rostenkowski / freeheroes3

Reimplementation of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 in LÖVE

Freeheroes 3

Freeheroes 3 is a reimplementation of Heroes of Might and Magic 3.

The framework used is LOVE2D for its simplicity and for the fact it is easily ported to mobile and web.

There is a python branch for implementation using pygame.

The aim of this project is to:

1. Read the map file formats for all three versions
2. Display the assets properly
3. Re-implement gameplay
4. Re-implement the editor
5. Improve upon the game

H3M file format

This is a breakdown (work in progress) of the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 h3m map file format.

The official maps are compressed using gz compression, to have a look at the file contents, rename it to .gz and extract it, then use a hex editor like ghex.

The maps come with the game which you can get through GOG.

For the game to find these maps, edit conf.lua.

General file structure (in order)

Info

contents	size	type	description (optional)
map_version	0x4	int	Restoration(14), Armageddon(21), Shadow(28)
map_playable	0x1	bool
map_size	0x4	int	Maps are square, this is one side.
has underground	0x1	bool
title length	0x4	int
title	title length	str
description length	0x4	int
description	description length	str
difficulty	0x1	int
level_cap	map_version != 0xE	int	Armageddon and Shadow of death only
players	0x8	player
victory_condition_start	0x0	bytes	================ VICTORY ==================
victory_type	0x1	int	0xff when none
allow_normal_victory	victory_type != 0xff	bool	1 when also allow normal victory
victory_applies_to_pc	victory_type != 0xff	bool	victory condition also applies to PC
item_to_acquire	0x1 * victory_type == 0x0	int	Item reference, if artifact victory
unknown_arma_sha0	0x1 * map_version != 0xE * victory_type == 0x0	int
creatures_type	0x1 * victory_type == 0x1	int	Type of creature, if resource victory
unknown_arma_sha1	0x1 * map_version != 0xE * victory_type == 0x1	int
creatures_needed	0x4 * victory_type == 0x1	int	Num of creatures, if creature victory
resources_type	0x1 * victory_type == 0x2	int	Type of resource, if resource victory
resources_needed	0x4 * victory_type == 0x2	int	Num of resources, if resource victory
town_to_upgrade	0x3 * victory_type == 0x3	coord	Coordinates of the town to upgrade
hall_upgrade	0x1 * victory_type == 0x3	int	Hall level for, if upgrade victory
castle_upgrade	0x1 * victory_type == 0x3	int	Castle level for, if upgrade victory
town_to_grail	0x3 * victory_type == 0x4	coord	Coordinate of the town to grail
hero_to_defeat	0x3 * victory_type == 0x5	coord	Coordinate of the hero to defeat
town_to_capture	0x3 * victory_type == 0x6	coord	Coordinate of the town to capture
monster_to_defeat	0x3 * victory_type == 0x7	coord	Coordinate of monsters to defeat
item_to_transport	0x1 * victory_type == 0xA	int	Item reference, if transport victory
item_destination	0x3 * victory_type == 0xA	coord	Coordinate to transport item to
defeat_type	0x1	int	0xff when none
defeat_hero_dies	0x3 * defeat_type == 0x0	coord	Lose if this hero dies
defeat_town_lost	0x3 * defeat_type == 0x1	coord	Lose if this town is captured
defeat_time_days	0x2 * defeat_type == 0x2	int	Lose after this many days
team_start	0x0	bytes	================= TEAMS ===================
number_of_teams	0x1	int	Number of teams on the map (< #players)
red_in_team_number	number_of_teams != 0x0	int
blue_in_team_number	number_of_teams != 0x0	int
tan_in_team_number	number_of_teams != 0x0	int
green_in_team_number	number_of_teams != 0x0	int
orange_in_team_number	number_of_teams != 0x0	int
purple_in_team_number	number_of_teams != 0x0	int
teal_in_team_number	number_of_teams != 0x0	int
pink_in_team_number	number_of_teams != 0x0	int
next_start	0x0	bytes	=============UNKNOWN TERRITORY==============
available_heroes	0x10	bytes
available_heroes_arma_sha	0x4 * map_version != 0xE	bytes
unknown_arma_sha2	0x4 * map_version != 0xE	bytes	What's next?
unknown_list_len	0x1 * map_version != 0xE	int	What's next?
unknown_list	0x7 * unknown_list_len	bytes	What's next?
unknown_arma_sha3	0x10 * map_version != 0xE	bytes	What's next?
unknown_arma_sha4	0xF * unknown_list_len != 0	bytes	What's next?
unknown0	0x1F	bytes	What's next?
unknown_sha0	0xF * map_version == 0x1C * unknown_list_len == 0x0	bytes	Does not work with A Viking We Shall Go but not A Warm and Familiar Place
rumor_count	0x4	int	How big is the list of rumours
rumors	rumor_count	rumor
unknown_sha1	0xAB * map_version == 0x1C	bytes	What's next?
unknown1	0x10	bytes	What's next?

Player

contents	size	type	description (optional)
player_start	0x0	bytes	Offset of where the player is
human_playable	0x1	bool
exists	0x1	bool
computer_behaviour	0x1	bytes
custom_alignment	0x1 * map_version == 0x1C	bool	Shadow only
race_bits	0x1	int	Random hero if 0xFF
unknown_arma_sha#1	0x1 * map_version != 0xE	bytes
unknown#1	0x1	bytes
has_main_town	0x1	bool
generate_hero	0x1 * map_version != 0xE * has_main_town * exists	bool	Arma and Shadow of death only
main_town_type	0x1 * map_version != 0xE * has_main_town * exists	int
main_town	0x3 * has_main_town	coord	Coordinate of main town
unknown#2	0x1	bytes
champion	0x1	int	Is 0xFF if there are no heroes
unknown#3	0x1 * champion != 0xFF	int
champ_name_length	0x4 * champion != 0xFF	int
champ_custom_name	0x1 * champ_name_length	bytes
champ_sha	0x1 * map_version != 0xE	int
champ_count	0x1 * champ_sha != 0xFF * map_version != 0xE * exists	int
unknown_arma_sha#2	0x2 * map_version != 0xE	bytes
unknown_arma_sha#3	0x2 * map_version != 0xE * champ_count == 0x0 * exists==0x0	bytes
champ_empty_list	0x1 * map_version != 0xE * champ_count == 0x0 * exists	bytes
champ_nonempty_list	0x1 * map_version != 0xE * champ_count != 0x0 * exists	bytes
champ_name_list	champ_count	champ	Champion namelist (id, string)
player_end	0x0	bytes

Champ

contents	size	type	description (optional)
champ_id	0x1	int	id number of champ
champ_name_len	0x1	int
champ_unknown	0x3	bytes
champ_name	0x1 * champ_name_len	str

Rumor

contents	size	type	description (optional)
start	0x0	bytes
title_len	0x4	int	How long is the rumour content
title	title_len	str
content_len	0x4	int	How long is the rumour content
content	content_len	str