Dune 2 v1.07 Fix

[jsbrigo]

excellent fixed-patch!

I use it with HS version and GUS emu under DOSBox

thanks a lot

ciao ;)

[MrFlibble]

Glad you like it ;D Thanks for feedback! :)

[Emberstrife]

Does this fix the AI build logic?

I decided to revisit Dune 2 after a decade, and found the game nearly unplayable in late scenarios due to the sheer amount of cheats the AI uses. Infinite spice and no windtrap dependence is one thing, but the build cheat is another - the AI ignores both building adjacency and whether the build space is occupied by enemy units.

Losing half of your siege tanks because the AI suddenly builds a factory over them gets old really fast. Same goes for the rocket turrets, that re-pop several at a time in later levels and there's no way you can block them. It always seemed like a bug to me.

The default repair rate is so high, that you need 5+ tanks firing at one god damn turret to destroy it. Has that been changed, perchance?

[MrFlibble]

I decided to revisit Dune 2 after a decade, and found the game nearly unplayable in late scenarios due to the sheer amount of cheats the AI uses. Infinite spice and no windtrap dependence is one thing, but the build cheat is another - the AI ignores both building adjacency and whether the build space is occupied by enemy units.

No, this is not fixed (read more about this here and here).

By the way, the AI does not have infinite credits, and it also suffers from low power side-effects (which,unlike later RTS games by Westwood, do not include the shutting down of base defences).

Losing half of your siege tanks because the AI suddenly builds a factory over them gets old really fast. Same goes for the rocket turrets, that re-pop several at a time in later levels and there's no way you can block them. It always seemed like a bug to me.

A neat way of dealing with this problem (apart from taking out the enemy Const. Yard(s)) is to capture enemy structures (note that turrets can be captured as well). This is where infantry comes in handy after all ;)

The default repair rate is so high, that you need 5+ tanks firing at one god damn turret to destroy it. Has that been changed, perchance?

Nope. Basically, the patch does not introduce any balance changes, it only fixes the more obvious errors and bugs.

[Emberstrife]

Thanks for the reply. It's a pity that something I regard as a ludicrous oversight is actually a feature - one that the campaign difficulty appears to hinge on, according to some people.

I've noticed that no matter how much I destroy the enemy harvesters, all it does is tie up their Heavy Factory - doesn't stop the AI from rebuilding turrets and spamming units, so I figured denying physical spice income has no real effect on the AI due to it having infinite resources.

I realize a topic about a fix pack may not be the best place to discuss vanilla game elements, but still - what are the low power side effects? The repair rate doesn't seem to slow down after all enemy windtraps are gone, and the AI doesn't need the radar to begin with. It also does not impede them from erecting new power-hungry r-turrets, either.

[MrFlibble]

I've noticed that no matter how much I destroy the enemy harvesters, all it does is tie up their Heavy Factory - doesn't stop the AI from rebuilding turrets and spamming units, so I figured denying physical spice income has no real effect on the AI due to it having infinite resources.

Every time the AI gets a replacement Harvester after you destroy the current one, the new Harvester unloads a small amount of credits before leaving the Refinery for the first time. This may account for the extra resources the AI receives. (Replacement Harvester delivery for the player works in the same way)

I realize a topic about a fix pack may not be the best place to discuss vanilla game elements, but still - what are the low power side effects? The repair rate doesn't seem to slow down after all enemy windtraps are gone, and the AI doesn't need the radar to begin with. It also does not impede them from erecting new power-hungry r-turrets, either.

You will find a lot of interesting info about Dune II and its inner workings at the OpenDUNE Developer's Blog. As for low power, all it does is shut down the radar and periodically damage all buildings. It does not directly affect production speed, but the damage to the structures itself does slow down their functioning.

[Nyerguds]

The link to the OpenDUNE Developer's Blog has no, um, link in it.

[MrFlibble]

Whoops, my bad. Fixed it. Thanks for pointing that out! :)

[MrFlibble]

Added the Dune 2 Sound Fix, which helps sort out the problem with some digitized sound effects by removing the annoying clicking noise from them.

As usual, thanks to Nyerguds for hosting this fix alongside everything else ;D

[MrFlibble]

The fix has undergone a major update. It now incorporates the sound fix and the building decay/looped reinforcements fix in addition to the standard team bug fix, plus a lot more (check out the full list here), everything packed into a single archive.

Download the Dune 2 v1.07 Fix

[Nyerguds]

Hmm... I just noticed that the "battle for Arrakis" versions don't play the "building of a dynasty" voice clips in the intro... so I can't replace them by the "Battle for Arrakis" ones taken from the Sega version :(

I had hoped they'd have just left them out of the introvoc.pak, but they do seem to be in there :(

[MrFlibble]

Surely they left 'em out, otherwise the voiceover would not correspond to the text :) You'll need a bit of EXE editing to restore the voiceover, there are two ways of doing that. The first is described by Segra here: simply edit the sequence of clips used in the English intro. However, the fun part is that the sequence that does include the "Building of a Dynasty" voiceover is still present in the game code (left from the US version), and can be reactivated. Basically, the game goes as this: by default, it is supposed to play the original US voiceover, but if it's set to English, it plays the truncated voiceover sequence, and if it's set to anything else, it does not play any voiceovers at all, only the sound effects :) I discovered this when I meddled with the language-specific exceptions, trying to find out if the voiced-over intro could be activated for non-English language settings (as described in Segra's post I liked to). When I activated the voiceovers (or, rather, disabled the non-voiced sequence), to my surprise the words "The Building of a Dynasty" were played :) There's a chunk of code that activates the original voiceover sequence for the English version, I can't remember where exactly right now but I'll look it up :)

[Nyerguds]

ooh awesome. Gonna try that out :D

[edit]

Ohh yeah! Works :D

[MrFlibble]

I've found a way to fix the graphical glitch in Dune 2 known as the Ix remap bug, which caused messed up colours to appear on the House of Ix structure for Atreides and Ordos:

Here's how it should look like:

The patch has been updated accordingly:

http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/dune/dune2patch/dune2_107_fix.rar

[jsbrigo]

what about edit exe to listen "dune" during intro without "the building of a dynasty"

I remember the Segra topic but with new forum it can't be read from the link you posted

ciao

[Nyerguds]

You mean adding the "Battle of Arrakis" voices?

[MrFlibble]

In the Amiga version, the original voice saying "Dune" is indeed played in the intro cinematic, while in the European "The Battle for Arrakis" releases, the entire voice-over is cut from the intro title screen. Here's the link to the original post by Segra:

http://forum.dune2k.com/index.php?/topic/20177-dune-2-v107-eu-text-centering/page__view__findpost__p__339612

[Nyerguds]

You could add the Frank Klepacki "Battle For Arrakis" voices to the fix for the EU versions, no? :)

[Nyerguds]

I just noticed this doesn't fix the missing repair facility animations...

[MrFlibble]

At this stage, the patch does not alter DUNE.PAK. It also does not bring back the missing Sardaukar and Frigate entries in Mentat databases (partly because FRIGATE.WSA was cut from MENTAT.PAK in the patched US version 1.07).

[Nyerguds]

Aww... put it all back in :P

[Nyerguds]

Will you update this with your recent sound fixes?

[MrFlibble]

Well, since they don't seem to improve anything when you run the game in DOSBox, I think it isn't necessary to put them in the main patch archive. The separate download, on the other hand, can be also used with Super Dune II Classic.

[MrFlibble]

A small update with minor tweaks, mostly aimed at preserving the original features of the game while fixing real errors and bugs. The archive is now called DUNE2FIX.EXE.

Also, since the coloured PDF manual of the game is now available thanks to Nyerguds' efforts, the "manual check" copy protection dialogue has been reinstated in all versions of the EXE.

[Staticblast]

So, seeing that the "Building of a Dynasty" voice clip is still left in the "Battle for Arrakis" version, how difficult would it be to revert the voiceover, the animated logo during the intro and the title screen to "Building of a Dynasty"?