I tried seeking help on Reddit and even on the Lutris Discord, but I still have a problem and can’t play this game. I attempted to install the game using the Lutris script, but it’s simply not working, and Lutris doesn’t recognize the diabdat.mpq file. I also tried installing it manually based on some suggestions from Reddit, but when I launch the game, I only see a black screen and hear the music. I experimented with various Wine versions, but I haven’t had any luck so far.

I managed to launch the game and see something with Proton 7.0 but its unplayable. I started to see something with DXVK off

  • GrappleHatEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    I’ve spent quite a lot of time trying to get The Hell mods running on Linux. Finally today I managed it. I wrote up some instructions (below) and provided the special Wine prefix were required to get the game running. Please let me know if you have any issues or have suggestions for improvement!

    How to Install Diablo: The Hell 2 or 3 with Lutris

    It was very difficult to find a way to run this on Linux - so I wrote this guide to help others who I know have also beat their heads against the table. The trick which finally allowed me to run it was I lucked into building a Wine prefix which is apparently crucially important to running the game. I have no idea what makes this Wine prefix special, but I’ve tested it on four computers (Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, & Pop!OS) and it works on them all.

    Downloads

    You need the following four files

    1. The mod: TH3_vx.xxxx.zip, and music pack: TH3_music_vx.x.zip
    1. The Wine prefix: diablo-the-hell-wine-prefix.tar.xz
    1. Diablo base game data: diabdat.mpq
    • Available on the game CD-ROM, a copy from GOG, etc.

    Wine setup and install

    We’ll create the Wine prefix, install The Hell into that prefix, and then set up Lutris to point to it. This guide will create the prefix at ~/Games/diablo-the-hell, but you can put it elsewhere if you like.

    1. Unpack the wine prefix file diablo-the-hell-wine-prefix.tar.xz to ~/Games/diablo-the-hell
    2. Create a Windows folder for the game. You can use the UI or the terminal: mkdir ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program\ Files/diablo-the-hell/
    3. Unzip the mod file TH3_vx.xxxx.zip to ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/
    4. Unzip the music file TH3_music_vx.x.zip to ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/
    5. Copy diabdat.mpq to ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/
    6. Open ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/config.ini and make the following changes:
    • set DDraw on Very important!!
    • set fps 60 Limits frames per second (optional)
    • set startvideo off Skips opening cinematic on startup (optional)
    • set screenwidth 1920 Sets resolution width (optional)
    • set screenheight 1080 Sets resolution height (optional)

    Lutris config

    1. Press + to add a new game, and set the following:
    • Name: “Diablo - The Hell”
    • Runner: Wine
    1. Click Game Options, set the following:
    • Executable: ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/TH2.exe (for The Hell 2), or ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/TH3.exe (for The Hell 3)
    • Wine prefix: ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/
    1. Click Save
    2. Optional, if the game art doesn’t auto-populate:
    • Right Click on “Diablo - The Hell” -> Configure
    • Next to “Identifier” click Change
    • Change text to “diablo”
    • Click Apply -> Save
    • Click Lutris under “Sources” on the left -> Community Installers
    • Search for “diablo”, and wait for results to populate (the search downloads the art)
    • Exit the community installer section

    Final thoughts

    • Important note on running the game: the opening UI menu has a visual bug But with the mouse & arrow keys (& some patience) you can navigate the menus to create a character. Once through the initial screens the game runs perfectly fine.
    • The special Wine prefix was built using Bottles, however Bottles is not required to run the game (these instructions use Lutris). If anyone can learn what is special about this prefix which makes the game work please let me know!
    • Despite what I’ve read online this mod works fine with DXVK. I don’t recommend disabling DXVK in Lutris when running the mod (contrary to what others have).
    • In case anyone asks: the specific Wine version doesn’t seem to matter. I had success with: lutris-GE-Proton8-8, lutris-7.2-2, and soda-7.0-4