Beginner FAQ, Forum Etiquette and Basic Resources

Post here about all aspects of D2 mod making whether it's information, problems or whatever. Please specify whether your post is relating to Classic D2 or the Expansion.

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Beginner FAQ, Forum Etiquette and Basic Resources

Post by Joel » Wed Jul 30, 2003 9:23 am

This topic is a summary of all the do and don't of the forum.
If you're a newcomer, it could be nice to read the various link out there

Have a nice day :

1. Forum Etiquette

Welcome to the GMM Forum ...
When you need to know where to go ...
GMM Etiquette - How to behave nicely here ...
Tutorials are your friends, read them !

2. Basic Resources

How to use the -direct -txt switch and how to use plugin
Basic File location in the MPQ
1.09 Monster AI guide << now repalced by the 1.10 monai.txt
1.09 txt tidbits by Isolde << nice post on 1.09 txt behavior like itemstatcost.txt

3. Game Version Issues

Switching between 1.09 and 1.10
Running Multiple Versions of Diablo II

EDIT by Nefarius: Due to the new thread I created to cover all 1.10-1.11b tutorials, I have split the other posts from this one for sake of reducing confusion when new users run into both.
Last edited by Joel on Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:36 pm, edited 9 times in total.
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Beginner FAQ

Post by Nefarius » Sat Jan 20, 2018 3:29 pm

Q: How do I make a mod?
A: Read the beginners guide to Mod Making, which you can find in your filecenter to get started with the basics, read it, even if you think you don't have to, it'll save everyones time.

Q: Are there any more tutorials?
A: Almost all you need to know can be found in this thread.

Q: What bin files do I need to pack into the MPQ?
A: You must pack all bin files created by the -txt switch, bin files are not carbon copies of txt files, they are interlinked so changes to one file can and will alter other files.

Q: Can I add a new character class?
A: No, and this will forever stay this way, doing this would require a total rewrite of almost every single aspect of the game, forget about it.

Q: Can I make Amazons/Necromancers/Druids/Paladins Dual Wield?
A: No, this is impossible, it will require many new animations that no one here can create, and even then, the game will probably refuse to accept the changes without many code edits no one has looked into yet.

Q: Can I add a new act?
A: No, and like the above, this will not change anytime soon, there are way too many things that would need to be changed to achieve this, more then someone can acomplish in his lifetime, unless this person is blessed with extraordinary ASM skills.

Q: Can I add new NPCs and mercs?
A: No, this is impossible unless you are a code guru or a D2Mod plugin is released.

Q: Can I add new shrines?
A: Nope, shrines are almost entirely hardcoded, adding new shrines is thus impossible unless you are a ASM guru.

Q: Why are all my new items/monsters/skills called An Evil Force?
A: The game is unable to find the correct string, this is so because you either didn't add a string at all, added a string but forgot that strings are case sensitive, made a typo or exceeded the maximum display limit (such as for affixes).

Q: Can I add new levels?
A: Only if you are using 1.10 in conjunction with the appropriate D2Mod plugin (or manual code changes), or use the NefEx plugin if you use v1.11b, otherwise you'll need to do the CE manually if you can or forget about the idea until you can.

Q: I added a new monster, but I can't get it to appear?
A: You are using the messed up 1.11 files, download the fixed txt pack from our filecenter.

Q: From what MPQ should I extract files?
A: Without any exception, you extract files from patch_d2.mpq, if this archive doesn't contain the file you're looking for move on to d2exp.mpq, and finally, if even this archive doesn't contain what you're looking for, extract the contents from d2data.mpq. NOTE: Replacing a txt (or other data format) file with one from the older MPQs will crash your game.

Q:Ahhh!!! I can't find the file in any MPQ!
A: Download the most recent datafile from our filecenter to use with your MPQ viewer. Note, you can use a 1.11x datafile on 1.10 or even 1.00, because blizzard doesn't remove files from the MPQ the newest datafile is always useable with older versions!

Q: Why does the game crash when any monster attacks me?
A: You've probably got an empty line at the end of missiles.txt (caused by incorrect saving with M$ Excel), remove the empty line to solve the problem.

Q: Why did all missiles stop doing damage?
A: You've got an empty line at the end of skills.txt, removing the line will prevent the problem.

Q: How do I change a missiles/overlays/monsters color?, I edited the R/G/B columns but nothing happened!
A: This is one of the most common mistakes beginners make, these columns control the color of the light radius. To change the a missile or overlay color you must edit the DCC graphics themselves, for monsters you need to edit the PalShift.dat file. You shouldn't do either until you are familiar with the basics though, editing graphics for this game can be very tricky.

Q: How do I enable the realm runewords?
A: Remove the 1 from the "SERVER" column in Runes.txt

Q: How do I prevent an item from dropping randomly so that only the monster I want drops it?
A: For misc items, simply create a new base item and don't add it to any TC other then to a TC for the monster you want, if that monster has a common TC, create a new TC. For items found in autoTcs (armors, weapons etc), set rarity to 0.

Q: How do I enable ladder uniques, cube recipes and stats?
A: Except for the runewords and the pseudo-quests, single player and ladder games are identical, that is, these things are already enabled.

Q: Can I enable Diablo Clone or the Ubers in SP?
A: If this is all you are looking for, you should use Plug Y.

Q: How do I make a drop mod?
A: Read the Noobatorial.

Q: How do I make a boss mod?
A: Read the Noobatorial.

Q: Does a new monster need it's own monstats2 entry?
A: No, you can link the same monstats2 row to as many monsters as you want.
Last edited by Nefarius on Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:11 pm, edited 14 times in total.
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Re: Beginner FAQ, Forum Etiquette and Basic Resources

Post by Volf » Sat Jan 20, 2018 3:31 pm

Just fixed some links

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