Has anyone had any success using the cheat codes for the Heroes V bundle? I have tried every iteration of the techniques on this page that I can think of to no avail.

I'm tired of schwinging des todes.

I figured out the issue for me. The default key map

bind show_console '`'

Doesn't work for my setup (a mac running the game in parallels). It worked when I set the binding to CTRL + 'I'

I know this is somewhat old now - but the solution was to edit the input file in the "my documents/my games/Heroes..." folder - not in the game install folder (the autoexec file to edit is still in the install folder)

Please could somebody help me, Im utterly stuck on the last insane Dark Elf mission. It's completely impossible to win, and every effort I have tried to use the cheats doesnt work. Ive modified the files just as instructed, yet no cheat console will appear. Ive tried using trainers, they dont work either. I will have to just abandon the game if I cant find a way to use cheats. Because for some idiotic reason, the game devs decided to make this level utterly unwinnable.

Which Dark Elf campaign is giving you trouble? I've cleared both the base game campaign and the Hammers of Fate campaign.

The last one, where you cant take any cities to replenish your forces because they just self-destruct when you conquer them. And where several insanely powerful hero groups are on the map from the start, with like 500-600 troops in each of their army types. And where you have get thru many gates where there are some groups in the thousands of troops. There's just no way to get enough troops to defeat the enemy heroes and take the gates.

Generally when you see overwhelming forces like that it's meant to be a hint that you should search for a way around instead of through.

There is no way around the last gate. You MUST go thru it to win the mission. And the enemy heroes have insanely large armies and chase you down anyway.

Base game, then.

First question, come to think of it: Are you interested in trying to get advice on beating the mission legit? No point in me typing out a bunch of stuff that you don't want to read if you're sick of the mission/game and are only willing to try cheats to resolve it.

Second, yeah, most of those gates were absolutely absurd, and you should avoid going through them. I seem to recall I captured maybe two, and possibly a third one? But some of the later gates simply weren't worth the expenditure of creatures. Iirc, there were pathways around very nearly all of them.

Third question: What is your Raelag set up? Have you made a point of hitting the various +stat locations in previous levels? Mine had stats of 18/20/23/21, and I've attached a screenshot of his skills (not shown: he had the three Warlock special skills, but not the ultimate). I also chose Boots of the Open Road to do better in movement.

Warlocks are really devastating damage casters, and your build will ideally make full use of that. Empowered Meteor Shower hit for 720 while Empowered Implosion was hitting for 1440. Empowered Fireball also hit for 720 for a smaller area and cheaper cost than Meteor Shower.

Last question: What difficulty are you playing at? I played at Normal, which means my suggestions might be off base if you're playing at a higher difficulty.

I went looking through my setup, and I did get the codes enabled. I remember now that I needed it for the first Sylvan mission because the scripts were broken and the mission wouldn't complete. I do recall clearing almost the entire map on this mission (I had to skip one or two garrisons due to lack of forces and I think too many familiars eating all my hero's mana). I might have used Shadya's Dark Magic sometimes to use Puppet Master to turn enemy stacks against their allies.

I set it up to use the Tilda (~) key like that initial web site instructed (and it looks like that was the website I used to get cheats working, too). Use I hit ~ in game, I see a console appear.

You'll need to edit at least two different files. I see an edit for on in the game's installation folder, and there's a separate file to edit in my computer user profile.

Thanks for your help. I'll try your method. It sounds better than the other walkthrough I tried. What do you do about the roaming really powerful heroes though?

My method was to smash through all the enemies (Raelag's growing complaints about the towns being destroyed every time were somewhat amusing) so I could get the xp, levels, stats, etc. You can bypass about half(?) the garrisons by using the underground passages instead of the shorter overland route. Good creature conservation and liberal empowered damage spells should help keep your army alive.

On the short route, you'll probably only run into 3 heroes. One is guarding the stairway back to the surface; he doesn't move from his area and you'll need to go through him. Each of the three towns has a hero that starts in its area. Since you're bypassing two of those towns entirely, you probably won't encounter two of those heroes, but you may need to fight through the third of them (this is the second hero fight). The third hero fight is Veyer (going by the map description). Iirc he comes running in from off the map edge when you reach or defeat that exit garrison, and you'll need to beat him as well. Make sure to grab all the recruits you can from various buildings you pass; whoever isn't doing the fighting can hold the extra reinforcements.

If you don't have Enlightenment, I strongly suggest getting it. At Expert level, it is worth +10-15 free stat points by itself when you're level 20-30. That and Logistics (for all the extra movement) are the two Must Have skills in my opinion, regardless of which campaign you're playing. I think it is even worth giving up the chance for a hero's ultimate skill to have these two.

Thank you! Following your advice I beat the last dark elf mission without having to cheat! I really appreciate it. Do you have any advice for the Elf campaign? Like what are the best level upgrades to choose?

Congrats! I take it you used the "shortcut"?

For the Elf campaign, Findan isn't able to get the Sylvan ultimate skill, so that's out. Kind of a pity because Deadman's Luck is actually worthwhile; it competes with Academy's "All Spells Known at Expert" for second best racial ultimate. Instant Gating from the Inferno takes top slot with no contest as far as I'm concerned.

That said, Findan can get truly hideously ridiculous in an awesome way. My build included Enlightenment and Logistics of course, and I went the way of Triple Ballista and Destructive Magic. So you're looking at Attack, Enlightenment, Logistics, War Machines, and Destructive Magic.

Happily, Destruction is one of the two primary magics for Sylvan, and the Sylvan campaign features plenty of Elf towns, so you're pretty well guaranteed to get Meteor Shower and Implosion at some point as long as you put in the effort.

In the later stages of the campaign, Findan starts off major battles using Imbue Arrow with either Implosion or Meteor Shower, depending on the circumstances. Then the ballista proceeds to wipe out stack after stack with three shots on each action, every shot dropping an Implosion or Meteor Shower on the unfortunate victim. If you attach Meteor Shower, make sure you target the highest health unit in the aoe, because if the target stack dies after the second shot, the third shot won't fire and thus the third meteor shower won't rain down on all the nearby targets. Also make sure to keep your guys out of those meteor showers! And watch your mana, I guess, but Sylvan level ups tend to include a lot of Knowledge.

I've attached a screenshot of my Findan from the opening of the 5th mission. He had stats of 28/27/15/23. If you had so much trouble with the last Dark Elf mission, then this one will very likely be challenging as well (though you do have towns so you can reinforce), so make sure you have Findan gather as much power as he can in the prior missions (visiting all stat bonus sites, collecting all possible spells, etc). Also put in effort for Talandar and Dirael if/when you have them on earlier missions; they'll be in Sylvan-5 as well.

The important subskills are War Machine's Ballista, Imbue Ballista, and Triple Shot, and the Elf racial skills Imbue Arrow and Rain of Arrows. Other very strong subskills are Attack's Archery and Battle Frenzy. Logistic's Silent Stalker was handy for the huge view range, and Pathfinding is always handy for extra movement speed.

Do your utmost to keep your Master Hunters and Druids alive. Sprites are also very useful with AOE No Retaliation and a weak Wasp Swarm to use while the enemy forces cross the map. Ancient Treants will probably be your front line with Unicorns serving a back-up tank role. War Dancers should slip in where ever they can do damage without being targeted, while the Emerald Dragons are an excellent damage unit that also happens to be immune to Meteor Shower (I don't think Green Dragons are immune though! Don't mix them up!).

Last note: For Sylvan-1, you should see a Necromancer hero show up every couple of weeks(?) and assault you. Biara should appear at the start of month 2 or 3 (I think) and charge you. If that isn't happening, then your game's scripts might be broken and you're going to need to get the cheats working so you can cheat the mission as completed. I wasn't able to complete the mission normally because Biara never appeared, so I wasn't able to complete the hidden required mission objectives. Iirc, my solution was to basically clear my side of the map, then cheat the mission complete; I watched part of a youtube run to see what I missed story-wise. From mission 2 onward, everything worked.