I found my old copy of diablo 1 but nothing is working for me, NOTHING. If I try to play the game as is with the original disc in my drive it installs the game but when I play it it says please insert cd.
I tried everything. I ran it in compatibility for 95,98 and 2000 and i ran it in 680x480. I downloaded the no-cd loader which fixes the problem but as soon as I run it I get either an instant crash or 'could not find direct 3d9 device' error message.
I have no idea what to do but I honestly browsed the first 3 pages of google spent 4 hours trying to get this to work but its still not working.
YES I tried it with patch 1.09b and with the unpatched version I even found an old patch 1.08 to try and make it work.
I've tried every combination of fixes, Sometimes it says You must install directx 3 to make this work but it won't let me install it because I already have a higher version DX 11

Windows 7 and up seem to hate that game. Anything running a 64 bit OS hates that game.
Best luck is to run an old XP system, even an old laptop will play it. You won't need any fancy graphics anyway.
I have an older Dell quad core running XP SP2 just for older games. Works perfectly.

Try Virtual PC or whatever programs there are to emulate an older Windows OS. Worked for me numerous times.

Jan 8, 2016 (Edited) 2

To run Diablo 1 on Windows 7 and 8. The game is no longer supported by Blizzard, so it requires some strong-arm effort to run on any Windows version newer than XP.
1. A legit copy of Diablo
2. Patches 1.09 and 1.09b:
3. The Diablo No-CD Loader, which corrects the now non-functional CD-check built into the game, (without it you will receive an error) also fixes messed up colors and cinematics (it kills explorer.exe on starting the game, and relaunches it on exit)
4. For multiplayer, Diablo is written to use an out-dated LAN protocol called IPX, so for you will need an IPX wrapper: http://www.solemnwarning.net/ipxwrapper/
Instructions:
1. Run Diablo's normal install. To do so, insert your disc and on it locate setup.exe
2. Right click setup.exe and select Properties from the dropdown. Navigate to the Compatibility Settings tab, check the box next to 'Run this program in compatibility...' and from the dropdown box beneath it, select Windows 98/Windows ME, and then press OK
3. Run setup.exe, and choose to install - if the option presents itself, choose Custom Install and direct the game to install into a directory such as C:Diablo, not C:Program FilesDiablo.
Do NOT run the game yet. If a box is present which provides you the option to launch Diablo, verify that it is unchecked before completing the installation. Running at this point may crash your system.
4. Once install is finished, press CTRL ALT DEL and navigate to your Task manager. In your Processes tab, you may have a residual Diablo.exe - highlight it and press 'End Process' - if it's not there, no sweat. If you experience an error while attempting to perform the next steps, which may request you end the game, repeat this step before proceeding.
5. Now, you want to patch the game - the patches contain a lot of bug fixes. To do so, you must run the 1.09 patch before running 1.09b. Before running them, do the same as before, in step 2, and change both patches' compatibility settings for Windows 98 compatibility before running either. Both of them will attempt to launch Diablo on completion of their installation. This is harmless, although it may require you to repeat step 04, and it may cause Windows to become unresponsive. If it does, perform a hard reboot.
6. Install the NO-CD patch! Simply run the executable and instruct it to install directly into your C:Diablo directory - not C:Program FilesDiablo, not C:DiabloDiablo. If you mess this up, you can do it again. It will ask to create a Start Menu item in a folder called Diablo, allow it to do so. If it launches the game, exit.
7. Extract the contents of the IPX Wrapper archive to wherever, open its folders and locate the following files: ipxwrapper.dll, mswsock.dll, and wsock32.dll - copy them to your C:Diablo directory
8. In your C:Diablo directory, locate and right click DRTLNoCD.exe - press Properties, and change its compatibility settings to Windows XP (Service Pack 3)
9. Launch the program via C:DiabloDRTLNoCD.exe or Diablo No-CD, which is located in the Diablo folder in your start menu at Start -> All Programs -> Diablo.
And that's it! If you performed all of the listed steps properly, you will now be ready to play Diablo in Multiplayer mode via UDP, which is compatible with virtual LAN software such as Hamachi.

To run Diablo 1 on Windows 7 and 8. The game is no longer supported by Blizzard, so it requires some strong-arm effort to run on any Windows version newer than XP.

[/quote]
I followed every single step in order except for the IPX part, I just want to play singleplayer however, multiplayer I can live without. I used this same computer to play it years before but now I'm having absolutely no luck whatsoever. Spent countless hours trying many fixes, even tried some torrents (I have the physical CD right next to me so it shouldn't be illegal if the damn game doesn't read it)
Nothing worked :(
I appreciate the time you spent in your response though and thank you greatly.

I guess it depends on the version of Win 7 that you're running, and probably your computer setup.
I installed D1 two weeks ago. I run Win 7 Pro, 64-bit, and had no problem playing the game (run it as administrator and in Win XP SP 2 mode). However, I also installed the Hellfire expansion, and that caused video issues. After a little research I discovered that if you stop Win Explorer from running, the video issues go away. There's an example of a batch file you can make that will automate the process (except when you leave the game, you're looking at an empty screen with a small window present that talks about running explorer, just hit a key and everything goes back to normal).
Also, there's a Command file you can setup, and there are examples on the net, that will let you add a Bard as a character, and some additional quests.
Good luck.
If you're into D2 like I am, there's a recently released mod named IsAlive available that makes the game harder, and has a lot of additions and changes built into it. You will need D2SE, a mod manager, to run the game.

I guess it depends on the version of Win 7 that you're running, and probably your computer setup.
I installed D1 two weeks ago. I run Win 7 Pro, 64-bit, and had no problem playing the game (run it as administrator and in Win XP SP 2 mode). However, I also installed the Hellfire expansion, and that caused video issues. After a little research I discovered that if you stop Win Explorer from running, the video issues go away. There's an example of a batch file you can make that will automate the process (except when you leave the game, you're looking at an empty screen with a small window present that talks about running explorer, just hit a key and everything goes back to normal).
Also, there's a Command file you can setup, and there are examples on the net, that will let you add a Bard as a character, and some additional quests.
Good luck.
If you're into D2 like I am, there's a recently released mod named IsAlive available that makes the game harder, and has a lot of additions and changes built into it. You will need D2SE, a mod manager, to run the game.

Buddy you get marked as a solution just because its so hard to find anyone who plays d2 anymore. I feel like the only 'oldfag' on this forum. I was around D2 when hacked charms were around, was around when set items were godlike, then when it was all uniques, played when runewords were the new big thing as well and I even played when certain rare items and rare jewels were also considered godlike.
Was a pretty good GM pvp smiter in my time. Feel free to add me up I'm looking to start ladder again mate.

try this
download d1 1.09 nocd zip
BUT its the one with the storm.dll only in the zip.
Install diablo 1 to c: (not programs)
update to 1.09
copy storm.dll (backup original first) from zip file put in d1 folder
copy disck contence into d1 folder (but do not overwrite files when asked by windows skip insted)
play game.

Try change dvd letter drive to D:

I am going to add this because I did a lot of searching.
First I also tried to play Diablo 1 on a Am2 motherboard with all sata handled drives, including the IDE interface. I did notice that my cdrom drive also has a hidden dvd drive that has an icon generated when I use virtual clone cd software. I still use XP because I can and it is more classic friendly.
There is a modification to allow no cd use. It is just the storm.dll file with 3 string hex values changed if using version 1.09b.
I have also tried playing the hd mod. That is way different than I expected. When I installed it; if you can call cut and past an install. It belly ached about not having 2 additional MS dll files, of which I found by searching my drives and then copied and pasted them into the diablo directory.
I do know that diablo 1 will work on my classic and socket A platforms that also use drives that aren't burners and pre Sata.
I have not tested to see if sata or having a multi cd-rw-dvd drive confuses diablo1. Even though a no cd mod can work for you, wouldn't it be more fun finding exactly what causes the original install exe from finding the cd drive in some cases to begin with.
Diablo 1 was and is a great game. The thing it has that is superior to the latter variants, is the way spells were learned. I miss the way you found books to read that taught you spells instead of them being essentially given to you with experience. You should have to search for them in never the same places to make it interesting. I also can't tell you how many times I had my butt handed to me.

When i played diablo 1 i had to copy *.mpq files to Diablo folder to play with no cd.

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