How to install Fheroes2 with campaign animations and in-game Map Editor
What is Fheroes2 engine?
Free Heroes of Might and Magic II (fheroes2) is a recreation of Heroes 2 game engine. This open-source multi-platform project is aimed to fully replicate the original game with meaningful changes for gameplay, graphics and logic, bringing a new life to one of the most anticipated turn-based strategies. The project is in active phase of development and once reaching 1.0 version will be continued with an add-on development.
Where can I download Fheroes2?
To download the Fheroes2 engine, you can use the official GitHub site, where the current version is always available.
How do I install?
You will of course need the full version of Heroes 2, ideally WIndows version from GOG.COM (This version is on sale for €2.49 most of the year.)
1. Install WIndows version of Heroes 2 Gold from GOG. Log in to your GOG account, click on your profile icon and then on “Games“. Find Heroes 2 Gold and click on the icon. From the menu on the right, selec and downloadt: HoMM 2 Gold (optional Windows version). Run “setup_homm2_gold_win_2.0.0.7.exe” installer.
2. It doesn’t matter where you install Heroes 2 Gold. But choose an easily accessible location. When the installation is complete, do not launch the game.
3. Download the current version 1.1.0 from the official GitHub page (the procedure is the same for other following versions). There you will find versions for different platforms, such as Android, iOS, but we are interested in the PC version. Download this file and save it to your desktop: fheroes2_windows_x86_SDL2.zip.
4. Unzip the fheroes2_windows_x86_SDL2.zip archive to your desktop.
5. Manually copy the subdirectories ‘ANIM‘, ‘DATA‘, ‘MAPS‘ and ‘MUSIC‘ from the Heroes 2 Gold directory to the fheroes2_windows_x86_SDL2 directory. (The ANIM folder is located inside the HEROES2 directory.)
6. All done. You can launch Fheroes2 via fheroes2.exe. The game is complete with animations and an in-game Map Editor.
7. BONUS: The version installed in this way is also portable. You can transfer the game to USB and play anywhere.
If you are running fheroes2 on Windows and see complaints about missing DLLs, then you may need to install the Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable package. You can download it using the following URLs:
https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x86.exe – for 32-bit x86 fheroes2 builds;
https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe – for 64-bit x64 fheroes2 builds.