How to play Diablo 1 on Linux

Diablo is a 1998 computer game created by Blizzard Software, the people behind the popular World of Warcraft MMORPG. It’s set in the fictional Kingdom of Khanduras. In the game, the player takes control of a hero and fights to rid the world of Diablo, the main villain. In this guide, we will go over how to play Diablo on Linux.

Downloading Diablo from GOG.com

Diablo is an older PC game and one that Activision Blizzard does not sell physically anymore. You won’t be able to walk into your local PC shop and purchase a new version of Diablo on CD-ROM. The only way to get Diablo 1 for a modern PC system is to get it via GOG.com.

This guide centers around setting up Diablo 1 on Linux. So, to start, you must purchase and download the Diablo + Hellfire PC release from GOG.com. To get the game on your system, follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Step 1: Head over to GOG.com, and create a new account. Then, sign in to your account using the login interface.

Step 2: Once you’ve logged in, locate the search box in the upper right-hand corner and click on it with the mouse. Then, type out “Diablo” and press the Enter key to run a search.

Look through the search results and click on the result that says, “Diablo + Hellfire.” Then, purchase the game. Currently, GOG.com has it listed at 9.99 USD.

Step 3: After purchasing Diablo + Hellfire from GOG.com, it is time to download the game’s installer. Keep in mind; we are downloading the offline installer and not GOG Galaxy. GOG Galaxy does not work for this setup guide.

Head over to GOG.com/account. This page has all of the games attached to your GOG.com account, including Diablo + Hellfire (Diablo 1).

Step 4: Once on your account page, click on “Diablo + Hellfire” with the mouse. Doing so will give you access to the Diablo 1 page in your GOG.com library. On the GOG.com Diablo 1 page, find “DOWNLOAD OFFLINE BACKUP GAME INSTALLERS,” and click on the link underneath to start the installer download.

Step 5: When the download process is complete, launch a terminal window on your computer using Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, follow this guide here to learn how to set up the latest Wine on your computer. You’ll need it to install the Diablo game files on Linux.

With Wine set up on your computer, move to the next section of the guide.

Installing Diablo on your Linux PC

Installing Diablo on your Linux PC isn’t that difficult, thanks to the fact that Wine exists. To start the process, use the CD command to move the terminal session opened in the previous section of the guide to the “Downloads” directory.

cd ~/Downloads

Once you’ve made it to the “Downloads” directory, launch the GOG.com Diablo + Hellfire installer using the wine command below.

Please note: this guide was written when Diablo + Hellfire version 1.09 (30038) was available. If your installer has different version numbers, be sure to change the command below to reflect it.

wine setup_diablo_1.09_hellfire_v2_\(30038\).exe

After executing the wine command, a GOG.com installer will pop-up. Using your mouse, go through the process of setting up Diablo + Hellfire on your computer. It shouldn’t take long.

Installing DevilutionX on Linux

The great thing is that Activision Blizzard worked with GOG.com to bring Diablo fans a modernized version of Diablo 1 (plus the Hellfire expansion) to modern systems. The trouble is, the GOG version of the game, when installed via Wine, does not work. However, this is OK, as we can use the Windows files with a Linux Diablo 1 engine called DevilutionX.

DevilutionX adds on modern features (very similar to the ones that Activision Blizzard did with GOG) to Linux, as well as Mac OS and Windows. It is a small program, but it will help you run the game easily on Linux. However, before we go over how to play the game with it, we must demonstrate how to install the program.

DevilutionX must be compiled from source. Open up a terminal window and enter the commands below to build and install the software.

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt-get install cmake g++ libsdl2-mixer-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev libsodium-dev git libsdl2-ttf-2.0-0 libsdl2-mixer-2.0-0

git clone https://github.com/diasurgical/devilutionX.git

cd devilutionX

cd build

cmake ..

make -j$(nproc)

sudo make install

Fedora

sudo dnf install cmake glibc-devel SDL2-devel SDL2_ttf-devel SDL2_mixer-devel libsodium-devel libasan libubsan git

git clone https://github.com/diasurgical/devilutionX.git

cd devilutionX

cd build

cmake ..

make -j$(nproc)

sudo make install

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S git base-devel

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git

cd trizen

makepkg -sri

trizen -S devilutionx

Configuring DevilutionX

Now that the DevilutionX app is installed, you need to copy the diabdat.mpq file from the GOG Diablo installation folder into the DevilutionX folder. Placing this file, there will make your Diablo + Hellfire game playable on Linux.

cp ~/.wine/drive_c/GOG\ Games/Diablo/DIABDAT.MPQ ~/.local/share/diasurgical/devilution/diabdat.mpq

Once the mpq file is in the correct folder, you can play Diablo 1 on your Linux PC by merely clicking on the “DevilutionX” shortcut in your app menu. Enjoy!

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