Single Player FAQ 2.1 (Repost)

[Cattleya]

Single Player FAQ 2.1 (Repost)

[highlight]Single Player Forum FAQ 2.1[/highlight]
Version 2.0 written 29-Jan-2004 by Crazy Runner Guy and Icebird
- Ver 2.1 contains edits for color, revised links, and other subtle changes by AlterEgo
- Original FAQ written by Greybeard and Darkness

[highlight]Contents[/highlight]

1.0 The Single Player Forum

1.01 What is the Single Player Forum?

1.02 Can I ask about editors, trainers or item packs here?

1.03 The introduction post

1.04 The daily thread

1.05 General posting etiquette
- OT Posts
- Giant text
- Smileys
- Post count threads
- MP Games thread
- Flames

1.06 Avatars & Signatures

1.07 Giveaways

1.08 Ladders

1.09 Private Messages

1.10 Search Function

2.0 Playing SP style

2.01 What is the "/playersX" command?

2.02 What versions of Diablo can I run? What are the differences between them?

2.03 How can I run multiple patches on my computer?

2.04 How do I mule? What is ATMA?

2.05 What are some useful sites for more information?

3.0 Trading

4.0 Useful things to know about the SPF
- Terms, acronyms and phrases
- The rogues gallery (SPF Faces)
- Forum awards
- Forum bar
- Hardcore tourneys
- "The Grail"
- The Septavirate
- The MFlympics (Magic Find Olympics)
- Variants & Other Notable Achievements in SPF History
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[highlight]1.0 The Single Player Forum[/highlight]

1.01 What is the Single Player Forum?

The Single Player Forum (SPF) is for those who favor Single Player & Open Characters MP action. The forum engages in general gameplay and tips discussions, along with the SPF community topics such as the Daily Thread, the Item Find thread, the Etladhq Memorial Bar (EMB), Hardcore Tournaments, Hardcore and Softcore Ladders, and has two Moderators.

1.02 Can I ask about editors, trainers or item packs here?

Not here. It's against RPGForums.Net Rules.

5. Thou Shalt Not Pimp or aid the Pimping of hacks and Cheats. Hacks and Cheats are 3rd party programs that allow you to alter the way a player interacts with a game. This includes, but not restricted to Maphack and Pindlebot. We do not support the use of these. You may not ask for help in creating a hack/cheat, a link to where you can find one, provide a link to where people can download one. However, the morality of using these programs is sometimes discussed and we allow these [within reason], unless it violates any other rule.

Try a Google search. What you do on your computer is your own business. But we ask that you respect the Single Player community by not trading hacked or duped items (or items found by a character using hacked or duped items) here, or by participating in forum MP games using hacked or duped items.

While ATMA is a third-party programme, the forum administrators have ruled that it is not a cheat or hack, and may be discussed here. The current version of ATMA allows muling of items between characters, but contains no editing functions beyond the ability to change a character's name.

1.03 The Introduction Post

Here at the SPF, we value the community feel that the forum generates. So when you begin browsing/lurking/posting in the SPF, feel free to make an introduction post. Some things that go very well in an intro post:

* Hello, salutations, aloha or something to that extent. Then we know it's an intro post.
* A little bit about yourself. Age, location, and other interests you may have.
* Info about your D2 experience, why you chose to play SP, favorite characters, Hardcore or Softcore.
* Questions about D2 or the SPF that you would like answers.
Some bad things to put in an Intro Post:

* Accusing us of being hackers, cheaters, etc. This tends to leave a sore spot that does not heal quickly.
* Calling us noobs, losers, loners because we chose to avoid Bnet and all of its l33t-ness. Again, sores like this heal very slowly.
* Anything that breaks RPGForums.Net Rules. Use common sense, please.
* Lots and lots of grammatical/spelling errors. Posts like this are just flat out hard to read.
* Doing anything stated above will cause you to be fed to the giant squid. (See section 4.0)

1.04 The Daily Thread

On a daily basis (duh), you will see threads titles as, but not limited to "Its Friday!," "Bout time for a Wednesday Thread," and just a plain "Sunday." These threads help the SPF get to know what's going on everyone's D2 life, and outside it, if keeps you away from your addiction. Feel free to post in these, and tell us what you've been up to.

1.05 General posting etiquette

-OT Posts

Occasionally, we like to discuss things other than D2. Imagine that! These threads are marked in there titles with "OT: Thread title" to let you know that they have no D2 purpose whatsoever. We even have an entire forum dedicated to this mindless chatter. Given all this, OT threads have their merits. We start food fights in them, give a constructive answer on things like computers and relationships, and generally can give us all a good laugh. So, if you would like to post one of these threads, just be kind and let us know its OT. Also, check on the first page to see if there are other OT threads active. A good rule of thumb is five OT posts on the front page. A forum full of OT threads is not a good thing, especially to forum lurkers and non-SPF members.

-Giant text

When you post, you are supplied with different methods of formatting your text. One of these methods is text size. Posting in giant text is just fine, as long as you do so very sparingly. The forum gets rather annoyed with threads filled with giant text, so just use it in moderation. If you have nothing interested so say, posting it 10 times larger will only add to its meaninglessness.

-Smilies

They are nice to add something to a thread, put please, just like Giant Text, use them in moderation. Too many smilies cause threads to load at the rate of tectonic plate shifts. You are limited to 4 per post, so please keep it that way.

-Post count threads

Posts such as "Woot! 100 posts!" with content of nothing more than "Yay Me!" are frowned at. If you are sitting at 999 or whatever the count maybe, we're not interested if you hit 1,000 posts. Doing so just reduces the value of your other 999 posts, and it is doing a great disservice to yourself. Use that next post to be an informative and thought-provoking poster.

There is nothing funny about having a post count of 1337.

- MP Games

Up at the top of the forum, there is a Forum titled "MP Forum". Please post in the correct thread and remember to note game mods where vanilla and modded games share the same thread. In each post, please state version, SC or HC, Act and Difficulty. Also, update your post if you leave that difficulty, act, or the session is finished. This is the ONLY place where MP games should be advertised. Doing so otherwise causes a very large cephalopod to come out hungry. Check the MP Guide for further tips and a brief introduction on common technical problems.

-If you are still having trouble joining/hosting MP (TC/IP) games...

Then it may be a problem with your ports. Certain ports need to be able to connect to Bnet and TC/IP games. It may also be a problem with your router and firewalls. You can ask for help in The Technical Issues Thread.

For TCP/IP play, you only need port 4000. 6112-6119 are used for BNet. More explicitly, you need to ensure that port 4000 is being forwarded by your router/firewall/software to the correct internal IP address.

Usually the IP is on the same page as where you setup the port forwarding. Make sure you enable TCP/UDP on the port as well. DHCP has to be disabled too if you have that enabled. The IP address you want to direct it to is the internal (private) one that is hosting the D2 game. Unless you changed it, it will be 192.168.x.x format. You can get it by going to a Windows dos prompt and typing ipconfig.

If your version of windows doesn't have that ipconfig (some of them don't), you can do the same in the start menu bar, choose run and type winipcfg, shows the same info.
The problem may also be that you need to put in your internal IP address. IP's that are in 192.168.x.x format are not your real IP's. You can also get the correct IP by going to http://www.whatismyip.com/ and http://www.ipchicken.com/ along with the above processes.

-Flames

A flame is anything insulting/attacking/mocking another person. There is a very fine line between a flame and criticism in posts. If you absolutely are disgusted by the content of a post and think it violates RPGForums.Net Rules, then either do not post or keep flames out of your post. Here at the SPF, we do not tolerate flames of any kind. The SPF as a whole is very good at keeping flames to a bare minimum (i.e. zero). Also, there is a little "!" button at the top right hand corner of each post. Clicking this button reports the bad post to the forum moderators, and they will look at it.
Remember, if you don't have anything nice to post, don't post anything at all.

1.06 Avatars & Signatures

Your avatar is the little picture beneath your name. It can contain anything appropriate. Avatars are generally screenshots, favorite bands, or a cartoon character, just to name a few. They can have motion, but this is limited. To create your avatar, go into your User Control Panal (User CP), and click "Edit Avatar under the "Edit Options" panel on the left hand side. Then select "Use Custom Avatar." From there, you can upload your avatar from either a website or by browsing your computer's files. Avatars must be 75 x 75 pixels (about the size of a character's height) or 9.8 kb of file size, whichever is smaller. The last step is to click the "Save Changes" button. This will change your avatar from whatever it was to whatever you changed it to on all of your posts. Remember, keep it appropriate.

Signatures are reserved for purediablo.com PayPal supporters (Pals). Click here to find out more.

1.07 Giveaways

One of the nice features about the SPF is that since a lot of us do a large amount of MF'ing, we have a lot of spare items that we don't need/want, but yet are useful to other players. Generous posters post their lists of items to giveaway in the SPTF, and then the needy member responds which items they would like and an email address. Obey all the SPTF Rules when posting.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is NOT fpr "Begging". Do not post here unless you have items to give or are responding to someone else's generous giveaway. I.E. Do not post something such as, but not limited to:

Can someone give me a {Insert item here}? Please pm me.

If you are planning a very large giveaway, please PM a moderator to get clearance before you proceed.

1.08 Ladders

Similar to Bnet's ladder, we have our own system, which is maintained by Borlag, who updates the website, which can be found at SPF Ladders. The rules are explained there, so I'm not going to bother repeating them here. To join simply post in either of the current Ladder posts. This is also where you can update your status on the ladder by posting your character's level and status.

Update 3 June 2008 url=http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=600330]Tourney Listing Thread[/url]

1.09 Private messages

Private messages (PMs) are RPGForums.Net's mini-email system. They are the most useful when discussing trades or anything else that does not warrant a new thread/new post. To cut down on bandwidth usage, each member is limited to 5 messages stored. Moderators have a limit of 75, and Dii.net Pal's get 25. If you want to keep your PMs manageable, de-select the "Save a copy of this message in your Sent Items folder." Also, it seems that if your limit has been reached, you cannot send any messages, regardless if this box is checked or not.

1.10 Search Function

Although this is more a problem in the individual character forums, we do get a lot of repeat threads and questions asked. Right above the page box of each particular forum/thread, is the Search Function. Please use this to check for answers to your question. This will help keep the forum running as a strategy and community based forum, rather than a "Didn't someone ask that question yesterday?" forum. Also, the front page of each forum has been extended to show 35 threads instead of 10, as to allow easier accessibility to threads.

EDIT 3 June 2008
Google search tips by Thyiad.

 

[Cattleya]

[highlight]2.0 Playing SP Style[/highlight]

2.01 What is the "/playersX" command?

Starting with Lord of Destruction 1.09, Blizzard allowed SP players to simulate games with multiple players. Monster life increases, and so does the experience they generate. This command largely removes the need for tedious levelling-up in early parts of the game.

To use the command in 1.10, hit <enter>, type "/playersX" where x is a number between 1 and 8. For example, "/players8" spawns monsters with the same life and experience you would find in an 8 person multi-player game. This setting can be changed at any time, but the new setting will only affect monsters that haven't spawned yet. Sometimes you might have to travel several screens before noticing the increased life.

In patch 1.09 the command was entered without the "/". The 1.09a and 1.09b patches allowed the players setting to be set as high as 64.

2.02 What versions of Diablo can I run? What are the differences between them?

One of the great joys of playing SP D2 is that you're not limited to whatever the current patch on the realms is. You can play any version of D2 from Diablo 2 classic v1.0 onwards.

Popular versions on the SPF are:

Diablo 2 Classic 1.06 - This patch has all the advantages of classic, Dual Leach Rings, Rares with godly mods, relatively easy gambling of uniques and skills that made certain builds viable that no longer work so well in Lord of Destruction. This patch also got rid of a lot of the bugs that plagued the earlier versions of the game. Items that couldn't drop being one such bug.

Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction 1.07 - This patch version has never been released on the realms, but was the official SP release of the game. With the absence of the "players X" command, this game is a lot tougher. Monsters are tougher and uniques can spawn with very nasty abilities (tri-elemental immune Lord De Sys being the worst). This patch brought with it a lot of the changes in LOD we take for granted, such as no easy gambling of uniques, skill changes that made certain builds much harder to play and no more godly rares. However this is a very popular patch because:

Huge number of crafted item recipes. Many of which allowed for the creation of items of considerable power!

Charms could spawn with mods unavailable in patches 1.08 and 1.09. +30 Max Damage charm anyone?

Rack running for uniques and sets! This is somewhat complicated to explain in brief, but in short, high level items such as Arkaine's Valor and the Grandfather can easily be acquired from weapon and armour racks in 1.07.
For more on 1.07, check out Repuzs' guide on 1.07, found here.

Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction 1.08 - Not a terribly popular patch. The main reason being that MF does not work properly in SP in 1.08 and so it can be very hard to find items. While some of the 1.08 items are generally agreed as being far more potent than their 1.09 counterparts, they are incredibly hard to find.

Diablo 2 Lord Of Destruction 1.09 - The predominant patch both on Single Player and the realms for a long time. The 1.09 patch comes in several different flavours - the mostly common played were 1.09b and 1.09d. Why play 1.09b? Items with "Chance to cast" upon striking/being struck do not work in single player in 1.09d. In addition, 1.09b allows "playersX" settings as high as 64. In all other respects the patches are essentially identical. To downgrade from d to b, you only need to replace the "d2game.dll" file.

Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction 1.10 - The patch that some thought would never arrive is now available. This patch adds more unique items, more runewords, more Horadric cube recipes, improves odds of finding rare, set and unique items, skill synergies and "guest" monsters in Act V in Nightmare and Hell difficulties. Check out the 1.10 FAQ for Single Player for more details on the many changes in this patch.

Downloading the Patches

"But where can I get these different patches?" I hear you cry. Well Blizzard have been nice enough to host all the different patches to date on their FTP site, which you can find here.

2.03 How can I run multiple patches on my computer?

It is actually possible to run more than 1 patch on your computer. Many SPF members use multiple installs to run several different patches at the same time.

Important things to know:

1) The patches downloaded from Blizzard will update whichever version of Diablo is in the Diablo II folder.

2) No matter which folder you run Diablo II from, it will always look in the directory named Diablo II for the Save folder where your characters are stored.

The simplest method of installing multiple versions is to install the earliest patch you want to run, then copy it to a folder named something different (such "Diablo II 1.07"). Then upgrade the version in Diablo II folder.

To play a particular patch, rename the folder to Diablo II, while renaming existing Diablo II folder to something different (like "Diablo II 1.09").

Some SPF members use scripts to remove the need to rename folders every time you switch folders. Trenshadow has created a useful version switcher, which can be found here.

2.04 How do I mule? What is ATMA?

ATMA, which stands for A Tenshi Muling Application, is a very powerful program designed for muling and cataloging items. It was designed and created by our own Hakai_no_Tenshi (Doc), and is a very powerful application. To get it, you can go to the official ATMA website. There is also a stickied forum thread for questions & answers on this utility.

Prior to the release of ATMA, there were several alternative methods for muling. One involved another third party programme, while the other involved a modified .dll file that allowed two versions of D2 to run at once. (This allowed you to set-up a TCP/IP game with yourself). Neither of these methods can match the reliability and convenience of ATMA, and are only mentioned for informational purposes.

Felinea developed a related reporting utility named FARA. It uses the text outputs from ATMA to generate customizable web-ready item listings. This is very handy for traders and grailers alike. You can download FARA and find more information by clicking here.

GoMule is another muling utility by Silospen. It is still in development and has many more features than the ground-breaking ATMA.

2.05 What are some useful sites for more information?

Arreat Summit

Blizzard

D2Data.net

SPF Files & Utilities

[highlight]3.0 Trading[/highlight]

Single player iitem trading is done in the Single Player Trade Forum. Rules and such can be found there.

[highlight]4.0 Useful things to know about the SPF[/highlight]

Terms, Acronyms and Phrases

-Why does everyone seem to blame Durf for everything?

Some time ago in the OT forum, DurfBarian was away on vacation, and Dutchman, another OTF poster decided that the lack of interesting posts was Durf's fault. By the time he got back it had stuck. Thus, from that day forth and ever since, every problem and even Squid sightings have been blamed on Durf.

- Elite Uniques

If you are female posting in the SPF, you automatically qualify for Elite Unique status. Here in the SPF, we treat our Elite Unique members with great respect and care.

- The Giant Squid

This rather large cephalopod is regarded as a force to be feared. It prowls the SPF, waiting its next victim. It is an equal opportunity and will readily devour anything in its relative proximity, and does not discriminate between D2 players who hack/cheat and those that don't. While it has been quite docile as of late, it can be very spontaneous and will attack at will, and it will destroy your D2.net account and your little private messages too.

Should the Squid be sighted outside of its lair, one should notify AlterEgo who will come armed with Thy Holy Hand Gernade of Thread Locking and contain the ravaging beast. Should the problem be too large for Thy Holy Hand Gernade of Thread Locking to contain, AE will exercise Thy Holy Finger of Banning.

Consider this an advance warning.

- Waimea Factor (WF)

Deferring to Greybeard and Darkness:

WF - This is the Waimea Factor, how this works we're not sure, but if you ever have a particularly good set of MF runs you can be said to have been blessed with the WF. How Waimea blesses other peoples MFs runs to be especially spawny (like his own always are) is a mystery to us all, but it's a better explanation than 25 sides of detailed item drop formulae.

-The Rogues Gallery (SPF Faces)

DurfBarian has long maintained The Rogues Gallery.

In an ideal world, we would be able to know whom we are discussing our addiction with. Not sending Durf a mugshot gives the forum every right to believe you look like Baal's Uncle, unless you are an elite unique, in which case we will imagine something completely different.

- Forum Awards

There have been a number of SPF Awards granted over the years. They represent significant individuals and events in the history of this wonderful forum. Stargaze has maintained these awards here.

- Forum bar

The first bar was run by Ranger1144 and Muddy called "Ranger's Bar".

The second incarnation was operated by Mictar, and dubbed "The Banshee's Wail."

Currently, the SPF operates the Etdlahq Memorial Bar (EMB), in memory of the departed Eric. His special forum award can be found here.

- Hardcore tourneys

On a very regular basis there will be tournament threads on the front page. These tournaments will list their individual rules, along with prizes for the eventual winner in them. These tournaments are a great way to get involved in the SP community. Just keep watch for when a new one is asking for participants.

- "The Grail"

You may hear a lot of SPF members talking about "the grail". The original One True Grail involved the quest to find (or trade for) every set and unique item in the game. Some people even included runes in the quest.

Jaxom and Neolithic, and Hakai No Tenshi were the first SPF members to complete the grail. MattIs and Repusz have also completed it in the 1.09 patch. Special mention goes to Angel (aka AngelOfBoom) who came within half a dozen items of completing a self-found Hardcore grail.

Since those days, usage of the term has broadened to encompass a variety of long and arduous D2 quests. Some are item-related, such as collecting white versions of every item in the game, or a complete collection of cruels. Others are character based, such as obtaining matriarchs, patriarchs or guardians in every class, or a level 99 character in every class (no one has achieved the last one yet).

- The Septavirate

The Sept is a character Grail of 7 guardians using very strict rules. I will not repeat them here, only ask that you refer to the Septavirate Home Page, maintained by Trenshadow. (If the link doesn't work try the Wayback Machine.)

- The MFlympics (Magic Find Olympics)

At regular intervals the forum has had a magic finding competitions. While the rules have varied from competition to competition, they typically last a week, with the person finding the highest ranked item earning the right to take items found by the other competitors. The competitions usually have categories for different targets such as Baal, Pindleskin, Mephisto and the Pit (or lvl85 areas).

- Variants & Other Notable Achievements in SPF History

One day a forum member by the name of Kasferatu arrived in the Single Player Forum, and impressed all those present with the tails of his Wirtadin. This paladin, wielding only a Wirt's Leg socketed with Shaels, successfully made Patriarch.

Since those days, many other unusual builds have been showcased in the forum.

Creideamh made it as far as the Hell Ancients with a Hardcore curse-only "Sailor" necromancer. This caster relied on Attract and Iron Maiden to kill monsters.

Gengis Chuck took the Wirtadin one step further, and made patriarch with a Punchadin, who beat hell use only his bare fists.

Apparently not satisfied Gengis also gave the forum the "naked Amazon". Equipped only with a bow, she made it to Matriarch. Gengis ran a "guess how many times my bowazon will die?" competition in connection with her quest. The answer was 42.

These adventures inspired several hardcore tournaments with some extreme restrictions. The most restrictive was the naked barbarian contest, where several resourceful players proved it was possible for a barb to punch his way into Act IV...

There have been other notable achievements in hardcore.

Angel completed a full set of Guardians in every class in the 1.09 patch.

Three SPF members have levelled hardcore characters to 99: Ishiku (mace frenzy barb), Angel (whirlwind magic find barb), Halo11 (hybrid amazon). Halo's character has since been killed by the zombies in Pindle's garden in the 1.10 patch. Her deeds of valour will be remembered.

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V1.10 by Shade (reposted by Cattleya)
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=472493