samah

Long time, no update... Shai-Hulud 2000 is having an official name change to simply Shai-Hulud, the latest version being 2.x (as in Windows 9x and Windows 3.x) I pulled it out of the garbage can not long ago, and have done about 30 hours of work on it this week. I'm about 50% to a completed version. At the moment it's a fully skinned application, with 2 default skins. It's running fairly fast too, which is amazing considering the graphics intensive nature of the new version. You can look at a couple more screenshots of the work in progress using these links - they're about 200kb each. http://sh2k.dune2k.com/upload/shot1.jpg http://sh2k.dune2k.com/upload/shot2.jpg Here's a list of the features yet to be coded (don't forget I started this from scratch so I wouldn't have redundant code): Multi-level Undo Selection/Clipboard features Block Browser/Placement Default Map Templates (ie New Map... - only Open Map works at the moment) Save/Save As... New File Format (.shd), with a file tag at the beginning - I should have done that a LONG time ago... Old file formats will definitely be supported. Laterz...

Well, I decided to just get my arse into gear and do some work on the new SH2K, and I couldn't be stuffed learning Delphi or waiting for the 'other guy' (no names mentioned) to help me out with it, so I started from scratch in VB. Here's a screenshot of v2.0.0, work in progress. It doesn't do any editing at the moment, I've just got the interface finished. It's gonna be really cool, cos it's fully skinnable, and comes with a default (although pretty crap) skin. I'm good at 3d art, but pretty shoddy at 2d... Here's the link, but beware, it's pretty low compression: http://sh2k.dune2k.com/upload/sh2k_v2b.jpg (104kb) Don't expect any miracles too soon, but I'd say I'm about 15% to a final product (and that's after 3 days work).

I know it's not really D2K related, but... Myself and a friend have made some desktop wallpapers, and I thought I'd promote it here. Check out Corona Studios at: http://www.crosswinds.net/~samah I think there's 37 images at the moment, most of them are 3d-rendered, and they're available in four different resolutions, all in high quality jpeg. Let me know what you think, guys!

OK, I'm currently in-between jobs and doing uni work, so that's why I haven't been working on SH2K for a while. The problems with having a real life... So here's something to make your lives a little easier. I made a new installer for v1.2.1, so you don't have to go through all those patches. It's made using Nullsoft's installer system, which is absolutely brilliant. They used it for WinAmp, etc... Here's the link: http://sh2k.dune2k.com/upload/sh2k121.exe To save download time, it doesn't include the VB runtimes, just the custom controls I used. If you have a previously installed version of SH2K, I'd suggest you uninstall it first, but leave the VB runtimes there when it asks to remove shared files. Please let me know if you have any problems with this. I can't really test it on my computer... Also, I have been receiving many emails from people with problems. I haven't replied to most of them for the same reason I haven't worked on SH2K, however some of the questions are just stupid, since they are answered on the FAQ. Sorry to be blunt, but it's very annoying when people send me the same message 6 times with an attached bitmap (not jpeg) and it takes me an hour to download the bloody thing... :P I will eventually release a new version at some stage :)

Ok all, here's a small download which will allow you to convert any file type (except Domination) to any other file type. This is still a beta and is in an experimental stage, so try it out and let me know if you have any strange problems. You will need to have the VB6 runtimes installed to use this program (they should be on your system if SH2K is installed). On another note, I'm working on making an installer for 1.2.1, to save people downloading so many patches! Here's the link: http://sh2k.dune2k.com/upload/sh2kconv.zip

Well, I never thought I'd say this, but I've decided to let someone else help me with the editor. It's got too difficult to manage on my own. A friend of mine is helping me rewrite the entire program in Delphi, instead of Visual Basic. It's just too unstable. The new version won't be out for a while, and unfortunately, I can't fix the bugs in the current version of SH2K since I lost the source code. The most recent backup I have is of version 1.1.0. I may release an extra program to convert shm files to sh2, so that they will work with the current version. Oh yes, and I might even be putting skinning support in the new delphi version. Anyway, make do with what you have, and I'll release a much more stable version in a month or two hopefully. Ya Hya Chouhada...

Ok dude, I searched through my source code and found the section where it extracts the tilesets. The .r8 files are made up of a whole heap of records like this: 29 byte header - not sure exactly what this is; probably palette info and/or terrain attributes for the game 1024 bytes of image data - 32x32 bitmapped image of 8-bit palette references. You'll need to get a palette to read this images in, or they'll look pretty weird. Try using the palette that comes with SH2K. It's in the Tilesets dir, and it's called d2k.pal. It's stored in the RGBRGBRGB... format, so that 3x256 = a total of 768 bytes. The .r16 files are stored differently since they are a higher image quality. I couldn't work out how to read these files, and couldn't be bothered since the .r8 files worked fine. Sorry to take so long getting back to you, but uni's a bitch... :P

Hi all, I've been real busy this past month, and haven't been able to work on ANY projects lately. Hopefully I should have time now that I'm back from my holidays. One of the bugs that people have been having is that they get strange colors in the preview box in the tileset extractor. I have now determined that this is directly related to the bit depth you have Windows set to. The way the preview is coded will only work on 24-bit color. Unfortunately, I was running 24-bit color at the time, so I never noticed this shortcoming... :P I'll look into fixing this, along with releasing a new installer. Also, people have been having some errors when they try to use the map statistics generator - if you have had problems with this, could you please mail me about it!

Lots of people have been emailing me with problems saying that they activate maps that use other tilesets and they don't show up correctly in the game. This is not a problem with any of the software, either Dune 2000 or SH2K. The problem is that people aren't USING the software correctly in the first place. The way Dune 2000 works, you can only have one tileset available at any one time. When you run Dune 2000, it will use its current tileset for ALL ACTIVATED MAPS. If you activate a map that uses BLOXICE and D2K is set up to use BLOXBGBS you will get a messy looking map. Whenever you want to change the current tileset, you need to use the combo box in the map activator. This will change the tileset D2K uses, and will be saved when the map activator is closed (but not cancelled). In order to change tilesets, I had to make a backup copy of the BLOXBGBS tileset, and overwrite it with the tileset you wish to use. Therefore, changing the current tileset will probably affect single player mode as well. Change back to BLOXBGBS before playing single player. I hope this has cleared these issues up. Have fun!

Sorry guys, I didn't test out the new version properly... It seems it would work fine with SHM and SH2 but not MAP. I've fixed this and tested it (and it works). I haven't given this a new version number though - I've just replaced the 1.2.1 download with the revised version. Sorry to everyone who downloaded the inferior one!

I've just found an error in SH2K 1.2.0 which stops you from loading the old map files that don't have the tileset name stored in them. SH2K tries to load a non-existent tileset, can't find it, and assumes you haven't extracted the tilesets. I've fixed this and released a 1.2.1 upgrade. Also, I've had a look at some of Westwood's other games to see how difficult it's going to be. Red Alert seems fairly easy at first, but Westwood have used some compression system to encode the entire map into about 3 lines of text. Theoretically, I should be able to do it though. Tiberian Dawn might be harder though, because multiplayer maps are stored in the MIX files I think... Oh well... :)

Due to the Dune 2000 nationality problem, some people still can't extract the tilesets and are getting strange results. For those of you who are having problems, you can download the pre-extracted tilesets from the SH2K website under Downloads. Its about 2.7Mb.

OK peoples, I've just uploaded SH2K v1.2.0 to my web site. Get it on the downloads page, or in the toolbar on FED2K when it gets put there. It's an upgrade from 1.1.7 to 1.2.0, but it may work for earlier versions (even as far back as 1.0.2) - not certain though. Don't say I didn't warn you. :) On a brighter note, the new version has FULL SUPPORT for the tilesets in BOTH VERSIONS of Dune 2000. Now that I have the D2K cd, I managed to actually test this, and believe me - IT WORKS PERFECTLY. If for some reason you are having trouble, EMAIL me. DON'T HESITATE. That's what I'm here for... :)

Sorry 'bout that guys, I was too anxious to release it :) I ditched InstallShield - I need to learn it better. Now it's just a self-extractor... It's a little bit bigger, but I think I made the mistake of not even including the files in the previous release.... :P

OK, after much waiting, I've finally released SH2K version 1.1.7. There's heaps of new features - for a complete list, read the news articles I posted over the past few days. The installer for this version was done using InstallShield, so the download is really small (560kb). From now on, I plan to split the editor into two parts. One part will have the Visual Basic runtimes, along with other DLLs the editor uses. You will only have to install this once (unless you've installed SH2K before). Then, you just download the small patch file for the version you want. I'm still learning how to use InstallShield, so this version of the installer doesn't create program icons. Just make a copy of the icons before uninstalling the previous version.

OK, I know I've been just TELLING you guys about the updates without releasing it, but it'll be out very soon :) Just thought I'd also mention that I've added to the map statistics feature a colorised percentile count, that works out how each player relates to the others. Then it takes an average of that and puts it up the top so you can see who has a better place on the map. New version out as soon as I finish the help file :)

I just HAVE to get this out of my system - I'm SO STOKED :) I've just spent the last 2 hours adding a new feature to SH2K that will change the way Dune 2000 maps are made.... A "Map Statistics" feature! What this does is runs a complete statistical analysis of the map. It then reports total values on spice and worms and stuff, along with how much room each player has to build, and how much spice they have! This will GREATLY improve the maps that we see, as you can see from the statistics HOW FAIR the map is. :) SH2K v1.1.7 coming soon!!!

Hey guys, Here's the latest on what I've done since the last progress update: Help file is almost finished :) Brand spanking new spawn tool - AutoSpice - allows you to just lay different thicknesses of spice down without changing spawn types. Map Readme File Generator - makes a readme file based on the information in the Map Properties Dialog. Map Submittal command (almost working) - saves your map, creates a screenshot and a readme file, and creates a mail message with all three attached, ready to send to Dune2K.Com Autosave function - like MS Office, it automatically saves your map every so often - time interval is user defined. I should have my copy of Dune 2000 back in about a week, so I can run heaps of tests and get everything fine tuned. I may release 1.1.7 before then though, and just release 1.2.0 when I've made the other major changes. Also, I'm probably going to be using InstallShield from now on, so once you've installed the VB runtime files, most installs should be about one megabyte or so (HOPEFULLY)... :)

Hi guys, I need someone to mirror files for me. I'm basically looking for someone who either owns a fast server or has access to one who can keep a mirrored copy of the SH2K downloads. The actual web page will still be sh2k.dune2k.com, but from there you'll be able to get the downloads from a variety of places. I need about three mirrors, so if you've got about 20 meg free on your server and you'd like to mirror (advertising and a plug for your site....) just email me!

Hey all, I've been working on the new version of SH2K, to hopefully fix up some annoying bugs with previous versions, and to make it a little more user friendly. Here's a list of changes made already - this will be released sometime soon when I get my copy of D2K back off my parents so I can find out all the bugs! Block browser is now incorporated into the toolbar on the left; Toolbar on the left is resizable to allow the block browser to fit; :) Dune 2000 version autodetect feature; Hotkey to toggle edge scrolling; Better support for multiple desktops; Oh, and support for other games will come later when I've got the Dune 2000 support to the stage I want it... Have fun guys!

Available now on the Shai-Hulud 2000 website is the new version of SH2K. There is a full install version and an upgrade version. Anyone should be able to use the full install version, but to be able to use the upgrade version, you need to have SH2K version 1.0.2 or higher successfully installed on your machine. Please report any bugs back to me!

OK, I know I've let my duties down and haven't updated in ages, so I've added some information about bugs and other stuff in the FAQ - it's a little more extensive now. Expect to see a new version in about a month or so - when I get around to working out how C&C works and stuff... :)

Yes, that's right, yet another version of SH2K has been released, but this time with a bang - it now has full support for ALL TILESETS. Note that the tileset is not actually stored within the SH2 or SHM file formats, you are expected to state which tileset to use either in the comments field in Shai-Hulud's file format, or within the accompanying text file. However, the big bonus is that you can make maps for every tileset without actually setting Dune 2000 to use that tileset. Before you use the new version, however, you should go into the new Tileset Extractor (from the File menu) and rip all the tilesets from Dune 2000. This will allow you to use the tilesets currently available to you. If you choose a tileset you dont have (like bloxxmas in v1.00) SH2K will slap you on the wrist and tell you off... :) Also added, the ability to activate multiple maps at once. Just go into the map activator, right click on the map list, choose add, and select all the files you want to activate. Then click open, and its done! That is, unless it had problems with the maps. So have fun, and download the patch, its only 708kb!

Yes, you can now go to my new web site (same address, new content) where everything works except the hit counter... :) Have a look on my news page to see the latest additions to the program. You can download SH2K v1.0.2 there, but it's 4.31Mb so be prepared for a little wait... (the size is a disadvantage of the Visual Basic setup program - don't worry, I'm hoping to use a different installer soon). Future versions will have a small patch download. And when you first run SH2K you need to go to the options page and make sure your Dune 2000 directory is set right, or else the map activator won't work. Im uploading the new version at the moment, so if the link doesnt work, try again in an hour or so.

Just started beta testing of Shai-Hulud 2000! It should be ready for public use in about a week or so. I just need to write the help file, and redesign the web site, plus remove any bugs found during beta testing. The big secret is that Shai-Hulud 2000 will (hopefully) have support for other Westwood games soon! So that means you'll be able to edit C&C, Red Alert, and maybe even Tiberian Sun maps with SH2K. Please remember that this is only a possibility, and hinges on my ability to be able to edit the MIX files which all three of these games use. Also, the alpha version which will be released soon will ONLY have support for Dune 2000, but I've written the program in a way so as to make it easy to add other games. The next update of SH2K will have complete support for multiple tilesets (at the moment I have that code mostly finished but disabled). Keep suspenseful... :)