# How do I play Diablo II on Battle.net with 2 computers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-diablo-ii-on-battle-net-with-2-computers/115328 "2002-06-21T20:09:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-diablo-ii-on-battle-net-with-2-computers/115328/1 "2002-06-21T20:09:51Z")
I bought the expansion set and have been having a blast! But now my bro is in town and I’d like to play it with him at the office on 2 computers over [Battle.net](http://Battle.net). I’d also like to just play him 1 on 1, by hosting I assume. BUT, do I have to do anything special so that we can both play on [Battle.net](http://Battle.net) at the same time? I don’t think this is illegal- I can’t see Blizzard expecting a family to buy a full version for every person in the house. I haven’t even tried loading them yet, cuz I don’t know what I should do…Should I load it on the server? Can I just install it on 2 computers and hand the cd back and forth? Will [Battle.net](http://Battle.net) even allow me to log in with 2 people on one cd/account? -Thanks -Tcat ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-diablo-ii-on-battle-net-with-2-computers/115328/2 "2002-06-21T20:50:17Z")
[Battle.net](http://Battle.net) won’t let you log in with 2 people at the same time on 1 cd key. It also doesn’t do well with multiple cd-keys coming in over a NAT\* network, as my roommate and I have discovered. If you’re just playing each other, you can have one machine host a tcp-ip game, and have the other connect to it. You won’t have access to any characters you’ve made on [battle.net](http://battle.net), but you can use any local characters you may have. I don’t remember if Diablo II lets you do a multiplayer-only spawn copy like Starcraft did. If it does, that’s a good course to take, if it doesn’t, then I’m not sure what will work. You might be able to get away with installing a copy on two machines and connect directly, but they might check their cd-keys against each other. I’m not really sure. \*Network Address Translation, where one “official” IP address is shared across a subnetwork. In this case, we have a cable modem connection that we share using a Netgear router. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-diablo-ii-on-battle-net-with-2-computers/115328/3 "2002-06-21T21:02:54Z")
mostly what **buckgully** said… and, if you’re using a lan network with one external ip address (NAT) then you’d have to use one comp over the normal internet connection and the other one would need to dial-up or use an alternate connection to the internet… so, if you wanna play over [battle.net](http://battle.net) (and assuming cd keys don’t pose a problem) one of you would have to dial out to an ISP. if you just wanna play against each other over the lan it’s a lot easier and faster… use the assigned internal ip address… most probably in the format 192.168.0.x use winipcfg to confirm ---
**Author:** ![Nanook\_of\_the\_North\_Shore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Nanook\_of\_the\_North\_Shore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanook_of_the_North_Shore)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-diablo-ii-on-battle-net-with-2-computers/115328/4 "2002-06-22T02:55:33Z")
I have no problems logging onto Bnet with 2 pcs and 1 IP address. As long as you have 2 CDkeys(which you don’t and is the real issue) and 2 seperate accounts you’ll be fine. What BNet won’t let you do is use the same account twice from the same IP. As for the OP, you can’t use Bnet without a second key. Depending how much you play, you could always pick up a copy of the battlechest thats out now. It gives you a second copy of D1, D2, and LOD and keys for all three. If you’re not willing to do that, you’ll have to play TCP/IP with a no-cd crack on one of the machines. And no, D2/LOD does not allow you to spawn, they removed that after Hellfire. ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-play-diablo-ii-on-battle-net-with-2-computers/115328/5 "2002-06-22T13:06:56Z")
Here’s a question: If you need 2 CD keys, can I just buy the LOD expansion and use the original DII twice? So load Diablo II twice with the same CD-key, then upgrade the 2 computers with 2 seperate LOD disks (with 2 seperate CD-keys)? Cuz, the LOD upgrade is only $25-$30. I can try that… I have a fixed-IP range LAN system, so each of the computers has its own IP address with the last 3 digits between 0-100. Thanks- -T