Flesh420.613: Is there anything vanilla that just adds a hardcore mode like Diablo 2 without all the extra stuff? I'm not finding anything like that.

sheng_luwei: There are tons of mods for Diablo, but a hardcore mode is a very special feature and to my knowledge the answers provided above are already giving an exhaustive overview.
You could still play single player and just not save the game, or delete the savegame in case of death. Or do you lack the self-discipline? ;-)

mordorxp: if you need the game to really force the no save on you with no way to backup, then TH2's Nightmare or Speedrun mode might be your answer.

you can't save your progress at all. if you started game and quit with Alt+F4, next time you enter character selection menu, that character will be instantly deleted.

Flesh420.613: I'm a brittle man that lacks discipline. It's just not the same when I have to force myself to delete the char over the game doing it. It's why I enjoy Roguelikes so much. I like the "oh shit" moments knowing there's nothing I can do about it and it's a direct result of my bad decision making.

mordorxp: OK, qndel has been harassing me over his problem for more than 2,5 years now

I will tell you my truthful part of the story. I am sure he has been very busy telling people how he is a victim and Mordor treated him bad.

Well, make yourself comfortable, for you are about to read how it all REALLY happened.

__

The night was dark : ) It was 2006, spring. I was reading Think and Grow Rich book by Napoleon Hill. And there was a chapter on how to pick a niche for your efforts. Somehow, it turned out that my old addiction to playing Diablo Hellfire is something I'd like to devote my time to. More specifically, I had decided to make this game in tune with how I want it to be. So, I made a bold decision to modify it! Picked a name quickly and there it began.

Long of a story short, in 2017 i was working in a small team with one coder, the development was coming to an end and The Hell 1 mod was nearing its completion. At the same time, we had forked another more ambicious project. Since 2006, I worked with a lot of people, and many had helped with the mod. The forked project was The Hell 2 and it was destined to CONTINUE what had been created before it in TH1 - years of working on the mod, countless bug fixes of original game, and so on. By the end of 2017 it had support for bigger resolutions, wide screen support, improved fps, support for adjusting settings through a config file (still using it by the way), auto gold pickups and so on. Too many to name.

In December 2017 we completed the Fleshdoom quest, The Hell 1 was almost over with. And we fully switched to The Hell 2. By then, I had a long wishlist for the features in that new mod. Some were easy, some required a lot of work. In essence, it was a raw version of design document. It had long lists of new affixes i want, new features, plans on improving and expanding old mechanics, new system of character weapon proficiencies, skills, item enchantments, perks, new stats, new game modes and difficulty modes, oprions, types of damage, how-it-works explanations. Plans were carried out for years, there are topics about it on old TH forums, I mean the preparations were big. And it was going well, i was doing mostly base items back then and the coder was busy with that list. I had worked on TH1 and it required assembler and hex, so I didnot know any c(++) back then. Regarding coding on C, I was helpless. Then somewhere in spring my coder, due to family circumstances, couldn't work on the mod anymore and I had a plan. "Not the time to stop now" and all. As usual, timing couldn't be worse. I wrote to another coder in my team, he agreed but said he would need a couple of months. So he was expected to jump on the train by summer (later, that's exactly how it turned out). But I was still with no coder and suddenly I recall there was someone who volunteered to code for the mod some months ago. Someone who goes by alias qndel. I gave him a chance to work with the mod, asked if he felt like it, he was eager to start, grabbed the ball and jumped right in. Source control back then was in the hands of lead programmer. And it was using SVN system. Those who know, know it's quite inconvenient and doesn't really forgive mistakes. So I showed qndel my mod feature wishlist. Told him what was done from it, what might need completion, and what was still not done. His participation started approximately early May 2018 and ended early June 2018, all in all, one month. There was no contract, he volunteered, his commits were checked by the lead. And though qndel did a lot, thanks to the big feature list of TH2, the lead was telling me that much of his code is hacks rather than clean code, and that by continuing that route the mod will drown in bugs. Personally, I did not understand it the way I do now, but the lead was right, and I was in for an eye-opening experience. He was fixing qndel's commits, cleaning up right after him. Not all, but many. Because of SVN we didn't have branches, it all went into master. And now interesting part, not pretty, but it's the truth. Lead tells me early June that if I continue trusting qndel and let him break the project with his dirty coding, that he will have to leave. And that's coming from a guy who was working on this source for years, literally. The irony is my trust in qndel back then, despite lead programmer's endless warning about this ending badly, i decide to continue with qndel and if lead wants to leave i shouldnt stop him. He decides to leave and disappears for a while. I show the source to my other coder (and we go back to 2010, he did a lot for TH1). He decides to fix some problems, we move the source to a different place and now it's git and we can work in branches. I start learning about git. And I have no time to spend on qndel. Also, I'm in stress because all this chaos. My other coder one day is supposed to do some work and wants no changes until he is done. Deserialization. I pass this info to qndel and tell him: don't do anything untill that guy finishes. It's important. And I go to sleep. Then I wake up with a headache and see qndel was freely committing despite what I had told the night before. And my other coder says he didn't do what he was supposed to because he saw qndel comitting. So, I cut off qndel's access to commit to master and he can now code but commit to branches and wait for my approval. He tells me it's rude and decides to leave. I say whatever, your choice.

From that moment, I continue the work with my other coder, some two weeks after that the lead returns (i acknowledge i was wrong for not trusting him) and there are three of us. Me and two coders. Two competent professional coders who know this source well. And then they begin fixing everything that was done by qndel. And they showed me what was broken. They know their stuff, when it's about code I'm silent and I listen. So, in about one month much get fixed. And fixing continues then for months. Not all bugs were evident. The last bug with broken preformance was fixed in 2020. None of his code remains at this point in TH2. If you want know the scale of the beast, read the log. And keep in mind qndel was working on it for one month, may to june 2018. While you read, keep that in mind, and it will be evident how his accusations are absurd.

While asked about certain bugs on my discord, I was saying that they went up to qndel and will be fixed when it's possible, he saw that at some point and began throwing tantrums. Since then, he hates me and his harassment doesn't stop. And he tells everyone whenever people mention TH2 that most of its features are owed to him, how he did everything and how thankless Mordor is. Whereis, in fact I gave him a chance to work with the mod, he couldn't work in a team, blew his chance and left and started spreading lies about me. I think he's immature and self-importance issue driven little boy, who can't get over the fact that his "promises" about TH2 dying without him didn't come to pass. While I held no gripe and thought I could talk to him sometimes, I met hateful resistance. After one of such episode here on gog forums in animated globe thread, i decided to stop bothering him. Maybe he can't handle criticism and it hurts him, I would rather stop talking to him. And he will calm down, but sometime after, it was evident he will never get over it. Back then he published source code for TH2 from 2018 (version he had when he left..). When I saw that, I decided it's a dirty move and his desperate attempt to hurt me. It only showed how much work had been made without him. After that I decided I want to have nothing in common with him, and by then TH2 already had none of his code. So I removed him from credits. And he will never get back there. Also, when I talk to people who want to get in TH team, I use my experience with him and test them better to make sure such people no longer find place in my team. Driven by personal impulses, such people go berserk with their own ideas, and compromise the order of things if they're in charge. If such people are under control and work through branches, it's possible to have them on the team, but my personal choice is to avoid such people altogether.

I am sure he will again get mad at me after reading this and come up with a lot of filth and lies. But I won't answer to him. Just wanted to share this story with those who are interested. I never did before.

PS: if you want link to TH2 changelog, it's here:
http://thehellmod.ucoz.ru/Downloads/TH2ChangesLog.txt

sheng_luwei: I can partly relate to that; there was no playing softcore for me again after I discovered the thrill of hardcore in Diablo 2. To me the equivalent in Diablo 1 is ironman. When you play with a partner with whom you agreed on the rules in the first place then you won't cop out when the game is technically over.