[01-12] December, 2001
Description: Archived Keep updates.
Categories: Keep Updates
December 29th Jeff
(JBouley)
Animation coversions from Diablo 1 and its Hellfire expansion
have been quite the rage lately, so let's start with the newest
offerings:
First, from Incandescent_One, we have the funny-looking tomato-creatures
from Hell, the Horkspawn, as well as the big, bad, blue
lightning-throwing Stormriders. He has provided two types
of downloads for each: a set of converted sound and graphics
files for those who want to do there own work of replacing an
exiting D2 monster, and he has provided plug-ins in which he
has already assigned the new graphics to an existing monster
in D2 and done all the work of adjusting offsets and things like
that. You can go to the Plug-Ins Section
of the Keep to get whichever set of files you prefer. Just so
you know, Incandescent_One chose to replace foul crow-style monsters
with the horkspawn plug-in and the Zakarum priests with the stormrider
plug-in. By the way, Incandescent_One would like to give special
mention to internet-roadkill for being kind enough to send the
original D1 animations to him, since he doesn't have the Hellfire
CD for Diablo 1.
Nefarius has provided animation conversions for the Hork
Demon and the Psychorb. In this case, however, you
have to do your own work to choose an appropriate D2 monster
and replace its files, adjust the animdata file, etc. If he makes
any pre-made plug-ins using these animations, I'll upload them...but
for now, you're on your own there. Go to Plug-Ins
to get the converted files if you want them. You can visit Nefarius'
site by clicking
here if you need a little more guidance about fiddling with
animdata and things like that.
In Other News...
The Baldur's Gate Mod (one of our hosted mods) had
some critical bugs...to get the latest patch fix from SubSanity
and Ric_Faith, head over to the left-hand side of this page and
click on link to the the Baldur's Gate mod site.
According to at least one player of Klay's D2 Game Enhancer
Mod, there is a defective item in the mod. The player says
that the Tal Rasha amulet causes the save file to not load if
it's in the inventory. So, if you find that item in that mod,
you might want to drop it or sell it before you exit the game.
Otherwise, if you have it and find that your character won't
re-load, you'll have to use a character editor program to pull
it from your inventory. Klay, if you're still out there and want
to fix the bug, please do so and send me the updated file.
More Resources...
I have some tutorials and other resources that I need to upload
soon to the Keep (mostly written by members of our Phrozen Forums).
More on that when I have them in place, which I hope will be
a few days at most.
December 24th Jeff
(JBouley)
It's Christmas Eve, and I thought I'd provide a little present:
A real site update. Here we go now...
First off, a shameless plug for myself (as well as an excuse
for my less-than-stellar update last week): My mod, Sanctuary
Corrupted 2: Sanctuary in Chaos, for the D2 Expansion, is
now finally and officially released after months of work. Still
some things to fix and new stuff to add, so another update might
be out in a week or less...but you can go to the Mod
Archives to get version 1.0, or click
here for immediate download. For more timely updates, visit
the forum for my mod...and visit the rest of the offerings in
our Forum Section as well. Good stuff in there.
Also, TeknoKyo has released his new Descendants of the
Dragon (DotD) mod for the expansion. If the screenshots I've
seen are any indication, it should be fantastic. It contains
new monster graphics, a different kind of gameplay and altered
maps...all to give a more challenging experience. It is intended
particularly for those people who have completed Hell difficulty
in normal unmodded Lord of Destruction or in Tekno's Ancestral
Recall mod. Visit his site by using the Hosted Site links here
on the home page, or click
here for immediate teleportation to his realm.
In addition, Myokai updated his Inferno mod to fix
a little problem with characters being routinely mauled by even
the lowliest of monsters...the quill rats. ;-) Vist the Mod
Archives or click
here for immediate download. If you use the link here in
the News (or the Fileplanet link in the archives) on Dec. 24
or 25, the mod might not be there yet...at least not on the free
servers. There is about a one-day delay in Fileplanet mirroring
my uploads because the "quick method" has suddenly
developed a dislike for me. I will probably upload the mod to
an alternate mirror site as well if time allows, which might
be usable sooner than Fileplanet.
Other news: Although there seems to be no burning need
to get Blizzard's 1.09d patch, which mostly makes changes for
online play in Realms...at least one visitor to the Keep here
tells me that he has noticed an improved drop rate with regard
to rares, sets and uniques since installing that patch. I wouldn't
know. I'm still using an earlier 1.09 patch, and most mods I've
seen already improve drop rates.
Animation Extravaganza! Nefarius has once again provided
us with some nifty monster graphic plug-ins using animations
from Diablo 1. One will give you a monster that looks just like
a certain annoying sage who identifies your items and keeps asking
you to "Stay a while and listen," and you can download
it by clicking
here. The other one will give you magma demons, and can be
gotten by clicking
here. Both are also available if you visit our Plug-Ins
Section.
I have also been informed that the Shadowmaster character
editing program has been updated, and is available by visiting
the Shadowgate
site.
And yes, one of these fine days, I will actually archive the
old news on this home page to clean it up (and shorten it up)
a bit.
December 19th Jeff
(JBouley)
Just a quick few site tweaks for today, if all goes to plan the
proper update should follow in the next few days!
Updated the hosting information page
somewhat, just to clear up any problems with hosting applications.
Added the latest addition of the Keep, the Baldur's
Gate mod to the hosted sites navbar.
The staff page also needed tidying
up as it was a little out of date so for the moment, I've cut
it down to just the core members of the site.
December 12th Jeff
(JBouley)
First, my sincere apologies for updating a few days late. I have
been ill, and in the midst of that had to go out of town for
my job for a full day...which didn't help things at all. Add
to that some trouble with my uploads to the Keep quitting midway
through and...well, you get the idea. But I do have lots of stuff
to report, and I'll try to get another update up in a few days,
perhaps a tutorial or two while I'm at it.
First, if you don't already know, Blizzard released patch
1.09d. Get it by clicking
here...if you want it, that is. If you don't play online,
it doesn't look like there's much in this patch to interest you.
What else? How about new mod uploads?
>> The Inferno mod by Myokai, for the D2 expansion.
Lots of changes to skills, items and affixes. Faster, tougher
monsters...among other things. Go to the Mod
Archives or click
here for direct download.
>> My own Sanctuary in Chaos mod for the expansion.
Not yet listed in the archives, as it is currently a preview
version. I haven't quite finished all the recipes and unique
items I want to have in Version 1. The "official" version
will be out sometime this weekend. Lots of new monsters, new
items, revamped skills, many new ways to use the Cube, a ton
of new gems (about 50 new ones at last count if I recall)...and
much more. Talk to the NPCs often or you will miss out on important
clues they give after they finish their "regular" speeches.
Click
here for download of the version
1 Preview. I have a forum here at the Keep. Just click on
the forums link. The name of the forum is the same as my mod's.
Feel free to report bugs, make suggestions, or whatever. Don't
visit my old Sanctuary Corrupted site unless you want old mods
for classic D2.
>> Zhoulomcrypt PR2...this is older than
the Zhoulomcrypt mod I had previously uploaded. However, the
newer version is missing some graphics. Because Zhoulomcrist
is no longer updating the mod, I include PR2 here at the Keep
for those who want to "fill in the blanks" of the most
recent version through their own modding. Go to the Mod
Archives or click
here for immediate download.
>>The Middle Earth mod has been updated by Varaya
and Khan for patch 1.09d. Some bugs have been fixed as well.
In addition, six new uniques have been added and a new monster
as well...using the Blood Knight graphics from D1. Visit their
Web site for more information
or to download the mod.
So what else? Another graphics plug-in using non-D2 animations.
This time, it's Elminster from Baldur's Gate, courtesy
of TeknoKyo. This plug-in can be used to replace most NPCs...though
he's recommended for use as a Deckard Cain replacement. Visit
the Plug-Ins section or click
here for a download right away.
Still not satisfied? How about another D1 monster graphic
plug-in along the same lines as the Blood Knights? You've got
it! Incandescent_One has put a great deal of work into bringing
you King Leoric from the original Diablo. He spawns in
place of Radamant in Act 2, he's tougher than Radamant was, and
he drops the unique Undead Crown when he dies. Visit the HREF='plugins.htm'>Plug-Ins area to get it or click
here for download.
Whew! That's a lot of words even for me...and I'm still a
bit sick. So I'm out of here for now. Seeya soon. :-)
December 2nd Jeff
(JBouley)
Well, I've been a bit busy with life and my own mod...but I haven't
forgotten you all.
I've uploaded a nifty little plug-in that will allow you to
replace the demonic mosquitoes in D2 with the Blood Knight animations
from the original Diablo game. You can thank FoxBat for this...just
don't ask him to go through the work of creating another one.
;-) Look for it in the mod plug-ins section.
Or if you want it this very moment, click
here for download.
Some other folks have been doing some other D1 monster graphics
conversion. It is my hope that we can soon upload some other
animations for your modding enjoyment.
Many people seem to have troubles viewing some of the files
using MPQ View. For those who wish to continue using this program
but aren't having much luck with their current datafile for MPQ
View, I have uploaded the datafile I use personally. I cannot
guarantee that it will show everything, but it shows a
lot, including unused missile and overlay animations...and it
will work with the d2data.mpq and d2exp.mpq files. Hope it helps.
Go to tools of the trade to get it, or
click
here for a more immediate download.
There's quite a few behind-the-scenes changes going on at
the moment which is taking up most of our time right now including
site reorganizing as well as a new ranking system for the forums
but you'll hear more about these changes as they develop.
One site change that has already been made is the consolidation
of the visitor and staff mod archives into one comprehensive
mod archive for ease of navigation
and updating. Current URLs for both of the older archives will
now redirect you to the newer one. Just to get the new archive
system kicked off, I've uploaded 6 new mods for LoD v1.09 that
work using 007Cheater's new installer mod format. Click
here to check them out.
TeknoKyo has announced that he is releasing a new mod for
the expansion which is an extension to his Ancestral Recall mod,
featuring new graphics for enemies...some from D1. The mod is
intended to provide people with a different kind of gameplay
and is intended for those who have completed Ancestral Recall
in Hell difficulty or for high-level expansion characters. Visit
his Web site
for more information.
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[url=https://d2mods.info/forum/kb/viewarticle?a=131]Knowledge Base - [01-12] December, 2001[/url]