Where can I get hold of the game?
We can recommend these sellers:
GOG.com
Amazon (US site) (UK site)
Steam shop
System requirements:
Supported OS: Windows 2000 / XP / Vista (Only)
Processor: 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon or higher (Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2 or higher recommended)
RAM: 1 GB (2 GB recommended)
Video Card: 128 MB Directx 9.0c – compliant video card (256 MB recommended)
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compliant sound card
DirectX Version: Direct X 9.0c
DVD-ROM: 4x DVD-ROM or better
Hard Drive Space: 3 GB
Multiplayer: 128 kbps upstream or faster broadband connection
Supported Video Cards at Time of Release
NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti / FX / 6 / 7 / 8 series (Geforce 4 MX NOT supported)
ATI Radeon 8500 /9 / X series
Intel 915 / 945 / 965 / 3100
Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT supported.
If you're having problems running the game because your laptop doesn't support DirectX9, try this solution.
Official page with screenshots etc. somewhere?
Yes, right here: Official site
Demo?
UbiSoft have stopped circulating the demo, but it is still available from various gaming sites:
- Gamer's Hell
- GameWatcher
- Worthplaying
There's also the opportunity to play a demo of the latest expansion, "Tribes of the East":
- Gamer's Hell
- Worthplaying
Official Manual?
The official manual was released on the first of August 2006, and is available for download here. Celestial Heavens' unofficial guide (somewhat smaller) is available for download in several versions here.
Reviews?
Lots of gaming sites have made reviews for Heroes V; you can find them all here.
Here are links to the "most important" ones:
- 1UP (5 of 10)
- GameSpy (3.5 of 5)
What exactly are in the different versions?
H5 version 1.0 consists of :
- A campaign of 6 chapters with 5 missions each. Each chapter is centered on one race, in this order : haven, inferno, necropolis, dungeon, sylvan, academy.
- 6 single scenario maps, plus 3 more in the limited/collector edition
- 10 multiplayer maps (can be played as single player maps, but have minimal story in them)
- 18 preset heroes for the duel mode
Patches...?
If you buy the game today, it either comes pre-patched to the most updated version.
If you bought it years ago and want to reinstall it, make sure you get the right language version. There are different language version patches to match the game versions. We are linking directly to all available patches from our patches page.
Which game edition should I buy?
Regular Edition: includes a manual/pamphlet, available to all.
Limited Edition (United States): it comes with 3 additional maps, a special aura, Heroes III and IV as well as a soundtrack.
Collector's Edition (Europe): it comes with the 3 maps and the aura, Heroes II, a statistics card for factions and an art book.
Super Collector's Edition (Web only): it's the collector's edition plus the contest coin and the certificate that we saw in a picture some time ago.
Silver Edition: Heroes V + the expansion Hammers of Fate.
The game is done by UbiSoft and Nival, where are 3DO and NWC?
3DO, and NWC as its part, went bankrupt in May 2003 and UbiSoft bought the rights to the brand name "Might and Magic". A few people from NWC, like the music composers, are still involved in Heroes V development. Ubi have so far made Heroes V, an expansion, and another game called Dark Messiah of Might & Magic.
Anything revolutionary compared to previous Heroes games?
The 3D engine certainly is. Also, the multiplay features have taken new depths. There are many other implemented ideas that were not present in previous games.
Which factions are in the game?
Haven (knights)
Inferno (demons)
Necropolis (undead ones)
Sylvan (elves)
Dungeon (dark elves)
Academy (wizards)
Fortress (dwarves) - added in first expansion (Hammers of Fate)
Stronghold (orcs) - added in second expansion (Tribes of the East)
Expansions?
The first Heroes V expansion is called "Hammers of Fate" and was released November 14th 2006. The most notable innovations are:
- A new town: Fortress.
- A new race: Dwarves.
- Random Map Generator.
- Caravans.
- Also included are new scenarios, new spells, new buildings, artefacts and creatures. Go here for more info about it.
The second Heroes V expansion is called "Tribes of the East" and was released October 12th 2007. The most notable innovations are:
- A new town: Stronghold.
- A new race: Orcs.
- Map editor.
- Stand-alone expansion; no earlier game versions required.
- Go here for more info about it.
What about mods?
There are several mods made, some of which can be found here. A useful page for the bigger mods is this one.
We also have a seperate subforum dealing with mods. Go there for all your modcrafting questions and discussions.
I have made a map, where can I put it?
Before the map can be posted on our site, it needs to be tested by at least one person other than yourself, to make sure it works properly. If you go to this page, you can find detailed info.
What type of copy protection does the game use?
It was announced that the game would be using a copy protection scheme called SecuROM (by Sony). Ubisoft dropped the StarForce copy protection in early 2006.
What does this SecuROM do?
CD Media World explains it fairly well:
"...identifies a ‘genuine’ CD-ROM by a special authentication mechanism. During Sony DADC’s mastering process an electronic fingerprint is applied onto the glass master which assigns a unique number to each CD-ROM title."
In other words, it checks the CD in the drive to see that it is the original and not a copy.
Can you help me find a crack so I can play with no disc in the drive?
No. For several reasons all discussion on warez and cracks etc. are not allowed on these forums at all.
