djavul

Preservation project for an all time classic, Diablo 1.

Note, djavul requires an original copy of diablo.exe and diabdat.mpq. None of the Diablo 1 game assets are provided by this project.

Project aim and objectives

The aim of this project is to provide an open source reference re-implementation of the Diablo 1 game engine.

To achieve this aim, the following objectives have been identified.

Develop an understanding of the inner workings of the Diablo 1 game engine (subproject notes).
Convert the original game assets to file formats with open specifications (subproject formats).
Provide a framework of extensive test cases for comparing the re-implementation against the original Diablo 1 game engine.
Split the engine into self-contained modules that may be validated and verified independently.
Implement a set of tools around these modules which through interaction provide the functionality of the original Diablo 1 game engine.
Validate that - given a deterministic seed - the re-implementation achieve pixel perfection, by mirroring the mouse and keyboard input and comparing the graphic and audio output against the original Diablo 1 game.

Design

For an overview of the key idea behind this project, refer to the design documentation.

For installation and run instructions, refer to the respective documentation:

Running the Djavul frontend (djavul-frontend.exe) on a Windows 7 host system (left) and the Djavul backend (djavul.exe) on the same system using a modified version of DiabloPatch (right).

Running the Djavul frontend (djavul-frontend) on a Linux host system (left) and the Djavul backend (djavul.exe) on a Windows XP VirtualBox guest (right).