Diablo 2 and Windows 7 Beta

[drinkturps]

Just a quick note to say that our precious works just fine on Windows 7. :thumbup:

Edit: Although saying that, I cannot launch the game using DirectDraw or the 3dfx Glide wrapper. D3D is fine though.

[BoD Trader]

currently downloading windows 7, is it any good?

[drinkturps]

Tell you what, I rather like it. I've never used Vista but heard good things about 7. It's rather fast and it also looks nice. It feels more slick if you know what I mean.

I'm learning where everything is and it's rather neat. This beta works until August too which gives me plenty of time to play about. It's not crashed once.

I'm dual booting with XP but I can see myself using 7 more.

I cannot get 3DMark 06 working but I guess that is down to DX11. It would be nice to do some benchmarking though. Just tested Bioshock with it's DX10 add ons and it's nice.

One thing I noticed in Titan Quest Immortal Throne was that it made better use of both of my cores. In XP 1 core is always maxed, in Windows 7 it makes better use of both. Rather odd.

[MrBill]

<snip>...One thing I noticed in Titan Quest Immortal Throne was that it made better use of both of my cores. In XP 1 core is always maxed, in Windows 7 it makes better use of both. Rather odd.

Ubuntu Linux (I'm currently using 8.04 with a lot of updates, haven't bothered to go to 8.10 yet out of disinterest) has used both the cores of my dual-core HP Turion 64 laptop perfectly since I first nuked its "pre-installed" instance of Vi$ta and set up a real operating system on it.

One odd thing that I did notice about D2 under the WINE emulator, however; like a lot of other Windows games (Unreal Tournament and Serious Sam are good examples), these applications don't seem to be very well-written. They grab a great deal of CPU cycles (99% unless I invoke the GNOME Task Manager and force their 'nice' quota down to something a little more reasonable) and refuse to let them go until I shut down the emulator once and for all.

Not all Windows programs do this (MS Office, etc., time-slice quite well), but games for some reason are real bad citizens, they seem to want all the CPU, all the time.

Ah well, there are always tradeoffs with everything. You Window$ users are welcome to continued nonsense like "Product Activation", "Genuine Advantage" (there's an oxymoron for you eh), secret remote snooping backdoors for the CIA and NSA, and endless malware attacks; enjoy, enjoy. [Microsoft's latest idea, incidentally, which may or may not come in the Window$ 7 era, is a pay-for-play cloud computing model where if you don't pay your monthly fee to Bill and Steve, they remotely cripple various features of your local PC (say, screen resolution more than 640 x 480) until you pony up. They even got a USPTO patent for this brilliant idea of digital extortion. A wonderful idea for Microsoft stockholders, insanely bad idea for computer users, for whom there are few obvious advantages but huge drawbacks.]

Good luck you all... you'll need it.

Cheers

Mr. Bill

[MYK]

Ubuntu Linux (I'm currently using 8.04 with a lot of updates, haven't bothered to go to 8.10 yet out of disinterest) has used both the cores of my dual-core HP Turion 64 laptop perfectly since I first nuked its "pre-installed" instance of Vi$ta and set up a real operating system on it.

One odd thing that I did notice about D2 under the WINE emulator, however; like a lot of other Windows games (Unreal Tournament and Serious Sam are good examples), these applications don't seem to be very well-written. They grab a great deal of CPU cycles (99% unless I invoke the GNOME Task Manager and force their 'nice' quota down to something a little more reasonable) and refuse to let them go until I shut down the emulator once and for all.

Not all Windows programs do this (MS Office, etc., time-slice quite well), but games for some reason are real bad citizens, they seem to want all the CPU, all the time.

Ah well, there are always tradeoffs with everything. You Window$ users are welcome to continued nonsense like "Product Activation", "Genuine Advantage" (there's an oxymoron for you eh), secret remote snooping backdoors for the CIA and NSA, and endless malware attacks; enjoy, enjoy. [Microsoft's latest idea, incidentally, which may or may not come in the Window$ 7 era, is a pay-for-play cloud computing model where if you don't pay your monthly fee to Bill and Steve, they remotely cripple various features of your local PC (say, screen resolution more than 640 x 480) until you pony up. They even got a USPTO patent for this brilliant idea of digital extortion. A wonderful idea for Microsoft stockholders, insanely bad idea for computer users, for whom there are few obvious advantages but huge drawbacks.]

Good luck you all... you'll need it.

Cheers

Mr. Bill

Thanks for the good laughs, Bill.

I always enjoy the Linux rhetoric with a nice side of scare tactics.

Gotta get back to fighting these endless Malware attacks! Hoo hooo Hahah heeeh!

[MoUsE_WiZ]

Wine
Is
Not an
Emulator

[BoD Trader]

I kinda like the d2 windowed on wine because it doesnt minimize itslef everytime i click somewhere else..

Edit- currently formatting a new partitiopn before i install win 7 so i will let u know what i think soon.

Edit2- Here i am using IE8 on windows 7 xD. i'm not and IE user but 8 seems fairly cool if your into that thing. First impressions of Windows 7 is that it's just a polished up version of vista. Which is pretty cool if you ask me.

Here's proof D2 works. http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/BoD-Trader/Windows7.png

[RLHacker]

I have Windows 7 Beta and when i try to run D2 it takes like 20 minutes to start up, and when it finally does i get an error. I patched to 1.12. Anyone know whats up?

[BoD Trader]

try running in window mode (create a shortcut and add -w to the targer line). See if diabloii works at all then, if no i would say something is wrong with the installation. When i installed i just copied the folder over from a win xp pc with diablo installed. Use the search function for more help (if needed) on window mode.

edit - to be clear on why window mode. It's something i discovered in vista where diablo take 10 or so minutes to open. But if you run in window it opens instantly.

Hope this helps.

[RLHacker]

Hmm, thats weird...
It works in windowed. I hate playing windowed (800x600 on a 1280x1024 screen, yuck), but at least I get to play! Thanks

[Tomahawk]

I tried running Diablo 2 on 7 and I get "Unhandled exception: access violation c000005" error message.

This is Windows 7 (x64) Build 7000.
I upgraded from Vista x64 and the Diablo 2 game and directory was carried over.
Diablo 2 ran perfectly in windowed mode on Vista.
I have the 1.12 patch installed and everything copied to my HDD.
Its set to run in Windowed mode, with compatibility set to Win XP and Admin rights.
I have an nVidia Quadro FX570M with the latest drivers from nVidia for 7 Beta.

Any help would be appreciated!

[BoD Trader]

Hmm i dont know. I was using win 32 and it worked for me. I didnt mess with anything like run admin and windows xp compatibility mind. Try playing about with some of the settings.

[Mcdougle]

I tried running Diablo 2 on 7 and I get "Unhandled exception: access violation c000005" error message.

This is Windows 7 (x64) Build 7000.
I upgraded from Vista x64 and the Diablo 2 game and directory was carried over.
Diablo 2 ran perfectly in windowed mode on Vista.
I have the 1.12 patch installed and everything copied to my HDD.
Its set to run in Windowed mode, with compatibility set to Win XP and Admin rights.
I have an nVidia Quadro FX570M with the latest drivers from nVidia for 7 Beta.

Any help would be appreciated!

I am also getting this error. I really want to play this game, haven't played in about 5-6 years.

[Krazeyivan]

If I remember right every problem went away on my vista system when I had things happen like this when I copied the missing files off the CD over to the D2 directory - since the patch is a no-CD one (1.12) you need a file from the orginal CD and 1 from the expansion, you'll have to google around which files you need to copy but they are big ones if memory serves.

[drinkturps]

Run it in software mode. Let's face it, the bells and whistles of D3D are not that much of an improvement. If anything I find D3D slower.

[Wayo]

Hey guys first of all I have to thank everyone that posted their problems and especially those with the solutions I was working on this for an hour before I stumbled upon this forum. But for anybody running diablo in a window I just wanted to add, and I know it is a little gross to see your computer running 800 by 600, if you do set your resolution down you can run without the use of a window you just have to bear your computer looking like hell for a few seconds.

[boogyman19946]

I am also getting this error. I really want to play this game, haven't played in about 5-6 years.

I had the same problem but it was solved once I turned compatibility mode off. Try that if you have done so and see if it works then.

Also, I do not need to run it windowed, but the screen is shrunk during gameplay on 800x600 for me. It is compressed from the sides in the middle. I am running at 1680x1050 on my monitor. 16:10 ratio

[Shayagor]

Awesome tip! I unchecked compatability and voila, now it works.

[Nuramon]

Hey guys,

It even works in fullscreen mode. Try the following settings in the "Compatibility - Tab" of the Diablo2-Link:


Run with 256 Colors
Run with 640x480 pixels


Make sure, that both options are enabled. With this configuration I were able to run Diablo 2 on Windows 7 without window mode or the compatibility mode. There are some display-errors within the menu / battle.net, but as soon as you join a game everything is fine.

Good luck!

Cheers
Thomas

[MrBill]

Update :

I discovered that D2 LoD works very nicely on Ubuntu Linux 9.04 ("Jaunty Jackalope") (at least if you run it in windowed mode).

Only strange thing is, on 1 of the 3 computers on which I have so far loaded D2 (yes, they're all 'legit' versions with different CD-Keys), it steadfastly refuses to launch Diablo from the desktop shortcut that the Blizzard installer sets up, in spite of the fact that the link contained in the shortcut is 100% correct (verified this carefully).

However if you navigate to the "/.wine/Drive_C/Program Files/Diablo" folder and double-click "GAME.EXE", it works fine, and this problem didn't show up on the other 2 computers...

Weirdness... :scratchhead:

Mr. Bill

[FreshMeat]

Anyone get diablo2 to run in fullscreen 3d mode? I wont bother upgrading if not. Window sucks, I have a 1920x1200 monitor. 800x600 is rediculously small!!!!!!!

[Raging_Zealot]

I had it running in Beta 1 (7000 build) fine in fullscreen 3d mode. I just recently installed the 7 Release Candidate (7100 build) on the partition that was Beta 1, and it also runs fine in default 3D mode. As others have said, don't use the compatibility mode (or follow Nuramon's post [haven't tried it since I didn't have problems just running normally]).

EDIT: In order to get my scroll wheel to be recognized inside Diablo II games (couldn't even bind it b/c the game did not recognize wheel input at all) I had to change Diablo II to compatibility mode for 98/ME and run it as administrator, just those changes allowed it to run fine and allowed me to re-bind the scroll wheel to skill scroll in the configure controls menu of Diablo II. This is in Windows 7 RC 7100 build. It runs Diablo II fine installing straight from my old CDs, but to get the scroll wheels to work for me, I had to do the above. IIRC using compatibility mode in Beta 1 version of Windows 7 caused further errors, so this fix may only work for RC or newer versions of 7.

EDIT 2: Just out of curiosity I tried to bind one of my mouses other programmable buttons to toggle run/walk (since my XP install did this by default somehow), and I wasn't able to bind it, similar situation to the scroll wheel, the game did not recognize input at all. I changed the compatibility mode to Windows 2000 and it was then able to recognize it, so hopefully the same process works for others who have programmable buttons on their mice that they wish to use for Windows 7 (and Vista if the issue still exists for it too).

[bigmrniceguy]

Go here!!! works awsome!!! no window mode!!! no 256 color!!! no more errors!!!! http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=20758&rhtml=true%3Frhtml%3Dy

[s4nder]

Diablo 2 works fine in fullscreen 3D mode using the glide wrapper (http://www.svenswrapper.de/english/downloads.html). The only thing different from XP is that you have to "disable desktop composition" in the compatibility menu of the shortcut. It runs well and looks good.

[MCPWTB]

like a lot of other Windows games ... these applications don't seem to be very well-written. They grab a great deal of CPU cycles (99% unless ...
Because, for some reason a 24 FPS game needs to run at over 200 FPS.

Why don't they limit it to redraw only at 24 FPS? I don't know, but it is ridiculous.


I guess they think posting the same picture to the screen over and over is going to make it look better...

All they really need to run faster than 24 FPS is user inputs and that won't take much CPU. Besides user input can be a queue system anyways.
The other stuff is independent of the FPS as long as it can make decisions before every frame of what to draw. Most monsters are very, VERY simple. It's not like the D2 AI is hunting you down and sending messages up the bloody hills to form ranks and ambush you.

I am angry about 100% cpu usage when it's mostly un-necessary.
BEARy ANGRY.

Edit:
I had to change Diablo II to compatibility mode for 98/ME and run it as administrator...
LOL at windows.

[bigmrniceguy]

honestly people.... install that patch, i posted the link above!!! as soon as i installed it, it fixed all problems... i waz getting errors out the arse. when i installed that patch i unchecked 256 colors and didnt have to run windowed or in compat mode either.... that patch is the best way to get diablo working on vista or windows 7... i use windows 7 my self. :thumbup:

[MYK]

LOL at windows.

Laugh Out Loud at everyone else for not coming up with a better product.

Seriously.

Though, Ubuntu is getting close, Windows 7 is stealing so much from everyone else that it just may close the gap way faster than anyone can catch up, again, which is really upsetting, because I'd give my soul for a different OS that suited my habits as nicely as XP.

[Zok Wobblefotz]

I was unable to run Diablo II (Vanilla or LOD) on my Windows 7 RC.

A little box would appear in the top left of my screen and scroll through ASCII characters until I ended the process. I never bothered to wait the 20 minutes some of you said it took for yours to start.

My version was apparently later than the 1.12 patch out of the box.

What I finally did to get it to work was go to my Diablo II folder and run the "D2VidTst" and choose the option it had suggested for me.

Ba-da-bing. Started right up full screen and all.

[Keepitsimple]

Anybody managed to run it without having to press some accept button before it starts?

[sunkenfaith]

Hopefully it runs out well on 7, as I am intending to upgrade my rigs to it.

[Danmc]

Hi all, i had the problem of d2 not working on windows 7 (which really annoyed me) so i went through some forums and could not find the solution so i tried some thing myself and this is what i came up with.

To get it working 1st make sure u have restarted your computer since install as this finishes installation.
Next go to properties then press on the combatibility tab, next uncheck combatibility mode and press apply.
Next go to this site http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=20758 (note official diablo site so downloads can be trusted) and download the latest diablo patch and press rune (computer will ask permission press accept). this will atomatically install latest updates. After this the game should work for ya (the screen will normally reduce in size, this cant be stopped).
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
Hope this helps, any other problems email me at danielsta123@hotmail.com

[jamex]

You guys think they have Win 7 in mind when they are finishing up the 1.13 patch? Maybe that's why (along with stash size, etc.) they're taking so long.

[MrBill]

Just wanted to mention that D2 LoD works fine under Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", which I upgraded my HP Pavilion DV6000 laptop to yesterday (previously it had been running Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope", which also had no problems with D2).

Only "negative" is that despite a full install, it's still prompting me for my key disk... :crazy: What is puzzling about this is, my wife's Acer laptop, which had had D2 LoD installed on it several releases of Ubuntu ago (unlike for me, where I have wiped the HDU and done a complete, fresh re-install of the OS in each case, my wife has simply done the on-line upgrade*), has never asked her for the key disk, even though it was (originally) installed in exactly the same way as I just did on the HP... not sure what D2 sees in the one that it doesn't see in the other.

Oh well, no biggie... I have more or less stopped playing D2 seriously now, pending the 1.13 patch, whenever it graces us with its presence.

:troll: * BTW : Hope all you guys with Windows 7 are having fun. Say, did you know that I can upgrade my operating system on-line, by clicking on one button when prompted to do so by my "Update Manager" application (roughly equivalent to "Windows Update"), and it works great, and it's always free? Say, can you get a free, on-line upgrade from XP to Windows 7, and also download a free, installable .ISO of the operating system, if it doesn't work? (Note : It has never failed for me, or the other 3 people who I know who use Ubuntu.)

Oh, but you use a copy-protected, CIA backdoored, proprietary, closed-source, operating system, don't you? Gee, that's too bad. Best of luck to you,

:whistling:

Mr. Bill

[BoyanPanov]

Well read all of your posts guys,some play it,others not,but i have slightly different problem. I just can't install the game. Every time when i put the CD i get this "no program start menu found" and just don't know what to do. You all talk that you cannot run but have installed the game

[KillaMike]

you have to install whole game with lod on your pc, if your pc cant find CD then its cd-rom faultry.

once you installed your 1.0 diablo2, you wont be able to open it, there for you ll need to go to google, and download from internet 1.12a patch to play game.

[BoyanPanov]

KillaMike i can't install it. Always appears that message and then terminates. The installer quits. A friend copied the game installed with the 1.12 patch,but when i try to run - again the same message. I'm starting to think it is something with how the windows was installed,maybe i don't know. Maybe i'll quit trying and play something else :scratchchin:

[BoyanPanov]

C'mon guys...anybody...you really were my hope. I give up