Heroes of Might and Magic V

EU release containing both expansions.

Application Details:

Version: Collectors Edition v1.60
License: Retail
Votes: 0
Latest Rating: Gold
Latest Wine Version Tested: 1.9.21-staging

Maintainers: About Maintainership

Test Results

Old test results
Selected Test Results

What works

Installation, one hour gameplay, single player missions.

What does not

Everything worked fine with some tricks explained later.


What was not tested

Campaign and Multiplayer.

Hardware tested


  • GPU:
  • Driver:

Additional Comments

My specs and setup of the game: AMD A8 6600K APU but with NVIDIA Geforce GTX 750 TI in use. Installation: Using wine-staging 1.9.21 with virtual desktop but without the patches in winecfg activated. I created a clean 64bit wineprefix with WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.heroes5" WINEARCH=win64 wine wineboot and installed the game with WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.heroes5" WINEARCH=win64 wine /path/to/AutoRun.exe Installing the native dx9c from the dvd recommended. --------------------------- Executing: I disabled most of the gfx_features and played one hour without stuttering. Use page up and page down to scroll and Ctrl + arrow keys to move the camera. This configuration prevents this horrible stuttering, which made the game unplayable. Replace your config in $home/Documents/My Games/Heroes of Might and Magic V/Profiles/yourName/user.cfg with the following lines: //============================================================================ // generated by the game, please do not modify //============================================================================ setvar Options.Tooltips.HoverTimeout = 1 setvar Options.Tooltips.RightClickEnabled = 1 setvar adapter_to_use = 0 setvar adv_camera_mode = 2 setvar adventure_quick_combat = 0 setvar adventure_scroll_speed = 1 setvar adventure_speed_ai = 6 setvar adventure_speed_human = 6 setvar ai_time_limit = 180000 setvar alt_highlight_adventure_objects = 0 setvar app_always_active = 0 setvar autosave = 1 setvar camera_cinematic = 1 setvar capture_active = 0 setvar capture_end_frame = 0 setvar capture_framerate = 1000 setvar capture_start_frame = 0 setvar combat_ai_use_magic_for_human = 1 setvar combat_dynamic_mode = 0 setvar combat_new_autoplacing = 1 setvar combat_show_grid = 1 setvar combat_show_movement_shade = 1 setvar combat_show_target_shade = 1 setvar combat_time_factor = 3 setvar combat_transparent_walls = 1 setvar combat_turn_speed = 0 setvar combat_tutorial_autoexit = 1 setvar combat_tutorial_autostart = 1 setvar cool_path = 0 setvar custom_game_show_mp_maps = 0 setvar cutscene_altmusic = 0 setvar dm_connection_timeout = 20 setvar duel_realtime_default = 0 setvar duel_triple_heroes_default = 0 setvar duel_turnspeed_default = 0 setvar editor_camera_move_speed = 2 setvar editor_camera_rotate_speed = 2 setvar game_camerasensitivity = 1 setvar game_camerasensitivity_mouse = 1 setvar game_invertscrollx = 0 setvar game_invertscrollx_mouse = 0 setvar game_invertscrolly = 0 setvar game_invertscrolly_mouse = 0 setvar game_invertturnx = 0 setvar game_invertturnx_mouse = 0 setvar game_invertturny = 0 setvar game_invertturny_mouse = 0 setvar game_scrollsensitivity = 1 setvar game_scrollsensitivity_mouse = 1 setvar gfx_16bit_mode = 0 setvar gfx_16bit_textures = 0 setvar gfx_anisotropic_filter = 8 setvar gfx_ban_lags = 0 setvar gfx_depth_tex_resolution = 1024 setvar gfx_dynamic_lights = 0 setvar gfx_effect_alpha_treshold = 0 setvar gfx_fix_ban_np2 = 0 setvar gfx_fix_nv_np2_hack = 0 setvar gfx_frame_transition = 1 setvar gfx_fsaa = 4 setvar gfx_fullscreen = 1 setvar gfx_gamma = 0.5 setvar gfx_hsr = 0 setvar gfx_lag = 0 setvar gfx_lm_calc = 0 setvar gfx_lm_quality = 0 setvar gfx_lod_switch_distance = 300 setvar gfx_mapshot = 0 setvar gfx_nopixelshaders = 0 setvar gfx_noshadows = 0 setvar gfx_particles = 0 setvar gfx_quality = 0 setvar gfx_register_resolution = 1 setvar gfx_resolution = 1920x1080 setvar gfx_shadows_quality = 0 setvar gfx_static_nooverwrite = 0 setvar gfx_texture_mip = 0 setvar gfx_true_water_reflection = 0 setvar gfx_vsync = 0 setvar gfx_water_amplitude = 0.01 setvar gfx_water_frequence = 4000 setvar gfx_water_length = 5.13 setvar gfx_water_reflection = 0 setvar h5_simple_render = 1 setvar hero_trace = 1 setvar invert_camera = 1 setvar mission_camera_proj_center_x = 0 setvar mission_camera_proj_center_y = 0 setvar movement_reminder = 1 setvar net_load_timeout = 20 setvar net_multiplayer_init_timeout = 10 setvar net_ubicom_init_timeout = 10 setvar prefer_special_hero_trail = 0 setvar quick_combat_show_progress = 0 setvar quick_combat_step_limit = 100 setvar save_before_combat = 0 setvar select_campaign_mission_difficulty = 0 setvar shadow_on_trees = 1 setvar skip_adventure_flyby = 0 setvar sound_ambient_enable = 1 setvar sound_musicvolume = 0.399999 setvar sound_sfxvolume = 0.5 setvar special_win_x_pos = 0 setvar terra_quality = 0 setvar town_camerainvert_pitch = 0 setvar town_camerainvert_rotation = 0 setvar town_enable_flyby = 1 setvar tutorial_reset = 0 setvar tutorial_show = 1 setvar ui_announcement_duration = 3500 setvar ui_announcement_team_duration = 6000 setvar ui_map_coords_diplay_shift_x = 3 setvar ui_map_coords_diplay_shift_y = 0 setvar ui_open_atb_bar = 1 setvar ui_open_chat_in_game = 1 setvar ui_open_hero_town_list = 1 setvar ui_open_minimap = 1 setvar ui_open_res_bar = 1 setvar ui_use_hwcursor = 1 setvar view_state = 0 setvar window_x_pos = 0 setvar window_y_pos = 0

selected in Test Results table below
Operating systemTest dateWine versionInstalls?Runs?Used
CurrentArch Linux x86_64Nov 11 20161.9.21-stagingYes Yes GoldMaik Fischer 
ShowAntergosDec 21 20151.8N/A Yes Goldan anonymous user 
ShowUbuntu 12.04 "Precise" i386 (+ variants like Kubuntu)Apr 07 20131.5.27Yes Yes GoldAttila 
ShowMandriva 2010.2 x86_64Mar 02 20121.4-rc5Yes Yes GoldGiovanni Mariani 
ShowFedora 13Jun 16 20101.2-rc3Yes Yes PlatinumTommy He 

Known Bugs

Bug # Description Status Resolution Other apps affected

Show all bugs

HowTo / Notes


Do not set resolution setting IN GAME higher than 1024 x 768!

You may experiment only through Wines provided Configuration Window.

Otherwise - You will not be able to reset setting back to compatible. Only possible solution is to reinstall game to play it again.



HOMM5 needs S3TC support for open mesa driver
by hemligt on Monday July 3rd 2017, 18:05
This game needs S3TC support to work so if you run an 64-bit distribution with multilib where you handle multilib your self like slackware, then you need to also install 32-bit package of libtxc_dxtn for it to work if you use open mesa driver.
In slackware that package would be called libtxc_dxtn-compat32-1.0.1-x86_64-1_SBocompat32.txz
Heroes laging
by Marko on Saturday December 3rd 2016, 17:36
Anything new about this problem. I'm new to this so this is my first comment. I have this same bug on my Heroes V. I have been using 1.9.23 staging version. I think I have tried with 1.6.2 first and have exactly the same bug. So the only fix is to enter in option and to change some option and apply. And yes, keyboard is not working in full screen window mode in 1.9.23 staging version, while in 1.6.2 version is working.
Still laging in Campaign mode
by Maik Fischer on Tuesday December 20th 2016, 13:01
unfortunately the game is still choppy when I lift the fog before with a cheat. However in Single Scenario it performs better than in Campaign. I retested this with wine 1.9.23 staging, but I hope for some major wine versions to fix this.
But adjusting the gamma settings works now in all games I have tested, which was not possible in previous wine versions.
I recommend also Arch as a Linux Distribution as it offers newer packages by default while still remaining quite stable. I get more games working with Arch (even Bioshock retail) as with an Ubuntu or Debian derivate (I guess you are using one, because you have mentioned the 1.6.2 version).

It's amazing that people are playing this game after so many years, it is a real goldie.
Lag problem with recent wine versions and nvidia
by Emmanuel Anne on Monday May 2nd 2016, 3:55
I am not sure it's related to my nvidia, but the problem occurs at least with 1.8.2, 1.9.8, and 1.9.9. The animation becomes choppy while playing, it can be after a video, or simply when some gui dialog is displayed or even simply when lots of things have been displayed on screen, but once it becomes choppy I found the only way to fix it is to go to options and change the video mode to another one, then it becomes correct again until the next time.

I made a few tests before posting, even tried a double_buffer patch for another game :
--- start ---
diff --git a/dlls/wined3d/buffer.c b/dlls/wined3d/buffer.c
index 8bb1f63..8f388ab 100644
--- a/dlls/wined3d/buffer.c
+++ b/dlls/wined3d/buffer.c
@@ -1499,6 +1499,8 @@ HRESULT buffer_init(struct wined3d_buffer *buffer, IWineD3DDeviceImpl *device,
buffer->flags |= WINED3D_BUFFER_CREATEBO;

if (data)
BYTE *ptr;
--- end ---

this patch actually makes the animation choppy all the time, so the problem is probably related somehow to double buffer, but I can't say much more than that. The nvidia is a gtx 960, much enough to play this old game.
The good news is that the old adviced editions in user.cfg are not necessary anymore (gfx_ban_lags and gfx_nopixelshaders), there is no flickering anywhere and the picture is perfect, except this very heavy sync problem when it starts. I played with the other gfx_ settings in the config file but got no positive results to fix this. Setting gfx_ban_lags = 1 actually produces glitches in the picture.

It's with the gog version, the 3 extensions included, a 32 bit version.
RE: Lag problem with recent wine versions and nvidia
by pasu on Thursday August 25th 2016, 15:44
I have this problem too and have not found a true fix for it. Changing the graphic option (for example changing the aa or af setting) does give temporal fix. To avoid having to manually change the setting every time the screen becomes choppy (3 or more times per game), I created a bash script that use xdotool to change the option for me.
The script basically brings out the video option (F4) and increase the anti-aliasing by 1, apply, then change it back by decreasing the AA by 1. So, the screen are fixed and actually nothing has changed.
RE: Lag problem with recent wine versions and nvidia
by pasu on Friday August 26th 2016, 18:20
Anyway even with this fix, the game still become choppy once every few minutes. I am giving up to it =(
catalyst and flickering.
by hemligt on Wednesday April 30th 2014, 6:11
I had a lot of flickering with catalyst 14.4 the only wine version that worked without flickering was 1.2.2.
I run it at 1366x768 in wine 1.2.2 on slackware64 14.1 and everything works as far as i can tell.