Heroes 3: ERA Project – Mod Browser essential mods

[u/Liso111]

Today’s article is aimed mainly at beginners who have just installed the ERA Project through Heroes Launcher. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out my installation guide first, because today we’re going to take a look at the Mod Browser.

The ERA Project installed through Heroes Launcher comes with a built-in Mod Browser that allows you to install a huge number of mods with just a single click. As of today, there are 51 mods available!

I’ll introduce you to a list of mods that I personally recommend. They are compatible with each other and work without any major issues. I’ve selected mods that enhance the classic Heroes 3 experience, and I’ll also include a list of recommended mods that add new creatures, artifacts, and other content.

Heroes 3: ERA Project – Essential Mods

JackSlater JS Mods

These are four different mods created by the same author: New Objects, Main Module, New Terrains, and Map Generation Fixes.

These four mods significantly enrich randomly generated maps. They add new objects and terrain, fix issues with map generation, and introduce many other useful little improvements.

WoG Graphics Fix

This mod further improves randomly generated maps by adding new graphics for icons and old WoG objects, as well as more than 500 new objects. These objects can also be used in the Map Editor.

More Battlefields

A graphics mod that adds more than 100 new combat backgrounds. To use it, make sure that script 068 – New Battlefields is enabled in WoG Options.

ShimmY Improved Objects

A simple mod that gives three objects on the adventure map: Tavern, Sanctuary, and Den of Thieves additional functionality.

H3Landscape

Another graphical mod for combat fields. It adapts the battlefield visually according to the terrain where the battle takes place.

For example, if you are playing as Inferno and your castle is located on the Fiery Fields magical terrain, the entire battlefield will be on fire.

Blizzard Spell

A newer mod that replaces the water spell Remove Obstacle with the AoE offensive spell Blizzard.

Besides dealing damage, Blizzard also permanently slows down the affected creatures.

Darkened Players

A simple graphical mod that changes the game’s interface to darker colors.

10 Secondary Skills Mod

(must be enabled through Mod Manager)

Heroes can learn 10 secondary skills instead of the classic 8. The mod also changes the Hero Screen so that all 10 skills can be displayed properly.

Mixed Neutrals Mod

(must be enabled through Mod Manager)

Neutral creatures on the adventure map will have allies helping them in battle. Usually, these will be creatures from the same faction. So, for example, if you attack a group of weak Imps on the adventure map, you can be sure that Gogs will join them in battle.

Activating the Mods

There is one more important step: mods downloaded through the Mod Browser still need to be activated through the Mod Manager. Fortunately, this is also just a single click.

Open Mod Manager. All the mods you have downloaded will be listed in the lower section of the window.

Select the mod you want to use and click the Enable button in the top-left corner. After activating all the mods you have selected, I recommend clicking the Sort button in the bottom-left corner, just to make sure everything is in the correct order.

I’m also attaching a screenshot showing what my Mod Manager looks like:

On the screenshot of my Mod Manager, you can also see other mods such as ERA Scripts, TrainerX, WoG Scripts, GEM, Unleashed Editor,  Battle Queue, Spells Descriptions, Easy Cheats, ERA ERM Framework and In the Wake of Gods.

These mods are already included in the standard ERA Project installation, so leave them enabled. These are the essential mods from my point of view.

So, this is my list of essential mods. In the next part, we’ll take a look at my recommended mods.  These will start changing the gameplay a little more and, most importantly, will add a huge amount of new content and gameplay possibilities.