Hello,
we’re are happy to present you VCMI 0.84 build. There are no spectacular new features, we focused on internal improvements. Several important parts of engine were practically rewritten, opening way for supporting such features as stack experience (work in progress). Nevertheless we added support for several new artifacts and skills. Beginning with this release all secondary skills are supported!

We have done a number of bugfixes - about 55 issues have been resolved. Please check the changelog below and bugtracker for the list.

Check items implementation status for the full information about which map objects, town structures, skills, spells, artifacts, creature abilities and victory conditions are supported.

Download link: forum.vcmi.eu/dload.php?action=download&id=20 (4.1MB, ZIP Archive)

Installation:
Extract the package into your main Heroes folder.
WoG 3.58f is required. We recommend using English version.
If your game is in another language, you can extract this package into Data/ subfolder - that will make your H3 installation English.
If you have older version of VCMI, you have to overwrite it.

Save format has been changed, savegames from previous versions won’t work with 0.84.

VCMI supports 800x600, 1024x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1600x1200, 1366x768 and 1680x1080 screen resolutions. To use custom resolution, type (before starting the actual game!) in the console “resolution” (or just ‘r’ letter) and pick appropriate one. Alternatively, you can change default resolution by the editing config/settings.txt file.

Acknowledgements:
Many thanks for all testers and developers who contributed to this build.

For the general information about our project look here. Our project isn’t really playable now, but it gives you an idea of progress we have made so far. We’re hoping that you’ll like it.

Since VCMI 0.74 we have deployed separate bugtracker. Please report bugs using this form. Check this page for list of known bugs and details.

We hope you’ll help us develop the project - details are available here. VCMI is an open source project licensed on GNU GPL 2.0 or higher. Our SVN repository with all the sources is available here.
You can look for help in building and developing VCMI sources in the development board.

CHANGELOG
0.83 -> 0.84 (Mar 01 2011)
GENERAL:

• Bonus system has been rewritten
• Partial support for running VCMI in duel mode (no adventure map, only one battle, ATM only AI-AI battles)
• New artifacts supported:

• Angellic Alliance
• Bird of Perception
• Emblem of Cognizance
• Spell Scroll
• Stoic Watchman

BATTLES:

• Better animations handling
• Defensive stance is supported

HERO:

• New secondary skills supported:

• Artillery
• Eagle Eye
• Tactics

AI PLAYER:

• new AI leading neutral creatures in combat, slightly better then previous

Full changelog is available here.

VCMI Team

Many thanks for this! Not only is it slightly better, but it seems to always choose a different hex to attack from, which makes battles feel notably more alive as compared to previous releases.

Yes, I’ve noticed that, too
The CStupidAI isn’t so stupid anymore.
If you make the neutrals are divided into stacks according to attacking army value (and repair obstacles on the battlefield), the battles could be even a little bit interesting.

I’m going to implement it soon

High-fives to all the developers!
I’m intrigued by the AI changes, sounds like fun.

Did you get the idea for the duel mode from H5, or fheroes2 Battle Only mode (or both)?

Best regards,
Steven.

Neither. Duel mode is part of our university project of creating a framework for battle AI competition. We need to automatically run series of battles between various AIs using preconfigured battle setups. ATM it’s not possible for regular players to use it.
But if everything will go as I want, the side effects of the project will be most useful for players: creation of competitive battle AIs, duel mode can be adjusted to work with player-AI and player-player battles, battle recording/replaying will be also implemented (and I hope to generalize it to allow recording of all game actions, not only battle).

I didn’t know that fheroes2 implemented duel mode, I haven’t tracked its development recently. I just played a little with the latest fh2 build and I have to say that progress is really significant. Its duel mode indeed may serve me as a source of inspiration. Using the exchange window as a battle configurator… pretty nifty solution, I haven’t thought of that. [Currently VCMI solution uses special, external application (Qt-written), intended to be a comprehensive AI competition arbiter.]
I don’t remember how duels were done in H5 (I was aware of their merely existence) but I’ll surely check how they work, before implementing this feature for players of VCMI.

Tow! Which Cracows university are you studying at?! ;D

Should be fun, if AI don’t chase stacks with weak 1 unit stacks, but go straight to stronger units, shooters or smthng.