Just got the game on sale and found that the GOG-enhanced version CTDs and/or freezes once I get to the main menu. I get as far as the character select but no further than that.

The classic version actually seems to work fine.

Here are my PC specs. It's a Lenovo Legion 7i running on Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060.

Device name AnotherComputationDevice
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.59 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)
Device ID 6B001124-7A81-4FF8-BAE4-E0F3B79F0CF1
Product ID 00325-81966-76596-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch Pen support

The refresh rate is permanently (repeat *PERMANENTLY*) 144Hz, and is totally fixed no matter what application I use, even RivaTuner. So please no suggestions revolving around refresh rate because I cannot change it no matter what--I've unfortunately run into this issue a couple times and found myself unable to play certain games. Sort of a minor issue in Diablo's case as Classic seems to run fine, but I'd like to play the enhanced GOG version if possible.

DevilutionX provides the same enhancments and much more. It even supports running the game at 144hz where GOG is stuck at 20hz

https://github.com/diasurgical/devilutionX#readme

Hz and FPS are two interchangeable unites of measurement. Like milliliters and cups. It's only convention that rendering is usually measured in FPS and refresh rate in Hz

Played through the classic version on GOG and got to be 16 again. What an experience to have 25 years later, but wow the Devilution version... I didn't realize how choppy Diablo was until playing this modern version. Phenomenal. The other two GOG versions, the improved one and Hellfire crash almost every time before even starting so I'm done with the GOG versions. For some reason I just ran Devilution after downloading it and it just started up and worked without me moving any files or anything. I guess it finds the installation on its own. Great work Anders and the Devilution team! Legends.

That's correct, recent versions of DevilutionX will auto detect existing GOG installation. We are currently working on getting the next release ready, it improves the update rate of the player light as well as a long long list of other things.

Sounds great. So far everything is running beautifully. I like that you have made Gillian far more useful with the stash. I also appreciate that you have fixed that odd "LGHTNING RESIST" in the character stats screen. The number of improvements you have made are too numerous to praise here, but I was wondering whether the GOG version came about in the same manner (reinventing the wheel) that your version did? Did you work together or did they also use the Japanese PS1 version file and the debug file from the PC original or did they do something else with Blizzard? I am confused.

The GOG version is just the original 1.09 with a wrapper that handles upscaling and network.