1.09 News, Info and Gossip - Make 1.09 Great Again

[art_vandelay]

BTW, how did you get those files?

They can be extracted from the game files with the right tools. Check out the Phrozen Keep if you're interested in doing that yourself, there should be tutorials for that. I doubt max would appreciate me explaining how to do it here.

How would one play this patch? I tried copying my 1.00 folder, then did a fresh install of LoD on top of that (from CD-images). Tried applying the patch via the patch executable, but it gives me error "This patch cannot be applied because it is for a different version of the game." I guess I could just try a fresh install of the whole thing from 1.00. Is there a way to manually patch it somehow? I have the files in TrenShadow's version switcher.

Edit: got it manually working (or at least it started.)

Did you install multiple patches by copying folders? If so the patch.exe always tries to update the folder of the game that's not copied. It sure is possible to change that but I think it requires changing paths in the registry and that's risky business unless you know what you're doing (at least I don't).

My recommendation is to figure out all the patches you want to ever play (most likely a subset of 1.00, 1.05b, 1.07, 1.09b, 1.09d, 1.10a, 1.10s, 1.14d) and then install the first, update, copy folder, update, copy folder and so on.

Also note that there's something wrong with 1.09a and 1.09c, I think at least one of those has a broken installer.

 

[Apila]

Yep, I changed the InstallPath key value in regedit (to point to the newly made 'Diablo II 1.09' folder). I'm very positive it had something to do with my game.exe not being the original. None the less, copying all the files from Tren's folder and overwriting worked just fine. The version is 1.09b.

I'm looking for the playersX table currently. The experience bonus diminishes quite heavily, correct? I'm sure I remember seeing such a table somewhere.

quick edit: I assume this one https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Player_Settings#Experience should be reasonably correct.

 

[art_vandelay]

I'm looking for the playersX table currently. The experience bonus diminishes quite heavily, correct? I'm sure I remember seeing such a table somewhere.

quick edit: I assume this one https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Player_Settings#Experience should be reasonably correct.

Yep, that one is correct for XP but not HP, and it doesn't include p9 for some reason. This post by RTB does:

An experience question (v1.09)...

An experience question (v1.09)... Okay, I've noticed (on several characters) that experience seems to take a huge dip as soon as I reach clvl 76. I used to stay in NM until then so I figured that I'd just reached a clvl much higher than the mlvls of the monsters in Act V, but on my Pally I...

www.diabloii.net

I verified the XP factors for p1 to p10 independently by killing the same minion outside Harrogath at the different psettings.

 

[Apila]

A sorceress has now began her journey. I started with rather high player settings, but lowered it down to 6 as that is still a good amount of experience. Now I'm facing a bit of a dilemma: I could bring some twinking equipment from 1.07 (or even a whole character), but I do enjoy starting a new journey with a clean slate. Then again, I have done that already many times before.

I'll probably go for the FO/Meteor/SF build. Should I invest some points in Warmth/Energy though? Teleport probably could use at least a couple of points.

 

[art_vandelay]

If you decide on the twinked route, my 99er sorc in 1.09 used this for mana:

• 1/8 Warmth
• 12/19 Teleport
• Base Energy but 950 Mana thanks to SoJ/1.07 Wizardspike/Shako (Occu << 1.07 Wizardspike)
• bugged MPK ring (35 plain for Nova, 15/10 for FO)

And she was FO/Nova/SF where Nova is probably the most mana hungry spell in the game.

So if you don't even want to use Nova but rather a timered spell, you'll probably be fine with points into teleport, a low MPK ring and a few +skills for Warmth.

Also if you twink note that +% max mana works on +Energy and +Mana/lvl. So Wizardspike/Lidless/SoJ/Shako is an insane combo for mana.

 

[Erayz]

So I've been looking at MagicPrefix.txt and MagixSuffix.txt yesterday to figure out what affixes can spawn in Classic 1.09, and I noticed that according to those files, shields cannot get +all resists. But I do have a rare grim shield with +20 found in Classic in my ATMA stash.

According to the documentation online about these files, the field "version" equals 0 for classic, and equals 1 or 100 for Expansion.
I think it's wrong and it may actually be 0 and 1 are spawnable on classic, and 100 are expansion only. This makes more sense since most of the affixes with version = 100 are charms/circlets/jewels affixes, and some higher level affixes, such as Cruel.

BUT then, I also noticed there are affixes (with version = 0) that I've never seen spawn in Classic 1.09 where the files say they should be able to. Such as Sapphire (+31-50% cold res) on a missile weapon.

So after all, it just means affixes with version = 0 cannot spawn even in Classic even though they have the "spawnable" flag. This has to be it, since almost all of the affixes with version = 0, are also found on another line with version = 1 and the value ranges on the latter make more sense with items I found over the years.

EDIT: Just noticed that all affixes with version = 0 have a frequency of 0 in the file. If I understand it right, it confirms what I thought and I can ignore those with version = 0.

 

[art_vandelay]

You're right about the version 0, it is not used in regular affix generation. It is part of the forward process for pre-1.07 items:
In 1.00-1.06b the item stats are not saved on the character but rather the game generates them from the item seed every time you load a character. But in 1.07+ items have their stats saved on the character so if you open a 1.00-1.06b character in 1.07+ it has to generate the same stats it would have in 1.00-1.06b and then save those on the character.
That's where the version 0 affixes come in, they are the original 1.00-1.06b affixes and are used for the first time you open a 1.00-1.06b character in 1.07+.

So yeah:

• 0 - 1.00-1.06b Classic legacy
• 1 - 1.07+ Classic + LoD
• 100 - 1.07+ LoD only

 

[Erayz]

I'm currently leveling my Assassin in the cow level (94 for the moment) and there's something I never understood about Lightning absorb.

Every time a unique spawns with Holy Shock, I switch from String of Ears to Thundergod's. Everyone seems to speak as if Lightning absorb actually heals you when you take lightning damage, but that's definitely not the case for me.

For reference, I have 32% LR, and wearing the belt brings me to 451 vitality (1722 life total). But STILL, whenever I encounter a Holy Shock unique mob, they one-shot me, or very close to, even when I'm wearing Thundergod's. Is there a bug with Holy Shock in 1.09? It seems that mobs hit VERY hard with it.

Also reminds me of that one time with my cousin, we decided to play in LAN and try a holy shock paladin just for the lolz, and it looked like we ALWAYS rolled the minimum lightning damage with Holy Shock, which is weird because mobs seem like they always hit super hard when they have it. As if players always rolled min damage, and mobs rolled max lol.

 

[Apila]

The Sorceress TarjaHalonen has reached Harrogath in Nightmare. Gear is kind of scrappy, but it works out for now.

I've been running Pindle, and made a couple of Meph runs as well. Seems he can't be slivered in NM at all. In any case, he dropped me a Tal Rasha's Amulet. That got me thinking, is there a grail table for 1.09 available anywhere? I have my own which I made for 1.07; the items' names are the same, so I guess I could use that. But if a better functioning, prettier one exists I would be interested in that.

 

[m4ke]

That got me thinking, is there a grail table for 1.09 available anywhere?

I use the one I attached. I don't take any credit for that. It was originally made for current patch and I downloaded it somewhere here (or from the old forum). I removed lots of elite uniques though I havent compared it against Uniqueitems.txt. At least I haven't found any items that are not in the sheet =)

Just remove the 'x' 's there.

m4ke

Edit: Finland maybe? Tarja rules.

Edit2: The Static bug is only in Hell IIRC.

 

[Apila]

Thanks a lot for the table, it works great.

Yes I'm from Finland, and Tarja is awesome.

 

[art_vandelay]

Did another comparison, this time for Bows. This one's a lot more uneven because I had to divide the bows by amulet used. I considered WWS, Lyc's, Cliffkiller, GSA, Buriza, WF and 1.07 Mat Bow/GMB crafts:

Spoiler: Legend

• IAS is the amount of increased attack speed on equipment not just the bow.
• fpa is frames per attack for this weapon.
• AD? states whether Amplify damage is assumed to be on the target.
• ED is on-weapon Enhanced Damage.
• Min and Max are weapon damage after application of bonuses.
• Weap. Avg. is the average of those two.
• DS is Deadly Strike, CS is Critical Strike and DS v CS is total chance to do double damage. (read: DS or CS)
• dps is what the damage per second would be if we ignore off-weapon ED and Min/Max. If AD? is empty this is multiplied by 0,5 to simulate 50% physical resist and if AD? = 1 I multiply by 1,5 to simulate -50% physical resist.

I assume that crushing blow is most important for Amazon as well so I have Guillaume's and Goblin Toe fixed. I also have Razortail as belt for all weapons with the exception of Buriza.

I always try to simulate the fastest setup with a weapon but sometimes (Buriza) I did the math for slower attacks to show how strong it is even then. To reach some of those high breakpoints a 4os armor with IAS jewels is needed but since there is no Fortitude in 1.09 I think this is not a bad thing but rather the best possible solution. One could use a 1.07 4os armor with single res (lightning) and life.

Under consideration are three amulets:

• Cat's Eye: WWS only
• HLW: Get DS and IAS but have to deal with 50% physical resist
• 1.07 Saracen's Chance: High chance of AD going off.

The 1.07 Saracen's category is somewhat fishy in that it assumes that AD is always on but I didn't know any other way of incorporating that AD trigger into the calculations.

For reference here are the breakpoints for the different WSM bows:


Conclusions:

• WWS, Lyc's, Cliffkiller and GSA are all worse than Buriza and not just by a bit.
• Eaglehorn barely beats a "Shael" Buriza at the 138% IAS breakpoint. It just lacks the necessary IAS to be good.
• Buriza is ridiculously good and quite easy to obtain.
• Windforce can only be beaten by godly bows you'll never get your hands on, so it deserves its reputation.
  
• The crafted bows are pretty much immediately worth it, with the 511% ED Mat Bow craft doing 25% more damage than Buriza at the fastest breakpoint. (in the HLW case)

Looks like I was rightfully disappointed in WWS when I first started my 1.09 bowa...


I'm also looking to do a Claw comparison although I'm still unsure about dual wield mechanics in 1.09

 

[Erayz]

I've started a classic Amazon in 1.09 after finding a rare Gothic Bow, and finished the game with her already. I've done some cow runs and now she is level 66. Strafe + Freezing Arrow build.

Now I'm trying to figure out how much AR I'll need in order to have 85% chance to hit on Urdars on hell difficulty.

According to monstats.txt, in d2data.mpq (since it seems that's where Classic monsters stats are stored), Urdars are level 82, with 481 Defense.

LCS says I have 2100 AR, with 195 dex. Bow gives 137 AR, and Penetrate gives 135%.
According to Amazon Basin, the calculation would be: (( 195 - 7 ) * 5 + 5 + 137 ) * 2.35 = 2542.7

I figured out LCS calculates as if points in dex gave 4 AR, which gives: ((195 - 7 ) * 4 + 5 + 137 ) * 2.35 = 2100.9

Is it a difference with 1.09? That dex gives 4 AR?

Anyway, after attacking a Urdar, LCS says I have 69% chance of hitting with strafe.

But doing the calculation:

200 * ( 2100 / (2100 + 481 )) * ( 66 / (66 + 82) )
200 * (2100 / 2581) * 2 * (66 / 148)
200 * 0.8136381247578458 * 0.4459459459459459
72.56772464056462% Chance to hit.

Is the formula different in 1.09? Why Am I not getting the same Chance to hit % ?

 

[Apila]

Yeah, the formula is different in 1.09. Dexterity grants 4 AR instead of 5.

In any case, d2data.mpq is the wrong mpq. That one is used to store graphics and such. The actual mpq you're looking for is Patch_D2.mpq (or d2exp in case of 1.07). In there we can observe that Urdars are mlvl=90 and have 528 Defense. This results in 67.6 % CTH. Interestingly enough, mlvl=90 and 481 Defense results in 68.8 % CTH.

The LCS has been known to be quite wrong at times, so I wouldn't count on it too much.

 

[Erayz]

I was looking at d2data.mpq because it seemed to contain info for monsters in Classic, which is what I wanted in this case. Looking at the items dropped by Urdars in Atma V shows ilvl 82.

Patch_D2.mpq contains only monsters information for LOD.

I'll do more testing with the mlvl in Patch_D2.mpq and the defense from d2data, to see if it's always closer to the LCS.
If it's the case, then I will rely on my calculation above rather than the LCS.

 

[d2lover]

I saw some 1.09 screenshots on the previous site or this with ilvl shown.

Is it in this patch shown??

 

[Apila]

No, ilvls are not shown on items.

I was looking at d2data.mpq because it seemed to contain info for monsters in Classic, which is what I wanted in this case. Looking at the items dropped by Urdars in Atma V shows ilvl 82.

Patch_D2.mpq contains only monsters information for LOD.

The Patch mpq also contains information used in classic. Opening for example 1.13 d2data.mpq, and viewing skills.txt, we can see that Lightning Mastery still lists mana cost reduction as parameter, which is obviously not the case. In 1.00 monstats.txt, Urdars are listed as level 82 and have 481 defense.

There is of course a chance that the classic values for monsters are still the same in 1.09 that they are in 1.00. The values for classic monsters could also be hardcoded somehow. I don't know which files ATMA uses to look up the levels. It does show mlvl 90 for 1.09 Urdars for me.

 

[m4ke]

made a comparison of Zeal Weapons and took Baranar's, Fury BA, Cruel Chippy Mythical Swords, Schaefer's Hammer and 1.07 Mythical Sword Crafts into consideration:

I think I'll forward one 1.07 Zealer Paladin to 1.09b. Lvl will be 75-85 debending on how bored I am with cows =) His goal is to gain more levels and kill stuff, not MF.

Are you saying that there are no unique/set weapons in 1.07 - 1.09 for Zealer that can beat those in your comparison? And I'll forget those Ohm & Lo versions. And it will be 1H with shield.

Have you any suggestions for other gear assuming that I can rack anything in 1.07/8? I have also some 1.09b stuff stashed.

m4ke

 

[art_vandelay]

If you want to kill stuff you should really stack the Crushing Blow. My Zealot can do Ice Caves on p9 thanks to the insane power of CB.

Well, the pool of potential weapons is so small compared to 1.10+ and you can't upgrade the exceptional uniques, so what choice is there? I'd like to find I'm wrong but I think the weapons I listed are the best available. The only thing the list is missing is the 4os Cruel Mythical Sword of X from 1.07 which @Derklord mentioned above.

For Paladin you want CB and DS, so Guillaume, HLW, Gore's (or Goblin Toe, guess it depends how much CB you have otherwise), CB gloves from 1.07/1.08 with IAS should also be a big deal. I haven't landed on a really good armor yet. RobbyD used Griswold's with some socketfillers but I don't remember which. Raven Frost is clear and for the other ring some leech assuming you don't get it elsewhere. (Double digit on gloves should make you invincible I think). Belt is weird... RobbyD used to say every melee character needs Thundergods but I don't agree, I think hovering over bosses before engaging is enough safety.
There is a belt nobody ever mentions: Deadly Craft belt from 1.08 which costs a Mal to make and can only be crafted on days 22-end of month. It has (2-10)% DS and CB. Potentially the biggest damage belt available.

Sorry that a lot of this stuff I'm mentioning isn't rackable

 

[d2lover]

a mythical sword can have 4 sockets? or typo?

the DS belt seems interesting!