Original Diablo...on Mac OS X?

[phanboyjohn]

Hi everybody!

I'm getting the Diablo Battle Chest in this week (color me excited), but according to Blizz technical support, Diablo 1 will not play under Mac OS X. Do any of you know any solutions/workarounds? Is there an emulation solution of some kind? Thanks!

[IscariotJ]

Originally Posted by phanboyjohn

Hi everybody!

I'm getting the Diablo Battle Chest in this week (color me excited), but according to Blizz technical support, Diablo 1 will not play under Mac OS X. Do any of you know any solutions/workarounds? Is there an emulation solution of some kind? Thanks!

You don't say what you're trying to run it on. If it's an Intel Mac, try a VM. It's that old, and undemanding, I can't imagine you'd have much bother running it. If it's PPC, classic?

[Xeem]

Even if those workarounds don't pan out, you could always just spend $30 or so and get an older OS 9-equipped Mac if you need to.

[A Pittarelli]

why not just play diablo 2?

[Xeem]

Originally Posted by A Pittarelli

why not just play diablo 2?

Personally, I prefer playing through a game series in order, and many prefer Diablo 1 to Diablo 2 simply because it is so much more challenging.

[phanboyjohn]

Thanks for the replies everyone--I apologize for not specifying my setup: I am using an Intel Mac, a 2.0 GHz MacBook, so running Classic isn't an option for me. Is there a VM out there for classic OSs? What company is it through? VMWare?

Originally Posted by A Pittarelli

why not just play diablo 2?

I definitely plan on playing both--one of my reasons for playing Diablo 1 is that I know (from experience) once I get used to the nice features of Diablo 2, I'll be spoiled and won't want to go back.

[Xeem]

I think Sheepsaver will let you play it, but I've never tried it myself. Some installation instructions are here.

[IscariotJ]

Originally Posted by phanboyjohn

Thanks for the replies everyone--I apologize for not specifying my setup: I am using an Intel Mac, a 2.0 GHz MacBook, so running Classic isn't an option for me. Is there a VM out there for classic OSs? What company is it through? VMWare?

You have a choice of two pieces of software, VMware Fusion, or Parallels Desktop. Fusion is currently a free beta, and $39.99 if you pre-order before it goes GA. I've run it for the past few betas, and it runs quite nicely. Can't really comment on Parallels, I removed it after issues with their support.

I currently run XP in a VM on a 2Ghz CD MacBook, and it runs nicely. I use it to play some of my old titles ( TA, TA: Kingdoms ). It will be more than capable of handling Diablo.

[aidanpendragon]

To recap:

-Classic won't work since you're running an Intel. Diablo under Classic (on PPC) works poorly or not at all anyway, in my experience.

-You can try SheepShaver. However: it can be confusing to set up (the linked directions @Xeem are pretty good); you need an OS 8 or 9 system folder/disc to run it (NOT downloadable from Apple); and it's pretty unstable for gaming in any case - this on my PPC, which runs it natively.

-The Windows solution. Since the Battle Chest CDs are hybrids, you'll have a PC version to run. However, you'll have to buy a copy of Parallels/VMWare. Why not just do Boot Camp for free? Even then, you'd still need (have to buy?) a copy of Windows XP. A little pricey to run one old game.

Short answer: there's no one solution that's both easy and free, sadly.

I can understand why you'd want to play Diablo, though. #II has more choices, but seems to devolve into a constant flood of A. weak items for your class or B. great items for another class, requiring you to town-portal every 5 minutes to free up space. Diablo really had the formula down of streamlined dungeon crawling, nearly every item an improvement, and click-click-click gaming.

[phanboyjohn]

Thank you all for the great replies, and to aid for giving a great rundown. It is frustrating, as I'd like to play both I and II. My major problem now is, of course, disk space--I'd love to set up a 32GB partition on my Mac for Windows, but I really don't have the disk space. Does it work okay if I give it substantially less space, like 20 GB or even less? Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[ProstheticHead]

Diablo 1 ran terribly on my iMac G5 under OSX, so I resorted to jumping on my iMac 333 to relive the past a little.

If you really want to play Diablo 1, I'd take the advice of the poster up there and buy a cheap OS8-9 mac.

[phanboyjohn]

Originally Posted by ProstheticHead

Diablo 1 ran terribly on my iMac G5 under OSX, so I resorted to jumping on my iMac 333 to relive the past a little.

If you really want to play Diablo 1, I'd take the advice of the poster up there and buy a cheap OS8-9 mac.

Haha, I'm glad you still have an old iMac to use. I got lucky and managed to find a package that someone configured of Sheepshaver--at least for now, works like a charm. It won't win any awards or anything, but it lets me play Diablo. 'Nuff said.

[aidanpendragon]

Originally Posted by phanboyjohn

Haha, I'm glad you still have an old iMac to use. I got lucky and managed to find a package that someone configured of Sheepshaver--at least for now, works like a charm. It won't win any awards or anything, but it lets me play Diablo. 'Nuff said.

Wow...I've had crap luck with trying to run games on that (MW2, Total Annihilation), and on a PPC (no emulation required) no less. Glad you found a solid solution!

[Prude]

Ah, so basically, Diablo I can't be run on mac?