[GUIDE] VMware + D3 | they way it shoud be done

[kotanus]

When I hit enter I my diablo starts - but it take ages to start up - and when I finally get ingame - I cant join a game ( When I hit start game, after awhile I get this "you are unable to join the game at this time"

Anyone figured out what causes the above issue? its been happening to me and I've already reinstalled a new VM twice already. . . dont know what's the problem.
I have one VM running d3 without MKLINK so I'm not sure if its a problem with the MKLINK.

*Edit* Here's the .bat file I've been using. . everything besides the copy of the Cache folder works. I just copy and paste it manually

mkdir "C:\Diablo III"
mkdir "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3"
mkdir "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC"
mkdir "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs"
mkdir "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\Cache"
copy "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\Cache" "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\Cache"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\ClientData.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\ClientData.mpq"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\CoreData.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\CoreData.mpq"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\HLSLShaders.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\HLSLShaders.mpq"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\Sound.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\Sound.mpq"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\Texture.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\Texture.mpq"
mklink /D "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\Win" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\Win"
mklink /D "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\base" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\base"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\base-Win.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\base-Win.mpq"
mklink /D "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\enUS" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\enUS"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\enUS_Audio.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\enUS_Audio.mpq"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\enUS_Cutscene.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\enUS_Cutscene.mpq"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\enUS_Text.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\MPQs\enUS_Text.mpq"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\realmlist.dtf" "Z:\Diablo III\Data_D3\PC\realmlist.dtf"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\.agent.db" "Z:\Diablo III\.agent.db"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\BattlenetAccount.url" "Z:\Diablo III\BattlenetAccount.url"
mklink /D "C:\Diablo III\Bnet" "Z:\Diablo III\Bnet"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Diablo III Launcher.exe" "Z:\Diablo III\Diablo III Launcher.exe"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Diablo III.exe" "Z:\Diablo III\Diablo III.exe"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Diablo III.mfil" "Z:\Diablo III\Diablo III.mfil"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Diablo III.tfil" "Z:\Diablo III\Diablo III.tfil"
mklink /D "C:\Diablo III\InspectorReporter" "Z:\Diablo III\InspectorReporter"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Launcher.db" "Z:\Diablo III\Launcher.db"
mklink /D "C:\Diablo III\Logs" "Z:\Diablo III\Logs"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Manual.url" "Z:\Diablo III\Manual.url"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.manifest" "Z:\Diablo III\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.manifest"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\SetupWin.mpq" "Z:\Diablo III\SetupWin.mpq"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\TechSupport.url" "Z:\Diablo III\TechSupport.url"
mklink /D "C:\Diablo III\Updates" "Z:\Diablo III\Updates"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\fmodex.dll" "Z:\Diablo III\fmodex.dll"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\icudt49.dll" "Z:\Diablo III\icudt49.dll"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\icuin49.dll" "Z:\Diablo III\icuin49.dll"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\icuuc49.dll" "Z:\Diablo III\icuuc49.dll"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\ijl15.dll" "Z:\Diablo III\ijl15.dll"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\msvcp100.dll" "Z:\Diablo III\msvcp100.dll"
mklink "C:\Diablo III\msvcr100.dll" "Z:\Diablo III\msvcr100.dll"

mklink /D "C:\ProgramData\Battle.net" "Z:\ProgramData\Battle.net"

 

[loko]

Having some sort of lags, can't figure out why. WM cpus are at 20%, memory at 40% and it lags.. If i add another WM - lags more, though both host and clones are far from maximum cpu and memory usage. What can be the problem?

I had similar problems getting WoW VMs running on a linux host(ARCH) w/ VMPlayer9. At first I couldn't hold a connection on one VM.

solution1:
I got an SSD and that solved the problem.

After that I was only able to run 2 VMs and I had to be very careful what I did on my PC, VMs would constantly lock up and crash.

solution2:
OP recommends adding the following to the vmx file:

mainMem.useNamedFile=FALSE
MemTrimRate=0
prefvmx.minVmMemPct = "100"
prefvmx.useRecommendedLockedMemSize = "TRUE"
sched.mem.pshare.enable = "FALSE"

For whatever reason one/some combination of these commands were causing performance problems (remember I'm on linux with the 3.6 kernel). removing this allows me to run 3 VMs smoothly... need more accounts to test more.
(if anyone has insight on why this is happening I would love to hear it)

Other notes:
Considering the I/O related bottle neck I was experiencing I added some additional commands to the vmx:
logging="FALSE"
snapshot.disabled="TRUE"

I don't think snapshots are enabled by default but what the heck.

Also, if you are having mouse trouble (jumpy/ultra sensitive) check this gem out:
VMware Fusion Release Notes

^^^also helps performance, I get big CPU bursts when mousing in/out of the VMs and when you have several up and mouse over them it was causing lock ups for me. requiring explicit input grabbing solves the problem.

i5-2500k, 8GBram, 60GB SSD, 1TB RAID 1, Nvidia 680

 

[m0rph3x]

No mouse problems. Thx for advice, i will try editing vmx file

 

[cyt]

I'm having troubles actually getting the demonbuddy client to work, it'll open but it won't let me click on login for some reason? I'm guessing there's something wrong with my demonbuddy.bat, can someone post their .bat for the US version of D3? I'd greatly appreciate it. I've been having troubles for about 3 days now. :/

Or if someone could help me make my own .bat for demonbuddy, seeing as I have no clue on how to make it myself, maybe if I had some guidelines I could do it.

 

[FML]

my diablo 3 runs smoothly at 120 fps while idling ingame. when db start to fight, fps will spike and go down like crazy, until there are single frames for 3-5 seconds each.

running act3 champ farming with barb in windows7 (standard) vm, on SSD raid0.

any advice?

 

[m0rph3x]

Ok, now i know what was the problem. Don't know why, but it is video card.... It seems like VM does not use it, but it does. Just changed mine for friends and 7 VM+main all with d3 running give no lags. Previously 3 VM and 3 D3 was starting to give me lags.

 

[NHK]

I've done everything mentioned in the guide, but even after like 10th reinstalling of VM i still cannot open D3.exe properly.
After countless missing .dll files (found them already) and launching "C:\Diablo III\Diablo III.exe" -launch in cmd i can only get D3 logo and message (in Russian) that "data flow connection, which is needed to update and repair Diablo 3 files, cannot be established. Check your Internet connection settings".
This is the best result i can get.
I have disabled the firewall, and haven't yet installed any AV software. Internet access in both VM-host and VM-guest machines is OK, there is no problem. VM-host runs D3 client just fine without such errors.

Is there any specific network settings i need to adjust in VM setup? By default i have Virtual Machine settings>Hardware>Network adapter>NAT:Used to share the host's IP address. If i try to switch do different network settings (bridged connection) it doesn't help. Maybe someone had similar problem previously?
OS: Win7 Ultimate x86 (tryied to install Win XP SP3, but doesn't recognise mklink command).

 

[ad3ddd]

I did the whole guide and it works beautifully. Now that i tried to actually bot, i find out that there is an error with DB :< CLICK FOR PIC. The game runs stable, the bot however crashes with this error. It happens after you put in the key and the game blinks couple of times.

I also found this topic with people having the same issue http://www.thebuddyforum.com/demonbuddy-forum/demonbuddy-support/76365-application-error.html I would love to see shaliuno's thoughts on this. Greetings

By copying the DB folder to the guest i was able to make it work. I would like to be able to keep it centralized tho.

 

[kettlecorn]

Quick questions for anyone who can answer:

1) I understand the concept of linking the VMwares so you don't have to install Diablo 3 on each VMware but does that affect performance at all compared to just running however many instances of VMWare each with D3? I ask cause my computer is pretty good, it's i5-2500k with GTX460 overclocked video card and 8gb ram but with only Chrome open on host and only ONE Vmware running D3 and Demonbuddy, it is so slow. The host is sort of slow but VMware is even SLOWER. I tried increasing the ram to 2gb from 1gb, also did all the windows optimization stuff mentioned and while that did help, it's impossible to open control panel or something while D3 is running cause of the lag. It ends up killing my character. If linking to host's Diablo 3 source will help with performance, I'll definitely go the extra mile and get it done!
Or could it just be that I need more ram. I have 8gb and right now it says 6gb/8gb is being used up. I also am running triple displays (2 monitors for the GTX460 and 1 with onboard HD3000). The Vmware video card is running VMware Saga3d so I dont know if it's utilizing my graphics card at all.

2) There is no problem with running more than 1 instance of Diablo 3 from the same installation directory? Will it have write permissions or "being used by another source" issue or is it okay because it's all mainly "read"?

3) And no problem with unique ID and same IP for blizzard when linking and using shared directory right?

 

[m0rph3x]

1) Looks like my problem. Change VGA
2) No problem
3) No problem, check OP guide for more info

 

[kettlecorn]

1) Looks like my problem. Change VGA
2) No problem
3) No problem, check OP guide for more info

Cool thanks.

What do you mean by change VGA?
Its running much better now but I had to increase the RAM to 3gb and overclock my CPU to 3.7 ghz from the stock 3.3 ghz. I'm only running 1 instance of Vmware but not sure how people handle 2 or 3 at the same time. At 3gb each that's so much ram. The graphics driver in VMware hasn't changed for me.

 

[m0rph3x]

Check perfomance in the task manager. 1-1,5 ram and 1 core is enough for VM. If your VM and host cpu and ram are not at max - then it is VGA problem. If they are at max - you did sth wrong.
I had same problem but with host and 3 VMs running 4 copies of diablo. What i needed to run 8 copies was 256bit 2gb 1ghz VGA. I had GF GTX 650 (128bit) before and it did not work.

 

[cpucpu]

Hi Guys,

I got diablo running in the VM and all but whe I try run Demonbuddy I get this

[21:56:09.006 N] Demonbuddy v1.0.1194.285 started
[21:56:11.759 N] Logging in...
[21:56:13.888 N] Error attaching to Diablo III, Reason:System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'fasmdll_managed.dll' or one of its dependencies. The specified module could not be found.
File name: 'fasmdll_managed.dll'
at Zeta.MemoryManagement.ExternalProcessReader..ctor(Process proc)
at Zeta.ZetaDia.TryInitialize(Process proc, String& reason)

Both batch files ran and all good. ANY HELP PLS.

 

[buttsmagee]

REM Make directories mkdir "C:\Diablo III" mkdir "C:\Diablo III\Data_D3" mk - Pastebin.com

 

[NHK]

Finally fixed the problem with "data flow connection" (not even sure what caused it in the first place).
Now i'm finally able to launch both D3 and DB on VM-guest, but the freezes are just terrible. If there are more that 5 mobs on the screen fps drops to 0 all the time. On host PC D3 runs just fine.
I've allocated 1.5 GB RAM and 1 CPU/2 cores to VM-guest, and set all graphic features in D3 to bare minimum (not just on guest but on host PC as well). It seems that it isn't enough although the guide suggests otherwise.
Host PC config is Phenom X4 955 BE, 6 GB DD3 RAM, HD 6850 Win7 64 (set 32bit Win7 on VM guest - maybe this is the problem, OS on both PCs should be the same?) .
What am I doing wrong?

Update: I've just set the D3 process priority in TM to above normal and looks like the problem is solved (for now).
Maybe this will be helpful for someone who is experiencing fps freezes.

 

[ad3ddd]

Guys, a new problem emerged. The VM is running pretty smoothly with DB and everything, been botting for days flawlessly. At a certain point i decided to start the other copy of d3 i got installed on my host and just log in and play my main char for a bit. That is when i discovered that the VM is frozen with a white screen. I tried to ctrl alt insert, but it is so damn laggy. Any idea what might be causing that ? When i suspend and than resume the VM, after a while it starts working normally. It kinda feels like the old win xp lags/spikes/freezes if you know what i mean Hopefully someone knows what's goin on.. What freaks me out is that there is nothing common between the separate installs of d3 besides them both being on the same physical drive on my pc. Actually i have them both placed in E: and VM is there as well. Could that be causing the issues?

Edit: i just moved the copy of d3 to c: (away from vm and the copy that vm uses) and it seems to be working properly now.

Edit 2: turns out this wasn't the cause of the problem. looks like every time i click DIRECTLY on to VM window., this happens. if i first minimize d3 on the host and THEN click VM window, everything seems to be fine. awkward ..

Edit 3: today it happened as i was watching a movie in KM player.. looks like it's a VGA problem of some kind, too bad i don't know how to diagnose it any help would be much appreciated. p.s. it happens rarely now, still wondering what's the hell is goin on

 

[jayjayjay123]

Hi, I've tried every .bat file posted here, and when I look on vmguest in C:\ I am able to see the C:\Diablo III folder... and all the files and directories are inside it. However, every file is 0 kb. When I try to double click Diablo III.exe, it just says the spsecified path doesn't exist?? Also because my C: drive is only 5 gb, will it be able to copy everything over from the Z: folder? I think I don't understand whats the point of copying it from Z: to C:?

 

[Valen]

which operating system is best to use on the guest, 32bit or is 64bit better?

 

[FrenchBot]

Hi, I've tried every .bat file posted here, and when I look on vmguest in C:\ I am able to see the C:\Diablo III folder... and all the files and directories are inside it. However, every file is 0 kb. When I try to double click Diablo III.exe, it just says the spsecified path doesn't exist?? Also because my C: drive is only 5 gb, will it be able to copy everything over from the Z: folder? I think I don't understand whats the point of copying it from Z: to C:?

The point of symlinks is not to copy over folders to gain space.
The 0kb size is normal, and it's also normal that you can't run the exe by double clicking it (windows explorer symlink bug)

which operating system is best to use on the guest, 32bit or is 64bit better?

64bit takes up way more resources, so go for 32 bit

 

[NHK]

Hi, I've tried every .bat file posted here, and when I look on vmguest in C:\ I am able to see the C:\Diablo III folder... and all the files and directories are inside it. However, every file is 0 kb. When I try to double click Diablo III.exe, it just says the spsecified path doesn't exist??

Open cmd (command prompt) and type in: "C:\Diablo III\Diablo III.exe" -launch
For some reason I was able to run D3 only this way, nothing else works.
Also, be prepared for a longer load time than usual (on your host PC).