Technical issues with Heroes III.

Problem with online multiplayer in Heroes of Might and Magic III. Windows 7. When attempting to establish a network connection, I receive the message: "Error establishing connection *connection type*. Please try again." This happens for all connection types and for all versions of the game installed on my computer – pure SoD, pure AB, Complete Edition, TE. Running in compatibility mode doesn't help. I initially added an exception for the game in the firewall, and then I completely disabled it, but it didn't help. We searched online and found a possible solution: replacing the dpwsockx.dll file in system32 with an older version. We downloaded it from one source. It helped a friend with the same issue, but not me. I replaced this library in system32 and also put it in the root folder of the game – no effect.

In the end, I had to install Windows XP in a virtual machine, and everything works perfectly there. With the same game, the same internet connection, and the same Hamachi, but it works. However, using a virtual machine is quite a hassle.