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Heroes of Might and Magic II

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Heroes of Might and Magic II
Heroes of Might and Magic II cover
Developers
New World Computing
Expansion Cyberlore Studios
Publishers
1996-2003 3DO
2003-present Ubisoft
Re-release Sold Out Software
Release dates
DOS October 1, 1996
Windows October 1, 1996
Mac OS (Classic) October 1, 1996
Windows (DOSBox) August 20, 2009
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack, Subscription gaming service
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
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 II on HowLongToBeat
Heroes of Might and Magic II guide on StrategyWiki
Heroes of Might and Magic II on MobyGames
Heroes of Might and Magic II 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 II is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view and isometric TBS game in the Heroes of Might and Magic series.

In April 1997, the game received the Price of Loyalty expansion.

The Windows-native version requires the GL wrapper by Verok to resolve compatibility issues. Additionally, the Windows version's installer is 16-bit, requiring a workaround to run on 64-bit systems.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
HoMM II section on Age of Heroes
Celestial Heavens forums for game series

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
DOS
Windows
Mac OS
GOG.com
DRM-free
Gold Edition. Includes the native Windows version as well as the DOS version pre-packaged with DOSBox.[1]
Windows
Ubisoft Store
Icon overlay.png
Gold Edition is included with Ubisoft+.
Windows
A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Version differences

The Gold Edition / Deluxe edition includes the base game and the Price of Loyalty expansion.

Monetization

Type Notes
Expansion pack The expansion pack includes campaigns and maps.
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service Available via Ubisoft+.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
The Price of Loyalty Included in the Compendium edition (DOS and Windows version) and in the Gold edition (DOS and Windows)
Windows
DOS

Essential improvements

GL Wrapper by Verok

Changes the graphics renderer of the original version, fixes performance on newer systems.

fheroes2

An open-source, written from scratch recreation of the Heroes of Might and Magic II game engine.
Provides significant improvements to the gameplay, graphics and logic, including support for high-resolution graphics, improved AI, numerous fixes and user interface improvements.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
DOS
Windows
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

Video

General settings menu
General settings menu

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Use fheroes2.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Use fheroes2.
Field of view (FOV)
Uses 2D sprites with a fixed perspective.
Windowed
Toggle with Alt+ Enter (when using DOSBox). For Windows version, toggle with F4.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
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
Framerate fluctuates, does not reach 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Use fheroes2.
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, but can not have volume changed.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
For DOSBox, use priority=higher,pause in the [sdl] section of the config file
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio
On Windows, CD music might not play correctly; see the troubleshooting guide for solutions.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Polish
Russian
Unofficial localization by «PC Boheme/Fargus»

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
6 Hot seat
LAN play
6
Online play
6 The official multiplayer service has been shut down.

Connection types

Issues fixed

Installing the Windows version on 64-bit systems

The original disc release uses a 16-bit installer.
Use winevdm
  1. Insert the game disc.
  2. Download and extract winevdm.
  3. Run otvdmw.exe use it to open SETUP.EXE from the disc.
  4. In case of an "SEGV" error just click on continue.
  5. Follow the prompts.

Playing the Windows version on modern systems

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Download DDrawCompat and extract it to <path-to-game>.
  2. Set HEROES2W.exe to run in compatibility mode for Windows 98 / ME, 16-bit color mode and as administrator.
  3. Run the game.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
WinG
[6]
DOS video modes SVGA 256 colors mode (8-bit) for Mac OS
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bitARM Notes
Windows
64-bit requires the fheroes2 source port[2]
macOS (OS X)
Requires the fheroes2 source port[3][4]
Linux
Requires the fheroes2 source port[5]
Mac OS (Classic)
The original version supports: 68K + PPC (FAT) аrchitecture, From Mac OS 7.1 up to Mac OS 9.2

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) 486DX2-66
System memory (RAM) 8 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 60 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA-compatible
Sound (audio device) MIDI controller
DOS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 5.0
Processor (CPU) 486DX2-66
System memory (RAM) 8 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 60 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA-compatible
Sound (audio device) MIDI controller
Mac OS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7.1
Processor (CPU) 68K + PPC (FAT)
System memory (RAM) 8 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 60 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA-compatible
Sound (audio device) MIDI controller


Notes

  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 - last accessed on 17 May 2023
  2. version 0.9.5 - last accessed on 2021-07-17
  3. version 0.9.5 - last accessed on 2021-07-17
  4. fheroes2 — Homebrew Formulae - last accessed on 1 March 2022
  5. Debian -- Details of package fheroes2-pkg in sid - last accessed on 2021-04-05
  6. WinG - Wikipedia - last accessed on 2020-03-19