Diablo 1 HD Mod (Belzebub)

Manny

Manny

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Today I was pleasantly surprised to find this Diablo 1 overhaul mod on GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/diablo_1_hd_mod_belzebub

According to the store page: Belzebub, or Diablo I HD Mod, is a complex modification for the first installment of the Diablo series, which introduces a number of interesting improvements to the gameplay, a lot of new content and - most importantly - increased resolution.

As a bonus, if you've previously purchased the original Diablo on GOG, it is a FREE download!

 
This is cool to see, apparently GoG recently added mods and have a selection for around 10 games or so. Belzebub/Tcherno is arguably the best way to experience d1 still to this day, although it does have some balance issues. @fearedbliss and I tried it out years ago on the old Xyinn network, after we played d2, we got together a group of people to play d1, but battle.net was down and we couldn't get LAN to work, so Tchernobog was the only way. We didn't get far though, it's a pretty tough game and requires a lot of grinding like d2.

Belzebub is unique in that it basically finishes the development of d1 with the quests and such, without changing things up too much like some other mods do, so definitely a mod worth checking out. It's what inspired me to get into d1 modding in the first place!
 
Haha yea I saw this on GOG recently. They trying to do a Cactus Ports Collection lol. If they ever sold D2 2000 on their website, I wouldnt be surprised if Cactus became part of that in some way or if they used my files.
 
@galaxyhaxz Oh, nice! I'm still looking forward to playing your D1 mod eventually, BTW. But yeah, I am a huge fan of GOG and what they do to conserve old games in a drm-free format. I've been playing a Warrior this morning and the game runs smoothly on my modern Windows 10 machine.

Q: Do you know if there is a way to run this mod in borderless full screen windowed mode? It offers several HD resolutions, but alt-tabbing does that janky full screen thing. I tried putting my cnc-ddraw files from D2 in that game folder, but it doesn't seem to pick it up.

@fearedbliss It's probably only a matter of time before we see D2 & LoD appear on GOG. And it would be DOPE if you were mentioned or featured in some way! Currently I have GOG installers of Diablo 1, Warcraft 1, and Warcraft II BNET Edition. I'd also love to see the original Starcraft and Warcraft III ROC & TFT make it there someday. 🙏
 
cnc-ddraw won't work with Belzebub/Tcherno because they don't use DirectDraw or even DirectX at all, it uses OpenGL+SDL. For all intents and purposes, it is not a mod of Diablo but rather a reimplementation of the game from the ground up. You have to keep in mind as well the latest version of Belzebub is from 2014, and was primarily targeting windows xp/7/8, and also uses a version of SDL2 from that time. It's possible they broke/changed something with Windows 10. I'm on W7 and it's working fine for me. One thing you can try is replace the SDL2.dll with the latest version to see if that fixes it. If that doesn't work, you could try Tchernobog which has been updated recently, although it's lacking some things like quests.
 
Manny said:
Today I was pleasantly surprised to find this Diablo 1 overhaul mod on GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/diablo_1_hd_mod_belzebub

According to the store page: Belzebub, or Diablo I HD Mod, is a complex modification for the first installment of the Diablo series, which introduces a number of interesting improvements to the gameplay, a lot of new content and - most importantly - increased resolution.

As a bonus, if you've previously purchased the original Diablo on GOG, it is a FREE download!

Click to expand...
I've found this mod in 2016. Foolishly started with Warrior, got him to Torment terror domain and just can't finish it in 1 hour. Frustrated, I started a twinked Rogue, which was like a breeze and finished the game with her in maybe two days.

The thing with this mod... it's so unbalanced. Sorcerer is the best starting character, however in torment difficulty enemies get ridiculous immunities so progression becomes a chore. Melee characters without a good weapon always struggle and in Torment monsters have silly high Armor Class, you basically need to have weapon with "Ignore Target Defense" affix (only some Unique weapons have them) otherwise you can't hit the enemy. With Rogue, when you get a Heartseeker bow it's an easy ride.

Itemization! In endgame, crafted items are basically BiS (rings, amulets, belts, maybe helms), but number of available affixes and their values are insane and you are at the mercy of RNG, weeks can go by without getting anything decent. I have no wish to spam that "Craft Item" button to oblivion to have a chance to finish the game. In my view, best items should be found by playing the game.

Currently, I'm just playing Rogue here and there to finish Holy Grail and find Redeemer battle hammer to help finish Warrior's torments lol.

Rant over.
 
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@Reinhardt Maybe it was a rant, but it had some good info, lol. I had no idea that anyone on the forum has played this mod so extensively. Funny thing is I started with a Warrior too, lmao. You almost made me question that decision but I think I am going to stick with it, and see how far I can make it. If anything I will look at it as additional motivation. I love a good challenge, and the old school "sword & board" type of characters. Actually you kind of reminded me of how it was in 2005 when I rolled an Orc Warrior as my first character in Vanilla WoW. That was a very long grind to level 60, and it typically seemed like everyone else (besides maybe the Priests?), were breezing by me, and having a more forgiving experience.

What you shared regarding the itemization definitely sounds less than ideal too. So, would you say it's pretty much impossible to finish the game with drops alone, for a Warrior, in your opinion?

Thanks for your post and those insights!
 
Manny said:
@Reinhardt Maybe it was a rant, but it had some good info, lol. I had no idea that anyone on the forum has played this mod so extensively. Funny thing is I started with a Warrior too, lmao. You almost made me question that decision but I think I am going to stick with it, and see how far I can make it. If anything I will look at it as additional motivation. I love a good challenge, and the old school "sword & board" type of characters. Actually you kind of reminded me of how it was in 2005 when I rolled an Orc Warrior as my first character in Vanilla WoW. That was a very long grind to level 60, and it typically seemed like everyone else (besides maybe the Priests?), were breezing by me, and having a more forgiving experience.

What you shared regarding the itemization definitely sounds less than ideal too. So, would you say it's pretty much impossible to finish the game with drops alone, for a Warrior, in your opinion?

Thanks for your post and those insights!
Click to expand...
I don't shy away from challenge myself that's why I pushed through almost to the end. I don't want for this to sound like it was all bad, I had many fun and also frustrating moments with the game.

In endgame, for warrior it's important to have critical hit chance close to 100% and critical damage as high as possible. Crafted rings, amulets, belts and some helms help greatly with that... otherwise, I don't think you can finish it. I started crafting in Hell difficulty with tier 3 recipes to cover my weak points and continued trying to the bitter end.

If you need some advice ask and I'll see if I can help. Also I can post character sheet and items if you need further motivation, lol.

Godspeed!
 
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@Reinhardt Ok that's good to hear. And I'd love to see a character sheet & items, lol. Feel free to post here or in a new thread! Thanks bro. 👊
 
I hope pics won't be too big, I'll break this in more posts.
Crafted items aren't fully optimized.

Warrior - first setup, big AC armor:
aidan.s1.sheet.png


Main skill damage:
aidan.s1.skill.PNG


All items:
aidan.s1.allitems.png
 
Warrior - second setup, lower AC but higher damage:
aidan.s2.sheet.png


Main skill damage:
aidan.s2.skill.PNG


All items:
aidan.s2.allitems.png
 
Those screenshots are DOPE @Reinhardt! They help me see what is possible. I love the art of Diablo I & II. You have amazing items on both characters. 🤩
 
And I just learned that the max level in this mod is 60... :cool:
 
Manny said:
Those screenshots are DOPE @Reinhardt! They help me see what is possible. I love the art of Diablo I & II. You have amazing items on both characters. 🤩
Click to expand...
I know, I love them as well. The overall mood, feel, artwork and music of these games always pull me back. I don't need other games, with these I'm good.
 
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