Heroes III keeps crashing in Windows 7

[GreatEmerald]

Well, it doesn't crash without WoG and even with it the crashes are rare enough that the autosave feature is good enough.

[dr_nick_94]

I think it helps (though does not prevent the crashing) if you make Heroes III only run on one core on your processor. You can do this on Windows task manager, right click the heroes 3 process and click 'set affinity', and tick only CPU 0. I think it's because Heroes 3 was designed in a time where virtually all processors were single core... Also Windows 7 uses complicated thingies to make the best use of multi core processors that h3 might not like... It worked for me a little, still crashes but not as much (I have a quad core i7)

[Rampart3]

On Win7, I had crashes to desktop about once an hour. Changing it to XP SP3 compatibility mode caused it to lock up in the repeating sound loop about once an hour. What did work was to run on one core with NO compatibility mode set.

To make this easy to do once set up, in the same directory as Heroes3.exe, I created a new text file called 'Heroes3.bat'. Into this 'Heroes3.bat' file, paste the following three-line script:

@echo off
start /wait /affinity 1 Heroes3.exe
exit

Now start HOMM3 with a shortcut to this 'Heroes3.bat' file. The advantage of this is that once set up, you can just play without thinking further about it.

I have 20 hours of no-problem play since doing this, half on a Vista laptop, and half on a Windows 7 desktop.

(Another tip that works: I keep all HOMM3 files on a USB stick so I can continue a game on any computer without bothering to install it again.)

[dask]

.. well as soon as i finish my game i have it in mind to use the xp version or just reinstall all over again but..

where are these patches. i have no clue where they are to be found.

that..and how on earth do you have the memory bits on a usb stick when i cant even see them in the place where normally the saved files are located.

and i dont get it when you say start homm3 with a shortcut to this file??...

[Rampart3]

...

About your USB stick question: Once Heroes3 in installed, the whole directory where it was installed can be copied directly to a USB stick. HOMM3 can then be played on the same or any other computer under any Windows version by double-clicking on the 'Heroes3.exe' or 'Heroes3.bat' file now on the USB stick.

To start from a shortcut on the desktop: Find and right-click on the executable file (Heroes3.exe, or the Heroes3.bat file to limit it to one core under Win7), and select 'Create Shortcut'. A new file will be created next to it with the same name, but with ' - shortcut' added to the name. Move this new file to the desktop, and double-click on it to conveniently start the game.

[Sir Alock]

Guys....It's called GOG games! Good Old Games!

Website:

http://www.gog.com/

Short money & ALL the games work in Windows 7 & 8!

Nuff said!

Good Luck!

[GreatEmerald]

Nope. They already said that not all games work on Windows 7, let alone Windows 8. Everything works only on XP.
As for HoMM3, I don't think they modified the music DLL to prevent crashes, did they?

[Sir Alock]

Nope. They already said that not all games work on Windows 7, let alone Windows 8. Everything works only on XP.
As for HoMM3, I don't think they modified the music DLL to prevent crashes, did they?

What? Are you on crack? All of GOG HOMM series games works without a hitch in both Windows 7/8. I'm playing HoMM1 campaign right now on Win 7 (64-Bit) w/o an issue!

[GreatEmerald]

What? Are you on crack? All of GOG HOMM series games works without a hitch in both Windows 7/8. I'm playing HoMM1 campaign right now on Win 7 (64-Bit) w/o an issue!

Sure, HoMM1 might very well work well. But the topic is HoMM3. And it has reported stability problems. GOG.com are nice people, but they aren't wizards. If we can't find a way to make it work, neither can they.

[Bersaglio]

GoG sell H3 Complete crap with broken/impassable RoE campaigns and ripped RoE bink quality videos (plus missing AB intro, missing Myth and Legend map and so on). Everyone knows about it.

The actual problem lies in the lack of multi-core CPU support in HMM3. To fix it you shoud use this program to patch the game executable.
Unpack this archive and put imagecfg.exe to your game folder. Open command line promt and change current folder to game folder using cd command.

If you have original RoE release (v1.0..v1.4) installed then execute in order:
imagecfg -u Heroes3.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 Heroes3.exe

If you have AB release (v2.0 with Safedisc v1.30.010) installed then execute in order:
imagecfg -u h3blade.exe
imagecfg -u H3BLADE.ICD
imagecfg -a 0x1 h3blade.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 H3BLADE.ICD

If you have AB patched release (v2.1 or v2.2) installed then execute in order:
imagecfg -u h3blade.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 h3blade.exe

Finally for SoD release (v3.0/v3.1/v3.2 with Safedisc 1.41.000/1.40.004/1.50.020) execute in order:
imagecfg -u Heroes3.exe
imagecfg -u HEROES3.ICD
imagecfg -a 0x1 Heroes3.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 HEROES3.ICD

Same for H3 Complete v4.0 release (with Safedisc v1.50.020) but I will not recommend using it because of bugs and ripped content.

After patching the game will use only single CPU core and crashes will not occur anymore.

[GreatEmerald]

Hmm, interesting suggestion. Setting its affinity to one core should have the same effect, though. Can anyone confirm whether this solves the issue?

[Daerandin]

I had random crashes in Heroes 3. Some people on the gog forums suggested a piece of software that will let you set permanent core affinity for programs. The software is the same one Bersaglio mentions and it worked great for me.

I want to mention that I played through the gog version campaigns and experienced no problems.

gog actually fixed their installer for Heroes 3 eventually and now it uses only a single core as default when using their installer.

ALL the games work in Windows 7 & 8!

Regarding gog and compatibility, all their games do not work on 7 and 8, they say so themselves. One easy example would be the first Gothic game on gog, only comaptible with XP and Vista as noted on the game page.
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/gothic
However, they are constantly working on making all games in their catalogue fully compatible with the latest windows editions, but it is no sure thing.

Back to Heroes 3, for me, having the game use only a single core completely eliminated all crashing. I have never had the game crash since.

[GreatEmerald]

Good to know. I'll test it on Heroes Chronicles later on, and if it works for me as well, will add that information to the Wine page about them.

[Bersaglio]

Using imagecfg with Heroes Chronicles to prevent crashing.

Heroes Chronicles Chapter 1 - Warlords of the Wasteland (Safedisc v1.50.020):
imagecfg -u Warlords.exe
imagecfg -u WARLORDS.ICD
imagecfg -a 0x1 Warlords.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 WARLORDS.ICD

Heroes Chronicles Chapter 2 - Conquest of the Underworld (Safedisc v1.50.020):
imagecfg -u Underworld.exe
imagecfg -u UNDERWORLD.ICD
imagecfg -a 0x1 Underworld.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 UNDERWORLD.ICD

Heroes Chronicles Chapter 3 - Masters of the Elements (Safedisc v1.50.020):
imagecfg -u Elements.exe
imagecfg -u ELEMENTS.ICD
imagecfg -a 0x1 Elements.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 ELEMENTS.ICD

Heroes Chronicles Chapter 4 - Clash of the Dragons (Safedisc v1.50.020):
imagecfg -u Dragons.exe
imagecfg -u DRAGONS.ICD
imagecfg -a 0x1 Dragons.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 DRAGONS.ICD

Heroes Chronicles Chapter 5 - The World Tree (free - no copy protection):
imagecfg -u WorldTree.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 WorldTree.exe

Heroes Chronicles Chapter 6 - The Fiery Moon (free - no copy protection):
imagecfg -u FieryMoon.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 FieryMoon.exe

Heroes Chronicles The Final Chapters 7,8 - Revolt of the Beastmasters & The Sword of Frost (UK - Safedisc v.2.30.031, US - no copy protection):
imagecfg -u Beastmaster.exe
imagecfg -u Sword.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 Beastmaster.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 Sword.exe