See here for the blog post.

I have downloaded arrakis ver 1.13, installed ok but when i tried to run the game i get a message "File not found in module RUNME2 at adress0F26:00A0 ..Hit any key to return to system. I ran the fix me bat but that didnt help.

Does this mean I have to run it from true dos?

My machine is a hp pavilion 500 mhz 65 meg win98.

All help will be appreciated thanks

Full change-log can be found here

Read all about it here (incl download link).

Thanks to all those who supported me and who motivated me to pick this up again!

Actually since version 0.92 , the new released demo to public, things got roling when Vidiware suggested his help on the gfx. Even before that Timenn mentioned that idea, but back then i did not really like it. It had various reasons, but now, i am totally anxious to see this new D2TM grow as big as i have it in mind.

Nowadays, i can already say D2TM is having direct support by:

Timenn

Vidiware

Nema Fakei

Mr Flibble

I've never had such a great support, with such continiouty. Though i never formaly said this, i would like to form a TEAM. But i do not want this to be a closed development. So therefor i'd like to invite as many people, like it has been done before, to react, post ideas, be creative. I will post my idea soon.

The members above named, i'd like to ask if they would reply to this if they want to agree with this or not. I can't possibly assemble a team without people 'knowing' about that themselves, or even agreeing about it.

Do note that this 'team' is not as strict as you usually see with people doing suddendly a very serious game. It is not appropiate to demand people to spend x, or y amount of time on this project. It should solely come from their own initiative, which i like very much. Keep your pace, and keep in touch. There is plenty of time in the world.

Oh, there is a possible 5th member coming up who sent a PM to me. It is actually very simple to get in the 'team'. The only requirements are:

- you're an addition to the team.

More people doing the same job is handy to a limited number. Its not handy to have 20 people doing gfx for example.

- you can handle feedback, positive and negative. Negative feedback mostly is formed in 'perhaps its an idea to do it like this..' . Multiple ways should be known before one can select the best path right? Also, do never forget that everybody (including me!) is spending their time on this project for a hobby, for fun, for dune. It is NOT the intention to scare people away

- you keep in touch

people who suddendly dissapear are not handy to work for in a team. In the end, whenever a version will be released, at that moment the list of credits will be made. Credits is always due where it is due, but people sending me one example of a unit and then leave have a lower chance of getting anything done here.

- you understand that this progress goes 'slow', since its all on a basis of 'free will'.

Do note, i do like to keep people informed, via this forum.

- A 'pre' is when you are able to be reached through MSN, which i use for D2TM development. I found it very handy to chat with Vidiware/Nema about stuff, showing pictures. Ie, Nema sent some tileset to me, i sent back a picture how it looked in the new version, based uppon that he decided to redo the tileset and that version is now in and looks like a charm!

mostly of all:

- you are inspired, enthousiastic, willing to spend time on it!!

If you don't want to work in the team, but still want to help us out... well, dont hasitate! Post, bring comments! etc etc.

-------------------------

Game play idea for D2TM

-------------------------

I've had a short conversation with Timenn about this. Its about the gameplay in D2TM. He asked if the original DUNE 2 missions are in D2TM. Ofcourse! However, i do want to be original in D2TM. I have seen Dune Legacy and its a good clone. Actually that is the problem i also see coming when D2TM reaches a final version (ie, 0.92 was very close, 0.95 even closer...)... its getting boring too fast!

How to spicen up the gameplay? When you start up the game, you have basicly 2 options:

- Play an original DUNE 2 game

- Play D2TM

When you choose to play the 'original dune 2 game'. You should actually get the same options as in D2TM now:

- Single mission

- Campaign

- Skirmish

This story is known, how the campaigns are filled in. Depending on time and dedication we can make this big. For instance, when you start the campaign you see the starting intro of dune 2, telling THAT story.

However, when you choose D2TM mode. You will immidiatly get into an intro. An intro telling a new story. Basicly the same story ofcourse, fighting for dune. The parties in that game should be as wide as you can imagine. I have found 6 different color palettes , also a grey one, that *could* make 7 and perhaps with some research i can make 20 different sides. Anyway: The game starts immidiatly and you should select your house.

After that, the world-map (of dune 2, which we all know) turns up and you will be asked WHERE you want to start your battle for dune. You do NOT know where the enemies start. Now, you will basicly build your base, and while you are playing the game you should meet some requirements in order to conquer the area:

- it should be free from enemy units/buildings (obviously)

- you should have a working economy in order to 'let the spice flow' (ie, the amount of credits in that game should reach 10.000 or 20.000)

Ofcourse, these requirements sound simple. But there is the 'on-line mentat' you have seen in the early shots of the new D2TM. This person will keep you informed about all other activities on the planet. You should be able to jump to other regions. I am not sure how i will deal on this technically yet, since time moves on and i have to figure a way out to 'predict' a time pattern so the areas keep on 'living'.

Activities you can think off:

- sand storm damaged a base at sector X, needs repair. AI could decide to send large force to attack that base

- AI attacks area X or Y

- YOU attack area X or Y with 'army consisting of an MCV + x amount of units' (which you have to build yourself in order to attack that region. Plus the region you want to attack must be a neighbour).

- The emperor asks for a specific amount of spice and gives you a set of troopers

- etc

Depending on the imagination we can build anything we like. The coolest thing would be when the AI and the game itself will be smart enough that it will be able to create a 'new game adventure' all the time when playing. That means there oughta be a lot things to play with in order to keep the game interesting.

I have had a long way of typing. And i'll await any response ;)

FIXED:

- Instead, if I were to click on the Upgrade button again, the upgrade is completed INSTANTLY.

- Sandorm able to squish infantry when going under infantry.

- It is no longer possible to select airborn units with box-selecting.

- animation fixes for structures (WOR/Barracks stopped animating after building unit)

- animaiton fix for outpost

- box selecting problem (needed to cover entire unit). Now only the center is required to select a unit.

- placing units in skirmish mode in the boundaries of the map.

GAME BALANCING:

- Harvester has more HP (300->450)

- Troopers are made less effective

NEW ADDED:

- Dune 2 Seed map generator. Thanks to jpexs for completing the generator and making this possible!

- "game" switch to load own ini file (ie, use d2tm.exe -game myinifile.ini)

- A few skirmish maps to play with

CHANGED:

- skirmish maps do not need to be MAP##.ini anymore, they can be named anything

A lot is in progress:

- sidebar is being redone with all its gui aspects

- logging is being changed

- Rene is working on a tool to effectively read the new log formats

- Rene has made a skirmish map editor

(Instead of a "DEMO X" progress topic. This topic will be about all future versions.)

...

Perhaps (some of) you noticed that there is a Github repository called `dune2themaker4j`. Which frankly began as an attempt to write an engine in Java. Mainly because I work in Java professionally often (but nowadays in C#... so... yeah).

It is still leaps away from what the 'current' D2TM can do, but I am still quite satisfied with what is accomplished given my life is totally different and the time and attention I give it. Usually when I have some spare time I think about it or write some code. Often in a holiday I spend time on it because it is fun. These are good things.

So can you 'play' it? If you are daring enough you can actually download a release and play with some units. It actually is built with the concept of 'configuring your own units' in an INI format style way so if you really want to run wild...

If you are just interested in seeing things without downloading, I made a few video's and put them on youtube. Mainly because I find it rewarding to publish a new 'feature'.

Check out 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3iy0eU2OaQ&list=PLGJc4IZyoBW2_Ue06RVQewDQBF8nkW_dE for the very first alpha construction.

And for Alpha #2 -> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGJc4IZyoBW0rdEfpvgFH2sHiB3JIR-BN

Now I am working on 'Alpha #3'. Although I did not do any videos for that yet I did some major work on 'gui' stuff. 

If you want to see more, just look at the github page. Also you can download 'releases' from the 'Releases' link there.

https://github.com/Fundynamic/dune2themaker4j

So it all boils down to: ok so what is this going to be anyway? 

I would suggest you check out the wiki pages for that. But do mind I want to start small and without promises. The first step is have basic mechanics going on. Then later think of more interesting aspects. Well you get the idea.

I have made 13 skirmish maps so far, and too many to keep posting 4 at a time in single posts, so i have added them into a pack containing them all

Some of the maps have been updated so as not to be so shit.

(some of them had mountains in desert resulting in uglyness)

that has now been fixed.

I have attached screenshot of mini map images from the skirmish gui

mappack.zip

Read all about it here (incl download link).

Thanks to all those who supported me and who motivated me to pick this up again. 

Benefit of having switched hosts is that the site is now always running under https, the previous hosting party was ... not that good... 😉

url: https://dune2themaker.fundynamic.com/

Its a heavy download, mp3 format. Good quality. The tune represents 'peace'. Meaning, its a peaceful (building) theme in a game. Perhaps i will use it for my game, or perhaps not. I'd like to hear comments ;)

its ~6.5 MB btw.. don't be scared ;)

http://arrakis.dune2k.com/beta/peace.mp3

http://code.google.com/p/dune2themaker/

Get a fully fledged How-To document from : http://arrakis.dune2k.com/downloads/HowToGetThisAndCompiling.doc

Update: 09/09/06 , this entire post is changed, and a lot shorter.

I was wondering what files are needed to install Dune II - The Maker.

With Dune Legacy, all you needed was the PAK files. Do you need more with D2TM? like the dune.exe?

what is involved with the installation process? Thanks for your time.

Basically it says that a turret should not change its target to a closer one. For now, the turret always attacks the closest target. This means that if it had a target found a second ago, it might change to a different target. It makes turrets slower this way.

How does this work in Dune 2? And, besides that, how would you like to see them work? Should they lock on their target, until it is out of range and *only then* find a new closest target?

So, I am asking you , what do you prefer?

For those who do not play SC2:

- Right click means 'action'. Which is normally MOVE, but when clicking on enemy units it means ATTACK (just like with C&C, except there everything is done with the left mouse button).

- If you want to issue a different command, you use a hotkey (ie, R for repair)

Do note that this version is mostly an improvement in the engine itself. However, the basic implementation of the skirmish mode could be considered as the big feature of this version.

Download at: http://dune2themaker.fundynamic.com/?page_id=11

Please let me know what you think of this version. And thanks for your support so far!

Images

Changelist

What is changed between DEMO 3 and DEMO 4:

DEMO 4 - DEMO 3 
-----------------------------------------
BALANCING:
- Ornithopter rockets do more damage
- Rockets from Troopers do a bit less damage
- Rocket Turrets do a bit more damage to infantry & vehicles
- Normal Turrets do a bit more damage to infantry & vehicles
- Combat Tank does a bit more damage to infantry

FIXED:
- AI able to build multiple units from the same building at the same time (oops, cheating!)
- Workaround for harvesters doing nothing.
- Building troopers/etc for human player.
- Bug where "order" button would be misplaced (too low)
- Bug where you could select computer units via 'team' key's (ie, by pressing 1-5)
- Able to 'repair' units when no repair facility is built.
- Fixed bug Repair Facility. (Units always repair as if they were totally damaged)
- Memory bug in loading INI file. (causing byte shifts, which *could* eventually screw things up)
- Able to select enemy units when pressing group number

CHANGED:
- "Devided" -> "Divided" 
- Unit drawing , more accurate on cells.
- Unit drawing , health bar and spice bar is different.
- Unit drawing , selection box is changed
- Unit variables a bit more efficient.
- When buttons are unavailable, they are darkened instead of greyed out.
- AI will now not walk over spice blooms, but shoot them.
- Upgraded Allegro from version 4.0.3 to 4.2.0
- Upgraded Alfont from 1.19 to 2.10
- Source is now compiled under MSVC 7.0
- Dune 2 missions, briefings, etc is now centered in one "campaign" folder

NEW:
- More scenes added.
- Very smooth fading for Windtraps now (instead of using 256 color palette Blue values, it uses 16 bit values)
- Using some FBLEND routines for drawing transparant graphics and so on.
- "easy on cpu" auto-code. Will try to give cpu some slack if fps is above "ideal fps" (can be set). Especially useful on
  laptops.
- Skirmish mode, AI is primitive, but tough.
  - with totally new random map generator built in
  - able to create your own skirmish missions via INI files (up to 99 missions)
  - 4 players maximum (1 human, 3 CPU)
  - CPU can be Sardaukar
  * Able to see random created map by hovering mouse on the question mark. Default = invisible, so you can
    be really suprised to play (hit 'random map' and then 'play').
- Completely new written structures code (same functionaly as in demo 3 though): using true OOP.
   *NOTE: Bug detected, starport does not function 100% yet.
* - Skirmish mode - maps are named as "map##.ini" , up to 99 maps supported.
- RakNet library is compiled in project and will assist in network code in future releases.
- MCV can be deployed with D now (select and press D).
- Carry-Alls blow sand/spice when picking up unit on sandy/spicy terrain.
- Structures graphics updates
  - Real shadow blending done
  - Structures show ground underneath, so if no fundament is built the building
    appears on rock, etc. 
- When infantry or troopers get 30% health; a single soldier/trooper appears
  with 100% health. The other 2 died (leaving bodies on the ground).
- When not enough money, icons are a bit greyed out + a red cross is drawn over them.
- Tanks are able to squish infantry (leaves big blood splatter for infantry and tiny for soldier, etc)
- Shortkey B added to build last built icon on list (also applies for units)
- Shortkey P added to place built structure
- Shortkey U added to quick-upgrade
- Units can gain experience:
  - no stars = no experience
  - yellow stars (max 3)
  - orange stars (max 3)
  - red stars (max 3) -> max experience: twice damage done
  (*) Stars are gained by kills; infantry kills give units 2.5/10th star experience. 
      bigger units 4.5/10th star.  
  Units with more experience will deliver bigger hits on enemy units. 
- Tech Tree changes:
  - Repair Facility & High Tech is available from level 5 now.
  - Ordos WOR available at level 5.
- Force attack : Hold left control and click on cell to attack.
- Units & Structures blink when targetted, etc. 
- Rally points can be assigned to buildings. Select structure , hold left control and click on map.
  NOTE: Do not give an invalid location or the paths will fail to that. When units are unable to
        deploy from starport, they are brought via Carry-All to the rallypoint.
- Force move   (ALT)
- Force attack (CTRL)

REMOVED:
- 32/16 bit adjustment in windowed mode. (speed increasement was minimal)

Since there are a lot of duplicate bug reports, I would like to point everyone to D2TM's bug tracker @ google code.

You can find it at

http://code.google.com/p/dune2themaker/issues/list

That should keep things a bit cleaner ;)

I am trying to compile D2TM svn trunk with MinGW g++ 4.5.0 but I am not able to do it. The include .h and library .a files are correctly situated in the MinGW's include and lib folders. I am using NetBeans 6.9.1 with the MinGW tool chain selected. The libraries fblend, alleg, alfontdll and allmp3 are configured under Project Properties / Build / Linker / Libraries. And the path for the include files is configured in Project Properties / Build / C++ Compiler / General / Include Directories.

When I try to build the project there are some .cpp files that can be compiled but when the compiler reachs any source code file with the 'memset' instruction it returns: "error: 'memset' was not declared in this scope" and stops. For example in: structures/cOrderProcesser.cpp:17:55: error: 'memset' was not declared in this scope

What am I doing wrong? Maybe were the Allegro and fblend library files created for a lower version of g++?

Thank you.

Please update your bookmarks.

Looking at SC2, I see there are several properties involved for calculating damage inflicted to other units. So I'd like to discuss this, perhaps there are other properties that can be used. Eventually I want to rewrite D2TM in such a way so that these properties are used and that each unit from Dune 2 has its own use. (Soldiers for instance are helpfull, all the way in the game).

So, the properties I have found so far:

- hitpoints (life of unit/building)

- Armor

- Light Armor

- Damage (hp) inflicted

- Damage to Armor

- Damage to Light Armor

- Attack speed (ie, every X second)

If I understand correctly, damage is calculated by:

Damage (hp) inflicted - ((Armor - Damage to Armor) + (Light Armor - Damage to Light Armor)).

Here is an example:

Lets say a Soldier has the following properties:

HP: 100

Armor: 0

Light Armor: 1

Damage (hp) inflicted: 10

Damage to Armor: 0

Damage to Light Armor: 1

Lets say a Soldier fights another Soldier, and attacks it.

The amount of damage done to the enemy Soldier would be:

10 - ((0 - 0) + (1 - 1)) = 10 HP

Lets say a Trooper is the same as a Soldier, but has Light Armor = 3 (for the sake of this example). A Soldier attacking a Trooper would inflict:

10 - ((0 - 0) + (3 - 1)) = 10 - 2 = 8 HP

So a Soldier vs Trooper will result in:

- A soldier doing 8 HP damage to a Trooper

- A Trooper doing 10 HP damage to a Soldier

This is just an example, but I believe it is very flexible.

You can also fill in (heavy) Armored units in this. Like Tanks. They have armor and thus recieve less damage from soldiers. With the right amount of HP / Damage properties I believe Tanks could be made 'weak' against Troopers, and Troopers 'strong' against certain tanks. But not all the time.

What do you think?

Here is the song @ youtube:

Do you have any other funny combination you might think that would work? Post 'm here! :)

I am at the drawing board, busy sketching the new Dune game i want to create. But i was wondering if Tanks, Launchers, Siege tanks, etc would even be realistic in the Dune scene.

As far as i know, there are only:

- airborn units

- infantry (who can have several type of weapons, lasers, rockets, 'sound' weapon, etc)

I could imagine there would be wheeled units (like fast trikes to explore the dunes, to find spice).

But that would be about it; so what do you think?

I think a dune game should be more focussed on its infantry and wheeled units. Also Ornithopters could be more interesting as a serious weapon. Airborn units in overall would be more interesting i think.

The only tracked (or is it even wheeled?) unit i can think off is the Harvester.