footman
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to be honest, I don't understand what you mean.
This "level" from 2008-2010 seems too abstract to me. For example, Minecraft was released in 2011, is it representative of the graphics for 2011, and if not (of course not), then what is?
Or, another question: what "year of graphics" does a 2006 game (Heroes 5) with models from a 2015 game (Heroes 7) look like? Is some kind of average calculated?
In short, if I'm not being sarcastic, I don't understand what specific technologies you feel are lacking in Heroes 5.
Added 2 minutes later
Well, as far as I understand, it still works simply with the AM_OPAQUE value?
What's the problem then? And considering the "quality" of the shadows in Heroes 5, is it really that important that they take the alpha channel into account?
Yes, but only with AM_OPAQUE, and the quality of the shadows can be improved by changing the gfx_depth_tex_resolution parameter in user_a2.cfg, but another problem arises: shadows are divided into static ones (they have smoothing and are only for trees) and non-static ones (everything else). Static shadows glitch out at values greater than 2048, and judging by this video, someone reworked them: https://youtu.be/POxjA5uFRj0
Besides shadows, a normal gloss function is needed, which, when used, does not create random shadows at certain angles, and support for vertex maps, which was broken.