The Diablo II patch 1.12 was released today at 1:30pm EST (-5GMT). You can download it by login into the Battle.net realms. This patch marks the new ladder reset and introduces a no-cd patch.  Cheers!

Diablo II Version History

– Patch 1.12
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Downloadable Installer Support

– If all required Diablo 2 ‘.MPQ’ files are installed on the hard drive, the game will no longer require the CD to play.

For users that originally performed a ‘Full Installation’ and wish to run without the CD, all ‘.MPQ’ files should be copied from the Diablo 2 CDs to the Diablo 2 directory. Most users will only need to copy D2Music.mpq from the Diablo 2 Play CD and/or D2xMusic.mpq from the Lord of Destruction CD. Mac users will need to copy these music files and rename them to ‘Diablo II Music’ and ‘Diablo II Expansion Music’ respectively.

Anyone who did not perform a ‘Full Installation’ will need to re-install from CD again to ultimately play without the CD. In this case, a ‘Full Installation’ is required, followed by file
copy step noted above.

Bug Fixes

– Fixed an incompatibility between Rosetta and OpenGL mode on Intel Mac.

Share your comments with other Diablo fans.

UPDATE: Some fans are having problems with making the no-cd feature work. DatH said the following:

Please reinstall the game using the Full Installation method (with the cinematics) to make sure that all 3rd party files are gone from the Diablo II folder. Once it’s done, install the Expansion pack. Once the Expansion pack is installed, go to the Lord of Destruction CD and copy these two files to your Diablo II folder:

d2xvideo.MPQ
d2xmusic.MPQ

Once that’s done, run the game and it’ll get the patch. You won’t need the CD after that.

Personally, I highlighted all the files ending as .MPQ (within the Lord of Destruction CD) and dropped them into the Diablo 2 folder. I clicked NO when it asked me to replace an existing file—only copying those that didn’t exist.  Removed my CD from the CD-Drive, and launched Diablo II.  It worked fine without the CD.