GeekwithEnvy

Windows 10

How to Force Windows 10 To Begin Downloading

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Is your computer already up-to-date and ready to download Windows 10? If so that’s awesome. Except it’s still not downloading right?

Well, we know you’re anxious to get started with Windows 10 (so are we) so here is a quick guide on how to force Windows 10 to begin downloading on Windows 8 and 8.1.  (This guide should also work for Windows 7).

If you would rather just download Windows 10 to a usb drive or DVD you can get the .iso file to do so from Microsoft’s Windows 10 Disc Image page.

1.  First, Go ahead and open up Windows Update. You can do this by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard and then type “Windows Update”. Now go ahead and open Windows Update. (It would be helpful if your computer is completely up-to-date)

step1W10Update

2.  Next, hit the Windows Key on your keyboard again type “cmd”. Right click on “Command Prompt” in the menus to the right and select “Run As Administrator”.

 

3.  With the Command Prompt open, go ahead and type in “wuauclt.exe /updatenow”. Now check on your Windows Update window. You should see that Windows Update is Checking for Updates.Windows10UpdateSS

 

* At this point Windows 10 should begin downloading, if it isn’t , then repeat step 3.

* If you’re having trouble, you may also clear out your Windows Update data under “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download” by deleting all of the files and folders there. Then retry the process.

 

How to Play Diablo II on Windows 10 (Update)

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Running Diablo II on Windows 10 can be a little problematic so here is a quick guide to help smooth things out. This is an update to an earlier post that showed how to run Diablo II on Windows 8. Most of the the information here should carry over to Windows 10 quite well. If you run into any issues, please comment below so that the community or myself can help you out.

DII LOD Cover Art Diablo II Lord Of Destruction
Diablo II Lord of Destruction Cover Art (Blizzard Entertainment®)

This quick “how to” assumes that you have already installed and patched the latest version of Diablo II LOD on your system. If you need patch information you can obtain it through Blizzard’s official patch site.

Here are the steps to take to remove lag and other strange issues with Diablo II LOD on Windows 10.

Before launching the game, right click on the game’s shortcut and select “Properties”, then select the “Compatibility” tab.

Once on the Compatibility tab, select the following options:

  • Check “Run this program in compatibility mode for” and set the value to “Windows XP SP 2/3”
  • Check “Reduced Color Mode” and set to “16-bit (65536) Color”
  • Check “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings”
  • Optional “Run this program as administrator”

Once you dial in these settings click Apply and then OK.

The next step is crucial if you want to reduce or eliminate all of the glitching and lagging that is known to plague Diablo II LOD on Windows 10.

Obtain a 3DFX Glide Wrapper, this is a little application that will allow you to use the Glide interface with Diablo II LOD. I have found that GLIDE3-to-OpenGL Wrapper by Sven Labusch seems to work the best out of any I have tried so far.

Download the files from Sven’s site and read the “ReadMe.txt” file. This will contain the most current instructions for installing and setting up the wrapper. Be sure to re-run the video test after the wrapper is installed and set it to use Glide.

** Note: You Will Also Need to apply compatibility settings to run the Diablo II Video Test (D2VidTst.exe) * *

 

That’s it! Hopefully you will be successful in your attempts to get Diablo running smooth. Just follow the directions closely and have fun!

 

(UPDATE (3-15-21)

 Great news! It appears that in the most recent versions of Windows 10, you may not need to follow this guide. Also, Blizzard is getting ready to release a remastered version of this incredible game. More details from Blizzard.

How To Play Diablo II LOD on Windows 8

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Many of us are enjoying the recent release of Diablo III but some of us still love to play Diablo II Lord of Destruction, and with Windows 8, that can be a little problematic.

Diablo II Lord of Destruction is an outstanding game that became an instant classic when it was released on June 29th in North America. Even over a decade later, Diablo fans still play Diablo II LOD on Battle.net and in single player mode. However, the operating systems we use have changed quite dramatically over the years and with each new version usually comes a new set of problems for gamers who enjoy playing classic titles.

DII LOD Cover Art Diablo II Lord Of Destruction
Diablo II Lord of Destruction Cover Art (Blizzard Entertainment®)

If you have attempted to play Diablo II LOD on Windows 8 you will notice many issues, including some serious lag. Here are a few steps you can take to make sure your Diablo II LOD experience in Windows 8 is just as good, if not better, than it was back in 2001.

This quick “how to” assumes that you have already installed and patched the latest version of Diablo II LOD on your system. If you need patch information you can obtain it through Blizzard’s official patch site.

Before launching the game, right click on the game’s shortcut and select “Properties”, then select the “Compatibility” tab.

Once on the Compatibility tab, select the following options:

  • Check “Run this program in compatibility mode for” and set the value to “Windows XP SP 2/3”
  • Check “Reduced Color Mode” and set to “16-bit (65536) Color”
  • Check “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings”
  • Optional “Run this program as administrator”

Once you dial in these settings click Apply and then OK.

The next step is crucial if you want to reduce or eliminate all of the glitching and lagging that is known to plague Diablo II LOD on Windows 8.

Obtain an 3DFX Glide Wrapper, this is a little application that will allow you to use the Glide interface with Diablo II LOD. I have found that GLIDE3-to-OpenGL Wrapper by Sven Labusch seems to work the best out of any I have tried so far.

Download the files from Sven’s site and read the “ReadMe.txt” file. This will contain the most current instructions for installing and setting up the wrapper. Be sure to re-run the video test after the wrapper is installed and set it to use Glide.

** Note: You Will Also Need to apply compatibility settings to run the Diablo II Video Test (D2VidTst.exe) * *

 

That’s it! Hopefully you will be successful in your attempts to get Diablo running smooth. Just follow the directions closely and have fun!