UPDATE: This patch is no longer needed, as 16-bit music has been added to official installer (beginning with 2.1.0, check your version info).

Hi there!

There have been [url=http://www.gog.com/en/forum/heroes_of_might_and_magic_series/gog_needs_to_reprocess_heroes_agg_for_homm1/post1]discussions about this before, but never any solution. Well, after some fiddling around, I may have found one, so I thought I'd share with you.

Disclaimer. This is somehow grey area regarding copyrights, so I'd like to emphasize that I am sharing this in a good will and belief it won't do any harm to Ubi, GOG or starving children in Africa. However, by following this guide, you agree that you know about this, that you have everything obtained legally and you won't hold me responsible if your house is set on fire by angry mob. You've been warned.

Patching script is licensed under WTFPL, in case I won't have time to maintain it. Basically, it's all yours. The game data are copyrighted, obviously, see above.

Download link for automatic patch:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/dtp2rj
Here's how to do it manually (eg. under linux, though if you extract the patch with 7zip, you'll find xdelta files ready to be applied):

1) Some trivia time, thanks to Tarnum GOG has the Compendium version (option 3) - as you can see, the DOS version 1.3 had stereo sound removed. There's your problem :) So now we get it back.

2) Install or unpack HoMM1 from GOG. In the installation directory, locate homm1.gog file. This is ISO image with game data. Unpack it with your favourite app, or mount and copy the files from virtual drive. You'll get HEROES directory.

3) Download this package. It contains stereo music from older DOS release. It should contain *.82S (8bit stereo) and *.62S (16bit stereo) files. Those belong in HEROES/SOUND directory you got from your ISO.

4) Re-create iso using either burning software or a specialized tool like mkisofs. Don't forget to set ISO Level 1 and DOS compatibility. It shouldn't be that much trouble if you create the image with default settings, but if your game freezes during loading, the problem is probably here.

5) Return the image where it belongs and start DOSBOX. Run SETUP.EXE from game directory. Set the Sound Card to "Soundblaster 16" and the program lets you select audio quality (finally!). Select "16bit stereo", save and exit.

6) I really recommend setting DOSBOX mixer prebuffer to 100ms, as stated elsewhere on the forum. It helps a lot with the stuttering.

7) Run the game. If everything works fine, post your results. If not, post them too :) If you don't hear any music but sound effects seem to be fine, if the game freezes in the opening animation, or if it skips it altogether, it means your ISO is broken. Redo step 4.

EDIT: Updated links again. Hope I won't have to do this every month.