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 Post subject: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Sat Nov 05, 2016 12:54 pm 

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm
Posts: 58
I heard some guy made that possible long time ago but you couldn't equip them so he dropped it. But since you guys are really into modding maybe you can do it ? Is it possible ? I'm watching Diablo Sigma's progress and it's pretty advanced so I believe harder stuff (like this idea) can be made. So what do you think ?


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 3:15 pm 

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm
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Guys, please tell me you're able to make all the mercs available for hire at the same time. That element would really bring some fun play. Are you even considering ? Is there going to be SP version of Sigma ? If so maybe you could make it exclusive to it, because 8 players with four mercs is 32 fighters + all the summons. I bet it can be balanced easy so np for you moddres. Also I wanted to ask is it possible to add additional TYPE merc in act IV ? Like for instance Assassin merc or any other class merc or even add some kind of demon who is willing to kill his own people for money. Maybe you could hire/resurrect him with special currency like gems or runes.


Also do you consider too add fights with Tyrael and all the other angels like Hadriel and Izual's spirit? Something like the barb challenge but with angels :D I've seen some guy made even Deckard Cane a boss and he was pretty dope and OP. Maybe make Tyrael for merc or whatever other npc you want.
Can anyone explain how hard exactly is to make the 4 merc hired at the same time and one completely new for act 4 ?
I mean I know is hard but it's not impossible. So what are the steps to get the 4(5) mercs ?


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 4:08 pm 
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Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:28 am
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I don't know of a way to let players have multiple mercenaries, so it won't be in HUv1.7. I'm not yet convinced that multiple mercs is possible, but the limitations I've seen for hardcoded solutions (we can't seem to reduce the %ED buff given to Ethereal items because so far the normal solutions crash the game) make me skeptical. I'd agree that for a single-player game it wouldn't be hard to balance. Consider looking for more experienced D2 modding opinions on PhrozenKeep.

I'm not familiar with the Sigma mod for D2, but if their online community has decent numbers, then I wouldn't blame them for trying to emphasize the multiplayer aspect of the game. If you're part of their community, then let one of their modders know about this post explaining an easier method to generate a Solo edition for a D2 mod:
http://forum.arimyth.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=6644

For adding additional types of mercenaries, I believe that can be done, but I haven't done any experimenting myself. The hirelings.txt file has an area where you can assign something from monstats.txt as a hireling. With that in mind, I would expect it to be possible to copy-paste the row for some demon to a row named DemonMerc, and then create a row in hirelings.txt for DemonMerc. You'd want to choose a monster that you know has some animations for attacking, getting hit, spell casting, dying, etc (I'm not sure what the minimum animations for a Merc are).

I don't know if it's possible to give the "Hire Mercenary" option to an A4 vendor, but hirelings.txt make it look very easy to add a DemonMerc to one of the other Mercenary vendors. In some HU versions, new mercenaries were created, but they had the same look as other mercenaries. In HUv1.7 there are A5 Barbarian Mercenaries that shapeshift into WereWolf (survives via life leach and Regen) or WereBear (survives via Stun effects and Regen) forms. Their shapeshift skills are not the same as a Druid's due to limitations in hireling AI, but they have the same stats.

It shouldn't be hard to create a new boss fight that involved any critters you wanted. One harsh limitation is the animations that exist for the more interesting monsters like Tyreal (in battle he can only stand still with slightly wavy wingy things. I suppose he could teleport like Thrakk (no walking animation for Thrakk)).


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 9:50 am 

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm
Posts: 58
Checkout this mod where you can fight Tyrael and it looks cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh2F6guDCGU


Last edited by Rakehell on Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:21 am 

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm
Posts: 58
Maybe the all mercs thing could be done with several vendors responding for each merc on each map and somehow getting rid of the "this would replace your current merc" command that is forced from the game. I know I don't have any idea how code works but in theory it sounds easy :D What do you think ?


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:27 pm 

Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:24 pm
Posts: 1031
Well the issue isn't about modder ignorance as it is how much of the game is hardcoded. I've heard stories of mods saying you can have Diablo as your merc and give him gear and watch him barf rainbows on your enemies, but from the little I know (and what I've heard) it seems impossible. It's not that difficult to create new sprites for monsters but I have no idea about editing mercs beyond their slots/gear/skills/stats.

From what I've seen, if you got vendors setup in a way that allows you to hire another merc without the replace request, it would just crash the game.


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 2:32 am 
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Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:28 am
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Location: Vancouver, BC
I took a look at the Tyreal video, and agree that he looked pretty neat. I still don't notice any animation files for Tyreal in the mpq files, so perhaps the video was from a mod where someone took the time to create brand new animations for Tyreal. Perhaps that animation is somewhere on the Internet and could be included in in future HU version.

I think a decent analogy for coding in this case would be a house of cards (stacking playing cards edge to edge to form a pyramid). Occasionally you can download a "cracked" version of software where someone has managed to take a card out of the pyramid without it collapsing. Editing Mercs to remove the "replace current merc" prompt would involve searching for the right card to pull out. Then someone would need to add cards because your extra Mercs are all carrying equipment that needs to get saved with your character. The odds of the house of cards collapsing is pretty high. Considering the tools available to edit the code, I know I'm not capable of making those changes. You could try asking about on PhrozenKeep, since at least a few of those folks have actually examined most of the cards in the deck.

If the main advantage of multiple mercs is essentially to have more summons, then there are much easier ways of getting that done (e.g. oSkills that summon merc-like monsters). Valkyrie and Shadows genuinely have gear, so they're pretty close to mercs already.


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:07 pm 

Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:24 pm
Posts: 1031
Another massive issue would be, if you found the card to remove 'replace current merc', how in the world would you make it so you can edit all 3 inventories? If you press O it would just open your first merc. You'd have to create entirely new command strings in the .dll and I don't know what you'd even write that the game would understand.


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:43 pm 

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm
Posts: 58
You could always right click on their mugs ;)
About Tyrael, can't you steal his animations from the mod ? It's called Diablo2 VietNam :P


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 6:28 pm 

Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:24 pm
Posts: 1031
Yes, but
1. It's not as easy as just copy+paste. Setting up the sprite/animations/location/sound/music takes a long time.
2. It would be very BM if someone made it exclusively for their mod. HU uses many sprites and sounds from Baldur's Gate, WC3, etc but no one has put in anything that steals work from other modders.


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 6:33 pm 

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm
Posts: 58
lol fair enough. Maybe try asking the guy ? Also don't you have any animators in your team ? Better pay animators for content instead of streamer.


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 6:01 am 

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm
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Also you can add Lich King too! Here's vid where the guy made it and it looks nice ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cyL-_BpdQQ


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 4:09 pm 

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm
Posts: 58
Oh also if you could answer my question about if it's possible to create Assassin merc ? From what I read you just need monster that has animations so you could probably use Shadow Master for example right ? And then make it merc who you can equip and make it items. That merc would have higher level skills than master and warrior and be much STRONGER than them. So is this possible ? I would ask also for the other classes.. is it possible to make the Druid, Necro, Pala, Ama and Sorc mercs too ? :P

I really want to hire Natalya damn :P


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 5:28 pm 
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Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:28 am
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That's a neat LichKing animation. Perhaps in HUv1.8 someone could collect that along with Tyreal and introduce some new bosses. I don't think a team for modding HUv1.8 has shown up yet, but it's not too early to start a suggestion thread for it. I don't think PureRage has animation tools, and I don't either. It's just a guess, but you might get started by producing a .gif file, and then look for programs that can convert a .gif to the formats used by Diablo2 (.dc6, .dcc, I'm not sure of their details).

I don't have a better answer regarding Assassin mercs than what I already provided for Demon Mercs in my first post of this thread (i.e. yes I assume it's possible). Perhaps PhrozenKeep can provide the details or proof of concept that you are looking for.


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 Post subject: Re: All the mercs availible for hiring at the same time.
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:34 pm 

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm
Posts: 58
Yeah the Lich King is dope. So do I make the suggestions thread or a mod should do it ?Uber Pandemonium or Uber Heavens event or something like that would be dope as I mentioned somewhere else.

Instead of fighting Diablo, Baal and Mephisto you fight against Tyrael, Hadriel and Izual's spirit. If Tyrael animations is taken from the other mod, the other 2 angels will be teleporting since there aren't any animations for them. With a little thought it can be made cool. Or maybe someone will make animations for them too.


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