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OldVersionInstallGuide.md

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How to Install and Play an Older Version of Diablo 2

It's a lot of steps, but most of them are very quick, such as clicking buttons or opening folders.
Something worth nothing, while these files do not directly change the game, logging into Battle.net with these files in your Diablo 2 folder may or may not get you banned. Caution should be exercised. It is recommended that you have a separate installation for playing on Battle.net. A simple copy and paste of your current Diablo 2 folder should be enough to install this version-switcher into Diablo 2.
  1. Install Diablo 2 as normal.
    • The version does not matter. It can be 1.12 or 1.13 or 1.14d.
    • It should be unmodded though.
  2. Download Cactus (~27 MB).
    • Cactus is a version-switcher. You can find more information about Cactus here.
  3. Open Cactus.7z.
  4. Navigate to and open the 1. Files folder.
  5. Take every file this folder and drag and drop it into your Diablo 2 folder.
  6. Open the MpqFixer folder now in your Diablo 2 folder.
  7. Right click FIX_MPQS_RUN_AS_ADMIN.bat and press Run as administrator.
    • This fixes your MPQs to work with older versions of Diablo 2.
  8. Navigate back to your Diablo 2 folder.
  9. Open Cactus.exe.
    • This will be the program you use to launch older versions of Diablo 2, so consider making a shortcut of it if you intend to use it frequently.
  10. Press Add at the bottom left.
    • This adds a new profile to the program which will be used to launch the older version of Diablo 2.
  11. For Platform, input the version you wish to play.
    • The available platforms to choose from are 1.00, 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 1.04b, 1.04c, 1.05, 1.05b, 1.06, 1.06b, 1.07 (first LoD version), 1.08, 1.09 (original Runewords introduced), 1.09b, 1.09d, 1.10 (op Runewords introduced), 1.10b (Beta 1), 1.10s (Beta 2), 1.11, 1.11b, 1.12a (Den Respecs introduced), 1.13a (Beta) (Tokens introduced), 1.13c, 1.13d, 1.14a, 1.14b, 1.14c, and 1.14d.
    • If I wanted to play v1.00, I would simply write 1.00 into the Platform dialog box.
    • If you make a typo with the Platform and try to edit the box, it will tell you that the Platform already exists. Delete the profile and make it from scratch again. It will let you specify the right Platform this time.
  12. For Path, this will be the path to the executable to launch Diablo 2.
    • In almost all cases, it will simply be the Game.exe found in the Diablo 2 folder.
    • If you are unsure of how to do this, go back to your Diablo 2 folder. You will see this in the Address Bar. Click on the Address Bar in empty space so that you can select the path to your Diablo 2 folder like this. Copy and paste this into the Path dialog box in Cactus. Then, add \Game.exe to the end of the dialog box.
    • Most users' paths will read C:\Program Files (x86)\Diablo II\Game.exe. If you installed Diablo 2 elsewhere, then this will not be your path.
  13. For Flags, this is where you input your startup arguments.
    • Flags consist of -w, -ns, -3dfx, and so forth.
    • Choose what you want. Most users will just want -w.
  14. The Expansion checkbox should be unchecked if:
    1. You do not own the expansion.
    2. You want to play without LoD features (Classic Diablo 2).
    3. You are playing a version less than 1.07. All versions from 1.00 to 1.06b are Classic only.
  15. Press Add to finish creating the profile.
  16. Click on your newly created profile and press Launch.
    • This will launch Diablo 2 with the profile you just created. This is how you will launch the older version of Diablo 2 every time.
Enjoy! If you have issues, @mention or DM Warren1001 on MrLlama's Discord. If you are intending to play v1.00, you can check a list of differences here.