Nota Bene

VCMI is work-in-progress attempt to recreate engine for Heroes III, giving it new and extended possibilities. To use VCMI you need to own original data files

VCMI 1.3

VCMI project doesn’t stop! In release 1.3 we focused on player feedback and user experience. This includes quality-of-life GUI improvements and fixing issues that could spoil the look and feel of beloved Heroes game. Major improvements include:

Scalable user interface

GUI size can be freely changed without exiting the game. Also, we now offer smooth map zoom - that’s something certainly no other platform allows.

Touchscreen improvements

Mobile players, who turned out to be a majority of our userbase, will appreciate GUI improvements targeted at touchscreen devices. This includes radial menu for army management, swipe and pinch gesture support, as well as haptic feedback.

Random Map Generator

RMG got a number of improvements and fixes, based on suggestions of PvP community and random map experts. All options from original Shadow of Death are supported, but we also added some more for extra flexibility. About every aspect of map generation was improved. Improved Adventure AI

NKAI got significant boost. Not only does it play better in general, but also many existing issues and loopholes were found and fixed. Now AI does exactly what it was meant to do, that is to pose a challenge to human player.

Fixed Campaigns

Now they work correctly and are fully playable, from start to finish. However, be aware that game saves from older versions are not supported.

HoTA map support

VCMI can now load and run Horn of the Abyss maps. They provide some decent content for single player enthusiasts.

VCMI 1.4

Another major release just came out. As promised, this time we focused on multiplayer and quality-of-life features that make VCMI more accessible to new players and well as HoMM veterans. It’s not only about fixing bugs, but also cleaning up some unintuitive menus, options and descriptions to match player expectations.

Simultaneous Turns

Long-awaited and challenging feature, which is also a key to wider adoption by PvP community. Few different modes are possible along with customizable turn timers.

Improved GUI widgets

Large spellbook, hero selection dialog, more tooltips in adventure map, folders in map / save browser and more. Savegame compatibility with different mods

Many users complained that saved games require exactly the same mod configuration to load, which was confusing and sometimes buggy. We listened, and made it more convenient, with less requirements. Loading Screen, Ending Screen, High

Scores

They are all functional just as in OH3 and make the game flow more natural. Now you’ll be able to enter your name to high scores after winning the game. Also, campaigns will be correctly marked as complete and will stay locked until preceding campaigns are finished.

Tutorial for mobile GUI

Since it’s very different than desktop version, many players didn’t know or understand all touch controls, gestures and menu. Now there’s an introductory tutorial which walks new players through all the features mobile GUI has to offer. A few new options are here as well.

Map Editor

Editor now allows to customize various object properties in Inspector. We hope this makes creating maps with fresh VCMI content way easier.

And much more

Subtle tweaks to battle and adventure AI, Random Map Generator and mod system gradually make the game experience better.

There are many, many other improvments in different areas - make sure to see our changelog.

The project is constantly moving forward. For the next release we plan to focus on PvP playability.