Dune 2 Scenario format

[MarkJ]

Hi,

I have enjoyed playing dune 2 for quite some time, and I would like to have a stab at making some scenarios for it. I was wondering if there is any comprehensive document outlining the scenario format. Most of the format is fairly straight forward, and parts of the format are explained in the help files for some of the scenario editors that are available, but there doesn't seem to be any one place that covers everything.

Anyway, I am still a little confused a number of things, so if no one can point out such a document, perhaps you could answer my questions.

+ What does the Choam section do? I know it controls availability of units from the starport, but I have no idea what the numbers do.

+ Have the win/lose flags been figured out at this point?

+ Any information on teams would be nice, as would reinforcements.

+ Any information on what undocumented features have been discovered (the extra reinforcement placement keywords for example).

Also, I have noticed that there is an updated scenario pack available, which fixes a number of bugs within the scenario files (like the thopter misspelling). I was just wondering if there was any information about what specific fixes were made to the scenario files.

Thanks in advance.

[Nyerguds]

Hmm... there's been a lot of discussion about this some time ago... you might find something in the forum threads, but I don't really know where. MrFlibble might know the specifics of that though.

[MrFlibble]

+ What does the Choam section do? I know it controls availability of units from the starport, but I have no idea what the numbers do.

Yes, you define what units can be bought via Starport, and how many of them are in stock. This is what the numbers do. E.g. if you put Carryall=2, you won't be able to order more than two carryalls at once; units that are "out of stock" are slowly replenished, but I'm not sure if their number can surpass the original quantity (this feature seems to be a bit buggy in Dune II v1.0).

+ Have the win/lose flags been figured out at this point?

To a certain extent. To make a regular "destroy all enemy structures" mission, set WinFlags=3 and LoseFlags=1. For a "reach spice quota" mission, it's WinFlags=6, LoseFlags=4. No more info on that yet though.

+ Any information on teams would be nice, as would reinforcements.

Here's a relevant topic: http://forum.dune2k.com/index.php?topic=19200.0

+ Any information on what undocumented features have been discovered (the extra reinforcement placement keywords for example).

All available options are displayed in TCH's editor: http://oscomp.hu/?details/147

Also, I have noticed that there is an updated scenario pack available, which fixes a number of bugs within the scenario files (like the thopter misspelling). I was just wondering if there was any information about what specific fixes were made to the scenario files.

Those fixes are now included in my Dune II unofficial patch, you can check the full list of changes here: http://forum.dune2k.com/index.php?topic=21532.0.

[segra]

dont forget 'Special'

theres a discussion on it in

http://forum.dune2k.com/index.php?topic=20212.90

[Nyerguds]

lol, it does tend to spawn totally useless air units though :P

[MrFlibble]

If only it would spawn enemy units that are capable of attacking more often, and not just stick to the Ordos (since you get friendly units when playing Ordos that way), and clear that stuff with the neutral aircraft... ::)

[segra]

lol yeah this is true :)

[Nyerguds]

actually, it'd be better if the units it spawned were for you... bonus units, as the manual says.

Once we know the function which spawns those units, it might be possible to change the side, and the range of unit IDs it chooses from.

[segra]

not a bad idea, ill take a look this arvo.. got some time

[segra]

ok, most of it is worked out

Firstly there is 1 issue,

apparently this was so rushed they just used the houseid as the unit type index :)

(from later) switch case1 uses the DI value directly and switch case2 uses it from the TypeIndex variable

Here DI is set to the house id,

ovr194:1617 8B 7E 08                          mov    di, [bp+houseIndex]

Later on DI is used again for the Type of Unit to create, without being changed from the houseid

ovr194:1664 89 7E FA                          mov    [bp+TypeIndex], di

thus, this causes an Orni for Atreides (id 1), carryall for Harkonnen (id 0).. and nothing for the rest.

This is because the houseid is forced to 0xD before the UnitCreate call, apparently you can create flying units with houseID 0xD, but land units either don't appear, or dont create at all.

onto the bloom:

there is 4 possibilities for the "Special Bloom"

1. give credits to the current house

2. create a unit  (sets house as 0x0D), unitIndex from DI

3. create a unit  (sets house as 0x0D), unitIndex from [TypeIndex] variable,  execute 'action' 0x0B (die/hunt?)

4. create a unit for the Ordos house

The switch itself is based on a value from the map seed, im not sure how the whole map thing works... so someone else can work it out :)

ive labelled the function as 'mapSeedRandomGet', but i cant remember why, or what this was based on. do recall looking at someones dune2 map code awhile back tho

ovr194:16B3 9A 0E 00 B8 39                    call    mapSeedRandomGet

ovr194:16B8 25 03 00                          and    ax, 3

ovr194:16BB 8B D8                            mov    bx, ax

ovr194:16BD 83 FB 03                          cmp    bx, 3          ; switch 4 cases

Handler function itself begins at

ovr194:160C                  ; int __cdecl far mapSpecialBloomHandle(int mapPos,int houseIndex)

Updated IDA DB: http://www.mediafire.com/?jlxjxni5ozy

created an account so hopefully they wont delete my files this time :)

[MarkJ]

What version of IDA do you happen to use segra? I would be interested in looking into the code myself :).

[MrFlibble]

Wow, segra, you're a miracle in action ;D

[Nyerguds]

I'll take a look at it after my exams. The main problem is always finding space to put the new code, though...

[segra]

What version of IDA do you happen to use segra? I would be interested in looking into the code myself :).

Just using the freeware 4.9

[Nyerguds]

I'm using the freewarez 5.2 :P

[segra]

MrFlibble, I know ive seen it around here somewhere.. but damned if i can find it now, but could u post your Dune2 savegame link please :)

[MrFlibble]

Couldn't find it either so I'm re-posting it here :)

D2SAVES.zip

[Will]

To a certain extent. To make a regular "destroy all enemy structures" mission, set WinFlags=3 and LoseFlags=1. For a "reach spice quota" mission, it's WinFlags=6, LoseFlags=4. No more info on that yet though.

WinFlags=7, LoseFlags=5 is used by the 2nd Atreides mission; WinFlags=23, LoseFlags=5 is used by Hark/Ordos. I seem to remember that for the 2nd Atreides mission, you really have to reach your quota, while Hark/Ordos have the option to destroy the enemy base to trigger a victory in addition to winning when the spice quota is reached. I may be mistaken, though.

[Nyerguds]

Didn't someone already sort out the bit flags in these numbers before?

[stefanhendriks]

Did anyone bother to create a document describing the savegame format?

[Nyerguds]

eh? No... but I know there's an editor for it. Looking at how it works in C&C1 it's probably just a dump of the heaps of all different game objects; terrain, spice, blooms, rocks, buildings, concrete, units, projectiles, animations, mission triggers, craters, etc.

[stefanhendriks]

I know there are editors for the dune 2 scenario's ;) But, I was more like referring to a central place where this knowledge is stored. I once had a txt file about the C&C 1 mission files. It was quite extensive and I thought it might be helpful to have a similar file for Dune 2.

[MrFlibble]

Did anyone bother to create a document describing the savegame format?

AFAIK, no. But as for the scenario format, there have been a couple of descriptions provided with some editors, with varying degree of accuracy. You can take a look at these two editors, they both contain some useful info.

Of course, all the info had better be compiled into a single document, perhaps I'll give it a try when I got time.

[stefanhendriks]

Ah, I made a mistake. I meant a Scenario description. Oh well, I should not be browsing this forum with an Iphone i guess ;)

Anyway. It would probably be more meaningful to have a document describing the SCENXXX files rather than Dune II save games.

[MrFlibble]

What exactly are you interested in? IMO, most things in Dune II scenarios are pretty easy to understand inuitively. It is important to remember that there are limits to the number of units and structures that can be placed, the number of reinforcement and team triggers and the like, for which exact values have not been figured out (yet). Also, there's the size limit for the scenarios, as a scenario file larger than 10,000 bytes will crash the game with a memory error.