v0.1.305

Golden Era v0.1.305

No curated release notes were committed for this tag.

Full Changelog: v0.1.304...v0.1.305

v0.1.304

Golden Era v0.1.304

No curated release notes were committed for this tag.

Full Changelog: v0.1.303...v0.1.304

v0.1.303

Golden Era v0.1.303

This release refreshes Golden Era from the latest tested local mod progress and publishes two installer choices for hero portrait preference.

Installer Choices

• GoldenEraModInstaller-v0.1.303-upscaled-portraits.exe installs with homm3UseUpscaledHeroPortraits=true.
• GoldenEraModInstaller-v0.1.303-standard-portraits.exe installs with homm3UseUpscaledHeroPortraits=false.
• Both installers are built from the same release payload and still install Golden Era into a separate game folder, leaving the Steam install vanilla.

Recent Mod Progress

• Added the lazy upscaled HoMM3 hero portrait lane and refreshed real-alpha portrait imports.
• Fixed Stronghold and Tower hero portrait/name slot alignment.
• Improved skeletal necromancy spawn handling.
• Fixed custom town and dwelling map billboard depth and water-tile visibility.
• Added custom biome minimap texture support and fixed Golden Era map-load crashes from minimap type resolution.
• Expanded Conflux hero/subskill work, including Summon Elementals subskills and related text/icon cleanup.

Validation

• The refreshed payload keeps the damage histogram mod excluded from Golden Era.
• The packaged config can now be forced per installer variant before embedding the payload in the EXE.
• Both local installer variants were built and inspected before publishing.

Full Changelog: v0.1.302...v0.1.303

v0.1.302

Golden Era v0.1.302

This release refreshes Golden Era from the latest tested local mod progress while keeping the separate damage histogram mod out of the Golden Era installer.

Payload

• Refreshed release_inputs/golden_era_release_payload.zip from the tested Golden Era install.
• Exported 7,612 Core overlay operations for Castle, Rampart, Tower, Inferno, Necropolis, Dungeon, Stronghold, Fortress, Conflux, and Cove.
• Kept the damage histogram exclusion in place:
  • no histogram_icons/ payload entries
  • no DamageHistogramMod payload entries
  • no damageHistograms or damageHistogram* keys in the packaged OfflineUnlockMod/config.json

Recent Mod Progress

• Added and stabilized custom faction hero map sprites.
• Fixed hero map sprite identity, facing-axis, reload-liveness, and visual-refresh paths.
• Improved Quick Play custom hero labels, hero detail portraits, faction row spacing, and nested hero profile portraits.
• Fixed enemy stack detail selector portraits.
• Normalized detail unit preview sprites.
• Normalized custom hero specialization output.

Validation

• Verified the refreshed payload zip directly for the histogram exclusion.
• Confirmed the payload includes the current Golden Era plugin DLL and hero map sprite assets.
• Built a local GoldenEraModInstaller-v0.1.302.exe from the refreshed payload before publishing.

Full Changelog: v0.1.301...v0.1.302

v0.1.301

Golden Era v0.1.301

This release refreshes Golden Era from the latest tested local mod progress and removes the damage histogram from the Golden Era install payload.

Payload

• Refreshed release_inputs/golden_era_release_payload.zip from the tested Golden Era install.
• Exported 7,438 Core overlay operations for Castle, Rampart, Tower, Inferno, Necropolis, Dungeon, Stronghold, Fortress, Conflux, and Cove.
• Removed the separate damage histogram mod from the Golden Era release payload:
  • histogram_icons/ is excluded.
  • damageHistograms and all damageHistogram* config keys are stripped from the packaged OfflineUnlockMod/config.json.
  • the release refresh now fails if histogram payload/config files re-enter the Golden Era package.

Recent Mod Progress

• Improved Quick Play custom-faction selection layout, faction labels, card spacing, and details panel placement.
• Fixed build tooltip unit portrait binding and live-hire portrait resolution.
• Added and localized custom masterful spell specialists.
• Fixed reload-time custom map billboard rebinding.
• Carried forward recent Cove release-symbol and after-shot fixes.

Validation

• Verified the refreshed payload zip directly: no histogram_icons, no DamageHistogramMod, and no damageHistogram* config keys.
• Built a local GoldenEraModInstaller-v0.1.301.exe from the refreshed payload.
• The release workflow publishes the single installer EXE plus checksum.

Full Changelog: v0.1.300...v0.1.301

v0.1.300

Golden Era v0.1.300

This is a targeted installer compatibility release for HoMM3 prerequisite detection.

Fixed

• Fixed issue #6: clean Steam Heroes of Might & Magic III - HD Edition installs can use HOMM3 2.0.exe and HOMM3Launcher.exe. The installer now accepts those real Steam HD executable names instead of incorrectly rejecting the folder with "The selected HoMM3 folder does not look like HoMM3 Complete or HoMM3 HD."
• Kept the validator strict: GOG Complete and HD-mod style roots are still accepted, while unrelated folders are still rejected.

Validation

• Built the installer project in Release configuration.
• Built a local GoldenEraModInstaller-v0.1.300.exe from the current release payload.
• Verified the patched validator against:
  • clean Steam HoMM3 HD root: accepted
  • local GOG Complete root: accepted
  • Olden Era game root: rejected

Full Changelog: v0.1.299...v0.1.300

v0.1.299

Golden Era v0.1.299

This release is built from the tested May 24 Golden Era install and packages a refreshed single-file installer EXE plus checksum.

Installer and Packaging

• Added Update mode for existing Golden Era installs. Update does not recopy the Steam folder; it restores the clean Core.zip baseline saved inside the Golden Era target folder, applies the new bundled overlay, refreshes the plugin/BepInEx/Doorstop payload, and records the new package state.
• Kept the vanilla-safe install model: Steam's Olden Era folder is still only a clean source for Install/Repair, while Golden Era launches from its own copied game folder.
• Refreshed the release payload from the live Golden Era install. The new payload exports 7,430 Core overlay operations and includes Castle, Rampart, Tower, Inferno, Necropolis, Dungeon, Stronghold, Fortress, Conflux, and Cove content.
• Added curated release notes to the GitHub Actions release flow so user-facing release history includes the mod and installer changes, not only commit titles.

Mod Changes

• Reworked Inferno Gating into a safer hero-action shape, away from the older avatar/egg summon path, with spell-power scaling and restored cooldown handling.
• Improved retaliation and damage-preview behavior, including safer damage histogram mappings, clearer forecast output, and creature ability retaliation forecasts.
• Fixed several custom portrait/UI paths: Quick Play faction labels, battle and autobattle unit portrait selection, tooltip portrait masking, and placeholder cleanup in pooled UI rows.
• Refreshed recent faction presentation/runtime work from the local tested install, including Tower, Cove, Inferno, and general custom-faction asset/runtime fixes that landed over the last couple of days.
• Preserved recent Steam-build stabilization work around release-safe runtime hooks, custom biome registration, town UI visibility, and map/town presentation reload behavior.

Modding Reference

• Added modding_guide/mod_helper.md, a practical Olden Era modding architecture and failure guide.
• Added modding_guide/GameSymbols.cs, the current central symbol-registry snapshot used by the Golden Era plugin.

Notes

• Existing side-by-side installs should try Update first.
• If Update reports that the clean baseline is missing or mismatched, use Repair with a clean Steam source folder.
• This is still an experimental release. Some factions are more complete than others, and balance feedback is still needed.

What's Changed

• Add custom faction wiki starter by @leviritchie in #4

New Contributors

• @leviritchie made their first contribution in #4

Full Changelog: v0.1.298...v0.1.299

v0.1.298

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v0.1.296

Full Changelog: v0.1.295...v0.1.296

v0.1.295

Full Changelog: v0.1.294...v0.1.295