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Might and Magic 7 Guide

Discussion in 'Guides' started by Daerandin, Jan 12, 2014.

  • by Daerandin, Jan 12, 2014 at 8:04 PM
  • Daerandin

    Daerandin Well-Known Member

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    Following the success of Might and Magic 6, this sequel was the first game in the series to more heavily tie into the story of the Heroes of Might and Magic spinoff series. Gameplay is identical to the previous game, but almost every aspect is more polished. The graphics are also slightly improved.

    mm7_21.png

    This guide will explain how to install the digital edition of the game, available on GOG.com

    Tips & Specs

    To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux explained

    Arch Linux 64-bit
    PlayOnLinux 4.2.2
    Wine 1.5.8

    Downloading from GOG

    GOG games can be downloaded on Linux by using a web browser, just make sure the "GOG.com Downloader mode" is OFF

    mm7_dl01.png

    Or you can use the lgogdownloader, which is my personal preferred choice. It is a very useful program for downloading GOG games. There is no graphical interface for it, but it is very fast and provides error free downloads.

    For some Linux distros it may be found in community repositories or similar community provided packages. Installation and usage instructions are located here: lgogdownloader

    On first use, you must log in by opening a terminal and using the command:

    lgogdownloader --login

    You will be prompted for your gog.com account email and password, which you must type in correctly before you can use lgogdownloader to download games.

    To list all games you own, type:
    lgogdownloader --list

    If you only want to see specific games you own, for example any games with 'might_and_magic' in the name, then type:

    lgogdownloader --list | grep might_and_magic

    mm7_dl02.png

    To download Might and Magic 7 with no extras and no cover artwork, just the actual installer:

    lgogdownloader --download --game might_and_magic_7_for_blood_and_honor --no-extras --no-cover --directory /path/to/folder

    Setup PlayOnLinux

    Launch PlayOnLinux and select 'Tools' and 'Manage Wine versions'

    In the new window that appears, scroll through the 'Available Wine versions' box to find '1.5.8' and click on the right pointing arrow to install it, now it will be visible under 'Installed Wine versions' on the right side
    If you have a 64-bits system, make sure you have selected the 'Wine versions (x86)' tab above

    mm7_01.png

    Just close the window. Back at the main PlayOnLinux window, select 'Install'

    Click on 'Install a non-listed program'

    mm7_02.png

    Select 'Install a program in a new virtual drive' and click next

    mm7_03.png

    Name the the virtual drive "MM7" and click next

    mm7_04.png

    Select "Use another version of Wine", "Configure Wine" and "Install some libraries" before you click next

    mm7_05.png

    On the wine selection window, select 1.5.8 and click next. Make sure you select '32-bits window installation' if you are on a 64-bit system.

    mm7_06.png

    When the wine configuration window appear, select the 'Graphics' tab, and click the checkbox for the lower three options. You don't have to capture the mouse within the game window for this game since there is no mouse look. The resolution you set for the virtual desktop is also not very important as it will switch to the game resolution on start.

    mm7_07.png

    Note: Even though the language is Norwegian in my screenshot, the layout will look the same for you

    When you come to the selection of libraries to install, select: POL_Install_gdiplus
    This will let the GOG installer display correctly

    mm7_08.png

    Then click 'Next'

    When you are asked for the install file to run, navigate to the GOG installer and select it. Then click 'Next'

    mm7_09.png

    Installing the Game

    Click on 'Options', and click to accept the UELA, then click 'Install'

    mm7_10.png

    When the installation is complete, 'Exit' the installer

    mm7_11.png

    When you are asked to create a shortcut, select "MM7Setup.exe" and name it "Might and Magic 7 - For Blood and Honor", then select "I don't want to make another shortcut"

    mm7_12.png

    Patching the Game

    This game really do need a fan patch which solves a lot of bugs, so go to GrayFace homepage

    mm7_13.png

    Under GrayFace MM7 Patch click to download "Patch for english version of the game" since the GOG version is the english version. The patch is in a rar archive, but you can use P7zip to extract it, either through the graphical interface or by using the command "7z x MM7patch.rar" as long as you have navigated to the directory where the archive is located.

    mm7_14.png

    Now in PlayOnLinux, have the game shortcut selected and click 'Configure', select the 'Miscellaneous' tab and click on 'Run a .exe file in this virtual drive', navigate to the extracted patch and select it.

    mm7_15.png

    The patch should be able to automatically find the path to your Might and Magic 7 install, so all you have to do it keep clicking next until it is done. Be sure to have the checkmark on for changing events.lod, you only need to uncheck this if you are using mods.

    mm7_16.png

    Final steps

    You need to run the game once in order for the game's ini file to populate properly. The game configuration utility will launch, you should make sure you have selected 'Hardware Accelerated 3D'. There were previously some minor issues with this, but the Patch we installed has fixed those issues. Now launch the game.

    mm7_17.png

    You will probably notice that there is no music playing in the game. Just close the game, then right click on the game's shortcut and select 'Open the application's directory'

    mm7_18.png

    You will now see the base game folder. Find the file 'mm7.ini', and open it with your preferred text editor, like Gedit or Mousepad.

    mm7_19.png

    There is just one thing you need to change there.

    PlayMP3=1
    Since the patch was originally made for a CD version of the game, this must be set to '1' to enable music to play.

    Now save the file and close it.

    When next you launch the game, music will play as it should. There is one last thing you should configure in the game. Start a game, and press 'ESC' on your keyboard. Click on 'Controls' and then click on 'Video options'

    mm7_20.png

    You should make sure that 'Tinting' is not selected. Check in my screenshot above to see how it should look when not selected. Originally, this game could not differentiate between the colors of different variations of a monster type if you used Hardware Accelerated 3D. Meaning for example that all three dragons types were all green, despite being called "Red dragon" and "Blue dragon". To circumvent this, they had this "Tinting" options, which looked really bad. The Patch we installed actually fix this, so you can turn off "Tinting" and have monsters appear as they should with correct color variations.

    Note on resolution

    This game runs in 640x480 resolution, so obviously the game window will appear very small on most modern screens. You can try to go into wine configuration and disable the virtual desktop. However this might prevent the game from properly launching on some setups.

    Certain distros have a default desktop environment that let you zoom in, so that is certainly an option. Another easy method is simply to reduce your desktop resolution when you play the game. Some window managers have the option to let a window take fullscreen status, meaning it will draw over everything else without window borders. If you window manager allows this you could set desktop resolution to 640x480, and then set the game window to fullscreen.

    Screenshots

    mm7_22.png
    mm7_23.png
    mm7_24.png
    mm7_25.png
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2014

Comments

Discussion in 'Guides' started by Daerandin, Jan 12, 2014.

  1. booman
    Nice Guide, I can't remember the last time I installed gdiplus

    Its awesome to see fan made patches for older games like this. Pretty cool that programmers are let to fix games on their own.

    One of the reasons why I still play Morrowind
  2. Daerandin
    The GOG installer fails on my system unless I have gdiplus installed, although some wine versions work well. Others simply don't display text or buttons properly. So I always install it with GOG games to make sure the installer works as it should.

    The GrayFace patches are excellent, he made a patch each for MM6-8 and I consider it a must to use his patches for those games.
  3. booman
    Out of all these Might-n-Magic games, which one did you play the most?
    As in replay...
  4. Daerandin
    The ones I have replayed most often is without a doubt Might and Magic 6, as it is my number one favorite. But Might and Magic 7 and 8 are also very high on that list.

    I actually didn't get into MM1-5 until I purchased the GOG collection. I have to say I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed those really old games in the series and I will definitely replay all the first 5 games again at some point.
  5. kayra
    At the "Final Step" I have an error while I try to lunch the game.

    Anyone can help me please?

    Attached Files:

  6. Daerandin
    First of all, use a newer wine version than mentioned in this guide. This guide was written almost three years ago and Wine has moved a long way since then. I suggest trying the Stable wine version 1.8.5. Or you could try the newest development version, 1.9.23.

    Please try that and report back. If that fails, then please elaborate on your setup. What distribution are you using, and what version of that distribution. What graphics card do you have and what driver do you use? Are you able to play other games through Wine?
    booman likes this.
  7. kayra
    ok. I use Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon 64-bit, AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5xxx.

    The solution I found is using 1.9 wine on 64-bit. I still have the full screen problem but I'm sure I'll find a way and post it as soon as possible.
  8. Daerandin
    If running on 64-bit Wine solved your problem, then you are most likely missing 32-bit libraries. In my experience, running 64-bit Wine is without any issues, but you may want to ensure you have 32-bit libraries installed to ensure you are able to use 32-bit Wine.

    This game runs on a very low resolution, 640*480 so when you run with a virtual desktop in Wine, it will appear as a small window. You can try to select the game shortcut in PlayOnLinux, then click on "Configure". In the new window that pops up, select the "Wine" tab, then click on "Configure Wine".

    From here you can select the "Graphics" tab and deselect virtual desktop. That may solve the problem for you.

    If that does not help, then you can set your desktop resolution to 640*480 before launching the game.
  9. booman
    What fullscreen problem are you having?
    I've been using Wine 17.3 for months and have a fullscreen (virtual desktop) problem as well. specially with older games.
  10. kayra
    The game simply does not appears on full screen.

    @Daerandin thank you so much. What you have been sayed did worked for me.
  11. booman
    With older games like this one, you have to change your Linux Desktop to 640x480 first, then launch the game and it should appear fullscreen.
  12. kayra
    Actually I deselected the virtual machine section for wine, which was the solution for my problem.

    However, when I try to change my Desktop, I realized that there were no resolution under 800x600 which is weird. But I don't really care. I can play it like this. thanks to everyone again for your helps
  13. booman
    Yeah, that is strange...
    Glad you could get it working anyways! Enjoy a classic!
    kayra likes this.

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