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Olden Era / Lifestyle / Legacy Audio Mod

The music of the old Heroes games in Olden Era

How to install the Legacy Audio Mod (LAM) to replace the game's soundtrack with that of Heroes of Might and Magic II, III, IV and V.

The Legacy Audio Mod (LAM for short), created by the modder Hellmanor, is a soundtrack mod. It replaces Olden Era's music and some of its sounds with the iconic tracks of the series' older entries: main menu themes, town music, combat music, new-day and new-week jingles, and ambiances. You can choose exactly which soundtracks to enable: a single game (for example only Heroes III), several at once, or mix them.

The mod is downloaded from Nexus Mods: Legacy Audio Mod page. At the time of writing this guide, it's version 2.2 (about 406 MB). The figures and exact procedure may change from one version to another: always refer to the description and the "Requirements" tab of the Nexus page before installing.

Good to know before you start
It's a community-made mod, unofficial, installed at your own risk. It only touches your audio, locally: it doesn't change gameplay and has no effect in multiplayer on other players. Everything is reversible, just delete the added files to return to the original soundtrack.
Olden Era is in early access
The game receives frequent updates. An update can temporarily break the mod (or prevent the game from starting) until the modder releases a fix. If the game crashes after an update, remove the mod (see the "Uninstall" section) and wait for an up-to-date version.

What you need

  • ›Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era installed on your PC (Windows).
  • ›About 1 GB of free disk space (the mod is ~406 MB, plus unpacking).
  • ›BepInEx 6 (IL2CPP version): the mod loader that lets LAM work. We install it in step 2.
  • ›A way to unzip a .zip archive (Windows Explorer is enough); a free Nexus Mods account to download.
1

Find the game folder

On Steam, right-click "Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era" in your library, then Manage → Browse local files. A window opens on the game's installation folder: it's the folder that contains the game's executable file (.exe).

Keep this window open, it's where you'll drop the files in the following steps. All installations happen "next to the executable".

2

Install BepInEx 6 (IL2CPP)

BepInEx is the tool that lets you load mods into the game. The Legacy Audio Mod needs the BepInEx 6, IL2CPP build version (the variant suited to Olden Era). The safest is to take exactly the one indicated in the "Requirements" tab of the mod page; a version for Olden Era is also available on the game's Nexus. Official documentation: docs.bepinex.dev.

  1. Download the BepInEx 6 archive (IL2CPP, Windows version).
  2. Unzip all its contents directly into the game folder (the one from step 1, next to the executable). You should see, among other things, a configuration file and a BepInEx folder appear.
  3. Launch the game once, let it reach the menu, then quit. This first launch is longer than usual: that's normal, BepInEx generates the files it needs. This is also what creates the folder where mods are dropped.
Check that BepInEx works
After this first launch, a BepInEx folder containing subfolders (including plugins and config) must exist in the game folder. If it doesn't appear, the files weren't extracted in the right place: redo the extraction next to the executable.
3

Install the Legacy Audio Mod

Download the mod from the Legacy Audio Mod Nexus page, then unzip the archive.

  1. Open the game folder, then BepInEx, then plugins. If the plugins folder doesn't exist, create it yourself (right-click → New → Folder, named exactly plugins).
  2. Copy the mod folder (the one inside the archive you just unzipped) into …\BepInEx\plugins\. The final path looks like:
Heroes of Might and Magic Olden Era\BepInEx\plugins\[mod folder]

Follow the folder name given in the instructions on the Nexus page: depending on the mod, you copy either the full folder, or its files directly into plugins.

4

Choose which soundtracks to enable

LAM lets you enable or disable each game (Heroes II, III, IV, V) separately, combine them, or keep only one. Configuration is done via the settings file BepInEx generates for the mod (in the BepInEx\config folder) after running it once; some prefer to also install an in-game configuration panel (available on the game's Nexus) to adjust this from a menu.

The exact option names depend on the mod version: open the description of the Nexus page for the up-to-date list of available settings. If you just want "the music of Heroes III everywhere", enable only that game and leave the others off.

5

Launch and enjoy

Start the game normally. From the main menu, you should hear music from the old Heroes games instead of the original theme: that's the sign everything works. Town and combat music will follow in game, depending on the games you enabled in step 4.

6

Uninstall or update

To remove the mod, simply delete its folder in …\BepInEx\plugins\. The original soundtrack returns on the next launch. To remove modding entirely, delete the BepInEx folder and the files added in step 2; verifying file integrity via Steam puts the game back in order if needed.

To update the mod after a new version, replace its folder in plugins with the new one. After a game update, if the sound stops working or the game refuses to start, remove the mod and wait for the modder to release a compatible version.

Procedure based on the mod's page on Nexus Mods (Legacy Audio Mod, by Hellmanor) and the BepInEx documentation. HeavenlyForge is not affiliated with the mod or its authors, and hosts no files: downloads happen on Nexus Mods, at your own risk. Versions and steps may change.