Heroes III: The Succession Wars v0.8.2 Beta

Heroes 3: The Succession Wars Mod is partially compatible with HD Mod. Users who prefer HD Mod can install it over H3SW v0.8.2 and enjoy many of its features. Note that:

1. HD Mod must be installed over the game+H3SW chain. If you mess up the installation order, you will have to do some more additional actions to fix the situation. See below.

2. To adjust HD Mod settings you need to find the era.ini file:
/Mods/The Succession Wars 0.8.2/_HD3_Data/Settings/era.ini
To change the in-game resolution from 800х600 to a desired one and to change the HD Mod graphics mode, you will need to manually change the lines  and . IMPORTANT: changing these settings in the HD Mod Launcher will not do anything!

3. Recommended HD Mod Settings:
= from 800х600 (native) to 1440х900 (depends on your monitor width). You also can experiment with the resolution, but keep in mind that too many bright elements on the screen will not be comfortable for playing.
= 2 (32 bit GDI) or 0 (16 bit). You also can try other modes, but we do not recommend using 32 bit True because it leads to problems with in-game fonts display and causes instability in the game.
= 0. Do not turn on system cursors! They lead to instability of the game on some computers.

4. HD Mod Tweaks
Players who are used to  can try to turn this tweak back on, but be warned that some in-game messages in H3SW v0.8.2 are not optimized for it. Due to all in-game messages being different from vanilla Heroes 3, we recommend at least to check them out
Other tweaks are not recommended for changing.

5. HD+
Currently, the HD+ functionality is not accessible for the ERA platform due to the decision of HD Mod creator. Be warned that there will be no online lobby, fast army management or other newest mechanics of HD Mod. We sincerely hope that the situation will change in future.

6. Launching H3SW+HD
To launch H3SW+HD Mod you will need to use the HD Launcher or to create an HD executable with it for the h3sw.exe file. WARNING: launching the game with standard h3sw.exe can lead to crashes on some computers, so use the HD Mod executable instead.

Experienced users: Installation of H3SW in the same folder with HotA and/or HD Mod
If you are not afraid of possible problems, you can try to install H3SW v0.8.2 in an already existing HoMM3 directory. However, be warned that the abovementioned modifications all contain conflicting versions of the patcher_x86.dll file. If you install H3SW over everything, you will have to update HD Mod accordingly in order to have all 3 modifications working properly. Uninstallation of HotA or HD from the game directory leads to the deletion of patcher_x86.dll and leads to the necessity of re-installing H3SW.

IMPORTANT: if you encounter a critical bug (crash) and wish to let us know of it, please specify your installation order. Currently, we are not 100% aware if HotA and H3SW can be installed in the same game folder without problems.
IMPORTANT: Automatic uninstallation of H3SW v0.8.2 is currently impossible. This is why we still recommend using a separate game directory to avoid possible problems.

================
GENERAL GAMEPLAY
================
[!] Fixed crash related to memory leak from broken Mausoleum masks in Necromancer towns (0x004FB282)
[!] Added H2 walls and towers for siege battles for the six original H2 clasees
[!] Fixed wrong starting point for missile-based spells
[!] Fixed wrong starting bonus resources for Sorceress, Witch and Dervish
[!] Added music packs to allow user to tailor their own in-game soundtrack. Themes from SW, PoL, MIDI and Heroes Orchestra are avaliable

=====================
ADVENTURE MAP OBJECTS
=====================
+: Fixed Evil Fog (AVXef3.def)
+: Fixed Gazebo on snow shadow (Z358o1.def)
+: Fixed Random Resource sprite (avtrndm0.def)
+: Added graphics for Cobblestone Roads (cobbrd.def + drauto3.def)
+: Fixed/improved graphics for Dirt Roads (dirtrd.def)
+: Updated Dervish town sprite in the Map Editor
+: Removed purple pixels on top of dirt mine sprites
+: Changed Acolyte adventure form (AVWpsye.def)
+: Improved trees and rock from H1 (AVLrg11.def, AVLsh1g0, AVLsh2g0, AVLsh3g0)
+: Fixed deep shadow of grass mountains and mines
+: Jungle trees removed from the editor (AVLswtr0-9.def)
+: Trees improved and moved from Wasteland to dirt in the editor (Avlroug0-2.def)
+: New Sawmill for sand (avncrys0.def)
+: Added Dervish villages for all terrains (file:"ingame_maps..")
+: Fixed ruined NWC beach/sand town base (file:"ingame_maps..")
+: Added lizardman and upg L. adventure map forms by Dr Slash
+: Fixed external archer dwelling shadow (AVGcros0.def)
+: Fixed spelling and tooltip placement of Lean-to adventure map object
+: H2 Ship graphics fixed
+: H2 Flags applied to ships
+: Changed passability of City of Dead to match H2
+: Change sprite name of Ancient Lamp from avgnaga.def to avgfbrd1.def. Now functions as standard H3 dwelling instead of treasure chest
+: Fixed active square of Tree City (Sprite dwelling) being placed to the left
+: Fixed sprite of Treehouse (1-hex Sprite dwelling)
+: Changed passability of several dwellings and banks to be more intuitive
+: Fixed position of several decorative adventure map objects
+: Added Mud river (mudrvr.def)
+: Fixed pink pixel of 2-hexed snow trees (AVLd5sn0.def)
+: Adjusted H1 sea objects
+: Removed gray misplaced pixels from Random Village sprite (as seen in Map Editor)
+: Fixed a typo and overall sentence when encountering an adventure map Scholar
+: Added a proper placeholder sprite for Witch villages in the map editor
+: Fixed animation of Campfire for lava terrain
+: Updated small adventure map sprites for Satyr, Beholder, Wyvern and Acolyte along positional fixes

=========================================
ARTIFACTS, SECONDARY SKILLS & SPECIALTIES
=========================================
+: Mojo's specialty (Gargoyles) and Mephista' specialty (Magic Arrow) now work correctly (thanks to Valery)
+: Fixed bug with swapped spells for Evil Eye and Snake Ring
+: Fixed bug with Enchanted Hourglass being able to curse like the Evil Eye
+: Fixed description of Golden Goose from claiming it gave 20,000 gold/turn to the correct 10,000 gold/turn
+: Fixed background of ultimate artifacts
+: Fixed the misspelling of "Grateful" in the event text of picking up Caster's Bracelet of Magic
+: Fixed small icon in Kingdom Overview from displaying Gem's specialty as "Navigation" to the correct "First Aid"
+: Decreased Sorcery skill from 33%/50%/66% to 10%/20%/30%

=============================
HEROES
=============================
+: Changed "Brissa"'s spec from Eagle Eye to Iron/Steel Golems
+: Changed "Tolich"'s spec from Iron/Steel Golems to Eagle Eye
+: Changed Lloyd's name to Solmyr
+: Changed Brissa's name to Tessa
+: Changed Tolich's name to Skoran
+: Changed Archelaus' name to Gavius
+: Changed Finbros' name to Urok
+: Changed Ethania's name to Ether
+: Changed Solmyr's name to Logrim
+: Changed Charon's name to Sharon
+: Fixed wrong starting number of Zombies for Celia to the standard 4-5 units
+: Fixed wrong starting number of Centaurs for Wiggo to the standard 8-14 units
+: Changed Gems 2nd starting stack from Dwarves to a First Aid tent
+: Changed Falagars 2nd starting stack from Griffins to Gargoyles
+: Changed/updated 8 hero portraits

Starting army balance changes:
+: Peasant army interval changed from 18-28 to 20-30
+: Pikeman army interval changed from 3-4 to 2-4
+: Sprite army interval changed from 8-12 to 8-14
+: Dwarf army interval changed from 3-5 to 3-4
+: Satyr army interval changed from 2-4 to 2-2 (always 2)
+: Halfling army interval changed from 10-18 to 8-14
+: Boar army interval changed from 3-5 to 3-4
+: Iron Golem army interval changed from 3-4 to 2-2 (always 2)
+: Skeleton army interval changed from 8-16 to 8-14
+: Zombie army interval changed from 4-6 to 4-5
+: Centaur army interval changed from 8-16 to 8-14
+: Gargoyle army interval changed from 3-5 to 2-4
+: Beholder army interval changed from 3-4 to 2-2 (always 2)
+: Goblin army interval changed from 14-22 to 12-22
+: Orc army interval changed from 4-6 to 4-5
+: Tribal army interval changed from 8-16 to 8-14
+: Wasp army interval changed from 3-5 to 3-4
+: Lizardman army interval changed from 3-4 to 2-4
+: Toad army interval changed from 3-4 to 2-2 (always 2)
+: Rogue army interval changed from 8-16 to 8-14
+: Acolyte army interval changed from 4-6 to 3-5
+: Medusa army interval changed from 3-4 to 2-2 (always 2)


==========================
CREATURES
==========================
+: Added Medusa Queen's standing animation
+: Added Death Knight moving, idle and getting hit animation
+: Fixed Troll and War Troll projectile sprites
+: Fixed miscolored frame of Cavalier's death animation
+: Added subtle animation to First Aid Tent
+: Added and improved animation of Ammo Cart
+: Fixed catapult animation slightly
+: Removed cyan pixels in satyrs attack and defend animations
+: Removed Cyclops' armor piercing ability left-over from H3 Behemoth
+: Fixed Medusa Queen's being Immune to Lightning damage spells
+: Created additional projectile rotation frames for Elves, Druids and Titans
+: Created new projectile sprites for Centaurs, Lizardmen, Acolytes and Wizard Arrow Towers
+: Fixed Arrow Towers for Warlock, Barbarian, Witch and Dervish to use the correct projectile sprites
+: Fixed position of arrow tower shooters for Sorceress and Wizard
+: Fixed Lizardman shooting animation slightly

+: Added numerous creature balance changes - see forum for details

==============================
BUILDINGS
==============================
+: Extended animation of Jousting arena
+: Fixed animation of Skull Pile
+: Added missing animation to Habitat when Orchard (Halfling horde) is built
+: Fixed sprites for building Hunting Ground and Upg. Hunting range (Elf dwellings)
+: Added missing animation for Crypt (Gargoyle dwelling)
+: Added missing animation for Emergency Room (Barbarian special building)
+: Fixed broken animation of Adobe and Upg. Adobe (Ogre dwellings)
+: Fixed Wizard's Castles' and Town Halls' coordinations
+: Fixed size and animation of Pyramid and Upg. Pyramid (Mummy dwellings)
+: Fixed graphical mistakes of Graveyard and Upg. Graveyard (Zombie dwellings)
+: Fixed Sorceress bay area on town screen
+: Added subtle animation to the Satyr dwelling
+: Fixed broken pixel in animation of Warlock Citadel and Castle sprites
+: Added missing part of Rainbow sprite for Sorceress
+: Adjusted horde growth bonuses to +6 for all level 1 units except goblins which stays at +8
+: Fixed knight shipyard and added animation


Building balance changes:
+: Decreased cost of Crystal Garden (Sprite Horde) from 2000 to 1000 gold
+: Changed cost of Mushroom House (Gnome dwelling) from 5 wood, 5 ore and 1500 gold to 2 crystal, 5 ore and 1500 gold
+: Decreased cost of Foundry (Iron Golem dwelling) from 5 wood, 5 ore, 5 sulfur and 2000 gold to just 5 wood, 5 ore and 2000 gold
+: Changed cost of Upg. Foundry (Steel Golem dwelling) from 5 wood and 2000 gold to 5 mercury and 2000 gold
+: Changed Vampire dwelling cost from 2000 gold, 5 mercury and 5 ore to 2000 gold, and 10 wood
+: Changed Vampire Lord dwelling cost from 3000 gold, 5 wood, 15 gems and 15 crystal to 4000 gold, 5 wood, 10 gems and 10 crystal
+: Changed Death Knight dwelling cost from 3000 gold and 10 wood to 3000 gold and 10 ore
+: Changed Lich dwelling cost from 3000 gold, 5 wood, 5 ore and 5 sulfur to 4000 gold, 5 wood and 5 sulfur
+: Changed Power Lich dwelling cost from 2500 gold and 5 sulfur to 3000 gold, 5 ore and 5 crystal
+: Decreased Red Dragon dwelling from 10000 gold, 20 sulfur and 15 ore to 10000 gold, 10 sulfur and 15 ore
+: Increased Black Dragon dwelling from 2500 gold and 5 ore to 10000 gold, 10 sulfur and 15 ore
+: Decreased cost of Lizard Den (Lizardman dwelling) from 5 wood, 2 mercury, 2 sulfur and 1000 gold to 5 wood, 2 sulfur and 1000 gold

=======================
SPELLS AND MAGIC SYSTEM
=======================
+: Fixed spell animations: Cold Ring
+: Lighting Bolt animation as in H2; probably needs color tweaking
+: Chain Lighting animation as in H2; probably needs color tweaking
+: (Experimental:`Blaster Shot` animation as in H2; definitely needs color tweaking)
+: (Experimental:sptraits.txt extended, tweaking of flags on the fly now possible)
+: (Experimental: Learning spells over 70 now is possible, though their flags now don't allow it, and additional cadres in sp*.def needed)
+: Fixed too long description of advanced and expert Chain Lightning
+: Clearified description of "Anti-magic" to better explain which spell levels it protects against (numbers rather than "low/powerful")
+: Fixed spells Curse, Bless, Cure, Weakness and Bloodlust being applicable to war machines
+: Firewall and Land Mine now displays damage dealt when right clicking in spellbook
+: Fixed and added aditional sprites to active spell sprites (when right-clicking a creature in battle)
+: Increased cost of Cold Ring from 12 to 15
+: Increased cost of Fireblast from 16 to 20
+: Increased cost of Meteor Shower from 16 to 20
+: New spell animations: Prayer
+: Updated/improved spell icons for Prayer, Protections, Shields, Counterstrike, Forgetfulness, Implosion
+: Improved Armageddon spell sprite (based on H2 Elemental Storm)

=============
MISCELLANEOUS
=============
+: Restored blessings and curses icons "zgodbon.def" (previously they were only transparent, now at least we know they're on hero screen)
+: Removed blessings and curses FTGJ!
+: Updated portrait of Dervish town and village to the current ones and added placeholder sprite for Witch village (itpt.def)
+: Updated portrait of First Aid Tent to the current one (TWCRPORT.def)
+: Fixed Hero window, Town window and new day/week window to have the same background and border. Hero window primary skill values are now placed in the center of boxes
+: Fixed transparency of Random Hero sprite in scenario selection
+: Fixed small flag in right click Hero information box on the adventure map
+: Added cursors for "Scuttle Boat" and "Dimension Door" spells
+: Added cursors for Catapult's target, First Aid Tent's healing and the Sacrifice spell target
+: Fixed description of digging up the Ultiamte Artifact
+: Added campbrf.pcx, campaign menu interface
+: Improved Tavern interface and implemented Tavern video animation. Implemented Feanor's NoBik plugin. Added an empty line after the whispering barman message (genrltxt, line 218).
+: Fixed Hero inventory screen
+: Added H2 styled buttons to Marketplace, Artifact Merchant and Freelancer's Guild
+: Fixed Knight's and Sorceress' siege screens
+: Fixed mistakes in Barkeep's directions of the ultimate artifact (genrltxt.txt and ARRAYTXT.txt)
+: Slightly updated style of town buildings name bar when in town hall
+: Added a new beach combat obstacle
+: Fixed pop-up text of Hall of Honor (Warlock Special building) still saying "Battle Scholar Academy"
+: Changed buttons at Skeleton Transformer into H2 style
+: Fixed dialog box window sprite
+: Updated Underground icon for random map generation for consistency
+: Update Lizardman and Lizardman Warrior small icons
+: Added combat object instead of the H3 styled rock (ObBhS14b.def)
+: Updated battlefield terrain for desert, dirt and sand
+: Fixed layering for drawbrigde in combat


=============
SOUND & MUSIC
=============
+: Fixed 'Scenario lost' music and video
+: Fixed Sand terrain music to play properly without HD mod enabled
+: Implemented a plugin reversing the effect of WoG campaign video replacement
+: Implemented a plugin restoring the campaign voiceover mechanics (original WoG 3.58f problem)
+: (Experimentall: Added campaign voiceovers and video cutscenes for Voyage Home campaign (WIP))
+: Added music packs containing SW, PoL, MIDI and Heroes Orchestra soundtracks
+: Fixed quality of SW Warlock and Dervish theme
+: Added new sand music based on themes from MM6

==================
MAPS AND CAMPAIGNS
==================

New maps:

Heroes of Might and Magic I:
+: Added "Arena" made with help from Danila Rud
+: Added "Arabian Nights" made with help from Danila Rud
+: Added "Atlantis" made with help from Danila Rud
+: Added "Empires At War" made with help from Danila Rud

Heroes of Might and Magic II:
+: Added "Greed" made with help from Khimmel Otakov
+: Added "Teleporters" made with help from Yonderbrack
+: Added "Fortress Isle" made with help from Yonderbrack
+: Added "Lost Continent" made with help from Khimmel Otakov
+: Added "Vikings!" made with help from Summerloud

Heroes of Might and Magic III:
+: Added "Adventures of Jared Haret" made with help from Danila Rud
+: Added "Emerald Isles" plus allied version

SW mod:
+: Added "Fallen Virtue" (awaiting plot)

Map fixes:
+: Fixed town positions in "6 - Castle Slayer " (I - Campaign06)
+: Fixed possibility to travel alongside upper trees in "3 - The Wounded Land" (I - Campaign03)
+: Fixed unreachable obelisk (52,3) and corrected blocked paths in the swamp in "4 - Free-for-All" (I - Campaign04)
+: Disabled "Warlock" in random dwelling (88,36) in "III - Brave New World" and allied version to prevent bug
+: Fixed strong purple Hero (69,63) in "II - Broken Alliance" to always be Wizard just as in H2 and also fixed some terrain mistakes and passability of wasteland mountain in the buttom of the map
+: Fixed impassable area (49,7) in and removed floating (misplaced) graveyard "2 - The Archipelago" (I - Campaign02)
+: Fixed impassable area (95,142) and xixed unavaliable creature upgrades from event (49,33) in "III - Myth and Legend"
+: Changed specialty of the Hero "Kastor" from "Lightning Bolt" to "Sorcery" in "II - Dragon Rider"
+: Fixed Ore Mine (5,13) being set as "Part of ground" in "III - All for One"
+: Fixed several mistakes in "II - For Honor"
+: Fixed Black Tower built in "II - Dungeon Below" and "H3SW - Dungeon Below (Alternate)"
+: Slightly changed passability for Dragon City in "9 - King-of-the-Hill" (I - Campaign09)
+: Fixed several maps for broken swamp trees
+: Fixed impasable cities passabilities patterns and broken swamp trees in "III - Goblins in the pantry"
+: Fixed artifacts in "Wizard's Land" campaign
+: Extensively fixed "II - Pirate Utopia"
+: Fixed inaccessible random resource (9,4) and Hall of Secrets which acted like Medusa Stores and various other passability bug in "III - Crimson and Clover" (+ Allied version)
+: Fixed bugs with unavaliable creatures in "III - Barbarian Breakout" (+ Allied version) as well as heroes for red and yellow player
+: Fixed impassible area due to Genie Lamp (33,22) in "II - Deathgate"
+: Fixed Bikko starting with Expert Wisdon in "II - Arrax the Jerk"
+: Fixed spelling of 'Jared Haret' hero in "III - Adventures of Jared Haret"
+: Fixed Manolo (31,84) belonging to Blue instead of Yellow player in "II - Colossal Cavern"

======
HD MOD
======
+: Added additional H2 styled cursors to HD mod
+: Added H2 styled chat button and surronding interface
+: Fixed broken resource bar in town screens (HD_kRes4.bmp)
+: Fixed Mage Guild background in HD mod
+: Added H2 styled bagpack button
+:
+:
+: Plus tons of smaller of updates, that Uhm was to lazy to write down