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Heroes of Might and Magic III

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Revision as of 06:14, 13 February 2019 by Mrpenguinb (talk | contribs) (Removed cleanup heading, it is not necessary anymore. Everything seems to have been done (anyone, feel free to revert this change).)
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Heroes of Might and Magic III cover
Developers
New World Computing
Linux Loki Software
Publishers
3DO
Linux Loki Software
Release dates
Windows February 28, 1999
Mac OS (Classic) December 21, 1999
Linux December 20, 1999
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Heroes of Might and Magic III guide on StrategyWiki
Heroes of Might and Magic III on Wikipedia
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⤏ Go to series page
Subseries of Might and Magic
Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest 1995
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars 1996
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia 1999
Heroes Chronicles 2000
Heroes of Might and Magic IV 2002
Heroes of Might and Magic V 2006
Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East 2007
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes 2011
Might & Magic Heroes VI 2011
Might & Magic Heroes VI: Shades of Darkness 2013
Heroes of Might and Magic III - HD Edition 2015
Might & Magic Heroes Online 2015
Might & Magic Heroes VII 2015
Might & Magic Heroes VII: Trial by Fire 2016
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes - Definitive Edition 2023

This page is for the original version. For the remake, see Heroes of Might and Magic III HD.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Celestial Heavens forums for game series

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
 DRM depending on release location, usually SafeDisc v1.50.020 DRM[Note 1]
Windows
Mac OS
Linux
GOG.com
DRM-free
 Includes multiple bonuses
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Mac OS and Linux

The Mac OS and Linux versions of the game are no longer sold, and existing copies of those are hard to run on modern systems. The easiest solution for running the game on Linux or OS X is buying the Windows version and running it under Wine. Further information on how to do that can be found on AppDB. Alternatively, VCMI can be used to run the game.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Armageddon's Blade On Mac OS only available in Complete Edition.
Windows
Mac OS
The Shadow of Death On Mac OS only available in Complete Edition.
Windows
Mac OS

Essential improvements

Mods

HoMM3 High Resolution Project

Higher resolutions along with 32-bit color support and more fixes.

In the Wake of Gods

An unofficial expansion pack adding further units, resources and easier modding possibilities. The official English website is located under Celestial Heavens. Currently isn't in development any more.

Horn of the Abyss

Another unofficial expansion pack adding more features, units, resources and another town. The official thread on Heroes Community.

VCMI

Not actually a mod, but an attempt at rewriting the whole engine to make it customizable, portable and fully cross-platform. The official website of the project is here.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
As of GOG Galaxy version 1.2, and special HoMM III Complete patch 4.0 (CS)

Video settings

Template:Video settings

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Czech
Retail only.
French
Polish
Russian
Retail only.
Spanish
Fan translation, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
8 Hot seat
LAN play
Online play

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Game crashes unexpectedly after some time

This is caused by a bug in the game, experienced only on multi-core or hyper-threaded processors. Newer GOG.com versions do not have this issue. It can also be resolved by using the HD mod.
Modify exe files[3]
  1. Download ImageCFG.
  2. Go into the installation folder and execute:
imagecfg -u Heroes3.exe
imagecfg -u Heroes3.icd
imagecfg -a 0x1 Heroes3.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 Heroes3.icd

Notes

Another means of fixing sound can be found here.
Turn off in-game music[citation needed]
Set CPU affinity[3]
  1. Open the task manager.
  2. Set the CPU affinity for the game process to one processor.

Notes

This needs to be repeated every time when running the game.

Other information

API

ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
Linux
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Interface SDL Linux only

System requirements

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 133 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 425 MB
Video card (GPU) DirectX 7.0a compatible
Mac OS
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 8.1
Processor (CPU) PowerPC 603e 180 MHz
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 425 MB
Linux
Minimum
Operating system (OS) Kernel 2.2.x
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium
System memory (RAM) 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 425 MB
Sound (audio device) OSS Compatible

Notes

  1. ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[2]

References