Incline Diablo 2 - a write-up

[Lilura]

I have looked at LP videos on no less than 4 separate occasions, but what I read/saw never appealed to me enough to try it. I know of fans of MXL who are fond of it however.

I played it a bit a few years ago; it was pretty hard. To my dismay, I can't get it going anymore. Damn the modders for making is so unfriendly to install.

 

[Alpan]

Eastern Sun is the most venerable of ambitious D2 mods, but I'm not sure if playing it is warranted in 2020, when Median XL in its various forms exists. Back in the day I also really remember enjoying a mod called Hell on Earth 2.

Lilura, saw your post just now. Maybe try the D2SE package over at this link, file "D2SE_ES_3.00R6D_sfx.exe". I have that installed and running fine.

 

[Lilura]

Never played HoE 2, but if anyone can get Eastern Sun going, please let me know which version of Diablo 2 you got it going on, and which version of ES you're running. I tried for a few hours, and gave up. The modders were big on anti-cheat measures and custom packaging, so it's a pain to install.

EDIT - Sort of knew someone would mention D2SE; I really don't want to use that. I didn't need to last time. Thanks, anyway though.

 

[Alpan]

Out of curiosity, what's wrong with D2SE? It looks to be quite a convenient tool.

Anyhow, it's not like the tool does anything special -- so it may be worth trying again on 1.10f which is the stated version on the site above.

 

[Lilura]

I just don't like anything else controlling my installation. Shouldn't need a front-end manager to run a mod.

 

[Grimlorn]

What's the difference between Sigma and the older mods? I've only played Sigma recently on single player and it was kind of fine at first, but I'm at a point where I know I'm probably going to have to grind a lot to get good gear and that doesn't appeal to me.

Right, so that's one of many problems. Median XL was designed to be single player friendly, Sigma is not.

There's no /players command to increase drops anymore.

And there you have it (but there are many other design decisions made by the core sigma team that are a major decline from Laz's original versions of Median XL).

"For many people the version 1.F9 is to date the best version."

https://forum.median-xl.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=34509&p=279536#p279536

It's a shame I didn't learn about the different versions of MXL. I just decided to pick it up for the first time recently and got the latest mod. I don't think I can stomach playing through another character again right now. Going through the game 3 times again.

 

[Gregz]

It's a shame I didn't learn about the different versions of MXL. I just decided to pick it up for the first time recently and got the latest mod. I don't think I can stomach playing through another character again right now. Going through the game 3 times again.

Yeah I hear you, but that was Lilura's point. People assume the latest version must be the best version...but that often isn't the case. It's not your fault because it's so obfuscated. In the current median XL forums, any dissenting post about the current state of Sigma is 'moved' to a sub-forum where it can't be seen. So new players are only seeing 'approved' posts praising how great Sigma is

Most of the Codex has to go back decades to play games worth playing, we aren't playing the 'latest and greatest' games because 99% of them are garbage. Sigma is the same way, but they are working very hard to hide that fact.

I have about 20 or so games that I truly love. What I do is rotate through them on an annual (or every other year) basis. So, I'd recommend that you forget about MXL for a year so you lose the bad taste of playing Sigma...and then give MXL another shot. Except next time, go directly to the version worth playing, and if you don't remember which that was, ask the Codex first.

 

[luj1]

People assume the latest version must be the best version...but that often isn't the case.

True for many things indeed.

 

[luj1]

So I'm looking for a specific feature in MXL, namely the expanded merc inventory. For some reason equipping them belts, gloves, boots and amulets is super important to me.

According to the changelog here (http://modianhelp.anhei3.net/MXLU_vXVc_Doc_v2.94/log.html) the first version which introduced merc inventory is Median XL: Ultimative v5.

Now since v5 is scarce and I can get v7 on moddb, I'm just wondering should I favor the older or newer patch of this sub-series (ultimative)? Thanks

Gregz Lilura Alpan Grimlorn

 

[Gregz]

luj1

I doubt anyone will know for sure.

The best thing to do is read the patch notes between the versions you want to play, that way you can avoid any change you find odious.

http://modianhelp.anhei3.net/MXLU_vXVc_Doc_v2.94/log.html

 

[luj1]

Situation is as follows,

Median XL: Ultimative v5 - feature first introduced
Median XL: Ultimative v6b - minor update, nothing relevant
Median XL: Ultimative v6c - bunch of proc-related bugs found, only half were fixed
Median XL: Ultimative v6d - nothing major
Median XL: Ultimative v6e - massive performance fixes, buffs to sets, global monster density reduction and further bugfixes
Median XL: Ultimative v6f - reverted all monster density changes, and increased it even more (?), bizzare 180-degree patch
Median XL: Ultimative v7 - reverted density to older values, no bugfixes

Therefore, for whosoever desiring this functionality, I believe v6e of this subseries of patches is the sweet spot.

EDIT: Gregz Any idea which was the last patch Laz made (before the fag Marco took over)?

 

[Arbiter]

You'd know this if you've played Sigma.

Not interested in playing anything other than MXL.

What happened to an unmodded game being the only authoritative version?