Back in 2006 Marzhin announced that he was working on a Heroes V project named 'Legends of the Ancients'. A four-part campaign for Heroes V taking place in the old universe (of Heroes IV - Axeoth). The campaigns takes place after the original stories in Heroes of Might and Magic IV, and were to follow the stories of iconic characters such as Nicolai Ironfist, Lord Harke, Lysander, Malustar and Gauldoth Half-Dead to name a few.

The first 2 campaigns, also refered to as 'Book 1 & 2', were released back in 2007-2008.

The project recieved Ubisoft's 'Seal of  Approval' earning the acknowledgement of being Approved Might and Magic Content.

book1

Having to admit time had become scarse, Marzhin released Book 3 as a digital version in Decemeber 2009. The following year 2010 still beared hope that Book 3 & 4 would be released as campaigns, as others like, Corlagon/Cepheus had stepped in to help finish the project.

The last hope of seeing Book 3 & 4 released as campaigns, were buried near the end of 2012. Shortly after, the last part, Book 4 was released by Marzhin as a digital book, complete with art work.

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Masters of Sighisoara

For today Advent article, Celestial Heavens decided to send our Danish reporter KarmaKeld on a virtual trip across the Öresund to Sweden, to have a chat with HeroOfPunk, founder of the Masters of Sighisoara project, about the Ghost of Christmas MoS Past, Present and Future..

They had a Q&A over a nice cup of warm Glögg (a type of Scandinavian mulled wine made with brandy, almonds, raisins, and spices.)...

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Put on the music, and try to read it in time! smile teeth A few months ago Sir Albe posted a nice history of "Sucession Wars Mod" on Enroth diehard fan community board. Summing it up completely from year 2008 to presence. To celebrate and remind its 10th Anniversary.

Before you will delve deeply, to devour on it, you should probably know, that new version of mod wasn't yet released and it's expected to be soon™. Or in other words, to be, when it will be ready. But the mod was already once made public in version 0.7.

That:

  • This is modification of Heroes III. engine.
  • That it is compatible with HD Mod by baratorch (minus HD+).
  • That it should come with converted H2 and H1 maps.
  • And it's based on the original lore.

Let Orzie speak(quote):

"Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Succession Wars is a fan-made total conversion modification of Heroes of Might and Magic III, which aims to recreate the unique atmosphere of its prequel, Heroes of Might and Magic II, and to provide qualitatively new gaming impressions to the fans of both games.
..
Further development of the project intends lore integration with the Might&Magic series by New World Computing with attention to earlier games of the series."

This is a good read. Go on!

And for Sucession Wars Team, one big Hooray! from CH, thanks guys for keeping one dream alive.

Thanks FireCage321 for info.

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Project Ironfist

The aims here are high. Project Ironfist is all about easy modding, with help of LUA scripting, enhanced editor, new campaigns (but not yet with campaign editor), artifacts, spells, abilities, stats balance. Custom scripts in map are supported. To let them speak:

"Our maps feature elementals that split in two, enemies that get more powerful the longer you wait, and epic quests to unlock missing secrets. Try out our maps Last Stand and Sorrow's End! "

Also the modification brings a few gameplay tweaks:

  • Hit-and-run tactics for heroes is no longer allowed because rehired heroes do not regain their movement points
  • A new artifact: Pandora's Box. This artifact creates a random stack of level 1 creatures for the duration of each battle.
  • A new spell - Awareness. When cast, Awareness reveals part of the map around the caster, similar to the Redwood Observatory
  • And no "WAIT" button, ever. Discussions why, you can see here or here.

The Game Itself is running pleasantly well and if you loved traditional Heroes 2 interface, you will be home here. Though there are some minor changes, which just fit in nifty.

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A relatively young and stable program is F2HE. First seen release is from Dec 9, 2017 and from that time, they made it into the stable version. The Free Heroes 2 Enhanced engine is created with use of SDL but, of course, you are still supposed to have the original Heroes II. bought.

You can download the windows build from here. Quite extensive explanation of what are changes vs original engine, can be found on the program homepage here. Scroll a bit down to see it.

By itself the Windows version is bundled with demo of Heroes 2 but you can copy your files (DATA/*.agg, MUSIC/*.mp2, /MAPS and original exe.) here and you will get PoL under Free Heroes2 Enhanced engine.

From my (actually short) test time, everything seems to be in place. Oh, just before the start configure the game via "FH2Lanucher.exe" and you can start it by "FHeroes2Enh.exe".

Don't forget to "Save the Config". And when the program first time load all your maps, it will take awhile.

It can do Quick Combat, use "spacebar" and "h" key for moving and selecting your heroes. Supports resolutions 4:3 up to 1920 x 1080. See screenies below:

Map Editor is not in the scope of FH2E. If you would like to have a better one you will need to wait for our next article.

I think that you may be pleasantly surprised here. ;)

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If you would like to play older games under Windows 10 and also Windows 8(.1) you often need to reach for some wrapper. There are two reasons for that, first is huge advance in DirectX, second is usually related to CD check methods which are not compatible up to this day. There could be more, like core affinity - where just one core is supported or graphic driver issues related to OpenGL or fullscreen also just merely Windows ones. Some of them can be supressed from "Compatibility Settings" on the Properties page. And heck, some not.

If you get Heroes II. Gold from the GoG.com store, you have an option to add also Windows version (among other goodies), check "More" → "Backup & Goodies" → Install Win version. This is then installed to separate folder named "Heroes of Might and Magic 2 (Win)". You should install it on drive C and run.

The same is true for CZ or PL localised versions from CD Projekt. Albeit older they should still work under current Windows just with "Compatibility" settings.

If you have original from Ubisoft or 3DO, try to use DxWnd. Current version 2.04.98 supports  1238 games, among them are Heroes of Might & Magic II., III. and IV. And they can be eventually added, like Heroes.

All games need to be Windows version, if you have DOS ones go for DOSBOX and that would be a completely different story.

 

For supported games, download DxWnd first, install on your drive C (That serves as a prevention of many troubles),  go to "File" → "Import" and select your profile within the game, from "exports" directory.

With that game icon will be added to your DxWnd menu, right click on it, select "Edit" and locate your current game path. Success should be marked with green dot appearing on the game icon. And now you can run (it)!

You can either run Heroes II. in fullscreen or you need to have them set up correctly, like below:
"Right click into the empty space, choose "Add", pick the location. Go to the "Video" TAB, right down pick "Initial resolution: 1280 x 1024" and on the left side "Force Win Resize". Save  by OK and run by clicking on the icon."

Somehow this is necessary for playing PoL campaigns.
(source: reddit & CH)

 

See the picture below to get hang on Heroes I.

Heroes under DXWND

Courtesy of Alure155, it was being discussed here.

 

DxWnd - download
DxWnd - About

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Dear CH Followers,
for Advent month we prepared for you one news for almost every day from Might & Magic world, to show you some repete of what happened in this year and perhaps what will shape its future.

Bringing to you the latest bug fixes, mods and ideas.

As you possibly LLQ2 all know, there's not planned any next Might & Magic game release in the close future from Ubisoft -  but no worries, in Fan's World there are still dwelling crafty modders to breathe a new life into it.

In so far there is no game which would overcome the great shadow of M&M majestical adventures or strategies. Many tried but no one cut it with the same success. Yet.

 

If you would have any proposals, don't hesitate and join, send us mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Long Live the Queen!

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In the capitalist craze that is "Black Friday" (now expanded to "black week" or even "black month" in some countries), the occasional deal does pop up that would make even us reclusive gamers reach for our wallets. Shopping online enables us to get our fix without ever leaving the comfort of our own chairs; no looking for parking or fighting over the last product on the shelf. We can have a look at some of them and, by all means, feel free to post links to other deals you might find out there.

GOG.com is a shop I heartily recommend, and on their sales page there are several gems you might be interested in. Firstly, if you haven't played "The Witcher" series yet, you have missed out on something. W3 is (in my opinion) the best RPG ever made. Take a look and buy them if you can; I also recommend getting the W3 expansions, especially "Blood and Wine". Another favourite is the enhanced editions of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. At these prices, it's a complete no-brainer. Oh and if you're into older games, the "Quest for glory" series is really cool. Anyway, there are lots of gems on GOG.com, all DRM-free and playable on modern computers, of course, enabling you to go nuts and shop to your heart's content.

Steam also has many items on sale, including the FarCry series, the above-mentioned Witcher series, XCOM 1 and XCOM 2 (both of which I can recommend), Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, Civilization VI (currently selling at -70%), Borderlands 2 and much more besides.

Amazon.com have lots of PC/game stuff on sale, there's a good chance to pick up some equipment there if you're looking for something.

Of course there are many more shops out there, and many more deals, just keep in mind that you should not splurge for splurging's sake - shop for things you want or was going to get anyway ... Happy shopping, and don't ruin yourself. :)

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So, we haMoS Honorary PARve been given a rare opportunity to pose a number of questions to everyone's favorite composer, Mr. Paul Anthony Romero.

Since we are such good guys :| we would like to invite all of you to take part in this Q and A. Gaming or music or music and gaming, as you wish! Whatever you ever wanted to know, write it down.


By the power of Zelas!

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  1. H4 Object Package - Beta released
  2. Unofficial Community Mod (UCP) 1.1 Released
  3. Grid Carthographer 4