RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

[RobbyD]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

I haven't had time to read through the whole guide, but I did have a couple comments about what I did read.

• I can personally confirm that Vista [highlight]can[/highlight] run version 1.09. One of the very first things I did after installing Vista was install 1.07 and then patch up to 1.09. IIRC, you had to monkey around w/ some of the settings in order to get it to work right, but 1.09 is playable on Vista.

• Not sure if you mentioned this or not, but in 1.09, 3 red potions (any size) + 3 mana potions (any size) can be transmuted into 1 partial rejuvenation potion. This can be handy in the early stages for newer characters I think.

• With regards to MSLE, Bartuc in the Throne Room is always LE regardless of difficulty. Every once in a while, I see him spawn MSLE in Nightmare whilst Hell Forge Rushing, and even in NM MSLE is the bane of all existance . If anyone is planning to do rushes in 1.09 expansion, they will occasionally have to deal with this.

Very solid effort so far. :thumbup: I might add more comments after I've read some moar.

Thanks - can you give some more details on the process to get 1.09 running on Vista? I have a buddy that would be interested.

Yes, 3 health+3 mana = 1 rejuv... I didn't know that recipe had been changed.

True Dat about Bartuc - that was the last hurdle to making my barb a Baal runner.

Thanks for the kudos.

 

[Steven Q Urkel]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

Thanks - can you give some more details on the process to get 1.09 running on Vista? I have a buddy that would be interested.

As far as I know, there is two ways to do it. Number one is the version switcher, and number two is the multiple installs method. I've never used the version switcher, so I can't offer any advice there. I've used the multiple installs method, and I'm now running 1.09d, 1.10s, and 1.12a.

The first step will be to install 1.07. That was the version that was loaded on my Diablo 2 expansion disc when I bought it, but if you already have a disc with 1.09 that would work also. When you insert the disc to install, if your computer's auto run triggers, just hit cancel or exit. Open up the My Computer directory, and find your cd-rom drive. Right click on the drive, and then choose Explore. Then right click on the Install.exe icon, and choose Properties. Then go to the Compatibility tab, and put a check mark in the following boxes:

[list][ ] Run this program in compatibility mode for: 
(choose Windows XP service pack 2 from the drop down menu)[/list]
[list][ ]Disable visual themes[/list]
[list][ ]Disable desktop composition[/list]
[list][ ]Run this program as an administrator[/list]

IIRC, this was all I had to do in order to get 1.07 installed on Vista. After you download the 1.09 patch .exe file, you will still need to go into properties for that file and put check marks in the same boxes as you did when you installed 1.07. If you follow these steps you should now be able to run D2 on Vista.

[highlight]edit:[/highlight] I just remembered you must install D2 Classic before you can install the expansion. In order to install D2 Classic you will want to follow the same method of finding the install.exe file on the cd, go into properties, and then put check marks in the appropriate boxes as described above.

 

[Belthazor]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

Hm... I'm using Vista Home Premium and I didn't have to do any of these steps. Installation worked as it should via autorun, and I didn't have to change the compatibility settings for neither the installation program nor the game itself. Granted, I've never tried it with 1.09, but if 1.07 and 1.12 work that way, I don't see a reason why 1.09 wouldn't.

 

[mattinm]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

Hm... I'm using Vista Home Premium and I didn't have to do any of these steps. Installation worked as it should via autorun, and I didn't have to change the compatibility settings for neither the installation program nor the game itself. Granted, I've never tried it with 1.09, but if 1.07 and 1.12 work that way, I don't see a reason why 1.09 wouldn't.

+1 to this.

I run on Vista x64 and I didn't have to mess with any of the settings, and I've run the game on every iteration from 1.07 to 1.13beta with and without a version switcher (I needed to get the files to make my version-ing folders).

 

[RobbyD]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

OK, thanks to Steven Q Urkel, LongingForDeath, and mattinm, I have amended that section of my guide. I HAVE heard of people having trouble running the patch in Vista, but it appears that it's not always the case, and if it does crop up, there are ways around it. I've not dealt with Vista myself, so I have to rely on second-hand information here. I defer to those that have direct experience with Vista.

Regarding the lightning absorb, it's my impression from my game that sufficient absorb + resist indeed makes you immune to said source of damage. As an example, I was doing a Hell Countess run with my Zon (who does NOT currently have lightning absorb) and her merc (who has Black's Face for LA) - an MSLE was encountered, and while my Zon fled for cover, my merc's health bar got nice healthy INCREASES as the bolts hit him, with no initial decreases. Additionally, my Barb has absolutely no problem Frenzying up a MSLE Bartuc at point-blank range with T-God's belt, so I'm not sure I've seen evidence of anything other than total immunity to lightning damage when properly geared up in my 1.09 play (except when affected by Conviction, though that point is made in my guide).

 

[Hairless]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

-Monster damage and hitpoints - Monsters, especially in Hell, don't hit as hard or have nearly as many hitpoints as in 1.10+. This is good and bad - it's good that you can mow though monsters much faster, but it lulls you into a sense of invulnerability that get's shattered with you encounter pack of uniques combining Amp Damage, Might, and Fanatacism and/or MSLE.

I have found this point particularly notable. I can deal with normal monsters easily, but the uniques are a lot harder to deal with.

 

[Foxtrue]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

I second Hairless on that. A unique mauler type monster with fanaticism can be deadly if you can not hit-lock him to a wall with knockback hits (or have a lot of full rejuvenation potions on you). Bash saved me when fighting such monsters. Infector of souls is a pain with fanaticism for a melee fighter because all his minions pile on you.

Some very nasty monsters are Council members in Durance of hate 3.

Bremm always comes with conviction (in D2 Classic at least) and even with 85% resist you can not take his lightning bolts and I am talking about LE not MSLE.
Bremm can be taken down when LE (but not MSLE) by standing exactly in front of him using the lower center wall of the first room of Durance of hate 3.

If Mafer Dragonhand gets fanaticism aura you better get a very fast knockback weapon, a good merc and a hope that he will not break your hit-lock.

About monster conviction, it may be worth to mention in your guide that in D2 Classic 1.09 the Conviction + MSLE combo means certain death for a melee fighter since there is no absorb from items. My barb took 2 MSLE hits from Bremm and got very close to 0 hitpoints and I was using BO at that time (~2000 life) and 75% resist all.

About the rare weapons I understood correctly that no rare weapon can drop with more then 149% Enhanced Damage in 1.09D ?
That may explain why I never was able to get more the 147 ED on weapons in D2 Classic 1.09D.

 

[Ragnarod]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

About the rare weapons I understood correctly that no rare weapon can drop with more then 149% Enhanced Damage in 1.09D ?
That may explain why I never was able to get more the 147 ED on weapons in D2 Classic 1.09D.

Max ED in classic is 200%, very rare though (King's + Merciless prefixes, both with a perfect roll), it's normal you haven't come across one of those yet.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

I second Hairless on that. A unique mauler type monster with fanaticism can be deadly if you can not hit-lock him to a wall with knockback hits (or have a lot of full rejuvenation potions on you). Bash saved me when fighting such monsters. Infector of souls is a pain with fanaticism for a melee fighter because all his minions pile on you.

Some very nasty monsters are Council members in Durance of hate 3.

Bremm always comes with conviction (in D2 Classic at least) and even with 85% resist you can not take his lightning bolts and I am talking about LE not MSLE.
Bremm can be taken down when LE (but not MSLE) by standing exactly in front of him using the lower center wall of the first room of Durance of hate 3.

If Mafer Dragonhand gets fanaticism aura you better get a very fast knockback weapon, a good merc and a hope that he will not break your hit-lock.

About monster conviction, it may be worth to mention in your guide that in D2 Classic 1.09 the Conviction + MSLE combo means certain death for a melee fighter since there is no absorb from items. My barb took 2 MSLE hits from Bremm and got very close to 0 hitpoints and I was using BO at that time (~2000 life) and 75% resist all.

About the rare weapons I understood correctly that no rare weapon can drop with more then 149% Enhanced Damage in 1.09D ?
That may explain why I never was able to get more the 147 ED on weapons in D2 Classic 1.09D.

Multumesc for the revival of the thread - I had been meaning to revise the discussion of the CtC since I have been working on my Sorceress (no teleport with the Occy).

Anyway, I have not played Classic, so I'll make note of that aspect of classic.

Fanatism is pretty much death for a merc if you don't get him out of the pack, I've found.

Hell Bremm is the only character I've encountered with a really hurty CE or FE death in 1.09 (due to his Conviction) as well.

I'm able to run all of D3 with my Barb NOW since I have leech from a ring, the Stealskull, and Nosferatu's Coil and 5fps attack (Baranar's + Lightsabre), but it's more dangerous than running Baal.

If you are running Mephy, I suggest you run up the peninsula, leap over, and just take on Mephy, then take the red portal to A4.

 

[Foxtrue]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

Cu placere (you're welcome). I am glad to help. When I was running Mephisto I was using a no leap barb (imagine that ). I am a bit scared for my Avenger Paladin, he will reach D3, with a low life compared to the Battle Order-ed Barb.

@Thyiad
Sticky please ?

 

[seperaGG]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

I disagree with statement that necromancer was weak in 1.09. Blood Golem + Iron Maiden + Corpse Explosion combo anyone? Back in the day they were one of the best options to kill cows, maybe only beaten by amazons and sorcs.

The thing is that when iron maiden'ed monster hits blood golem damaged returned to mob counts as damage done by golem thus it leeches life. That renders blood golem immortal to any meele mob which can be leeched from (ancients can't be leeched this way).

Add CE to this combo and you rule cows and level to 99 in no time.

 

[lone_wolf]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

intresting guide but it lacks a mention that players 8 was not the highest player setting you could get:whistling: cant remember off hand which of the 1.09 patches it was but the max was players 64. Made for some very very entertaining cow runs.

 

[mattinm]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

intresting guide but it lacks a mention that players 8 was not the highest player setting you could get:whistling: cant remember off hand which of the 1.09 patches it was but the max was players 64. Made for some very very entertaining cow runs.

That's only the 1.09b patch. It's capped at 8 in 1.09 and 1.09d.

 

[Nubikoen]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

I disagree with statement that necromancer was weak in 1.09. Blood Golem + Iron Maiden + Corpse Explosion combo anyone? Back in the day they were one of the best options to kill cows, maybe only beaten by amazons and sorcs.

The thing is that when iron maiden'ed monster hits blood golem damaged returned to mob counts as damage done by golem thus it leeches life. That renders blood golem immortal to any meele mob which can be leeched from (ancients can't be leeched this way).

Add CE to this combo and you rule cows and level to 99 in no time.

It's true that this build worked (sort of) in the cow level. But in anything but 1 player games, getting the first cow corpse to start the CE chain could easily take a minute or two.

Not to mention questing the character through the game takes quite a lot of effort as well.
By all means try one out, just don't expect any LF-zon'esque speed.

 

[lone_wolf]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

That's only the 1.09b patch. It's capped at 8 in 1.09 and 1.09d.

true that but it was fun as long as it lasted

 

[Sparks]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

Thanks for this guide, very handy! :thumbup:

I'm making a WW Barb to run Normal Meph. I fancy getting hold of this 1.09 Raven Claw I keep reading about, it will make normal difficulty on 1.13c fun!

Untwinked was very slow at first on players8, Unique monsters seem to take a lot of beating and I've had a few ranged ones :yuck:. I thought I'd see if masteries were indeed bugged. I bought a 3os Two-Handed Sword from Charsi and put a point in Sword Mastery. I went back to the Cold Plains to test, I'm now one shotting most monsters on players8 :rolf:.

Shall I go ahead with 20 points in Sword Mastery eventually? I won't have many places to put points anyway.

 

[RobbyD]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

Thanks for this guide, very handy! :thumbup:

I'm making a WW Barb to run Normal Meph. I fancy getting hold of this 1.09 Raven Claw I keep reading about, it will make normal difficulty on 1.13c fun!

Untwinked was very slow at first on players8, Unique monsters seem to take a lot of beating and I've had a few ranged ones :yuck:. I thought I'd see if masteries were indeed bugged. I bought a 3os Two-Handed Sword from Charsi and put a point in Sword Mastery. I went back to the Cold Plains to test, I'm now one shotting most monsters on players8 :rolf:.

Shall I go ahead with 20 points in Sword Mastery eventually? I won't have many places to put points anyway.

Thanks for the kudos, and I'm glad you found it helpful.

I'd go ahead and put a point each in axe and mace just so your barb gets the huge bump for anything he's using. If you plan to Pat him or do some lvl 92/93 charm farming from Cows or the A5 cold caves, I'd plan on maxing a mastery, of course. I would say a barb is never at a loss for where to put points, though. If WW and you Mastery is pumped, there's also BO to pump, and Berzerk return on points is huge for your PI needs. I found out late how handy Battle Cry is, and Shout is a good candidate for points too.

 

[Sparks]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

OK, thanks. Typically I just found a half-decent rare Bardiche so I stuck a point in Polearm Mastery. The 5% mana leech on it is nice.

Not sure what my plans are for him after getting the Raven Claw but I thought I'd plan him properly in case I do Pat him.

Update: I love the Savage Polearm cube recipe! I just got a Savage Halberd of the Wraith, that will be perfect once I get the stat points. I have a few exceptional polearms I can use when I have the mana leech somewhere else. My Act II merc will use an exceptional polearm once he has the levels, they start lower level in 1.09.

 

[Sparks]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

This is a double post but it's been a week since the last post.

Single attacking, using Concentration, is dull but using a Savage Polearm w/ mana steal and the mastery bug made it very easy. I got to Normal Mephisto doing /players 8 all the way. My first kill was some crap rares. I started doing runs on /players 3, two runs later however Raven Claw dropped! I've moved it to 1.13c and tested it against a 1.10+ Raven Claw and it certainly does a lot more damage!

I'll park my 1.09 Barbarian in Act IV for now, I can always go back to him if I want some other 1.09 items.

What I noticed whilst playing 1.09d:

• I missed being able to run Countess for a few runes during Normal
• I missed having /nopickup, I kept picking up stuff I didn't want!
• Battle Orders leaving my orb partly empty was annoying, my life leech was slow
• Mephisto seemed very easy

 

[RobbyD]

Re: RobbyD's Time Traveler's Guide to 1.09 v1.1

This is a double post but it's been a week since the last post.

Single attacking, using Concentration, is dull but using a Savage Polearm w/ mana steal and the mastery bug made it very easy. I got to Normal Mephisto doing /players 8 all the way. My first kill was some crap rares. I started doing runs on /players 3, two runs later however Raven Claw dropped! I've moved it to 1.13c and tested it against a 1.10+ Raven Claw and it certainly does a lot more damage!

I'll park my 1.09 Barbarian in Act IV for now, I can always go back to him if I want some other 1.09 items.

What I noticed whilst playing 1.09d:

• I missed being able to run Countess for a few runes during Normal
• I missed having /nopickup, I kept picking up stuff I didn't want!
• Battle Orders leaving my orb partly empty was annoying, my life leech was slow
• Mephisto seemed very easy

Congrats on bagging that Raven Claw so quick. I know Normal Countess only drops El and Eld, but she IS a good source for things like Death's Gloves and Sash in 1.09 - beaten only by the Cow King for those items.

Other things you might consider is farming level 92/93 charms from Hell Act 5 Champions and Uniques and to see if you can bag an Amber / Scintillating / Sharp SC of Inertia (+5% FRW in 1.09). I also understand that you can't get a +Holy Shield staffmod on scepters in later patches, so that's something you might want to farm in 1.09. I'm looking for a +3 Holy Shield War Scepter (I probably Charsi'd a number of those before I learned of their value) to socket for the CtA I plan to make in 1.10s.

I've done some test runs against Mephisto in later patches, and I can confirm he is considerably easier in 1.09. For instance, in 1.12, the Council Members cast Hydras on the peninsula to run to leap to Mephy - in 1.09, they are much tamer.

The BO empty life bulb thing does take some getting used to, but it's easily dealt with by a quick visit to the town healer or a quick stop at health shrine. I find that any level of life leech will fill it quickly for a frenzy barb.

But I'm glad my guide helped you reach your goal - having the item you are running for drop so quickly is a rare thing - it's only happened to me once - when I ran Normal Countess with my Sorc for the Death's Gloves and they dropped within 5 runs.