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Heroes of Might and Magic III game engine VCMI 1.3 out now

By - | Views: 19,328

Here's another fun open source reimplementation for you: VCMI is for running Heroes of Might and Magic III on modern systems with plenty of enhancements and a new release just went out.

With VCMI you can play through the entire game but you also get various user interface improvements like high resolution support, modding support, a fancy launcher, Linux support and much more. Nice to see again that another classic is kept alive with open source!


Pictured - VCMI, click pics to enlarge.

Just some of the changes in the 1.3 release include:

  • Implemented automatic interface scaling to any resolution supported by monitor.
  • Implemented UI scaling option to scale game interface.
  • Game resolution and UI scaling can now be changed without game restart.
  • Fixed multiple issues with borderless fullscreen mode.
  • Implemented support for Horn of the Abyss map format.
  • Implemented option to replay results of quick combat.
  • Added translations to French and Chinese.
  • All in-game cheats are now case-insensitive.
  • Better touchscreen support.
  • Various AI improvements.
  • And much more.

See more on the official site and you can install it easily on Linux from Flathub. You do need the original game for the data files which you can grab on GOG.com.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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9 comments

Belaptir Aug 7, 2023
Oooohhh boy... And it works on Android? Yeah... I know someone who is working during this month doing basically nothing but wait for the clock that will have great times with this.
PS: it's absolutely not me... At all.
Cyril Aug 7, 2023
Glorious VCMI!
Tchey Aug 7, 2023
Probably still the best game of the HOMM, and the best game of its genre too, this engine only makes it even best-er.
officernice Aug 8, 2023
Ohh nice, did not know this existed. Is it better than running the game via Lutris and the community HD upgrade?
Cyril Aug 8, 2023
Quoting: officerniceOhh nice, did not know this existed. Is it better than running the game via Lutris and the community HD upgrade?
For me: yes! Because it's not just an HD/graphical upgrade, it has a tons of upgrades of gameplay/interface etc (and it's native!).
Running the original game via Lutris will always be the same, there is no update of it.
Meanwhile VCMI is updated frequently and so is better every day!

Sorry, but I'm in love with this project, do what you want from what I'm saying.
Just try it.
That said, I was not using the HD patch when I was playing the game with Wine, but since some releases of VCMI I only play it through it and didn't launch the Wine version since then.
officernice Aug 9, 2023
Quoting: Cyril
Quoting: officerniceOhh nice, did not know this existed. Is it better than running the game via Lutris and the community HD upgrade?
For me: yes! Because it's not just an HD/graphical upgrade, it has a tons of upgrades of gameplay/interface etc (and it's native!).
Running the original game via Lutris will always be the same, there is no update of it.
Meanwhile VCMI is updated frequently and so is better every day!

Sorry, but I'm in love with this project, do what you want from what I'm saying.
Just try it.
That said, I was not using the HD patch when I was playing the game with Wine, but since some releases of VCMI I only play it through it and didn't launch the Wine version since then.

Hmmm.. updates. What kind? As exciting it may sound, I also become sceptical if they mess too much with the original game.
Cyril Aug 9, 2023
Quoting: officernice
Quoting: Cyril
Quoting: officerniceOhh nice, did not know this existed. Is it better than running the game via Lutris and the community HD upgrade?
For me: yes! Because it's not just an HD/graphical upgrade, it has a tons of upgrades of gameplay/interface etc (and it's native!).
Running the original game via Lutris will always be the same, there is no update of it.
Meanwhile VCMI is updated frequently and so is better every day!

Sorry, but I'm in love with this project, do what you want from what I'm saying.
Just try it.
That said, I was not using the HD patch when I was playing the game with Wine, but since some releases of VCMI I only play it through it and didn't launch the Wine version since then.

Hmmm.. updates. What kind? As exciting it may sound, I also become sceptical if they mess too much with the original game.

As it's mostly subjective I think the best is that you just try it out.
Even if there are some regressions from time to time (and fixed, like any other software really) in the long term it will be the best way to play Heroes III, IMHO it's already the case as I personally like most of the enhancements.
officernice Aug 10, 2023
Quoting: Cyril
Quoting: officernice
Quoting: Cyril
Quoting: officerniceOhh nice, did not know this existed. Is it better than running the game via Lutris and the community HD upgrade?
For me: yes! Because it's not just an HD/graphical upgrade, it has a tons of upgrades of gameplay/interface etc (and it's native!).
Running the original game via Lutris will always be the same, there is no update of it.
Meanwhile VCMI is updated frequently and so is better every day!

Sorry, but I'm in love with this project, do what you want from what I'm saying.
Just try it.
That said, I was not using the HD patch when I was playing the game with Wine, but since some releases of VCMI I only play it through it and didn't launch the Wine version since then.

Hmmm.. updates. What kind? As exciting it may sound, I also become sceptical if they mess too much with the original game.

As it's mostly subjective I think the best is that you just try it out.
Even if there are some regressions from time to time (and fixed, like any other software really) in the long term it will be the best way to play Heroes III, IMHO it's already the case as I personally like most of the enhancements.

What are some of the enhancements you really like? :)
chr Aug 17, 2023
Quoting: Cyril
Quoting: officerniceOhh nice, did not know this existed. Is it better than running the game via Lutris and the community HD upgrade?
For me: yes! Because it's not just an HD/graphical upgrade, it has a tons of upgrades of gameplay/interface etc (and it's native!).
Running the original game via Lutris will always be the same, there is no update of it.
Meanwhile VCMI is updated frequently and so is better every day!

Sorry, but I'm in love with this project, do what you want from what I'm saying.
Just try it.
That said, I was not using the HD patch when I was playing the game with Wine, but since some releases of VCMI I only play it through it and didn't launch the Wine version since then.

The HD community patch also has some QoL features added.

EDIT: I coincidentally stumbled on the list of features in the HD fan mod, but not in VCMI today: https://github.com/orgs/vcmi/projects/2/views/1
So there is a number of things missing. On the other hand, there is no list of what VCMI has, but the HD fan mod lacks.


Last edited by chr on 18 August 2023 at 9:30 am UTC
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