Dune 2 V1.07 EU Text Centering

[segra]

Hey guys,

The EU version contains a small check before calling the string draw function

Basically checks if the string ID is 1e, 6b, 6c or 66.. if it is, use the "normal/centered" drawing method

If not, use the "EU" version.. draw to the left (this small chunk is missing from the version i normally use)

and as you probably know, the text file itself in the EU version contains the numbers so i cant patch them out in the exe..

patch just makes the first JZ to JMP, always use the centering.

Search Bytes

1E741EC45E0626

Change to

1EEB1EC45E0626

Asm Dump of modified area:

ovr200:1031 C4 5E 06                    les     bx, [bp+arg_0]ovr200:1034 26 83 7F 38+                cmp     word ptr es:[bx+38h], 1Ehovr200:1039 74 1E                       jz      short loc_5D289           <<<ovr200:103B C4 5E 06                    les     bx, [bp+arg_0]ovr200:103E 26 83 7F 38+                cmp     word ptr es:[bx+38h], 6Bh ; 'k'ovr200:1043 74 14                       jz      short loc_5D289ovr200:1045 C4 5E 06                    les     bx, [bp+arg_0]ovr200:1048 26 83 7F 38+                cmp     word ptr es:[bx+38h], 6Ch ; 'l'ovr200:104D 74 0A                       jz      short loc_5D289ovr200:104F C4 5E 06                    les     bx, [bp+arg_0]ovr200:1052 26 83 7F 38+                cmp     word ptr es:[bx+38h], 66h ; 'f'ovr200:1057 75 1C                       jnz     short loc_5D2A5ovr200:1059ovr200:1059             loc_5D289:                              ; CODE XREF: sub_5D198+D1jovr200:1059                                                     ; sub_5D198+DBj ...

[MrFlibble]

Wow, thanks a lot! ;D Can you also teach this version to play the sound clips corresponding to the phrase "The Building of A Dynasty" in the beginning of the intro (BLDING.VOC and DYNASTY.VOC)? They are still mentioned in the EXE and present within game files, but are not played.

[segra]

somebody owes me a beer or three :)

simple data patch for the english version of battle of arrakis

search:

0100FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF0000FFFFFFFFFFFF

change to:

0100FFFF5700FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF0000FFFF52005800

I dont know exactly what all this data does, and i dont really care :)  But its something to do with the intro animation/sound timing... i RE'd some of it, but i got bored and ended up just single tracing it til i found the place it was different

But basically,

5700  Sound ID 87:  DUNE.VOC

5200  Sound ID 82:  BLDING.VOC

5800  Sound ID 88:  DYNASTY.VOC

This patch works on both my version, and the EU version (Take note tho, due to code changes in the loading of this ID table, a different data location is used for english than french/german)

This happens Here:

ovr176:0428 83 3E AA 37+                cmp    language, 0

ovr176:042D 75 15                      jnz    short loc_4D844

ovr176:042F 8B C7                      mov    ax, di

But in testing something i just noticed, the French/German data doesnt have those soundID bytes set to FFFF, but it doesnt call the function if the language isnt english anyway...

lol

to fix this,

Search:

8946FA509A

From the 89, move back about 9 bytes to

7544

Change the 7544 to 9090

Have a good day

[MrFlibble]

somebody owes me a beer or three :)

Ooh, definitely! ;D But I have no idea how to send it to you :)

However, you can now enjoy some of the fruits of your labor: replace the files in your INBTROVOC.PAK with the ones I have attached, and you'll have the title of your "Dune 2: The Battle for Arrakis" voiced over (by Frank Klepacki, ripped from the Sega Genesis version ;))

Dune The Battle for Arrakis.zip

[segra]

Nice thanks,

I wonder why they went cheap on the pc arrakis :S

[Nyerguds]

They work when you just put in the game folder, just like the herald screen ones ;D

[MrFlibble]

Hmm... does it have the system to select the first differing letter as keyboard shortcut?

If so, on that German main menu, the shortcuts to the options should be s, p, i, z, e, l, and then either space or f.

Hm. Does the "next best key" logic work for the unit commands? In the EU version it does...

No... take the French game. If the first unit command is "Attaquer" and the second is "Aller

[Nyerguds]

oh, I knew that. I never intended for the numbering to disappear in the other language versions. It just looks nicer when centered.

Of course, if Segra could find out how that next-best key thing works, he might be able to enable it for the menu :P

[MrFlibble]

There's yet another thing about the EU version. Unlike the other three-language release(s), it has an extra small sidebar text font used only when the language is set to German (NEW6PG.FNT, along with NEW6P.FNT used for English and French). Compared to the sidebar fonts in the other releases, both NEW6PG.FNT havs most letters made narrower by 1 pixel, which was probably done to accommodate the lengthy words in German. However, NEW6P.FNT included in the EU version is almost identical to NEW6PG.FNT, also having narrow letters - apparently, the French language setup also demands this to fit all words into the sidebar.

Regarding this, I think it would be nice if it were possible to make the game use NEW6PG.FNT for both German and French, and use NEW6P.FNT only for English, which could be replaced with the original version of the file with normal size letters, since the narrower ones don't look that cool :) Any ideas about that, segra, Nyerguds? *wink* *wink*

Of course the easy way is to just use the old NEW6P.FNT for English and French, but then some sidebar text in French will not fit properly.

[Nyerguds]

hmm... if I had some extra space in the exe, that wouldn't be too hard... then again, Segra's houses fix gives quite some extra space. Maybe I can do it. I'll have to really get into Dune II hacking mode then though... -_-