I play Diablo II in WINE regularly. Here's a few annoying things, and how to not make them annoying.

TCP/IP Game cannot find valid network address
Open /etc/hosts as root ([tt]sudo pico /etc/hosts[/tt]) and make the first line a comment (preappend a [tt]#[/tt]). This will cause you to not be able to use localhost.localdomain, localhost, or your hostname to point to your box, so it's not a great fix, but 127.0.0.* will still be a loopback address.

Pressing ALT and then clicking loot causes nothing to happen / the window to move
This is GNOME-specific, as far as I know. In Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), follow these steps to change the "movement key".
[quote]Open menu item, System --> Preferences --> Windows
Under the section "Movement Key", select Super (or "Windows Logo") or Control.
Press "Close".[/quote]

Clicking outside the D2 window causes D2 to exit the game
Still trying stuff to allow you to move outside the window. To not allow the pointer to exit the window (to prevent accidentally clicking outside), follow these instructions:
[quote]Run winelauncher
Click configure
Open the Graphics tab
Check "Allow DirectX apps to stop the mouse leaving their window"[/quote]

D2 fubars my screen resolution
Run Diablo II in a window by following these instructions:
[quote]Run winelauncher
Click configure
Open the Graphics tab
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Enter the resolution: 800 x 600[/quote]

D2 sound is choppy or lags my computer
This may be specific to the Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) drivers, but follow these instructions to select ALSA:
[quote]Run winelauncher
Click configure
Open the Audio tab
Uncheck all driver checkboxes, and check ALSA[/quote]


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Installing
WINE is really picky about mounting/unmounting CDs while they're in use, so to install D2, insert these two disks:
Diablo II Play Disk
Diablo II Install Disk

To install the expansion pack (LOD), have these two disks in your drive:
Diablo II Play Disk
Diablo II LOD Play / Install Disk

To install cinematics, have the following disks in your drive:
Diablo II Play Disk
Diablo II Cinematics Disk

Alternatively, if you don't have two CD drives, insert each disk and copy all of it's files into a temporary folder and install from there. If you get prompted to overwrite a file, say yes.


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Patching
Patching through Battle.net is a real struggle. It's a lot easier to do it with these following instructions:
[code]cd ~
wget http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/diablo2exp/patches/PC/LODPatch_111b.exe
wine LODPatch_111b.exe
rm LODPatch_111b.exe[/code]

If you're using Diablo II Classic, use these instructions:
[code]cd ~
wget http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/diablo2/patches/PC/D2Patch_111b.exe
wine D2Patch_111b.exe
rm D2Patch_111b.exe[/code]