Please, for the love of all things good in this world, can somebody, anybody, tell me how I can download the Heroes Chronicles games as a single installer?

I believe they originally came that way - with a single set of shared resources/files and 8 executables for the different chapters. Seen as they all use the base HoMM3 engine and they all use many of the same files it's absolutely insane to me that GOG made the decision to remove the all in one version and replace it with each chapter individually. That's an insane amount of wasted space and bandwidth, surely? I get that they can sell chapters individually that way, and it makes sense to have those installers available, but surely for those of us that own all of the damn chapters we should at least have the option of the all in one version. Am I right?

And yes, I know in this day and age all that wasted space probably isn't a problem for most people - but it is for some of us so again, what's wrong with providing an option?

I read somewhere in this very forum that the all in one installer is still available via the GOG API - but try as I might I can't find or attain it. I've tried a couple of python based command line tools that promise to let you download games you own by supplying their ID but none have worked. The all in one installer is listed on GOGDB but still no joy.

Does anyone know how I can get it please? I really don't care how - I've paid for the Heroes Chronicles games fair and square so happy to resort to shady methods if necessary (though I'd rather not have to resort to that if possible).

Come on GOG - sort it out!

The old integral installer was named "setup_heroes_chronicles_2.0.0.38.exe", you can't get it anymore from GOG but it can probably still be found somewhere on the Internet.

However, it's not up to date and is missing some later fixes (e.g. music plays in lower quality), so the current installers are better, although much larger.

Cool, thanks. I'll have a look for it. I didn't realise the current installers had fixes incorporated. I read somewhere (though I don't know where now) that there was no difference other than being separate installers. You live, you learn. I'll see if I can find a list of the fixes in the newer installers and decide if I can live without them or not. The AIO installer is definitely preferable for the footprint.

If you bought it as bundle or if it is still sold as bundle (like Heroes5, Chronicles or most of that "book of un-bundling tales" titles still are) you can download bundle version by its respectively D-link.
You can find it on GOGDB in non directly usable format and must manually put proper slashes and digits. Previously GOGDB did provide that dlinks on list of files Tabs. Idk why author remove it there. They are main pre-redirecting links didnt lead directly to files but to person library. Those who dont have game and/or bundle cant download there.

I put here somewhere clickable variant of that links as it was previously on GOGDB for bundle goodies and setup file. It is still obtainable fortunately.
And subj is only one where bundle are better.

Afaik the only change is unbundling. There is differences i some files, but it's harder to compare since AllInOne are unique versio where they are AllInOne. Like OP said. Single Data folder.

There is difference between such old and new installers stucture. Probably lack of WinXP support. Differ gog files like gog_game_123456.ico and gfwl.ico. Minor differences. Looks like no major ones. And even if there are - better make own repack based on 8in1 version.

Since I have both old and new installers, I did a bit of research.

Cumulative Heroes Chronicles "Data" folder (via old installer):

33.048.029 bitmap.lod
394.738.220 Hchron.vid
1.108.128 Hchron_1.vid
8.290.508 lbitmap.lod
1.638.751 lsprite.lod
15.247.056 sound.snd
62.492.540 sprite.lod
17.825.632 VIDEO.VID

"Data" folder when only Warlords of the Wasteland is installed (via new installer):

33.048.029 bitmap.lod
8.290.508 lbitmap.lod
1.638.751 lsprite.lod
15.247.056 sound.snd
62.492.540 sprite.lod
247.375.432 VIDEO.VID

So it looks like they mostly re-arranged videos from one big container (Hchron.vid) to multiple game-specific containers (video.vid).

WARLORDS.EXE from the old installer is timestamped as January 10th 2011.
WARLORDS.EXE from the new installer is timestamped as October 6th 2014.

EXE filesizes are the same, but there are a total of 12 differences spread out in blocks ranging from several bytes to several kilobytes, so I'll say the newer version does incorporate the latest compatibility and community fixes.


Since you do have the legit copy of Heroes Chronicles here on GOG, PM me if you want the old installer so you can compare it by yourself, but I still recommend the new one, regardless of the bloat.

Ok. Thanks for info.
Still, you do have access to old installer if change/download/8888/en1installer0 to download/9999/en1installer0. Proper digits are on GOGDB/GOG API oe there is working hyperlinks i put here somewhere.