Saving Items

1) ALT-TAB out of Diablo and return to Windows.

2) Initiate your trainer and use the feature labeled "Items" or "Import and Export"

3) A pop-up window will appear and show you your characters' items.  You simply select which item you wish to save and press the "Export" button.  You will then be prompted to select a directory for your file to be sent to. 

Diablo items are generally saved as .ITM files and Hellfire items are generally saved as .HIF files.  The file extensions ARE NOT interchangeable. The newest version of Character Workshop allegedly allows ITM to HIF conversions. I have not tested this, so beware.  You can import some items from Hellfire to Diablo and some items from Diablo to Hellfire (usually basic items that are present in both games like "cape" or "club"). Keep in mind that not all items are able to be read by the respective games. Some items are easily understood by both games such as a "short sword" for instance. Hellfire specific items like the oils, runes and other items only found in Hellfire are not able to be used in regular Diablo. Morphing of items can be expected.

4) Once saved, you can either give the item to a friend, sell the item or simply dispose of it.

To obtain the item from within a game at any time, simply follow the previous directions and substitute "import" for your action.  You will have to select an item or belt space for your item to be copied to.    I usually use one gold piece for this. (To use only one gold piece, simply right click on a pile of gold and a small window will appear asking you to enter an amount.   Simply enter the number 1 and hit enter.  You will now have one gold piece for your target)

Using a trainer for this sort of saving is considered "Duping".  Many players have a strong aversion to duping in any form and will not accept an item they know has been brought in with a trainer. To avoid the perils of duping, you can simply delete the .ITM file once the item has been imported so you will not have the item anymore.  In any case, its just good manners to inform the person you are giving an item to that it will be imported from a file. Many players don't mind...others do.

Lost and Found

Many times in public games, a person will ask you to let them see a really neat item you may have. Be very careful of doing this since many players will simply do this to be able to enjoy you begging for your item back or they just wish to steal it outright.  If you have ever played multi-player Diablo you have probably run across a thief before.  Not real fun.  Here is a way to use the trainer to maybe help you get your item back without a lot of heartache.

1.)  Use ALT-TAB to minimize Diablo and open your trainer.

2.) Select the "Save Character" option.

3.) A smaller window will now be open to allow you to select your character.  Instead of choosing your character, simply choose the character you wish to save and hit "save". You will now be prompted to select a directory for the save.  Put the file where you want and you will then have a copy of that players .CHA file.  If you do not wish to do this, you can simply find the item you lost and save it back in the same manner.

Afterwards

When you have the time, simply create a "dummy" character  or choose one you care nothing about to be used as the target for your import.  Use the trainer to "import" the saved .CHA file over the character currently being used.  Once completed, you are now able to get your item back....and all of the items he had in his posession at the time you saved his character. 

Saving, or "capturing" another players' character file is helpful as well.  It lets you see exactly how another player is playing the game.  If he is a really good player (not cheating and is apparently doing good at the game) capturing his character will let you see what type of items he has will let you learn more about how items and attributes affect gameplay.

Importing a saved character

Your trainer provides another great service by allowing you to import your character once it has been saved to a .cha file. This becomes valuable when your system crashes, a reformat of your hard drive is needed or the servers on Battle.net split causing you to lose connection to your game and crash out. I know of one player recently losing a Thinking Cap with a durability of almost 100 (Hidden Shrines) due to a game crash. Being that he is a "purist" player, he did not have his items or his character backed up. In case you dont know, the Thinking cap comes with a durability of 1. This person spent many hours building the durability of his Thinking Cap only to lose it.    Backing up your character, or exporting the items prevents an unfortunate loss such as this one. Server splits, computer crashes and lag are NOT part of Diablo. They are issues inherent to computers and therefore should not be subject to the strict rules of legit or purist gameplay in my opinion.

Saving your Character:

To save your character simply follow these steps.

1.)  Alt-Tab out of Diablo and open Stu's Diablo Trainer.

2.)  Select the "Save" feature and choose which character you wish to save.

3.)  A window will open to allow you to select which directory to save the .cha file to.    Choose your desired directory and push "ok".

Restoring your Character:

***Note: For purposes of this page, Stu's Trainer is being used as the trainer example. There are many other types of trainers and most are similar in operation.

1.)  Alt-Tab out of Diablo and open Stu's Diablo Trainer.

2.)  Select the "Restore" character feature and select which character you will be restoring.

3.)  A window will open allowing you to locate the directory where you have stored your .cha file.

4.)  Select your character and push "ok".

5.)  Once restored, save the character using Stu's Trainer.

Using the trainer to save your character is also good in another way due to the limits of characters allowed by your Diablo game. Using a trainer allows you to save characters for later use if you choose to create another character but do not currently have the room in your character menu.  If you decide to restore a character you have previously saved but do not have a current version of in your character menu, simply follow these steps:

1.)  Create a character as you normally would. I usually name my "target" character the same as the saved file character. 

2.)  Alt-Tab out of Diablo and run Stu's Diablo Trainer.

3.)  Select "Restore" and then the character in the pop-up menu you wish to restore.

4.)  A window will open allowing you to select the directory where you have saved your desired character or .cha file.

5.)  Highlight your desired character and push "ok".

6.)  Once restored, stabilize your character by picking an item from either your inventory or your belt.  Once this is done, walk around a bit in town to make sure that a crash will not occur.

7.)  Once you are satisfied with the outcome, simply Alt-Tab out of Diablo and initiate Stu's Diablo Trainer. Select the "save" character feature and re-save your character.

Your character is now restored.

Have fun!

Stalker