Heroes of Might and Magic III on GX10 with VCMI

01What you'll learn

• What VCMI is and why it is native on ARM64.
• How to install VCMI from the PPA (or Flatpak) and innoextract.
• How the game data goes in from the GOG installer.
• How to start the game and where the mods are.
• How to handle the most common problems.

02Before you start

• A machine of the NVIDIA GB10 class (ASUS Ascent GX10 or DGX Spark) with DGX OS (Ubuntu 24.04 for Arm64), a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
• A GOG account and a legal copy of "Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete" (or Shadow of Death). As of 03.10.2026 the base shop price is 9.09 EUR; there are often discounts — see the current price there.
• A few gigabytes of free space for the installer, extraction and data — check with df -h.
• Internet for the packages and for downloading the installer.

03Steps

1. What VCMI is

   Per the project's FAQ, VCMI is a complete remake of the Heroes III engine — the game files, sound and text are the original ones, everything else is written anew: file loading, rendering, AI and mechanics. It aims at near-complete compatibility with the game plus things the original lacks: higher resolutions, mods, many platforms. The project is open-source and free; what costs money is the game's data.

   If you would rather run the original .exe through emulation, see the previous StarCraft lesson — that path is different and riskier.

2. Buy and download the data from GOG

   In your GOG library open the game and choose "offline backup game installers". Download both files: the .exe and the -1.bin, into the same folder (for example ~/Downloads). The names look like setup_heroes_of_might_and_magic_3_complete_….exe — the version may differ.

   Have an old installation or a CD? VCMI supports those too (vcmibuilder --data for a folder with an installed game, --cd1/--cd2 for discs).

3. Install VCMI and innoextract

   For Ubuntu the VCMI documentation recommends the project's PPA. As of 03.10.2026 it holds build 1.7.5 for Ubuntu 24.04 (noble) on arm64, published on 22.08.2026 — the base of DGX OS 7.

   bash · PPAcopy

   sudo apt-add-repository ppa:vcmi/ppa
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install vcmi innoextract
   apt policy vcmi

   Flatpak variant. Flathub has build 1.7.5 for aarch64 too. Flatpak runs in a sandbox — the documentation warns that paths for vcmibuilder are read inside it, so with Flatpak use the Launcher for the data.

   bash · Flatpakcopy

   sudo apt install -y flatpak
   flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
   flatpak install flathub eu.vcmi.VCMI
   flatpak run eu.vcmi.VCMI

   After first installing Flatpak you may need to log in again for the apps to appear in the menu.

4. Put in the game data

   Easiest — through the Launcher: start vcmilauncher, choose to import data from the GOG installer and point it at the two downloaded files (the documentation says the Launcher extracts them automatically).

   Through the terminal (recommended by the documentation for non-Flatpak installs):

   bash · vcmibuildercopy

   vcmibuilder --gog ~/Downloads/<installer>.exe

   The classic way: extract with innoextract and then point the Launcher at the folder ("place existing files"):

   bash · innoextractcopy

   innoextract --output-dir="$HOME/Downloads/HoMM3" "$HOME/Downloads/<installer>.exe"
   ls "$HOME/.local/share/vcmi/"   # after the import: Data, Maps, Mp3

   When the import finishes, the documentation allows you to delete both installer files and the temporary folder. With Flatpak the data goes to ~/.var/app/eu.vcmi.VCMI/data/vcmi/. If you have a Windows installation you can copy the Data, Maps and Mp3 folders straight into ~/.local/share/vcmi/ (on some systems the path is $XDG_DATA_HOME/vcmi/).

5. Start the game

   The game is in the system menu (Games › Strategy › VCMI) or from the terminal:

   bashcopy

   vcmilauncher      # Launcher: settings and mods
   vcmiclient        # straight into the game

   With Flatpak: flatpak run eu.vcmi.VCMI (Launcher) or flatpak run --command=vcmiclient eu.vcmi.VCMI. Resolution and other settings are set in the Launcher or the in-game menu; start with your monitor's resolution.

6. Mods — optional

   The Launcher has a built-in catalogue of mods downloaded from the project's server 🌐 global. The catalogue is also on the VCMI site — it holds new towns, heroes, maps, graphics, music, AI and translations (including Bulgarian).

   💡

   About HotA, WoG and HD Mod

   Per the VCMI FAQ, HotA and WoG are mods for the original game, while VCMI is a standalone remake: parts of them have been ported by enthusiasts with a limited set of features. HD Mod is not compatible — VCMI has its own options for high resolution. The catalogue has pages for "Horn of the Abyss" and "In The Wake of Gods"; read their descriptions before you enable them.

   Enable mods one at a time — that way, if something breaks, you know which one did it.

7. When something does not start

   Symptom	What to do
   "No game data found"	The data is not in place. Check ~/.local/share/vcmi/ (Flatpak: ~/.var/app/eu.vcmi.VCMI/data/vcmi/) — it should hold Data, Maps, Mp3. If empty, repeat the import.
   innoextract gives an error	Check that both files (.exe and -1.bin) are in one folder and that their full name is quoted in the command. Check the version with innoextract --version.
   Flatpak does not see the files	The sandbox is the cause. Import the data through the Launcher (file chooser) or copy the Data, Maps, Mp3 folders to the Flatpak path.
   Crash after enabling a mod	Disable the mods, check whether the problem goes away, and enable them one by one. Report crashes following VCMI's rules on GitHub (in English).
   No music	Check whether the Mp3 folder holds files. If it is empty, the data import did not finish — repeat it.

04Check

• apt policy vcmi (or flatpak list) shows VCMI installed.
• The data folder holds Data, Maps and Mp3.
• vcmilauncher opens and vcmiclient reaches the main menu.
• You can start a game; if not — write down how far it got.

Test

05What's next

06Sources

1. VCMI: Installation Linux — PPA, Flatpak, AppImage, vcmibuilder, data paths.
2. VCMI: FAQ — what VCMI is, HotA/WoG/HD Mod, the lobby.
3. VCMI PPA (Launchpad) · VCMI on Flathub — builds 1.7.5; Flathub: aarch64 and x86_64.
4. VCMI on GitHub · Mod Repository — source, issues, mod catalogue.
5. GOG: Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete 🌐 global — the legal purchase of the data (base 9.09 EUR as of 03.10.2026).
6. innoextract — extracting the GOG installer.