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

[nobbie]

Glad you like it. I'm currently working on a "Van Helsing's Avatar" Vampire Slayer fun-set, which is hopefully ready when the movie premieres in the theatres :D

[nobbie]

As some of you might know already, Stephen Sommers' ("The Mummy") new vampire horror film "Van Helsing" premieres in theatres tomorrow, and because I'm a big fan of such "popcorn" horror movies, I've now added a new elite fun set called "Van Helsing's Avatar" to the Classic Style MOD.

You can download the updated MOD as always here:

1.10 LoD Classic Style MOD

The set can be found on the ready-to-use level 99 Amazon.

Have Fun! :D

[NiteFox]

*Attempts to work out the base items of the Van Helsing set*

I'd guess the xbow, the boots, the gloves, the plate, and the circlet, right?

One thing I'd like to see (Doubt if it could be done) - Different ammo types for bows and xbows. Like additional damage modifiers on arrows and bolts, a la +1 Arrows or Arrows of Ice from D&D of yore.

Yeah, it'd probably make Amazons too damn powerful, but it'd be neat if it was possible to do so.

[nobbie]

I believe the addition of special bolts/arrows has once been discussed for the original game, but they would make Amazons indeed too powerful, at least by Diablo II/LOD standards :)

[NiteFox]

Well, I suppose you could nerf bows themselves. (Note, I use the terms "arrow" and "bow" to avoid repeating "bow/xbow" and "arrow/bolt" over and over again.)

If you can have elemental arrows (Ice, Fire, etc.) and +enhanced damage arrows, remove these mods from all bows. If you want a cold effect on your bow, equip ice arrows. If you want more damage, equip +enhanced damage.

Basically, whatever you add to the ammo, remove from the weapon.

[Raziel]

Looks like she has cleansing aura granted by equipment. Fits nicely into the theme, I say.

There's also no zon-specific items in that. You could shove it on anyone. Those Multishot charges would come in handy.

I personally have been praying for an item with Conviction aura ;)

[nobbie]

It would be possible to introduce new ammo and rebalance the game, but that would be more than I've intended, because this MOD was just meant to be a classic style alternative to 1.10 :)

Conviction aura (a level 30 skill) would be too powerful for an "oskill", and I don't want Pally's (or any other class) to run into an identity crisis ;)

[Stolb3rg]

I tried to download your mod, which by the way looks insanley awesome, but after the zip file download is finished, and it tells me to open it from somewhere, I have no idea what to do! Now that everyone here knows that im a below average computer user, Can you direct me if you can how to get this thing up and running? im using microft windows 2k and Im just really lost. Please help because Ive tried for about 2 hours now to figure this out. Thanks

[Tal]

From the "Read Me" Text included in the download:

Installation and Usage
======================


Important Notes
---------------

- Before you start using this MOD, always make a backup copy of your original game characters (the files named "<character name>.d2s" located in your "\Diablo II\save" folder), and a backup copy of the original game patch MPQ file (the file named "Patch_D2.mpq" located in your "\Diablo II" installation folder)!

- The "Cube MOD" contains the new Cube recipes as well as the original Cube recipes. However, only the "Cube MOD" recipes are documented in the "Cube MOD" ReadMe file. If you need information about the latest original Cube recipes, refer to the "Items/The Horadric Cube" section in Blizzard's own game information pages called "The Arreat Summit" (URL: http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp).



Installation of the "LoD Classic Style MOD"
-------------------------------------------

1.) Make a backup copy of your original game characters (the files named "<character name>.d2s" located in your "\Diablo II\save" folder), and a backup copy of the original game patch MPQ file (the file named "Patch_D2.mpq" located in your "\Diablo II" installation folder).

2.) Rename the MOD patch file named "Patch_D2-D2X110_CSM.mpq" to the name of the original patch MPQ file "Patch_D2.mpq", and copy that file to your "\Diablo II" installation folder, i.e. "C:\Diablo II".

3.) Copy any of the provided Diablo II characters you wish to use to your "\Diablo II\save" directory, i.e. "C:\Diablo II\save".

4.) Start the game and have Fun!


NOTES:

Even though the Single-Player "Patch_D2.mpq" is not used for playing in the Closed Battle.net, it is recommended to always copy the original "Patch_D2.mpq" back to the "Diablo II" installation folder before connecting to the Battle.net.

Edit: Oh you'll need to unzip the files as well. I suggest downloading the free version of WinZip

[NiteFox]

Winzip tends to unpack the archive using folder names too (In fairness, all archivers do ths) so chances are if you're unpacking directly into the D2 directory you'll have a whole bunch of sibdirectories.

Copy the .MPQ file into the root D2 directory, back up D2_Patch.mpq (or is it Patch_D2.mpq...? My mind wanders...) by renaming it to something else, then give the new MPQ the exact same filename.

And then prepare for chipped goodness. I now have over a hundred chips (Muled and stashed) from just Act I alone.

I need a Cube. Fast.

[Stolb3rg]

Well so far I have winzip, but like I mentioned earlier I have no idea what thoes files are or where to find them.. I put my D.Xpac. C.D. ino the drive and looked through the files using my computer but Im just utterly confused And when you say things like "\Diablo II\save" or the MPG files .. OH I think i see something! Ill edit this if I Find out my own problem

[NiteFox]

Sorry if this seems condescending, but, uh, when the prospect of talking program files calls y'gotta accept the charges.

[Tal]

If you installed Diablo2 using the default location it should be in C:\Program Files\Diablo II - you'll find the files that Nobbie is talking about there.

NiteFox> Love the image. :D

[Valamyr]

Awesome mod, loving it so far.

Two things: The Demon Crossbow on that Van helsing set seems to have a small problem. It says it has two sockets, but in fact it doesnt seem to. Thats probably just a small bug to fix.

The other thing is more of a balance issue. I'm a Countess-Runners Anonymous member, and while I've found the increased rune drops in your mod just fine about elsewhere, their effects seems to be overdone a wee bit on the countess. Normal/Countess wields drops up to rune #17 (Lum), which is a bit silly as runes that high requires nightmare-leveled characters to equip them...

So maybe youd like to review the rune drop tables a bit.

[Stolb3rg]

Awesome man awesome thanks Alot nite fox I owe you big now..Thanks!

[mjagger]

Awesome mod, loving it so far.

Two things: The Demon Crossbow on that Van helsing set seems to have a small problem. It says it has two sockets, but in fact it doesnt seem to. Thats probably just a small bug to fix.

The other thing is more of a balance issue. I'm a Countess-Runners Anonymous member, and while I've found the increased rune drops in your mod just fine about elsewhere, their effects seems to be overdone a wee bit on the countess. Normal/Countess wields drops up to rune #17 (Lum), which is a bit silly as runes that high requires nightmare-leveled characters to equip them...

So maybe youd like to review the rune drop tables a bit.

the reason the drops are so high is for anyone who wants to create items from the formulas in the readme.txt file

[nobbie]

The Demon Crossbow on that Van helsing set seems to have a small problem. It says it has two sockets, but in fact it doesnt seem to. Thats probably just a small bug to fix.

It has two sockets and I don't have any problems here to put, for example, 2 runes into it. Try to move the Demon Crossbow to the inventory, so that the full set description doesn't cover the graphics of the two empty sockets anymore ;)

The other thing is more of a balance issue. I'm a Countess-Runners Anonymous member, and while I've found the increased rune drops in your mod just fine about elsewhere, their effects seems to be overdone a wee bit on the countess. Normal/Countess wields drops up to rune #17 (Lum), which is a bit silly as runes that high requires nightmare-leveled characters to equip them...

This is intended. She can't drop higher than "Runes 8" (= HEL (r15) and IO (r16)) in my MOD, though, and the "Good" class for Act 1 Normal doesn't contain runes at all. Are you sure it was a LUM in NORMAL difficulty (in the latest Mod update)? Anyway, even if you can't use a IO (clvl 35) that early, it can later be used to be cubed up to a LUM (3 IO runes + 1 flawed Topaz = LUM rune) which is, for example, required for a NEF-LUM armor (very useful for Nightmare non-shield characters) or exceptional -> elite unique weapon upgrades. The Normal Countess is the single exception, but I wanted rune drops to become generally high enough, because excessive Countess runs are, like Pindle runs, things that normally shouldn't be necessary at all ;)

[Stolb3rg]

Ok. Finally got it workin Thanks alot this is the best mod ive ever seen in my life, almost like you made the game from scratch. Very Very good job... You should get paid for it

[nobbie]

Thanks. It's basically just the old 1.09 game, with some changes and some extras like the activation of all known superunique Bosses, some new items, and the Cube MOD :)

[Iceman]

Hi nobbie

I have just downloaded the MOD and I will have to agree with everybody here that says how owesome it is. Very good job and a big, big, big thanks for us single players. On the other hand this MOD was a teribble mistake for me, now I'm going to spent many hours home playing that means many hours at my office sleeping. :D


Thanks a lot
Iceman