I’ve spent quite a lot of time trying to get The Hell mods running on Linux. Finally today I managed it. I wrote up some instructions (below) and provided the special Wine prefix were required to get the game running. Please let me know if you have any issues or have suggestions for improvement!
It was very difficult to find a way to run this on Linux - so I wrote this guide to help others who I know have also beat their heads against the table. The trick which finally allowed me to run it was I lucked into building a Wine prefix which is apparently crucially important to running the game. I have no idea what makes this Wine prefix special, but I’ve tested it on four computers (Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, & Pop!OS) and it works on them all.
Downloads
You need the following four files
The mod: TH3_vx.xxxx.zip, and music pack: TH3_music_vx.x.zip
Available on the game CD-ROM, a copy from GOG, etc.
Wine setup and install
We’ll create the Wine prefix, install The Hell into that prefix, and then set up Lutris to point to it. This guide will create the prefix at ~/Games/diablo-the-hell, but you can put it elsewhere if you like.
Unpack the wine prefix file diablo-the-hell-wine-prefix.tar.xz to ~/Games/diablo-the-hell
Create a Windows folder for the game. You can use the UI or the terminal: mkdir ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/
Unzip the mod file TH3_vx.xxxx.zip to ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/
Unzip the music file TH3_music_vx.x.zip to ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/
Copy diabdat.mpq to ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/
Open ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/config.ini and make the following changes:
set DDraw onVery important!!
set fps 60 Limits frames per second (optional)
set startvideo off Skips opening cinematic on startup (optional)
set screenwidth 1920 Sets resolution width (optional)
set screenheight 1080 Sets resolution height (optional)
Lutris config
Press + to add a new game, and set the following:
Name: "Diablo - The Hell"
Runner: Wine
Click Game Options, set the following:
Executable: ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/TH2.exe (for The Hell 2), or ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/drive_c/Program Files/diablo-the-hell/TH3.exe (for The Hell 3)
Wine prefix: ~/Games/diablo-the-hell/
Click Save
Optional, if the game art doesn’t auto-populate:
Right Click on “Diablo - The Hell” -> Configure
Next to “Identifier” click Change
Change text to "diablo"
Click Apply -> Save
Click Lutris under “Sources” on the left -> Community Installers
Search for “diablo”, and wait for results to populate (the search downloads the art)
Exit the community installer section
Final thoughts
Important note on running the game: the opening UI menu has a visual bug But with the mouse & arrow keys (& some patience) you can navigate the menus to create a character. Once through the initial screens the game runs perfectly fine.
The special Wine prefix was built using Bottles, however Bottles is not required to run the game (these instructions use Lutris). If anyone can learn what is special about this prefix which makes the game work please let me know!
Despite what I’ve read online this mod works fine with DXVK. I don’t recommend disabling DXVK in Lutris when running the mod (contrary to what others have).
In case anyone asks: the specific Wine version doesn’t seem to matter. I had success with: lutris-GE-Proton8-8, lutris-7.2-2, and soda-7.0-4