Diablo Backwards Compatibility Guide

[Slayer_X64]

Is that so? Hmm...

Well I don't actually have a laptop with windows 8 on it anymore, since I installed Linux on it instead, and my desktop is still running Windows7. However, I have a couple of family members who have a Windows 8.1 computer, so with any luck I can get ahold of that and perhaps see what the problem is.

I have been trying to get Hellfire working for the past few hours on my mac using these instructions... I get as far as the Hellfire installation screen coming up through PlayOnMac but the second I click the install button I get a program error pop-up that says "The program winevdm.exe has encountered a serious problem and needs to close." I feel pretty ignorant right about now haha but the instructions seem so straight forward up to that point that I really don't understand why it won't work...

I'll get right on it to figure out whats going on. Hopefully within good time I can get back to you with some answers.

Until then, I *KNOW* that at least Diablo will work using the latest stable WINE version 1.6, and it also works with 1.4. The only problem is the main menu wont show on a Mac this way (I havent figured out why yet but I'm working on it), so you'll have to navigate the menu's manually by memory. But at least you'll be able to play. Perhaps give the HELLFIRE Installation another go while you're at it as well.

If thats a no go, then I'll have to see about reworking my guide for mac. It hasnt ben updated in a while anyways, and I believe a new OSX version came out since then.

[sedrosken]

Belix,

I can't run D1 on 8.1 either, however I thought that was simply because of my graphics drivers being M$-provided (Intel doesn't support Win8.x on this chipset, Intel Mobile 45...). It would crash on starting up. Does yours do the same?

[Belix]

Is that so?

I'm hoping the problem is just with me, because Windows 8 users being unable to play Diablo OR Hellfire is a bummer. Before updating to 8.1, Diablo ran but Hellfire wouldn't, now neither will. I don't have any other systems to test with to verify 8.1 is the cause though. Hoping someone here can figure that out.

It would crash on starting up. Does yours do the same?

Yeah, that's exactly what it does. Before I updated to 8.1, Hellfire did this exact same thing. I thought perhaps Hellfire was just calling some dll file or function that Windows 8 is touchy about or changed since Windows 7, but now that Diablo is behaving the same way, I don't know what to think.

[qualakon]

You can try this ddraw.dll patch, just place into the Diablo/Hellfire directory. Tell me how that goes for you.

http://khanduras.net/2014/04/repo-strang...sta-patch/

[Slayer_X64]

Is that so?

I'm hoping the problem is just with me, because Windows 8 users being unable to play Diablo OR Hellfire is a bummer. Before updating to 8.1, Diablo ran but Hellfire wouldn't, now neither will. I don't have any other systems to test with to verify 8.1 is the cause though. Hoping someone here can figure that out.

It would crash on starting up. Does yours do the same?

Yeah, that's exactly what it does. Before I updated to 8.1, Hellfire did this exact same thing. I thought perhaps Hellfire was just calling some dll file or function that Windows 8 is touchy about or changed since Windows 7, but now that Diablo is behaving the same way, I don't know what to think.

Whew...sorry for the delayed response. Final exams were very hectic.

Anyways, the way I got Hellfire to run on Windows 8 (not 8.1) was to just keep trying to run it over and over and over (sometimes having to try 20 or so times to get the game to boot) and eventually it would just work. I don't know why precisely, but so long as it ran and was runnable, I was pretty happy.

Unfortunately I still have not had the opportunity to get ahold of a Windows 8.1 machine to do further testing in that matter. So you will be left hanging just a little bit longer sadly. But I do promise that as soon as I can, I will figure things out.

You can try this ddraw.dll patch, just place into the Diablo/Hellfire directory. Tell me how that goes for you.

http://khanduras.net/2014/04/repo-strang...sta-patch/

Thanks alot for notifying all of us about this qualakon!!! Who knows, maybe this will also help fix the windows 8/8.1 issues we've all been having? I can't wait to give it a try!

[Belix]

That's strange. I was sure I posted a reply to Qualakon here. The pits of the internet must of devoured it! Here is the jist of what I wrote.

The DirectDraw wrapper posted by Qualakon allowed me to run both Diablo and Hellfire on Windows 8.1 with no problems. As the instructions state, you can open a new menu once in the game (e.g. town) with the Tilde Key. I think it defaults to running in a Window, and you can use ALT+Enter to switch at any time, but to change how it opens by default you want to set Windowed or Fullscreen in that new menu as it won't remember your current mode set by ALT+Enter.

Worked great and thank you very much Qualakon.

[Slayer_X64]

Yep, I just tested the strangebytes patch after finally getting a hold of a computer with windows8.1 on it, and it works absolutely perfectly where nothing else would.

I think I'm going to spend some time updating this guide now. It's about time anyways.

EDIT: I'm going to do a complete and total re-write of this guide to organize it in a better fashion. Over the weekend I also may finally add mirrors to the download links here (I know I've been saying that for ages, but later is better than never.)

[GL_]

Hello, what should I do if when I've followed the instructions above and it still doesn't work? I get system error from diablo.exe saying: The program can't start because d3dx9_43.dll is missing.

I'm running the game from the .dll file that I downloaded but it won't let me rename it to .bat but when I did it multiple times it says that a .bat file already exists.

I'm running Windows 8.1 and have Diablo on the store version CD.

Thanks for any respone!

[Belix]

Hi GL. It sounds like you're missing a DirectX 9 library.

This should be what you need to resolve the missing DX9 dll error:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/...g=en&id=35

Diablo normally wouldn't use this, but the DirectDraw wrapper probably does. Other than that, sounds like it would work. Give it a shot and good luck!

[GL_]

Alright! Thanks a bunch for the quick answer, has been dying to play Diablo and have tried millions of ways. Will try this and uninstall Diablo completely to make up for my .bat failings. Just a quick question though, the guide says I need to extract the patch into the same directory as Diablo, and I'm not so computer cunning.. So do I need to extract into the folder where Diablo is, or do I have to install Diablo on the desktop directory and then extract the files unto desktop?

Edit: Also this is kind of strange, but when I tried installing it on desktop instead of it's own folder on C:, it ran perfectly until I tried talking to Griswold. It never does this when installed in it's own folder.

[Belix]

The folder Diablo is installed in shouldn't matter, though thanks to UAC (User Access Control) I never install games into Program Files on newer versions of Windows; the default security mechanisms can cause games like Diablo to be unable to write save files to its own folder, and they can get written out in some obscure temporary folder instead.

I don't think there's anything you should need to do with batch (.bat) files here. Install Diablo, run the v1.09 patch (as an administrator) from its own folder, then add the DirectDraw wrapper (ddraw.dll) qualakon brought to our attention and you should be good, I believe.

[GL_]

UPDATE: Awsome! It works perfectly! Thanks so very much for this wonderful guide, Slayer_X64. And thanks to Belix for the DirectX help. Heading into the catacombs now, take care

EDIT: Doesn't work with Bnet. Haven't tested Tunngle or Hamachi yet but for now I'll play single player.

Peace.

[DiabloGeek]

I just installed Diablo 1 on my Windows 8.1 laptop. I noticed that when I used this patch it only works with version 1.0. Is there a way to get it to work with the most recent released patch from Blizzard (I believe it is v1.09). Thanks in advance guys!

ALSO, is there a way to get it to work with Battle.net multiplayer?

[Belix]

Hi there, DiabloGeek!

I noticed that when I used this patch it only works with version 1.0.

There must be some confusion here. I've been using it with the latest official version of Diablo (v1.09) just fine. You shouldn't have any trouble with that.

ALSO, is there a way to get it to work with Battle.net multiplayer?

Unfortunately, Warden (Battle.net's anti-cheat protection) detects alterations made by this DirectDraw wrapper as an illicit modification and rejects the connection request. There is no way that I know or can think of to connect to the real Battle.net using this wrapper, but perhaps in the future someone particularly clever might come up with a solution.

For now I believe the only way to play online using this is through alternative connection methods, for instance, the usual Local Area Network helpers (GameRanger, Tunngle, Hamachi). The only people who play on Battle.net these days typically play private games anyway, so unless you know someone to play with you weren't going to find a game there anyhow.

[DiabloGeek]

Yeah my mistake about the version 1.09 question. It's been so long since I've last played this game that I completely forgot you had to actually search for the patch on the internet LOL. As for the Battle.net part- that's unfortunate that we can't play it online. I remember a few years ago I played online using my Windows 7 laptop but I guess with the Windows 8 and 8.1 releases multiplayer is not compatible. Well thanks for your knowledge- I appreciate it!

[sedrosken]

Ye gods, but I've finally done it. I have Diablo 1 working under Windows 8.1. I got the perpetual "No CD in drive" error after installing, but this (the no-cd crack down there) had me up and running. I applied the registry entry for DirectDraw compatibility.

And then it was crashing upon bringing up the title screen. Even with the whole "running only on one core" fix. So I reviewed my compatibility settings for it, disabled compatibility mode, and left only "Run as Administrator". Voila! Starts right up.

I had a couple graphical hiccups but I think that's because my graphics hardware doesn't have an official driver for Windows 8/8.1. I had to use BCDEDIT to trick it into installing drivers meant for Windows 7. I also get weird issues with text in text boxes randomly scrambling and then fixing itself. But I have it working, and I'm not downgrading now. Not after all I've weathered trying to get my stuff working right.

[nhyrum]

so this thread is a little old, lets see whos still watching.
I had diablo 1 running ok on my win 8.1 laptop. no directdraw wrapper, nothing. saw there was a fix for the game closing when you alt + tab out and instaled ddraw wrapper from strangebytes, but had the same issue as GL with it missing the directx file, used the posted directx updater thinggy, and now... every time i start diablo it crashes upon loading. every time(ive been trying for about an hour now, changing compatability settings, reinstalling the game and trying without any ddraw file, using a few ddraw files ive found laying aroung the interwebs, and nothing has worked. is there a way to remove those dirextx files?i had no problems running the game before i installed them

[Belix]

Hi nhyrum,

Did someone give you instructions to replace the ddraw.dll file in your Windows/system32 folder? That would explain why the issue is persistent.

If this is the case, you were given bad advice as the system copy should not have been modified. The original will need to be restored to get Diablo running again.

If not, what behavior does it crash with? Any sort of error message showing up?

[nhyrum]

Hi nhyrum,

Did someone give you instructions to replace the ddraw.dll file in your Windows/system32 folder? That would explain why the issue is persistent.

If this is the case, you were given bad advice as the system copy should not have been modified. The original will need to be restored to get Diablo running again.

If not, what behavior does it crash with? Any sort of error message showing up?

i did not place the file in the windows/system32. it is in the diablo directory.
if i run it with the ddraw it upens a small ish black window, then the little winndows thing pops saying that an error has been encountered and theyre trying to fix the problem. if i run it without ddraw the screen goes black, flashes white, and goes bblack again, then after a few seconds the same windows screen pops up

let me know if you need more info

[Belix]

In your Windows/system32 folder, can you locate a file named D3DX9_43.dll? DirectDraw wrappers generally utilize newer versions of DirectX than the old games they're made for, and I believe all of the Diablo wrappers use this particular file. Without it, the new ddraw.dll file can't work. Furthermore, in some cases old programs such as Diablo can be denied access to the system32 folder entirely, preventing them from using the required file even if its there where it should be. If you don't have D3DX9_43.dll in there, you probably need it, and if you do, you might attempt to copy it into the Diablo folder and try the ddraw wrapper again to see if it works that way.