MrFlibble
 

Some time ago I have contributed to Abandonia the Improved AI Scenario (Mission) Pack for Dune II, which fixed a nasty error called the team bug, which prevented the AI from assembling attack teams of combat vehicles, thus reducing game difficulty (not to say disabling an important game feature). Since then, I have made a revised version of Dune II missions, with even more errors fixed (the devs have left quite a few of them, see below), and compiled a small patch that fixes the "team bug" and some other errors. Apart from that, it modifies the game's setup program to enable multiple sound device selection, akin to the official sound patch from Westwood Studios, whilst retaining lanaguage selection as well (the Westwood patch was designed for the US release and does not support language selection).

Here's the full list of changes:

Gameplay fixes:

• Fixed the internal syntax error which prevented the AI from assembling attack teams of vehicles ("team bug").
• Structures will now decay only if placed on bare rock or an incomplete foundation. Structures that were placed on normal concrete foundation will only take damage in case of power shortage.
• Looped reinforcements are now enabled in certain missions.

Mission-specific fixes:

• Removed the unused CHOAM (Starport related) section from SCENA001.
• Removed obsolete reinforcement sections from SCENA002, SCENA003, SCENA004 and SCENH004.
• Fixed the victory conditions in SCENA004 so that the mission can be won by destroying the enemy base and not only by harvesting the spice quota.
• Fixed invalid spice bloom placement in SCENA005.
• Changed Ordos Launcher to Ordos Troopers in SCENA020 and SCENA021.
• Changed Atreides Troopers to Atreides Infantry in SCENA022.
• Removed junk lines (probably obsolete map data) from SCENH002 and SCENH007.
• Changed Harkonnen Trike to Harkonnen Quad in SCENH005, SCENH006 and SCENH007.
• Fixed incorrect hit point values for pre-placed buildings in SCENH006.
• Reinstated the sandworms that were commented out in SCENH008.
• Fixed the error that disabled Devastator reinforcements in SCENH017, SCENH018 and SCENH019.
• Changed Harkonnen Infantry to Harkonnen Troopers in SCENH020.
• Removed duplicate Spice Silo and Light Factory structures in SCENO005 (two identical structures were positioned at the same coordinates).
• Changed Ordos Trike to Ordos Raider Trike in SCENO005, SCENO006 and SCENO007.
• Replaced SCENO015 with a different map, as it was identical to SCENO014.
• Changed Ordos Launcher to Ordos Deviator in SCENO019.
• Increased the unit limit for the AI players to 25 in SCENO021.
• Changed the player's starting credits from 1500 to 1000 in SCENO022 (the extra 500 credits were a result of an error).
• Changed Atreides Troopers to Atreides Infantry in SCENH011, SCENH012, SCENH013, SCENH020, SCENHO021, SCENH022, SCENO008, SCENO009, SCENO010, SCENO020, SCENO021 and SCENO022.
• Changed the Atreides WOR to Atreides Barracks in SCENH022, SCENO014, SCENO015, SCENO016 and SCENO022, so that the Atreides can produce infantry.
• Fixed all missions where the MaxUnit value name was misspelled as MaxUnits for an AI player (SCENA005, SCEN017, SCENA018, SCENA019, SCENH017, SCENH018, SCENH019, SCENO017, SCENO018, SCENO019).
• Fixed the error which prevented the player from buying Ornithopters at the Starport in SCENA020, SCENA021, SCENA022, SCENH020, SCENH021, SCEHNH022, SCENO020, SCENO021 and SCENO022.
• Set the spice quota value to 0 in SCENA022, SCENH022 and SCENO022 (was 2500, but did not actually affect anything).

Mentat information fixes:

• Fixed incorrect power consumption values for the Barracks and the Starport (the incorrect values of 20 and 80 were changed to the actual 10 and 50).
• Light Factory entries in the Atreides and Ordos Mentat databases are now accessible from mission 2 (since the Atreides and Ordos can build Light Factories in this mission).
• Spice Silos entry is no longer shown on mission 1.
• Fixed incorrect information in the advice for mission 2 (any House); the Mentat tells that the Barracks/WOR required a Windtrap to be built, whereas actually it requires an Outpost as well.
• Removed two obsolete entries in German from the English Harkonnen Mentat database (EU and HitSquad versions).

In-game spelling fixes:

• Fixed the spelling of the word "Ornithopter" (was "Ornithipter").
• Fixed the spelling of the word "incompatible" (yes, I'm pedantic ;)).
• Fixed the spelling of the word "complement" in the copy protection dialogue.
• Fixed the spelling of the word "Starport" in the building hints section.

Sound fixes:

• Removed the clicking noise from some of the game sound effects.
• Restored a missing voice clip during missile launch countdown in French and German (European and HitSquad releases).

Misc:

• Fixed a graphical glitch that would occur between some missions in the HitSquad version.

Setup program changes:

• The setup program now allows to configure multiple sound devices for DUNE II (check SETSOUND.TXT for more information).
• Several text mistakes in the setup dialogue were fixed, most notably the music device selection screen, which no longer contains the misleading line "Play sound from" (changed to "Play music from").

Great thanks to:

• Kevin Cernekee for the WWPak utility
• Minniatian for his unofficial Dune 2 EMC patch
• Nyerguds for his Dune II Editor, modified SETUP.EXE, an updated version of the Dune 2 icon, and for hosting the patch
• Olaf van der Spek for his XCC Mixer
• Segra for the looped reinforcements fix
• Shagrath for providing the valuable info about the AI team bug in his Dune II Scenario Editor
• Siberian_GRemlin for Siberian String Table Editor
• Stefan Hedriks for Dunedit and inspiring work with Dune II The Maker
• TCH for his Dune 2 Scenario Editor
• TrueBrain for finding a solution to building decay problem
• Westwood Studios for creating this incredibly amazing, gorgeous, brilliant and highly enjoyable game

The patch is compatible with the release of the game hosted at Abandonia (called the EU version in the patch package). If you decide it's worth hosting, I think you can remove the old scenario pack I've mentioned above, and the Westwood sound patch, too.

If you're sure we can remove your previous fix and put this instead, but the official patch remains, because there are people who prefer to play it raw. :)

Yes, the old fix is certainly outdated, and lacks a lot of features introduced by the new patch.

As for the official sound patch, I don't know why WS did not do a similar one for the European three-language release - probably this is because that release was made by an external company in the UK, as I've heard. Anyhow, the option to select different sound devices for music and speech is present in all versions of the Dune II setup program, only it is disabled. Great thanks to Nyerguds for re-enabling it in the three-language version setup! :D

Ok, I'll do it tomorrow. Thank you for the effort of keeping Dune II clean and alive. :)

My pleasure ;)

Trojan detected in exe. W32/Smalltroj.GEON

what are you using? kaspersky says it's clean

True, but:

http://virusscan.jotti.org/de/scanre...8491e61a618d48

probably mistake of this "norman"

Antivirus software tools often report false positives in custom-generated EXE files. There should not be any trojans in the patch.

However, if you want, I can just package all the modified files into a RAR/7zip archive, but then it will be larger, and there will be risk of people installing the patch upon a wrong version of Dune II (there are, in fact, several different releases of Dune II with the version number 1.07) , which can even lead to game crashes.

I've compiled a Fixed DUNE2.EXE pack. Thanks to research made by TrueBrain of the OpenDUNE project, the problem with the player's buildings deteriorating with time regardless of whether they were placed on concrete or not. The fix turns off building deterioration for structures with concrete foundations, which is consistent with the in-game information:
The package contains EXE files for all known releases of Dune II. Additionally, the "manual check" dialog is disabled in all EXE's, and a minor problem with speech in German and French has been fixed for the European three-language versions.

Warcraft MIDI Soundtrack
 

I've compiled a package of MIDI files from Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, maybe it'll be useful to you people? :)

I have used WarDraft to extract the XMI files, and then converted them to MID with WinAmp (the built-in converter in WarDraft produces a slight increase in playback speed for some reason). In fact, there are three sets of XMI files in Warcraft, designed fro sue with different sound hardware settings. I've converted the set that is used with General Midi, and supposedly has higher quality (the MIDI pack found at the Game music base seems to use another set).

I guess we can use them in our Abandonia Frequency. You can upload the MIDI files to the FTP

I'm afraid I don't have FTP access as yet. With my other submissions, I either attached the files to my posts or provided links to the files uploaded elsewhere.

Ok, I'll send you a PM.

I've installed the FileZilla client, connected to the FTP, created a folder with a Warcraft subfolder and uploaded the file, but the file on the FTP is shown to be half the size of the original file. Since I can't download it, I can't check the integrity of the archive :(

This is why I've attached the archive to this post. If everything's okay, you can then delete it.

[Attachment has been removed]

Replaced.

Thanks. Sorry for the inconvenience, I have no idea what could have gone wrong.

Argh! I don't know what in the world I'm doing wrong, but I once again failed to upload a file on the FTP server :wall: So I've attached it here (sorry for the inconvenience! :dunno:)

Essentially, it is an update of the patch for Dune II. First off, to meet the requests of people who do not use Windows but would still like to install the patch, I changed it from a Windows patching executable to a simple RAR archive with all the necessary files inside. This has increased the overall package siza quite a bit, but I think there's an advantage to it as it also helps patch compatibility: this method of distribution does not have the limitations of a patcher which can only be successfully applied to a "clean" version (especially taking into account how many different official releases there are already).

Secondly, there are new fixes affecting various aspects of the game, for example, there were some problems with digitized sound effects - some of them would have an audible clicking noise in the end (e.g. rifle and machine gun fire) - which are now fixed in this new version of the patch. A detailed account of all fixes is in the supplied readme file.

[Attachment has been removed]

Replacing...

By the way, since our extras system doesn't accept rar, I've uploaded it as ZIP. But that actually increases the size to >1MB. Check it out for yourself :\ Sorry

Thanks! :)

Is that bad? (I mean, is hosting large files problematic?) I could upload it as a self-extracting 7zip archive, but then again, this might be confusing for people who use other OS's than Windows.

Another solution would be to put the RAR archive inside a zip archive. I used this to upload RAR files on a forum that did not accept RAR attachments.

A perfect solution (in my opinion) would be a DOS-based patch program akin to RTPatch that could be run in DOSBox, thus eliminating the OS compatibility issue, but I haven't been able to find any freeware patch generators that would be compatible with DOS. If you happen to know one, tell me :)

If you're fine with it, there's no problem with the size. :p

Another Dune II fix update
 

Okay, I've come up with this solution: a self-extracting DOS RAR archive inside a zip. Should be fine on all systems, and less confusing than the previous package, as it is designed primarily for use with the version available here at Abandonia (will work with other versions too though). I've also thrown in a couple of extras, like restoring missing content, and fixes of game fonts.

[Edit] Attachment removed.

Urgh. Self-extracting archives are evil (more to the point, confusing for new users).

Why? Put it in the game directory, run it, answer yes to overwrite files - what could be confusing about it?

In fact, that's how many official patches were distributed in the DOS era.

Dune 2 Fix Update
 

I've found a way to fix the graphical glitch in Dune 2 known as the Ix remap bug, which caused messed up colours to appear on the House of Ix structure for Atreides and Ordos:

http://a.imageshack.us/img715/7756/dune2062.png

Here's how it should look like:
http://a.imageshack.us/img715/7080/dune2063.png

I have included this fix in my patch, and attached the updated version here. I apologize for not using the FTP once more (hope it isn't much trouble to you folks), as I still got that slow Internet connection that most likely causes FTP uploads to work incorrectly for me.

[Edit] Attachment removed.

The problem is we can't delete extras. So as long as we can't do that we won't add the same extras+improvements, since we have to replace that one.

Ah, okay. I hope you find a way to fix this sometime soon :)

Super Dune II Classic v1.5 Update
 

I don't know if you fixed the problem with updating extras, but anyway. Super Dune II Classic has been updated to v1.5. The update includes the latest fixes, such as the IX remap bug fix, digitized sound effects fix, glowing selection boxes for the new sides and fixed heralds in the production/starport screen. I've also figured out how to skip the Atreides ending (which plays for all "new" sides) but keep the game credits playing after the final mission. With this done, the credits text is now for both Super Dune 2 and the original Dune II. The Fremen are now much more resistant to deviation than in the previous releases, to balance issues with the first Fremen mission. To compensate for the fact that the Mercenaries and the Sardaukar no longer have restricted concrete slab placement, the "decay" damage received by these sides has been increased somewhat.

Download Super Dune II Classic v1.5

IMPORTANT NOTE: The modification is now designed for a stand-alone installation, and installing it into the Dune II directory is not recommended. Please refer to the supplied readme file for installation instructions.

Yes, the problem has been solved, I have substituted the extra file with the new one. Thank you :)

Cool, thanks a lot :)

BTW, could you please update the Dune II Unofficial Fix with as well? The version on the site is outdated. The new version can be found here:
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/...e2_107_fix.rar

Sure! Just done, I followed the developement of those fix in the past and you all did a great job. :)
I always hoped for a Multiplayer Mod for Dune II, is there something under developement or the project was too much ambitious?

Thanks :D Glad you like the patch :)

I think there have been rumours about a multiplayer mod back in the day, but I suppose they weren't substantiated. There's no code in the original game to support any form of multiplayer, so a serious enhancement would be needed for that. Perhaps the guys from the OpenDune project, who are making an engine recreation of Dune II based on original code analysis, will add multiplayer someday, but for now you can play either Dune Legacy (some builds do have multiplayer, but I don't know if it is functional) or Dune 2: The Golden Path, which is primarily focused on multiplayer battles (although it has quite a few new features compared to the original).

Dune 2 Gravis Ultrasound Patch (DOSBox)
 

Recently I've found a very old unofficial patch for Dune II that added Gravis Ultrasound support. Unfortunately, that patch does not work well with DOSBox, but the principle behind it allowed me to make a suitable replacement. The simple trick behind the patch is that the setup programme tells Dune II which drivers and sound files to use, so replacing certain drivers with GUS drivers does the job. For the patch, I replaced the Sound Blaster driver with the GUS digital driver, and the MT-32 driver with the GUS MIDI driver. That way, you can use the Sound Blaster Pro for SB emulation if you want to, and you can still select Sound Canvas (which replaces the Tandy 3 voice option) too, although it is recommended that you use the original Dune II setup and sound files if you want Sound Canvas-synthesized music.

To install the patch, simply extract the following files into your Dune II directory, overwriting the old files when necessary (it is advised that you make a back-up copy of the old files first):

DUNE2G.BAT
DUNE.CFG
SETUP.EXE
SETUPENG.DIP
SOUND.PAK

The DUNE.CFG file is already configured to use Gravis Ultrasound for sound effects, speech and synthesized music, so if you do not want to change this, simply run DUNE2G.BAT to play Dune II with GUS music and sounds. For more information, refer to the patch readme file supplied in the package.

NOTE: This patch was made for use under DOSBox, and was not tested with a real Gravis Ultrasound card. There's no guarantee that is will work with real GUS at all.

[Edit] Attachment has been removed. Check the post below for a link to the new version of the patch.

Nyerguds has helped me with a more efficient batch file to launch Dune 2 with Ultrasound emulation. The new version of the GUS patch is found on his site:
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/..._gus_patch.rar

I've updated Super Dune II Classic to v1.5g, but I can't log in to the FTP since my username/password information seems to have become obsolete.

Details sent in your inbox :)

Cool, I'll upload the new version ASAP :smile2:

Those who have ever tried running Dune 2 from Windows are most likely familiar with this problem that digitized sounds and speech will seemingly randomly disappear and reappear as the game gets progressively unstable. Well, it turns out it's not due to a programming bug or faulty drivers, but some speech files for the in-game Mentat announcements are simply corrupt. Whenever such sound file is played, all further sound playback is halted until you go to the Mentat or options screen, but, more importantly, these files screw up memory, ultimately leading to crashed. There are only few of them for the Harkonnens and the Ordos, but a whole lot of frequently used files for the Atreides. Here's the list:

AATRE.VOC
AFREMEN.VOC
AHARK.VOC
AORDOS.VOC
ARADAR.VOC*
HSABOT.VOC
HWARNING.VOC
OFREMEN.VOC
OHARK.VOC
*This is most likely the real cause of the "radar bug" that was supposedly fixed in v1.07

Fortunately, the corrupt files weren't hard to fix, so I repackaged the PAK archives with speech sets for each House. This should remedy any problems with sound hat might arise when running Dune 2 under Windows. DOSBox users aren't likely to notice the difference, as for whatever reason the problem with speech files does not seem to affect game performance at all when run in DOSBox.

Currently, you can download the fix here but I'll upload it to the FTP if you'd like to add it to the site.

Affirmative on that.

Done :)

I've just uploaded an updated version of the Dune 2 Fix to the FTP. The new version has been tweaked to stay as close to the original game as possible while fixing all of the obvious errors and bugs. Also, since the full-colour PDF manual of the game is now available, I've reinstated the "manual check" routine.

The content has been finally updated, please let us know if something should be changed. :)

Dune II - The Building of a Dynasty

Fix for no repair not working
 

MrFlibble thanks for your work on the fix. For me the no need to repair fix doesn't work. i copied to unofficial fix files over the dune2 files (euro version), but in the 3rd mission the windpower need rapairs again eventough i placed 4 concrete before building it. Funny in Mission 1 and 2 it's not present and windpowerstructure doesn't deterioate, but after misson 3 it does. Is this just me having this?

Edit: i played an android version of this, it also has the windpower needs rapair but you repair one and all get repaired. they are somehow connected together. that is very comfortable.