titles are still missing in the threads themselves. :/
they show up for the posts in the search hit, but click any of the posts, and no titles will not show up in the threads.
it's great that the search function is at least doing something of course, but i'd still prefer the older version where 1) all titles show up in the threads and 2) all replies(titles) show up on the pages. it was quick and easy to scan for useful information before, when all replies to threads where all lined up below one another.
(just took two random links from the wayback machine.)
as you can see, in the threads you will see the title above the content, which is no longer the case. and on the forum pages you will see all the titles (of the replies) in a long list underneath one another. this made it really easy and fast to just scan for "interesting information". it also helps to see who replied. there were a couple of very knowledgeable posters, like jarulf, crystalion, charis, trucidation, to name a few.
before, i could just of scan/search for replies from these members and it would usually give me valuable, or at least interesting information.
the search function is great if you already know what specifically you're looking for, but it will not catch abbreviations for example, and there's also a lot of good information on those forums that you wouldn't even think of searching for.
man, i can't get 1.00 to run
1.06b works just fine, so i'm not sure what the problem is.
i tried running game.exe, diabloii.exe, i tried -w, -window, -windowed, i tried directdraw, direct3d, glide, a bunch of different compatibility options, running as administrator.
whether i run game.exe or diabloii.exe, the process will show up in task manager for a few seconds, then just vanish. nothing else happens.
i have the play disc mounted, and the install is clean/legit. i tried singling to see if that would magically fix the problem, but it didn't.
what else can i try? i searched the forum for a bit, but it doesn't look like this is a common problem.
@Fruit just wondering who version of Win 10 you are using, Home , Pro, something else?
Maybe try doing a fresh install from the CDs after a backup of your existing folders.
Also, try turning off UAC if that is on
If the version of 10 you use that supports multiple user profiles, trying install under new profile with admin access, it maybe user profile related?
In one case last year, an older version Bliss' Switcher did not work for 1.00 after I installed it and I had to go back to my orig backup but the version I have now works
@Barl, looks like a nice stick . The damage is very high. Just need that on a failed unique and you are good to go.
well.. wow.
i assume that was from the cow king? in that case, your %damage rolls are almost perfect! (perfect %ed should be 38-175 damage)
unfortunately, he is just too low level (-2) for the King's prefix so he won't be able to drop the actual hurtiest stick. (no +2 skills from him either, of course.)
edit: dunno if this was known, because i kept reading that "whirlwind attacks every frame in 1.00"; it's not true. whirlwind attacks every fourth frame just like in every other Classic patch. why it does so much damage in 1.00-1.02 is because it attacks twice in that frame. (according to the patch notes this was reduced in 1.03.) i've tested/confirmed it by recording at 25fps and playing back the result frame-by-frame. i'd be happy to generate some proof if anyone cares (and has a good suggestion how that would look).
That's true, WW never attacked every frame. But another little known fact is that the damage bonus and mana cost for WW is twice as high compared to 1.01+. (A level 20 WW costs ~63 mana and gives 235% ED IIRC, roughly 35 mana/110 ED in 1.01).
Also, WW and Static Field were both nerfed several times during the beta. So Blizzard has repeatedly nerfed them ever since bringing them into existence.
Rough timeline of the nerfs from the first beta to retail 1.01: [More nerfs in 1.03/1.07/1.08]
Beta 1.02: (March 16, 2000)
- Whirlwind gives 4x the damage bonus it does now (and 2x more than 1.00)
- Whirlwind only costs 15 mana (no increase per level)
- Static field can go through walls, and has a 4x greater range (45 yards at level ~20)
- Static field costs 1 mana and does 33% damage instead of 25% Beta 1.07: (~April 12, 2000)
- Slight nerf to WW and Static Field (based on Lurker Lounge, I don't have this patch) Beta 1.10: (~April 25, 2000)
- Whirlwind damage cut in half, does the same damage as 1.00
- Whirlwind costs more mana per level
- Static field no longer goes through walls, and now costs more mana
- Static field range reduced Patch 1.00: (May 26, 2000, a month before release)
- Static field damage reduced to 25% (the display still says 33%, this typo was fixed in 1.03) Patch 1.01: (June 29, 2000, the day D2 was released)
- Whirlwind damage cut in half again
- Another nerf to Static Field (I can't remember what it was)
That's true, WW never attacked every frame. But another little known fact is that the damage bonus and mana cost for WW is twice as high compared to 1.01+. (A level 20 WW costs ~63 mana and gives 235% ED IIRC, roughly 35 mana/110 ED in 1.01).
ah, so it was 1.01 classic blizzard-ninja-nerf. they started their tradition early, it seems!
i noticed the difference between 1.00 and 1.06, but there was nothing about it in the patch notes.
(was it a little known fact? the skill description correctly displays it )
btw, do you happen to know anything about this?
i noticed in skills.txt that Whirlwind has a SrcDam of 4, but it's "not working":
1=50%, 2=100%, 4=100%. i expected 4 to translate to at least 200%, but nein. no other numbers are used in this column (besides 0).
they may have intended to give whirlwind double damage with this value(?), but perhaps it just wasn't implemented to go beyond 100%.
this value is 4 for WW in 1.00-1.06b, but it doesn't look like it ever did anything.
also, i checked out the whirlwind search radius in 1.00. i assume (some of) you are familiar with the "star bug" of auras. well, as (some of) you know, whirlwind uses the same radius calculation as all other radius-based skills.
white = search radius of whirlwind, purple = melee range of pike versus cows:
..which means that whirlwind has the tendency to pick targets outside of melee range, and in turn you will not attack anything.
in 1.04 they fixed the star-bug, with the consequence that the radii for most skills were reduced to "unacceptably small" sizes (perhaps to their intended sizes?), so in 1.05 they increased the radii for all skills, whirlwind included: this is what the search radius looked like after that "fix". /genius!
(1.06 did not fix the whirlwind search radius. perhaps 1.07 did?)
1.03 fixed enhanced damage on maul-weapons, but pre- and post-1.04, the search radius of WW was really just too large for mauls to work well. (so if you like mauling, get to 1.04.)
talking pre-1.07: 1.00 should be by far the best patch for whirlwind versus single-targets, while whirlwind in 1.04 should be better against large groups, especially for short-range weapons.
lastly, i'll quote myself on frozen orb:
When cast while under the effect of Slow Missiles, the orb bugs out to last 120 frames (in stead of 30), resulting in almost 3 times as many bolts (136/46). (The bolts themselves will also move more slowly.) This drastically increases the potential damage output, but will require you to adapt your play-style to the slower speed.
this is true for 1.00-1.06b. i wonder if this bug has ever been fixed? and if yes, when?
(sorry about the stuttering/lag, no idea what i'm doing.)
if only singling still supported all patches
(besides whirlwind, 1.04 strafe should be amazing since it (and guided arrow) multiplies total bow damage, rather than base bow damage. though, the star-bug fix from 1.04 also affected strafe's search radius.)
edit: does anyone know anything about this? (from the 1.03 patch notes)
Fixed a loophole that allowed either the Necromancer wearing the complete set of Infernal Tools or the Paladin with the Milabrega's Regalia set to temporarily boost his skills to very high levels.
That makes sense as when I cows , I always try to whirl around the outside of the big group to tip them from out of their melee range at they get hit . But whirl too close and the ones closest smack you and others in the other side of the pack are getting it. So WW in 1.00 12 attacks a second or thereabouts. If you use IceBlink when WW that may make this easier to see
There is a lot of discussion about def being of little value in 1.00. So for the monsters in the RoF and CS Hell what is their AR? I recently found this and so would be interested if this OP on a barb would be any use
the issue is that monster AR is multiplied by 4.
for example doom knight is lvl 74 and has 343 attack rating according to monstats.txt (so 1372 attack rating).
urdar is lvl 82 and has either 514 or 380 attack rating, depending on which attack he uses. so that would be 2056 or 1520.
i honestly have no clue how high a barb's defense rating can get if you stack it. i also don't know if the character screen is even accurate about it
but if you take your current defense rating and clvl, and run them through the formula together with the stats from one of the above monsters, it should give you an idea of how valuable defense is.
made a fun (or so i think ) image of lvl20 Static Field:
So a boss champion back have much higher AR again , e.g. champion 2 x AR, 2 x damage, etc
I will give it the armour a try for one of the barbs but if the boss has 4000+ AR, defence to still less relevent I guess.
@pharphis your work with the HC 1.00 whirler last year will convince me. I expect to get at least 2K def minimum with Iron and Shout
@Fruit
Also I presume, Corpse Explosion is affected by the same star feature setup. It is great research.
I also seem to think that monsters walking either NE, NW, SE or SW through a blizzard seems to increase the damage they take.
So a boss champion back have much higher AR again , e.g. champion 2 x AR, 2 x damage, etc
I will give it the armour a try for one of the barbs but if the boss has 4000+ AR, defence to still less relevent I guess.
i have no clue what bonuses champions get exactly, haven't found specifics on it.
the damage part would be easy to test, but the AR part might be hard to find out. (unless someone has peaked at the code.)
i can imagine that high defense will make a noticeable difference, but defense rating is something i'm ignoring until i have the gear to support it. for now, my shout and iron skin will remain base level 1 as prequisites. with a massive armor like yours i might change my mind
Also I presume, Corpse Explosion is affected by the same star feature setup. It is great research.
I also seem to think that monsters walking either NE, NW, SE or SW through a blizzard seems to increase the damage they take.
it is, and its radius is almost as large as static field: -1 tile at all levels (when comparing equal levels), and because of the bug, -2 tiles for vertical and horizontal.
the same star shape should apply to all auras, all curses (except attract i guess), most skills with a search radius (whirlwind, guided arrow, bone spirit, strafe, lightning fury, etc), slow missiles, inner sight, freezing arrow, fireball, meteor, glacial spike, etc.
i believe the search radius of hydra heads uses a different calculation; it seems to have the shape of a rectangle (landscape). there may be more exceptions.
Edit: interesting! Blizzard works quite uniquely:
clarification (hopefully):
similar to Pierce, Blizzard uses the location as seed. in blizzard's case, the seed is used to determine the pattern of projectiles.
so, casting 100 blizzards at the same spot will produce 100 times the same pattern. this seed is not just used to determine where projectiles will drop, but also which projectile graphic is used.
39 tiles (3 lines of 13 tiles each) can be picked by blizzard to shoot a projectile at. (these tiles/lines can be seen on the image above.)
the lines are not hardcoded, but rather a result of the radius.
this skill does not use the same calculation for radius as other skills, and does not suffer from the star bug.
the radius of the projectiles themselves seem to be hardcoded and are only 5 tiles (an X, basically).
hopefully the image is clear enough: i cast Blizzard until my mana bubble was empty, and took a screenshot to show that the impact graphics are all lined up. the imaginary rectangle is 9 by 13 (117 tiles total), but Blizzard will never shoot a projectile at 78 of those tiles.
and to explain what i meant with "pattern of projectiles", let's say p = projectile.
blizzard is cast:
p1 is shot at coordinate (0, 3)
p2 is shot at (4, -4)
p3 is shot at (-4, 10)
p4 is shot at (0, -12)
p5 is shot at (4, 2)
etc
now if blizzard would be cast again (and again) at the same location, then the exact same pattern will show every single time.
that number ("average chance a level X monster will hit you") is as good as worthless, as the *4 multiplier isn't taken into account.
(and what AR number does the CS even use, anyway?)
not sure about "chance to hit". i recall reading there were bugs with some skills that gave an AR bonus, but it looks like i never saved that/those post(s). :<
i believe the search radius of hydra heads uses a different calculation; it seems to have the shape of a rectangle (landscape). there may be more exceptions.
Edit: interesting! Blizzard works quite uniquely:
clarification (hopefully):
similar to Pierce, Blizzard uses the location as seed. in blizzard's case, the seed is used to determine the pattern of projectiles.
so, casting 100 blizzards at the same spot will produce 100 times the same pattern. this seed is not just used to determine where projectiles will drop, but also which projectile graphic is used.
39 tiles (3 lines of 13 tiles each) can be picked by blizzard to shoot a projectile at. (these tiles/lines can be seen on the image above.)
the lines are not hardcoded, but rather a result of the radius.
this skill does not use the same calculation for radius as other skills, and does not suffer from the star bug.
the radius of the projectiles themselves seem to be hardcoded and are only 5 tiles (an X, basically).
hopefully the image is clear enough: i cast Blizzard until my mana bubble was empty, and took a screenshot to show that the impact graphics are all lined up. the imaginary rectangle is 9 by 13 (117 tiles total), but Blizzard will never shoot a projectile at 78 of those tiles.
and to explain what i meant with "pattern of projectiles", let's say p = projectile.
blizzard is cast:
p1 is shot at coordinate (0, 3)
p2 is shot at (4, -4)
p3 is shot at (-4, 10)
p4 is shot at (0, -12)
p5 is shot at (4, 2)
etc
now if blizzard would be cast again (and again) at the same location, then the exact same pattern will show every single time.
From a gameplay perspective the cross pattern this is the reason why stationery targets are never damaged but if moving and once hit, every stacked blizzard shard seems to hit. Certainly stacking blizzards does cause lots of damage. It seems that next delay does not exist or is set very low but I don't know enough about the code to say for sure.
From a gameplay perspective the cross pattern this is the reason why stationery targets are never damaged but if moving and once hit, every stacked blizzard shard seems to hit. Certainly stacking blizzards does cause lots of damage. It seems that next delay does not exist or is set very low but I don't know enough about the code to say for sure.
You're absolutely right -- there is no delay at all for the projectiles. So if you stack Blizzards like crazy, and 10 projectiles spawn at the same location at the same frame, they will all hit.
What may also be interesting to know is that Blizzard has a physical damage portion. (Yes, Amplify Damage increases Blizzard damage!) This damage is not included in the skill description: (3+(slvl)). So at slvl 20, a projectile deals 23 physical damage on top of the listed (cold) damage.
Definitely a nice bonus when enemies have high cold resistance, but low physical resistance.
Another thing that may be interesting to know is that the projectiles actually deal their damage at the frame they spawn at, and not according to the graphics. To illustrate:
The point of the outline (of the health bar) is to show that the projectile has already dealt its damage, even though it has just spawned. When (graphically) the projectile ultimately lands/disappears (and you see the splash on the ground), no damage is being dealt at all, it's is really just "empty graphics".
(Edit: The reason the cow isn't blue is because I had removed the cold damage portion to confirm the skill deals physical damage. Sorry about that!)
I don't doubt that there is still a similar seed system in place in 1.14, but I do doubt it still uses the location it was cast at (as seed). The Basin wiki does say "somewhat random pattern", perhaps the somewhat indicates that whoever contributed that part of the page had noticed re-occurring patterns.
The missile interval is the same (every fourth frame).
No clue about at what point the missiles deal damage in 1.14. From memory (playing good ol' 1.14), I suspect that has always been the same as well.
The Basin wiki says nothing about physical damage, so I suppose that has been removed at some point.
The area of effect is definitely very different (1.14 Blizzard seems to use the same radius calculation as other skills.)
Oh, and the projectiles are size 2 in 1.00 as well (not hardcoded). Size refers to a different system than radius: https://www.theamazonbasin.com/wiki/index.php/Size
So, it's the same size as players, and monsters like cows. That explains the X.
Edit: The awareness radius of Hydra heads seems to be a hardcoded 26. Now, this isn't very interesting, but what's funny is that this radius was actually coded correctly, while the one used for almost everything else was not.
Here's Static Field (radius 24) compared to Hydra awareness (radius 26):
(Yes, it's a cow. Just pretend it's a Hydra head.)
They meant for radius to create an octagon, but the goof caused it to become a cross.
(Note the x and y on the image, which is how the game sees coordinates. Not in vertical and horizontal the way we see the game as players.)
The orange radius you see there is actually the shape that radius-based skills like Static Field should have used.
So what went wrong?
Well, a - was placed where a + should be, so as L goes up (see below), the radius enlarges (rather than shrinks).
The correct one (that Hydra uses): | G + L / 2 | < R
The broken one (star radius): | G - L / 2 | < R
G = greater of x and y
L = lesser of x and y
R = radius
The | signs mean this.
(I didn't figure this part out myself, it turned out this was already known late 2000.)
You're absolutely right -- there is no delay at all for the projectiles. So if you stack Blizzards like crazy, and 10 projectiles spawn at the same location at the same frame, they will all hit.
What may also be interesting to know is that Blizzard has a physical damage portion. (Yes, Amplify Damage increases Blizzard damage!) This damage is not included in the skill description: (3+(slvl)). So at slvl 20, a projectile deals 23 physical damage on top of the listed (cold) damage.
Definitely a nice bonus when enemies have high cold resistance, but low physical resistance.
Another thing that may be interesting to know is that the projectiles actually deal their damage at the frame they spawn at, and not according to the graphics. To illustrate:
The point of the outline (of the health bar) is to show that the projectile has already dealt its damage, even though it has just spawned. When (graphically) the projectile ultimately lands/disappears (and you see the splash on the ground), no damage is being dealt at all, it's is really just "empty graphics".
(Edit: The reason the cow isn't blue is because I had removed the cold damage portion to confirm the skill deals physical damage. Sorry about that!)
@Fruit I love your enthusiasm about digging deeper into the game. It's great to have people like you around, who can still provide us some fresh information about an old old patch!
What may also be interesting to know is that Blizzard has a physical damage portion. (Yes, Amplify Damage increases Blizzard damage!) This damage is not included in the skill description: (3+(slvl)). So at slvl 20, a projectile deals 23 physical damage on top of the listed (cold) damage.
Definitely a nice bonus when enemies have high cold resistance, but low physical resistance.
Another thing that may be interesting to know is that the projectiles actually deal their damage at the frame they spawn at, and not according to the graphics. To illustrate:
The point of the outline (of the health bar) is to show that the projectile has already dealt its damage, even though it has just spawned. When (graphically) the projectile ultimately lands/disappears (and you see the splash on the ground), no damage is being dealt at all, it's is really just "empty graphics".
(Edit: The reason the cow isn't blue is because I had removed the cold damage portion to confirm the skill deals physical damage. Sorry about that!)
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