Heroes of Might and Magic V Forum

Not much that can be said - out of the box, the GOG.com version of HoMM V works perfectly in CrossOver 11, without any additional configuration aside from unchecking "Allow Window Manager to Decorate the Windows" and "Allow Window Manager to Control the Windows" in winecfg. I've even gotten it to work on my GMA 950 equipped MacBook, though it is quite sluggish compared to the Mac version, as I'd expected.

Could you post the version number (of the game)? I've been trying to run this game on my MBP (Core2Duo 2.26, Geforce 9400M) for some time, but I have problems with flickering. It didn't used to be this way. I've tried multiple installations, and the tips posted by others, but I haven't been able to get this game to work.

I have the Direct2Drive version, though, so perhaps there is a difference in the games itself. (Mine always loads with DRM, for example, until it is updated to 1.5, or something like that.) I just want to make sure that there is a difference and the game will play, before spending the money.

I'm assuming that the GOG version is patched to the latest retail version of the game, which I think is 1.6. Admittedly I don't fully remember since I've shelved it on my MacBook; right now, the GMA 950 is so slow for HoMMV that it's practically unplayable. Could you describe the flickering in more detail?

Right off the bat, what I could possibly suggest doing is setting DirectDrawRenderer=gdi in the registry.

That's the version I've updated my copy to, too. I have a Radeon 9400M, and when it did run, it certainly was playable.

The flickering happens the moment the videos start; there are installations which minimise the flickering to the game itself, but they are always there. Essentially, the screen keeps flickering between what should be displayed and black. There is also random text on screen. The issue itself was being dealt with in some way, I remember, but no solution was ever found. The thing is, the game certainly worked on Crossover until some update.

I've tried your suggestion, but it didn't change anything. As it stands, I think I'll likely just end up buying HOMM3 from GOG. It was better than V, either ways, and these problems are graphical (which I doubt an older game would face).

I've managed to figure it out!

Though the suggestion you made didn't work, it did teach me that it is possible to edit many settings via the registry. I went through them ( http://wiki.winehq.org/UsefulRegistryKeys ), and setting a value for 'StrictDrawingOrder' to 'enabled' works (at least for now; I haven't tested it extensively). I'm guessing that at some point, Apple updated the graphics driver which messed something up (though only for this game, strangely, so perhaps the way the game works is what is problematic). Nevertheless, I'll report back if any problems crop up.

Thanks for the suggestion!

(Edited for spacing around the URL.)

No problem. I'm glad I was helpful, if at least in a roundabout way!

The reason why I suggested that specific registry edit is that I've observed that same flickering behaviour in games (notably Fallout, Fallout 2, Shogo: MAD, Blood 2, and Giants: Citizen Kabuto) which worked fine in fullscreen in CX11 in Snow Leopard...when I'd try to run those same game in CX11 in fullscreen in Lion. Apparently there indeed were some changes to the driver architecture or the graphics subsystem between 10.6 and 10.7 which caused this. Setting DirectDrawRenderer=gdi (the first registry edit I try when I have graphics issues) resolved this.

Anyway, I myself am just learning how to use the registry, so I'm glad I could help!

It does work indeed once that is disabled, though it seems it's impossible to alt+tab out of the app.