Heroes I-IV FAQs

[Anonymous]

This should serve as a basic info thread to members. Will be edited. If you think something should be on the list, just say so here. Answered questions will be deleted to keep the thread short.

General

Question: Where can I find patches?
Answer: All Heroes patches are available for download on our patches page.
Fileplanet has these as well (and their server is probably a bit quicker than ours): here.

Question: Where can I find some good Maps or Campaigns?
Answer: Celestial Heavens hosts many high-quality maps, including reviews for most of them. They are all available for free download via our map search page. Another great pointer would be our retired map reviewer Psychobabble's favourites.

Question: What do the different abbreviations after the game titles mean?
Answer: They stand for the different versions of games:
- H2 SW: Heroes II, the Succession Wars - the original version of H2
- H2 PL: Heroes II, the Price of Loyalty - the expansion to H2
- H3 RoE: Heroes III, Restoration of Erathia - the original version of H3
- H3 AB: Heroes III, Armageddon's Blade - the first expansion to H3
- H3 SoD: Heroes III, Shadow of Death - the second expansion to H3, and prequel to RoE and AB
- H4 Std: Heroes IV, no title in particular, therefore often called the "Standard" (Std.) version
- H4 GS: Heroes IV, the Gathering Storm - the first expansion to H4
- H4 WoW: Heroes IV, the Winds of War - the second expansion to H4
- Heroes V has no special title
- H5: HoF: Heroes V, Hammers of Fate - the first expansion to H5
- H5 TotE: Heroes V, Tribes of the East - the second expansion to H5

Question: What has happened to the old producers?
Answer: 3DO and New World Computing, the producers of the old games, have gone out of business. Fortunately, UbiSoft bought the rights to the Heroes series, and have re-issued HoMM 3 and 4 in so-called "complete" packages, containing both the game and the various expansions. They also also decided to continue the series: HoMM 5 was released in May 2006 and two expansion packs have since been launched.

Question: Can you help me find a crack so I can play with no disc in the drive?
Answer: No. For several pretty good reasons our administrators have decided that no discussion on warez and cracks etc. are allowed in these forums.

Heroes IV

Question: Problems with the patches. How do I solve it?
Answer: The most frequent problem people experience is having the wrong patch. When installing patches, make sure you install them in the correct order. Also, make sure you install the right patches, depending on which language version of the game (UK/US) you have.
If you've tried everything except uninstalling everything and re-installing, try that.
If you're still having problems, you can post your specific problem here in the forum.

Question: Should I buy Heroes IV? Is it worth it?
Answer: Yes. Most people who bought the game were happy with their total experience: With the new Heroes IV Complete being issued by UbiSoft, you will get both the original game and the expansions at a decent price. The vast user-made map and campaign archive on Celestial Heavens takes care of the games' shortcomings and will give you lots of action for free.

Question: What is Equilibris?
Answer: Equilibris is a free add-on to Heroes IV. There were lots of problems with the game when it was first launched (poor AI performance, no multiplayer, memory leaks, creature/faction imbalance, etc. etc.), and although many of the more serious problems were solved in the patches, things were still found lacking. The idea of the add-on is to balance out everything (hence the name). Consensus among H4 players is that Equilibris makes the game much better.

Heroes III

Question: After finishing a campaign, I can't move on to later ones; there was a check on the picture but now it's gone. What's wrong?
Answer: That's a very common problem. Here's how it works: H3 can't remember what campaigns you've finished "on its own", but it can remember it in a savegame. That's why, after you've finished a campaign, you're asked to make a save. If you wish to continue with another campaign, you have to go to that savegame and load it, and you should have the campaigns you've finished marked as such. If you want completed savegames where all the campaigns are finished, give us a shout, and we'll see if we can help you out.

Problem: In Shadows of Death my heroes do not transfer to the last campaign as they should.
Answer:That always happens. Instead of heroes with the skills and spells that you developed in first campaigns, you will get level 24 heroes with a random selection of skills. What you can do, is to restart the map until the skill selection is more or less acceptable.

Question: I cannot save games or play random maps with my Heroes III Complete from UbiSoft.
Answer: UbiSoft repacked H3 a bit quickly, so the installer doesn't create a games folder for your savegames. You need to do that manually. Also the same may apply to the folder named random_maps. If there is no such folder, create it manually.

Question: What is In the Wake of Gods?
Answer: In the Wake of Gods (WoG for short) is a fan-created mod for Heroes III, aimed at giving mapmakers more control by the use of a powerful scripting system. It also gives players a lot of new options for how they would like to play, from simple spell/artifact banning via new adventure map objects and improved skills, to rules that can completely change how the game plays.

Question: What tools and extras can be used with H3:Complete or H3:WoG?
Answer: Our collection of tools is available here. Thanks to our collector ByteBandit.

Question: Where are saved created maps?
Answer: They are saved into the folder Maps. If it happens that you have default installation of H3C and Windows 7 then they may be saved in your Documents folder. In this case we recommend to reinstall the game with compatibility mode ticket on (XP or 98) into any other location than 'Program Files' or 'Program Files (x86)'.

Heroes II

Question: The sound is not as it should be. Can it be fixed?
Answer: Many people have experienced sound problems (delays, choppiness, etc.) when running Heroes II on Windows 2000 and XP. To fix the problem, follow the instructions below:

1. Download the Application Compatibility Toolkit.
2. Run Compatibility Administrator.
3. Click the Fix button in the toolbar.
4. Enter whatever you want for program name and vendor.
5. Click Browse and find heroes2w.exe.
6. Click Next.
7. Click Next again.
8. Check the boxes for ForceCDStop and IgnoreMCISTOP.
9. Click Next.
10. Click Finish.
11. Click the Save button in the toolbar and give it a name. I named mine "Heroes2Fix."
12. It will ask you to save the file somewhere. I just put it in my Heroes2 directory.
13. Right-click on Heroes2Fix and choose Install.

That's it! Everything should run fine.

Heroes I
(compliments of berntie)

Question: How can I run Heroes I in Windows2000 or Windows XP?
Answer: Repeat the steps for fixing Heroes II, but select "Windows 95" from the list in step 7.

Question: Where can I find maps for Heroes I?
Answer: You can find some here:

• http://members.tripod.com/quebecdragon/homm1.html#Maps
• http://urtur.webpark.pl/eng.html#h1
• http://www.heroesportal.net/maps.php?la ... sh&type=H1

Question: What episodes are there?
Answer: In chronological order (the order in which they appeared; the order in which they should be played is debatable):

1. Warlords of the Wastelands
2. Conquest of the Underworld
3. Master of the Elements
4. Clash of the Dragons
5. The World Tree (free download)
6. The Fiery Moon (free download)
7. Revolt of the Beastmasters
8. The Sword of Frost

Revolt of the Beastmasters and The Sword of Frost come together in a package called "The Final Chapters".

Question: How to install The World Tree and The Fiery Moon with Non-US versions of the chronicles?

1. Install at least three episodes to a directory chronicles.
2. Move all the contents to another location.
3. Install TWT and TFM.
4. Move the contents back to chronicles

[HodgePodge]

Thanks Kalah. This information is invaluable.

[ruXxar]

I want to post a fix to the problem of getting the music(not midi) to work with HoMM II(granted that your cd has music):

Insert your CD in the CD/DVD-drive with the _LOWEST_ drive letter.

Example : You have two physical CD drives, D: and E:.
You must put the CD in D: to get music to work!

If you're running from a virtually mounted CD(e.g with Daemon Tools) you also have to do this. That is, the virtual CD drive letter must be _LOWER_ than the physical ones.

Example : You have two physical CD drives, D: and E:.
and a virtual CD drive F:

You must either : Rename the Drive letter D: to a later letter(G: ), and then make your virtual CD drive have the letter D:
OR
Burn your image file to a CD and insert it in the drive D:

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If you want to change the letters of the CD drives you can do that(in XP) by:

1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
2. Under Computer Management, click Disk Management. In the right pane, you’ll see your drives listed. CD-ROM drives are listed at the bottom of the pane.
3. Right-click the drive or device you want to change, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
4. Click Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the drive letter you want to assign, and then click OK.

In vista:

1. Click on Start and then Control Panel.
2. Click on the System and Maintenance link.

Note: If you're viewing the Classic View of Control Panel, you won't see this link. Simply double-click on the Administrative Tools icon and proceed to Step 4.

3. Click on the Administrative Tools link.
4. In the Administrative Tools window, open the Computer Management program.
5. In the Computer Management window, locate the Disk Management option on the left and left-click on it.

If the Disk Management option is not visible, look under the Storage option by clicking the small arrow next to the word Storage.

6. On the right-hand side of the screen, locate and right-click on the drive that you wish to change the drive letter of and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths....
7. In the Change Drive Letter and Paths window, click on the Change... button.
8. The Change Drive Letter or Path dialog box will appear. Choose the drive letter you wish to assign to this partition.
Click OK.

9. The Confirm window that appears advises you that "Some programs that rely on drive letters might not run correctly. Do you want to continue?".

Note: If you have software installed to this drive, the software may stop functioning after a drive letter change. Nearly all software defaults to the primary drive though, so this is rarely a concern.

10. If you're sure you want to make this change, click Yes. Depending on the speed of your PC, the change should be nearly instant.
11. You can now close the Computer Management and Administrative Tools windows.

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That's it!

This solved my problem!

I hope it works for you too!

Regards,

HoMM fan <3

[berntie]

Maybe this should be included here:

Heroes II

Question: Can you tell me the lyrics for the town themes?
Answer: Yes, the community found them:

The evil factions' (barbarian, warlock, necromancer) lyrics are from Thus spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, the others from the bible (everything in German).

Oder gehst du jetzt selber
auf den Wegen
auf den Wegen
Oder gehst du jetzt auf den Wegen der Diebe, du Freund der Bösen?

Deine wilden
wilden Hunde wollen in die Freiheit; sie bellen vor Lust in ihrem Keller,
wenn dein Geist alle Gefängnisse zu lösen trachtet.
sie bellen vor Lust

Deine wilden
wilden Hunde wollen in die Freiheit; sie bellen vor Lust
vor Lust

Willst du heute dein Feuer in die Täler tragen?
Fürchtest du nicht
Fürchtest du nicht
Fürchtest du nicht des Brandstifters Strafen?

Sie haben Mäuler und reden nicht, sie haben Augen und sehen nicht, sie haben Ohren und hören nicht, sie haben Nasen und riechen nicht, sie haben Hände und greifen nicht, Füße haben sie und gehen nicht, sie reden nicht durch ihren Hals.

Die Toren sprechen in ihren Herzen: "Es ist kein Gott, es ist kein Gott."
Die Toren sprechen in ihren Herzen: "Es ist kein Gott, kein Gott."

"Es ist kein Gott, kein Gott."
"Es ist kein Gott."

Darmani translated them:

Or do you now go yourself
in the ways
in the ways
Or do you now go yourself in the ways of the thieves, you friend of the evil ones?

Your savage
savage dogs want freedom; they bark in your cellar out of desire,
whenever your spirit strives to break all jails.

Your savage
savage dogs want freedom; they bark in your cellar out of desire,
out of desire

Do you want to carry your fire into the valleys today?
Aren't you afraid
Aren't you afraid
Aren't you afraid of the arsonist's punishment?

And the english psalms read:

They have mouths, and do not speak. They have eyes, and do not see. They have ears, and do not hear. They have noses, and do not smell. They have hands but do not grasp; feet they have and do not go, and no noise comes from their throats.

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God

In PoL, the addon, the town themes were changed. There, all the themes come from Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms.

The lyrics are taken from the bible:

Wo ist dein Sieg?
Wo ist dein Stachel?
Wo ist dein Sieg?
Wo ist dein Sieg?

Der Tod ist verschlungen in den Sieg.
Tod, wo ist dein Stachel?
Hölle, wo ist dein Sieg?

Denn es wird die Posaune schallen
Und die Toten werden auferstehen
Unverweslich
Und wir werden verwandelt werden

Du bist
Du bist würdig
zu nehmen Preis und Ehre
Preis und Ehre und Kraft
Preis und Ehre und Kraft
Preis und Ehre und Kraft
Preis und Ehre und Kraft

(note that the singer sings "Pries" instead of "Preis" )

A translation of the requiem along with references to the bible verses can be found here.

[Kalah]

Very good. Thanks to all contributors. I'll just leave your posts the way they are, shall I... better sorting that way.

[astral76minor]

I remember a time when Heroes 2 worked on Windows XP from the original Succession Wars CD.

I own the expansion as well and would love to get them to work. These are the original discs from 1996-7.

The Succession Wars disc installs the program successfully. But then when I click on the icon, it says "Windows needs to close." No game.

I already tryed the compatability modes for the HEROES2W.exe file and nothing.

So does anyone know how to get Heroes 2 to work properly on Windows XP SP3? Please, no DOSBOX. I am trying to get the Network IPX to work for multiplayer mode on Hamachi with H2. So it needs to load properly from Windows XP.

Any support would be greatly appreciated.

[GreatEmerald]

You should try and create a new topic instead of replying to random posts
And I don't see how DOSBox and Windows applications have anything in common at all.

[jeffh]

The WoG link in this thread is out of date; it should be corrected by the OP or a mod (and then this post deleted).

[Lizzie_G]

Thanks for the FAQ section:)
Now I know what to do if the problem regarding Shadows of Death occurs.

[Sir Alock]

I know people haven't posted here in a while, but I wanted to mention that GOG.com has every HoMM1-4 available for short coin & it works in Windows XP & 7! I own every HoMM game on CD, but for buying the all the series without the config issues, it's worth every penny IMHO. Just a "heads-up"

[tysonlee]

I have put together a page of great Mods, Add ons and Utilities for HoMM 3 and WoG. You can access it from here or you can access it from the main page on Celestial Heavens in the Expansion section of the HoMM 3 page.

[zeus-online]

Question: After finishing a campaign, I can't move on to later ones; there was a check on the picture but now it's gone. What's wrong?
Answer: That's a very common problem. Here's how it works: H3 can't remember what campaigns you've finished "on its own", but it can remember it in a savegame. That's why, after you've finished a campaign, you're asked to make a save. If you wish to continue with another campaign, you have to go to that savegame and load it, and you should have the campaigns you've finished marked as such. If you want completed savegames where all the campaigns are finished, give us a shout, and we'll see if we can help you out.

Anyone have saves for Shadows of death?

I have played this game since release, but have never finished the campaigns...just completed the first three in restoration, and found out later that i had to load and choose a new one. Don't really feel like playing them through AGAIN.

NVM: I just used nwcredpill to skip through the campaigns i already played through.