Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
(Redirected from Heroes of Might and Magic)
Heroes of Might and Magic:
A Strategic Quest
Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest cover
Developers
New World Computing
Mac OS (Classic) Lion Entertainment Inc.
Publishers
Retail 3DO
Retail re-releases, digital Ubisoft
Release dates
DOS September 1995
Windows February 1996
Mac OS (Classic) September 1996
Windows (DOSBox) May 14, 2009
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Turn-based
Perspectives Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls Point and select
Genres TBS
Themes Fantasy
Series Heroes of Might and Magic
Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest on HowLongToBeat
Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest on IGDB
Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest guide on StrategyWiki
Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest on MobyGames
Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest on Wikipedia
Subseries of Might and Magic
Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest 1995
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars 1996
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia 1999
Heroes Chronicles 2000
Heroes of Might and Magic IV 2002
Heroes of Might and Magic V 2006
Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East 2007
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes 2011
Might & Magic Heroes VI 2011
Might & Magic Heroes VI: Shades of Darkness 2013
Heroes of Might and Magic III - HD Edition 2015
Might & Magic Heroes Online 2015
Might & Magic Heroes VII 2015
Might & Magic Heroes VII: Trial by Fire 2016
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes - Definitive Edition 2023

Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest is a singleplayer bird's-eye view and isometric TBS game in the Heroes of Might and Magic series.

The Windows-native version requires the GL wrapper by Verok to resolve compatibility issues.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
HoMM I section on Age of Heroes

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
DRM details are not known
DOS
Windows
Mac OS
GOG.com
DRM-free
DOS version pre-packaged with DOSBox.[1]
Windows
Ubisoft Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows

Monetization

Type Notes
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Essential improvements

GL Wrapper by Verok

Changes the graphics renderer, fixes performance on newer systems.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
DOS <path-to-game>\HEROES.CFG
Windows <path-to-game>\HEROES.CFG[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game data location

System Location
DOS <path-to-game>\GAMES
Windows <path-to-game>\GAMES[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Ubisoft Connect

Video

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
640x480 only
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
For DOSBox toggle with Alt+ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
For DOSBox set in the DOSBox configuration file.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Controller types

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music and sound effects can be toggled on/off.
Surround sound
Mono or Stereo only.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Polish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
4 Versus, Hot seat
LAN play
4 Versus
Online play
4 Versus
For DOSBox use DOSBox IPX/modem emulation.

Connection types

Issues unresolved

Cannot open Editor

While it is possible to open the editor on Windows 7 64-bit, it does not work on Windows 10, even after copying a functional WING32.DLL to %WINDIR%\SysWOW64[2] and applying necessary registry tweaks.[3]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
WinG
Used by editor.[2]
DOS video modes SVGA
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
Mac OS (Classic)

SETUP.EXE settings

DOSBox configuration file

The following file is taken a fresh GOG.com installation of the CD version and may help with determining optimal settings when running the retail version in DOSBox. Click [Expand] to view.
dosboxHOMM1.conf
# This is the configurationfile for DOSBox 0.74. (Please use the latest version of DOSBox)
# Lines starting with a # are commentlines and are ignored by DOSBox.
# They are used to (briefly) document the effect of each option.

[sdl]
#       fullscreen: Start DOSBox directly in fullscreen. (Press ALT-Enter to go back)
#       fulldouble: Use double buffering in fullscreen. It can reduce screen flickering, but it can also result in a slow DOSBox.
#   fullresolution: What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
#                     Using your monitor's native resolution with aspect=true might give the best results.
#                     If you end up with small window on a large screen, try an output different from surface.
# windowresolution: Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
#                     (output=surface does not!)
#           output: What video system to use for output.
#                   Possible values: surface, overlay, opengl, openglnb, ddraw.
#         autolock: Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen. (Press CTRL-F10 to unlock)
#      sensitivity: Mouse sensitivity.
#      waitonerror: Wait before closing the console if DOSBox has an error.
#         priority: Priority levels for dosbox. Second entry behind the comma is for when DOSBox is not focused/minimized.
#                     pause is only valid for the second entry.
#                   Possible values: lowest, lower, normal, higher, highest, pause.
#       mapperfile: File used to load/save the key/event mappings from. Resetmapper only works with the defaul value.
#     usescancodes: Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=desktop
windowresolution=original
output=overlay
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper-0.74.map
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language: Select another language file.
#  machine: The type of machine tries to emulate.
#           Possible values: hercules, cga, tandy, pcjr, ega, vgaonly, svga_s3, svga_et3000, svga_et4000, svga_paradise, vesa_nolfb, vesa_oldvbe.
# captures: Directory where things like wave, midi, screenshot get captured.
#  memsize: Amount of memory DOSBox has in megabytes.
#             This value is best left at its default to avoid problems with some games,
#             though few games might require a higher value.
#             There is generally no speed advantage when raising this value.

language=
machine=svga_s3
captures=capture
memsize=16

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames DOSBox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
#           Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq3x,
#                         2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,
#                         tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.
#           If forced is appended (like scaler=hq2x forced), the scaler will be used
#           even if the result might not be desired.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
#      core: CPU Core used in emulation. auto will switch to dynamic if available and appropriate.
#            Possible values: auto, dynamic, normal, simple.
#   cputype: CPU Type used in emulation. auto is the fastest choice.
#            Possible values: auto, 386, 386_slow, 486_slow, pentium_slow, 386_prefetch.
#    cycles: Amount of instructions DOSBox tries to emulate each millisecond.
#            Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.
#            Cycles can be set in 3 ways:
#              'auto'          tries to guess what a game needs.
#                              It usually works, but can fail for certain games.
#              'fixed #number' will set a fixed amount of cycles. This is what you usually need if 'auto' fails.
#                              (Example: fixed 4000).
#              'max'           will allocate as much cycles as your computer is able to handle.
#            
#            Possible values: auto, fixed, max.
#   cycleup: Amount of cycles to decrease/increase with keycombo.(CTRL-F11/CTRL-F12)
# cycledown: Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=auto
cputype=auto
cycles=max
cycleup=1000
cycledown=1000

[mixer]
#   nosound: Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
#      rate: Mixer sample rate, setting any device's rate higher than this will probably lower their sound quality.
#            Possible values: 44100, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000, 49716.
# blocksize: Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering but sound will also be more lagged.
#            Possible values: 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 512, 256.
# prebuffer: How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=44100
blocksize=1024
prebuffer=80

[midi]
#     mpu401: Type of MPU-401 to emulate.
#             Possible values: intelligent, uart, none.
# mididevice: Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
#             Possible values: default, win32, alsa, oss, coreaudio, coremidi, none.
# midiconfig: Special configuration options for the device driver. This is usually the id of the device you want to use.
#               See the README/Manual for more details.

mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=default
midiconfig=

[sblaster]
#  sbtype: Type of Soundblaster to emulate. gb is Gameblaster.
#          Possible values: sb1, sb2, sbpro1, sbpro2, sb16, gb, none.
#  sbbase: The IO address of the soundblaster.
#          Possible values: 220, 240, 260, 280, 2a0, 2c0, 2e0, 300.
#     irq: The IRQ number of the soundblaster.
#          Possible values: 7, 5, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12.
#     dma: The DMA number of the soundblaster.
#          Possible values: 1, 5, 0, 3, 6, 7.
#    hdma: The High DMA number of the soundblaster.
#          Possible values: 1, 5, 0, 3, 6, 7.
# sbmixer: Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the DOSBox mixer.
# oplmode: Type of OPL emulation. On 'auto' the mode is determined by sblaster type. All OPL modes are Adlib-compatible, except for 'cms'.
#          Possible values: auto, cms, opl2, dualopl2, opl3, none.
#  oplemu: Provider for the OPL emulation. compat might provide better quality (see oplrate as well).
#          Possible values: default, compat, fast.
# oplrate: Sample rate of OPL music emulation. Use 49716 for highest quality (set the mixer rate accordingly).
#          Possible values: 44100, 49716, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000.

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=5
dma=1
hdma=5
sbmixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplemu=default
oplrate=44100

[gus]
#      gus: Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
#  gusrate: Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
#           Possible values: 44100, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000, 49716.
#  gusbase: The IO base address of the Gravis Ultrasound.
#           Possible values: 240, 220, 260, 280, 2a0, 2c0, 2e0, 300.
#   gusirq: The IRQ number of the Gravis Ultrasound.
#           Possible values: 5, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12.
#   gusdma: The DMA channel of the Gravis Ultrasound.
#           Possible values: 3, 0, 1, 5, 6, 7.
# ultradir: Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
#           there should be a MIDI directory that contains
#           the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
#           with Timidity should work fine.

gus=false
gusrate=44100
gusbase=240
gusirq=5
gusdma=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker: Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
#    pcrate: Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
#            Possible values: 44100, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000, 49716.
#     tandy: Enable Tandy Sound System emulation. For 'auto', emulation is present only if machine is set to 'tandy'.
#            Possible values: auto, on, off.
# tandyrate: Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
#            Possible values: 44100, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000, 49716.
#    disney: Enable Disney Sound Source emulation. (Covox Voice Master and Speech Thing compatible).

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=44100
tandy=auto
tandyrate=44100
disney=true

[joystick]
# joysticktype: Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,
#               2axis (supports two joysticks),
#               4axis (supports one joystick, first joystick used),
#               4axis_2 (supports one joystick, second joystick used),
#               fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).
#               none disables joystick emulation.
#               auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).
#               (Remember to reset dosbox's mapperfile if you saved it earlier)
#               Possible values: auto, 2axis, 4axis, 4axis_2, fcs, ch, none.
#        timed: enable timed intervals for axis. Experiment with this option, if your joystick drifts (away).
#     autofire: continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.
#       swap34: swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.
#   buttonwrap: enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.

joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=false

[serial]
# serial1: set type of device connected to com port.
#          Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
#          Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
#          parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq (optional).
#          for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).
#                           (realport:COM1 realport:ttyS0).
#          for modem: listenport (optional).
#          for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,
#                         transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).
#          Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000
#          Possible values: dummy, disabled, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# serial2: see serial1
#          Possible values: dummy, disabled, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# serial3: see serial1
#          Possible values: dummy, disabled, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# serial4: see serial1
#          Possible values: dummy, disabled, modem, nullmodem, directserial.

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
#            xms: Enable XMS support.
#            ems: Enable EMS support.
#            umb: Enable UMB support.
# keyboardlayout: Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=auto

The following configuration files are used depending on whether the user selects to play a single player game, connect to a multiplayer game as a client, or start a multiplayer server:

dosboxHOMM1_single.conf
[IPX]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

@ECHO OFF
mount C ".."
mount C "..\cloud_saves" -t overlay
imgmount d "..\homm1.gog" -t iso
c:
goto launcher

:launcher
cls
ECHO �[1;33m�[42mÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
ECHO º ------------------------------------------ º
ECHO º  Heroes of Might and Magic Launcher        º
ECHO º ------------------------------------------ º
ECHO º  1) Heroes of Might and Magic              º
ECHO º  2) Game DOS Settings                      º
ECHO º ------------------------------------------ º
ECHO º  3) exit program                           º
ECHO º ------------------------------------------ º
ECHO ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ�[0m

choice /c123 /s Which program do you want to run? [1-3]: /n 
if errorlevel 3 goto exit
if errorlevel 2 goto setup
if errorlevel 1 goto game

:game
cls
loadfix -4 heroes.exe
goto exit

:setup
cls
setup.exe
goto launcher

:exit
exit
dosboxHOMM1_client.conf
[IPX]
Enable=1
Connection=1
ipx=true

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

@ECHO OFF
mount C ".."
mount C "..\cloud_saves" -t overlay
imgmount d "..\homm1.gog" -t iso
c:
cls
IPXNET CONNECT 127.0.0.1
netbios.exe
loadfix -4 heroes.exe
EXIT
dosboxHOMM1_server.conf
[IPX]
Enable=1
Connection=1
ipx=true

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

@ECHO OFF
mount C ".."
mount C "..\cloud_saves" -t overlay
imgmount d "..\homm1.gog" -t iso
c:
cls
IPXNET STARTSERVER
netbios.exe
loadfix -4 heroes.exe
exit

System requirements

DOS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 4.0
Processor (CPU) Intel i486
System memory (RAM) 8 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU) SVGA
Other 2x CD-ROM drive
Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel i486
System memory (RAM) 8 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Other 2x CD-ROM drive
Mac OS
Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

  1. List of GOG games using DOSBox, page 1 - Forum - GOG.com
  2. 2.0 2.1 https://www.gog.com/forum/heroes_of_might_and_magic_series/homm_1_editor/post6
  3. Verified by User:SirYodaJedi on 2020-05-29
    A command script can be found in the GOG release that copies WinG32.dll to the necessary location and applies the necessary registry keys.
    editor.cmd
    @echo off
    SET locpath=%~dp0
    SET locpath=%locpath:~0,-1%
    
    Echo n|COPY /-y "%locpath%\wing.32" "%SystemRoot%\system32\wing32.dll"
    
    SET regpath="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\New World Computing\Heroes of Might and Magic\1.0"
    ::echo %locpath%
    ::REG ADD %regpath% /v "InstallType" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f /reg:32
    REG ADD %regpath% /v "AppPath" /t REG_SZ /d "%locpath%" /f /reg:32
    REG ADD %regpath% /v "CDDrive" /t REG_SZ /d "." /f /reg:32
    
    REG ADD %regpath% /v "Editor Show Menu" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f /reg:32
    REG ADD %regpath% /v "Editor X" /t REG_DWORD /d 10 /f /reg:32
    REG ADD %regpath% /v "Editor Y" /t REG_DWORD /d 10 /f /reg:32
    REG ADD %regpath% /v "Editor Width" /t REG_DWORD /d 640 /f /reg:32
    REG ADD %regpath% /v "Editor Height" /t REG_DWORD /d 480 /f /reg:32
    REG ADD %regpath% /v "Editor Full Screen" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f /reg:32
    exit