Dune 2 v1.07 Fix

[MrFlibble]

This patch is designed to fix some errors in Dune II v1.07, first and foremost the so-called team bug (an internal syntax error that prevented the AI from assembling attack teams of combat vehicles), as well as a couple of other issues.

The patch is aimed at fixing the errors whilst preserving the originality of the game, so no extra additions or gameplay enhancements are made. See the detailed list of changes below.

Download the Dune 2 v1.07 Fix

Installation notes

The patch comes in different versions depending on the release of Dune II v1.07. Make sure you use the correct version of the files. An easy way to identify your release of Dune II is to look at the size of DUNE2.EXE. However, if you're not sure what to install, use the version designated as "HitSquad_v1.07"

IMPORTANT NOTE: Other releases of Dune II v1.07 seem to exist, with which the fix may not be compatible. In case none of the versions of the fix could be installed on your copy of Dune II (make sure it's 1.07 and not 1.0), please consider reporting such error in this thread, or send me an email to the address indicated in the fix readme file.

Great thanks to Nyerguds for hosting the patch ;D

Full list of patch changes:

Gameplay fixes:

• Fixed the internal syntax error which prevented the AI from assembling attack teams of vehicles ("team bug").
  
• Looped reinforcements are now enabled in certain missions.
  

Mission-specific fixes:

• Removed the unused CHOAM (Starport related) section from SCENA001.
  
• Removed obsolete reinforcement sections from SCENA002, SCENA003, SCENA004 and SCENH004.
  
• Fixed invalid spice bloom placement in SCENA005.
  
• Removed junk lines (probably obsolete map data) from SCENH002 and SCENH007.
  
• Fixed incorrect hit point values for pre-placed buildings in SCENH006.
  
• Reinstated the sandworms that were commented out in SCENH008.
  
• Fixed the error that disabled Devastator reinforcements in SCENH017, SCENH018 and SCENH019.
  
• Removed duplicate Spice Silo and Light Factory structures in SCENO005 (two identical structures were positioned at the same coordinates).
  
• Increased the unit limit for the AI players to 25 in SCENO021.
  
• Changed the player's starting credits from 1500 to 1000 in SCENO022 (the extra 500 credits were a result of an error).
  
• Changed Atreides Troopers to Atreides Infantry in SCENH011, SCENH012, SCENH013, SCENH020, SCENHO021, SCENH022, SCENO008, SCENO009, SCENO010, SCENO020, SCENO021 and SCENO022.
  
• Changed the Atreides WOR to Atreides Barracks in SCENH022, SCENO014, SCENO015, SCENO016 and SCENO022, so that the Atreides can produce infantry.
  
• Fixed all missions where the MaxUnit value name was misspelled as MaxUnits for an AI player (SCENA005, SCEN017, SCENA018, SCENA019, SCENH017, SCENH018, SCENH019, SCENO017, SCENO018, SCENO019).
  
• Fixed the error which prevented the player from buying Ornithopters at the Starport in SCENA020, SCENA021, SCENA022, SCENH020, SCENH021, SCEHNH022, SCENO020, SCENO021 and SCENO022.
  
• Set the spice quota value to 0 in SCENA022, SCENH022 and SCENO022 (was 2500, but did not actually affect anything).
  

Mentat information fixes:

• Fixed incorrect power consumption values for the Barracks and the Starport (the incorrect values of 20 and 80 were changed to the actual 10 and 50).
  
• Removed two obsolete entries in German from the English Harkonnen Mentat database (EU and HS versions).
  

In-game spelling fixes:

• Fixed the spelling of the word "Ornithopter" (was "Ornithipter").
  
• Fixed the spelling of the word "incompatible" (yes, I'm pedantic ;)).
  
• Fixed the spelling of the word "Starport" in the building hints section.
  

Sound fixes:

• Removed the clicking noise from some of the game sound effects.
  
• Restored a missing voice clip during missile launch countdown in French and German (European and HitSquad releases).
  

Misc:

• Fixed a graphical glitch that would occur between some missions in the HitSquad version.
  

Setup program changes:

• The setup program now allows to configure multiple sound devices for DUNE II (check SETSOUND.TXT for more information).
  
• Several text mistakes in the setup dialogue were fixed, most notably the music device selection screen, which no longer contains the misleading line "Play sound from" (changed to "Play music from").
  

Great thanks to:

• Kevin Cernekee for the WWPak utility
  
• Minniatian for his unofficial Dune 2 EMC patch
  
• Nyerguds for his Dune II Editor, modified SETUP.EXE, an updated version of the Dune 2 icon, and for hosting the patch
  
• Olaf van der Spek for his XCC Mixer
  
• Segra for the looped reinforcements fix
  
• Shagrath for providing the valuable info about the AI team bug in his Dune II Scenario Editor
  
• Siberian_GRemlin for Siberian String Table Editor
  
• Stefan Hedriks for Dunedit and inspiring work with Dune II The Maker
  
• TCH for his Dune 2 Scenario Editor
  
• TrueBrain for finding a solution to building decay problem
  
• Westwood Studios for creating this incredibly amazing, gorgeous, brilliant and highly enjoyable game ;D
  

DUNE2FIX.ZIP

[Nyerguds]

Tsk, you should leave in the 16x16 version of the icon. The 32x32 version looks way too dark when Windows resizes it to 16x16.

[MrFlibble]

Oh, I'm using such retarded software for icon creation... I can't make 16x16 images for an icon :D

I hope it's okay I didn't ask for permission before using your icon? 'Cause the word "FIX" didn't stand out well on the original 16-color version.

BTW, is it possible for you to host the patch? :) I might come up with an update of the unofficial patch soon, too.

[Nyerguds]

eh? I got a version of that icon that includes the 16x16 version, here:

http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/dune/dune2versions/

and sure, I'll upload it as soon as I got some time.

[MrFlibble]

Thanks :)

eh? I got a version of that icon that includes the 16x16 version

I told you, my icon-creating software is retarded - it can't open your icon at all ;D I had to print-screen the 32x32 image of your icon from Explorer and copy-paste it into the icon editor (a "Resource Workshop" thingy that was included in a very old version of Borland C for DOS/Win 3.1 package I've got on my PC :D)

[MrFlibble]

I have updated the EU version patch, now it additionally fixes the error with missile launch countdown voiceover in German and French: the sound clip for number 4 was not used because the file name was misspelled as GFOURE.VOC and FFOURE.VOC instead of GFOUR.VOC and FFOUR.VOC respectively.

[MrFlibble]

I'm happy to announce that the EU version of the fix is now hosted by Abandonia (link) ;D

[Nyerguds]

Could you please link to their download page instead of straight to the download? It's kind of common courtesy... and I want to see what they have to say about it :P

[MrFlibble]

Could you please link to their download page instead of straight to the download? It's kind of common courtesy...

Whoops, silly me. Fixed that :)

[Nyerguds]

I told you, my icon-creating software is retarded - it can't open your icon at all ;D I had to print-screen the 32x32 image of your icon from Explorer and copy-paste it into the icon editor (a "Resource Workshop" thingy that was included in a very old version of Borland C for DOS/Win 3.1 package I've got on my PC :D)

Get XN Resource Editor. It's free, and you can extract, add and remove entire icons (and other stuff) with it, even if its internal icon editor doesn't support all formats used in it ;)

Standard method is to import the new icon, remove the old one, and then rename the new one to the name the old one had.

[MrFlibble]

Ooh, thanks for the tip :) I'll try it out when I got time.

[MrFlibble]

Nyerguds has uploaded the patch files on his site, so people no longer need to register in the forum to be able to download the fix. Thanks a lot, Nyerguds! ;D

[dementine]

MrFlibble -

First of all I think the AI fixes you made to dune 2 are very good! I'm currently having a dune 2 "renaissance", and I've had a great time playing with the patch you've made.

Now I'm playing through the Atreides campaign, and I am currently on scenario 21 for Atreides (the one where you're up against Ordos with a palace and Harkonnen.

The way I've always played this level, involves building almost nothing but palaces and totally covering the map with Fremen (It's fun to externalize one's duties as a conqueror ;P ) and just watching the fremen basically winning the battle for me xD.

When I played through this time something seemed to be different. There seems to be a limit on the amount of fremen I can summon from my palaces. The limit seems to be in the area of 30-35 fremen troopers. After that, they just stop spawning when I press the icon on the palace.

Does anyone know what causes this? Is there a "fremen unit limit" parameter somewhere in the dune 2 config files that can be altered so I can totally flush the map with fremen once more?

BTW, I play the 1.07 Battle for Arrakis version of Dune 2.

In advance, thanks for any responses! cheers

EDIT:

Forgot to say, but isn't there a speed cheat for dune 2? I remembered lots of years ago, I accessed dune 2 with a .bat file rather than dune2.exe. The frontend in the .bat file gave the option of enabling "fast build" or something. This cheat made building stuff go real fast, for example a wind trap was built in 1 second. This cheat was global, so it affected the AI to, making the game harder (imagine getting attacked by 4 ornithopters almost simultaneously). If anyone has this hack, or know how to do it manually by editing game files, I'd appreciate it.

EDIT2: -Found a trainer that increases build speed

[MrFlibble]

There seems to be a limit on the amount of fremen I can summon from my palaces. The limit seems to be in the area of 30-35 fremen troopers. After that, they just stop spawning when I press the icon on the palace.

There are, indeed, global limits for units (and structures) that can be present on a map at one time. AFAIK, there are separate thresholds for foot units, wheeled and tracked vehicles, and aircraft. After a limit is reached, no more units of a particular type can be placed on the map, either via production, reinforcement or palace special ability.

There are no Dune 2 config files that affect gameplay (no RULES.INI here ;)), all such stuff is hardcoded in the EXE, and the values responsible for unit-per-map limit are, as yet, unknown.

Forgot to say, but isn't there a speed cheat for dune 2? I remembered lots of years ago, I accessed dune 2 with a .bat file rather than dune2.exe. The frontend in the .bat file gave the option of enabling "fast build" or something. This cheat made building stuff go real fast, for example a wind trap was built in 1 second. This cheat was global, so it affected the AI to, making the game harder (imagine getting attacked by 4 ornithopters almost simultaneously).

There are a few trainers out there, on Nahoo,s site, for example. I'm not very well familiar with any of them, though.

[dementine]

I'm using the Razor 1911 speed build hack now with version 1.00 of dune 2. I'm gonna plow through the game until I get to scenario 21 with atreides. Maybe I can flood scenario 21 with fremen playing version 1.00? anyways, gonna check it out, I'll report back here later :]

[MrFlibble]

Good. It might very well be that the designers introduced a special Fremen limiter in the v1.07, or, even more plausible, the limit was there in v1.0 already, but they reduced it in v1.07. Analogously, in v1.0 you can have a maximum of 3 Saboteurs on the map at any given time, but in v1.07, you can have only 2.

[Kordox]

I can't get the patches to work at all. Keep getting this error:

"Main file updating failed, operation canceled!

If the file is running, please quit now and try again later."

I get this message even with the 1.07 US D2 version from the same place that the patches are hosted on.

[MrFlibble]

Check if any of the following files, or your Dune II directory, have a "read-only" marker (right-click on the file, then click Properties): DUNE.PAK, ENGLISH.PAK, SCENARIO.PAK, DUNE2.EXE, SETUP.EXE, SETUPENG.DIP.

[Kordox]

Hm no I'm afraid none of the files are read-only.

Edit: I got someone to do it on his computer and send me the files.

[MrFlibble]

I got someone to do it on his computer and send me the files.

I'm glad you solved the problem, but it still would be nice to know what caused it, so that if other people encounter it, they know what to do.

Perhaps the patcher program is incompatible with your OS?

[MrFlibble]

A link to the Fixed DUNE2.EXE pack has been added to the first post. The fixed EXE files incorporate the results of TrueBrain's research on building decay process in Dune II. The fix disables this process for buildings placed completely on concrete slabs, whereas those that were built on bare rock or partial foundations will continue to display the negative effects of deterioration. Apparently, this is what was originally planned by the developers, as supported by in-game text (Mentat descriptions):

Slabs are used to provide stable building foundations. We have found that anything built on bare rock will deteriorate rapidly.

Concrete slabs are an effective and inexpensive foundation material. Structures without foundations will require frequent repair, and waste valuable time and money.

Thanks to TrueBrain for fixing this issue! ;D

[Nyerguds]

btw, does the patch also fix the looped reinforcements? Segra also gave a fix for that, but that also required some mission file editing...

[MrFlibble]

Nope. I did not even test that yet. Would be interesting to know if TrueBrain's solution to the looped reinforcements is different.

[MrFlibble]

Updated the Fixed DUNE2.EXE pack to include Segra's looped reinforcements fix, as well as some minor fixes in the mission files. You will need to replace both DUNE2.EXE and SCENARIO.PAK in your Dune II directory for the fixes and improvements to take effect.

[MrFlibble]

In regard of the recent discussion of unit indexes in the scenario files, I updated the SCENARIO.PAK inside the fixed EXE package. It is still to be determined if incorrect indexes have any effect on game performance, but I gave all units correct values within their respective array ranges.