Posts from Why isn't there support for all versions of the game yet, including "Chronicles"?

Why isn't work being done on the other expansions? What's the difficulty? Or is it just laziness? For me, for example... it's much easier to start with "Heroes Chronicles," both as a newcomer and as someone who hasn't played Heroes for "100 years," but it's even difficult to launch them now on new operating systems, let alone play them in their default resolution. By default, you can't even switch to windowed mode, and the game can't be captured in "OBS." Or did you simply port it to this mod, focusing only on the most popular expansions, and ignore the rest?

The thing is, people are currently playing either "The Shadow of Death" or "Complete Collection," and the HD mod works on these versions, allowing you to play on any monitor in any resolution, in fullscreen or windowed mode, with or without stretching the image. "Chronicles of Heroes" is essentially the same as "The Shadow of Death," but with replaced story campaigns and portraits of Tarnum, a hero from "Chronicles." There are "Chronicles" in the form of separate campaign files that you can play on "The Shadow of Death" or "Complete Collection." There is also a newer, popular mod called "Horn of the Abyss" (HotA), which is also compatible with the HD mod. However, it's not worth playing single-player maps from other versions of the game in it due to the specific gameplay features of HotA (you won't be able to move across water while simultaneously visiting an object, spellbooks of elemental magic may lack spells that are forbidden on the map, and so on). And now, the game with the HD mod can be easily recorded and streamed, as you can easily see on YouTube or Twitch. Here is an example of one battle from a stream.

well, I know that everyone is playing now, and even in the complete collection, there aren't many people, but... I'm interested in the campaign, not the multiplayer...
and about the h3c files... I remember, I even extracted them myself... and then I went even further and extracted the maps from them... although I don't think I ever used them... it was just a matter of curiosity... although, as far as I remember, you just need to put them in the maps folder, and they will appear in the campaigns...
But still, it seems more like an excuse... I've already found wrappers to launch Heroes in OGLE, and only then can they be captured, but the resolution is still poor, and I would like full HD
that's why I'm trying to understand - is it just laziness or are there some difficulties in this, although... what difficulties could there be, because it's still the same Heroes, only a different add-on...

Well, that's exactly it: there are no problems. Place the campaign files from the link into the maps folder and play them as additional campaigns.
As for those who continue to struggle with "Chronicles" as a separate edition, no one is going to help them, as this is a dead end. There's no need to manually fix anything now: it's all already done!
Want me to send you a link to the "Complete Collection" in a private message? It's complete and works perfectly, tested over the years.

Ah, I was hoping to see comments from the developer, but... it seems he already considers himself "close to the gods" and doesn't even show up on the sites he himself indicated.
What I don't understand is why this mod works for some specific add-ons, but not for most. How was this chosen? "By trial and error"?
I currently have HotA, Complete, and even WOG "installed," but at least there won't be videos/music/portraits from the original...

Added after 1 hour 50 minutes
In general, I tried copying the campaigns into some complete collection (I also checked WOG and Horn), and it seems to work fine, but... but no, I copied my saves, and they simply aren't visible... all the others are visible, but these aren't.
I checked - I saved from the same complete collection, for example, in the Chronicles campaign, and... it saves, although it does display the "Breath of Death" icon... in short, it's a complete mess - I'll either have to start over or play the Chronicles campaign in Chronicles after all.
So, the problem, to put it mildly, is not at all solved and is still more than relevant...

There is no problem at all.
The "Chronicles of the Heroes" Campaigns can be played perfectly in SoD with the HD mod installed and in excellent quality.
You just need to copy the campaign files mentioned in the previous comments.
Portraits from the original are also copied as images.
I always turn off the music anyway.
The only thing that is missing is the video inserts.
And as for the old saves not working, you just start over and that's all there is to it.

That’s exactly what I’m saying – the situation is almost hopeless and can only be resolved through some convoluted workaround, or by starting the game over… neither option is ideal.

You can also try contacting the developer of this mod – perhaps his development will suit you. Write him a private message.

Well, I was hoping to see comments from the developer, but... it seems he already considers himself "close to the gods" and doesn't even appear on the sites he himself indicated...

Indeed, where do these judgments come from? Forums, in principle, have outlived their usefulness; they have been overtaken by messengers and social networks. Unfortunately, I personally prefer forum communication.
Why should I monitor topics in which only 1 new post appears per year, and in most cases, there are already answers from other people?
The HD mod is my hobby, not my job. I need to feed my family, not sit around and wait for someone to ask me a question on the forum.
Moreover, the HD mod itself is already a huge monster of 340,000 lines of code. Such projects are usually professionally managed by a team of developers on a salary. And I am alone. Its support and development already leave no time for conversations. My website about the HD mod hasn't been updated for several years - because there is no time.
And yes, for most of the mod's development history, I have focused primarily on online players because online players are the most consistent, loyal, and responsive audience. A single-player might play once a year and be satisfied, while online players play constantly.

That's what I don't understand - why does this mod work for some individual add-ons, but not for... most of them? How was this chosen? "By trial and error"?

It was chosen like this. For SoD, a large base of research and modification had already been developed by the creators of WoG and their followers; it would be foolish to abandon all of this legacy.
Why only SoD? Because SoD version 3.2 is the pinnacle of the development of the official Heroes 3. In it, there is everything that exists in other versions + more. The complete version 4.0 does not differ in terms of functionality and the presence of bug fixes from SoD 3.2.
Although Chronicles was released after SoD, it is a cut-down version. It does not have single-player scenarios!, it does not have a map generator!!!, it does not have multiplayer!!!. Why are they needed? Modifying Chronicles or Armageddon's Blade would require redoing a lot of work on researching and modifying the code. Why? If you can play any mission or campaign in the series in SoD 3.2?

So, the problem, to put it mildly, is not solved at all and is still more than relevant...

Believe me, making an HD mod for Chronicles is a thousand times harder and takes longer than starting to play them and reaching the save points again.
It may seem to me, but I feel indignation and even resentment in your messages. Go ahead and make an HD mod for Chronicles yourself. It's not that hard!

And yes, for most of the mod's development history, I focused primarily on online players because online players are the most consistent, loyal, and responsive audience. A single-player will play once a year and be satisfied, while online players play constantly.

That's strange, strange. In the original version... or rather, versions... there wasn't even a hint of online play...

It was chosen this way. For SoD, a large base of research and modification had already been developed by the creators of WoG and their followers, and it would be foolish to abandon all of this legacy.

Well, if you want to simplify the task as much as possible, there's Heroes Wrapper, and it seems like we even have a developer, although he hasn't released the source code... in fact, you even talked to him... you could have tried to negotiate...

Chronicles, although released after SoD, are a cut-down version. They lack single-player scenarios!, they lack a map generator!!!!!, they lack multiplayer!!!. What's the point of them? Modifying Chronicles or Armageddon's Blade would require redoing a lot of work on researching and modifying the code. Why? If you can play any mission or campaign from the series in SoD 3.2?

But are they really needed? There's essentially no need for multiplayer there, which limits the mod almost to the point of being unusable...

Believe me, making an HD mod for Chronicles is a thousand times harder and takes longer than just starting to play them again and reaching the save points.
It might just be me, but I sense resentment in your messages, almost like you're offended. Go ahead and make an HD mod for Chronicles yourself. It's no big deal!

Well, it's clearly not just me who's interested in this...
These are strange, to say the least, arguments - just do it yourself, it's idiotic to do everything from scratch when there's already a ready-made version that just needs to be slightly modified...
That's why I was wondering - why didn't you even try to do it and just limited yourself, roughly speaking, to one part...

For the Chronicles, you'll have to "slightly modify" dependencies in 340,000 lines of code and debug all of it. Just because Chronicles is a cut-down version of the third game doesn't mean that to create an HD mod for it, you simply need to take an existing HD mod and trim it; it doesn't work that way.
This was done by one person, and it's not paid work, so demanding anything is completely inappropriate. Besides, this functionality is only needed by a very small group of people relative to the online community for the third game. Moreover, alternative solutions to the problem have already been suggested.

Damn, I also checked with the wrapper – the game keeps crashing... and it looks like I'll either have to play the original version or replay it in HD mode.

And yes, it's clear that not all lines of code will need to be rewritten... after all, we're not talking about a different game...

strange, to say the least, reasoning - just take it and do it, it's idiotic to do everything from scratch when there's essentially a ready-made version that just needs to be slightly modified...

That's the thing, there isn't a "basically ready-made version." I wrote about this to you, and Sav and MoP (very strong and experienced modders) did on the df2 forum.
And it's not at all "slightly" modifying.
If it were that simple, it would have already been done. You clearly have absolutely no idea how it's structured/works.
An HD mod is thousands of patches and hooks installed at specific addresses in the SoD code. Each hook can have references to other addresses in the SoD code.
For each chronicle release (!), these addresses need to be found again. The structures, order, and size of the structure fields may be changed in the chronicles.
Moreover. A very large number of bugs in the HD mod have been fixed thanks to feedback from a large audience - this is hundreds of thousands of players. I estimate the audience for the HD mod for the chronicles to be in the tens, at best in the hundreds, well, okay, in the thousands of players. A lot of bugs (and they will inevitably appear) will be found and fixed very slowly.

In my estimation, an HD mod for the chronicles is a project that will take months or years. Even if you were to convert HD mod + SoD into the chronicles, which is easier and faster than making an HD mod for the chronicles. It's a very large amount of work! And most importantly, it's completely uninteresting! And, frankly, not very much in demand.
Just finding the motivation for such work is already a huge problem. Personally, I would be motivated by $90-140k with a down payment of $45-70k. Just whining and begging won't motivate me 100%.

that's why I was curious - why didn't you even try to do it and just limited yourself, roughly speaking, to one part...

In short: because a) it's difficult. b) it's not interesting. c) it's not very much in demand. d) it's pointless.
Why it's pointless has already been written. To undertake such a large project just to enjoy the menus, cutscenes, and portraits of Tarnum is absurd.
SoD (and its mods) is a GAME that, thanks to the random map generator and online play, has infinite replayability.
The Chronicles are not a game; they are just 8 campaigns with a few missions (maps). And the quality of these campaigns is debatable.
For SoD, an incalculable number of custom maps and campaigns have already been created.

As far as I know, the Heroes chronicles are available as separate campaigns that can be played through The Shadow of Death with all the benefits of HD.

In short: because a) it's difficult. b) it's not interesting. c) there's little demand. d) it's pointless.

Well, it's a shame, a real shame, that everyone has forgotten about such magnificent parts and that so few people are interested in them.

As far as I know, the Heroes Chronicles are available as separate campaigns that can simply be played through SoD with all the benefits of HD.

If only it were that simple... at the very least, the saves don't load.