Pre-Diablo IV installation advice, based on past experience with Beta's and Slam

PC General Discussion
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Hello,

Those that want to minimize issues installing Diablo IV come launch time in June, refer to the following steps. Please note they are not in a specific order, but should be done prior to initial installation.

System:

  • Make sure to fully remove the previous Beta’s/Slam from your system. Use the uninstall from the client (you may need to choose the beta/slam from the drop-down menu) then uninstall. If you are unable to uninstall with this method, close the launcher and manually delete the Diablo IV game folder.

  • As a precaution, be sure to also delete the Diablo IV folder from your Documents location. This contains a LocalPref.txt file that retains settings for Diablo IV. This may cause issues with the full launch version if it remains. Again, as a precaution, you should remove the folder, or at least the file. If you have any screen shots saved, you may want to back them up first.
    This folder is NOT removed with the uninstall from the launcher.

  • Once all Diablo IV game files are deleted, you should perform a proper restart of Windows before the next steps. To do this, click the Start button (Windows flag icon) choose the power icon, then choose restart. Do not shut down and turn back on. Most systems are default configured to use fast boot. This will prevent a proper restart of Windows unless you specifically choose Restart. Or disable fast start manually.

  • Next, do a Windows update of your system Be sure to check optional updates for updates to system hardware, like audio drivers, network drivers, etc. If you don’t trust the Windows update at this stage, then you should check with the manufacturer of your system or motherboard for the latest released drivers from them.

  • At this point we need to then check for the latest video card or GPU updates. For Nvidia, go to:

  • https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

  • On their page, choose your graphic card series, then model. For Laptops/Notebooks, pick the Notebook version that matches your hardware. Then choose the OS you are using. You want the game ready version, then do a search. Then download the driver. During install, you can decide what parts of the driver you need. I typically don’t use the GeForce Experience software, but that’s my preference. You can also choose to do a clean install. This will remove any previous custom settings or adjustments. It may not hurt to do this prior to installing Diablo IV, but its up to you.

  • For AMD video cards/GPUs:

  • https://www.amd.com/en/support

  • Here you scroll down and choose your product then GPU card model. The pick list subsets as you pick from each section. Then hit Submit and it will take you to the download page. Choose the version that matches your Windows installation and download. From there follow the steps. If it asks to do a clean install, again, I would recommend it, but its up to you. I’m not as familiar with AMD installation as I am Nvidia’s.

  • So, once the GPU driver has been updated, the next thing you may want to review is running programs while planning to play. Any programs you don’t need, shut down. For example, I run Malwarebytes for my antivirus. I actually exit this when playing games. Not that I have seen an issue, but it’s just the way I work. I will at times run Discord in the background, and bnet may be running in the background. If you have less memory, you want to really consider trimming the running programs.


    Personal hardware recommendations:

  • 16GB of memory. I know it will run on 8, but you are going to be better off with 16 or more. Memory is really pretty cheap for a simple upgrade these days.

  • SSD drive. Its a must. BUT. Make sure the drive you install the game on is not only an SSD but has at least 40-50% of its space available. A full SSD will not perform well and you will shorten its lifespan faster. I am using my C: drive for Diablo IV as its a high speed 1TB NVME SSD. (Kingston Fury with 7000MB/6000MB and yes I tested it to be sure) However any NVME will be fine, and even a SATA based SSD is 4-5 times better than any HDD.

  • CPU: Now I’m not the go to on AMD picks. But for either side, if you want decent performance, then I would go with a Processor from the last 5 or 6 years tops. DDR4 capable, with built in NVME support. 4 core/4 thread minimum. That means i5 or better in the Intel dept.

  • Everything else is left to interpretation. GPU you could probably get away with reasonable performance models from up to the last 8 years and be fine really and be able to do 60FPS at standard HD or better.

  • Once you have those things sorted, be sure to do a final restart, then install your game. Be sure to wait for it to fully install before playing, even if it says you can play before its done. Honestly, I don’t even know why Blizzard still allows this, its kinda counter-intuitive. Anytime I ever tried it, the game either didn’t load, crashed, or ran horribly. lol

Here is a link to some potential known software conflicts that have been posted:

Anyway, hope this helps some of you, feel free to share it. Questions ask below.

As someone has pointed out, following advice of a random poster in the forum is entirely up to you. I do make these suggestions in good faith, but ultimately its up to you to decide if you want to follow them or not. It makes no difference to me personally, but I thought my experience and years of building and repairing systems could be of some benefit. If need be, I have extensive posting experience on Diablo III forums as well. So not new to the forum in general. But either way, good luck and here’s to a decent launch!

Update from 5-31:

Some have found that using the not deleted beta/slam data will allow you to install the game with it only having to download up to 7GB more files rather than up to 90.

While this is helpful, a couple things to keep in mind:

  • Blizzard had stated that you should remove the previous versions.

  • “Patching” the previous version with the latest update may result in issues. Possibly issues with file layout with the CASC file system Blizzard uses that may result in lower performance at least, or load failures at worst.

  • Use of this may help if you are in a data cap situation and don’t want to, or can’t download the full game.

Anyone trying this and getting it to work when launch happens, great. If you have issuses, well, you know what you will have to do.

Thanks,

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If you add a <br> in between each of those bullet points, you get a line break and that makes it a lot easier to read.

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Well that’s a good idea. Soon as I get back to my office I’ll do that. Kind of difficult to do that from the phone. :joy:

Been working real hard this week doing my real job. Installing security cameras.

Yep, that looks a lot better. Thanks!

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You might want to move this to the General Discussion forum instead. It will get a LOT more traffic and will generate more discussion. You can always move it back if you need to.

To do that use the edit pencil in your first post and from the drop down forum list select General Discussion.

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neat tricks but let’s be real. if blizzard did their job right all this would be futile.

if any of this is needed blizz sucks at their job no?

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Most of this is common sense. Meaning things I would do for any new big title, not just Blizzard.

But the removal of the old versions is the key point, especially the prefs file. That could cause issues, as it would retain the settings from the betas/slam.

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Most of it is basic computer/software maintenance that users are supposed to do. No game company can accommodate every single hardware and software combo users might have, and users do need to have some responsibility for their own setup.

Blizzard provides much of this in Support articles if people want to look for them by the way. Example would be the System requirements they always provide.

The other thing that is not in there, and that may be relevant, is that some software is not currently playing nicely with D4. It came up in the Betas and may come up in release.

This is the Blue post they are using in replies.

-Game keeps crashing - Server Slam - #4 by Joynueer

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Guess it’s finally time to upgrade from Windows 3.11

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i guess i’m expecting too much. were not there yet i suppose.

was expecting the installer to figure it out and clean what it won’t need anymore.

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Ah, yes. Ideally it SHOULD. I have never had an issue with it. However, some people have and it is never a bad idea to double check to insure someone has a clean download.

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While generally the bnet client does ok, it does mess up sometimes.

There are some that couldn’t use it to uninstall the beta/slam.

And the launcher never removes the folders or their contents from the Documents location, or not that I have ever seen. Which was why I mentioned it.

With all the issues regarding graphical settings and concerns there, it may be prudent to remove that LocalPrefs.txt file, just to be sure. It forces the game to replace it with a default copy.

This will remove any in-game customization you may have done, but when going from a beta to the final, its a small price to pay to ensure no issues at launch. And frankly, I’m surprised that there was no mention of this even being considered or put into the installation routine as a precaution by Blizzard.

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Please do not trust random people on the forum telling you to delete items off your computer.

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Not a bad suggestion.

Thankfully, I’m only suggesting deletion of items related to the game. Nothing related to the system itself or that would otherwise cause a problem for the computer.

Now updates can occasionally be a mixed bag and might cause an issue once in a while, but that also can be undone if needed, or not done at all, unless it is needed.

But no one has to take my word alone. You all can do research and review the items I describe and make your own decisions.

Thanks for pointing it out though!

I have noted that before. Its funny though, I was running that software on my ITX build and not having any issues as a result, but still. Its good to know that it might be causing problems.

Will add a note.

I always loved that OS.

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During the betas and the SS I noticed that while in D4 that after a while the game would start to lag real bad and stutter so I’d exit out of the game and notice that the BNet client errored on me which affected the game. It’s very weird behavior and it also happens to me while I played D3 as well, so it’s something to do with the BNet client.

Fortunately there is an option in the BNet settings to set BNet to exit when it starts a game, after that I never had anymore issues. Strange because I have no idea what BNet is trying to do in the background that it has trouble with.

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Interesting.

More interesting.

That’s one way of fixing it.

Well, its funny you bring this up.

First off, are you running 8GB of memory or less? This is one possible reason, you are actually running out of memory and bnet (which is a hog) runs into issues.

Secondly, there could be an issue with your bnet installation. Most of the time I don’t see issues with it, but one time a few years back I did. It would gobble memory and die. I ended up fully uninstalling it, rebooting and reinstalling it from a fresh downloaded copy.

The other thing to try, if you are running the “beta” version, switch back to the live version. Or try going the other way. But ultimately, it shouldn’t be causing that much issue, unless you are low on memory or there is a problem with its install.

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No that’s not the issue, I’ve got 64gb of memory.

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Then it has to be an issue with its installation someplace. You shouldn’t be having that problem.

When did this start and when did you apply your fix?

The current live version is 2.20.1.14132

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It started way before D4 came to betas, it started with D3 one day. Just out of the blue one day it started to act up, anyways it’s not a big deal anymore because I set it to close when I start a game and all is well.

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Well, just something to keep in mind. A fresh install of it may fix it too, in case it has a damaged file or something.

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