duneflorist

Hey everyone! I've just released Dune Dynasty v1.6.3. You can download it on the github releases page: https://github.com/gameflorist/dunedynasty/releases Here is the changelog: Add enhancement option "Instant wall construction": Reduces build time of walls to 0. This enhancement is disabled by default. Add enhancement option "Extend light vehicle sight range": Doubles fog uncover radius of trikes and quads from 2 to 4 tiles. This enhancement is disabled by default. Add support for new soundtracks: The amazing highly recommended Dune II 5-device remix/remaster (PC Speaker + Tandy + AdLib + MT-32 + SC-55) by the Sound Card database (listen to it on YouTube or download here). Many thanks to Ben from SCDB for providing the files! The Dune II Amiga Music recordings (download here) The Emperor: Battle for Dune game music The Dune: Part Two (2024) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer Fix/improve Aspect Ratio Correction: Fix aspect ratio of menus/cutscenes/mentat-screens for modern monitors by using a default ratio of 1.2 instead of 1.1. Add in-game video option "Aspect Ratio Correction". (see Readme for details) BREAKING CHANGE: the config-option correct_aspect_ratio does not include the actual correction ratio anymore, as this is now hardcoded to 1.2. Add Midi Format option to Music Options: This allows setting the type of midi files to be played: pcs: PC Speaker tan: Tandy 3 voices gm: General Midi (SC-55) (=default) mt32: Roland MT-32 Config key is midi_format) Add config option "midi_device_id" to select the MIDI device to be used on Windows (default=0). Fix hanging notes after song-change with MIDI-playback on macOS. Have fun, and let me know of any problems you encounter!

I want to include an optional anhancement in the next version, that raises the fog uncover radius of units to make reconnaissance of the map less tedious. I'd like to get some feedback on what the wishes are regarding this. The current ranges are: All infantry: 1 Trikes, Quads, Harvenster, MCV: 2 Tank: 3 Siege Tank, Devestator, Sonic Tank: 4 Launcher, Deviator: 5 Bear in mind, that uncovering of units also activates the enemy. I don't want to overdo it. Currently I'm thinking about just increasing Quads and Trikes to 5, to cement their role as scouts and give them a purpose in later missions. What are your opinions?

Yeah, i just love that soundtrack! The SCDB-3-card-mix is also awesome!

Hey Fedaykins, To add fire to the upcoming Dune-craze, i've just released Dune Dynasty v1.6.2. You can get it from the gihub releases page! Here is the changelog (see CHANGES.TXT for full details): "Even vaster armies have arrived." Make enhancement "Raise unit cap" more effective: Dune II has 3 types of unit caps: A unit cap defined per house by the scenario (usually 25 for the player, and 20 for the CPU) A hard-coded overall cap of 102 And a hard-coded cap per unit/group of units (caryalls and ornithopters: 11, saboteurs: 3, all others/ground units: 80) This enhancement sets the scenario unit cap for all houses to 50, raises the overall cap to 322 and allows a total of 300 ground units (incl. saboteurs). This enhancement is disabled by default and always enabled in multiplayer/skirmish. Add enhancement option "Raise structure cap". (thanks @WillSo!): Dune II limits total structures on a map to about 70. This enhancement raises that limit by 100. This enhancement is disabled by default and always enabled in multiplayer/skirmish. NOTE: Games saved with this option enabled will not be able to load, when the option is disabled! An error will be shown in this case. Multiplayer & Skirmish improvements: Add teams and AI to multiplayer and skirmish. You can now setup matches with up to 6 teams with completely custom human/AI player configurations. Enable worms in multiplayer and add worm-count option (0-3) to multiplayer/skirmish options. Add option to choose starting army in skirmish/multiplayer: Small option is: 1 trooper, 1 quad Large option is: 1 trooper, 2 quads, 1 tank, 2 siege tanks Several additional fixes and improvements. Add enhancement to show additional info in Outpost text: Shows active, standby and max units. Standby units are e.g. in production, ordered in factory, outstanding reinforcements, usually 1 backup-harvester. This enhancement is always enabled in multiplayer to provide the actual owned unit count in addition to the default allied count. Music / Soundtrack Improvements: Add new soundtrack support for Dune II PC speaker recording. (download here). Add new soundtrack support for the amazing 3-card mix (AdLib + MT-32 + AdLib Gold) of Cryo's Dune (1992) by the Sound Card database (listen to it on YouTube or download here). Many thanks to Ben from SCDB for providing the files! Many thanks to @Gobalopper from FED2k for hosting these 2 new soundtracks! Support 2024 re-release of the Spice Opera soundtrack of Cryo's Dune (1992) by EXXOS. NOTE: If you are using the old Spice Opera soundtrack, you have to change it's filenames to the ones indicated in /music/dune1992_spiceopera/FILELIST.TXT. The old filenames are no longer supported. Remove support for Dune II - The Maker MT-32 soundtrack, since it is a subset of Shaiwa's (FED2k) MT-32 recordings. NOTE: If you use this sountrack, please download and use Shaiwa's (FED2k) MT-32 package instead. Some additional music related fixes Provide macOS ARM64 (Apple Silicon M1) package. The macOS packages now include a setup script to remove the executable and included libraries from Gatekeeper quarantine. Additional fixes and improvements Have fun, and let me know of any problems you encounter!

@LordDune I know this is quite old, but this will be fixed in the next release. That shouldn't really be a problem. In multiplayer and skirmish worms will belong to a seperate new "Neutral" house in the next release.

@WillSo I just investigated the "Raise scenario unit cap" enhancement option. It seems, that the current implementation (see here) tries to fill up the max-units for all houses with a shared amount of 70. but this is useless, if a scenario already has a total maximum units of all houses exceeding these 70 units. a lvl 1 scenario with 2 houses has e.g. 40 maxunits in total. so each of the houses will get 15 additional units with the enhancement enabled. but an endgame lvl 9 scenario with 4 houses has 85 maxunits in total already. so no additional units are allocated at all - making the option useless in later scenarios. additionally, (like with structures) there is a maximum allowed total units of 102 (see UNIT_INDEX_MAX here). i will try to modify this option to be more useful in the next release (since it is also quite needed in skirmish/multiplayer with up to 6 houses on the map). i think i'll simply set the max units to 50 for each house. i just hope, that messing with these INDEX constants doesn't have any problematic side-effects. there is definitely a problem, if you save a game with raised indices, and then want to load it with lower indices (with the enhancement disabled). it seems to work, if i uncomment some "assert" statements, but don't know, if that's a good idea. i'm also thinking about displaying additional unit statistics in the Outpost-text. right now it displays a "Friend" and "Enemy" count unter "Radar Scan". (the "Friend" count is actually all allied units.) i think i'll add an additional "Unit Control" section with some general statistics about ones own units: - Active units - Orderd units - Max units one can then check this panel, how many units one has left to build.

hey @queops! you need to extract "DuneX129.zip" into the "campaign/dune2x" subfolder of Dune Dynasty. be sure the files lie directly in this subfolder (so "campaign/dune2x/META.INI" for example). you leave the original Dune2 data files in the "data" directory unchanged. after that, you should be able to select the extended campaign by clicking on the "The Building of a Dynasty" subtitle in the main menu. the subtitle should then change to "Dune 2 eXtended" and you should be able to start the game. the savegames do not work though, since they were created from the modified "dunex.exe". but they are not really needed anyway, since you can select the starting level at the bottom of the house-selection screen. let me know, if you are still having problems - and tell me the system you are playing on (win, linux or mac).

@everyone I've managed to build a version for macOS ARM64, but have no way to test it. It would be great, if someone with such a mac could test it for me. I've uploaded it here: https://mega.nz/file/9LkXFCJI#HuPvDre5lqJ5gJfjO65MCb7f3hS3hylF7TSQ6RilU6M Edit: Build is confirmed to be working. Next release will have macOS ARM64 support.

Thanks a lot for that info! I might include the option in the next release.

@WillSo Regarding unit-limit: This is defined per house per the scenario and is 25 in most cases (see scenario ini files in the original SCENARIO.PAK). I think this limit is only enforced, when you try to construct a unit - not when using the starport or getting reinforcements. That's why it is best to first build units with your factory to the max and then order them from starport. Dune Dynasty alreadly includes an option to raise this limit. (See "Raise scenario unit cap" in the main menu gameplay options. Regarding structure-limit: In each mission there is a limit on the combined number of player and Computer buildings that may exist at one time. From 68 to 70 buildings are usually allowed, but this can vary slightly from mission to mission. Once this limit is reached, only concrete slabs and wall sections—if available—may be constructed unless/until an existing building, friendly or enemy, is destroyed. In this way, when the mission's building limit is reached, an attacker may destroy a defender's building, and then construct a new one for the attacking side, preventing the defender from replacing the destroyed building. (taken from http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/manuals/Dune II/Dune II - Insider's Guide.pdf (page 14)) It seems you already have found a solution to this. I might include an enhancement to raise that limit in the future (thank's for pointing me to the right direction!) Afaik these have always been there (see e.g. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/564691-dune-ii-the-building-of-a-dynasty/faqs/1521)

I've used PX Player and dosbox-staging to record the PC-Speaker and Tandy versions of all Dune II music tracks. I've uploaded them here: PC Speaker: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yaMgiytimvUjclDs6Ok220BogBBXzpiS/view?usp=sharing Tandy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y9mAQ2jpVZMESdZjPLC3kaQOA6z_wFvC/view?usp=sharing I don't really have any idea, how accurate these are with dosbox's emulation, and i'm curious what you guys think. Tandy especially sounds a bit wonky - but then again i have no idea how they should sound.

introducing a new seperate faction for sandworms (at least in multiplayer and skirmish) might not be that much of a hassle. i'll look into that. i just hope, that this change doesn't introduce any bugs. i'm also thinking about adding a new map generation option for the count of sandworms. any ideas, what should be the maximum? to be honest, i'm not too sure about the intricacies of the 3 additional houses. i believe they were introduced in Dune 2 eXtended.

ah, you mean because sandworms internally belong to the fremen faction? good point - that could indeed be a problem. looking at the code, i don't think sandworms are generated in multiplayer at all at the moment. i also can't recall ever encountering them in multiplayer. they also pose a bit of a balancing problem due to their random placement. a player might have a disadvantage if he starts being haunted by a worm from the beginning. so i'm not sure, if it's so good to include them in multiplayer anyway. in skirmish mode, 2 sandworms are generated. there is a check, if the player himself is fremen, then the sandworm becomes allied with atreides. (a rather hacky solution.)

hey everyone! i've just released v1.6.1 of Dune Dynasty. you can grab it here: https://github.com/gameflorist/dunedynasty/releases/tag/v1.6.1 let me know of any problems you might encounter! here is the changelog from v1.6.0 to v1.6.1: Provide macOS package: "Now 3 operating systems fight for control of Dune." Multiplayer-crossplay between Windows, Linux and Mac should be possible. Only Intel x86_64 is supported. (See this fork for a Apple M1 Arm executable of v1.5.7.) Add new gameplay enhancement option for consistent directional attack damage. (thanks @gerwin!): More info on this can be found in this forum post as well as the Dune II Insider's Guide (on page 279). Option is named "Consistent directional damage" in the in-game gameplay options and "attack_dir_consistency" in config. This enhancement is disabled by default. It is always enabled in multiplayer for balancing reasons. Restore autoplay of introduction video on launch and add option to disable it: Option is named "Skip introduction video" in the in-game gameplay options and "skip_introduction" in config. This option is disabled by default. Further fixes and improvements: Layout schematic of structures is now also displayed on high sidebar scales. Size of multiplayer chat is now consistent on all resolutions. Fixed Atreides superweapon-Fremen attacking Atreides in multiplayer. Since Fremen are their own faction in multiplayer (non-allied with Atreides), the Atreides palace will now spawn controllable Atreides troopers instead of Fremen.