Heroes 3 issues under XP or Vista.

I also decided to install my favorite Shades of Darkness on Windows 7, and I got a message saying that "the installer detected that Service Pack 4 is not installed on your computer." In general, the solution is simple: right-click on the setup file, select "Troubleshoot Compatibility," and choose Windows XP SP2. Windows 7 will do this automatically, and everything will start up normally (you need to wait until the end of the intro and animation during the first launch). Also, it crashes occasionally, but rarely, so leave autosave enabled in the game settings.