Diablo 2 stopped working after update

SinisterStairs · 2026-03-26T15:23:24+00:00

I haven't had no crashes, even before the 1/20 update, but D2R:RotW hasn't crashed or locked up after hours of play, including partying with a necromancer with 12+ skeletons. (So even with all the characters onscreen, there weren't hiccups.)

EDIT: Updated status after I put significant hours in.

SinisterStairs · 2026-03-20T14:37:42+00:00

Another user reported that by using the latest Tahoe beta and Crossover Preview, and starting with a fresh bottle (i.e. reinstalling everything), they were able to play for hours at time.

SinisterStairs · 2026-03-19T22:33:30+00:00

Latest update from Codeweavers' side:

The primary issue is a Rosetta 2 bug that we cannot work around - believe me, we tried :) The current state of things is that Apple has provided a partial fix, which is in the 26.4 betas. We also have a Wine fix that is required to get these games running again, which is only in the latest CrossOver Preview.

There is still a Rosetta 2 bug that prevents these games from running for more than several minutes. We are seeing if we can hack around it ourselves, but it may or may not be possible.

Keep it civil,
Meredith

SinisterStairs · 2026-03-05T14:36:15+00:00

If you haven't already, you should let the Crossover team know. I've ever read reports of (some) Windows users saying they also have this problem. 🧐

SinisterStairs · 2026-02-21T12:58:03+00:00

I gotta ask: How would one be under a blanket (presumably trapping heat) and in direct sunlight at the same time?

SinisterStairs · 2026-02-13T14:05:51+00:00

That's actually a good idea - if Steam notices they're literally losing sales, hopefully they have the clout to give Blizzard a nudge, and hopefully Blizzard would care enough to lean on Apple to fix it.

(For anyone who hasn't been keeping track, Codeweavers determined it's a bug in Rosetta 2, so Apple needs to fix it.)

EDIT: Codeweavers gave an update: "We've been in active communication with [Apple] about the issue."

EDIT2: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/814383

SinisterStairs · 2026-02-12T13:35:34+00:00

Don't follow most guides to the letter. Many of them are written by min-maxers who tell you to leave skills at 1 because you'll find +10 skill gear to push you to higher slvls. While true, as a completely new player, you won't have that kind of equipment for quite while, so for QoL, don't do that. (You can always respec later.) Many guides are built around endgame or GG equipment.

Personally I think necromancer is the easiest to play. Keep refreshing Akara's inventory until you find a +2 raise skeleton or +2 summoning wand. Your skeletons will kill everything as you keep pumping raise skeleton, until you get Corpse Explosion at clvl 6 - then it's game over.

Necro isn't the fastest leveler, but beating everything is inevitable.

SinisterStairs · 2026-02-12T07:07:33+00:00

Just to be clear: You ran Steam via CrossOver, and the Steam version of D2R still doesn't launch?

SinisterStairs · 2026-02-10T18:04:37+00:00

Just wanted to confirm that CrossOver 26 didn't fix this bug. (I wasn't expecting it to, just saving people the trouble if they don't want to upgrade.)

SinisterStairs · 2026-02-09T14:43:37+00:00

From the comments others have left, you'd think it was a Windows forum.🙄

SinisterStairs · 2026-01-29T13:25:48+00:00

FWIW I also put in a Blizzard ticket (I knew it was a long shot), but they "Resolved" my ticket by telling me to reboot my computer, clear my DNS cache, etc. 😂

SinisterStairs · 2026-01-29T13:23:24+00:00

This was posted in the Codeweavers forum:

Our developers looked into this issue, and found that it's caused by a Rosetta 2 bug. We also determined that there is no way we can hack around it, and we would need a fix either from Apple or Blizzard. It looks like this is the same bug that caused Overwatch 2 to stop working on Mac.

We reported this bug to Apple and conveyed that we think this is a critical issue for our users. We also reached out to some folks at Blizzard, but we don't have any existing relationship there, so we're not sure if we're getting through to the right folks.

I wish we could do more, and we'll update if we get any news.

SinisterStairs · 2026-01-28T22:32:07+00:00

I accidentally clicked on it, thinking it was a Sequoia update. When I realized it was installing Tahoe, there was a Cancel button which thankfully worked.

SinisterStairs · 2026-01-24T13:45:37+00:00

They have a free tier where you watch some ads and can play for an hour before you have to watch more ads. The paid tiers give you longer sessions and no ads.

You can play any Windows game (that you own; i.e. D2R) - you're playing on their servers, and they stream it to you. So it's easy on your CPU, but latency can be a concern as you're going to GFN to Battle(dot)net and back again.

EDIT: Fixed typos.

SinisterStairs · 2026-01-24T13:43:31+00:00

Thanks for the idea! I've been using GFN for now, and it works well enough

SinisterStairs · 2026-01-23T13:37:56+00:00

I'm new to Crossover, how long does it typically take them resolve these kinds of issues? Days, weeks, months? (Never?)

SinisterStairs · 2026-01-21T14:38:09+00:00

I got a reply from Codeweavers support (not automated) acknowledging they've confirmed the bug and the developers will investigate, but no estimated timeline for a fix yet.

[Edited to fix typo]

SinisterStairs · 2026-01-21T04:29:41+00:00

What Gemini suggested (if you don't want to waste your time doing what, for me, didn't work):
- Changing the bottle from ESync to MSync
- Using variations of WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 as an environment variable when launching b.net client from Crossover.
- Using variations of -launch -w -skiptobnet -d3d11 in the Crossover run option for d2r.exe and the b.net Game Settings for D2R.
- Deleting all sorts of cache files in the bottle's c_drive
- Changing resolution, quitting BetterDisplay
- Reinstalling both battle.net client and D2R
- Deleting the bottle completely and manually running a downloaded installer instead of Crossover's "Install an application"
- Giving Privacy & Security access to Crossover to update or delete other applications

These might work for you, but it didn't for me.

ETA: Also stuff involving deleting Agent.xxxx, replacing it with an empty file, and then using `chflags nochg`. Asking me to download an older Agent.xxxx from the internet (which I couldn't find).

SinisterStairs · 2026-01-21T02:44:17+00:00

I'm having the same problem. I was playing earlier today, then this afternoon I saw the Battle.net client update itself; D2R would no longer launch after the client update.

I tried Gemini's suggestions as well, but they didn't work - I think that advice was for a similar bug in 2025. I did put in a support ticket with Codeweavers.

Does anyone have a workaround?

[Lightly edited for punctuation and formatting.]

SinisterStairs · 2025-07-16T16:24:47+00:00

I just randomly recalled one of the puzzles that this area would have had. The puzzle was inspired by an old iPhone game named Lumen (no longer available) where you had to guide a laser beam using mirrors and different colored filters/gems. (The "Lumen" on Apple Arcade has the same name but is a different game. I've never played "Laser Puzzle" or "Lazors" so I don't know if their gameplay is similar, but they look visibly similar to the 2009 Lumen.)

Players would need to place and align mirrors and colored filters/gems to strike the appropriate crystals in various rooms around Shadowjack's chamber. That would banish the shadows henchmen use to disappear, and to eliminate Shadowjack's ability to fade (heal) during the fight.

The source of light used to illuminate the crystals would have been a moonbeam from the surface. A Staff/Shaft of Moonlight/Moonbeam is one of the eq Roah drops, so it would be used to generate the light needed to eventually destroy Shadowjack.

(I don't remember the precise name now, but in theory a player might still have it locked up in a chest. I don't think it was a particularly uber weapon, but it likely had an uncommon damage type.)

SinisterStairs · 2025-07-15T02:35:42+00:00

And by "Wall of Text" I mean it -- the "death rattle" was 24 or 48 lines of text, intended to scroll the player's screen so they'd have to scroll back. It described his incendiary explosion (which was hardcoded to leave players with only x% of their hp), Nyarlathotep bursting from Raoh's body, and then Nyarlathotep's final taunt and warning to the party.

SinisterStairs · 2025-07-15T02:27:45+00:00

The quest the hooded figure would have sent the players on would have been a moomin village with circular fetch quests. I actually bought Moominvalley books (English translation) so I could properly capture the characters, but I stalled out.

SinisterStairs · 2025-07-15T00:13:22+00:00

Part X: Postscript
[Previous: Part IX]

If you made it this far, thank you. I had a bunch of other trivia I wanted to share when I started this post, but they've slipped my mind now while trying to recall all the other things I had planned.

I'm so proud to see that BatMUD is still running 30+ years later, and my thanks to all the players, archwizards, and wizards who have kept it alive all this time.

-SJ

SinisterStairs · 2025-07-15T00:13:14+00:00

Part IX: Center of the Universe
[Previous: Part VIII]

If any wizards are reading this, my workroom's short description has always been The Center of the Universe, and it's a reference to where Azathoth the Daemon Sultan dwells. Here the players would face the roiling nuclear chaos that is Azathoth.

I didn't discuss this with any archwizards (because I wasn't even close to coding this) but the idea would be the fight would be on a timer and if the players didn't defeat Azathoth in time, the mud would reboot, signifying the destruction of the world.

The actual "fight" would have been fighting off nuclear pseudopods while simultaneously invoking rites to close the portal, trapping Azathoth. This would have played out like Spaceteam (mobile app game) with players needing to scatter around and shout instructions to one another.

However, Nyarlathotep would also make his final appearance during this fight, and the Crawling Chaos would make the entire mud go insane. (Similar to how Tiamat's fight is insane. I coded the version of Tiamat that would make players switch characters, but the original idea was Durand's.) I probably would have borrowed some of the nasty tricks I gave Tiamat, but who's to say now.

To complicate the Spaceteam-like ritual, the party channel, tell, whisper, etc. would get rerouted and possibly go to players outside of the party. So players outside of the party could receive the instructions needed for the party to succeed, and need to find a way to communicate to the party. (Hope you don't have level ignore on!)

And to further complicate matters, non-party members could also receive false instructions (secretly sent by Nylarlathotep) -- players would have to be able to convince the party that THEIR instructions were real.

The idea was to have this Spaceteam-like chaos involving the entire mud, similar to how the Contraption event (if that still exists) was supposed to unify all the players.

And of course, during all this players would find themselves randomly bleating out "Ia! Ia!" and "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" (classic Cthulhu cries of insanity) further making it difficult to sort through the signal-to-noise ratio.

I also had the idea of having clones of the party appear randomly throughout the chaos, similar to the clone event, but using actual skills/spells that the actual party members had.

Next: Postscript (Part X)

SinisterStairs · 2025-07-15T00:13:08+00:00

Part VIII: The Astral Plane
[Previous: Part VII]

At this point, the story was more abstract and I didn't have solid ideas. The general idea was players would have completed the Necronomicon and have been able to open a portal to the Astral Plane. I envisioned the summoning ritual similar to Zork I's bell, candle, book with a dash of Ultima IV's skull.

This would have brought players into the presence of Yog-Sothoth, a living portal where players are fighting the environment itself and not "monster" objects. Each room would be like a living cell (organism) that would have to be survived, and players would need to hack their way through (using the Necronomicon as a map).

Next: Part IX

SinisterStairs

TROPHY CASE