mnmVis - Heroes of Might & Magic Olden Era Mod Tool

A comprehensive Windows Forms application for visualising and navigating game data from Heroes of Might & Magic Olden Era. This tool provides an interactive interface for exploring maps, zones, connections, entities, and their relationships.

Features

JSON Editor with Smart Features

• Edit Mode: Click the Edit button to modify any entity's JSON data directly
• Intelligent Autocomplete: Type entity names and get color-coded suggestions by type (units in red, buildings in brown, content pools in green, etc.)
• Snapshot & Restore: Automatically saves a snapshot when entering edit mode - click RESTORE to revert changes
• Smart Saving: Save directly to the source file with multiple entity matching strategies
• Auto-protection: Warns about unsaved changes when switching nodes
• Visual Feedback: Read-only mode has white background, edit mode has light yellow background
• Typing Indicator: Try to type in read-only mode and the Edit button flashes to guide you

Map Visualisation

• Dual view modes: toggle between "Show All Entities" and "Show Maps Only" views
• Browse all map templates with detailed information
• View spawn zones, treasure zones, and other zone types with comprehensive details
• Visualise connections between zones including roads and paths

Entity Browser

• Browse 6000+ entities organised by type in hierarchical tree structure
• View complete JSON data with syntax highlighting
• Track all references and reverse references between entities
• Color-coded Autocomplete: Entity suggestions color-coded by type for easy identification
• Lazy loading for performance with large datasets

Navigation

• Browser-style Navigation: Back/forward buttons with history tracking
• Smart History: Remembers tree position and view mode (maps vs all entities)
• Visual highlighting: Yellow flash when navigating to make targets obvious
• Click References: Jump directly to any referenced entity

Search Functionality

• Quick Search: Press Ctrl+F to open search panel
• Live Results: Search updates as you type (minimum 3 characters)
• Result Navigation: Arrow buttons to cycle through matches
• Highlighting: Search results highlighted in yellow
• Auto-expand: Tree automatically expands to show results

Path Configuration

• Drive selector dropdown automatically populated with all available drives
• Drive selection persists in Windows registry (HKCU\Software\mnmVis)
• Defaults to E: drive if available, otherwise C:
• Smart folder browser integration automatically extracts drive from selected path

Zone Details Display

• Main objects: cities, spawns, and other primary objects with placement information
• Content pools: guarded, unguarded, and resource pools with full item lists
• Mandatory content requirements for each zone if present
• Layout information and biome configurations
• Internal road networks within zones

Relationship Mapping

• Exhaustive reference scanning automatically detects all entity references in JSON
• Bidirectional links: see what an entity references AND what references it
• Virtual entities: zones and connections treated as first-class navigable entities
• Content pool expansion automatically shows individual items

Requirements

• Windows operating system
• .NET Framework 4.0 or higher
• Heroes of Might & Magic Olden Era DEMO game data (StreamingAssets folder)

Installation for Users

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
2. Extract the zip file to a location of your choice
3. Run mnmVis.exe
4. Select your preferred drive from the dropdown (defaults to E: or C:) The application will remember your drive selection for future sessions.
5. Use the "Browse..." button to point to it your demo's StreamingAssets folder
6. Click "Refresh" to load the game data again if it changes or something

Usage

Editing JSON Data

1. Select any entity in the tree view
2. Click the "Edit" button (or try typing - the button will flash to guide you!)
3. Modify the JSON in the editor with autocomplete support:
   • Type at least 2 characters of an entity name
   • See color-coded suggestions (red=units, brown=buildings, green=content pools, etc.)
   • Press Tab or click to autocomplete
4. Click "SAVE" to save changes to the file
5. Click "RESTORE" to revert to the snapshot from when you entered edit mode
6. Click "SAVE+CLOSE" to save and exit edit mode
7. Click "CANCEL" to exit without saving (auto-detects if changes were made)

Viewing Maps

1. Click the "Show Maps" button to switch to map view
2. Expand map categories to browse available maps
3. Click on a map to see its zones and connections
4. Expand zones to view detailed content including objects, pools, and layouts

Navigating Entities

1. Select any entity in the tree view
2. View its JSON data in the right panel
3. See all references in the "Referenced Entity" list
4. Click on any reference to navigate to that entity
5. Use back/forward buttons to navigate through your history

Searching

1. Press Ctrl+F or click the search icon (bottom left)
2. Type at least 3 characters to search
3. Use arrow buttons to navigate through results
4. Close search panel when finished

Finding Relationships

1. Select any entity or zone
2. Check the "Referenced Entity" panel below the JSON view
3. Blue entries show entities this one references
4. Green entries show entities that reference this one
5. Click any entry to navigate directly to it

Configuration

The application stores preferences in the Windows registry at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\mnmVis

Currently stored settings:

• Selected drive letter

Development

For information on building, extending, or contributing to mnmVis, see DEVELOPING.md.

License

MIT

Acknowledgements

• Built for the Heroes of Might & Magic Olden Era modding community
• Uses Newtonsoft.Json for JSON parsing

Support

For issues, questions, or suggestions, please open an issue on the repository.