About
What this is, and how to read it
An unofficial site about a 1997 strategy game, and a public face for a private reverse-engineering project. The most important thing on this page is the part about evidence.
Who and why
This site is run by a player of Lords of Magic who wanted to mod it, discovered that the available documentation was a mixture of accurate folklore and confident error, and started measuring instead. The research is done with AI assistance for reading disassembly, writing parsers and running controlled experiments; every conclusion is checked against the game's own files or the running game.
It exists because a game this old is only preserved as well as it is understood, and because a fair amount of what the community believed about these files has turned out not to survive contact with a measurement.
The evidence labels
The research this site draws on keeps a strict distinction between what was observed, what was reasoned to, and what was believed and turned out to be false. A site that flattened those into one confident voice would misrepresent the work, so the distinction is carried through.
- Measured
- Read directly out of the game's files or its executable, or reproduced in the running game under controlled conditions. If you had the same files you could get the same answer.
- Inferred
- The evidence points strongly this way and the conclusion has not been proven. Usually this means the code was read but the behaviour was never watched happening. Treat these as good bets, not as facts.
- We were wrong about this
- A claim this research previously made and has retracted. These are kept on the page rather than deleted, because how a wrong answer was reached is usually more useful than the right one — it tells the next person which instrument lies.
- Open question
- Open. Named as open rather than filled in with something plausible. There is a “still unknown” list on every format page and it is not decorative.
One consequence worth stating: nothing here is authoritative because this site says it. It is checkable because the measurement is described. Where a measurement has not been made — most of the multiplayer work, which has never been tested against a second machine — the pages say so at the top.
What this site will not publish
- No game data. No sprites, maps, artwork, audio, archive contents or savegames.
- No script source beyond the occasional short line quoted to illustrate a point about the language.
- Nothing that would help you play the game without owning it.
What is published is our own analysis and our own writing. You need your own legally obtained copy of the game for any of it to be useful, which is entirely the point.
Legal
This is an unofficial fan and research site. Lords of Magic and Lords of Magic: Special Edition, their names, characters and artwork are the property of their respective rights holders. This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or connected to them.
If you hold those rights and want something changed or removed, that is a reasonable request and it will be honoured.