Zy-El - Trial By Fire

[Chris]

Out of all the old mods, this is probably the only one that still has a fanbase, and thats good considering its a 1.09D modification.

So I am afraid that those who are using 1.10 will be at a disadvantage of reinstalling Diablo II. But don't fret, the installation instructions will remedy it.

After you install vanilla 1.09D, make copies of the original files that Zy-el will overwrite. Then overwrite them in the original directory when you complete Step 3

To install this mod

1. Reinstall the game if necessary and download and run Patch 1.09d from Blizzard.
2. Follow these instructions (Setup for offline/online)
3. Create a new folder outside the Diablo II Directory (hopefully Program Files), and copy EVERY SINGLE file from the installed Zy-el directory to the new folder you just created.
4. Download D2Loader for 1.09d from here. Search with "D2 Loader" to find it easier. Once extracted, move the exe it holds to the directory with your copy of Zy-el (Optional).
5. As for your original folder, you can now install 1.10 or 1.11b and overwrite them. Since Zy-el is now in a seperate directory, you should have no problems now. (optional)

If you go online to D2M to play this mod, you must change your realm to Zy-el in order to properly connect and make games. However, you may need to connect to D2M using vanilla 1.09D so you can change the realm to Zy-el if Zephyrus is the default.

Here should be the outcome of your installation:


This should be somewhat what your Zy-el copy should look like. I have installed the mod correctly with the D2loader and Plugin files properly. And if you want to play without your CD, follow these instructions. Next, I will show you how to play around with PluGy to get Mousepad to operate on PluGy.

Just remember that Zy-el should be the copy folder. If you put it in the original and reinstall 1.10, then you need to follow all the steps again.


Note for Vista Users
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Because of the way the security of your Program Files directory is setup and DirectX 10, there are two changes to this installation you need to do. I am now playing this mod on Vista, and I am having zero troubles with it, not even the RAM consumption is an issue.

First, you need to download the DirectX End User Runtime from Microsoft's website. This will provide you with the Dx7-10 DLLs that you need to operate this game. Dx10 does have Dx9 inside of it, but the way Dx10 is programmed makes the accessibility for it harder and some programs don't like that (for instance - Warcraft III and failed sound playback, or Civilizations IV and being unable to upload Dx9 on startup). This should solve some crashes.

Second, your backup folder must be created inside the Diablo II Directory or a place you have full Reading, Writing and Executing permissions (like your documents). For instance, this folder above me, needs to be in C:\Program Files\Diablo II now. In my case, I named the backup folder Zyel (C:\Program files\diablo II\zyel), then I moved all the clean 1.09d DLLs there and installed Zy-el. If you don't do this, the game will fail to connect to D2Maniacs for it will fail to check your patch version. Mousepad Maphack will give you the same message when you try to install it as well.

Why do this? As I stated above, security is strange in Vista. You can get away with connecting to D2Maniacs by copying Zy-el to a install program created Folder and not manually created folders (New -> Folder). But whatever you do, DO NOT OVERWRITE THE ORIGINAL FILES WITH ZY-EL! If you decide to upgrade, your installation WILL get corrupted and you will need to reinstall Diablo II to fix it.

So if you think your game isn't running because of Vista, then you either have a Bad PC, there is a 32/64 Bit compatiability issue (64 Bit Windows sucks atm, there are no 64 Bit Drivers out yet and Windows on Windows 64 isn't perfected yet) or you just don't know how to "loophole" its generic flaws. And believe me, there are a lot of whiny people on the internet that complain about Vista screwing up thier games when there are VERY simple answers.

[Chris]

As you all know, Mousepad is an old maphack that has spanned all the way back from the days of 1.08. But there will be some tinkering that needs to be done before you can operate it.

First, let's install the maphack.

1. Download the Mousepad zip from here. I am using 4.7j, which is the latest version it has that will operate.
2. Create a folder called maphack in your Zy-el directory, and extract all the files from the zip folder to it.
3. Run the maphack when you run Diablo II.

Your outcome should be this:


Oh wait, now we have two problems. One, we are using D2Loader, which conflicts with the coding of Mousepad. And even if you do the below with your shortcut, you will get an error message saying "Undetected Game Version". when you try to install it. And even if you get away with it, the moment you load up your character screen, the game crashes. The reason is there is a feature that comes with PlugY that conflicts with it, and if you remove the Plugy.dll, your mod will fail to start up.

Time to remedy D2Loader situation!

1. Create a shortcut to D2Loader 1.09 and place it on your desktop
2. Right click on the shortcut and go to "Properties"
3. Modify the shortcut's target by doing this:
   

Basically, you have modified the way your shortcut works with the following parameters:
-w - Runs Diablo II in Window mode (optional)
-title "Diablo II" - Changes the title of the window to Diablo II. If you didn't do this, it will replace it with the Date and Time you activated this window. Which is the reason why Mousepad conflicts.
-skiptobnet - As the name implies, auto-connects to the Realm you have selected. If its D2 Maniacs, it will connect to it. Saves two clicks .
-nonotify - A great option for Hardcore players. If Diablo II should crash, there won't be a notification window where you have to click OK and it closes Diablo II. D2Loader will still do one, but it only appears when the program shuts off. Why is this helpful? Cause before the log is set and the game is closed, the game is still running. IF you are surrounded, you could die while you are doing the process. This could kill your character unknowingly. Although these errors are rare for well-maintained PCs, it doesnt hurt to be safe.

Now, time to remedy the PluGy problem. Just be careful with this file, it can be diastrous.

1. Download the Plugy.ini file from this page.
2. Move the Plugy.ini to the Zy-el directory, where Plugy.dll is.
3. Open Plugy.ini in Notepad and go to this line:
   

   [INTERFACE]
   ActiveNewStatsInterface=1
   SelectMainPageOnOpenning=1

4. Change the ActiveNewStats Interface from 1 to 0. This is the reason why Mousepad is conflicting with Plugy. This feature is found in your Stats interface (C). There will be 2 arrows that will cycle through your total bonuses. And it isn't really necessary cause you can really just check your own equipment the old fashion way.

This is a sample of what I was talking about:


And now that you have solved the bugs, you should be able to run D2Loader and Maphack together. If you want help tinkering the Mousepad, a tutorial will be explained later. And if you still get a message about D2Loader checking for a CD when you already copiued the files from the CD, just hit Cancel or Ignore and it should bypass it and run Zy-el. To remedy this, install D2Loader of the proper version to teh original directory for D2.

[Chris]

Now, that you have everything operating. Now you need to begin your Quest at level 1. When your character is up and loaded, you will notice a few things:

1. YOU ARE NAKED, not a single bit of equipment is on you!
2. You are broke, you have 0 Gold
3. Your inventory has a 1x1 Cube, a chipped diamond and a bunch of scrolls. Which do the following:
   • A Chipped Gem to Flawed
   • A bunch of Key to Chipped Gem with an added message on the top line
   • You have a Magic Collector, this is transmuted with socketables, or other magical and unique items. These points are later used to clone items or make them rare or unique and stuff along the lines.
   These are basically warnings to a newbie. You basically explore the Blood Moor to start, grab any shrines you need. DO NOT ENGAGE ZOMBIES OR SKELETONS YET and stay out of the Den of Evil (you need to be 15 to do it), and pick up and make full use of your Gold.

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Here is what you will do with your starter items.

1. Transmute your chipped Diamond with the Chipped to Flawed scroll. This will make a random flawed gem. Sell this to a NPC shop. If its a skull, you get over 20k to spend, otherwise its 3k.
2. Buy 6 keys, and transmute them with each Key to Chipped Gem scroll you have. Stash these in your inventory.
3. With the rest of your money, buy the following: Armor (Quilted or Leather), Cap, Gloves (Leather), Boots, Sash or Light belt, a buckler or small shield if you can weild it. As a weapon, I recommend either a Short Sword (highest damage), Scimitar (fastest attack), Bow (good if you dont want to enter the heart of enemy mob), or Spiked Club (50% more damage to Zombies and Skeletons early). If you have funds left, get a few minor potions, and a tome of TP/Indentify (buyable if your outcome was a Flawed Skull).
4. Go out into the wild and start leveling.

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Next, you have to gain levels and money from the monsters out there. But as I said above, Zombies and Skeletons shouldn't be engaged, cause Zombies are level 7 and Skeletons are level 9. At level 1 you have a 17-25% chance of hit with like 70-90% against you, in other words: you are dead.

Here is the order of what you should engage, starting from level 1 to 9.

• Kobolds (Level 1) and Quill Rats (Level 3) at start. Make sure you dont get surrounded in Kobolds as they can chew through you pretty easily. Until you are level 2, you are going to have a bit of trouble hitting Quill Rats. Especially if monsters are approaching.
  
• Zombies (Level 7) and Spike Fiends (Level 6) at Level 3-5. Spike Fiends have a nasty poison effect like Quill Rats. Zombies take a lot of damage to fall.
  
• Skeletons and Fallen Groups (Level 9) at Level 6+. Single or small numbers of these can be killed at level 3-4 without interferance from others and a high attack rating and damage.
  
• Peckers (Level 13) at Level 8-9. Be aware of thier high AR. They only appear in Blood Moor if a farmhouse was spawned in the area.

There is no real experience decay as you gain levels, so you can fight these guys anytime for full experience. Monsters are Level 6-16 in the Plains. Once you get Level 8 and 7500 gold, buy a Cold Mercenary, and her Baal's Cold Wave you will be your savior. But it is recommended that you do the Plains when you are at least level 10 and have a merc for the best results.

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[Chris]

Zy-el's Homepage
Zy-el's Wikipedia
Diablo II Maniacs
Mousepad Maphack modification. Be warned: Some of these features are for 1.11b, but can work if modified correctly. As for the config file, when you open Maphack, select Edit Config, and it will open the config file.

If you got any questions, PM me or create topics here. But I will not appericiate insults or stupid remarks (like I have been receiving from Little-Cheeze recently), so please tell me in a calm and effective manner, or I just won't bother answering your problem.

I must warn you, that this mod is no cakewalk. And it will take quite a long time for you to go from 1 to 10000 with no mules.