Diablo Backwards Compatibility Guide

[Belix]

What if one use 2 monitors? How does full screen programs work with sucha workup? Will the second (or first) screen work as a normal desktop to work with other programs?

I believe so. The program should occupy fullscreen on one display, unless they're configured for Clone. You might find the limited screen palette Diablo requires could unsettle the colors on the other monitor though. Not sure as I don't have multiple monitors myself.


I have found an alternative way to correct the discoloration besides registry fixes. It does the exact same thing as the registry fix, just another method. It's almost as simple, too.

First, get ddwrapper.zip from:
http://bitpatch.com/ddwrapper.html

OR once again as an attachment from my post, because these handy things on the internet tend to disappear all too often.

Place the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg file in your Diablo directory alongside Diablo.exe. Edit aqrit.cfg with a text editor and change the 0 after ForceDirectDrawEmulation to a 1. This achieves the same thing as the color registry fix and sets a DirectDraw compatibility flag, correcting the miscolorations. After you've done this and saved, so long as these two files remain in the Diablo directory the issue is fixed forever, and has the added benefit of carrying over to a new computer if you simply copy the Diablo directory instead of reinstalling. It also works with ANY version of Diablo, so you don't have to worry about a specific registry entry for each version.

As an added bonus though, there is another thing you can enable in aqrit.cfg that can fix another problem I mentioned here - the multi-core chat crash. Again, change the 0 after SingleProcAffinity to 1, save, and now Diablo should always run only on a single core, avoiding the random chat crash.

Two birds with one stone, if I may. You can also use this to fix the colors in say StarCraft. Note that if you run mods for Diablo out of different folders, these files will not take effect, so they must be included in mod folders as well (that includes the Hellfire expansion).

[Slayer_X64]

I finally got around to updating the main post in this thread.

What if one use 2 monitors? How does full screen programs work with sucha workup? Will the second (or first) screen work as a normal desktop to work with other programs?

I believe so. The program should occupy fullscreen on one display, unless they're configured for Clone. You might find the limited screen palette Diablo requires could unsettle the colors on the other monitor though. Not sure as I don't have multiple monitors myself.


I have found an alternative way to correct the discoloration besides registry fixes. It does the exact same thing as the registry fix, just another method. It's almost as simple, too.

First, get ddwrapper.zip from:
http://bitpatch.com/ddwrapper.html

OR once again as an attachment from my post, because these handy things on the internet tend to disappear all too often.

Place the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg file in your Diablo directory alongside Diablo.exe. Edit aqrit.cfg with a text editor and change the 0 after ForceDirectDrawEmulation to a 1. This achieves the same thing as the color registry fix and sets a DirectDraw compatibility flag, correcting the miscolorations. After you've done this and saved, so long as these two files remain in the Diablo directory the issue is fixed forever, and has the added benefit of carrying over to a new computer if you simply copy the Diablo directory instead of reinstalling. It also works with ANY version of Diablo, so you don't have to worry about a specific registry entry for each version.

As an added bonus though, there is another thing you can enable in aqrit.cfg that can fix another problem I mentioned here - the multi-core chat crash. Again, change the 0 after SingleProcAffinity to 1, save, and now Diablo should always run only on a single core, avoiding the random chat crash.

Two birds with one stone, if I may. You can also use this to fix the colors in say StarCraft. Note that if you run mods for Diablo out of different folders, these files will not take effect, so they must be included in mod folders as well (that includes the Hellfire expansion).

Thanks for posting this fix, its a lot easier to implement than previous fixes.

[Slayer_X64]

Hmm...I discovered an interesting anomaly for the DD wrapper - setting the ForceDirectDraw emulation to 1 seems to have an effect on some screen capture tools, causing them to capture only black screen(sound gets captured, but not video). However, setting the ForceDirectDraw emulation to 0, but then setting ColorFix = 1 seems to accomplish the same result without disabling ddraw screen capture capabilities. I'll update the guide with another pre-configured ddrawwrapper package.

[Slayer_X64]

Guide has been updated to include Linux and Mac OS X compatibility for Windows/battlechest hybrid versions of Diablo. I will add compatibility for OS 9 versions of Diablo in the future(starting with OS X compatibility and maybe adding in Linux compatibility in the future).

[Slayer_X64]

Guide has been updated with Diablo Hellfire compatibility, as well as updated informations for Windows 8 compatibility. Hellfire compatibilty is not yet completed with links, but they will be added within the day - I just dont have the time to add them right now.

Once that is complete I plan to thoroughly proofread this guide(it needs some serious cleaning up), and also perhaps start a Mod Archive(this will most likely come first).

The OS9 version of Diablo's Compatibility is taking the back burner.

EDIT: The hellfire section now has all of the proper required links.

[Slayer_X64]

Noticed an interesting anomaly with Windows 8 making Diablo crash on alt+tab just like Hellfire does. Also noticed that playing Hellfire 102 in WINE does not allow you to select the UDP option. I will do some studying into these and hopefully come out with a solution to add to the guide, though I may have to change some things around.

Also I may Create a Linux/Windows cross compatible P2PVPN network for people to join, along with set up instructions, of which I will add to the guide.

[Slayer_X64]

First post has been updated with windows 8 fixes to Alt+Tab crashes, which were caused by certain graphics driver issues. Hopefully windows8 will make more progress with drivers in the future so that this is no longer an issue.

[gort615]

when the d2 battle chest came out, it had a d1 cd in it, was this cd made to run on windows xp ? because i used to play d1 on this computer, but i lost the cd, and i just bought another d1 cd but it says ''windows 95/NT & power macintosh'' on the cover. is this the same cd that came from the battle chest?
also, above slayer says ''A fix is rarely needed for XP, but if you are running XP 64-bit this might be needed.'' but i'm running 32-bit, so whats the solution ? i tried the fix that's given after that, and that didn't work.
then it says '' If this method fails, please see the methods below. Windows Vista/7'' is that suppose to work for xp 32-bit?
is it possible the problem is that i'm running 2 monitors, one off of an installed video card?
thanks for any help.

[Slayer_X64]

when the d2 battle chest came out, it had a d1 cd in it, was this cd made to run on windows xp ? because i used to play d1 on this computer, but i lost the cd, and i just bought another d1 cd but it says ''windows 95/NT & power macintosh'' on the cover. is this the same cd that came from the battle chest?
also, above slayer says ''A fix is rarely needed for XP, but if you are running XP 64-bit this might be needed.'' but i'm running 32-bit, so whats the solution ? i tried the fix that's given after that, and that didn't work.
then it says '' If this method fails, please see the methods below. Windows Vista/7'' is that suppose to work for xp 32-bit?
is it possible the problem is that i'm running 2 monitors, one off of an installed video card?
thanks for any help.

Diablo doesnt support double monitors at all, and afaik it will always crash under dual monitor set-ups. in order to get diablo1 to work you pretty much must have only 1 display going or it will not work.

and yes you are running the same CD that is found in the battlechest.

If you are running windows XP-32bit then you should have no compatibility issues at all. try disabling one of your displays and running the game, and tell me how that works. if it doesnt work after that, i am more than happy to help walk you through things - thats why this guide is here afterall.

the windows vista/7 compatibility fixes should not be required for windows XP 32bit at all. only for 64bit XP. 32bit XP is capable of running diablo natively with no issues.

[LennyLen]

Diablo doesnt support double monitors at all, and afaik it will always crash under dual monitor set-ups. in order to get diablo1 to work you pretty much must have only 1 display going or it will not work.

This is false.

[Slayer_X64]

Diablo doesnt support double monitors at all, and afaik it will always crash under dual monitor set-ups. in order to get diablo1 to work you pretty much must have only 1 display going or it will not work.

This is false.

ah nice! did you have to do anything special to get diablo running on dual monitors successfully? i dont run a dual monitor set up myself, but people whom i've helped before have always had issues running diablo with dual monitors. Im not certain if its a Diablo issue or a problem with the way they had their set ups configured, but I would love to learn how it's done - I've even got spare monitors I can use to test with.

anyways if thats not the case, then i'll have to look into the problem some more. fortunately i still have a computer with 32bit XP on it, so i will wipe it down and do a fresh install to see what is going on - im certain it should run natively, but checking things over wont hurt.

gort615 perhaps you could give me a more detailed inquiry as to what problems you are having? funny colors? game wont boot? game crashes? Perhaps you could also give me a step by step breakdown of your installation process? I'd love to help you, but im afraid I'm going to need more information in order to do so.

[LennyLen]

ah nice! did you have to do anything special to get diablo running on dual monitors successfully?

Nope, nothing special. I just installed and ran as normal.

[Slayer_X64]

well then it looks like i have some testing to do. thanks for the information lenny!

[gort615]

ok, first it shows the short ''blizzard entertainment'' video, then the ''blizzard north'' video. then it kicks out to the desktop and the message reads: ''diablo has encountered a problem and needs to close. we are sorry for the inconvenience. if you were in the middle of something, the information you were working on might be lost. please tell microsoft about the problem. etc... etc...'' you've likely seen this message before.
then the error report lists a cr#pload of numbers and stuff.
and it does the same thing when i start hellfire.
the game was already installed before with the cd i had and lost. i assumed that it would just work with a different cd. maybe i need to reinstall with this different cd?
looking at lenny's screen shot i think i see why it doesn't work. his monitors are on a brown desk facing toward a hallway. mine are on a white desk facing a wall. maybe that's the problem?
what patch # should i have installed? where do i look to see which patch # i have. where on this website do i find the patches.
thanks for all your help.

update:
well i just disabled the second monitor and now the game runs. maybe lennylen can tell us how ho got the game to run when
dual monitors are engaged. for now i''ll have to just turn the second monitor on and off.

[LennyLen]

I didn't have to do anything, it just worked. My best guess is that it's probably a driver issue with your graphics card.

[Slayer_X64]

I didn't have to do anything, it just worked. My best guess is that it's probably a driver issue with your graphics card.

What im actually wondering is maybe it has to do with the way his dual monitor set up is - that he has one monitor displaying out of the video card, and the other from the integrated motherboard graphics. My best guess is that Diablo maybe doesnt like something about that set up. If im wrong though its probably a driver issue - that would make more sense.

But our of curiosity Lenny, how are your dual monitors set up? 2 monitors coming from the same card? 1 monitor coming from a card, the other coming from integrated? 1 monitor coming from a card, the other coming from another card?

The set up type probably has nothing to do with it but I figure its at least worth a try experimenting with. I'll grab an extra monitor and do some testing sometime this week(first year of university is starting for me tomorrow).

[LennyLen]

But our of curiosity Lenny, how are your dual monitors set up? 2 monitors coming from the same card? 1 monitor coming from a card, the other coming from integrated? 1 monitor coming from a card, the other coming from another card?

I'm running both monitors from my GeForce 680. My motherboard doesn't have an integrated video chip.

[Ange1Rob0t]

If I use Gameranger, can I also have the IPX wrapper files in the Diablo dir.? GR seems to do its own thing with IPX, and I don't know if I have a conflict by having them in there. Regardless, most of the time when I try to create a Diablo game room in GR it hangs (Not responding...). Hosting on B.Net is fine (after enabling DMZ so people can join) but most of the time there is no one online. I have yet to have any success hosting with GR though.

Otherwise, I have no problems in Win 7 64. With Actual Multiple Monitors installed, I can press <Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I> (prevents focus loss) and then alt+tab to my other monitor and still see the game running. That's great for looking up info.

[Slayer_X64]

Sorry for the delay - midterms are a bit of a pain.

Anyways, suprisingly I didnt have any problems running diablo wth dual monitors at all that would prevent me from playing the game.

I tested both with a dual monitor set up using integrated video, dual monitor using my graphics card, and dual monitors using both integrated video and dual graphics.

The only time I really even had problems was when I mixed both integrated graphics and the graphics card, and the second monitor was still functional - just the resolution and color got all screwed up.

All I can say is maybe try doing different dual monitor setups? Try different monitor settings? Im sorry I wasnt able to be more helpful on the subject.

Perhaps check your drivers? maybe its a driver issue. Thats all i can possibly think of at this point.

--------------

And yes I believe that IPX wrapper and gameranger will conflict.

But you said gameranger isnt working for you besides? Can you give me information about your diablo install directory? Do you get an error code or anything? Anything else you can tell me?

[Vagelaras]

"Method 2:
Here is a registry key from blizzard that will fix the rainbow color effects.

32-bit Windows 7 - http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/diablo/d109_x86.reg
64-bit Windows 7 - http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/diablo/d109_x64.reg

Download and apply the registry key.

If you do not know if you have a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows7, click on your Start menu, then right-click on Computer and select Properties. There you will see if you are running 32 bit or 64 bit windows7.

Note: This registry key will only work for Diablo version 1.09. Alt+tabbing may cause it to go back to having washed out or rainbow colors. "

Hi I use Windows 7 32 bit and how do I download amd use these registry keys ?