fheroes2: Resurrection

[sirDranik]

Dear players of Heroes of Might and Magic II and fans of the fheroes2 project!

A month of work has passed and our team is presenting the newest version of fheroes2 engine - 1.0.7! As usual, we are going to cover the most interesting changes in this release.

First of all, the AI got a huge boost in this update. Now AI heroes know how to use Summon Boat spell.
The team fixed multiple places with pathfinding logic, decisions during battles and also estimation of threats from enemy heroes and castles. AI heroes are going to be more practical towards their castles and when to attack enemy castles.


The team is expanding the translation functionality of the engine, allowing more and more UI elements to be translatable. This is not trivial as the engine needs to generate these UI elements from scratch for all languages. Fortunately, we can make it happen.
Speaking of UI changes we also fixed the rendering of many windows. For instance, Battle Only dialog has properly rendered item lists where you can even right-click on items.


Since touchscreen device owners, in particular Android devices, are limited to device capabilities the team expanded Android Toolset application to export and import save files. This helps players to transfer files between multiple devices.


The work on the Editor continues and in the past month we added UI elements for different Brush types and now it is possible to draw terrains. As of now, the Editor is only for developers as it is not ready to be used but we are happily sharing news about the progress.


This release also brings a lot of translation updates, and tweaks in animation in battles and more than 40 bugs have been fixed since the last release.

Thank you so much for your support of the project and also big thanks for everyone making this happen!

You could also support the project development on Patreon.

[sirDranik]

Dear players of Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and fans of the fheroes2 project!

Today we are releasing a fresh version of the fheroes2 engine - 1.0.8 release.
The past month the team has done a lot of things and we are pleased to share details about our work.

The most noticeable change every player will notice, is the enhanced look of the Save/Load file window. This window was expanded to support much longer filenames and not to be so compressed in size.


The AI in this release became smarter during battles and will kite their shooters if necessary instead of waiting to get hit. On the other hand, on lower difficulties the AI's use of "Dimension door" spell has been given restrictions, making these modes easier.

The team spent a lot of time improving multiple aspects of the UI, including expanding existing translations, adding missing letters in fonts, and making more elements translatable. One of the examples of this work is translated vertical buttons.


The work on the Editor continues. In this release, we completed terrain connections logic to make smooth transitions between terrain types.
An interesting fact is that the team is working on the translation part for the Editor in parallel. At the time when we make it accessible to the public, you will be able to use the Editor in a language of your choice.


Besides these major changes, this release contains a lot of small changes to polish the game engine and make the game play even better. Adding High Score for multiplayer game, fixing rendering issues in the Kingdom Overview dialog, speeding up file loading and many more such things are included in this release. All major translations have been updated bringing most of them to 100% coverage.

More than 50 bugs were fixed for this release.

We hope that you will enjoy playing the fheroes2 game engine.
Thank you so much for your support!

You could also support the project development on Patreon.

[sirDranik]

Dear supporters of the fheroes2 project!

As usual, after a month of hard work, we are releasing a new version of the fheroes2 engine - 1.0.9 release, filled with updates, fixes and new features!

Based on feedback from the players we made the AI easier on low difficulties. This makes the game more accessible for more players and at the same time keeps the challenge for those who want on higher difficulties. The AI also got a boost in its battle logic and is smarter on the Adventure Map.

The team reworked the game settings on the Adventure Map. This allows players to change game resolution or language without exiting to the Main Menu. This is more convenient.


Moreover, the Hot Keys dialog was upgraded as well and now it is easy to see all button mappings.


Touch devices have an important update: during battles, players have to confirm actions. The first touch event just places the cursor at the touch point, displaying information about the action being performed. The second touch event is confirmatory and performs the corresponding action if and only if this action corresponds exactly to the action of the first touch.


We reworked the "Continue movement" button's logic on the Adventure Map. A long press on this button cancels any created path for a hero. If a hero without a planned path stands on an object, then pressing this button will interact with that object.


The work on the Editor continues and is gaining pace. During the past month, the team has been able to implement roads, streams, monsters and heroes placement in the Editor. There are more things to do before making the Editor public.


Besides the major changes, the team updated several translations, fixed multiple issues in the battle's logic and rendering, and closed more than 40 issues since the last release.

Thank you so much for your valuable support and we hope you will enjoy the game!

You could also support the project development on Patreon.

[sirDranik]

Dear supporters of the fheroes2 project and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 players!

After a month of tedious work, we are presenting a new version of the fheroes2 engine - 1.0.10. As always today's release is full of compelling features and code changes.

The editor being the highest priority at the moment is evolving. Our team added an enhanced erase tool, the ability to put artifacts and treasures on the adventure map and also did important groundwork towards expanding the game with new future heroes. The current state of the editor is still not ready to be open to the public, but this is planned to be changed in the very near future.


We made a lot of changes in relation to rendering and the overall UI of the engine in this release. A lot of small rendering issues were fixed, several dialogs were reworked and we were able to speed up graphics-related code as well. Speaking of UI, the team added a new hero action icon to separate situations, when a hero stands on an action object and when he needs to travel to another place.


Additionally, we updated the town portal dialog to make it resizable in relation to game resolution and the number of available towns.


The AI in this release received a huge boost in its logic: now it can use marketplace to speed up the castle’s development. Important to note, that the AI does not cheat and uses the same exchange rate as human players. The team improved the AI decision-making logic during battles regarding pathfinding and spell evaluation. This makes AI more competitive on higher difficulties.

As in every release before the team updated multiple language translations and fixed dozens of small UI and logic issues, totaling more than 30 issues being closed.

An important update: save files that are created by the engine older than 1.0.5 are not supported anymore. This is done to proceed with the Editor development by removing a lot of "hacks" for old saves. If you have save files older than 1.0.5 and want to play them, use 1.0.9 version to open and save these files. The engine will resave files in 1.0.9 format.

Thank you so much for your valuable and continuous support of the project and we hope you will enjoy the game.

You could also support the project development on Patreon.

[sirDranik]

Dear fheroes2 project supporters and Heroes of Might and Magic II fans!

The team is pleased to present the new version of the fheroes2 engine - 1.0.11 after a month of hard work. As in any other release, we made many changes and are happy to share the news with you.

The "Battle Only" mode has undergone a substantial revamp, boasting an improved user interface and a newfound capability to save the state of selections within the dialog. These enhancements promise a more immersive and user-friendly experience for players engaging in battle-centric gameplay.


Continuing our commitment to refining the gaming experience, the AI has received a notable upgrade. The AI makes better decisions during battles while defending its troops.

The work on the Editor continues. The team added a base file format for future maps, which will incorporate a greater number of features compared to the original map format.

Additionally, the Editor has been expanded with Castle and Town placement logic, along with the inclusion of Ocean objects.


The majority of the work focused on modifying the code for the Editor and preparing the game to support the upcoming map format.


In this release, the team also polished multiple places in the UI, such as difficulty selection in campaigns, Tree of Knowledge quick info dialog, making AI heroes' animations depend on their speed, and many more.


Overall, more than 30 issues have been fixed in this release, and many translations have been updated.

Thank you so much for your invaluable support, and we hope you will enjoy this release!

You could also support the project development on Patreon.

[sirDranik]

Dear fans of Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and fheroes2 project supporters!

The team is excited to announce a new version of the fheroes2 project - 1.0.12 as the first update of this year! The team have made many changes in several aspects of the engine since the last release, and we are happy to share the details with you.

One of the biggest areas where the team has made huge improvements is the AI.
First of all, we have made important adjustments to the AI's performance according to the difficulty level. This is especially noticeable on Easy and Normal difficulties, and this will help players who are struggling with these difficulty levels.
Secondly, the behavior of the AI heroes has been updated for several Adventure Map objects: for most objects the information available to the AI is now much more fair. Additionally, the AI will now expand map territory much more efficiently.
Lastly, the team made significant improvements concerning the AI's defensive battle tactics and surrender logic. The AI will apply more sophisticated tactics during battles, increasing the challenge for players.
Also, now the AI will decide between surrendering or retreating from battles, just like human players do. All of these changes will make the AI a more formidable opponent for many players.


The second biggest area of progress is of course the Editor. The team has finished adding all of the objects present within the game into the Editor. We have also updated the new map format to accommodate for future changes and to expand it with new features. Most of the work is now done, but there are several tasks remaining before releasing the brand-new reworked Editor to players and map makers. The fheroes2 Editor is being built with the aim to be much more accessible and easier to work with compared to the original Editor.


On top of this, the team spent time polishing multiple UI dialogs, improving performance of image and resource loading, fixing logic issues of Adventure Map objects, and updating several translations. In total, more than 50 issues have been fixed in this release.

Thank you so much for your invaluable support, and we hope you will enjoy this release!

You could also support the project development on Patreon.

[Blake]

nice work guys!

[sirDranik]

Dear players of Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and fheroes2 project supporters.

The team is thrilled to announce the release of 1.0.13 version of fheroes2 project! We continue to enhance the engine every month to provide the best experience for you and all players.

Users of touch screen devices will be pleased to learn that we have implemented a slide-to-scroll feature for all in-game lists, enhancing gameplay and intuitiveness. Additionally, we have added a slide-to-attack action during battles, improving playability on small screens such as mobile phones.

Campaigns have received updates as well: we have adjusted difficulties for many scenarios and fixed the logic regarding carry-over troops in campaigns, bringing the Normal difficulty experience even closer to the original game.

As always, we have made graphical improvements to the engine. Many texts have been corrected and translated, application loading times have been reduced, and multiple rendering issues have been fixed to polish the engine even further. Even tiny improvements are significant to make the best possible gameplay experience.

The work on the Editor continues. We have (re)implemented the Eraser tool, which is vastly superior to the one in the original game. Additionally, we have addressed several issues with objects and their rendering, and added logic to load maps for playing.
The team still needs to complete multiple tasks in order to deliver a complete and stable Editor to the public.



In total, more than 30 issues have been fixed in this release.

Thank you so much for supporting the project, and we hope you will enjoy the upgraded version of the engine!

You could also support the project development on Patreon.

[sirDranik]

Dear fans of Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and fheroes2 project supporters!

The team is excited to present to you the release of version 1.1.0 - the second major release of the fheroes2 engine! This release features a significant update that we are thrilled to share with you.


After more than a year of work, the team has completed the first version of the in-game Editor. The Editor is available on all platforms and is integrated into the game. You can access it by clicking on the canvas with a globe in the bottom-right corner of the Main Menu. The Editor works only with the full version of the game - "Price of Loyalty". It is not supported in the demo or "The Succession Wars" versions.


The team redesigned the whole editor from the ground up to ensure that it is user-friendly and provides a smooth experience for map makers.
A key feature we've added, which was missing in the original Editor, is the display of object passability. Now you can see the whole map and how the heroes will navigate around objects.


The Editor uses a new map format - .fh2m . This license-free format is different from the original game's map format. It is very scalable, and we plan to expand it in future releases, offering map makers options to fine-tune many objects, add custom events, set unique loss and win conditions, and more. This also means that you can freely share your creations with others, and in the future, we are going to supply the engine with new maps.

It is important to note that the current version of the Editor lacks a few features. This was a deliberate decision to balance the release timeline and deliver well-tested and polished code rather than providing everything in a semi-finished state. Quality has always been our main priority. We will cover the missing features in the next release.

Additionally, the team enhanced AI on the Adventure Map, redesigned multiple UI dialogs and also updated several translations.



Thank you so much for your valuable and continuous support of the project, and we hope you will enjoy the game.

You could also support the project development on Patreon or Boosty.

[Pol]

The Editor uses a new map format - .fh2m . This license-free format is different from the original game's map format. It is very scalable, and we plan to expand it in future releases, offering map makers options to fine-tune many objects, add custom events, set unique loss and win conditions, and more. This also means that you can freely share your creations with others, and in the future, we are going to supply the engine with new maps.

Can you elaborate more on this, please?

Do you have, have plan for universal event reward/ambush? There were similar things in a WoG, eaons ago & still are nowadays.
Will be possible to import your own graphic?

[sirDranik]

The Editor uses a new map format - .fh2m . This license-free format is different from the original game's map format. It is very scalable, and we plan to expand it in future releases, offering map makers options to fine-tune many objects, add custom events, set unique loss and win conditions, and more. This also means that you can freely share your creations with others, and in the future, we are going to supply the engine with new maps.

Can you elaborate more on this, please?

Do you have, have plan for universal event reward/ambush? There were similar things in a WoG, eaons ago & still are nowadays.
Will be possible to import your own graphic?

Hello, @Pol!

The original H2 game has a very limited set of adjustments for map objects, events and winning conditions. (You were able to adjust only heroes, events and castles in the original game.) We're planning to make as much customization features as possible for each object. For instance, to set mine owned by a special player, spells for shrines, neutral troops joining conditions, dwellings available troops, resources in piles, guards and rewards for treasures and so on. Also, we're planning to add a special events, new win/loss conditions. Actually, everything could be added and it depends on demands of our community, which unique features are going to be implemented. Right now we're collecting feedback, based on a basic version of the editor, to expand it in future.

There have been always an "event" object in the original H2 game. You can watch a new dialog for it on the screenshot above. But we're planning to expand it with more options.

I also believe, we're going to add some scripting options, same as they were implemented in H3 WoG and H4.

Regarding your own graphic for events... I hope, I understand your question correctly.
I'm not sure we're going to implement this feature, as it requires map file to contain this graphic. Also, I'm not sure, map makers will make any good quality graphics to suit original art. But we're not telling it is not possible. Maybe some artists can contribute a set of standard icons/pictures, so we can include them into event adjustment window (add them directly into the engine), so mapmaker can choose any on purpose.

[Pol]

Well, in WoG custom graphic can be part of dialogue. And generally can be imported it as new artifacts and monsters, though it's not so easy, as it sounds.

[sirDranik]

Well, in WoG custom graphic can be part of dialogue. And generally can be imported it as new artifacts and monsters, though it's not so easy, as it sounds.

Considering the fact, that fheroes2 is an opensource item and map format is being developed from scratch as well, we can add everything. But we're not sure it's worth investing time into a feature only a few people are going to use. Also, we're worrying about the quality of the art, provided by map-makers. Low quality and of irrelevant design pictures within a event is not a thing, we would love to look at during gameplay.

[Pol]

Well, in WoG custom graphic can be part of dialogue. And generally can be imported it as new artifacts and monsters, though it's not so easy, as it sounds.

Considering the fact, that fheroes2 is an opensource item and map format is being developed from scratch as well, we can add everything. But we're not sure it's worth investing time into a feature only a few people are going to use. Also, we're worrying about the quality of the art, provided by map-makers. Low quality and of irrelevant design pictures within a event is not a thing, we would love to look at during gameplay.

In WoG that was genererally used to spice up campaign or scenario, via ERM you called external image and positioned it in the dialog window.

As of objects/creatures, that's indeed having more sides. But for example VCMI flourish with them.

[das_motor]

Excellent work, I like Heroes2 and Heroes4 more than Heroes3. There is a question about fps, the fact is that it always fluctuates from 20 to 120 fps, which leads to blurring of the image while scrolling the map. If you use the program for generating frames "Lossless Scaling" then the clarity in motion increases significantly, but since when the map is stationary, fps tends to a minimum, and when the movement begins, fps begins to increase, the map at this moment moves with jerks.
Hence the question, is it possible to make fps stable at about 120 frames so that the image is clear in motion without using additional programs, or at least provide stable 30 - 60 fps for use with “Lossless Scaling” or other similar programs.

[sirDranik]

Dear players of Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and fheroes2 project supporters.

The team is excited to present the new version of the fheroes2 engine - 1.1.1 after more than a month of hard work.
This release was mainly focused on polishing the Editor, but not only.

The Editor got support for Rumors, Daily Events and special Victory and Loss conditions. These were missing features that are present in the original game. However, as promised we added them as quickly as possible after the new Editor was launched. The team used different design of dialogs in comparison to the original Editor to make it more user-friendly.




Besides fixing several issues in the Editor and adding missing parts we also made multiple improvements. First of all, the team redesigned the hero selection window in the Editor. No more scrolling through similar icons.


Secondly, we started adding new content to the game. As a start, the team added a missing part of the Sphinx and a new variation of the adventure map Cave object.


A brand new feature now available in the Editor is the ability to restrict the construction of any building in towns and castles. This gives a lot of flexibility for map makers to design maps with unique gameplay conditions.


The AI was updated as well. We reworked all bonused the AI had in the past and reduced them significantly to have a fair play for AI. This aligns with our goals: we want difficulty level affect only AI behavior without giving it any perks.
Additionally, we fixed few places in AI logic.

As usual, the team updated multiple translations, improved various UI elements and closed over 40 issues since the previous release.

Thank you so much for your invaluable support, and we hope you will enjoy this release!

You could also support the project development on Patreon or Boosty.

[sirDranik]

Excellent work, I like Heroes2 and Heroes4 more than Heroes3. There is a question about fps, the fact is that it always fluctuates from 20 to 120 fps, which leads to blurring of the image while scrolling the map. If you use the program for generating frames "Lossless Scaling" then the clarity in motion increases significantly, but since when the map is stationary, fps tends to a minimum, and when the movement begins, fps begins to increase, the map at this moment moves with jerks.
Hence the question, is it possible to make fps stable at about 120 frames so that the image is clear in motion without using additional programs, or at least provide stable 30 - 60 fps for use with “Lossless Scaling” or other similar programs.

Hello!

20fps - is the actual frame update rate for adventure map objects. There're just several frames for adventure map objects, so it is completely useless to render 115 same frames of the whole screen with the same state of all objects. Don't be afraid of 20 numbers for stationary state of the adventure map. It's just a matter of the operation way of "show FPS" option.

You can probably notice those tiny jerks while moving the adventure map because pixel size is significant and while rendering two sequential frames the picture itself moves for a notable distance at once.
Or, probably, there could be some other issues for you in particular. You can try to switch on or off the V-sync option.

[das_motor]

Hello!
It is clear that from the point of view of the game or programmers, there is no point in high fps when the objects in the frame do not change. But from the player’s point of view, it makes sense, it increases the clarity in movement, which is noticeable when using the “Lossless Scaling” frame generator
Due to the low initial frequency of 20 fps, the work of “Lossless Scaling” is not very clearly visible in the video in the case of Heroes2 (the difference is more visible live) , so I made a comparison using the example of the game X-COM: UFO Defense in which, also, when scrolling the map, objects do not change. It is clearly visible how much smoother and clearer the graphics are at 120fps versus 20fps.
Watch in 1080p 60fps.

[sirDranik]

Dear fans of the fheroes2 project.

The team is excited to announce the release of version 1.1.2 of the fheroes2 engine! This update brings significant improvements to the AI, Editor and other components of the engine.

The AI has been enhanced to better defend its castles and make smarter choices when leveling up skills. Additionally, AI heroes with patrol limits now respect their boundaries, and most importantly, the team removed the majority of bonuses for AI. This means the AI now plays under the same conditions as human players - no more unfair advantages.

The Editor has also received several upgrades. We fixed several rendering issues, improved the logic for avoiding extra actions being created within the Editor, and sped up their creation process. We added support for alliances on the created maps and also introduced new objects, such as horizontally facing river deltas.




Language support has been expanded as well. Players can now use special characters via the keyboard. Additionally, we added support of other languages for the Virtual Keyboard. We are going to expand this support for the future.


Additionally, we fixed multiple rendering issues, sped up MIDI conversion, improved 3D-audio support, and updated several translations. In total, more than 40 issues have been resolved since the last release.

We hope you enjoy the game!

You could also support the project development on Patreon or Boosty.

[sirDranik]

Dear players and fans of the fheroes2 project!

We’re excited to announce the release of version 1.1.3 of the fheroes2 engine!
A significant portion of this update focused on code refinement and preparing for future changes. However, we’ve also introduced key updates to the Editor, improved AI behavior, and made several UI and translation enhancements.

The Editor now supports translations, allowing map creators to design maps in any language supported by the engine. Unlike the original maps, .fh2m maps will display all characters correctly, no matter which language you choose to play in. We’ve also addressed several bugs and improved various UI elements within the Editor.


AI improvements include enhanced pathfinding while using the Dimension Door spell, and faster, smarter decision-making on the Adventure Map. The AI’s overall performance has been significantly optimized, resulting in quicker, more intelligent actions.
In battles, players can now resurrect overlapping monsters, adding more flexibility to combat — an improvement over the original game.


Additionally, we’ve refined various UI elements, such as the Hourglass animation, fixed rendering issues in No Interface mode, and further expanded translation support for the engine.


Over 30 issues have been resolved since the last release.

We hope you enjoy the latest version of the engine!

You could also support the project development on Patreon or Boosty.