Since 1997 our computers have matured a lot and left the likes of the classic Diablo game in the dust. Below are some common issues that arise and how to fix them.

Installation

It is best to install Diablo into a non-protected directory instead of the default Program Files. A non-protected directory is one that you have full read/write/execute permissions like your My Documents folder. It’s best to install Diablo to a folder inside My Documents or another folder you have full access to.

Windows 98

° To fix the Windows 98 "no CD error", download and install this fix: scw98fix.zip


Windows XP

A fix is rarely needed for Windows XP, but if you are running XP 64-bit this might be needed. Go to the Diablo folder (e.g. C:\Games\Diablo), and there find the file Diablo.exe. Click on the right mouse button and choose "Properties". On the top tabs are visible, go to "Compatibility" and select:

° Run in compatibility mode for Windows 95

° Run in 256 colours

° Run in 640x480 screen resolution

° Disable visual themes

If this method fails, please see the methods below.


Windows Vista / Windows 7

Note: If you have a newer graphics card, or if none of the following methods work for you, see Method 4, which is known to bypass the issues Diablo has with newer graphics cards.

Method 1 (Recommended Method):

° Download DDwrapper

° Copy the files "ddraw.dll" and "aqrit.cfg" into your Diablo root directory. No need to edit the .cfg file, as I have already done it for you.

° Play until your heart is content!

Method 2:

Here is a registry key from blizzard that will fix the rainbow colour effects.

32/64-bit Windows 7 colour fix

° Download and apply the registry key.
° If you do not know if you runa 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows, simply click on your Start menu, then right-click on Computer and select Properties. There you will see if what version your Windows is.

Note: This registry key will only work for Diablo version 1.09. Alt+Tab may cause the game to go back having the rainbow colours issue.

Method 3:

° Download the "DirectDrawCompatability" tool here

° Run the "DirectDrawCompatability" tool .exe

° Browse your computer for your Diablo.exe

° Click "Create reg-file" and select your version of Windows (32-bit or 64-bit), name the .reg file and click "save". Make sure you save it in the same directory as the .exe file you are modifying

° Go to the directory you saved your .reg file in. Double click it and apply it.

Method 4:

Note: Use this method if you have a newer graphics card, or if you experience colour issues and access violation errors with the other methods, OR if you just want to run Diablo in resolutions higher than 640x480.

Note: This method has known incompatibility with Battle.net. However, it is 100% compatible with IPX LAN (through Hamachi / Tunngle or locally) and Direct connection. Regardless if the other person has this patch or not, you can still play together.

° Download the Diablo Win7/Vista "Windowed Mod" here

° Extract and copy the contents into your Diablo directory.

° Right click "Diablo.exe" and select "Compatibility -> Run as administrator"

° Right click "diablopatch.ini" and select "Edit". Set fullscreen to 1, as running the game in windowed mode has known compatibility isses on many systems.

° Set the resolution to whatever resolution you desire (it must be a native functioning fullscreen resolution of your monitor in order to run in that resolution fullscreen). If running the game in a widescreen resolution(such as 1920x1080), make sure to set VSYNC to 1, or else you will get screen tearing.

° Open up notepad, and type the following batch code into the editor: start /affinity 1 Diablo.exe
° In your editor, go to "File -> Save As" and set the file type from text files to "All Files". Save the file into your Diablo directory as a ".bat" file. From now on, in order to start Diablo, you will ALWAYS run this file. You can create a shortcut to this file on your desktop if you wish.

° You may notice that depending on the resolution you selected, your mouse will not appear right away - just move it around a bit until it appears back on screen.

° Play Diablo until your heart is content!

Known Issues:

Sometimes when you alt+tab out of the game, and alt+tab back into the game, you will see a black screen. Simply hit ESC to bring up the menu, and you will get your screen back.

Occasionally the game will still crash within a short period of time of starting up - this seems to have some correlation between the wrapper, and how long your computer has been on. Simply reboot your computer, then run the game, and you will find it runs perfectly as intended.

When trying to record the game, you will have to activate and de-activate your recording software multiple times in order to get Diablo to run properly without crashing. Usually, I will start and stop the recording twice, then start it one more time, which results in 2 dummy recordings, and then 1 good recording that will record properly without crashing the game. Sometimes you may need more than 2 dummy recordings, other times the game will record properly on the first recording, but the more dummy recordings you have, the better things seem to work out.

Having recording software display a frame counter can cause Diablo to lag very hard when trying to record - it seems to interfere with the DDwrapper somehow. To solve this, just hide the frame counter, and your game will function perfectly during recordings.


Windows 8 & Windows 10

To get Diablo to run on Windows 8, simply install Diablo normally, into a non protected directory (e.g. C:\Games\Diablo) but do not run it yet. Next, navigate to your Diablo directory, right click "Diablo.exe" and go do the “Compatibility” tab. Mark the box "Reduced colour mode" and set the drop down menu to either 8bit (256 colours) or 16bit (65536 colours), either will work. Next mark the box "Run as Administrator". Diablo should now be successfully running on your Windows 8 computer.

However when you Alt+Tab, the game may crash. This will not happen on all Windows 8 computers. If you have this issue, there is a solution. Download this modified version of DDwrapper, extract it and put it into your Diablo folder. Next Right click "Diablo.exe", go to properties, and go to “Compatibility”. Make sure "Run as Administrator" is checked, but make sure nothing else is checked (if colours are checked, uncheck them). Now run Diablo.
The graphics in the menu may be all screwed up, but Diablo itself will run perfectly and with proper colours. Alt+Tab will also no longer crash the game. However you may notice flickering from time to time if you have animated icons in your taskbar (e.g. receiving a message on Skype / ICQ / Windows Live Messenger etc.). To prevent this, simply hide the taskbar until you are done playing.
Also note that if you have a window filling the screen when Diablo starts up, it may cause flickering too. To solve this, simply minimize all windows before Diablo starts, or Alt+Tab out of the game once it has started, and minimize the all windows that way. You may access any other program while playing Diablo using Alt+Tab, just ensure that you minimize it before re-entering Diablo to prevent possible flickering.

If this is too much effort for you, you can simply forcefully stop the flickering by terminating “explorer.exe”, via placing the following code in a batch file in your Diablo directory and running it:

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start Diablo.exe
pause
start explorer.exe

Source:

http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/thread-13200.html