Seasons After
A balance mod for Diablo II Lord Of Destruction

Seasons After is referred to by SA or sa from here on.

Everything in this text file and more can be found at the following website:
http://www.planetdiablo.com/seasons/


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Contents
1.01 Installing
1.02 About the mod
1.03 Features
1.04 Items
1.05 Crafting
1.06 Hirelings
1.07 Monsters
1.08 New Horadric Cube Recipes
1.09 Feedback - for suggestions and bugs etc
1.10 Credits
1.11 Contact
1.12 Copyright


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1.01 Installing

DO NOT use your existing characters with this mod - Please ;)

These instructions are documented on the SA website with images:
http://www.planetdiablo.com/seasons/install/install.html


Step 1.
Firstly move the D2Client.dll, D2Common.dll, D2Game.dll and patch_d2.mpq
files in your Diablo II folder into a new folder:
eg. C:\Games\Diablo II\blizzard\patch_d2.mpq
     C:\Games\Diablo II\blizzard\D2Client.dll (Blizzard's file)
     C:\Games\Diablo II\blizzard\D2Common.dll (Blizzard's file)
     C:\Games\Diablo II\blizzard\D2Game.dll (Blizzard's file)

These 4 files should NOT be in your Diablo II root directory.

Step 2.
Then update the 'Start in:' line of your Lod Shortcut to read:
eg. Start in: "C:\Games\Diablo II\blizzard"

Step 3.
Next extract the files from the sa_v101.zip file into a folder in your Diablo II
folder.
eg. C:\Games\Diablo II\sa\patch_d2.mpq
     C:\Games\Diablo II\sa\sa_v101_readme.txt
     C:\Games\Diablo II\sa\D2Client.dll (the one from the sa_v100.zip file)
     C:\Games\Diablo II\sa\D2Common.dll (the one from the sa_v100.zip file)
     C:\Games\Diablo II\sa\D2Game.dll (the one from the sa_v100.zip file)

Step 4.
Next right click on your Diablo II.exe file and choose Create New Shortcut,
or create a copy of your original LoD shortcut.

Step 5.
Right click on this new shortcut and choose Properties.

Step 6.
In the 'Start in:' line add the directory you put the files into to the end of
that line.
eg. Start in: "C:\Games\Diablo II\sa"

You can now use this shortcut to play this mod and your original Lod Shortcut
to plain vanilla LoD.

You can do this with all your mods to avoid patch and/or .dll swapping.


_________
1.02 About
This mod changes and nerfs lots in D2/Lod for the sole purpose of making
the game a bit more fun, a bit more interesting and a bit more of a challenge.

The game is still the same old Diablo 2 at heart with improvements and fixes
here and there.
Basically this mod is what I wanted Diablo 2 and the Lord of Destruction to
be like - to an extent - as some things simply cannot be changed.

Ideally what I am trying to achieve with this mod is something balanced where
you pick a couple of skills from different trees and work with them but
supplement those skills with others. This way characters all become a kind of
hybrid where no one skill or item type dominates and you need to be able to
use several complementary skills to survive.


____________
1.03 Features
This is a brief overview - refer to the website for more detailed information.

Support for German, Spanish, French and Italian languages.

Characters now gain 3 skill points per level with a maximum skill level of 40 - This
has been balanced so that skills do not become overpowered ;)
You can only assign points into a skill up to the maximum number based on
your character level as usual.  (This is not in the Mac version).


_________
1.04 Items

Every Class now gets Class Specific Bows and Crossbows (the Amazon gets Swords
and Flails as she already has her own class specific bows).
Characters start with slightly better equipment.
Armours are now heavier (lower run walk speeds) depending on their defence, but
with more defence comes more damage reduction - not much but it's still something.
Gems are slightly better, Rune drop more often and some individual Runes are now
better for socketing.  Charms *should* drop much less.
Amazon only spears attacking speeds have been increased slightly.
Staves, Orbs and Wands can be good melee weapons now.
There are new throwing items: Clubs, Scimitars and Flails.
New Unique items and Runewords.


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1.05 Crafting
Every character class has their own set of crafting recipes.
These are based on the gem levels - starting at chipped as the lowest and moving
up to perfect as the best.
The required items stay the same per class only the gem level changes depending on
the level of the craft.
Gems will display the Rune and character class needed used when crafting the gem.


___________
1.06 Hirelings

Act II Desert Mercenaries in Nightmare gain Sanctuary instead of Might.
Act II Desert Mercenaries in Hell:
 - Offensive Mercenaries gain Vigour.
 - Combat Mercenaries gain Meditation.
 - Defensive Mercenaries gain Cleansing.


____________
1.07 Monsters

Monsters are generally harder with every monster having at least a 150% increase
to their maximum life.  Minimum life remains the same for added variety :)
There is no leeching from ANY undead monsters.
Super Unique monsters are now harder and some have more mods.
There is usually a higher density of monsters in each area.


___________________________
1.08 New Horadric Cube Recipes
4 Chipped Gems = new magic weapon with 3 sockets (ilvl40).
4 Flawed Gems = new magic weapon with 3 sockets (ilvl40).
4 Normal Gems = new magic weapon with 3 sockets (ilvl60).
4 Flawless Gems = new magic weapon with 3 sockets (ilvl80).
4 Perfect Gems = new magic weapon with 3 sockets (ilvl100).
Gems and Jewels along with a white text item can add sockets to that item but with
some minor side effects.


____________
1.09 Feedback
For suggestions and bugs etc.
email or ICQ number or any other way I can contact you:
Error Description
Error location Act/Area/Item/Display
Bug/Suggestion Description
Other information or feedback


__________
1.10 Credits

My good mate Chris - who helped with ideas and first brought up the idea of making
this mod.
Warblade for giving me information on the Paladin, as I didn't really know what to
do with him.
noElrunes for helping with unique items and testing.
All my old mates on battle.net who put up with my odd style of play ;)

PhrozenKeep
Basically I could not mod if it was not for this site. You guys have one of the few
sites that actively supports the Diablo community. Thank You!
Thanks also to everyone on the PhrozenKeep forums - it's good to see so many
helpful people who are willing to share their knowledge.
Also for the PhrozenKeep's Item Package :)

ShadowTalon, StarGazer79 and Joel for their excellent Item Packs.
The people in the code editing forum - especially Foxbat for the Inner Sight as a
percentage defence reduction :)
Jeff Bouley for both of his item packs (the pretty gems and the Seraph Rod :)
Thus thanks also to the sources of the above graphics: Diablo 1, Diablo 2,
the D1 Hellfire expansion, the Lord of Destruction expansion, Riparius' item pack,
Stargazer's item pack, Phrozen Keep and other sources of graphics.

PlanetDiablo and Gamespy
Thanks for hosting me hoho~ :D


___________
1.11 Contact
website: http://www.planetdiablo.com/seasons/index.html
forum: http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~phrozenkeep/forum/viewforum.php?f=29
email: dgroberts@gmail.com
ICQ: 37339581


____________
1.12 Copyright

Diablo(r) II: Lord of Destruction(tm)
http://www.blizzard.com/diablo2exp/
(c)2001 Blizzard Entertainment. All rights reserved. Lord of Destruction is a trademark and Diablo and Blizzard Entertainment are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Seasons After
(c)2002-2003
Please do not use any parts of this mod without written permission from me (Dan).
If you do want to use parts email me first as I'll give you some documentation with the files to explain what I changed and why.
International intellectual property copyright laws cover all work contained within this mod and on the website.

EOF ;)
