HELLFIRE - The Dark 

version 4.2 (5-Sep-2001) by Zamal & Zenda 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction and acknowledgement


This Hellfire mod has been started in November 1998. It is based upon the famous HFMOD V2 from Varaya&Khan, dated September 2, 1998.

The reasons we used Varaya&Khan's mod to work upon are that it was very well balanced and had a lot of bugfixes and nice enhancements in it. We saw no need to redo all this, mostly because we would not have able to do it, at the time.

You will be able to play SinglePlayer as well as MultiPlayer. See 'Notes on SinglePlayer' if you like the quests, or plan to do this game the easy way. All other information in this file is for both MultiPlayer and SinglePlayer, unless indicated otherwise.

This mod has been made possible by Varaya&Khan (thanks for their great example and their workshop), Jarulf (thanks for his Guide and DVIEW program), Dr. Zed (thanks for always being helpful), Charlie (thanks for his workshop), Crystalion (thanks for all the patches) and all those modmakers and other people who posted their ideas and information on the various internet forums. Futhermore we would like to thank BLIZZARD for making Diablo and SIERRA for making the Hellfire add-on. We are also very grateful to Jirikis, Peadur and The Black Angel, for their suggestions and testing with this mod, and with its previous releases. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Installation and Playing


To be able to play this mod, you must have access to the Diablo CD and have Hellfire 1.01 installed on your computer.

Place all files belonging to this mod, which are listed blow, in your Hellfire directory or, preferrably, in a copy of your Hellfire directory.

HLFDRK42.EXE          Main program
TD42.MPQ              Resource file
THEDARKREADME.TXT     This Readme
CHANGES42.TXT         Modification list

Use the program with its original filename, which is HLFDRK42.EXE for this version. This will help avoiding MultiPlayer games with other Hellfire versions over KALI.

There is no longer need for a command file, and any parameters in such a file will not be used.

Savegame files for MultiPlayer are named HLFDRK_x.DRV and placed in your Windows directory (for Hellfire the names are HRINFO_x.DRV), for SinglePlayer it is HLFDRK_x.HSV in the directory containing the MOD (SINGLE_x.HSV for Hellfire). It is possible to copy savegame files from regular Hellfire or HFMOD V2 to these new files, but a lot of the character's equipment will change to useless stuff if you do this. In general, be careful copying savegame files between different mods with other basic items, because it will crash the program on playing and you might even lose your character. This means for example that you cannot transfer a character from this mod back to Hellfire.

Start the game by running (a shortcut to) HLFDRK42.EXE, and remember that it will be much harder than regular Hellfire.

We strongly discourage the use of other hacks, like PATCHELP, together with this mod. Because so much is changed chances are very large that the game will crash.

If you place the file Doom.smk in a subdirectory GENDATA, the intro of the game will be expanded with sound.

You can customize your hotkeyed MultiPlayer messages (F9-F12) by creating a file TheDark.ini in your playing directory. It must be the same format as Hellfire.ini from Hellfire or Diablo.ini from Diablo.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nest and Abyss


Unlike in HFMOD V2, in this mod you can enter the Nest, known as the Hive in Hellfire, too. This should only be attempted after you survived Hell. The Abyss, known as Crypts in Hellfire, is the most difficult area in this mod.

Both can be entered from town by clicking the correct entrance. For the Abyss this is the black grave to the right of Tristram's church. For the Nest you have to blow up its entrance first. In MultiPlayer the farmer's Rune bomb must be used by the game creator, and prefferably before other players enter the game. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes on SinglePlayer


Some quests are placed one or more levels deeper, and sometimes use other monsters. This makes them slightly more difficult, but the unique items you get as a reward will be much better.

Upon entering a new game the quest items from the previous game will be replaced with useless equipment, but you should be able to obtain them again without much trouble. If you happen to find one of these items outside its quest, however, it will remain with your character.

Although the Blood Stones from the Valor quest appear to be the same as the Blood Stones you can find or buy, they are the only ones that can be used in the quest.

There is no longer a Quest with Gharbad The Weak.

As in Hellfire, you can only enter the Abyss in SinglePlayer with the Cathedral Map. In this mod you can find it on the last level of Hell, not in the Nest.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contacts


Email regarding this mod can be send to HF_THEDARK@HOTMAIL.COM

Do NOT contact BLIZZARD or SIERRA for questions or remarks about this mod. They do NOT support it. SIERRA does not support MultiPlayer in Hellfire, also.

The makers of this mod cannot be held responsible for any damage that comes from using this software, but you don't have to worry very much: we use it ourselves very often ...