I. Getting the sources
VCMI is still in development. You can get the sources with subversion:
  svn co https://vcmi.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/vcmi/trunk vcmi

II. Compiling

Optionaly, if you want to regenerate the build system, you will need the following tools:
 * libtool
 * automake
 * autoconf
And then regenerate the build system with
  autoreconf -i

To compile, at least the following packages (and their development counterparts) are needed to build:
    * libstdc++ devel
	* boost c++ libraries v1.36+ (1.35 will not work) (www.boost.org)
	* SDL and SDL-devel
	* SDL_mixer and SDL_mixer-devel
	* SDL_image and SDL_image-devel
	* SDL_ttf and SDL_ttf-devel
	* zlib and zlib-devel
	* the ffmpeg libraries (libavformat and libswscale). Their name could be libavformat-devel and libswscale-devel, or ffmpeg-libs-devel or similar names.

Then do the usual 
  ./configure

Note that on 64 bits linux, if the boost libraries are installed in /usr/lib64, configure will not find them and will fail. Until this is fixed, use:
  ./configure --with-boost-libdir=/usr/lib64

Another note on ubuntu(posible others to) - create symlincs to correct libnames in /usr/lib
eg:
sudo ln -s libswscale.so.0.7.1 libswscale.so
sudo ln -s libavformat.so.52 libavformat.so

Then build vcmi:
  make

That will generate vcmiclient, vcmiserver as well as 3 .so libraries.


II. Installing Heroes of Might and Magic 3

VCMI needs an installed version of Heroes III as well as WoG on top of it.
The version of Heroes needed is (I think!) Shadow of Death or Complete.
 
Wog can be downloaded from: http://www.maps4heroes.com/heroes3/files/allinone_358f.zip

Wine can be used to install both.

Once both programs are installed, you can install VCMI.

Download the windows VCMI release (at time of writing: http://vcmi.antypika.aplus.pl/forum/dload.php?action=download&id=11) and extract it in a private directory. Then move some files to your Heroes3 directory:
  mv sprites /PATH_TO_H3_DIR/Sprites
  mv Data/* /PATH_TO_H3_DIR/Data
  mv Fonts Games /PATH_TO_H3_DIR/

If you also have the original linux version of Heroes, you can slso install the videos:
  cp -a /PATH_TO_CDROM/data/video /PATH_TO_H3_DIR/Data


III. Installing VCMI

Since VCMI is still in development, there's no install procedure, although something like 
  DESTDIR=/path/to/heroes3 make install
might work.

For development puposes, it's better to use links. Go to your new Heroes3 directory, and type:
  ln -s /PATH_TO_VCMI/client/vcmiclient
  ln -s /PATH_TO_VCMI/server/vcmiserver
  ln -s /PATH_TO_VCMI/config
  ln -s /PATH_TO_VCMI/AI/GeniusAI/.libs AI

And start ./vcmiclient