07-06-2018, 06:49 AM
Hello Kunibert! I appreciate taking the time to share your experience/thoughts/issues. 
In Diablo, single player saves actually save current stats on all items in the session. So if you have obtained unique items with modifications to them on, then turn them off and reload your save, the stats effective when you first found the item with will persist while the type of attributes the item offers listed in its tool-tip will change (which results in some bonuses displaying as 0).
This can be super confusing, but is part of the game's original behavior/code. Mordor figured out how to force items to update properly when loading a saved game or when pulled from Gillian's stash, but so far this achievement has eluded me.
1) Take your character into a New Game.
2) If you don't want to start a New Game, and you're using Gillian's Stash, try transferring the messed up items to Gillian, then create a new character temporarily, withdraw the broken items from Gillian (still broken) with this temporary character, then start a New Game with the temporary character. This should fix the items, and now you can deposit them back with Gillian, and withdraw them (now fixed) in your original character's current game without restarting.
In multiplayer, this update occurs for all items in your inventory every time you create/join a new game, so it's a non-issue -- unless you gave items to Gillian during a previous MP game and have since altered their stats; items withdrawn from Gillian's stash will preserve the stats they were given in until they're kept in your MP character's inventory into a new game.
To be honest, I can't even remember if the kill count persists in Single Player after you create a New Game. If it does, I need to check into that, because it means the character's kill count in SP is persisting either in game memory and being forwarded to the new session, OR is being saved in the character file; if it's the latter, that means it might be very easy to preserve kill count for multiplayer characters, too.
On the bright side, with the Devilution project, changes that currently range from painfully complex to nearly impossible may soon be quite easy. If that project progresses enough to support Hellfire, I may well port my mod there and expand upon it.
(07-04-2018, 11:37 PM)Kunibert Wrote: So, it seems the "altered uniques codes" does partially work when the unique items are created by the game, then the altered uniques with some of its new features are saved within the save file?That's correct!
In Diablo, single player saves actually save current stats on all items in the session. So if you have obtained unique items with modifications to them on, then turn them off and reload your save, the stats effective when you first found the item with will persist while the type of attributes the item offers listed in its tool-tip will change (which results in some bonuses displaying as 0).
This can be super confusing, but is part of the game's original behavior/code. Mordor figured out how to force items to update properly when loading a saved game or when pulled from Gillian's stash, but so far this achievement has eluded me.
(07-04-2018, 11:37 PM)Kunibert Wrote: How to restore the unique items to the desired (non optimized) state?In single player, there are two ways you can trigger your Unique items to update according to your current settings:
1) Take your character into a New Game.
2) If you don't want to start a New Game, and you're using Gillian's Stash, try transferring the messed up items to Gillian, then create a new character temporarily, withdraw the broken items from Gillian (still broken) with this temporary character, then start a New Game with the temporary character. This should fix the items, and now you can deposit them back with Gillian, and withdraw them (now fixed) in your original character's current game without restarting.
In multiplayer, this update occurs for all items in your inventory every time you create/join a new game, so it's a non-issue -- unless you gave items to Gillian during a previous MP game and have since altered their stats; items withdrawn from Gillian's stash will preserve the stats they were given in until they're kept in your MP character's inventory into a new game.
(07-04-2018, 11:37 PM)Kunibert Wrote: I also collected a huge stack of oils. I also disabled its "improved usability code". Do the oils now still work the improved usability way or do these work as in the original hellfire?If I recall correctly, the effects of Oils were controlled by game code, not properties on the actual Oil items, so that change would take full effect immediately in your current game and they should now work as they originally did.
(07-04-2018, 11:37 PM)Kunibert Wrote: BTW on my first three runs on Nightmare level I did not get the "Warlord of Blood"-quest, so I moved the state files out of the game directory and copied these back to the game directory (the original files kept in another folder) to start a new game, saved it, assaulted D13 to have a look if the quest is now available. It was so, so I reloaded the game an started me seventh run. But it seems that using a copy of the state files corrupted/reset my kill count for each type of enemy which then started by zero again, refusing info about enemies when pointing at them with the cursor.I don't think I've ever seen this happen before. As best I can recall I didn't change any code related to the kill count. This might be a quirk unique to Hellfire (older version of the Diablo 1 engine). The only two theories I can think of is either mixing and matching different versions of the main character file and SP saves could cause this, or changing one or either of those files while Diablo is still running on the system (even if just in the main menu). I might have to experiment with that some day to find out.
Then I moved out the actual state files (run 7) of the directory and moved again the original state files (End of run 6) into the directory, started a new game and the kill count still/again started at zero.
It is possible that playing with a copy of the state files instead of the original files resets the kill count?
Well, I think it should not be, but it occurred right after replacing the originals by copies.
What else could/did cause to reset the kill counter?
To be honest, I can't even remember if the kill count persists in Single Player after you create a New Game. If it does, I need to check into that, because it means the character's kill count in SP is persisting either in game memory and being forwarded to the new session, OR is being saved in the character file; if it's the latter, that means it might be very easy to preserve kill count for multiplayer characters, too.
(07-04-2018, 11:37 PM)Kunibert Wrote: But once it happened that a mana potion was behind an "activating book" (you have to click it to activate Halls of the Blind, Valor or The Chamber of Bones). It was impossible to pick it up.Some other games handled this perspective issue by constraining mouse context to the base/feet of creatures and objects. At times I wish Diablo had done this as well, or perhaps only if an object was found behind that would otherwise be obscured. But then, I've seen some players get confused clicking 'thru' tall creatures and objects in such games and making an unintended action or movement, so I guess there's always a downside.
(07-04-2018, 11:37 PM)Kunibert Wrote: Could you implement the possibility to highlight chests, sarcophagi, barrels and pods on the map? Especially in the Hive, pods are easily overseen or even unseen (if hidden behind a wall), but may contain some nice item.I agree, and would like that feature as well, unfortunately my attempts to modify the map code have mostly met with failure. I tried several times to make the map draw colored outlines around items when Search is active to reflect the same outline behavior (white boxes for normal items, gold for uniques) with no success. I did eventually manage to change the colors of player arrows based on class, but I did that in D1's code rather than Hellfire's, so it would be difficult to port over here without all but rewriting it.
On the bright side, with the Devilution project, changes that currently range from painfully complex to nearly impossible may soon be quite easy. If that project progresses enough to support Hellfire, I may well port my mod there and expand upon it.
(07-04-2018, 11:37 PM)Kunibert Wrote: first I'd like to thank you for your work.You're very welcome, I'm doubly happy if it enticed you back to a game you used to enjoy. Have fun!