I'm not the biggest fan of the "Diablo" franchise, but I'm neither am
I a fan of watching old games fade away. Of course, the original
"Diablo" is still available (ActiBlizz won't let any opportunity to
cash in on old properties slip them by) but they haven't done much to
the old game either, beyond wedging in their "Battle.Net" service and
getting it to run on modern operating systems (and even with the
latter, they handed it off to GOG to do the actual work).

So, projects like DevilutionX are always welcome. News about it has
been making the rounds on gaming websites recently, although I recall
seeing it (or perhaps something similar) some years earlier. Anyway,
this fan-made source-port uses the original assets (so you'll need to
dig out your Diablo CD-ROM or buy it from GOG) and adds in things like
wide-screen support, auto-pickups, and similar modernities that make
playing "Diablo" less painful for gamers used to modern amenities. On
the other hand, neither does it go so far as to revamp the classic
gameplay; it's still recognizably the 1996 game. And, being a
sourceport, it has wide support for numerous architectures and
operating systems. You're no longer limited to just Windows; want to
play "Diablo" on XBox One? Now you can.

Installation is easy:

- download the current version from:
https://github.com/diasurgical/devilutionX/releases/tag/1.5.0
- Extract the zip...wherever.
- Then pull diabdat.mpq from the original Diablo CD-ROM (or GOG, or
Battlenet version; whichever one you have).
- Optionally add hellfire.mpq, hfmusic.mpq, hfvoice.mpq and hfmonk.mpq
files if you have the Hellfire add-on.
- Run devilutionx.exe
(savegames, if you're looking for them, are located in the
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\diasurgical\devilution directory)

Anyway, it's a quick and easy way to revist this classic game.
Performance is smooth and being able to scale up to 1080p is neat
(even if not really all that practical).

On Sun, 25 Jun 2023 12:05:35 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>Anyway, it's a quick and easy way to revist this classic game.
>Performance is smooth and being able to scale up to 1080p is neat
>(even if not really all that practical).

I find the base game too simplistic nowadays. You can just keep buying
elixirs from Adria and max out your stats pretty quick. I prefer The
Hell 2 mod for this game. It adds more features including the stuff
you mentioned in your post like widescreen support and auto pickup. I
don't recommend it if you just want a nostalgia hit, but otherwise, I
prefer it.