MMH5.5: Multiplayer setup tutorial - Might & Magic: Heroes 5.5 mod for Heroes of Might & Magic V

If you are looking for other players at MMH55 Discord, you can assign yourself the role of 'chieftain' in the #become-player channel to have the ability to ping other 'chieftains' to find other players easily.

Interested in competitive gaming on Heroes55ladder.com

Setup your game for LAN

1. Everyone installs the game and the mod
2. One player chooses existing map or create new ARMG map. It must have activated scripts.
3. Players should put the map file in <game folder>/MAPS directory.
4. Players should sanitize their games by deleting index.bin and RMGTemp files and folders from <game folder>/Data directory. Those are garbage files that appear during map generation process and can cause multiplayer game to desyncronize and bug.
5. All players launch the game from the same EXE file. The improved AI from MMH55.exe and MMH55_64.exe does not support LAN games, for that you have to use MMH55_Utility.exe or MMH55_Utility_64.exe. There exist applications such as Parsec that allow to play hotseat with another player from a distance, this is likely preferable for playing with 2 human players against AI opponents (but we have not written a guide for that yet).
6. (Optional) The host player can enable the Permanent Simultaneous Turns Option (PEST) in the game lobby. This will allow all players to act their turns at the same time and speed up the game. This feature is integrated in H55 and does not need to be downloaded separately.

IMPORTANT!

All players should make sure before the game that the content of the following game folders is identical: \data, \Maps, \UserMODs. The game even reads the Maps folder as part of the game database therefore each of these folders can cause sync issues.

Play with GameRanger

1. All players complete Setup your game steps 1-4. Mark the exe you will be playing with as per step 5.
2. Install GameRanger
3. Go to <game directory>/bin and rename H5_game.exe to H5_game_original.exe
4. In <game directory>/bin - copy the exe all players have decided to play with and name it H5_game.exe
5. Open GameRanger and go to Edit -> Options -> Games.
6. Select "Heroes of Might and Magic: Tribes of the East"
7. Browse and find H5_game.exe that was created on step 4.
   Note: GameRanger will bring error "Invalid selection" and not accept the EXE if Tribes of the East is not properly installed but just copied.
8. Now you can go ahead and host or join a room
9. (Optional) The host player can enable the Permanent Simultaneous Turns Option (PEST) in the game lobby. This will allow all players to act their turns at the same time and speed up the game.
   

Play with Radmin VPN

1. All players complete Setup your game steps 1-4. Mark the exe you will be playing with as per step 5.
2. Install Radmin VPN
3. One person will create a private network and all other participants should join.
   
4. All players launch the game from the same EXE (as per step 5 in "Setup your game for LAN" above)
5. (Optional) The host player can enable the Permanent Simultaneous Turns Option (PEST) in the game lobby. This will allow all players to act their turns at the same time and speed up the game.

Multiplayer issues and solutions

Cannot connect to game/GameRanger or player is constantly dropped
- Check if any of the participants is behind NAT. His/her router should forward GameRanger port 16000 UDP behind the NAT.
- Disable system firewall

Cannot join game in lobby, map has red RMG label
Map scripts are not activated. In Create a random map check paragraph "Map scripts and why they are important for the mod" at the bottom. Apply them manually or with MapMixer utility.

AI turn hangs on first 1 or 2 days
You are using the wrong EXE. Check step 5 at "Setup your game for LAN" above.

Game crashes
Check "Game crashes" section in the F.A.Q.

Preventing Synchronization Issues

The original multiplayer software for HOMM5 is VERY SENSITIVE to synchronization issues, generally you want the game folders (data folder, maps folder and usermods folder) of both players as much as possible to be CLONES of each other. This means DO NOT put any additional mods in the Data\ or UserMODs\ folders (even mods that only changes graphics can cause desyncs). Also DO NOT put any maps downloaded from maps4heroes.com in the Maps\ folder those maps often contain modding content that can desync the game! Here are some more tips to prevent issues:

1. No garbage files (INDEX.BIN and RMGTemp) - When generating a map it is very common that a file called "INDEX.BIN" or folder "RMGTemp" will appear in heroes folder/DATA. The file/folder is corrupt and interfere with the game synchronization. It is advisable to check for it (and delete it if exists) each time you start/join a game. You don't need to backup these files, they already exist in the pak files.
2. No single player saves - Players should have their single/custom saves removed before joining a multiplayer game otherwise a checksum error will appear. To remove custom saves either:
   • go to "Single player -> Custom game -> Load game" and delete everything there!
   • or remove files from "C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\My Games\Heroes of Might and Magic V - Tribes of the East\Profiles\<profile name>\Saves"
3. Same game/mod version - Players must have the same version of the MODs. Unless this requirement is met you will get checksum error while trying to join a game.
4. Same EXEs - Players should use the same EXE. For example Might and magic 5.5 comes with 2 exe versions - 32 and 64 bits. If you use gameranger don't forget that after updating H55 you always need to create a new clone of the MMH55_64.exe renamed to H5_Game.exe
5. SAME MAP - The map to be played should be the same and placed in <game folder>/MAPS for every player otherwise they wont be able to join. It is advisable to put only the map file that will be played and keep others away.
6. Same number of max hero skills - (for versions RC13a or earlier) If players choose to play with 8th skills option follow these steps below to mitigate desyncronization during play. Players that forget to turn on the option may have their main heroes skills changed/removed when loading from save.
   • Start the game
   • Go to "Multiplayer -> Hot Seat -> Standard Game" and activate the 8th skills option
   • Go to "Multiplayer -> Local Area Network -> Create/Join" a game and play.

Note: Up to version RC13a - 8th skills option is automatically turned off every time heroes V application is closed so make sure it is activated by players before loading a save game that has been started previously with it. There is a GUI inconsistency when 8th skills options is checked only the background square gets selected but the option is considered ON. Below you can see 8th skills OFF (left) vs 8th skills ON (right).