Hey, I've been feeling nostalgic over this game for the past few days and decided to re-install it, the problem is that the game seems to crash on start up, i can't even get into the main menu, i've tried running the game in compatibility mode for just about every different windows versions but nothing seems to work, interestingly enough i seem to get the message that the game has stopped working, twice

Although the community can sometimes solve this type of problem, you should also contact GOG Support for assistance with a crash in any unmodified game. Be prepared to provide more detail about your system: 32-bit vs 64-bit, enabled legacy components, etc.

From reading past posts about issues on Windows 10, I can recount two bits of advice commonly given. I cannot vouch for either of them as safe or correct, as I have not tried either of them.

First, I see various threads where a crash on Windows 10 is addressed by enabling DirectPlay in the Windows Control Panel. From the threads I can find in the GOG forum search, this seems to be useful mainly for people who have issues starting multiplayer, not for people who get a crash on trying to open the game.

Second, I very frequently see people advised to use the community-created unofficial Heroes 3 HD Mod in place of the regular game. Posters who respond usually indicate that it solved the original problem. As above, I don't use that mod and cannot vouch for its safety or correctness.

A friend of mine encountered the same issue, whereas it works and worked for me without problems. We tried setting the compatibility mode and letting the game run of a single core only, even used Imagecfg in doing so, but to no avail. Using the HD mod finally solved the issue for him. However, he still has the problem with the various Chronicles games. When we've found a solution, we'll tell.^^

I have the same problem but I'm using Windows 8 64-bit.

Also tried all the compatability options.

Yes,

Thank You!


The game works through the HD mod but crashes if I try to open it directly.

This should not happen on W10, I don't remember having such a problem, and the only think I can think of right now is Direct Play not being installed, which is a usual suspect when an old game crashes on startup.

Go to Settings => Applications, then click the "Programs and features" link on the right to bring the Control panel interface, then on the left click "Enable or disable Windows features", the Directplay component should be here to install, in the legacy category.

Sorry if the words don't match exactly, I'm translating from a french Windows...

I realize this is an older thread, but I just had the same issue where the game was crashing immediately after launching. What worked for me was to change the shortcut properties so that the program would run in 640x480 screen resolution -- to my surprise, the game launched without an issue after enabling this. Hope this helps others, HOMM3 is an excellent game!

Usually most of the problems with Heroes 3 are solved by installing HD Mod: https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/eng/download. I recommend to try it instead of running the game in low res.

I had read that the HD mod didn't work with some of the larger quests like Restoration of Erathia, does it work with the HOMM3 complete version (all quests)?

What do you mean by quests? The base version of the game consists of Restoration of Erathia and two expansion packs: Armageddon's Blade and Shadow of Death. HD Mod is compatible with all official campaigns.

Are you by any chance confusing the HD mod linked above, which works with the Complete Version, and the so called "HD Edition" from Steam which is buggy and only contains Restoration of Erathia?