VCMI: Open-Source Engine for Heroes of Might and Magic III

I still spend inordinate amounts of time playing Heroes 3. It’s been a strong procrastination feeder over the decades, but it also gave me a <i>lot</i> of fun!<p>I mostly play HotA in HD Mod these days, but I had used VCMI on Android (with SoD). It’s been a bit rough – the client-server thing that it does would have connection issues, the mechanics differed in subtle ways, etc. But I’m also super grateful that it exists.

My personal ranking puts HD Mod above VCMI (currently) but VCMI has some features that HD Mod will likely never enable - because they’re fundamentally game changing.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sites.google.com&#x2F;site&#x2F;heroes3hd&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sites.google.com&#x2F;site&#x2F;heroes3hd&#x2F;</a><p>HD Mod also works with Horn of the Abyss <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;heroes3wog.net&#x2F;horn-of-the-abyss-download&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;heroes3wog.net&#x2F;horn-of-the-abyss-download&#x2F;</a> which is an (pretty successful) attempt to build an unofficial expansion to H3 that has the feel of H3. Anyone who played Wake of the Gods will know it felt quite “unH3” at points.

Off topic, I wanted to compare it to the original, wanted to run that in Boxer.app[1] and realized that this software is now unmaintained.<p>That’s unfortunate, it was a nice product with good UX. Also, unapologetically skeuomorphic, like many apps of that era.<p>[1]: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;boxerapp.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;boxerapp.com&#x2F;</a>

Back in the day, since I used Linux exclusively, a demo of Might and Magic III (ported by Loki software) was one of the very few games I had.<p>I resorted to figuring out the save file format in order to play as the other towns on the demo map.

It must feel great to devote yourself to a passion project and it turns out to actually work and people use it.<p>I assume this is a passion project because I can&#x27;t imagine getting funds for a project like this, specially when it might conflict with upstream licenses.<p>In any case congratulations to the developers.

Pro players use HoMM3 HD Mod + HotA addon, which are closed source improvements of the original binaries with solid support for multiplayer action. It has lobby with ladder ratings, simultaneous turns, etc.

Heroes II was my personal favorite

I still have an original Loki Heroes3 Linux CD, still scared of falling down the rabbit hole again

No (original) AI, and thus most maps not really compatible on a gameplay level with original

vcmi has seen a lot of progress recently.<p>the goal has also changed from mostly wog-related functionality (which thankfully has fallen out of fashion) towards recreating the original game+expansions+hota (+better mod support).

Was more excited until I read the &quot;Heroes of&quot; part :D I know that HOMM 3 (and 5) are absolute classics, but I&#x27;d really love for a new interpretation of the original Corak&#x2F;Sheltem Quintology. Might &amp; Magic X&#x27;s engine was pretty alright actually, if something like that exists as open source, that would be awesome.

Never played any of the Heroes games - what&#x27;s the draw to 3 specifically, above 4, 5 etc?

Is there any good iOS port on HMM3 again? There was something many years ago that probably wasn’t maintained anymore for new iOS versions. Would gladly pay!

I played it. It works fine. It has some glitches with some of the campaign missions. Overall I give it 90% there compared to the original.

Well it’s open source. But is it free though?

This is great news.

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