Hello,

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The only files that do anything are the .pcx, .wav, .smk, .cel, and .cl2
files. The .pal files are just palletes for the animations. All the others
are used to sequence things in the game. If you want to view the .smk files
(movies), there is a program called Smacker at RAD Game Tools home page (
http://www.radgametools.com ) that not only lets you view these but you can
save whichever frames of the movie you like as .gif files. If you want to
view the .cel and .cl2 files (animations), you must first convert them to
animated .gifs.
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Here's how:

This is kind of complicated so if you do not understand something please
ask, I don't mind if you keep e-mailing me until you do understand it.

Steps:

 1. Download the Diablo Viewer (storm.dll and update also) and the Diablo Decoder
    programs from my files page.

 2. Make a directory (folder) on your hard drive and name it something.
    (Example: Diablo Viewer)

 3. Unzip both programs (Diablo Viewer and Diablo Decoder) in the
    directory you just made.

 4. Move update for Diablo Viewer to same directory (should ask if 
    you want to replace data.txt file----Click Yes).

 5. Put the storm.dll file that you downloaded
    into the Diablo Viewer directory.

 5. Double-click the viewer.exe file to run Diablo Viewer.

 6. Load the diabdat.mpq file on the Diablo CD.

 7. You must save 2 of the *.pal file types before you can start
    converting.One must be      levels\towndata\town.pal 
    the other can be any other .pal file that begins with the
    word levels. (Example: levels\l1data\l1.pal)
    Save these 2 files into the same directory as the Diablo Viewer.

 8. Choose a file you wish to convert, all of the townspeople are in .cel
    format and all of the player and monster animations are in .cl2
    format. Save the file to the same directory as the Diablo Viewer.

 9. Open Explorer and right-click on the directory you created then choose
    Properties, the window that opens will show you the MS-DOS name for 
    that directory. Remember this name (you should write it down).

10. Open a MS-DOS window (Click the Start button on your Windows 95
    taskbar, move up to Programs and then click on MS-DOS Prompt)

11. Get prompt to the directory you created (If directory is called Diablo
    Viewer then type   cd XXXXXXXX (the X's represent the MS-DOS name 
    you wrote down in Step 9).

12. Type   ddecode cel ****.pal ^^^^^^^^.cel 
    (the *'s represent the name of the pal file, the ^'s represent the
    name of the cel file)
    USE THIS FOR .CEL FILES 
    or
    Type   ddecode cl2 ****.pal ^^^^^^^^.cl2
    (the *'s represent the name of the pal file, the ^'s represent the
    name of the cl2 file)
    USE THIS FOR .CL2 FILES

    Use the town.pal for townspeople and any items found in town, use the
    other .pal file for all player and monster animations.

13. This will created a .GIF for each frame contained in the .cel or .cl2
    file, it will also create a batch file for any multi-frame files.

14. In Explorer go to the directory that you made for the Diablo Viewer.
    it should contain a bunch of .gif files and a file called *.bat.
    (Example: If the file you converted was called smith.cel there will
    be a file called smith.bat)

15. Double-click the *.bat file, this will run the Gifmerge program in the
    Diablo Decoder and convert all of the .GIF files to Animated GIFs.

16. Example:

     You save the monsters\diablo\diabloa.cl2 file from the CD as
     diabloa.cl2

     Your .pal files are called town.pal and l1.pal

     At MS-DOS prompt you type      ddecode cl2 l1.pal diabloa.cl2

     This creates approximately 64 GIF files in your Diablo Viewer
     directory. It also creates a diabloa.bat file.

     You double-click the diabloa.bat file

     This creates 8 seperate animated gifs of Diablo
     Each is the same animation from a different view 
     (see the example at the bottom of my Files page)

     You can view the animated gifs in any web browser.



						I hope this helps
						Scott Mitzel
						mitzel@arlington.net


