I was wondering if anybody knew of a save game editor for HOMM 3 Complete (using the HD mod as well, if that's important)? I mainly want it so I can change my hero's skills to something more suitable ("Stop giving me Eagle Eye/Scholar, DAMMIT!!!"). I didn't have any problems finding similar editors for HOMM 1 and 2, but to my surprise an editor for HOMM 3 seems to be completely non-existent. (Why is that, as an aside? Is there just something about the HOMM 3 saves that makes it extraordinarily difficult to edit?)

I did try my hand at hex editing the save game, but I must have messed something up because after making the changes the save game just wouldn't load.

There exists a small yet effective program called Hmm3se.exe but it's in Russian only.

Google knows nothing about it.
The link http://vitonic.narod.ru/heroes3se.html on the developer's page seems to be broken too.

Thanks for the lead! I actually did manage to track down a copy of the editor via the Heroes Community forums (it's here if anybody reading this thread in the future is also looking for it). I managed to muddle my way through the installation despite not understanding a word, but when I try to open the save games (the CGM files), it just gives me a "Could not open save game" error. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

The program was written in 2003. So it works (only) with the savegame formats known at that bygone age. (BTW the version number should be '2.04', it's both the last and the latest).

My Heroes installation consists of HMM3 Complete plus the HDMod, no other mods. In this configuration the utility works fine.

I don't think the utility should know newer formats such as HOTA etc.

You can try to open the following legitimate ROE CGM-file https://yadi.sk/d/SP85aS07aeudBQ which my installation can cope with fine.

Edited: ROE instead of SOD[i][/i]

Yep, the version I tracked down is 2.04, and like you, I'm only running HoMM3 Complete plus the HD Mod. Here's where things get interesting:

1. Originally I tried saving that save file you uploaded into my campaign save folder (which is actually a subfolder within the Games folder in the HoMM3 directory, and that too wouldn't open. But when I transferred that save file back to the main Games folder, the editor was suddenly able to open and read it. Maybe this was something the editor was trying to tell me with its error message, but I can't understand what it's saying. XD

2. So now it seems that I can open the save files, but without being able to read what the trainer is saying I'm at a loss as to which options perform which functions. XD For instance, I'm looking in the second tab (the one with the golden helmet, which I presume is for editing Heroes), but after going down through the entire drop down list, none of the Hero entries appear to be editable. I'm not sure if there's something I'm supposed to click or load first. I don't suppose there's any software out there that can spot-translate running programs?

Well, i"l try to assist you a bit ;)

Yes, on the tab Редактор Героя (Hero Editor) you are supposed to enter the Hero's name by hand and then click on the Найти Героя (Find Hero) button on your right. The case is relevant!!! Catherine is not cAtHerine!
If everythings's all right the Параметры Героя (Hero Params) button will become active. Click it gallantly!

Et voila - another Russian balderdash. But don't worry yet.
AFAIR you were going to alter your Hero's skills. So click Вторичный навык (Secondary skills) tab.
Bad skills: Дипломатия Diplomacy, Первая помощь First Aid. Мистицизм Mysticism, Чародейство Necromancy, Грамотность Scholar, Зоркость Eagle Eye.
Good skills: Мудрость Wisdom, Магия Воды/Воздуха/Огня/Земли Water/Air/Fire/Earth Magic. Try to experiment!
When all is done click on the Diskette icon at the top of the screen and choose the name for your savegame file.

Good luck with your Russian studies!

Thanks for the assistance! :D Thanks to your tip, I discovered I can actually type in the English name of the hero and the editor will still find the right hero! Now it's mostly trying to puzzle out which words correspond to which skills. XD I actually DO like the Diplomacy skill, actually; I like going around vacuuming up matching mobs into my army like some fantasy Katamari. XD Necromancy's a must for a Necromancer hero, but yeah, First Aid, Scholar and Eagle Eye are all pretty lackluster.

Can you give me some advice on how to modify resources as well? I could just use the in-game resources cheat if I get stuck enough, but I'm just curious as to why everything in the Resources window is greyed out and uneditable.

The tab Редактор ресурсов (Resource Management) aloows you to alter your material possessions.
Firstly enter your aactual mount of gold in the left bottommost field (Золото Gold). To speed up the process you may also flag the appropriate checkbox and enter the corresponding amount of some other resource: Дерево Wood, Ртуть Mercury, Руда Ore, Сера Sulfur, Кристаллы Crystals, Самоцветы Gems. Then you should click on the Найти Ресурсы (Find Resources) button and might consecutively click on the Найти далее (Find Next) button until your real amounts are displayed. Then enter the desired amounts in the right column and confirm your decision by pressing the Изменить ресурсы (Apply New Resources) button.

Don't forget to save your work!

Ahhh, I see... All things considered if I do run into a roadblock with resources it might be easier just to use the Money cheat. XD Thanks for explaining how it works though!

Something's also occurred to me... Since the editor works by finding specific heroes, is it possible to actually use it to edit the stats/armies of ENEMY heroes? It's not something I was planning on doing, but I'm curious if that would work!

Either way, thanks very much for all of your assistance! :D

OK, today is June 26, 2020. And I believe there are still people playing HOMM 3 and found it enjoyable.
And sometimes very annoying when it takes a long time to wait for dragons to grow.

So I found this thread, which is very interesting. Somehow the tools I downloaded were neither working nor working properly. List of tools I downloaded:

In memory tools:
Magic Trainer Creator: [very user unfriendly, and failed to track the searched values]
Fix People Expert: [Died when search for values]

SavedFile tools:
hommsaveeditor: can not understand since it is in russian, my windows did not even show russian just bunch of messy titles.

OK, i think it wont take too much if I just need to modify one value or 2 by manually changing the hex value in the saved file. Given the tools are all not working for me.

It's pretty simple. You grow a dragon or something, save it to file#1, and you purchase more dragon and save it to file#2. Compare these 2 files and you know where the number of dragon is stored.

so the procedure is;
1. save 2 files, one has more number of dragon or something.
2. since the game is using .gz format to zip the saved files, you will need to rename these 2 *.cgm files into *.gz, and has 7zip to unzip it, or whatever tool that can unzip *.gz Even the unzipping process may give you some warning or error, as long as the files are unzipped, it is ok.
3. have a hex compare tool to compare these 2 files, i use hexcmp and you can easily find out the hex values changed from this tool. Remember the address of it, and use hex editor(i use ultraedit) to modify it to some bigger value like AA02 (=decimal 598), and save.
4. have 7zip to zip this file again into a *.gz format file, then rename it to *.cgm
5. copy to the saved file folder and replace the original file.
6. then when you load this record, it is hola!

I'm trying to use the save editor that Zaxares linked, but does it not work well with HotA saves?

Let's try this, friend: http://heroescommunity.com/viewthread.php3?TID=42328&PID=1391929#focus

But I don't know if it works on HotA or not, I still using this cheat if my hero not get suitable skill as my expect.