fearedbliss / Cactus
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Cactus (By: Jonathan Vasquez (fearedbliss)
Build: 2021-03-19-1500
Main Menu (Example)
Description / History
Cactus started out as just a simple application that allowed you to
easily and efficiently Time Travel between every version of Diablo II
that ever came out, while maximizing disk space and enabling full
character isolation between versions. However, even though Cactus itself
still is just that, the Cactus Repository has evolved to become a
centralized and historical archive, that aims to preserve every single
Diablo II version that exists (Official Retail and Official Beta
Releases). Cactus is a complete rewrite from scratch of my previous
application called: Bliss Version Switcher
. However, since Cactus is
written in C#, it behaves as a native Windows application and allows it
to integrate natively with the system. On the other hand, Bliss Version
Switcher was written in Java and thus there were many limitations that
lead to the Cactus rewrite.
This repository also includes several other utilities that I have either
created or collected, which can help you play Vanilla Diablo II better.
All Cactus Platforms are Vanilla
by default. The only fix I made to all
Platforms below 1.12
is to remove the CD requirement since modern
computers no longer have a CD drive (Blizzard already did this exact
thing for 1.12+
). Other than that, any further modifications are
opt-in. For example:
Singling
provides only non-gameplay modifications for Single Player
and LAN, things like:
- CPU Fixes (Main Menu, Single Player, and LAN)
- Ladder Runewords
- Multiple Instances
- Hardcore Character Creation (w/o needing to beat Softcore)
- Faster LAN Game Creation/Joining
- Scrolling Letters Fix
- MPQ Fix
- FPS Unlock
- Disabled Battle.net Button (So you don't get banned or accidentally update your game)
- Skipped Introduction Cinematics
Singling is made to be a Simple Drag & Drop Solution. There is no
configuration file or toggable options. If I don't believe a fix is
needed or stable enough, it simply won't be included. Furthermore, if
you will be playing online, you should make a copy of the Vanilla
Platform and use that one to connect to Battle.net (for example, copying
the 1.14d
platform and calling it something like 1.14d BNET
).
You can use your other platforms with the Singling changes for local play.
For a detailed overview, caveats, and patch rationale, you can read the
Singling README.
Lastly, a few renderers are included to improve video compatibility,
cnc-ddraw
and glidewrapper
. The choice is yours for how you
want to play.
Cactus requires a purchased copy of Diablo II from Blizzard in order to have all of the game assets stored in the MPQs. Once you have these, they will be re-used for all Cactus Platforms.
For further information, please read the documentation below for anything you are interested in exploring. If you wish to find players to play with, or just to hang out and talk about Diablo II Single Player, please join the Cactus Discord by clicking the link at the top of this page!
Cactus Repository
The following opt-in modifications and utilities are available in this repository:
Singling
A collection of non-gameplay modifications and fixes in order to improve the Vanilla Diablo II Single Player & LAN Experience.
To use Singling, simply copy the Singling files for the version you want to
play from the 2. Singling/1. Files
folder, and replace the ones for
the equivalent version in your Platforms directory. To revert, use the files
in 2. Singling/2. Stock
instead.
Renderers
Cactus includes two alternative renderers for Diablo II which can help you
run the game on newer systems with a higher resolution (not a higher internal
resolution), and the ability to use shaders to upscale the quality of the
graphics in the game (cnc-ddraw
). Both of these renderers are automatically
included as part of the Cactus Base Installation. cnc-ddraw
should be used
in versions of Diablo II older than 1.14
, and glidewrapper
should
be used for any newer versions.
Please read the README-RENDERERS
for further explanation on this, for information on how to set them up, or for
any known technical limitations. Definitely read the Recommendations
section at least, or you will most likely encounter crashes if you've never
played versions before 1.14
before. Blizzard has done major changes with
how video configuration works starting in 1.14
.
-
cnc-ddraw
- This renderer reimplements the DirectDraw API for GDI, OpenGL, and Direct3D to improve compatibility with Windows XP - 10, and Wine. This renderer also supports the use of custom shaders - which will allow you to upscale the game so it looks a lot better - and even provides hotkeys (such as[Alt] + [Enter]
) to switch between full screen and window mode. -
GlideWrapper
- A simple glide to opengl wrapper which will allow you to enablePerspective
mode.
License
Released under the Apache License 2.0.
Requirements
- .NET Framework 4.6.1 +
Video)
Installation Instructions (Install Cactus And Prepare MPQs
This section will help you install Cactus to the correct location and also help you fix your MPQs so that they are compatible with the older versions of Diablo II.
Note:
This fix is only needed if you want to play versions 1.08 - 1.13d
,
if you are not planning to play those versions, you don't need to fix your MPQs.
- Copy all of the files in the
1. Files
folder into your Diablo II root folder. - Run the
FIX_MPQS_RUN_AS_ADMIN.bat
inside theMpqFixer
that you copied, asAdministrator
.
Adding/Running A Platform
- Run
Cactus.exe
- Click
Add
- Type in the name of the Platform you want to run. This should match a folder in the
Platforms
folder. (Example: If you want to run1.09b
, type1.09b
). - Enter the path to the executable you want to launch in your Diablo II
root
folder. Cactus copies all of the files from thePlatforms/[NAME]
folder to the Diablo II root folder, so most of your entries will have identical paths (Example:D:\Games\Diablo II\Game.exe
). Do not put something that points to an executable in thePlatforms
folder since that will not work and will give you anObject reference not set to an instance of an object
error. The executable has to be in the root of the Diablo II folder as described above. - Enter the Flags you want (Example:
-ns
) - Make sure
Expansion
is selected (Unless you are playing1.00-1.06b
or didn't purchaseLord of Destruction
). - Click
Add
. - Select your newly added Platform and press
Launch
.
The game should start. If you are having video issues, please make sure you
have read the README-RENDERERS
and ensure that
it was configured properly.
Moving Cactus To A New Computer
If you want to move all of your Platforms, Characters, and Diablo II folder to another machine, you will need to:
- Copy your entire Diablo II folder to your new machine.
- Edit the
Entries.json
file and change thePath
for all of your entries so that it now has thePath
on your new machine.- The
Base Directory
for all Paths need to match. The exes can be different.- GOOD:
D:\Games\Diablo II\Game.exe
andD:\Games\Diablo II\Alpaca.exe
. - BAD:
D:\Games\Diablo II\Game.exe
andD:\Diablo Immortal For PC\Game.exe
.
- GOOD:
- The
- Open
Cactus
and edit theLast Ran Platform
. - Uncheck the
Last Ran
box and ClickEdit
. - Now
Launch
whatever Platform you want.
Unchecking the Last Ran
box will cause Cactus to reconfigure itself (Including registry locations).
Updating Files In The Platforms folder
If you update any files in your Platforms folder, then uncheck the Last Ran
box from the corresponding platform, and run it again. This will cause Cactus
to re-install the files with the new ones.
OMAHGOD! My Characters Are Gone! Cactus Deleted Them!!!
Cactus comes with built in safety features specifically designed to protect critical directories and files, which includes the save directories. Thus it is impossible for Cactus to have deleted them. Cactus also only operates within the Diablo II root directory so it also wouldn't be possible for Cactus to delete saves that are in 1.14d+'s new save directory that is in your personal folder.
Since Cactus is a Version Switcher with Full Character and Version Isolation
,
it will update the registry location of where the game should look for
the saves. For example, if you are playing a Platform
called
1.09b (Succulent)
(The files for this Platform would logically be
located under Platforms/1.09b (Succulent)
), then Cactus will save
your characters in the Saves/1.09b (Succulent)
directory located
inside your Diablo II folder. So when the game starts, your characters
are properly isolated and protected. If this is the first time you
launched a game with Cactus, and you previously just had a regular
Diablo II installation, then it would seem as if all your characters got
deleted, or magically dissapeared. However, they are simply located in
the original location that your computer saved them to. If you were
playing 1.14d+, they most likely are located at:
%USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Diablo II
If you were playing 1.13d
or below, they are inside the Diablo II
folder itself under a folder called save
.
Lastly, always remember to keep backups when running Third Party Tools or Modifications.