Installation on Linux

VCMI requires data from original Heroes 3: Shadow of Death or Complete editions. Data from native Linux version made by LOKI will not work.

Binaries installation

Ubuntu

VCMI stable builds available in "multiverse" repository. Learn how to enable it in Ubuntu wiki.

VCMI daily builds can be installed from PPA:

• For testing only: https://launchpad.net/~vcmi/+archive/ppa

To add PPA type in Terminal:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:vcmi/ppa

To install VCMI from repository:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vcmi

Debian

Stable VCMI version is available in "contrib" repository. Learn how to enable it in Debian wiki.

To install VCMI from repository:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vcmi

Snappy

It's possible to install daily VCMI builds as distribution-agnostic Snap package:

• Visit snapcraft.io to learn how to get Snappy on your distribution.
• Once it's running install latest VCMI build with:

sudo snap install --edge vcmi

• After you can run VCMI with following commands:

snap run vcmi.vcmilauncher
snap run vcmi.vcmiclient
snap run vcmi.vcmiserver

• Keep in mind that instead of $HOME/.local/share/vcmi/ you must copy Heroes 3 assets into:

$HOME/snap/vcmi/current/.local/share/vcmi/

• To update to latest version:

sudo snap refresh vcmi

Warning: Snap builds are currently in experimental state.

Please give your feedback on forum: Snap packages for Linux.

Other distributions

For other distributions, VCMI can be installed from 3rd-party repositories listed below.

• Gentoo https://github.com/qdii/qdiilay/tree/master/games-strategy/vcmi
• Archlinux vcmi vcmi-git

If you are interested in providing builds for other distributions, please let us know.

Compiling from source

Please check following developer guide: How to build VCMI (Linux)

Installing Heroes III data files

To install VCMI you will need Heroes III: Shadow of Death or Complete edition.

Automated install

To install Heroes 3 data using automated script you need any of:

• One or two CD's or CD images
• gog.com installer
• Directory with installed game

Run the script using options appropriate to your input files:

vcmibuilder --cd1 /path/to/iso/or/cd --cd2 /path/to/second/cd
vcmibuilder --gog /path/to/gog.com/installer
vcmibuilder --data /path/to/h3/data

You should use only one of these commands.

Music on distributions without Mp3 support

To have Music support on Fedora it is required to perform a additional step. Fedora doesn't provide Mp3 playback support natively due to patents applied on the Mp3 technique. The SDL_mixer package from the official Fedora repo is compiled without Mp3 support.

To make music work it must be converted into ogg format. This can be done either manually or using vcmibuilder:

vcmibuilder --convertMP3

This command can be run separately after install or as additional switch during initial vcmibuilder launch

Manual install

• Install Heroes III in Wine or manually unpack GOG installer.

• Copy "Data", "Maps" and "Mp3" from Heroes III to:

/home/$USER/.local/share/vcmi/

On some distributions $XDG_DATA_HOME could differ so instead you may need to use:

$XDG_DATA_HOME/vcmi/

Launching game

To start the game type in console:

vcmilauncher

Or, to start game directly avoiding Launcher:

vcmiclient

VCMI should be also available via desktop environment menu or launcher (Games/Strategy/VCMI)

Reporting bugs

Please report any issues with packages according to Bug reporting guidelines