Diablo

Diablo
Diablo	1997
Diablo II	2000
Diablo III	2012
Diablo II: Resurrected	2021
Diablo Immortal	2022
Diablo IV	2023

Key points

20 FPS gameplay and 15 FPS videos without mods.^[1]

General information

Official Diablo Support

Official Diablo Series Forum

Unofficial Diablo Wiki

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		DRM: Simple disc check, no physical copy protection.
GOG.com		Includes Hellfire Expansion. Pre-patched with DirectDraw 3 to DirectX 9 wrapper

Later versions of the Diablo Battle Chest starting in 2007 no longer include the original Diablo.

A demo is available.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Hellfire	1997 third-party expansion which was authorized (but not supported) by Blizzard. Cannot be played on Battle.net. Included for free with the GOG version.

Version differences

Diablo (1996, retail disc)

Released December 31st, 1996.

Uses disc check DRM.

Limited to exclusive fullscreen mode.

Diablo (2019, GOG.com release)

Released March 7th, 2019.

Includes both the classic version with Battle.net access, and a modern OS compatible enhanced version.

Includes the non-canonical Diablo: Hellfire expansion.

Enhanced version uses a DirectX wrapper for better graphical compatibility in modern operating systems.

No disc check DRM.

The enhanced version does not have Battle.net access, although the included classic version does.

Essential improvements

IPXWrapper

IPXWrapper provides a workaround for Windows Vista and beyond not supporting IPX, used in multiplayer. Put ipxwrapper.dll, mswsock.dll, and wsock32.dll in the folder where Diablo.exe resides.^[2]^[3]

Patches

Battle.net's support section has the latest patches; spawn versions of the game require separate patches from the full versions. Battle.net will not connect without the latest patch.

Operating System	Download Link
Windows	Blizzard FTP Server (Patch Version 1.09b)	Blizzard FTP Server (Patch Version 1.09)
Mac	Blizzard FTP Server

Windows-Only Diablo Spawn Patch

Mods

An unofficial single-player mod with a host of features including increased resolution and updated compatibility with modern Windows. Copy the contents to the Diablo folder and open Belzebub.exe to play.

Allows running at up to 60 FPS, in windowed mode, in resolutions scaled up to 1024p and various non-scaled, fixes crashing and DirectDraw compatibility issues, multi-monitor compatibility, and continuous attacking with the left mouse button held down.

Can't play the vanilla game without the added content, multi-player isn't currently available, and the viewing area is simply increased; sprites remain small at higher resolutions.

The Hell

An unofficial mod that requires the expansion Hellfire to run which has various additions such as new spells, makes the game considerably more difficult, and has a tool for running the game on modern Windows.

The Awakening

Another unofficial mod that also requires the Hellfire expansion.

Play the game without the CD (retail)

Use Elisha's Windows 10 Patch^{[citation needed]}
Patch game to the latest version first. Download the Diablo Windows 10 Patch. Unzip the files to the installation folder. Copy `DIABDAT.MPQ` from the CD to the installation folder.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Blizzard Entertainment\Diablo\
Mac OS (Classic)

Windows: Multiplayer chat hotkey macros are stored in <path-to-game>\diablo.ini.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	Classic SP <path-to-game>\single_`#`.sv^{[Note 1]} Classic MP <path-to-game>\multi_`#`.sv^{[Note 1]} Enhanced SP <path-to-game>\dx\single_`#`.sv^{[Note 1]} Enhanced MP <path-to-game>\dx\multi_`#`.sv^{[Note 1]}
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video settings

Diablo GOG.com launcher.

Diablo GOG.com DirectX configuration.

Selecting 320x240 in vidsize.exe (Windows) renders videos quarter size centered.

Template:Video settings

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

In-game options.

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Polish				Fan translation, download.
Russian				1) Unofficial translation by «Fargus Multimedia» 2) Unofficial voice-over by Студия «Stream»

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		4	Co-op
Online play		4	Co-op

Only up to 2 players are supported via modem.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	6112-6119
UDP	6112-6119

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues unresolved

Music doesn't play on the character and multiplayer selection screens

The official patches introduced a behavior where music no longer plays on the character or multiplayer selection screens.

Reinstall version 1.0 and don't update the game^{[citation needed]}

Notes

Later physical disks come pre-patched with later versions which have this issue.

Game crashes when switching to another process

The game crashes when switching to another process on modern Windows, typically done using Alt+Tab ↹ or through the lock screen using Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

Use DxWnd^{[citation needed]}

Use Belzebub^{[citation needed]}

Game locks up when returning to the main screen from multiplayer

The game can lock up with a black screen when returning to the main menu from the multiplayer menu on modern Windows.

Use Belzebub^{[citation needed]}

Incorrect ancillary text display when entering a character name

When entering a character name on modern Windows other text around the text entry area that should be cleared remains and appears partially cut off.

Use Belzebub^{[citation needed]}

Diablo.exe process doesn't end after quitting game

When quitting the game the Diablo.exe process can remain indefinitely on modern Windows.

Use Belzebub^{[citation needed]}

Title screen effects partially disappear

Title screen effects such as the fire sometimes partially disappear on modern Windows.

Use Belzebub^{[citation needed]}

Issues fixed

Rainbow or washed out colors on Windows

Colors can appear washed out, appear as a rainbow, or simply white due to a DirectDraw compatibility issue in Windows XP, Vista, and 7, including running in compatibility mode for these versions.

Use Elisha's Windows 10 Patch^{[citation needed]}
Download the Diablo Windows 10 Patch and/or Diablo Hellfire Windows 10 Patch. Unzip the files to the installation folder.

Install Diablo 1 Windows 7/Vista Patch^{[citation needed]}

Mark Diablo.exe for DirectDraw compatibility behavior in the registry^{[citation needed]}

Additional ways over rainbow color problems in older games to do this, which both have an identical effect in practice:

Use DirectDrawFix.exe and select Diablo.exe.
Apply a registry file from Blizzard for 1.09: x86 Windows, x64 Windows.

Periodic crashes

The game can crash periodically with modern Windows, especially due to modern GPU drivers.

Run Diablo.exe in Windows XP compatibility mode^{[citation needed]}
Open `Diablo.exe` compatibility settings. Enable Windows XP (SP3) compatibility mode.

Can't create character in multiplayer mode

After entering a character name in multiplayer you can get an error due to Windows compatibility issues.

Update the game to the latest version^{[citation needed]}
See Patches.

Run Diablo.exe in Windows XP compatibility mode^{[citation needed]}
Open `Diablo.exe` compatibility settings. Enable Windows XP (SP3) compatibility mode.

Can't connect to Battle.net

You must be running the latest version and not have the Hellfire expansion installed.

Reinstall the game without Hellfire^{[citation needed]}

Update the game to the latest version^{[citation needed]}
See Patches.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw	3	GOG.com enhanced version uses/requires D3D9.

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)

Information on running this game on Linux can be found on the GOG.com forums.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	Smacker Video Technology
Multiplayer	Battle.net Classic

Freeablo

A FOSS reimplementation of the Diablo engine currently in an alpha state; see the site for details.

Continuous attacking with left mouse button held down

Normally on left mouse button down it only attacks once even if held down. Later games in the Diablo series provide this capability.

Use Belzebub^{[citation needed]}

Use an AutoHotkey script^{[citation needed]}

Here's a simple non-ideal example. Make a file with a .ahk extension and put the following in it, then run it followed by the game:

~+LButton::
Loop
{
    Sleep 100  
    GetKeyState, LButtonState, LButton, P
    if LButtonState = U  
        break
    MouseClick, Left
}
return

LButton::
Loop
{
    Sleep 100  
    GetKeyState, LButtonState, LButton, P
    if LButtonState = U  
        break
    MouseClick, Left
}
return

Notes

Due to terms of use you wouldn't want to use this in battle.net multiplayer.^{[citation needed]}

Cover Art Gallery

Original Diablo cover art.

System requirements

Original Retail Release

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	95, NT 4.0
Processor (CPU)	60 MHz Pentium or better
System memory (RAM)	8 MB 16 MB for multiplayer
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 3 compatible
Other	2x CD-ROM drive

Mac OS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7.5
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC
System memory (RAM)	16 MB with virtual memory 32 MB with virtual memory for multiplayer	32 MB with virtual memory
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	640x480 resolution and 256 color support
Other	2x CD-ROM drive

GOG.com Digital Re-release

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	7, 8.1, 10
Processor (CPU)	1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1 GB available hard disk space
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

The GOG.com release does not support Mac OS nor OS X.

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FPStest
↑ Diablo I (yes, Diablo 1) LAN play on Vista or Windows 7
↑ Diablo 1 - Windows Vista / 7 Color and LAN Issues RESOLVED

[gamedir-4] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[FPStest-1] Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FPStest

[2] Diablo I (yes, Diablo 1) LAN play on Vista or Windows 7

[languide-3] Diablo 1 - Windows Vista / 7 Color and LAN Issues RESOLVED

[1]

[2]

[3]

[Note 1]

Developers

	Blizzard North
Hellfire expansion	Synergistic Software
Publishers
	Blizzard Entertainment
Release dates
Windows	December 31, 1996
Mac OS (Classic)	May 8, 1998