Diablo/Hellfire CD vs. HD FAQ, 2/22/00
AlterNative LABs Diablo/Hellfire Archive
moe SAINT EverGreen, http://come.to/diablosight
http://home.tampabay.rr.com/moesteg/Diablo.htm
http://members.xoom.com/moesteg/Diablo.htm

Contents:

#1. Fixing the Relocated CD problem / Relocated Diablo problem.

#2. Fixing Invalid CD problems.

#3. Playing off the Hard Drive

#4. Copying the Diablo files

#5. Changing the Blizzard Registry

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#1. Fixing the Relocated CD problem / Relocated Diablo problem.

If you installed diablo, but have since relocated your CD drive
perhaps by accident, by modifying the operating system,
or by installing a new harddrive,
or even if you relocated your Diablo folder,
you can fix this problem simply by modifying the registry,
and changing the drive letter.

See #5, Changing the Blizzard Registry below, for more info.


#2. Fixing Invalid CD problems.

Blizzards method of checking to see if you use a CD
fails on certain CD drives and on CD burners.
In this case you have three choices,

1)play off the harddrive (which gives you less in-game cd lag),

2) or use the play off the harddrive hack,
but still point the registry at your CD drive.
In this case you save harddrive space,
and skip blizzards CD check.
Read method #2 below for more info on this.

3) Some CD drives have a specific problem with Win98 and Diablo.
A specific fix exists for this, scw98fix.zip. (see my website).


#3. Playing off the Hard Drive

Some CD's fall asleep or are simply too slow,
and will cause diablo to crash you out of a game,
and can even crash the other players out of the game.

Two Seperate Methods Exist that both will play on Battle.net
(Use One or the Other, NOT BOTH!)

1) Use a Virtual Drive or Virtual CD program.
   This is the best method, as it is independent of hack files,
   and will work for every diablo patch.

   Search for a Virtual Drive program with a Web Search Engine.
   or Try out the Virtual Drive at FarStone, (http://www.farstone.com)
   This shareware program has a time limit and a registration fee.
   
   It comes with instructions for playing Any CD game off your HardDrive, 
   by copying to it the Entire contents of the CD (520+ meg for Diablo),
   and installing this shareware device driver.
   
   If you have already installed diablo before installing virtual drive,
   you will still need to change the registry as described below
   to point to the new virtual drive that you set up.

2) Use DiabloSaver or DiabHack or GameHack and a .dat or .hak file.
   This is dependent on the diablo/hellfire version you use
   (you need v1.00 / v1.07 for diablo, v1.00 / v1.01 for hellfire)
   and may cease to work after the next patch to diablo/hellfire,
   at least until I make a new hack (which takes me about 5 minutes).

   This requires a .dat/.hak file that changes your storm.dll in memory,
   and you must run a hack program each time you start Diablo/Hellfire.

   If you have the Virtual Drive program, Do Not use this method.

   Copy the files from the harddrive to the root of your harddrive
   and change the registry (all as described below in #4 and #5).

   You can find DiabloSaver mentioned below at:
   http://come.to/diablosight

For Diablo v1.07 / v1.00
   You will need either DiabloSaver.zip with DiabloSaver.exe, 
   or the DiabHack.exe and DiabloSaver.dat
   If you use DiabloSaver, it will automatically load
   the hack you need. (but you still need to change the registry).

   for DiabloSaver:
      Make a quick link to DiabloSaver in your start menu.
      (make sure the link's runtime folder also contains DiabloSaver.exe)
      
      Run diablo, and when it asks for the cd, 
      Alt-Tab to windows, and run DiabloSaver.
      DiabloSaver defaults to automatically loading the hack you need.
      (to check, click on options, and look for "Play Diablo Off HD")
      Alt-Tab back to Diablo, and tell it to look for the CD again.
      
      Note, DiabloSaver loads and updates options even when it
      does not find character memory. It gives the character memory error
      until you have loaded a game in diablo. However, as long as
      you have an unhacked version of Diablo v1.07/v1.00 in memory, 
      DiabloSaver will find it, and patch it for you.
      
   for diabhack.exe
      Run diabhack and load diablosaver.dat first,
      then Run diablo, and when it asks for the cd,
      Alt-Tab to windows, 
      then click on Enable for Play V1.07/V1.00 Off HD
      Alt-Tab back to Diablo, and tell it to look for the CD again.
     

For Hellfire
   You will need either DiabloSaver.zip with DiabloSaver.exe, 
   or the hellfire.hak and GameHack.exe

   for DiabloSaver:
      Make a quick link to DiabloSaver in your start menu.
      (make sure the link's runtime folder also contains DiabloSaver.exe)
      
      Run hellfire, and when it asks for the cd, 
      Alt-Tab to windows, and run DiabloSaver.
      DiabloSaver defaults to automatically loading the hack you need.
      (to check, click on options, and look for "Play Hellfire Off HD")
      Alt-Tab back to Diablo, and tell it to look for the CD again.
      
      Note, DiabloSaver loads and updates options even when it
      does not find character memory. It gives the character memory error
      until you have loaded a game in diablo. However, as long as
      you have an unhacked version of Hellfire v1.01/v1.00 in memory, 
      DiabloSaver will find it, and patch it for you.

   for gamehack.exe
      Run gamehack and load hellfire.hak first,
      then Run hellfire, and when it asks for the cd,
      Alt-Tab to windows, 
      then click on Enable for Patch Hellfire (hd/..)
      Alt-Tab back to hellfire, and tell it to look for the CD again.
   

#4. Copying the Diablo files

Copy the files, DIABDAT.MPQ (493 MB) and AUTORUN.EXE (4.2 MB)
from the CD to the root directory of any drive
(or to the virtual cd you have created).

The other files and folders on the CD containing useless shareware,
but autorun.exe is necessary to patch diablo.


#5. Changing the Blizzard Registry

Run the program REGEDIT 
(click on start, run, and type in regedit) 

Once you get into REGEDIT, move down throught the tree: 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE 
SOFTWARE 
Blizzard Entertainment 
Archives 

Open this folder.. 
on the right side of the panel you will see 
(default) 
DiabloCD 
DiabloInstall 

Change the "DiabloCD" value by highlighting, selecting 
Edit/Modify 

Change the drive letter to where DIABDAT.MPQ is located
(i.e. C:\ or D:\ etc.)

Double check the "DiabloInstall" value!
(This is very important for Hellfire users.)

If you have changed your diablo folder too,
make sure the path in DiabloInstall is correct,
and points to the folder where Diablo.exe is located.
If not Edit/Modify it, and fix it.

Examples: [My DiabloCD and DiabloInstall values in my registry]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Blizzard Entertainment\Archives]
"DiabloInstall"="D:\\Games\\Diablo\\"
"DiabloCD"="C:\\"


good luck, and have fun,
moe SAINT EverGreen.
