Old vet trying to get running again

[malice]

Greetings people, sorry this is another "please help me install" thread.

I used to play V&K's ME mod for both D1 and D2 - a lot. Last was during D2's v1.09b(?) days, I believe. Now, after being thoroughly disappointed by Titan Quest's stupendouly easy one-hit-kill monsters, I have returned to worship D2 VKME again. However, although I see the D2 VKME mod hosted pages, unfortunately most links seem to be broken.

The problem is... I have no idea where to start. I hear the mod hasn't been updated for the latest D2 patch (v1.11?), which means several of the nifty dll tricks I've heard about don't work (what's this about hireling inventory? )

So, rather than play a diluted v1.11 or whatever the latest version is, how would I go about installing the latest VKME update (v1.92 right?) so that I get to experience everything? From a clean D2 install, which version of D2 do I need to update to?

[onyx]

v1.92 is for Blizzard's patch 1.10. So you'll need to upgrade your newly installed Diablo 2 LoD to v1.10, download the mod and follow the install instructions in the readme

If you already have updated your Diablo 2 LoD to 1.11, don't worry, there is a way to downgrade which you can find here .

[malice]

Thanks Onyx!

Having my discs shipped to me, have to wait a few days. Think I'll pass the time reading up what v1.11 does compared to previous patches, I've forgotten a lot of D2 stuff.

[malice]

Ok sorry to bother again. That thread mentions downgrading, but I'm going to start from a clean install. From the patches downloads section, I see these:

dload.php?action=category&cat_id=33

Which one do I want? The last one on the list, "v1.10 (final)"? The dates on the files are confusing A comment would be more helpful than a x/10 rating.

Edit: Argh, I can't download the mod either. Fileplanet does not show the public servers list (see image): http://tinyurl.com/z5592

Any way to fix this or get the file elsewhere? I tried downloading the download manager (DLM2) but it didn't detect a file to download either.

[onyx]

Yes, you need v.1.10 final.

On a side note, please, use the Edit button instead of posting consecutive messages, thanks in advance.

EDIT: Are you logged in on Fileplanet? You need to create an account and be logged in in order to download anything.

[Myhrginoc]

Both Fileplanet links show free public downloads for me. You may have hit a spot where none were available, if that happens try again a few minutes later.

[Angelus]

hey malice, you could also get the modfile from Eowyns page

http://mitglied.lycos.de/flyingbutterfl ... eEarth.htm

had a problem getting it too, since i'm not registered at fileplanet, but luckly that mirror still works

[malice]

Thanks Angelus, I got it from fileplanet (eventually), I just had to log on and wait a bit like onyx and Myhrginoc said. For some reason IE won't load the servers list until I refresh the page several times. It displays ok in Opera but on the other hand the download manager doesn't work there

One last thing though - the mod homepage (http://vkmods.planetdiablo.gamespy.com/) has mostly broken links unfortunately. I can view the armor and weapons pages, and the runes are inside the mod's readme file, but there's nothing for skills or monsters.

You guys know where to read up on those? Monsters aren't that important, but I'd really like to know what skills there are before plunging in again.

Edit: there doesn't seem to be a .bat or any .dll files in the mod, strange? I thought there were some dll changes.

[Myhrginoc]

Khan has always tried to avoid code editing wherever he could, so this mod uses data file editing only. And that makes the mpq version compatible with Macs. As for .bat files, all you need to do is either swap the mpq with patch_D2.mpq in your v1.10 installation, or use one of our mod launchers.

Unfortunately hosted mod sites are directly managed through IGN/GameSpy, the Keep has no rights or access to them. So I cannot debug the broken links myself.

[malice]

I see, I just thought that maybe there was a version with new code (you're right, I don't recall previous versions having any either). In that case I'm good to go then, except that I'll have to find out about the skills through trial and error since the links don't work.

Thanks for all your help guys!

Edit: forgot to add that I'm using the -direct -txt version, I remember how to do that