The Fresh Meat Tourney

[Vang]

HELP!

How to create a nightmare game? I can't create a tpx game or whatever - it says the connection cannot be established. I added Diablo to the programs that windows firewall should let in, but it still doesn't work. Beyond that, I created a multiplayer character to try and discover what the save files are called so that I could modify my single player save file so that I could open up a multiplayer game, but when I make my multiplayer character, no 'save' option exists in the game, and when I exit the game and look in the folder, no save file has been created!?!? Yet, I bought an item to verify that it is in fact saving, and this is the case. Where the hell is it saving to? Anyway.

SO: any workarounds? can you perhaps tell me what a multiplayer save game looks like? I tried: multi_1.sv - no good.
I tried: charactername.sv - no good.

Thoughts?

Windows Vista/7 removed the IPX protocol, if you have an older version(XP) you can go into network connections and make one. The easiest way though is to use the last option of Direct Connect. If you need a guy high enough in MP to get to NM/Hell you can either use a trainer to make one(I believe that is what a few are doing) If you can't get that to work I can send you one since I have a few thirties backed up.

I will have to take it slow and be clever on level 16. Diablo scares me a lot, going up shieldless against him. I think Iīll set up an escape portal close by, in case a full belt is not enough...

Yeah he is a bit rough, he knockback sucks and he constantly put me in hit recovery, hopefully you have an easier time and I am dreading him on Nightmare, here is to hoping my axe of speed is fast enough to prevent him from attacking.

[Vang]

After Kilun finished level 14, 15 awaited. Steel Lords and the red witches, not bad at all. The witches barely hurt me even when in packs of around 10 as I could dodge their attacks and they took off about 5 health a hit on average. I then cleared the room and took on the good old Lazarus again and his posse offered no real threat. Nothing of note dropped(Golem book from Lazarus, to bad I can't actually cast it)

So onto 16, lets see where I come out and how to effectively clear it, I came out on the top side and went around the right box first, then back to the open side clearing that with ease. Blood knights although a lot more mightier actually were quite a bit easier now that I hit level 31 compared to how they were on 14. Advocates required more hits and it was really just a chasing game, walk in and hit everything I can while trying not to aggro any more Knights or Advocates.

After I weeded my way through and got all the Knights around Diablo out of the way(or so I thought, one came with him I had to split up to kill) Diablo himself offered no real threat as I was high enough level and my attack speed interrupted him enough to knock really cast Apoc against me and he fell quite quickly

Overall I am highly impressed with my progress and I have to say my MVP is Scavenger's Carapace. I have never really tried to do a single pass one-death game and really didn't expect to clear NM with an axe warrior without ever dying.

So now it is back to shopping and hopefully I'll score a King's Axe of speed/haste as I need the higher to hit bonus.

[pharaoh]

HELP!

How to create a nightmare game? I can't create a tpx game or whatever - it says the connection cannot be established. I added Diablo to the programs that windows firewall should let in, but it still doesn't work.

As Vang mentioned, you need to have the IPX/SPX protocol installed. I'm not sure how to do it in versions of Windows newer than XP, though, but I imagine it's straightforward enough. To do it in WinXP, it should be similar to this (it may differ depending on how you have the start menu configured):

• Windows XP default start menu: start -> control panel -> network connections -> right-click network connection in question, select 'properties' on context menu
• Classic start menu: start -> network connections -> right-click network connection in question, select 'properties' on context menu

You should now see a dialog box with a listbox of items with the caption 'This connection uses the following items:' above it, and three buttons below, one of which is 'Install'. Click this button. A new dialog box will pop up; highlight 'Protocol' in the listbox, and click 'Add'. A third dialog box will pop up; look through the list for something that says 'IPX/SPX Protocol' or something similar (the exact name may vary with your hardware and drivers). Select this protocol, and click OK. Follow the rest of the prompts, reboot if prompted to do so, and see if you can start a multiplayer game in Diablo now.

Beyond that, I created a multiplayer character to try and discover what the save files are called so that I could modify my single player save file so that I could open up a multiplayer game, but when I make my multiplayer character, no 'save' option exists in the game, and when I exit the game and look in the folder, no save file has been created!?!? Yet, I bought an item to verify that it is in fact saving, and this is the case. Where the hell is it saving to? Anyway.

SO: any workarounds? can you perhaps tell me what a multiplayer save game looks like? I tried: multi_1.sv - no good.
I tried: charactername.sv - no good.

Thoughts?

What patch are you running? I believe that in the earlier patches, it obfuscated the location of your save files. I'm at a loss to understand the reasoning of why Blizzard did this, but the good news is they came to their senses in a later patch. You can try connecting to cattle.net and see if it auto-updates your installation (I think it will). Alternatively, you can go on the Blizzard site, grab the latest Diablo patch (v1.09, I believe), and install it. Either way, you should now have sane names and locations for your multiplayer saves. You may need to load and save the character again for it to do this though; I'm not sure.

As to the lack of a save option, MP characters are auto-saved at regular (irregular? random?) intervals by the game. They are also saved when you exit a game, much like in D2.

[jiansonz]

After some thinking, I decided to ditch the axe Reginald was using. Heīs too slow and too inaccurate with it. He went back to his old trusty Gold (Two-Handed) Sword of Swiftness. This freed up a ring slot, because Reginald had a decent to-hit 107% even without the Iron Ring. Thatīs good enough at this stage. I put my Ring of Sorcery in that slot. May as well continue this "mini-mage" trend Iīd been on for a while now.

So I used Fire Wall on almost every enemy on level 16. Placed it on the mages and took cover behind something (or just paced back and forth so their shots missed) and used it for protection (and added damage) against the knights.

Sir Gorash was in his best mood today and gave Reginald this awesome armor. At least the game says it is, and I agree. I took it as a sign that the magic appraoch is the correct one for me. On the next town visit, Adria sold me a Book of Teleport. Oh yes, this has got to be useful, even more so when I can get a bigger weapon.

Stats going up against Diablo. I must say it was an absolute nightmare. One of the hardest fights Iīve had with him with me as the eventual winner. I think I had to retreat to town 5 times. Even had to sell some "Iīm not sure, but this might be useful later" items so I could restock potions.

I do not know how much life Diablo regenerates, but I do know that I had a very hard time getting into the position I wanted: with me against a wall and a FW on Diablo. I decided to spend a whole belt just dodging in and out of the obstacles in his room and soften him up with Guardians. And on the next visit, I finally got it right. Itīs so much easier to time the potion drinking when you donīt need to move!


Reginald the 2h-weapons Warrior, level 25, starting Nightmare.

[Vang]

Well I've spent another 3 hours shopping and the best I've come across is a Mithril Axe of Haste(57% to hit) and I chose not to take it(showed up quite quickly) so I will just side this guy for the time being until either someone else clears NM or my new character passes.

So I introduce you to "Vang" the monk. He is a brutal yet quick on his feet kind of guy. He has traveled far to fight this evil Tristram and is going to hold a few finer points of restrictions.

Leveling: Must place 1 point in STR and DEX until either is capped, then place 2 points into the one that is not. Other three points can be freely place.

May only use a staff at all times.

May only use the following offensive magic: Fire Wall, Lightning Wall, Flash, Immolation, Nova, and stone curse.
Utility skills such as: Teleport, Healing, Reflect, Mana Shield, Warp, and search are allowed.

[Flayed One]

You guys are all cheating unless I'm missing something:P I can't reroll shop inventory with save-load technique - inventories stay the same. 1.09 version BTW. Or is there some kind of trick to this shopping of yours?

[jiansonz]

So I introduce you to "Vang" the monk. He is a brutal yet quick on his feet kind of guy. He has traveled far to fight this evil Tristram and is going to hold a few finer points of restrictions.

-------

May only use the following offensive magic: Fire Wall, Lightning Wall, Flash, Immolation, Nova, and stone curse.
Utility skills such as: Teleport, Healing, Reflect, Mana Shield, Warp, and search are allowed.

Ah, so itīs in Hellfire. Are you going to play the extra areas or stick with the Cathedral. Is Kilun also playing with Hellfire? (pardon the pun)

You guys are all cheating unless I'm missing something:P I can't reroll shop inventory with save-load technique - inventories stay the same. 1.09 version BTW. Or is there some kind of trick to this shopping of yours?

I donīt understand it either. Griswoldīs and Wirtīs inventories stay the same for me until I buy something from them or I level up (and with Wirt, itīs only on even level-ups). I allow myself save/load to buy elixirs from Pepin, but I allow myself only one Adria visit per town visit (and shopping from her does not count as a valid reason for a town visit).

[Vang]

Ah, so itīs in Hellfire. Are you going to play the extra areas or stick with the Cathedral. Is Kilun also playing with Hellfire? (pardon the pun)

Nope, he is in normal 1.09 Diablo. Hellfire will open up a lot more options for shopping though since it is a bit different in how it works(and a lot more items appear on the premium items list)

I donīt understand it either. Griswoldīs and Wirtīs inventories stay the same for me until I buy something from them or I level up (and with Wirt, itīs only on even level-ups). I allow myself save/load to buy elixirs from Pepin, but I allow myself only one Adria visit per town visit (and shopping from her does not count as a valid reason for a town visit).

You guys are all cheating unless I'm missing something:P I can't reroll shop inventory with save-load technique - inventories stay the same. 1.09 version BTW. Or is there some kind of trick to this shopping of yours?

I'm doing it between difficulties, only way to do it without repeating an area. So while I shop I have not started my run yet.

(though I suppose you could actually go to say level 10, and then not attack anything until you worked your way back up, easier with a sorceror with teleport I'd imagine)

[jiansonz]

Unfortunatley, Reggie is no more.

Cause of Death: Greed, and a little underestimation of the nastiness of his enemy. I was simply a little too slow with the potions.

What was really annoying is that I had just survived a pretty severe ambush and it felt like I now had it under control. One of those "cages" that can spawn in this area was in sight about two steps from the stairs. Lots of Lava Lords in there. Reginald had taken down most of them with Lightning. He rounded the corner to the starting block to dodge some of the many lava balls. That woke up two more Lava Lords, and it was dodgy fighting in two directions. But he spammed plenty of Lightning, and now he was "only" going to smack this straggler. Dammit, should have continued with Lightning...

Maybe I should have worn this strange piece of jewelry instead.

BTW, I want to show the boss that I think has the coolest name in the game: this dude. Love it!


Reginald the 2h-weapon Warrior, Level 27, Nightmare Caves (Level 9), killed by a Lava Lord. R.I.P.



I am going to try with a Rogue named Johanna now. Exactly the same rules as for Reginald (no bow allowed, though).

[Vang]

Unfortunatley, Reggie is no more.


Reginald the 2h-weapon Warrior, Level 27, Nightmare Caves (Level 9), killed by a Lava Lord. R.I.P.



I am going to try with a Rogue named Johanna now. Exactly the same rules as for Reginald (no bow allowed, though).

Nice run! Sucks that it ended that way. Good luck with Johanna hopefully she fairs a bit better.

I like the constricting ring, but haven't found a character to ever really use it on as the constant life loss is hard to make up without some form of leech.

Now Vang has faired well. Leoric finally showed up and so has both the Magic rock and Arkaine's Valor. With the triple hits from the staff I have been keeping my to hit as high as I can. Other than that I'm about to enter level 7 and nothing has caused a great deal of difficulty even with my very low life. I also just learned Lightning Wall giving me my first offensive spell I can use.