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

[RadTang]

By the way, your fixes to that amulet ARE STILL APPLIED even though the game uses the original description (intended?)

That might be due to loading a saved game in plain 1.02. Until the amulet was re-equipped, the item's effect on your character would remain loaded from the save.

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

That is unfortunate. I haven't had any issues tabbing in and out, but then, I don't believe I've tested this yet on Windows 8. I'm using Windows 7 here. It's possible the issue is unique to Win 8. I'll have to look into that. Thank you.

Check my previous (the quoted one) post again. I've added a lot of details which you might have omitted. I haven't refreshed the forums too and haven't known about your reply.

BTW: I won't test it on Windows 10 neither regular nor Insider's Preview. I will wait a couple of months to make sure that there won't be any problem with drivers (especially with printer / scanner as they're quite old). I will check that issue on Vista on my laptop. Not today but in near future.

[Belix]

I've been unable yet to recreate an ALT+Tab crash using the CPU use reduction change in either Diablo or Hellfire, in either Windows 7 or Windows 8.

I have a few questions for you:

-What kind of graphics hardware does the computer in question have? NVIDIA, ATI, Intel?
-What ddraw.dll wrapper are you using (since I'm not sure Hellfire will even run on Windows 8 without one)? The two most likely are aqrit's wrapper (approximately 23kb) and StrangeByte's wrapper (approx 190kb).
-Are you using anything else with Hellfire? Like the Bloom Lighting patch someone made (unstable last time I checked, can crash the game often)?

Thanks.

[RadTang]

I've been unable yet to recreate an ALT+Tab crash using the CPU use reduction change in either Diablo or Hellfire, in either Windows 7 or Windows 8.

I have a few questions for you:

-What kind of graphics hardware does the computer in question have? NVIDIA, ATI, Intel?
-What ddraw.dll wrapper are you using (since I'm not sure Hellfire will even run on Windows 8 without one)? The two most likely are aqrit's wrapper (approximately 23kb) and StrangeByte's wrapper (approx 190kb).
-Are you using anything else with Hellfire? Like the Bloom Lighting patch someone made (unstable last time I checked, can crash the game often)?

Thanks.

My GPU is ATI Radeon R9 270 (some version of it). I don't use any of the wrappers you've mentioned. Only the original Sierra / Blizzard stuff but patched with your patch / mod so no wrappers and no other stuff (except 1.02.A5). Haven't even known about these wrappers.

[Fuzzybot]

The unique item Demon Plate should have in fact +120 AC versus demons on top of its natural 80 AC , not +40 AC vs demons.

Also i wanted to know if they fixed the unique item bug that required you to loot the 2 unique full plates before being able to loot a Demon Spike coat.

I got a Demon plate first time i completed warrior of blood and was kinda sad it wasn't a Demon spike Coat, and on top of that the item's stats seem nerfed down compared to what they are supposed to be.

http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/Demon_Plate

[Belix]

Also i wanted to know if they fixed the unique item bug that required you to loot the 2 unique full plates before being able to loot a Demon Spike coat.

You should be able to find all of the uniques normally now in single player games, without a prerequisite unique having to drop first. Marsh's mod specifically adjusted the qlvl of many unique items slightly in an effort to fix that problem.

The unique item Demon Plate should have in fact +120 AC versus demons on top of its natural 80 AC , not +40 AC vs demons.

I got a Demon plate first time i completed warrior of blood and was kinda sad it wasn't a Demon spike Coat, and on top of that the item's stats seem nerfed down compared to what they are supposed to be.

Neither the Demon Plate's stats or behavior have been changed. The information available on the Demon Plate and Bone Chain unique armors shown on that website are misleading, and appear to be copied from http://www.ladyofthecake.com/diablo/armor.htm, which contains the same error in clarity. Both pages mistakenly describe the 'total' resultant armor value as the 'extra' bonus applied.

As far as I am aware, in both official versions of Hellfire (1.00 and 1.01), the code works thusly:

Extra AC vs Undead = +20 AC
Extra AC vs Demons = +40 AC

This information is corroborated in two different places in Jarulf's Guide:

3.5.1 - Properties of unique items
Demon Plate Armor | full plate mail | AC 80, AC 120 vs. Demons

Chapter 6.2.3 - Monster versus Player
4. in Hellfire, if the player has extra AC versus Demons or Undead, subtract 40/20 if the monster is of the correct type

The only thing that has changed is the text description of the 'Extra AC vs' attribute, to expose the actual real bonus you get (before it just said Extra AC, leaving players to guess how much). The item hasn't been nerfed, since its actual effects are unchanged.

However, it is safe to say that, like many of Hellfire's uniques, the item in question simply isn't very good. Virtually any magic Full Plate will be superior, making Demon Plate Armor all but useless unless it is the first enchanted plate you happen to find.

But then, even the highest level unique armor in vanilla Diablo - the Demonspike Coat - only had a mere 100 Armor Class, which makes the Demon Plate's AC superior to practically everything in Hell that isn't a Lava Maw even at 120 AC.

[Thenryb]

Is the Demonspike Coat even findable in this version? I recall it was in HF-Fixed and Lemming turned it into a leather armor which made it nice for monks.

[Belix]

Is the Demonspike Coat even findable in this version?

I think so. I'm certain that Marsh moved Demon Plate Armor and Demonspike Coat around in the unique list at least, which was part of the changes he made to fix qlvl issues that prevented certain items from dropping normally. But without taking a closer look I can't verify that the qlvls and/or base items are different.

As for the Demonspike in HF:Fixed, since Monks already have the most freedom when it comes to armor selection, I feel it would be fair to be more inclusive of the other 5 classes if I were to make any changes to the unique armors here (and making Demonspike a Leather would muck with how Diablo generates its internal item table, and could cause people's gear to morph).

[Volker_Kaudah]

Hi Belix,

just registered for this fine Hellfire Modification. I tested Singleplayer (works flawless so far).

Would it be possible to implement the possibilty for diablo to drop a random item (not just the undead crown). would be far more motivating. Furtermore could you implement only diablo and nakrul to be able to drop high qlvl affixes like godly or the whale?
like this it would be even more motivating killing those bosses and those items would still remain very very rare.

Thanks for your hard work so far and keep it going

€: Diablo clicker doesn't work for me. I do what the instructions say, but it doesn't work...

[Belix]

Greetings.

Would it be possible to implement the possibilty for diablo to drop a random item (not just the undead crown).

I intend to. In fact, I thought I had already fixed that. My apologies. I may have missed including it.

Furtermore could you implement only diablo and nakrul to be able to drop high qlvl affixes like godly or the whale?

I've been considering letting the game increase the item affixes potentially dropped on higher difficulties, but it'd probably be a bit more work than just raising the qlvl range they can drop. Due to the way items are generated, any monster capable of dropping Godly or of the Whale could have other issues, like every piece of jewelry it ever drops having no prefix and always having the of the Zodiac suffix.

I do like your suggestion though of constraining it to bosses somehow. There is some code related to unique bosses that adjusts their monster level slightly (because they're uniques), perhaps I can modify that to adjust based on difficulty level. Combined with some new behavior that ensures they aren't prevent from dropping the normal range of usual junk so that these treasures don't become ridiculously common, I might be able to achieve unique drops where these items are possible:

Nightmare difficulty: Emerald (already possible), Holy, Ruthless, Weird, Wyrm's, Champion's, of Burning, of Carnage, of the Mammoth.

Hell difficulty: Godly, Hydra's, Merciless, Strange, of Slaughter, of Thunder, of the Whale

The rules for which items these could be generated on would of course remain unchanged (so no shields or jewelry of the Whale, for example).

For the most part, this would yield easier access to items that Wirt could already sell rarely, but there is at least one significant exception:

It would now be possible to obtain a maximum of 225 Armor Class with Godly Full Plate Mail (75 +200%), with the potential for an insane +100 Hit Points with it.

I suppose that's not too crazy to find towards the end of the game in Hell difficulty only, at least. I'll have to think about it.

Anyway, I agree it'd be nice to have easier access to these items, as it seems this was the developer's intention, but so many players have been doing just fine without them for years; I hesitate to change something that may make the game seem too easy to the badass players out there.

Thanks for your hard work so far and keep it going

I will, though I've been quite busy lately. It may be many months yet until there is another update. Sometimes even 1 of these changes I've made to Hellfire took hours or days to figure out, and there's so much more I want to do. It is always difficult to stop the effort to put out an update that only achieved some of it.

€: Diablo clicker doesn't work for me. I do what the instructions say, but it doesn't work...

It can be really fickle. Every time you play, try the following:

a) Start Diablo/Hellfire.
b) Get into a game (SP or MP).
c) Tab out and run DiabloClicker as an admin (otherwise it may get blocked when it tries to connect with Diablo).
d) In its menu, Clicker -> Install Clicker.
e) Tab back into the game and click somewhere on screen. If it worked successfully, you should hear a little boop sound.

I recommend a repeat time of about 300 in the Setup for this program. If I remember right, its default speed is really fast. So fast you might put an item back on you were trying to take off.

Have fun!

[FireIceTalon]

While the idea is certainly neat, it probably isn't for the best.

The max beneficial AC in PvM is 285 for a level 50 char, which is pretty easy to get as it is if you find a nice Awesome Full Plate of whatever. I suppose the appeal of being able to obtain a legitimate Godly Full plate of the Whale could make one want to play just for the thrill of trying to find it, however.

As you already mentioned, I feel like chars with top notch gear are already extremely powerful as it is (not necessarily a bad thing, but these new items would probably raise them to levels where they could be classified as very "overpowered"), even on hell difficulty. You'd probably have to insert a new difficulty level with the introduction of such items? As a veteran player with lots of perfect/near perfect gear, I think if my chars were any stronger the game would be too easy. The best items currently in the game are still very rare and prestigious, and can take years to find - especially if you are one of those fanatics like me that wants as close to perfect rolls as possible.

Plus, not sure what the implications would be from a PvP perspective. I feel like with the current available gear and established rules, D1 PvP is quite well balanced and conceived. I think the introduction of Godly full plates, Hydra Rings of Wizardry, and such could alter that balance in a negative way. The positive of making some of the already existing affixes possible to drop, is of course, not having to do countless shop runs at Wirt. But I doubt its worth it overall in the end due to the above mentioned affects it would have on the interacting mechanics of the game, both in PvM and PvP.

[Volker_Kaudah]

Thanks for the advice with the diablo clicker. the "administrator trick" did it for me.

I have another thing you could add in a future update. the bosses like king leoric or the butcher ("normal" unique bosses too) don't give any exp at all in single player. could you please change that?

€:

got another thing u could fix. when an item drops directly were a doorway is it is impossible to pick it up.

Another thing came up my mind: could you make it possible to put potions in the belt by shift-left clicking them (just like in diablo 2)?

Furthermore it would be nice if oils, when picked up, would not be inserted in a free belt space automatically.

Could you maybe change the drops of na-krul to random (besides the apocalypse book)? the guaranteed drop of a great sword and a staff isn't quite satisfying...

€2: i just found a bow of swiftness. maybe it is my eyes...but i can't see any difference in the attack speed compared to a normal bow...

I found the spell "berserk" when i cast it with my rogue...nothing happens...

€3: i recently killed diablo on normal. did every d-lvl killing every monster (including hive and crypt) and ended up lvl 27. had a plan to go from there to nightmare and clear all over again and then hell (think thats how it's meant to be ) but the monsters on dlvl 1 on nightmare already gave me ZERO EXP...is that normal?? very strange.

[Hammerskjold]

Anyway, I agree it'd be nice to have easier access to these items, as it seems this was the developer's intention, but so many players have been doing just fine without them for years; I hesitate to change something that may make the game seem too easy to the badass players out there.

Agreed, the griswold pack peek in vanilla HF is probably the biggest hint of that intention. It didn't work quite as intended, but since HF =/= D1 vanilla, considering HF was a licensed expansion pack for D1 by Sierra/Synergistic Software. And this patch is a player made modification of that expansion, and you're doing this out of your own free time. You really have no one to answer to.

More seriously, just keep doing what you're doing. Especially since you're doing this at a pro bono/gratis rate.

Anyhow I got a question for you if you don't mind. How feasible is it to change around the characters attack speed rate in HF modding? Could it be done by hex editing alone? Iirc there was a small, non game breaking* bug with HF:F with the bard's swing speed, but only using mace weapons. If she has a "of speed\haste", she could match the top speed of a warrior's one handed weapon swing. *(reason I say it isn't game breaking or unbalanced is it doesn't crash the game, and bards using mace is usually not as effective as bards with swords, even with the increased speed.) I don't mean that I want to adjust the bard necessarily, I'm more interested in trying to see if there is an easy way to edit the characters attack speed rate.

Thanks Belix, and again, kudos for the work you put in this mod\patch.

[Thenryb]

I had forgotten that the bard could achieve warrior one-handed swing speed by equipping a mace of speed/haste. I recall that she could not stun-lock advocates dual-wielding swords. The bard is less effective with mace/sword generally only because she loses the sweep attack and because some monsters 13 and below were not demons (succubi and lava maws). I suspect the sweep attack has been nerfed in this mod but in vanilla h/f it was quite an advantage. I know Lemming made succubi demons in his mod but in vanilla H/F they were animals. Do not know about this mod.

[Hammerskjold]

I had forgotten that the bard could achieve warrior one-handed swing speed by equipping a mace of speed/haste. I recall that she could not stun-lock advocates dual-wielding swords.

As far as vanilla HF and HF:F, iirc you're correct. I did try various combos, but in general I found bards going with mace seems to drop their damage by a noticeable amount, just generally speaking. Things are different when the clvl are say 40, plus or minus a few lvls. Going with a dreamflange and shield and playing as a mage can work, but I guess we've wondered over to the spell zapping type of bard, and no longer blunt wielding type of melee bard.

I do have a mace\shield sometimes mage bard somewhere in my HF char folder though. Quite fun to play as well at least IMO.

The bard is less effective with mace/sword generally only because she loses the sweep attack and because some monsters 13 and below were not demons (succubi and lava maws). I suspect the sweep attack has been nerfed in this mod but in vanilla h/f it was quite an advantage.

Ah yes, thanks Thenryb for that reminder and explanation.
Found this post as well from the past.

http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/thread-8955.html

Unfortunately I'm not much of a coder\ code reader so I'm still unsure just how feasible it would be to even try making the changes I'm thinking about. Just as a personal HF tweak, mostly for my own use and experiment.

And that sweep attack in vanilla HF though bugged iirc, was definitely quite fun. Part of the frustrating charm* of vanilla unmodded HF I guess, different (and numerous) bugs balancing each other out in a way.

*But really, IMO Vanilla HF is still frustrating and mostly an incomplete product for the most part. The best part of me paying 20$ for a new HF cd from a computer store way back when, really was for the mods. And a patch like this from Belix just makes HF that much more worthwhile IMO. And have you seen some of the prices for an HF disc? Highest price I saw for a sealed copy was 100$. The used prices are more reasonable for most people at 20$ average, when they are available for sale. Hmm.... brb, gonna try to find a shrink wrapping machine and unload these AOL discs. Wait I mean...I will definitely do no such thing.

[Thenryb]

And that sweep attack in vanilla HF though bugged iirc, was definitely quite fun.

Ah yes. I recall my barbarian killing Red Vex and Blackjade at the same time with a single blow.

[LennyLen]

Unfortunately I'm not much of a coder\ code reader so I'm still unsure just how feasible it would be to even try making the changes I'm thinking about. Just as a personal HF tweak, mostly for my own use and experiment.

You can change the single handed attack speed of each character class pretty easily with a hex editor. From memory, you need to ensure that this value is either higher or lower (sorry, I can't remember which) than the frameset value for attacking, or they won't be able to attack.

I have the details for the memory locations, etc. somewhere on a drive or disc, and I'll see if I can dig them up. They probably are still online somewhere too, if you want to try looking them up.

[Belix]

I am enthused with all the discussion here (regardless of whether it is about Diablo in general or my patch/mod hybrid thing I can never decide what exactly to call).

If anyone would care to offer some feedback: Which bug fixes do you most appreciate so far that any of these projects brought to the community (HF:Fixed, Marsh's Mod, this)? And from this project specifically, which are your favorite and least favorite non-change fixes I've made?

This gives me an idea which bugs I might focus on, and what new features/changes I'm considering I should prioritize. Or avoid if they're similar to things that haven't proven popular.

Although I consider most of the changes that aren't strictly fixes by nature to be reasonably aligned with the spirit of the game, I am the first person to admit that this is interpretive. To that end, I hope to establish in a future version a way to easily differentiate these two different aspects of the project, so that users will have the option of choosing a pure fix package with no extra fluff, while retaining the option to use any of the extended features or adjustments they might want separately.

That said, it is time to reply to some of things have been said or asked since my last post. Since I've been given a lot to respond to, I'll be replying to everything in the order it was posted, and will seperate posts with a row of === signs. Skim through for these if you're looking for the reply to your posts faster.


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The max beneficial AC in PvM is 285 for a level 50 char, which is pretty easy to get as it is if you find a nice Awesome Full Plate of whatever.

I agree that in vanilla Diablo a Warrior can obtain high or maximum effective AC with reasonable ease already. But... this thread is about Hellfire, so I have to discuss this from that perspective.

As a matter of technical accuracy, the minimum effective Armor Class in Hellfire against non-boss enemies is actually 301 AC. This is due to Flesh Things, which (in Hell difficulty) are Level 58 with 270% chance to hit. While I forget the exact figure, the maximum useful AC here against bosses like Diablo (with his chance to hit bug fixed) and Na-krul was somewhere around 410 AC.

More importantly, most of Hellfire's new classes are encouraged to play without shields. That's a significant hit to the AC of the Hellfire classes (though less so for the Monk), and the loss of an item with a decent Hit Point or Resistance bonus as well.

And most importantly, Barbarians and Bards with no shield cannot block at all, making them entirely dependent on their Armor Class to avoid hits - the same AC which is naturally lower without said shield. This makes their melee careers quite painful at high difficulties; stun-lock and item durability (plus repair expenses) become serious concerns.

I'm not saying these characters can't achieve maximum useful AC, but even with a Level 50 character reaching 300+ Armor Class with no shield is not easy. I'm curious if a Barbarian could even break 300 AC at Level 50 at all without wearing Gotterdamerung and +Dex jewels instead of +All.

And that brings me to another point. I don't think discussing characters in terms of Level 50 makes sense here. Back when you could always find someone to play Hell/Hell with on Battle.net, playing characters over and over until eventually hitting Level 50 wasn't uncommon. But Hellfire never had Battle.net support, most of us probably don't have that kind of free time any more, and Marsh's Mod changed some things with the item table that would invalidate some or all of the equipment of any existing character, so I suspect anyone using a Level 50 character here would be an anomaly.

So, here's a more comprehensive list of useful Armor Class maximums against any normal monster found in Hell difficulty:

Level 30: 341 AC
Level 35: 331 AC
Level 40: 321 AC
Level 45: 311 AC
Level 50: 301 AC

With all of these factors considered, I don't think being able to find a magic plate with up to 225 AC (38 more than the previous 187 AC max) is unreasonable, especially since a 255 AC plate already exists in Hellfire. I have to admit, I almost forgot about the Armor of Gloom myself.

But even considering all of that, I still agree with you that it is unnecessary. If I were to actually implement higher qlvl affix drops, I would consider altering it to exclude items that couldn't legitimately be generated; so you could find the types of Holy Plates, Emerald Bows and Whale Helms etc. that Wirt could of sold before, but no Godly Plates of the Whale or other newcomers. Maybe. I'm not sure I'd ever even implement that at all, so the specifics of how it would work may be wasted thought.

Plus, not sure what the implications would be from a PvP perspective.

None. As you said, vanilla Diablo 1 PvP is fine. I've never heard of any serious PvP activity in Hellfire, and I suspect that's probably because it is broken for some reason. If not because of the various bugs it came with (such as Warriors blocking first and checking AC second), then probably the weird items (255 AC Plate, +60 Dex rings).

Hydra Rings of Wizardry

Just wanted to note that the Hydra's and Wyrm's affixes only appear on Staves, and reiterate my earlier comment about only intending to enable allowed affixes to be generated on items, not change which items affixes are allowed on.

My apologies. Framing your message in the context of Hellfire/this mod seems largely dismissive. You strike me as a long time Diablo player that is intimately familiar with the game; I respect and admire that. I share your love for the original game in its unaltered form and suspect, were I ever to make a project like this for it, I doubt I'd find sufficient reason to modify it outside of bug fixes. Hellfire was a mess though (and perhaps arguably still is somewhat, despite the efforts of community members over the years).


========================

Thanks for the advice with the diablo clicker. the "administrator trick" did it for me.

You're very welcome. I haven't found much use for the clicker yet, personally, since many years of playing the game has made repeated clicks such a habit that I often continue clicking rapidly even with the cilcker on. It is a difficult thing to unlearn.

the bosses like king leoric or the butcher ("normal" unique bosses too) don't give any exp at all in single player.

Are sure about that? I know the original game doesn't work that way, and I don't think anything here alters that. I can look into it, but I'm guessing you may have killed them when your character was too high a level to gain any experience for it.

when an item drops directly were a doorway is it is impossible to pick it up.

I'm also puzzled by this. Are you referring to bugs the game originally had (it's always been difficult to grab items that fall behind doors), or did you experience this with this mod? Just want to make sure. If you can describe where the door was (Catacombs, Caves, Leoric's Tomb) etc. that information may be helpful. I did change it so blocked doors don't highlight any more on mouse over, so it may be possible that items in the door square are getting disabled somehow too, but I haven't witnessed this.

could you make it possible to put potions in the belt by shift-left clicking them (just like in diablo 2)?

That may be possible. This behavior already exists in the game when you first pick up a potion, so if I can find it, I can probably use or copy it to achieve this. It's a good suggestion and I'll put it on the 'things to attempt' list.

Furthermore it would be nice if oils, when picked up, would not be inserted in a free belt space automatically.

I'm not sure if I can do anything about that, but I'll consider investigating it.

Could you maybe change the drops of na-krul to random (besides the apocalypse book)? the guaranteed drop of a great sword and a staff isn't quite satisfying...

Agreed, and I'd like to change it as well. Unfortunately I don't know how to both keep him dropping Apocalypse Books (as he is the only source for them in Hellfire, I believe) while also dropping random items. Things like this would be so much simpler if the game's source code had ever been released. I don't know if I'll ever be able to address this, though.

i just found a bow of swiftness. maybe it is my eyes...but i can't see any difference in the attack speed compared to a normal bow...

I'm pretty sure this is working in the current version. I'll double-check next time I play it.

Unless you're a Rogue, the difference is fairly imperceptible. These bows reduce the number of frames in the attack animation by 1 frame. For the Rogue, this changes her attack time from 7 frames to 6 frames, which is roughly a 17% increase in attack speed. For a Warriors, Bards and Barbarians, the change is 11 frames to 10 frames, or a 10% speed bonus - almost half the benefit the Rogue gains. Setting aside the fact that Sorcerers have no real business wielding bows, they shift from 16 frames to 15 frames - roughly a 7% increase.

While subtle, this increase in attack speed is significant, particularly to high level Rogues whose damage mostly comes from the character's level and attributes, and can utilize Swiftness bows to put out more damage over time than even the mightiest war bows.

I found the spell "berserk" when i cast it with my rogue...nothing happens...

The Berserk spell that Hellfire introduced needs to be targeted on non-boss monsters. I think if they're Magic Immune, it may not work, or has a very low chance of working. When it takes effect, the monster will begin to glow. While Berserked, its combat abilities are slightly boosted and it will fight with other monsters.

the monsters on dlvl 1 on nightmare already gave me ZERO EXP...is that normal?? very strange.

Yeah, that's nromal. You probably found the Dungeon very easy on Nightmare with your Level 27 character. As a general rule, the way the game is designed is that you'll get little or no experience fighting levels that are really easy. If you're not doing battle somewhere you get a bit of a workout, you're probably not getting much experience there either.

Basically, monsters have a level just like your hero, and the deeper you go, the higher monster levels are. As you level up higher, you gain less experience from monsters that are lower level, until eventually they are worth nothing any more.


========================

You really have no one to answer to.

True, but my ultimate goal here is to offer an improved version of Hellfire that remains true to its original spirit and doesn't feel like somebody else's version of the game, so I'm trying to keep changes minimalistic. Also because it'd be easier at some point to just make my own game than, say, produce a mod as extensive as The Hell.

More seriously, just keep doing what you're doing. Especially since you're doing this at a pro bono/gratis rate.

Even thank yous are just icing on the cake. I've been playing Diablo (vanilla and HF) for many years, and expect I will be for many more. I just figured it'd be nice to spend some time making Hellfire better now so I can enjoy it more moving forward. All the thanks and suggestions I've gotten here have more than repaid the extra effort I put into sharing the work freely.

How feasible is it to change around the characters attack speed rate in HF modding? Could it be done by hex editing alone?

I haven't looked at this in awhile, but if I recall correctly there is an internal table in the game somewhere that lists the number of frames in each character's various attack animations. In theory, setting that lower than the actual number of frames in the animation would speed it up. So I think it is just 1 simple value somewhere to edit as you hoped.

I'm not clear why you're asking, though. Can I provide you with more information? Were you hoping to get the exact addresses of some locations you could play with, or some code you could try add to this mod file and adjust attack speeds with?

I didn't know about any quirk with Bards and maces. That might be interesting to investigate. I'm pretty sure Jarulf would have spotted that in the attack speeds, but the information in his table doesn't say the Bard should be that fast.

Thanks Belix, and again, kudos for the work you put in this mod\patch.

You're (all) very welcome. My only regret is not having enough time to do more with it faster. If I could, I'd even prod some of you guys to try and play some multiplayer coop. Technically speaking, enough bugs have been fixed I'd even be willing to Ironman with it now, though some of the changes this mod has made (shared XP in particular), and differences between Diablo and Hellfire would make that a very different experience.


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I recall that she could not stun-lock advocates dual-wielding swords.

Speed/Haste weapons bring her just 1 frame short of that. Fortunately, her prowess with magic make it pretty easy for her to finish off anything she's softened up with melee that decides to run or teleport away. A little Fireball, Stone Curse or Nova work wonders.

I suspect the sweep attack has been nerfed in this mod but in vanilla h/f it was quite an advantage.

It definitely more than made up for the absence of a shield back then. Now I actually consider using them sometimes on either class. But then, perhaps being able to reliably slay 3 Blood Knights on Hell difficulty in an MP game with a single swing was just a little overpowered anyway.

I know Lemming made succubi demons in his mod but in vanilla H/F they were animals. Do not know about this mod.

I think only Hell Spawn were Animals in HF, not all Succubi (or just the type named Succubus). Marsh brought over quite a few changes from HF:Fixed, so if Lemming fixed it, it might be fixed here also. I'm not certain. It has taken me awhile to isolate all of the changes Marsh didn't document. I have them all pinned down now, but about a third of them remain unidentified... I'd better ask Cain for help.


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Unfortunately I'm not much of a coder\ code reader so I'm still unsure just how feasible it would be to even try making the changes I'm thinking about. Just as a personal HF tweak, mostly for my own use and experiment.

As I said, not clear exactly what you have in mind. Give me specifics, and if it isn't too crazy, I might volunteer it for you right here.

And a patch like this from Belix just makes HF that much more worthwhile IMO.

Aww, thanks!



EDIT: Woops, missed 2 new posts since I walked off to have dinner before finishing this reply. But I don't think I have anything else to add right now. Carry on!
EDIT #2: Fixed incorrect AC value provided for the Armor of Gloom.

[Thenryb]

I think only Hell Spawn were Animals in HF, not all Succubi (or just the type named Succubus). Marsh brought over quite a few changes from HF:Fixed, so if Lemming fixed it, it might be fixed here also.

Senior moment-I meant to say Hell Spawn. The other witches were demons.

I'm pretty sure this is working in the current version. I'll double-check next time I play it.

The restoration of swiftness on bows to be like Diablo is definitely working.

Which bug fixes do you most appreciate so far that any of these projects brought to the community (HF:Fixed, Marsh's Mod, this)? And from this project specifically, which are your favorite and least favorite non-change fixes I've made?

There are many I do not remember, but the ones which come to mind are changing the uniques qlvl (or is it ilvl) so that something besides the acolytes amulet can drop. A trivial one which I liked was Lemming "fixing" that wimpy monk voice to be that of the sorceror. No more "Rest well, "Lorric". I'll find your son." I doubt that has been carried forward Fixing that horrible feature where monks and shield users blocked spells even when they had magic resistance made the monk more playable and allowed warriors to equip shields again.

[Hammerskjold]

You can change the single handed attack speed of each character class pretty easily with a hex editor. From memory, you need to ensure that this value is either higher or lower (sorry, I can't remember which) than the frameset value for attacking, or they won't be able to attack.

I have the details for the memory locations, etc. somewhere on a drive or disc, and I'll see if I can dig them up. They probably are still online somewhere too, if you want to try looking them up.

I haven't looked at this in awhile, but if I recall correctly there is an internal table in the game somewhere that lists the number of frames in each character's various attack animations. In theory, setting that lower than the actual number of frames in the animation would speed it up. So I think it is just 1 simple value somewhere to edit as you hoped.

Thank you both for the info, I am quite n00b-ular when it comes to hex editing or anything to do with computer code, and it's likely my only option at this point. I've only opened and fiddled with a hex editor maybe twice, quite a long time ago.

I didn't know about any quirk with Bards and maces. That might be interesting to investigate. I'm pretty sure Jarulf would have spotted that in the attack speeds, but the information in his table doesn't say the Bard should be that fast.

AFAIK with that older post link, and last time I tested it's HF:F only. The slight speed change\quirk with the bard does not exist in vanilla HF, and JG's info still holds true for the unmodified version of HF.

I'm not clear why you're asking, though. Can I provide you with more information? Were you hoping to get the exact addresses of some locations you could play with, or some code you could try add to this mod file and adjust attack speeds with?

Short version of it, I'm quite interested in trying out changing the Warrior's and Barbarian base attack speed with melee weapons. For Warrior, all one handed weapons (sword&club) will be set to of Speed\Haste level. Two handed weapons will not be changed. For Barbarian, all Axes and Clubs one handed and two handed, base attack speed will be changed to of Speed. If they have an axe or club with "of haste", the bonus extra speed in HF will be retained (basically unchanged from regular HF). Attack speed for swords will remain the same for Barbarian. Speed with bows remains unchanged. Shield block speed unchanged.

The longer version and the "why" for anyone who is curious.

First to clarify, this would be a separate mod change, like I mentioned mostly for my own experimentation and use that I am still mostly just thinking about out loud. It'd be similar to something like "HF:Hack and Slash Turbo edition aka Arcade Mode aka Game Night Beer and Pretzel faster pickup game style." Emphasis is on fairly fast character growth, eg: enabling for multi, HF SP style level 1 char able to choose Nightmare or Hell difficulty right away. Warrior and Barbarian's base attack speed is boosted to decrease reliance on 'to hit% and of speed/haste' weapons or items, and allows for more flexible and affordable gear for them. Basically even a "plain" kings weapon can work as a KsoS in the hands of a warrior, or a to hit% weapon, or an AC penetrate weapon.

A rogue can stunlock advocates with any plain bow given sufficient stunlock dmg, a speed+ bow is very nice but not an absolute req in general for HF. (Though I do like that change back to the way it works in classic in your patch, since I'm not a huge fan of how arrow speed works in plain HF.) Sorcerors, they can practically go naked since he can sling powerful spells at the fastest rate in the game. Immunities schimmunities, unless I'm playing a challenge build variant, apoc even at reduced power in HF is still potent enough. Bards are quite potent jack of all trades, considering she has IIRC the second highest MAG base stat limit and she can play as a mini-mage quite well, she can sweep attacks when dual wielding swords or do well with a fast block shield+one handed sword. Monk is an uh..incomplete mess in vanilla HF but HF:F finally made him playable.

HF Warriors and Barbarians however, at least in general non challenge build variant gameplay. Can be fairly dependent on a +to hit or Damage Target's AC or sporting a Ring of Engagement, and a +speed weapon, preferably a melee weapon with both affixes. Vanilla HF has the Monk which has "of speed/haste" natural attack rate with his bare hands. I kinda want to try extending that boosted built in speed to the HF Warrior and Barbarian, since IMO those two are still more dependent on items relative to the other classes.

Secondary interest would be sweep damage mechanic, but this one I'm not sure if it's even possible. Sweep in vanilla HF while bugged, is kind of fun. Brute force way would be to simply re-enable it back and call it a "feature". But that's kinda inelegant. I was thinking more of sweep damage% = clvl x2. But again, I don't even know if that's possible to modify.

Again just to be clear, I'm not advocating any of the above to be in your next patch. It's just what I had in mind if I'm able to tweak some parts of the HF mostly for my own use\trial\preference.

If anyone would care to offer some feedback: Which bug fixes do you most appreciate so far that any of these projects brought to the community (HF:Fixed, Marsh's Mod, this)? And from this project specifically, which are your favorite and least favorite non-change fixes I've made?

From HF:F, for me basically everything Thenryb mentioned already.

From your project iirc, definitely the +speed bow change back to classic.

More specifically? If I understand it right, your modular approach\goal to the patch\mod.

Although I consider most of the changes that aren't strictly fixes by nature to be reasonably aligned with the spirit of the game, I am the first person to admit that this is interpretive. To that end, I hope to establish in a future version a way to easily differentiate these two different aspects of the project, so that users will have the option of choosing a pure fix package with no extra fluff, while retaining the option to use any of the extended features or adjustments they might want separately.

In general, your great attitude. You're a class act and I have no doubt in the future\near future, you are going places.

[Volker_Kaudah]

1. About the unique monsters (some of them) not giving exp at all: im pretty sure that my lvl had nothing to do with this because the mobs around some of these bosses gave me exp but the boss didn't

2. the item behind the door issue: it is an issue of vanilla diablo which made it into the mod too i suppose. this happened to me twice: first time in church. second time in catacombs.