Ok no prob I got the public one I didn't know if I needed both

_________________

A minor update (skills.txt and the two skilldesc.txt) worth including in the next public update.

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. Simplified the skills.txt formula for HShield's synergies with ResAuras. It was written back when they could be level 20, but now that they're capped at 10, the extra stuff isn't needed. Changed synergy description to be more similar to other +1/xLevels synergies, although it looks a bit dumb for Cleansing.
2. Charge is now synergized by Defiance and Vengeance. Vengeance is an AoE and non-phys skill needed by a Charge-using build, and both Vengeance and Charge probably want to use a massive phys-dmg weapon. Defiance was selected because a 2-Handed Charger probably wants defence more than Vigor's speed effects. The 200%ED from synergies should allow a high-levled Charge (total 500%ED) to start 1-Hitting things.
3. Reduced Charge mana cost from 4 to 3. Vengeance is similar but costs 2, but Charge should be easier to leach (end game leaching makes any cost nearly irrelevant, but early-game I'd agree that 4 is more than Charge's worth). Playing around with a mid-geared Charger up to level 30, the build is hindered by Charge's flaws (stuff could often get knocked back but not hit despite 95%ToHit, ChargeLock is common enough that Charging is generally relatively risky).
4. Defiance %PhysRes synergy fixed, and changed to 5% + 1%/4Lvls Smite Charge. The base 5% was chosen because 5% means nothing until you're getting past 30%PhysRes. If someone wanted to max Smite and Charge, then I think 15%PhysRes for the party is alright for the 40 points spent. I don't want this %PhysRes to ever go beyond 15%.

This small update affects item files and some monster exp (includes a new solo version on monlvl.txt). This update also includes a complete set of up to date webpages.

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. After realizing that ColdLength stat is additive from all sources (unlike PoisonLength), I wtf-nerfed the cold length stat of Uniques, Sets, SetItems, Gems, Affixes, CubeRecipes and Runewords down to 1 second. The biggest problem was with something like FreezingArrow (intended to freeze for 2 seconds in Hell when maxed), where the skill's coldlen accounted for about 25% of the actual coldlen if you were equipped with maybe a single sapphire (4sec), ElementalistSet (8sec), and Mav's set (8sec). Most item coldlen was reduced to 1 second from 4 (I'm assuming folks will play with 4 items with coldlen), so FreezingArrow would account for 60% of its coldlen.
2. Monster exp rewards increased for monster levels 26-29, 41-44, 56-59, 71-74. I just copied the exp from mlvl 30 and pasted it through to mlvl26, and repeated at mlvl 45, 60, 75. This way players level up a bit faster after fighting an act boss, so early trash might seem easier (particularly for classes relying on ARating, since the level ratio plays such a large role and changes so fast in the early levels. EG Fighter defeats Andy at level 25 (par for the course) then walking directly to DryHills will have about 64% chance to hit the level 30 monsters (80% because monster level is 20% higher than his, but then 80% of that because their mlvl30 AC is 20% higher than his perfectly good level 25 ARating)
3. For similar reasons as above, I reduced the AC of monsters level 2-4 and level 26-29. For level 26-29 I copy-pasted the level 25 value, despite this the AC wasn't reduced much at all (8% for lvl 26-29), which just goes to show that the tohit formula is hit hard by a level difference that's easy to place in the monster's favour in the low levels.

<edit>Added point 3 to the download files, but didn't bother adding yet another post for such a minor change. Pretty sure no one has downloaded this yet though, so I figure I got away with it.</edit>

This will be the last update from me for a while. Also, it's been roughly scheduled that I'll be away in early-mid September, and probably again in October.

Since this update contains a .cof file (S1 animation for Ardual), I've arranged the files in a folder tree similar to how PureRage often presents his updates.

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. Reviewed and changed the damage of all weapons in weapons.txt. The original values were based on assumptions of player +%ED from skills and stats ranging from about 100% to 350%, while the revised assumption of +%ED ranges from +40% to +330%. The original range values were from back when most melee skills had ED 43%+3%/lvl, but most are now 24%+4%/Lvl, also stat-based ED has been reduced since the original estimate. In general normal weapons were buffed 20%, Exceptional and Elites about 5% to 10%
   - Standardized and semi-automated a formula for melee/thrown damage of combo weapons, which allowed me to correct a mistake with WingedAxe thrown damage.
   - Corrected damage ranges of Elite 2Handed spears (significant error - might have been using 1H damage values earlier).
   - Made weapon speed consistent across all tiers (i.e. HandAxe, Hatchet, and Tomahawk have same speed). Updated Durabilities and Quantities.
   - Increased level of WarClub from 44 to 55. To be honest, this was mostly so that folks who upgrade BoneSnap (lvl 33) to exceptional (+2AllSkills) weren't ending up with a +4AllSkills item at level 44 (should be level 65ish, but 55 is close enough for a 2-hander I suppose)
2. Halved Hireling base damage. Weapons do more damage now. Also a noteable chunk of hireling damage (~30%) was just their base damage without a weapon. A level 90 Hireling's base damage went from about 60 to 30, while a level 20 hireling's base damage went from about 20 to 10.
3. Added new itemstat item_mindamage_perlevel, and new property dmg-norm/lvl.
4. Went through uniques.txt, adjusting +%IAS on weapons to reflect the changes made in weapons.txt. In general, I won't want weapon base speeds to exceed -50 (-65 for swords due to automod). Sockets can be filled for faster attacks than that, but generally I don't want werefolk to get more than their -70 breakpoint (roughly 5 attacks per second) without significant effort.
5. Disabled the unique short battle bow. Just seems like a dumb item since the lightning bolts radiate from the target hit rather than the player. Will surely think of something more intersesting later.
6. Increased damage on gemmed Skulls in weapons with a similar formula used on weapons.txt (chipped skulls nearly doubled, but StarStone skulls nearly unchanged)
7. Increased the HP/MP per kill of Hel and Dol runes.
8. Went through setitems.txt, adjusting +%IAS on weapons just like in uniqueitems.txt.
   - Reduced Griswold WarScepter from 5 sockets to 4, rather than reduce it's +%Dmg or +%IAS to be more inline with other "I've got lots of sockets" weapons.
   - Increased Heaven'sBrethren ring's charges of lvl1 EShield to lvl10, to be more inline with the mod that exists on rares.
   - Added dmg-norm/lvl to Albrecht's armor as a 2-piece bonus. Adds 49-99 damage to attack at char level 99. Removed the +10-20Dmg on the armor and added a 3rd socket.
9. Adjusted MagicAffixes, increasing the +MinDmg and +MaxDmg mods, similar with other files (more low than high). End-game examples: GCharm can have either +12Min or +15Max, Jewel could spawn with +17-36Dmg (4 of 6 mods used), jewelry can have about +15-20 damage. Early game (<30) damages are generally doubled.
10. Added 2 seconds of Stun to Charge. This way if it misses, the monster might stay stunned long enough (from the previous successful hit) that you can back up and charge again.
11. Reduced the +%HP bonus for unique monsters from +500% to +400%. Their minions still have +125%. Champion types still have +200%. Confirmed that these numbers really are extra HP, i.e. Champs have triple HP with +200%.
12. Enabled "Broken Promise" HelDol in knives/rods. Offensive caster theme.
13. Cloned "Honor" to prevent an extra +1Skills in scepters.
14. Enabled "Passion" ShaelAmnShael in weapons. Offensive melee theme.
15. Changed "Steel" to AmnFlawlessAmethyst, gave it a +1Skill when not in a Rod or class-weapon. Added -25%EnemyAC since I had removed Eth rune.
16. Some miscellaneous changes to some weapon runewords, mainly adjusting IAS to be at least around 40%, since these weapons will never have extra socketables in them.
17. Copied Ardual's SC .cof file to also act as his S1 .cof, since the debuglog file complained when my Charger Pally fought him. After making the copy and running Ardual (I noticed no graphical glitches), the debuglog file did not complain.
18. Enabled 6 sockets in Torso armor. Figured this could make it easier to come up with decent Torso runewords. Considering that White armors can have up to 25%EDef (i.e. 6 sockets + 1 Affix + 7Runewordmods), and Rares can only have 3 sockets (i.e. 3 sockets + 6 Affixes), it should be pretty easy to balance things.
19. Added cube recipes to add 5 and 6 sockets to armors. Note these recipes already handle shields and helms, just as the 4-socket weapon recipe works on wands. Having 6 socket shields isn't a bad idea, but I haven't been struggling to make shield runewords. Most exploity abuses of these 2 extra sockets is probably a 6-Wirt armor (might need to scale back VendorPriceReduced on uniques to 6% or 7% rather than 8%, or Wirts down to 1% since 23 sockets exist) or 6 Ist (24%PhysRes, albeit in a white armor so not very battle-practical)
20. Sightly changed Salvation's Vengeance synergy, it used to be (Vengeance.blvl+1)/2, but now it's just Vengeance.blvl/2 like other +1/X syenrgies.

Notes:
- Note that it's possible for AI WW monsters to have a footprint when they die, and block hallways (leaving the area and returning removed the blockage). Any known solutions?
- It seems that Charge-lock only occurs when you hold down the mouse button during continuous charges, so folks could avoid it by clicking for each charge. The situation still kinda sucks, but worth spreading that information.
- Can we reduce the level at which 4-6 socket items can fall? I'm find with them falling right from the start, since a 6-socket superior white item is basically as good as a rare only if fully socketed with decent stuff. I think they simply can't fall in Norm, despite the "MaxSock" columns in itemtypes.txt that control how many sockets can exist in ilvl 1-40 items.

This update includes patchstring.tbl, so make sure to toss that to \data\Local\lng\eng\.

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. Increased BladeFury from 1/3 to 2/5 weapons damage. It's a small change, but BSentinel was 1/5, and BShield was 3/5, so I figured I'd make BFury 2/5 for aesthetics. Confirmed that BFury benefits from Deadlystrike, OpenWounds, LifeLeach. Increased the early game skill damage to better match early game weapon damage (the "3/5 Weapon damage" of the skill itself will try to more closely match a weapon that would have had +100%EDmg, rather than whatever I was approximating before).
2. Adjusted BSentinel, BFury, and BShield to benefit from +%PhysSpellDmg mods. I figured none of the 3 skills seems especially powerful (BSentinel is at best similar to Meteor but with a much smaller hitbox, BShield requires Melee range so they deserve something extra, BFury doesn't seem overpowered)
   - Note that this includes a change to BSentinel's elemental damage fields, which are not used by the skill, but they are used by the description. I didn't notice a description function that would handle DPS phys damage, so I hacked up this solution. If you can think of a way to incorporate weapon damage, let me know.
3. FistsOfFire DPS set to 4/25monHP for 5 seconds (explosion still 5/25). For comparison, Meteor's impact is 8/25 and flames do 5/25 for 6-10 seconds with CastDelay of about 2 seconds.
   - Corrected a bug with description, where the flames DPS was being doubled rather than tripled like all other Diablo2 Flames damage. If anyone knows why FoFire's flames are an exception, let me know.
4. Phoenix's impact still 5/25 but flames set to 3/25 for 6 seconds. This way it is very similar to FoFire, but shouldn't outperform it.
5. CoThunder's "skip" changed from 4 to 8. I'm guessing this is a fraction of 48 or 64 (directions?) in which to generate a CBolt. Skip=1 generated roughly 40 Bolts, skip=20 generated 2. In testing with skip=8, roughly 6-8 CBolts were generated.
   - Also rebalanced the damage, it was slightly high throughout the tiers, probably due to my last change to missiles.txt (I thought the missiles were wrong since they're updated slower, but I guess it was the skill)
   - Reduced the radius of the Charge2 Nova by about 10%. To emphasize the lower AoE of the skill (hard to compare, but I think it's now closer to 16/3 Yards like the other 2 skills), and set it apart further from the Sorc's Nova, which has the same damage so was only different in how fast it could be cast.
6. BladesOfIce area of Charge3 changed from 8/3 yards to 16/3 yards to match Charge2. Didn't even know/notice that the radius of those two charges could be different.
7. Changed the ResistAll synergy of Fade from +1/Lvl WeaponBlock to +1/2Lvl WeaponBlock. Recent changes give shields less resistances than when that synergy was originally created. When Fade+WeaponBlock are maxed, Fade will now give 27%ResAll rather than 37%, If 20WBlock then 1-pt Fade (+14Skills) gives 17%, If 0WBlock then 20Fade (+14Skills) gives 17%.
8. Corrected RaiseSkellyKnight skill description (both short and long description). No longer mentions corpses.
9. Wormskull - Reduced LifeVine and ManaVine oskills from +10 to +5. Left PoisVine as +10. +5 seems like a better balance-point, and from a balance point of view it opens up another slot for Vine oSkills.
10. Increased Multishot from 3/4 Weapon damage to full weapon damage. This reduction was a bug, since it's not in the design document or skill description. MShot is balanced by it's distance and number of missiles. If Multishot and Strafe are considered too strong, then it's likely due to ethereal bows being too strong (solved by reducing the +%ED) or too easy to get (solved by increasing stat requirements or removing Eth from bows entirely since that mostly affects Multi, Strafe, and GuidedArrow).
11. Changed Valk, ShadowWarrior, and ShadowMaster to spawn with rare (instead of Magic) Weapons, Helm, and Torso starting at level 1. This way there's less of an exponential growth (i.e. not increasing both mod quality and quantity, but just quality now), which might improve durability of low-leveled summons without affecting higher levels.
    - Changed SWarrior to spawn with the ChainMail line of Torso (Heavy, thus a slight improvement in DR/MDR and defense).
    - Changed SMaster to spawn with the SpintMail line of Torso (Medium, She was using breastplates (Light) before).
12. Enabled RattleCage armor as 6 socket, 50%EDef, 5%ResAll, Indistructible, not much else.
13. Changed "Chance" runeword to include Tir and SSAmethyst
14. Amn rune in armor/hat FHRecovery increased from 10% to 20% (may as well be as high as other sources of it)
15. Enabled "Bramble" IthTirIoFSkullFSkullFSkull in Torso with oSkills 5 Thorns IStamina SBarbs, 20%ResAll. That's about 150 ReplenishLife at char level 45 so should be noticeable, and the Thorns goes from 225% (just skulls) to (225 + 600 + 450)% with Thorns+SoBarbs
16. "Heart of the Oak" OakSage oSkill reduced from 10 to 5, Added MalMal: SAmeUmJahEthMalMal
17. "Hatred" Added PAmePAme: VexOhmGulLoPAmePAme.
18. Enabled "Jealousy" SurSAme in Rods and Knives with +AllSkills and oSkills for FireLtngColdPoisMagc Masteries (i.e. probably 17% Pierce with about 150%ManaRegen).
19. Enabled "Prudence" MalIstMalIstMalIst in Torso with 100%AC, 15%ResAll, 10 PDR/MDR, 30% FHRecovery/FBRate.
20. EyeOfEtlich Added Damage/Lvl (37-50 at level 100)
21. RareSuffixes Added Damage/Lvl (37-50 at level 100), starting at level 8 for Circlets and Amulets (no max level). This belongs to the OfCraftmanship group.
22. RareSuffixes Added FireLtngCold/Lvl (0-250 at level 100), starting at level 8 for Circlets and Amulets (no max level). These simply replace the previous +EleDmg suffix for Amulets that used to exist only between level 28-40.
23. Corrected an error with item affixes. I often created a fork in an Affix where one path would yield +AllSkills for items without automod skills while the other fork remained unchanged and would only spawn on items with automods. The error was giving the unchanged mods branch (EG +4Sockets) a new required level equal to the branch with +AllSkills (EG level 85 for +4Sockets +1Skill).
24. Enabled SpiritForge with the requirements and AC of a medium-tier Torso. oSkills +5 OakSage HoWolverine SoBarbs, 20%ResAll, 10 PDR/MDR, not much else. Coloured orange, since I thought it might extend CleglawSet (red) or Infernal (yellow).
25. Removed the +AC/lvl on Cleglaw Set, apparently it wasn't having an effect (I must have been confused earlier by the AC bonus from the set's +15Dex). Added +4 HoWolverine on set completion (so +5 total).

This update includes changes to monster animations (cloned an animation), text files, and patchstring.tbl, so I've prepared it as a folder tree.

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. skills.txt
   - I placed a synergy between Concentration (IAS +1%/2Lvl Fanat) and Fanatacism (Uninterruptable +1%/Lvl Concentration). If two Paladins had maxed the same aura, one could switch to a related aura for some of the benefit from his main (kinda like the synergies on Vigor, or how two Hammerdins could run Concentration/Prayer or Concentration/Meditation)
   - Changed InnerSight and SlowMissiles to reduce resistances from 1%/Lvl to 3% +1%/2Lvl. For level 15 skills (i.e. 1 hard point +14 softpoints) this is -10%EnemyRes while level 34 skills yield -20%EnemyRes. The missile slowing and defense reductions are unchanged. MonProps changed (was always 15%Reduced) such that the procs from heavy-hitters will reduce your res by 10% while trash will reduce your res by 15%.
   - BlessedAim DStrike and Pierce changed from 1%+1%Lvl to 6%+1%/Lvl. The extra 5% is because I calculated that most skills would add about 150%ED end-game, stats add about 150%ED, so while a %ED aura increases damage from 2.5 to 4.0, 35%DStrike would increase from 2.5 to 3.4 while 40%DStrike would go from 2.5 to 3.5 (less damage, but maybe the ARating and %PierceTarget aren't redundant, and in a group the DStrike dominates as more %ED is factored in)
2. skilldesc.txt
   - Corrected Fanatacism description to no longer mention attack rating.
   - Corrected Vigor description for the Salvation synergy (removed the ':' in "Resist Elemental Damage:")
   - SlowMissiles now refers to clc4 for the resistance effect
   - FistsOfFire corrected charscreen damage display bug (flames damage shown was 2/3 actual).
   - LtngClaws corrected charscreen damage display bug for (typo in skilldesc.txt "tng_mastery" rather than "ltng_mastery" caused random (usually massive) multiplier in displayed damage). Note the debuglog does not mention this failed-to-find itemstat when parsing skilldesc.txt. Wtf Blizzard.
3. itemstatcost.txt stunlength save bits set from blank to 7 (max 5 seconds stun). When this appears on items, it will show only the description "stun attack" because I did not notice a description function that would convert the frame count to seconds (poisonlength and chilllength stats have no obvious description function). I only intend items to stun for 0.6 seconds anyways. This stat might stack with skill stun, so I won't provide many sources of it since 1 second is plenty (think of it as a Knockback clone that keeps monsters close). I noticed this gets added to BladeShield, making it defensively very effective.
4. properties.txt new mod "stun", the param field receives the number of frames of stun duration added to your attack
5. Changed suffixes so that life and mana leach are a bit more common on weapons. Before each group had a mod with 1%, 2%, and 3% for one leach, now each group has 1%1%, 1%1%, 2% (all spawn at level 1). With only two mod groups, these mods could stack once (EG 3%1% or 2%2% are possible). I figure % numbers are as important at level 1 as level 99, so making the %'s bigger later on just makes the end-game easier.
6. SetItems.txt
   - AnimistSet ring "Life" the PoisonNova procs changed from 2% to 1% occurance because poison skills last 8 seconds (so don't need to proc as often) and over that time do twice the damage of other skills (so worth twice the procs of other elements if the procs are infrequent)
   - Heaven'sBrethren MaidenPike manasteal from 2% to 3%
7. UniqueItems.txt
   - BladeBuckle belt changed from +MaxDmg/Lvl (+75@Lvl100) to +MinMaxDmg/lvl (+25-37@Lvl100), 300%Thorns replaced with +10%HP.
   - Snakecord enabled with a Thorns theme (300%Thorns, 10%ResAll, +10%Life)
   - "Stun Attack" given to Witherstring bow, Leadcrow xBow, Ume'sLament wand, Woestave halberd, DarkClanCrusher cudgel, AmazonCrash MaidenPike, BlessedSword (uncursed)
   - IronStone WarHammer changed to a relatively slow but versatile unique (+1AllSkills, 5 Sockets, 50-60%ED, nothing else). Maybe preferred by builds that don't heavily rely on weapon speed (FanataZealots, Chargers, DoubleSwing, etc)
   - Wraithflight GhostGlaive enabled with elemental damage theme (60%PierceTarget, BlindsTarget, 10%onStruck lvl10SlowMissiles, 175Dmg Fire Cold Ltng)
   - Gimmershred WingedAxe enabled with elemental damage theme (60%PierceTarget, 5%PierceRes, 175Dmg Fire Cold Ltng Pois, Knockback)
   - Championfist crusader guantlets enabled with StunAttack, +1AllSkill, 12-15%DStrike, 20% IAS/FBR, 1%LifeSteal
8. Runewords.txt
   - "Holy Thunder" last rune changed from Shael to Starstone Amethyst (i.e. FRWalk changed to FCRate).
   - "Prowess in Battle" in Blunt weapons the damage-ac mod changed to StunAttack
   - "Passion" %EDmg reduced by 20%. In play testing the Dmg/Lvl made it quite a bit stronger than alternatives, and even missing one +AllSkill later in the game it seemed too strong for the runes used. I didn't reduce the Dmg/Lvl since that keeps it very nice for low-dmg weapons like knives and spears.
   - "Steel" %EDmg reduced by same amount and for same reason as "Passion"
   - "Shadow of Doubt" (PulLemMalAmnOhm) enabled in 2HandedWeapons. +2Skills, 100%ED, 40%IAS, StunAttack, runemods.
9. Hireling.txt
   - A1 Cold, chance of regular attack reduced and chance of IceArrow increased by same amount. My goal is that FireRogues do slightly more damage (Flame, Exploding, Immo arrow all damage) while ColdRogues freeze (IE CrowdControl) more (Ice arrow doesn't have extra damage at all, just a long freeze)
   - A2 on all difficulties chance to use Convert decreased from 5% to 2%, level decreased to level 1 (never increases except for +Skills). Higher level Convert doesn't do much besides duration, and I think most fights last about 15-30 seconds so level 1 Convert with +Skills should be ideal. 2% Chance seemed good to me, if folks want 1% let me know. If you need more, then consider using an AI-affecting skill (oskills wand on switch, etc)
   - A1 Def/lvl changed from 4 to 6 (low Strength and no block could use more def (A3 have 33%Block))
   - A2 and A5 Def/Lvl changed from 6 to 5 (Their high strength lets them equip high-AC stuff)
   - A2 and A5 Stats/Lvl reduced slightly, this way their stats/lvl (per level) match A1, EG every 8 levels A1 gains 5str 10dex (78str 151dex @ Lvl95), A2 gains 10Str 5Dex (148str 79dex @ Lvl95), A5 gains 9str 6dex (134str 93dex @ Lvl95).
   - A3 stats slightly increased, but still slightly lower than other mercs (92str 110dex @ Lvl95)
10. monumod.txt
    - Increased chance of encountering Manaburn from 1/6th as often as other types to equally as often as other types (manaburn bug was fixed months ago, so no need to reduce the bug via infrequent encounters)
    - FireEnchanted creatures will no longer enhance their minion's damage with a fire buff. This seemed too buggy when it comes to Melee attacks, EG a single Scarab (A2 beetle) seemed to *sometimes* kill a 600HP Paladin in less than a second. At least now only the named guy is a major threat, so the *sometimes* will occur much less often. In tests, the cause was not the bugltng bolts, EG I Converted a scarab, and died simply standing beside him while he attacked a nearby scarab while the bugltng was sort of deactivated (hitdelay of 4 frames implemented). In another test, I had killed all scarabs with no lightning bolts around, but an erroneous puff of fire lingered on me for nearly a full second, taking about 10% of my life once every 2-4 frames (maybe related to Jab attack?).
11. Changed the description of Rejuvs and FullRejuvs to the new 20% and 33% values. These obey the rules of healing potions with regards to their chance to double-heal (50% at 200 Vit).
12. Cubemain.txt, added recipe converting 3 rare jewels into 1 rare jewel (just to go along with the 3Rings->Ammy and 3Ammy->Ring)
13. difficultylevels.txt, reduced the +Skills given to monsters in each difficulty from +0+3+6 to +0+1+2. In Hell a skill like Charge from something like the A5ChargeBeasts is strong enough without an extra 16% boost (48% vs 32%ED). Nearly all monster skills do not look at the skill level, so mostly player skills given to monsters should be affected, and only Charge had be concerned.
14. missiles.txt
    - Corrected a bug in Tobial's FireStorm, where it eventually used the Druid's FireStorm for damage rather than MonFireStorm. It now appears to be behaving well, with damage similar to Tobial's Rabies.
    - Added a next-hit delay (5 frames) to MonFreezingArrow and MonExplodingArrow. The large radius of these meant that Multishot enchanted named critters would consistently hit the player with three overlapping attacks, which wasn't too be a deal, but when that critter was a boss-class (double damage) the tripling effect might kill someone within two attacks. Let me know if other large-radius explosions might benefit from a next-hit delay (MonFireBall should be small enough to be okay)
15. Increased Assassin MP per level from 0.5 to 1.0. Considering they have no skills that reduce in cost (like Zeal, Jab, etc), and their traps or shadow skills can get costly, I think this was worthwhile. I didn't reduce the cost of Assassin spells because this seemed like the simplest solution that I think will work (more stat points for Vitality, etc).
16. States.txt - I reviewed each state related to a skill and set them so they colour the char screen stats blue if they could buff that stat (EG HShield colours your resistances Blue, just in case you raised the Absorbs synergies (If folks don't want resistances coloured for an Absorbs buff, just let me know since it's a trivial change I don't care about)) and red if they could nerf that stat (EG Decrepify state colours your resistances red, just in case that Necro raised the Amp synergy).
17. Fixed a debuglog issue where Sarina (A3 Q4 boss) didn't have an animation for casting spells, so copied her Attack2 animation and relabled it. This appeared to fix the problem. She uses this animation when summoning wyrmlings.
18. Monstats2.txt ankheg.mWL set to blank (Thrakk, just before Duriel). The debuglog file was complaining (MBytes worth of error messages) that it couldn't find his walk animation, so rather than try to clone another animation I removed this flag, and it seems to have worked.

While playing a character in A2 attacking the super gargoyle statue that opens a portal to Tal'sTrueTomb, I noticed that his cursing counter-attack reduced by PhysRes by 50%. That number doesn't seem to be in skills.txt, so I was wondering if I somehow lost my D2Client.dll file where monCurse was directed to skillID 489 to 494. The modified date on my file is:
2016-07-24 9:54AM (might be 8hours off due to planetary rotation)

If I haven't heard anything from PureRage by October 25th, then I'll try to prepare a public test package. My best guess at what's needed is to compare what I've got against what comes with HUv1.3 and keep adding files until they match.

<edit 2016-10-20 09:37 Pacific Time>I updated the update to include a high-res version of skilldesc.txt, and a solo version of skills.txt</edit>

A small update shared here before I look into preparing a test package for the Suggestions forum's public test thread. Just text file updates.

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. missiles.txt
   - changed missiles related to monster Inferno-type skills (HorrorArcticBlast, MegademonInferno, InfernoLtng, InfernoPois, FetishInferno) so that they have a nexthit delay of 1 frame (multishot named critters will still spew 3 jets, but that will only triple their area of effect rather than damage). The missile speed and duration were standardized (a bit slow, about 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 screen radius depending on monster tier (trash, boss, actboss))
   - monblizz changed to more closely match Blizzard (but with monster damage formula). It doesn't seem to be consistently damaging/chilling, but I don't think it's broken in a way players will complain about.
2. uniqueitems.txt
   - HeraldOfZakarum, added a charge of Valk, since the onStruck valk will auto-die without it.
   - Zakarum'sHand changed 1%Lvl30 ShockingGrasp onAttack to onStruck. lvl30ShockingGrasp adds 1-1000 LtngDmg to attack and +140%ARating, and at 1% would proc within 67 attacks 50% of the time, which takes about 10-15 seconds with a fast-attacking skill like Zeal. The damage was about 30% too high at that character level (50), and the "price" paid (15 seconds of attacking) was too low. Zakarum demands blood.
   - LidlessWall given +10%SpellDmg (it has relatively low +Skills).
   - Disabled SpineRipper poignard because most of it's uniqueness was given to Death'sDagger.
3. monstats.txt, raised the inferno-type skills of Chimera from 1 (trash) to 20 (sub boss). They were low before since his MultiShot made them triple damage, but now that they have a next-hit delay, they should be higher leveled
4. skills.txt
   - Increased the damage of BladeSentinel from 4/25 monHP to 5/25 monHP. I can't seem to change it's size (was trying to make it a FireWall style spell with phys damage, but I guess it'll be sort of a Blaze style that's easier to setup but with a tiny damage patch). Probably effective against bosses and targets immobilized with CoShadows or Summons.
   - CriticalStrike ARating from 6%+1%/Lvl to 12%+2%/Lvl, Crit from 12%+2%/Lvl to 6%+1%/Lvl. The ARating is a little important for bow skills since those can never receive ARating from the skill itself (this is a bug from Vanilla D2, although it might be fixed in versions after 1.10f).
   - Barb weapons masteries Crit from 2%/Lvl to 1%/Lvl. Barbs aren't meant to be overly offensive, but if they maxed a Mastery, an AttackSkill, and used a weapon with high requirements (e.g. Polearms) they would be noticibly more offensive than a tankier build. This change to Masteries makes the AttackSkill aspect of the offensive build equally important rather than nearly redundant. These were at 2%/Lvl to effectively match Sorc's EleMasteries' 1%Pierce/Lvl, but Sorc's fragility wasn't being matched.
   --- Note that I'll leave ClawMastery at 2%/Lvl because I don't think Assassins have easy access to fast-attacking claw attacks (WW oSkill was too buggy so it was removed), and the Crit affects their blade traps in a way that appears balanced for the skill point investment.
   - CharStatPerks (invisible all-player skill that gives ARating/Str, etc). Block bonus from +1%/10Dex to +1%/2Str. This could sound rediculous, but in the hard coded block formula, if Dex=Lvl+15 (e.g. 115Dex@Lvl100), then your block is about half your shield's displayed block% (so after this change, +4Str would be +1%ActualBlock despite +2%ShieldBlock). With this change, there's a bit less emphasis on Dex for those trying to block while using high-strength weapons like Axes.
   - HolyShield +%Block from 10-40% to 0-15% (due to how fast Diminishing formula increases, this is basically a reduction from +35% to +12%. D2 is hardcoded to use a diminishing returns formula for block% displayed on shields, so I hadn't messed with HShield in the past. After some experimenting I decided that this is about as good a solution as I can find right now. This change combined with the +Block/Str change above kind of equals out end-game, but provides a bit more balance in the early/mid game (where Diminishing Returns formulas are generally overpowered). Already tested that in-game shield block displays are still okay.
5. armor.txt
   - Fixed a couple bugs (SmallShield, GothicShield) where the Smite minimum damage was higher than maximum
   - Reduced the block on all shields to account for +Block/2Str (final block effect is less reliant on shield type)
6. charstats.txt, reduced the block on all characters to account for +Block/2Str (final block effect is less reliant on class). Noteably I removed the small bonus Paladins had, since the bonus from HShield should be enough (one of HShield's main bonuses is the 2-frame block rate it enables).
7. setitems.txt
   - CiverbFlail, MaxDmg/Lvl increased (from 50 to 75 @Lvl100)
   - Trang'sHat, increased 4-piece bonus from 10 to 15HP/Kill
   - Death'sdagger, added 100%DeadlyStrike, changed partial set ColdDmg with 200%DmgVsHumans (similar to Assassinator, this weapon would be pretty good for BladeTrap assassins)
8. sets.txt
   - DeathSet, replaced the +12-16Dmg with +MinMax/Lvl (62-75@lvl100), added +1AllSkills (I think every class could have gotten +1Skills from a weapon slot anyways), 3% Reanimates Skeleton and SkeletonArcher, another 75%OWounds. (The dualLeach, Deadly, Dmg/Lvl, and 200%DmgVsHumans should make this set passable for a melee character with well jeweled gear)
   - SazabiSet, replaced +1AllSkill with +1BarbSkills on completion (to match other class sets)
   - McAuley's (aka Sander's) Set, added 15MP on completion
9. gems.txt, ist rune's %PhysRes reduced from 4% to 3% in armor/hat. Assuming players have 6 sockets (Rares with TripleSockets used), going for 24%PhysRes was a no-brainer even if you had no PhysRes already on the character. Going for 18% is still a good choice (obvious choice if you've got %PhysRes already), but it's closer to the +24%HP of Mal runes but without the %MP.
10. suffix.txt
    - "stun attack" enabled for hammers, maces, clubs.
    - +Str mods on ammy, circlet, belt changed slightly (high level belts can only get +10Str rather than being eligible for +5 and +7-8, high level ammy/circlet get +7-8)
    - +Dex mods on ammy, circlet, glove changed the same way (high level gloves get +10Dex, etc).

Minor update (just text files). This post is essentially a clone of the post in the suggestions thread (public testing). I'm placing a post here to keep a history of updates in one area.

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. monstats.txt, I set the HighUndead flag for some creatures with the Undead montype who were missing it (BonePrison, Sarcophogi, SoulmancerFinal, Samhain, SorrowMage, SorrowMummy). Without this flag (or LowUndead flag, although that makes them resurrectable), HolyBolt can not affect them. I'm open to the argument that SoulmancerFinal and/or Samhain have found a way to be immune to HBolt.
2. magicsuffix.txt, reduced block mods by 5% down to 5% and 10%
3. missiles.txt
   - MonBlizzard tweaked to have effects more similar to Blizzard. Damage unchanged, but previous edits seemed to make it do no damage, it seems to be working now. Changed pCltDoFunc and pSrvDoFunc to match Blizzard, anyone know of a penalty of this?.
4. skills.txt
   - StaticField given CastingDelay 45 -1/3Lvl.
   - Lightning T4 and T5 damage reduced. I'm not sure why, but they were set to values closer to 11/25 monHP damage rather than 10/25 while the other tiers seemed alright.
   - BattleCommand level cap reduced from 20 to 1. It only gained duration with each level like in HUv1.3, so no one ever invested in it. I may as well cap it at level 1 to prevent misclicks.
5. Novel experiment: Ran a test to check if the random numbers in a large range (1-5k) are uniformly selected. I set a Zombie to 100kHP, Telekinesis to 1-5kDmg, and confirmed that 13 Zombies each died with an average of 40.2 casts while an average of 40 casts was expected (considering miscounts, misclicks, etc, I think any non-uniformity in random selection is too small to consider with a damage range of 5k).
6. runes.txt, "Jealousy" Mastery oSkills reduced from +5 to +1. Considering it only used Sur and SS Amethyst the extra pierce was overkill (It's still probably 12%PierceAllRes with 100%RegenMP from Masteries after some +AllSkills, but at least players would have to put effort into getting +AllSkills).

Today's update included all text files, including Solo edition and a high resolution file for skilldesc.txt. The main post was in the Suggestions forum, so rather than copy-paste it or create another link to the update here, I'm going to link to the post.

Link to Update Post

Here's a link to just the edited files of a recent update. It includes changes to patchstring.tbl, so I've organized it as a folder tree. It includes skilldesc_HiRes.txt, which will need to be renamed if you're using HiRes.

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. monstats.txt,
   - HoW base life from 60Norm, 70NM, 75Hell to 70, 80, 85. Block from 50% to 33%, ResAll from 0% to 33%. Threat rating from 4 to 3.
   - Oak base life from 60Norm, 70NM, 75Hell to 70, 80, 85. Threat rating from 4 to 3.
   - SoB base life from 60Norm, 70NM, 75Hell to 70, 80, 85.
2. itemstatcost.txt
   - item_nonclassskill (oSkill) has had it's description removed, this line was copy-pasted with label "item_nonclassskill_description" and that line does nothing but apply the oSkill description on an item.
   - stats produced for the elem_minDmg_perLvl (fire, cold, ltng, pois (this looks dumb though, don't use it in v1.9 without changes), magic). I already made a Phys copy a while back, so just completing the set.
3. properties.txt
   - "Uninterruptible" added for the "Uninterruptable Attack" mod on items (same mod as appears on Concentration aura). Will replace Evade oskill.
   - "Deadly-att/lvl" added, with 1/8th DStrike in min field, 1/2 ARating in max field. Will replace weapon mastery oSkills.
   - "oSkill-NoDescription" added that only applies the item_nonclassskill stat.
   - "oskill" changed to also add the item_nonclassskill_description stat. Now we can add invisible oSkills to items. I was trying to add "SpellMasteries" and "CharStatPerks" as oSkill automods for gloves and boots to make it easier for players to activate those passives without +AllSkills, but I failed to make it work only for those two passives (wtf Blizzard). One side effect of this change is that your char's current gear will lose the oSkill description, but that's it (no crashing, no bad inventory, no skill loss).
   - elem-dmg/lvl mods added for fire, cold, ltng, pois, mag, and Elem.
   - relabled some old elem-dmg/Lvl mods to elem-MaxDmg/Lvl, since that's what they're actually doing. A quick relabling in uniques, runewords, cubemain, sets, setitems, magicprefix, magicsuffix, gems, then a quick test (Um rune, Diggler, Hexfire (new fire-dmg/lvl), Nokozan, ArcannaStaff, topaz craft weapon) showed no broken items. Quick test of each new elem-dmg/lvl mod on a test item looked fine (except poison, it's not dividing the number by 256 or displaying a duration).
4. states.txt
   - SpellMasteries state added (intending to replace the 3 EleMastery, PoisMastery, and MagMastery states). I can only give 5 effects per Passive, so this gives 5 PierceRes effects while CharStatPerks will give the ManaRegen effect.
   - Enchant state will now dye weapons white and the charscreen damage blue. This was done to ease confusion with this state's re-use with ChillingTouch, ShockingGrasp, VampiricTouch and Enchant.
5. charstats.txt,
   - removed all starting gear from characters. I can't give these items automods, so you're missing out on the hidden-passives buffs if you're not buying an item with +1Skills.
   - SpellMasteries hidden passive given to all characters, this replaces the "scroll of town portal" skill.
6. skills.txt,
   - Enchant, ChillTouch, ShockingGrasp, VampiricTouch now all share the Enchant state (they will no longer stack, they will all display silly flamey whirls when cast but should play a sound appropriate for their element if you pay close attention).
   - VampiricTouch now gains a duration synergy and ARating synergy with EnergyShield and BoneArmor (copy-paste of Shocking Grasp's fields). ChillTouch still has those synergies with BoneArmor and ShiverArmor.
   - FireMastery ColdMastery LtngMastery PoisMastery MagMastery states removed, stats given to SpellMasteries and CharStatPerks. This was done because these skills exist on several items as a way of balancing the -%EnemyRes available to all classes.
   - SpellMasteries passive skill created. In testing, when a Sorc invests in a EleMastery, she gains no bonus until her "AllSkills" mod changes (so weapon swap if you've only got a weapon with +AllSkill). If she only has access to +SorcSkills, then she'll have the correct stats only upon joining a game (I'm not even sure why this is the case, but it's a pretty good or lucky result).
   - CritStrike passive state removed, stats given Pierce, preqrequisite skill Pierce added. Skill level and skill-tab positions of Pierce and CritStrike swapped. This was the better implementation because many items have Pierce oSkill to promote non-Zon archers.
   - Avoid passive state removed, stats given to Dodge, preqrequisite skill Dodge added.
   - BO & Shout states replaced with battlecommand, stats (except +Stamina) given to BCommand, prerequisite skill BCommand added. The purpose of this change is that a Barb can only select BCommand for casting (due to skilldesc.txt changes), but I can still have BO onStruck mods on gear.
   - BCommand is now level 6, Shout is level 24, BO is level 30, Manacost of BCommand increased to 10 to compromise for it's 3-in-1 effect.
   - IronSkin state removed, the PhysRes and +AC stats given to CharStatPerks, the +%AC removed while +AC buffed to compensate. This was done because IronSkin exists on several items as a way of balancing the PhysRes between classes.
7. hirelings.txt, all Hirelings given the SpellMasteries (needed for EleMastery skills) hidden passive, A2 & A5 had room to receive CharStatPerks (needed for ironskin) so they have it. A1 lost CriticalStrike. A quick test with A3 merc in Hell implies successful implementation (killed a 99%ColdRes Zombie without much trouble, so his ColdMastery should have been in effect).
8. skilldesc.txt,
   - HoWolverine upper description updated to 33%Block 33%ResAll.
   - BO and Shout removed from left & right click menus, skill description altered
   - BO, Shout, Taunt, WarCry, BCommand skill icons moved on the WarCry tab (aligned BO, Shout, BC)
   - VampiricTouch synergies updated. These don't appear when you select the skill as an oSkill, but I wanted to update them just in case someone in v1.9 wanted to give these skills to some class.
9. sets.txt
   - Arctic Set "PierceAllRes 10%" completion bonus removed, 2-piece CriticalStrike oskill replaced with 20% DeadlyStrike.
10. setitems.txt,
    - Tal'sBoots WereWolf and Fury oSkills moved to 4-piece bonus, 30 ReplenishHP added
    - Tal'sShield +1AllSkills added as 3-piece bonus. In the past the extra +%SpellDmg on the weapon was intended to make up for loss of a +Skill on completion, but I think that's not enough anymore (+%SpellDmg is more common now)
11. uniques.txt,
    - Replaced instances of NaturalResistance oSkill with resAll/Lvl.
    - Magefist weapon masteries replaced with DStrike-AR/Lvl.
    - SoulShards (from hell Act bosses) reduced the bonuses from 5% to 3%. These mods exist on more items nowadays, so don't need such large numbers on end-game large charms.
    - WolfHowl enabled in FuryVisor. oSkills WereWolf FeralRage, reanimates ShadeWolves, 2 sockets.
    - TombReaver enabled with Dmg vs Undead, 20HP 2MP onStrike, RIP, 85%EDmg with extra IAS (-90 speed point, i.e. 4 frame attack with Fury in WWolf form).
    - Dragonhead enabled with 5%onStruck Lvl30 ABlast, Inferno, Lightning (basically just completing a Convictor set with Tiamat'sRebuke, DragonMouth, Elementalist's set, etc), 15%ResMagic, 2 sockets
    - Templar'sMight enabled with oSkils for all 5 SpellMastery skills (couldn't think of better ways to make it differ from "Hatred" runeword while keeping it Offensive, at least it's the only armor with those Masteries so could be worth a lot of ManaRegen), NoFreeze, +15%MP, 3 sockets.
    - Tyrael'sMight enabled with no PDR/MDR, but has 15%ResElem&Non-Elem, NoFreeze, +10%HP&MP, 3 sockets.
12. runes.txt. This is where I had the most trouble with BO-BC-Shout procs, and decided on the solution above. I'd made changes that felt stupid to about 5 items before I reverted to just the changes below.
    - "Call to Arms" BO and Shout charges changed to oSkill. Since those are essentially soft-synergies for BCommand, I'd rather this item be too strong by needlessly buffing a Barb's skills rather than charge-synergy-bugging him into 20+ free skill points.
    - "Jealousy" removed MagicMastery (I'm probably over using this as it is, let alone giving it away for a SS Amethyst and Sur)
    - "Brand" (spear and jav), replaced SpearMastery and ThrowingMastery with DeadlyStrike/Lvl and ARating/Lvl, replaced Evade with Uninterruptable 20%
13. cubemain.txt,
    - Edited ruby crafts to remove oSkills other than common ones (IronSkin, IStamina). Replaced with /Lvl stats with similar effects.
    - No change to sapphire crafts since those procs are relatively common.
    - Disabled gear-dying recipes. For all I know, multiple dyes might stack and allow folks to create items with several states each, but maybe each dye replaces the previous. Better safe than sorry for now.
14. magicprefix.txt, disabled the +AllSkills mod on boots (boots should never gain a +AllSkills in v1.7)
15. missiles.txt, added a next-hit delay to the Barb Ancient Madawc's Throwing Axes. Each of his axe-volleys should hit, but rather than someone getting 6 axe hits, they'd get 2. While testing, I noticed that his FireEnchantment bug is a little like an aura with a radius of about 6 yards, it seems to proc 0-10 times per second, and might have been doing trash attack damage each time (my sorc's mana shot down, but not her HP, so the 66%EShield with regular PDR/MDR was sucking it up). The axe's next-hit had no effect on this. His FE-bugged melee hits do about 6k-9k damage in Hell (my test-sorc with 50%FireRes 0%PhysRes lost about 3k of her 4k HP, and all of her 3k MP but I don't think the mana was max at the time)
16. Noteable Experiment: I tested with Lvl5 BC-BO-Shout skill oSkill item that also had 100%Lvl40BO onStruck. I could buff myself with BCommand with Lvl5BO stats, when the Lvl40BO was cast, it did not affect the %EDef and +1Skill of BC, but did raise the BO stats (and probably duration) to level 40 values. Casting BC afterwards reduced the BO stats to level 5. It looks like when two skills of the same state are cast, the highest of shared stats are kept while unshared stats are overriden by the newest cast.
17. Noteable Experiment: I tried to reduce the Barb to 3 weapon masteries: 1Handed, 2Handed, and Ranged. I was unable to make them work (itemtypes created, skills.txt adjusted, in-game test had the skill with no effect (not even the pre-change effects, so I'm not sure HardCoding is to blame)). I might look into this further at another time, but for now I'll see how the state-issue looks (Barb's states already reduced via BCommand and ISkin changes, Sorc states reduced via Mastery changes. I believe those were the two worst cases).

wow @ all the work done on states. this should go a long way to dealing with the crash your team mates issue the states created.

Here's a quick update that might facilitate the graphical change requests I added to my 2-week-PureRage-availability-wishlist. I included patchstring.tbl and updated webpages, so the package is presented with a folder hierarchy. SkillDesc_HiRes.txt has been included for those who want it.

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. misc.txt, ID Tomb cap raised from 30 to 50. The suggestion has been made that for v1.9, folks might want to raise the cap to 100 and remove ID scrolls from monster/chest treasure classes entirely.
2. skills.txt
   - Removed all Weapon Masteries, replaced with One Handed Mastery (includes the swords that could be 1or2 handed for Barbs, some exceptions exist (wands, exceptional scepters, etc)), Two Handed Mastery (all melee 2-handed weapons), and Ranged Mastery (all weapons with a ranged component)
   - Each of 3 new weapon Masteries pairs with one of the other removed masteries, named similarly (e.g. One Handed Mastery's stats are granted by "WeapMastery1Hand"). That paired skill is what contains the state and is invisibly granted as an oSkill on weapons. Note that the stats granted are general (+%Dmg for any weapon), so there is the case of a Barb using a Throwing weapon (Ranged Mastery) with a 1-Handed weapon to gain double benefits (provided he's place points into both Masteries).
   - Critical Strike & Evade (Perfection) level requirements swapped.
3. skilldesc.txt,
   - Critical Strike & Evade (Perfection) icon positions swapped.
   - Polearm Throwing Spear Masteries icons moved to page 0, row -1 (they're just unselectable). The game crashes if I remove these skill descriptions from skills.txt, so I'm glad I could at least hide them. I tried just switching them to row -1 (leaving their page alone), but that displayed their level number in the very top-left of the screen if that tab was open.
   - Swapped Mastery icons so that OneHanded uses SwordMasteryIcon, TwoHanded uses PolearmMasteryIcon, and Ranged uses ThrowMasteryIcon.
4. uniques.txt,
   - Hidden Weapon Masteries given to every weapon. No properties lost (some items already with 12 properties had some collapsible properties, e.g. +%EDmg with +AllSkills became a combo-mod).
   - BlackTongue TwoHanded sword +PalDru skills from +2 to +1, +AllSkills from +0 to +1 (will be the only source of +AllSkills for young Paladin), ironically given One Handed Mastery (the alternative is to make it very popular with frenzy Barbs who use it for Two Handed Mastery with a normal sword granting One Handed Mastery for double-dipping (I'm not sure this would be a bad idea, double dipping is already possible with any throw weap))
   - MageFist weapon masteries returned (1H & 2H)
   - Dragoon'sWrath 2HMastery returned
   - Soulflay (claymore) LvlReq from 22 to 30, ElemDmg changed to ElemDmg/Lvl, HP/Kill from 10 to 15, +PalDru skills from +1 to +2, Sockets from 0 to 2.
   - DarkforgeSpawn changed +NecroSkills to +AllSkills (arbitrary change, but D2 and HUv1.7 handle +AllSkills so much better than alternatives), added Lvl10 oSkill ChillTouch (along with Cyclone armor already on it, it might be more attractive to a PDagger Necro, he's also likely to have maxed the BoneArmor synergy of ChillTouch)
   - Fathom orb enabled with Lvl10 oSkills ChillTouch ShockGrasp VampiricTouch (Chantress might benefit from swapping elements or switching to HP onStrike) Lvl 5 MagMastery, 255ChargesLvl30 BSpirit (1.6k i.e. 1/5 monHP; might be handy for an immunity-screwed CasterSorc), 10%onAttack Lvl30Teeth (776 Dmg, doubling-down on the Chantress theme; Orb seems like a safe weapon for Lvl30BSpirit charge-bugging)
   - Ravenlore enabled in SunSpirit (bird-beaked hat with low AC/Req) with Lvl 5 oSkills Fire Cold Ltng Mastery, 20% FCRate FBRate FHRecovery. Figured there weren't many caster druid hats, and no other hats exist with the elemental masteries, so this might free up a Caster or EleClaws Druid to use an interesting weapon.
5. runes.txt,
   - "Brand" in spears has 2HMastery returned, in javs it has RangedMastery
6. setitems.txt
   - Hidden Weapon Masteries given to every weapon. No properties lost.
7. properties.txt, ajav-automod (+Ama, RepQuant), aspe-automod (+Ama, PDR/MDR), tkni-automod (+%SpellDmg, RepQuant), allskills-pierce (+Skills, %PierceTarget) combination properties created to facilitate the changes needed to automods.
8. automagic.txt,
   - Hidden Weapon Masteries given to every weapon except wands, exceptional scepters, orbs, and knives. I could technically put it on basic and elite Orbs, and knives, but I don't think there's any demand.
   - Exceptional BarbHats given random +Skill options that avoid the 3 missing Masteries.
9. patchstring.tbl, the new mastery skills given names and skill-page descriptions

After the WeaponMastery changes, I think Assassin, Druid, Sorc, and Barb are tied for having about 10 innate states (1-2 from a weapon, 2 from char creation, 7ish from their class skills). I'm sure it's possible to get another 9 via equipment, but at least they'd have to work pretty hard at it ("Chance" runeword is good for about 5 extra states, but at least they're popular enough that I think folks would get those anyways).

Here are the files I've worked on in the past week. Note that it includes skilldesc_HighRes, patchstring.tbl, and string.tbl (omit this if you've made changes to strings, my only edit was minor and detailed below). I did not include monstats.txt since PureRage edited their AI (reminder: we both agreed that EvilSorcs of Legion and Soulmancer could benefit from their eleRes being reduced from 120 to 100 in Hell).

Link to Update

Recent Changes:

1. string.tbl, changed the SorrowLord tomb-buff description (remove tilde, it shows up mostly as a "- 2%...") from
   "~ <mod desc> ~" to "<mod desc>"
2. gems.txt,
   - gave Lvl90 stats to the named-tier of gems. 23%Res 40Replenish 4%Absorb, 22%FCRate, etc. Note that Lvl90Diamond in armor/hat has 10PDR/MDR with 10%AC. I was pleasantly surprised how nicely the math that governs gem stats (1/50 monHP as damage) converted to pretty damage ranges, e.g. 1-250Ltng Topaz really should have gone to 1-300, Skulls nicely went to 30-35.
   - Zod in armor/hat from 10PDR/MDR 10%AC to 8PDR/MDR 40Replenish. I expect these to be more common than named Diamonds, and the Replenish is probably more exciting that 10%AC anyways (a Sorc might actually have to run the math about whether the extra DR for EShield is worth the SlowPoison effect of Replenish).
   - Shael in armor/hat and shields given 20ReplenishHP (helps distance it from Amethyst, and Replenish is a more visible effect than FHRecovery FBRate or FRWalk).
   - Vex and Ohm leach rates from 2% to 1% (leach is higher on uniques/sets and more common on Rares nowadays, it's also kinda silly how Vex had more mana leach than even Amn (the leaching rune))
3. TreasureClassEx.txt, the obvious instances of moonstones (HellForgeDragon, WhiteDragon, and Nihla) have been replaced with Named-tier gems. A quick check implied that no treasure classes involve a single gem type (i.e. I only replaced gem-tiers where they occurred, and notice no instance of monsters dropping MoonStoneSkull or MoonStoneTopaz). The HellForge Quest drop does not appear to be an issue (only noticed PGems in the dll file)
4. uniques.txt,
   - Fathom changed colour to white, teeth proc from 10%onAttack to 15%onAttack
   - Mara's Ammy, removed the 5%PierceRes, +%SpellDmg from 5% to 10%. PierceRes should replace +%SpellDmg with a 1:2 ratio, rather than supplement it. I probably overuse PierceRes effects anyways (loaded up an end-game Sorc and noticed her PierceRes (about 40%) was higher than her +%Dmg (about 20%), despite barely investing in EleMasteries)
   - Tyrael'sMight ResAll reduced from 20% to 15%, sockets reduced from 3 to 2 (This armor was better at what any other armor was specialized for, e.g. RattleCage with 6 Um (specialized for ResAll) was barely more res than Tyrael's with 3 Um but without the +10%HP/MP or 15%PhysMagRes). Moral of the story: If RattleCage's 6 sockets can't beat an armor at something, then that armor needs the nerf.
   - Gorerider boots are now PlatinumBoots, rather than WarBoots (The StrReq (from 126 to 133) is desired since I prefer these boots for non-shield (i.e. mostly Str) players)
5. armor.txt,
   - enabled Seige, Platinum, and Adamant glove, boots, belt, hat as Heavy tier level 40, 75, 90 armor
   - Corrected a strReq bug with Heavy Elite armors (Torso was correct, the others were 10 points too low)
6. sets, setitems.txt,
   - Sigon's oSkill Sanctuary from Lvl 8 to Lvl 3 (this kind of ruins the defensive theme of the set, and is probably too strong to have on it at all; just another example of wordplay levity ("Sigon's Shelter" "Sanctuary") that might not entertain less casual players)
   - Enabled Soulmancer Set as Siege gear (StrReq of Siege is within Medium-tier armor ranges). It's v1.3 stats were pretty generic, so it retained that theme. Only the hat can be upgraded, and when elite has a StrReq around 155, so I added -20%Requirements in case folks wanted to socket it another -30%Req to bring it down to the StrReq of the Siege pieces.
7. runewords.txt,
   - "War" enabled in Torso as JwlZodChamBerJah, oSkill IStamina with 20%ResAll, 10%Lvl10onStruck BCry (instead of PhysRes already found on similar armors; 7sec duration in Hell). I figure the Jewel is a good call: Wirt's for -%Req, Elem Facet, or maybe WarCry/InnerSight Facets.
   - "Knowledge" enabled in Orbs as Ame90ChamZod, oSkills HolyFireFreezeShockBlight noteably with 255Charges Lvl20Zeal (synergizes auras to -15%EnemyRes), has lots of IAS (seems an alright runeword for melee Chantress) with plenty FCRate. No +1Skills, since the %PierceRes of the auras is effectively +15Mastery (i.e. +30%SpellDmg on the weapon alone).
   - "Chance" DragonFlight proc changed to 10%Lvl10onStruck Weaken (5sec duration in Hell). While I thought the DFlight proc was fun to play with (I kinda miss the semi-cursed nature of Diablo1 Uniques; they would explode the possibilities for HUv1.9 uniques), I do not expect the broader community to appreciate that levity at this time.
   - "Bramble" made with Lvl90Skulls gains Lvl5 oSkill Salvation and 1chargeLvl10 Vengeance (+5%ResElemMax to Salvation), this takes the runeword down a different Thorns path (group Thorns) than Gladiator'sBane (selfish Thorns).
   - "Chance" now requires a Lvl90Amethyst rather than StarStone (already level 90 from Zod)
   - "LastWish" now uses flawless skull (Lvl20onDeath procs, 10%Lvl5onStruck Weaken ) or Lvl90Skull (Lvl40onDeath procs, 10%Lvl10onStruck Weaken).
   - "ShadowOfDoubt" added 1% Lifesteal, to make up for the 1% taken from Ohm, only because this weapon needs it.
8. skills.txt,
   - Conviction LRes Amp changed from 11%+1/Lvl to 6%+1/Lvl. This way they're twice the effect of InnerSight/SlowMisiles, and the difference between 1skill point +14skills (-20%Res) is very close to half the effect of 20 points +14skills (-39%Res). Note that in Hell Difficulty, a maxed effect will help allies at least 27% more than a 1-point effect.
   - The duration synergies on Attract and Confuse reduced from 25 frames to 15 frames per level. (In Hell difficulty, assuming +14Skills and 1point investment, these curses go from 6 seconds to 8 for one 20 point synergy (from 9s to 12s in NM))
9. skilldesc.txt,
   - Attract and Confuse synergy description needed adjustment (previous description function rounded off to whole numbers, so using the fraction-display function instead: "15/25 sec per level")
10. cubemain.txt, no changes, but the Release (no test recipes) version is included.

I do not intend to make any more balance adjustments or new items for HUv1.7.

PureRage is welcome to use the above files to produce .mpq files if he has the time. If he does not, then let me know if there is a more efficient method (i.e. smaller file size) of producing the .mpq files besides opening up the v1.3 patch_d2.mpq and overwriting with v1.7 files before closing it.

Here's the files I edited:

http://www.filedropper.com/huv17prdec

Changes:
Base monster AI range increased to fit high res. (35 increased to 40)
A few specific AI adjusted to increase trigger radius of certain behavior and skills, for those that ignore the AIDist column.
Find potion now finds Supers in A5 norm (up from greaters), Megas in NM and Ultras in Hell.
Reduced EvilSorc elemental resistance from 120 to 100.
Changed eth requirements from -10 to +10.
Removed defunct mastery surrounds from barb mastery trees.

Files changed:
D2Game.dll
D2Common.dll
D2Client.dll
Monstats.txt
data/global/ui/spells/skltree_b_back.dc6 (Note: files are suffixed with -HighRes and -LowRes. Remove chosen suffix for the version you are running.

I didn't get the arrows done, as I didn't want to run out of time halfway through, or finish 1 resolution and not have time for the other.

I don't think there is a better method than just overwriting for the .mpqs

_________________

For music versions, it is likely easiest all round to just extract the music files, and provide a data folder (data/global/music) to download. That way we only need 1 download for music, regardless of high or low res.

_________________

Once upon a time, players were told that playing with (or without) a data folder was responsible for them dropping or crashing. If we provide a music folder for them to use with "-direct -txt" flags, then do you know if they will experience any issues? Logic tells me that they shouldn't, but experience dealing with Blizzard stuff tells me to keep an open mind. I certainly like the idea of the music folder since that would at least allow us to compress it at a reasonable rate. Were you thinking of people downloading it as a variety of mpq file (i.e. very little compression)?

I will prepare the mpq packages. I'll be implementing the following changes:

1. Since Eth items now add 10 stat requirements (only to each stat the item requires), I made all weapons require min 10 Str/Dex (characters start with 10 Str/Dex anyways). This ensures that all eth weapons gain 20 stat points required.
2. Skill descriptions for Pierce, Dodge, and Battle Command mention that they unlock their shared-state skills
3. Battle Orders prerequisite changed from Shout to Battle Command (just for ease of skill description)

<edit>I earlier figured I could get the mpq files finished before going to sleep, but after getting frustrated with Ladik'sMPQ (decent interface, but doesn't seem to compress anything), I decided to try WinMPQ (terrible interface, but seems to compress), it looks like this will take longer than I thought.</edit>

RE: Music. I Spent a couple hours last night looking at methods for making the music version, standalone. I packed the 1.7 game files into the .mpq, then downloaded a music version and extracted just the music files (data/global/music folder) and using the existing levels.txt, changed act 1 town sound environ entry from 1 to 30 (Mephisto) for testing.

Test 1: Data/global/music alone, everything else in patch - works
Test 2: Data/Global/music packed into patch_mpq. - works
Test 3: Data/Global/Music packed into extra .mpq and loaded by D2SE - Failed (WTF?) Music reverted to vanilla.
Test 4: Data/Global/Music packed into extra .mpq and placed in a Language_Mus folder + renamed MUS.mpq. Language set to MUS in D2SE launcher. - Failed (WTF?), sama again, vanilla music.

Test 5 and 6: As above for 3 and 4, but also included excel folder containing all text files and .bins. - Failed QQ.

So looks like it is either manage 4 versions (HR, HR Lite, LR, LR Lite) and pack into the .mpq, or manage 2 versions (LR, HR), and provide a download to the data/global/music folder. I prefer #2 personally, just because it's less likely things will get mixed up in future, and it's very easy to troubleshoot.

WinMPQ gave me pretty good compression. Just remember when you choose the data folder to pack, and the dialogue box pops up asking for a path, to enter "data\".

I usually do:
0.5: Load game to generate up to date .bins > Close game.
1: Open Patch.
2: Click add folder.
3: Select chosen data folder.
4: Enter data\ when prompted for a path
5: Wait until packing is finished
6: Ctrl + P to compress further (takes 10-20 seconds)
7: Suffix data folder with -off and start the game to confirm it all got packed up into the .mpq.

_________________

I've gone with packaging the music within patch_d2.mpq because it might be simpler for new players (just download CoreFiles and then one download for whatever else they choose).

Relevant to this thread: I've removed nearly all Dropbox data, so all the update links are dead.

Prepare to fume . Just spotted that weapons with hidden weapon mastery passives are set to level 6 req minimum. Reducing the req in skills.txt will fix it even if it needs to become a negative. Bit of a pain after packing already ><.

Only noticed because I was making a fresh character in new folder.

Edit -6 as req in skills.txt will solve it ye.

_________________

pfft, level 6? Lucky you're playing a Barb, my Paladin was faced with level 12. Welp, time to grab a dagger or wand and get cracking.

A quick test with the hidden passives skill levels set to -10 implies that it solves the problem, which surprised me quite a bit since I assumed D2 would treat a negative level requirement as zero and I'd be trying to use OllyDBG to help you look for the hidden "oSkills increase level requirements to SkillLvl+6" in some file.

Precedent has been set - testing with the finished product is relevant and critical.