So, long time fan of HotB, I have trawled 50 or so pages of these 200 and I am still unsure what the release/availability/version status of HotM is.
Any information on how to progress?
It's ongoing and not really behind a paywall, thats more for support of dev. There is lots of content you have yet to discover.
sgt_bilko does an amazing job of posting the ongoing work.
In his signature you will find the latest version in the Mega Archive.
its up to six gigs but the first 4 are the 'standard' data unpack in order, then the monthly updates "HotMdiffxxxdatexxx" will overwrite the previous data as needed. Each update you then only need that HotMdif to be current. Also the translation is included by default. The recent parts are not translated yet but most of it is fine.
I think most problems are caused by translation, cheat, and de-censor conflicts with updates. (also important to note that skipping updates is possibly breaking also. A skipped update may contain a file that is refereed to by a later update which will cause freeze. If you skip updates, fresh install from latest full archive.)
-Translation- good enough as is
-Cheats - use cheat engine (some of the later boss fights you'll want 3-4000 str) cheat engine alters only the current running instance of game, not game files thus is near break/fool proof for files.
-de-censor -
update 2024- 03 - 30 may break older or new versions than
this update . backup original file and if new update to main game comes out replace old file and update as usual. You can test these risky mods AFTER classic update process but don't fill thread full of tears when suddenly your new stage freezes.
(back pre-Stable diffusion when I had HD space, I had two folders of HotM unpacks. One was stable and only classic update process, 2nd was with mods and changes. Guess which one would break...)
I made this
about a year ago so very dated but content map at that time. Its a good place to start and if you're willing follow thread from that point. You could also search sgt_bilkos posts in thread to filter out convos