1.09 high resolution 4:3 setup

[onyx]

Hey folks, and thank you for all the amazing work you're doing to preserve the authentic D2 experience!

I recently went down a rabbit hole trying to set up Diablo II 1.09b on modern hardware, and I'm looking for some advice on the best way to achieve the following:

• I have two 4K monitors and would like to run D2 in a 4:3 aspect ratio, in windowed mode.
• At 4K resolution, the standard 800×600/640×480 window is obviously tiny.
• I tried Sven's Glide Wrapper, which allows me to go up to 1600×1200, but I'd ideally like something larger.
• I'd be happy with 1920×1440 or 2048×1536, provided it can retain the proper 4:3 aspect ratio and work reliably.
• I'm specifically leaning toward 1.09b (GalaXyHaXz Final Update), so some of the newer options/solutions, such as d2gl, aren't applicable.

Given these requirements, what would be the most reasonable approach?

Is there a particular wrapper, renderer, patch, or configuration that would allow 1.09b to run at higher 4:3 resolutions in a window?

Any recommendations or experience with this setup would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Manny]

Welcome, @onyx!

I would recommend using cnc-ddraw and the jinc2-sharper shader with 1.09b. I believe it to be fully compatible with the final update mod!

 

[Manny]

And to add a little more info, you can configure your desired resolution in the config file, ddraw.ini. Personally I would just set it up for windowed full-screen, while keeping aspect ratio enabled. The client will automatically choose the max 4:3 resolution for your screen, and alt+tab will be silky smooth. Let me know how that goes if you try it!

 

[fearedbliss]

Hey @onyx, welcome to the forum. The standard Cactus Bundle already comes with the configuration you need, the only thing you need to adjust is the resolution values in ddraw.ini to be something like 1400x1050. The defaults I distribute already maintain the game in a 4:3 aspect ratio. You’ll also want to set full screen to false and window to true so you can have the scaled up window. Note that this only changes the window resolution, not the internal game resolution which is my goal. I don’t want to modify the actual game resolution since that changes the gameplay.

 

[fearedbliss]

I forgot to mention this is documented here:

Cactus

A Modern Diablo II Worldstone Manager Designed Exclusively For Blizzard North's Diablo II (1.00 - 1.10)

codeberg.org

 

[onyx]

@Manny @fearedbliss thanks for the super quick response!

Managed to get a 2048×1536 window working with cnc-ddraw, and I'm looking into setting up the jinc2-sharper shader.

I need to use Windows 11 and my understanding is that the Windows version of Cactus is deprecated. I have an extreme hardware setup with a few Unix-like VMs already running under Hyper-V, so I might try dedicating one to the new Zig version of Cactus and giving it a go. I like sandboxing specific setups, but not sure if I can setup an adequate GPU access for this.

 

[fearedbliss]

No prob @onyx. The jinc2 shader is the default I distribute so it's already being used in your setup. If you look at the "shader" value, you'll see it in ddraw.ini.

And that's correct, the Windows version of Cactus is not supported but I distribute it _as is without support_ so people that want to use Windows 7/10 (which I also enjoy using) can continue to have a Cactus implementation on those specific versions of Windows. The goal though is for people to switch to Linux and the Linux implementation.

 

[Manny]

@onyx You're welcome. Now that you got it configured, go play the shit out of 1.09b final update. I love that mod and spent many hours in it. I made these boots in that patch and they will be a forever item on my Nova Sorc. <3

 

[onyx]

Those are very nice for sure!