Dune II manual remake

[Nyerguds]

A while ago I got my hands on a remake of the Dune II manual as .doc. It seemed to be made with a mix of text generated by text recognition and scanned images. However, the image quality was pretty bad, and I got the idea to simply replace them by the same images extracted from the game itself. That way, we'd have a full colour Dune II manual, something I don't think ever existed before.

Well, I finally got working on that, and here's the result :)

nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/dune/Dune II - English.pdf

Preview:

Let me know what you think, and what could still be improved.

The (updated) .doc can be found here

(note: it's possible that in the .doc, the Dune II text at the start of the manual won't be displayed in the correct font unless you install that font)

[athanasios]

Wonderful!

[Nyerguds]

Updated to correct some formatting errors, and to make all titles use the Friz Quadrata font.

All text should be using the non-bold variety of the font, actually, but I can't be bothered reformatting the entire document to suit a differently-sized font. Might still do it later though, who knows. :P

[MrFlibble]

Cool! And it uses British spelling as a bonus, splendid :D Great job!

[MrFlibble]

Found some typos:

One half of a sentence in the Ordos profile text is missing: Protected by their great wealth, the Ordos' status as a great House is unaffected by their long history of manipulation, trickery, and deception. (p. 11)

This is a rare opportunity to get a dear view of Ammon in action. - should be clear view (p. 11)

The colon mark is missing after the word Capacity in Spice Silos description (p. 15)

Turrets wall fire on any enemy unit within range. - should be will fire, I guess. (p. 16)

Construction Yard is required to build any new structures. it contains all materials required for building structures on Dune. (p. 17)

Harvester speed value not aligned properly (p. 22)

The Sadaukar are the Emperor's elite troopers. (p. 31)

important Note: It is always advisable to make back-up copies of your master program diskettes to increase the life of the masters and guard against accidents. (p. 33)

In fact, I remember looking for typos and errors in that old doc manual that was included on the HS CD, I think there might be a few more.

[Nyerguds]

Ah, the "dear" problem is one of the obvious clues this was scanned and processed automatically... should be "clear". I had already fixed one of those before.

Thanks for those fixes; I updated it and uploaded the new version.

[MrFlibble]

Great! :D

Found (quite) a few more typos to fix:

If you wish to remove that item from your invoice. click on the Minus button (p. 48) - full stop instead of comma.

To send the order, click on the Send Order button or type "S.' (p. 48) - single inverted comma instead of a scare quote. BTW, the use of quotes is not uniform on that page - check the curved quotes surrounding the "I" (this can be easily dealt with by using the "Replace All" command with autoformatting options turned on in MSWord). And are you sure there has to be a full stop inside the quotes that indicate a button that must be pressed?

Picture: This is a picture of the unit. Damage Indicator: This indicator displays the amount of damage the unit has taken. If the bar graph is: Green = little to no damage, Yellow = moderate damage. Red = heavy damage. Command Buttons: These are the commands that are available for this unit. There are different Command buttons for military units and civilian units. Attack: (Military) Select a target you wish to attack. Your unit will begin attacking that target immediately. Move: (Military and Non-military) Select a loca- of the unit. (p. 49) - this part of the sentence repeats twice for no reason.

his quits your current scenario and restarts that scenario from the beginning. (p.52) - instead of This.

You can then command an Infantry/ Trooper unit to "Move" onto the structure and take it over. (p. 54) - an extra space after the backslash.

Beware, for some Houses boby-trap their own structures in case they fall into enemy hands. (p. 54)

There are probably other typos left as well, sorry I can't do a full proof-read ATM.

BTW, I noticed that some text is aligned to the left, while other paragraphs are stretched by width. I remember that the formatting in the original doc manual was a real nightmare, do you intend to use uniform text alignment (maybe with added hyphenation)?

[Nyerguds]

I got a scan of the printed HitSquad manual, and I'm kinda using that as guide. I mostly tend to use the same formatting and hyphenation as that one.

And are you sure there has to be a full stop inside the quotes that indicate a button that must be pressed?

It's like that in the scanned version too, but I'm replacing them, it looks silly.

of the unit. (p. 49) - this part of the sentence repeats twice for no reason.

Some bizarre hidden text thing. I found it by using Search, and was able to remove it, but I never actually saw it though.

There are probably other typos left as well, sorry I can't do a full proof-read ATM.

Yeah, I just fixed a few its/it's mixups which were actually wrong in the printed version X_x

[edit]

New version uploaded :)

[MrFlibble]

More typos encountered:

Speed values for Light Infantry, Trike, Quad, Tank, Missile Launcher, Siege Tank and Carryall are misaligned. Additionally, the speed value of Light Infantry uses wrong font.

For example; if the cursor arrow is positioned over an infantry unit, pressing the spacebar or enter key will display the command options available for that unit. (p. 35) - I guess it should either be a colon or a comma instead of the semicolon.

After the Mentat's advice, you can click on the Proceed button, or type "P," or click on the Repeat button or type "W" to repeat the briefing. (p. 37)

You will be given several military units, a Construction Yard, and 1000 credits to produce to help you fill the spice quota. (p. 37) - missing word.

To place the concrete slab, click on the PLACE It button, or press "P". (p. 40) - I suppose all letters should be capitals here.

Your cursor will now become a gloving box, representing the size and shape of the slab. To place the slab, click on a portion of rock adjacent to the Construction Yard and the slab will appear on the map. (p. 40) - glowing box, obviously.

Beware! just because you can't see an enemy unit doesn't mean he can't see you! (p. 41) - apparently, this is how it was typed in the original printed manual, but I guess it's still more logical to have a sentence beginning with a capital letter.

If a structure can be upgraded the Upgraded button will then appear. (p. 42) - should be Upgrade.

First, select the Construction Yard in the Tactical Window by clicking on the structure that you wish to build is displayed on the Production button in the Command Window, then click on the "Build It" message will be replaced by the percentage of completion. (p. 43) - for some reason this paragraph is totally messed up. It should read as follows:

First, select the Construction Yard in the Tactical window by clicking on the structure or by typing "F3." If the picture of the structure that you wish to build is displayed on the Production button in the Command Window, then click on the "Build It" message or type "B." That structure will now begin production and the "Build It" message will be replaced by the percentage of completion.

[Nyerguds]

The semicolon is the same in the original, so I'm leaving it. The rest is fixed.

[MrFlibble]

The semicolon is the same in the original, so I'm leaving it.

Seems fair, but still the possibility of it being a typo exists. After all, there are quite a few of them in the original manual :)

BTW, do you perchance know what's that font that is used for the "DUNE" logo on the Sega mega Drive title screen (and also on the box cover)? Incidentally, it seems to be the same font as the one used for the Ultrasound logo in the GUS MIDI player :)

[Nyerguds]

I usually use the WhatTheFont site to find out what font is used by logos. Though apparently Hyper is quite good at recognising fonts, being a graphical designer.

[MrFlibble]

I usually use the WhatTheFont site to find out what font is used by logos.

Interesting site, thanks for the tip :)

It was a big find to me when I suddenly realised that the PC version's Dune II logo on the title screen is just Times New Roman (or a very similar-looking font).

[Edit] WhatTheFont identified the Ultrasound logo font as either Goudy or Goudy Old Style.

[MrFlibble]

I've added your coloured manual to the Dune II extras list.

[Danellos]

Cool! And it uses British spelling as a bonus, splendid :D Great job!

yay for British spelling :D

Anyways, I was just skim-reading through that document. I was thinking... why not try to do it in Publisher? It might make some of the text formatting a bit easier to do (not that its not already pretty neat and well-done).

Very nice job :)

[athanasios]

Good idea, it is easier in Publisher.

[Nyerguds]

I don't even have any idea what that is...

[athanasios]

Ah, yes, better avoid Microsoft products, but then in Scribus? Not so user friendly.

[MrFlibble]

I don't even have any idea what that is...

Same here

[Nyerguds]

Don't really see why you people think I should absolutely involve other programs in this when it's pretty much done anyway. I think that any time I'd spend getting it into a new program would be better spent looking for remaining errors in it :P

[MrFlibble]

I think that any time I'd spend getting it into a new program would be better spent looking for remaining errors in it :P

Totally agree with that :)

[Nyerguds]

Small edit:

-Centered all house images correctly. They're also slightly bigger now.

-Removed an incorrect indentation before "Sand Worm", in the Sand info on the Terrain info page.

[MrFlibble]

Nice!

[MrFlibble]

More typos found, courtesy of miri (Old-Games.RU Forums):

Page 4, line 4: "Deperate" instead of "Desperate".

Page 4, line 6: "Houses" apparently should be in the singular.

Page 4, line 10: "remains continues" instead of "remains continuous".

Page 6, right column, line 8: a full stop instead of a comma after the word "Harkonnen".

Page 22, description of MCV, line 2: "Upon acting an appropriate site" should be "Upon locating".

Page 23, description of Infantry: "Units: 1 to3" (missing space between "to" and "3").

Page 26, description of Siege Tank, line 3: a full stop after the word "armour" instead of a comma.

Page 28, description of Sonic Tank: the word "Armament" is not in bold font.

Page 32, right column, "WINDOWS INSTALLATION", line 5: "dick" instead of "click" (Heh heh. It says "dick" :D).

Page 33, right column, "DOS INSTALLATION", line 5: "follow" must be capitalized.

Page 34, left column: ALT ARROWS is not aligned correctly; also, the command description might be "Scroll Map" and not "Scrolls Map"

Page 35, left column, "MENTAT SCREEN", line 3: "highlights" should probably be "highlight".

Page 35, "Selecting and Activating with the Cursor Arrow", line 2: "For example" should most probably be followed by a colon, not a semicolon.

Page 45: "Foundation Indicator" should probably be followed by a colon, not a full stop.

Page 47, very last paragraph of the right column: the word "Selection" is truncated to just "Selec-".

Page 48, right column, line 9: the full stop after "S" is missing.

Page 49, "Damage Indicator" section, line 4: a full stop after "damage" instead of a comma.

[Nyerguds]

Again, the semicolon was there in the original so I'm leaving it. The rest is fixed.

The "dick" was another obvious text recognition fail. For more sexual innuendo, there's a perfectly legit "erection" in the MCV description too :P