[HELP] Modding in custom inventory icons

I am not sure if the General Discussion board is the correct place to post this. Please move it if that's not the case.

So I decided to change my item appearance in the inventory to add some more flavor (tired of seeing the blocky Jitan's Kamon) using .dc6 formatted images from Phrozen Keep. I found out that the item images are located in D2Data.mpq and opened it up with MPQviewer, found the items I wanted to replace and directly added in the .dc6 replacers. Launching the game, everytime I open my inventory including the now modified Jitan, the game crashes with an error message saying D2Data.mpq is corrupted.

I didn't hope for my attempts to be very successful in the first place, but could someone who has a diablo modding background explain me what part I massively fucked up? is D2Data even the right file to modify or is it even possible to change item appearances for Median in the first place?

If the Items are modded they should be located in patch_d2.mpq. Also, dont modify the original files. Put the new .dc6 files into data/global/items and run the game with -direct.

Apologies if I misunderstood but; the correct way should be the following:

Open up the patch.mpq file (the one from Median obv), search for global/item etc..., add in the new .dc6 files. Launch with -direct as comment in D2SE.exe in properties (I may have gravely misunderstood that one part).

Am I correct? also will the new .dc6 files with the same name as the ones in d2data.mpq (example, I add invgth.dc6 which is a replacement for the gothic armor image) present in the Patch file actually overwrite the ones in d2data? because I skimmed through the latter and it only contained the .dc6 for the newly added items by the mod (MO, catalysts...)

Yes patch_d2 will override, files should be there
Also there is no point in running with -direct if you put the files in the mpq

I modified the d2patch.mpq located in the main diablo 2 directory, but it doesn't seem to affect the game itself. Do note that I use D2SE. So after searching a little bit more around I found two other folders containing d2patch.mpq.

One in D2SE/Cores/1.13c
Another in Mods/Median XL.

I'm not sure which ones I am supposed to modify and which one(s) I should leave be. :-8

EDIT: Modifying the one in Median XL leads to the same Corrupted error I got while editing D2Data. So is this a problem on the .dc6 files I'm trying to place in, or just the fact I'm tampering with the wrong files?

EDIT: Nevermind. Switched to modding the files from the outside using -direct and -txt as DudeLove instructed. Works perfectly!

I don't know if you've seen this but another user made a similar pack to what you are trying to do:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2590

Even if you want to use different images, you should download the archive and see how he made it work so you can copy the method for your own project.

suchbalance wrote:I don't know if you've seen this but another user made a similar pack to what you are trying to do:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2590

Even if you want to use different images, you should download the archive and see how he made it work so you can copy the method for your own project.

Haha you just published that right after I was done reading said topic and finished my tests in-game! Talk about timing. Thanks suchbalance.

I may as well post my question again in the same thread to avoid needlessly cluttering other sections.

[Modding]
Now that I have the basics of switching item icon/sfx/animation/overlays, I delved further into "aestheticizing" my game. I've been looking forward to change the Paladin's Superbeast (Isair from Icewind Dale, originally) form to look like a Pit Knight instead (from the holy tree) as I like the two handed sword version more than the dual blades.

Pic of said animation I'm searching for:

Now I've searched almost everywhere in D2Patch.mpq, manually checked every single Animation Tokens there was, and even downloaded the older Laz's Median version just to check. I haven't found the animation that the Superbeast and Malthael/Imperius share.
I also checked Phrozen Keep's Infinitum to see if the base token name was ued (~Z) but it was apparently changed by Laz back then, so no luck.

I have to ask you, if you have any information related to the location of that specific animation please do tell me. Sorry to bother you guys with unrelated stuff.

well ~z should be correct, but I believe this token has a duplicate

fastest way to search it is
- search superbeast skill entry in skills.txt
- search state from that skill in states.txt
- search gfx monster morph id in monstats.txt
- see what token that monster is using

btw if you don't exit the .txt files accordingly, replacing a monster token will replace all instances of it

► Show Spoiler

EDIT: SOLUTION FOUND

Out of desperation I named a folder ~z in my mod addition folder in MODS/Median etc... With all of the Pit Knight animation renamed with ~ztrh...etc. IT WORKED.

Conclusion: Lots of struggles but success, and it turns out ~z does exist. As a Ghost File.
Thanks for bearing with me Marco.
Now to find how to make my superbeast not grey and transparent...