Interview - (2001-09-01) Perfect Cell

Interview - (2001-09-01) Perfect Cell

Description: Phrozen Heart of the Phrozen Keep interviews Perfect Cell on his Eastern Sun mod and mod making in general.

Categories: Interviews




































































































PHROZEN
What was it that got you into mod making in the first place and what was the first game you worked on?
CELL
The thing that got me into mod making was Eastern Sun. Lothar started work on it back in the days when Yegg's Tavern was still around (www.diablo2.com, rip ;_;) He had completed all of the regular (item) uniques found in the mod (even still to this version). I had played my (now famous to the ES community) Barbarian named Kain up to level 86 on LAN with my brother (I REALLY wished you could transfer your single players to Realms or something, but that wish was never realised). I didn't have the energy to level another character; I needed something different. That's when I saw Lothar's mod...I haven't played CD2 since (well, except to finish Act V up to Hell diff with said Barbarian). The first game I worked on was Quake. I did a little bit of messing around with the code while I was taking a C course in high school. I took over the TFBot years ago, but never had the smarts to complete it.
PHROZEN
Is Eastern Sun the first Diabo 2 mod project you've been part of or did create any other mods for D2 prior to that?
CELL
I had slightly modified the Eastern Sun mod for playing single prior to actually joining Lothar in 1.5 (I think). Most of the stuff I learned was from reading what little information was available on mods.diabloii.net (another rip) and just experimenting with the .txt's. So no, I didn't do any mods prior to ES...at least not released publicly n_n I've been with ES a while now (10 months), and I think it'd be very dangerous for me to quit now...right (hey)pete? :p
PHROZEN
Eastern Sun was the official mod of Yegg's Tavern for quite a while before leaving to become part of Stormwynd Keep and eventually on to Planetdiablo and the Phrozen Keep. Any reason for all the changes?
CELL
Well, Lothar was on the staff back in the days of Yegg's Tavern (my favourite d2 site at the time), so the mod was hosted there. After the mod started becoming his mod (ie. he did the majority of changes - somewhere around v1.2, I think), he moved it onto his site (Stormwynd Keep) and continued to work on it up to 1.4. After he picked up a second job (yes, TWO!!!! real life jobs + a mod!), he said he didn't have a whole lot of time to do the mod, and I stepped in and helped him on 1.5. After a few versions of 1.5 (4 or 5, I don't remember), he officially gave the mod for me alone to work on. He was still getting a TON of email asking him questions about the mod and had to keep forwarding it. I thought it was a good idea to get on a new site, and chose planetdiablo since: 1. mods.diabloii.net was down and there was no sign of seeing it again, 2. Planetdiablo didn't have any mod sites, and 3. I always liked the Gamespy Network's phat bandwidth and mirroring ftp's ^_^
PHROZEN
Talking of mods.diabloii.net, were you surprised when they finally shut down completely?
CELL
Not really, the site had been down for a REALLY long time and it would have taken a lot of work (and staff) to restore it to a modder central-type site on par with the Keep. Had the Phrozen Keep not taken it's place during the downtime, the modding community might have died along with it. It's a shame to see it go, but this place probably wouldn't be here without it.
PHROZEN
On a different note, do you think the frequency that Blizzard releases patches is a good thing or not?
CELL
I think it's a good thing. Despite it meaning more work for me, I really don't mind it (I'm about as addicted to tweaking this game as some people are to playing it). It's always good to get bugs and player exploits out of the way, and Blizzard does a good job of removing them. I think the only time I was disheartened was when 1.05 and 1.08 came around. Both of those patches caused compatibility issues with existing ES characters and everyone had to start over =(
PHROZEN
Other than your own, what mods either past or present have sparked your interest?
CELL
I'm assuming you're talking about Diablo II here ^_~ Well....there are a lot of mods out there that have sparked my interest. A shortlist (in other words, names I can think of off the top of my head) would include the mods done by Jeff Bouley, Jarda Fireheart, Goldark, Teknokyo and, in particular, Fusman. He seems to be 'the man' so to speak when it comes to modding. I think we all secretly look up to him ^_~ The work the others have done on their respective mods at times amazes me, I only wish that I had thought of some of the ideas first :p
PHROZEN
In your opinion, are the modders who still only have classic Diablo 2 getting left out since the release of the expansion pack?
CELL
Yes, and that's really unfortunate. I always feel bad because I don't have CD2 installed to make it compatible with the current betas of ES. Even with things as easy to fix as 'version' columns, the differences between CD2 and LoD, mod makers (well, I hope I'm not alone on this...) simply don't have the time to make 2 different versions of mods. We ran into this problem (when I was working with Lothar) back in 1.5x with morphing issues from 1.4. Making more than one version didn't sound like it would be too difficult, but Lothar was right; it's too much, and I'm only me. With the size of some of the mods that are currently available, it seems likely that things will stay that way =(
PHROZEN
Are you planning on continuing with the Eastern Sun mod or are there any new projects on the horizon?
CELL
I'll probably work on this mod on and off...however long mod making is still fun. I'm working on a PvP version of the mod for the 'I can't remember the last time we had one' tourneys on the FSGS server. I'm collaborating on another mod, but I'm not sure how much I will be contributing or when it will be done.
PHROZEN
If Blizzard announced they were going to release one part of D2's source code for modders to work on and the public could vote on which part, what would you choose and why?
CELL
If they released anything 'big', I'd pick the server stuff. Having a Realms-like server would give the mod community a boost, as it would remove the 'all mods are cheats' mentality that is common among some people. If they released mod-wise-only stuff, I think just about anything would satisfy me. The ability to alter boss/champion/unique properties separately from the standard x8 life would be my cup of tea though. It'd be nice to make the ES seal bosses a less of a 'hold the mouse button marathon' -_-;
PHROZEN
Is there any advice you'd give to anyone who's just starting out making mods or considering making a mod for D2?
CELL
Probably the first thing to do is to check out the tutorials (even if they are outdated) on the Keep. They give you a rough idea of what kinds of things you can do. I'm sure we've all been asked if we can add in new classes, new quests, swapping skills, chaninging this, changing that. A lot of it isn't possible, and some of the major ones (skill swapping) are found somewhere amongst them. I think a really important thing to learn is the -direct -txt -w method...it will save a lot of time on quick tests. With that shortcut, you don't even need to exit the game to make modifications, just save the game in progress, modify the .txt, then create another game. I think one of the ways to quickly learn things rather than wondering 'How'd they do that?' is to delve right into the .txt's of other mods. Just remember to ask permission if you plan on implementing a 'big' feature of another mod ^_~
PHROZEN
Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer our little interview :-)





Anyone wishing to check out the Eastern Sun mod can do so by visiting the official website at http://es.d2mods.com.

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[url=https://www.d2mods.info/forum/kb/viewarticle?a=77&sid=0173fcbb00073d3eaaddf13d77aa23f9]Knowledge Base - Interview - (2001-09-01) Perfect Cell[/url]
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