would be a waste of effort to convert (most notably Skills changes - combined with entirely modified skills and monsters, as well as the addition of Synergies, not to mention that the old skill-related files are now composed of 3 seperate files, it's just too much work and hassle for almost zero gain). However, such is not the case for all (not nearly so), and even those old changes that will be left behind won't be forgotten completely - they'll just be reborn from scratch in the new version, after I get a better feel for 1.10's overall "balance", etc. Skills were such a huge focus in the old mod that it's very painful for me to have to start all over, since I spent (literally) years fine-tweaking all the old skills. However, with the dawn of a new patch comes a new chance to play around, and the inclusion of Synergies gives me one more feature to toy with (most likely it will remain, but it's not 100% certain). Plus, skills are much more flexible and customizable now, so from the ashes of great loss rises the birth of great gain.
I'm going to continue working on the mod for at least a little while longer tonight, and then I'll probably shelf it for awhile. I'm toying with the idea of converting over the old Crafting recipes, or at least a portion of them, but I may hold off for awhile. Rune Words most certainly will not make it over yet, if at all, since so much has changed it would probably be easier to start anew. Likewise for a few other things. One big change that people will really feel is the loss of Elites. For now, I plan to keep this change to see how it works out. However, I may just end up re-enabling them and working around them. I would prefer to keep only Normals and Exceptionals, as I found them to be MUCH more balanced than Elites, but it may prove more work trying to balance the game around Elites than to balance Elites within the game. We shall see. In fact, I think I may just re-enable Elites for now, and just let it sit at that for awhile. My guess is the game would be too difficult without them, lack of monster regen or no. We'll see.
One thing's for certain: this mod is far from dead. I'll probably put up a new version of the mod tonight, but it's not guaranteed. It's looking hopeful, though. Try out the mod, and tell me what you think. Obviously most things are going to be way out of whack, but I have to start somewhere, so that is what I am doing. I look forward to your feedback.
Roland *The Gunslinger*