Need help with Dune editor

[Guest Someguy]

I got a program Called DuneHack (Dune II Executable editor) about a month ago and after making some changes to the game, would like to know were I can get more information on it.

I have been able to figure out how to use most of it and make small changes to some units and structures, but the documentation that came with it is a little confusing at times.

[Guest Someguy]

What do you want to know about it?

[Guest Someguy]

Well, I want to know what exactly I can change with units and how I would go about creating new ones.

[Guest Someguy]

Well, first I'll answer your second question. Unfortunatly you can't add any more units to the game. There is only enough space in the executable for the 27 originally used.

Second, there's plenty you can change about the existing units. I know the documentations a little sketchy so here is a better description of what you can do.

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General

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=> Cost

Cost is obvious, this is the number of credits it takes to produce a unit from scratch. Having a value of 0 works (Free units), but negative values don't give you credits as you may think.

=> Shroud Clear

This value determines the amount of black haze to clear around the unit. Higher values mean more of the map is exposed. Values less than 1 seem to clear a cell around a unit anyway.

=> Strength

Another obvious one, basically this controls how strong a unit is. Values below 1 seem to cause trouble. These values also make units prone to spontaniously exploding (Lower values seem to increase the chance).

=> Build Time

This value determines the amount of time it takes to build a unit. It's has nothing to do with the cost of a unit. Values less than 1 cause problems so DON'T use them.

=> First Level

This value determines (Or atleast I'm 99% sure it does) the first level at which this unit can be built on. In general it's used on the factories rather than the units. But anyhow, Any values are valid, but values of 1 to 9 (Which corospond to the appropriate levels) are used.

=> Prerequisite

This array of flags indicates what structures you must own before you can build this. Again, only really used with structures, but the special house weapons use this to make the units only buildable with an IX research centre.

=> Upgrades

This value controls the number of times the factory(s) producing this unit must be upgraded. I think the cost of upgrading is half the structure cost.

=> Owner

This byte has only been partially worked out. But the parts I know control what house can build this unit.

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Actions

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=> Button 1 through 4

This value allows you to set what actions are available while the unit is selected (The 4 buttons in the upper right corner of the screen). There are 13 available including Die and Sabotage. Most buttons can be used on ANY unit (ie sabotage can be used with anything) with the exception of Harvest and Deploy. Those 2 only work when used with the harvester and MCV. Keep in mind that the last button (Button 4) is the default action when a unit isn't doing anything (So avoid setting it to destruct or die).

=> Default action (Computer only)

This appears to be the default action given to units produced by the computer. It dosn't have to be any of the button actions. If you want to be really cruel, set it to destruct, that way, the computer will loose half there base when they try to produce the unit.

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Graphics

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=> Base graphic

The base graphic is the main graphic used for that unit. In general, it's what the unit looks like and only in a few sircumstances (With tanks in particular) is it sort of different. See the sprite list that came with the editor for a list of available graphics.

=> Auxillary graphic

This graphic is only used for tanks and defines what graphics are used for the gun. It's basically a graphic pasted over the base graphic.

Note:

Although it is possible to modify what graphics are used, there is still no editor for making new graphics from scrathc meaning any changes you make will be limited.

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Weapons

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=> Reload time

The time gap between bursts of fire by this unit. The lower the value, the shorter the gap.

=> Range

This value determines the maximum distance this unit can fire. I think it could also determine the units guard distance. Havn't tried values like 0, but would imagine that it would simply stop a unit from firing altogether

=> Damage

This value determines the amount of damage that the unit's weapon does.

=>Projectile

This indicates what projectile this unit will fire. The Death Hand missile unfortunatly dosn't work, neither do units (So you can't fire infantry).

=>Weapon sound

This is the sound the weapon makes when it is fired, havn't compiled a list yet, but think theres around 100 different sounds available.

Well, I hope this proves useful, but keep in mind that this is only around half of the data in each Units data. The other half hasn't been worked out yet.

If you have any success, extract a patch using DuneHack and post it somewhere. I would be interested to see what you come up with.

Have fun ;)

[bob_fox]

Hey, this guy should win an award for the longest message on this site!

[Guest Someguy]

I'll take that as a complement :)

[Guest DreadRing]

Hey, this guy should win an award for the longest message on this site!

A men to dat but hey tankrush can u tell me were to get this trainer