When I tried installing Diablo 2 and the expansion pack on my intel Mac, it kept telling me “You cannot open the application Diablo II Installer because it is not supported on this system”.
After doing some research, I found out that this is b/c the older CD’s do not include an OSX installer, they are OS9 which isn’t supported on intel Macs. Luckely, there’s a workaround for this:
On the Blizzard site you can download the OSX Native Installer (which also includes the latest patches) and then use this to install Diablo II as well as the Lord of Destuction add on (if you have it).
Good luck and see you on the other side 
…
Hi Murdoch,
I’ve just found the same info about the macbooks cards. As i posted here on July 20th, i knew that diablo only works in 256 colors but i didn’t know that the option was disabled for Nvidia! With the patch, it’s possible to run it in thousands of colors but i guess it still need to have 256 colors option enabled.
I don’t know if it will be enough to give you a little hope, but i can only say that i hope Diablo 3 will come out sooner than expected. Rumours says it’s suppose to come out in about 2 years. Everyone will be able to run that one!
About running diablo in windows using bootcamp, you have nothing to lose if you wanna try it, but since you will still use the same Nvidia card without 256 colors, i would be surprise if it works. It’s not an operating system problem but really the card driver itself!
So for right now we’re just screwed in terms of playing if we updated our computer? or is there a workaround?
If you don’t have a video card with 256 colors option, unfortunately, i’m sorry to say that you are right about being screwed and, don’t even bother to install Diablo 2 because it just won’t work!
Diablo is an old game and it needs a video card that can still support old configuration options!
Hi I’m having a problem where.. i downloaded the native installer program and click ont he LOD standard install. It installs all the normal D2 cds and when it comes down to installing LOD, before it finishes the installation I get an error saying:
The file “/Volumes/Lord of Destruction/Support/Diablo II Expansion Speech” could not be read, because an error -36 occurred. (InstallerFile::Read)
Does anybody have a quick fix? the LOD CD works for my brother’s computers but when it comes down to this Macbook, the installation stops.
Please email me, yeah? dhung12@gmail.com
Hi Darren, honestly i don’t know why you get this error message:
The file “/Volumes/Lord of Destruction/Support/Diablo II Expansion Speech†could not be read, because an error -36 occurred. (InstallerFile::Read)
But what i know is that since you wanna install it on a macbook , you should check if your video card can support 256 colors before you install diablo because it only works in that mode and if you don’t have it, don’t waste your time to install the game because it just won’t work at all! Sorry for the bad news!
Hi all,
just replying here because I think I’ve got something to share: I installed D2 on my iMac (intel). It worked. Now, that I’m trying to reinstall, it doesnt work. So, like everyone else here writes, it’s up to the latest MacOS-version.
However, I can still play my old installation. So, the GAME works, just not the installation. So here’s the thing: if someone who has done the full install just ZIP that folder and put it up as a Torrent we should be fine. Or? Feels like it would work. I dont know how that affects the serial-number though, do they get shipped along? In that case maybe it’s not such a hot idea….
Oh, maybe I didnt have anything to contribute to in the end anyway.
/ A
Hi All,
If you go to Blizzard.com and register for an account, register your copies of D2 and D2:LOD, you can download the updated versions of the programs directly from Blizzard’s website. That way you don’t have to deal with the installer. Just be prepared to wait for the download. D2 is 1.51GB and depending on your connection speed, it may take a while to download the software.
Happy Hunting!
Hi Carrie,
thnx a lot for that info!
D/ld both of them and I still get the same error. D2lod starts to bounce for a second then says it has an odd error.
I have the same problem as Snuggles, the program always “quits unexpectedly” whenever I try to run it.
Hi,
Do you have a mb or mbp with an NVIDIA card in it?
Like mentioned in one of the comments above:
“I’ve been looking into it. seems the problem is macbooks cards
“The problem is that Apple disabled 256 color modes for Nvidia cards in the latest updates to Leopard. And Diablo II? Well, it runs is 256 colors, so it’ll crash immediately on startup. It’s a simple fix, but it’s Apple’s problem, unfortunately. They need to re-enable 256 color support in their Nvidia display drivers—
I still have an older mb, no nvidia card in it yet.
I have tried virtually EVERYTHING to try and get Diablo 2 to play, and quite frankly I am fed up. I have visited every website, downloaded every patch, followed instructions to the Tee, and every attempt gets my hopes up only to smash them to pieces. This is the most difficult installation of a game in history, and for a game which the minimum requirements are pathetic. I would hope that Mac would find a solution, and yet here I am………ranting here.
Well, if you have an NVIDIA card in your mb, you’ll indeed need to wait till Apple does something about the display driver.
… that’ll probably solve the problem + embark us on a whole new adventure. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel 
Maybe some consolation, they say D3 will come out this year
I also tried to install Diabolo on my INtel but it just doesn’t work. I tried all the patch ups but then it just won’t read the CDs no more. I cleaned the CD drive about a hundred times now but it always ejects the CDs right after I put them in. So I can not even install it. I tried to install it on my sisters mac (which isn’t an intel) and to copy it on my computer. But again I need the CD. What can I do?? Any suggestions?
Blizzard have removed the native installer for Diablo II from their site. All their tech support pages direct to instructions regarding how to download the full os x-compatible game via battle.net once you’re entered in your CD-key. The native installer is also not available in the blizzard online store (I have checked). I do not want to download the game via battle.net because it is over 1Gb and in the country in which I reside it would be very expensive to download that much data. I have emailed Blizzard tech support, but have not had a response as of yet.
Does anyone know of a site which hosts the Native Install for Diablo II plus Diablo II Expansion? I’m running OS 10.5.8 on an intel core 2 duo macbook pro.
Update:
I managed to find the Native Install after much searching (below). The link is nowhere on blizzard’s site.
http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/diablo2/patches/Mac/Diablo_II_Installer.dmg
If you’re running OS 10.x.x, just download this file (25mb) and run it with the 1st Diablo II cd in the drive. Select full install. It will ask you to change CDs as it installs the game. Then run the game and select multiplayer and connect to battle.net to download the patch automatically. Easy as pie!
I’m not sure for how long it’s been there, but for the past month or 2 (which is still lot newer than the last comment here) Diablo 2 is widely available to download on b.net, if you’ve got the CD-KEY.
I just went there, registered myself, download the game, and played it with no major issues ( tho some very minor issues do exist, if you care to read http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=9637195&posted=1#post9637195 )
There’s no need to go to that FTP, and no need at all for CDs. But if you don’t have the CDs, or the big files somewhere, it will be some 1 or 2 GB to download, and that’s a lot of bytes. Should take at least 1 hour for most internet connections, basing that most are about 500kbps to 2mbps ones.