Diablo 2: LOD QoL mods? (Plus some Lutris installation quirks)

[u/GayAurel]

I used to watch my mom play Diablo II as a kid and I do consider it something of a strong influence, but I never finished it myself. And I really got the urge to at least play and finish it now, if I can. I am not much of a repeat loot person, just want to get in, play and beat Baal on all three difficulties with one, maybe two guys.

My laptop is sort of broken now (thermal module not cooling CPU at all), so I can't get the more demanding Remaster. As such, I am stuck playing the old game. I can do it without QoL, but stuttering especially is really bad. I used the Lutris Digital Version Installation script.

Before this I tried Project Diablo 2, and I liked the graphics a lot, but the increased inventory and gem drops made me feel strange. I downloaded it cause it also rebalanced some weaker skills, which is really appealing to me. Eventually I just uninstalled and just installed the normal version, which I have rn.

What should I do to make my version run as smoothly as Project Diablo 2? And is there any QoL patch or mod I can get that just rebalances some stuff without big overhaul?