New Dune 2 campaigns (in progress)

[Will]

You think you know Dune II?

Think again.

NEW DUNE:

You've played Dune II. You've played Super Dune II. You might've even played the Extended edition. You ask yourself, isn't there a way that I could recapture that feeling of 'newness' that I felt when I first started playing Dune II? That sense of exhilaration and mystery, of suspense and not knowing what ace your enemies might have up their sleeves...

...it's all back.

PROGRESS:

Atreides 10/22

Ordos 0/22

Harkonnen 0/22

Extract to (a copy of) your Dune II directory for fun times to be had. Savegames included!

NDUNE2.zip

[MrFlibble]

I've made this into a separate topic, since the Dune II Scenario Editing Thread concerns questions related to the "theory" of mission-making, not the actual project development.

I'd have gladly helped you out with testing, but I'm getting very busy ATM. However, feel free to post your missions (and screenshots of them), I'm sure people will help you out :)

[Will]

Since I've used your editor to edit the units' stats and the build trees, a modified dune2.exe is required to distribute the campaigns. Am I correct in assuming that I need to create a patch?

Screenshots of the campaign in action, a list of changes I made to the units, and the first 6 Atreides scenarios (missions 1 through 3) are forthcoming! I have something really cool in mind for scenario 4, as well.

[Nyerguds]

Then you do need to specify which version it's for.

[Will]

Dune 2 HitSquad version.

[Will]

About the campaign:

I've aimed to keep the general Dune (II) storyline, but adding stuff left and right. The missions are decidedly more C&C-style than before. For example, Atreides mission 1 gives you a Starport and an MCV, but it appears the Harkonnens have left behind quite a few suicide troops to make your arrival on Dune miserable. Mercenary and Ordos forces harrass you with air drops, Saboteurs and sneak attacks. And when the Sardaukar arrive on Dune, they really DO arrive in force.

Plenty of goodies have been scattered throughout the maps; although you may not be able to build a certain structure yet according to the tech tree, there might be a lightly defended Repair Facility, House of IX or Starport to even some apparently overwhelming odds. Same goes for units being air-dropped that you can't build yet. Better make them count...

The Fremen will also have a far more involved role in affairs on Dune, other than just being spawned by the Atreides Palace. You will learn to love them, when playing as the Atreides - and you will learn to hate them, when playing as the Harkonnen scum or the insidious Ordos...

Bugfixes/gameplay tweaks:

The campaign/mod runs on the bugfixed Hit Squad version of Dune II that's been created by one of our beloved forum members ;)

To soften the impact of the 'horizontal fire = half damage bug', I changed all amounts of damage to even numbers. It's a small change, but it helps - and it really adds up when using light vehicles and infantry.

Sandworms now behave normally towards Atreides units, and vice versa; although on some maps, they are much more aggressive than before.

Team bug fixed (obviously, since I'm creating all-new scenarios).

Units deal quite a bit more damage, making it easier to 'beat' the AI's auto repair.

Tech tree changes:

Most units were reassigned. Light units are built from the Heavy Factory, and the Light Factory was removed from the game.

Building speed for all units has been increased, because they are individually more powerful than before.

Atreides: Infantry, Trike, Tank, Launcher, Sonic Tank

Ordos: Infantry, Raider Trike, Tank, Deviator, Saboteur (built from Barracks at tech level 4)

Harkonnen: Trooper, Quad, Siege Tank, Devastator

Non-playable sides:

Sardaukar: Trooper, Quad, Siege Tank, Launcher

Fremen: Trooper, Trike, Tank, Sonic Tank

Mercenaries: Infantry, Trike, Tank, Launcher

Infantry and Troopers have been seriously beefed up.

Their hit points and speed have been roughly doubled; turning speed, damage and rate of fire have been upgraded substantially. They are actually pretty useful right now, especially in dispatching light vehicles and other infantry. Because the speed of the heavier vehicles is still pretty much the same, it's also a bit harder to crush them now.

Infantry sight range has been increased by 1 cell to 2, Trooper sight range to 3.

Light Infantry squads can be trained at tech level 1, Heavy Trooper squads at level 2.

Ordos lost access to Heavy Troopers, but can upgrade the Barracks to train Saboteurs. Saboteurs cost 300 credits, and can be trained starting at tech level 4. Saboteur hit points have been doubled, but I decided not to change anything else, especially not the turn rate. The limit on active Saboteurs is still 2 per map. This actually plays into the Ordos's strategy quite nicely, because they don't have access to Siege Tanks, Launchers or Sonic Tanks; being able to take out structures instantly gives them a good, sneaky way of countering the AI's auto-repair.

Trikes, Raider Trikes and Quads:

Their hit points have been upgraded from 100, 80 and 120 to 120, 100 and 150, respectively. Damage and rate of fire have also been increased. Trikes now fire faster than Quads, and Raider Trikes even more so. Light vehicle sight range has been increased from 2 to 3, making them actually useful for scouting now.

This comes at a 50 credit increase in price, though.

Heavy vehicles:

Combat Tanks are now the only Tanks available to the Atreides, Ordos, Mercenary and Fremen factions. Rate of fire has been decreased slightly, but their damage was increased from 25 to 40. Hit points also increased to 240 (from 200). Tanks are available starting at tech level 3 from an upgraded Heavy Factory, and cost 450 credits. They are much more of a main battle tank now, and 4 of them can take down a Turret quite without sustaining too much damage.

The Harkonnen and Sardaukar can construct Siege Tanks starting at tech level 4, after upgrading their Heavy Factory. This means that during mission 3, they are not able to build tanks yet - while the Atreides and the Ordos can! However, they have access to Trooper squads and beefed up Quads, and I'm planning on throwing in some bonus stuff to keep the slavering Ordos hordes at bay in mission 3 :P

Siege Tanks are pretty much the same, but I've reduced their range from 5 cells to 4 to keep things balanced. Their main gun deals less damage than the Combat Tank's, but it fires twice. It does fire slower than before, though.

The Harkonnen don't have access to Missile Tanks anymore; to compensate, the Devastator becomes available at the same time the Rocket Turret does. The Sardaukar can still build Missile Tanks, but they don't get access to Devastators. Missile Tank cost has been increased to 500 credits, and their range has been increased slightly. You can attack Rocket Turrets from any angle now. Note that because unit damage has been increased across the board, they are also more vulnerable now. I've also reduced their sight range a bit.

Devastators still have their 5 cell range, and deal significantly more damage than Siege Tanks. They're more than just improved Siege Tanks now.

Sonic Tanks are pretty much unchanged. Deviator cost has been slightly reduced, and effectiveness of the Deviator gas was increased.

Harvesters have about 35% more hit points and 20% increased speed, but also cost 400 credits now.

MCV cost reduced was to 800 credits, but it's only available from the Starport now.

Structures:

2x2 Concrete Slab upgrade available from tech level 1.

Walls available from tech level 3, instead of 4.

Turret cost increased to 200, Rocket Turret cost increased to 400. Power drains are now 20 and 40, respectively. Turrets tech level is now 4 (was 5).

Light Factory removed, as stated before. Heavy Factory available from level 2 on (3 if Hark/Sard). It also has 50% more hit points now. Harkonnen & Sardaukar Heavy Factories are slightly more expensive, but also have a bit more hit points than their wussy counterparts.

Repair Facility tech level reduced to 4 (was 5).

Hi-Tech Factory tech level reduced to 3 (was 5) - and you'll need it!

IX tech level reduced to 6 (was 7).

Starport tech level reduced to 4 (was 6) - but don't count on there being too many powerful units in the earlier missions. There are also quite a few early missions where you can get access to a Starport.

The AI will attack your Construction Yard, Windtraps and Starport more aggressively than before.

IX and Hi-Tech Factory hit points were halved. Palace hit points reduced by 20%. IX can now be captured.

Refinery cost increased to 500, Harvester cost to 400. You also start with more money in every mission, though.

Oh, and buildings spawn more infantry when destroyed. Be warned, they're not as defenseless as before :P

[MrFlibble]

Since I've used your editor to edit the units' stats and the build trees, a modified dune2.exe is required to distribute the campaigns. Am I correct in assuming that I need to create a patch?

It's not my editor, it's Nyerguds' :) As for the patch, I would not suggest that course, since there are several different releases of Dune II v1.07 - three confirmed, and supposedly at least one more (Australian). Meaning you'll have to make three patches for each release, plus it's not easy for the user to recognize what version he's got (since two of them are called "The Battle for Arrakis").

I'd suggest to go for a separate modified EXE with a different name, as I did with SD2Classic and DuneX.

EDIT: I've read through the changelist, very nice going there. It'd be very cool if you manage to actually achieve a better balance than in the original Dune II by tweaking unit stats and House tech trees. And it's nice to know you're doing improvised missions, that is certainly going to make them a lot more fun to play ;D

[Will]

Okay. The first 10 Atreides scenarios (missions 1-4) are finished! I took care to make every scenario play differently, so it's worth it to try different paths.

Screenshots:

Scenario 1: A very warm welcome on Arrakis, indeed.

Scenario 3: Using the Harkonnen's own Quads against them.

Scenario 4: Silence before the storm...

Scenario 4: Massive Sardaukar invasion force arrives on Arrakis

Install by extracting to (a copy of) your Dune II directory, and running NDUNE2.EXE.

Save games for the new scenarios are included as well!

Feedback is, of course, welcomed. Have fun - I know I did by making these scenarios and play-testing them. More to come in the near future!

NOTE: I've removed the attachment, since it has been re-attached to the first post - no need to load the forums with redundant files.

- MrFlibble

[MrFlibble]

Okay, I've downloaded your package, and I have to tell you it won't run the way you made it. Here's why:

1. It's not sufficient to rename the EXE - you also have to change the internal name inside it. Open your DUNE2.EXE with a hex-editor, and you'll find two places where the EXE name is mentioned. If you don't change it to the new EXE name, the game will most probably crash when you run it. The consequence of this is that the EXE name can be no longer than the original name, i.e. 5 characters. It can be less than 5 chars though, but then you'll need to place extra zero bytes after the name, so that the EXE file length remains the same.

2. Unfortunately, the VOC.PAK file is different in the US release and the three-language releases: the unit speech files had been added a "Z" prefix in the three-language version (e.g. REPORT1.VOC -> ZREPORT1.VOC) to allow unit speech in other languages. If you get a wrong version of VOC.PAK, the game will crash soon after you start a mission if digitized speech is enabled*. This is why I had to supply the correct version of VOC.PAK with both SD2Classic and DuneX (renamed into SFX.PAK to avoid replacing the normal Dune II VOC.PAK file).

* NOTE: this seems to be a specific behavior pattern for sound files in Dune II: if a VOC file is missing from a corresponding PAK archive, the game will either crash or the sound will behave weirdly. The VOC file is considered missing only if it is both listed in the PAK archive's contents and in the global list of used sound files (this is why the missing files MSELECT1.VOC and MSELECT2.VOC that are supposed to be inside MERC.PAK don't cause trouble, as they're never mentioned anywhere else, and not used by the game). However, if you remove an actually unused file that is listed and thus could be used (e.g. ?CAPTURE.VOC - AFAIK it's never used), the game behaves oddly (mentat speech skips certain parts, e.g. "Harkonnen... deployed" instead of "Harkonnen harvester deployed" etc.) Conversely, files that are not listed in PAK's contents, even if they are usable (e.g. ?NEXT.VOC - it is played in at least some of the releases if put into the Dune II directory), can be safely removed from the PAK archive.

[Nyerguds]

eh, mrflibble... that's why I asked which version it's for. The obvious solution is to PLAY ON THE VERSION IT'S MADE FOR :P

[Will]

MrFlibble: it's for the Dune II HitSquad version 1.07. That means that if you copy your Dune II HS directory and rename the file in the zip to Dune2.exe, it works for you. Right?

I'll look into changing the files with a hex editor soon. That way I'll be able to include the continuous reinforcement fix Segra suggested, as well.

[MrFlibble]

It's not sufficient to rename the EXE - you also have to change the internal name inside it.

I completely forgot to mention that, unlike any other version of Dune II, the EU version does not have that limitation. You can rename the EU EXE into whatever you wish (e.g. "Super Fantastic Dune 2 Modification.exe"), and it will work, given that a file called "DUNE2.EXE" is in the same folder (it does not have to be a real DUNE2.EXE either).

eh, mrflibble... that's why I asked which version it's for. The obvious solution is to PLAY ON THE VERSION IT'S MADE FOR :P

Well, I always prefer a mod to be universally compatible. Not everyone has that version, or the leisure to obtain one. Without specifying the information about the required version, this can easily lead to crashes and other unwanted behavior.

It's also not always very easy for the players to identify the version, as releases that are actually different are all marked as v1.07. To give a more extraordinary example, this version could be mistaken for the HS release (as it's called "The Battle for Arrakis"), yet actually DUNE2.EXE and VOC.PAK are from the US version patched to 1.07.

[Nyerguds]

I completely forgot to mention that, unlike any other version of Dune II, the EU version does not have that limitation.

Hmm... that gives problems with my editor though. It only supports filenames of 9 characters long.

[MrFlibble]

Now that shouldn't be a problem really. The EXE can always be renamed before it is packaged as part of an add-on.

[Nyerguds]

Fixed. It now tries both the original "DUNE2.EXE" string and the given filename to identify the version ;D

[MrFlibble]

Hey Will, I didn't realize that you're actually a veteran of Dune II mission making ;D Can you re-upload the mission(s) you mentioned here: http://forum.dune2k.com/index.php?topic=7626.0?

What editor were you using back then?

[Will]

Hey Will, I didn't realize that you're actually a veteran of Dune II mission making ;D Can you re-upload the mission(s) you mentioned here: http://forum.dune2k.com/index.php?topic=7626.0?

What editor were you using back then?

Dunedit, I think. I do remember being able to see the terrain in the editor back then, but my memory could be faulty.

Those Ordos missions had some pretty interesting gameplay, but they were way too hard. A case of wanting to cram too many ideas into each level, as well. I don't have them anymore, unfortunately.

The new Atreides missions are different. I just finished scenarios 11 through 13 (mission 5, ATR vs Ordos + Mercenaries).

Together with the MASSIVE battle against the Sardaukar/Harkonnen invasion force in mission 4, these are really pushing Dune II to its limits. The scale of these conflicts demands the use of all-new tactics to secure victory.

[MrFlibble]

Will, I think you need to upload the Demo somewhere else, since the attachments here can be downloaded only by registered members. I'd recommend Project Perfect Mod forums, if you upload your demo in the public mod announcements section, I think people there will be interested. Besides, the post attachments on PPM are open to public, so you can link to them in any other forum you like.

BTW, if you're going to use the Mercenaries, make sure you fix the Mercenary announcements in the EXE.

[Nyerguds]

On a related note, someone should REALLY make some Dune II exes (for all 1.07 versions) with ALL these things fixed... announcements, merc deviation, the vanishing houses and concrete bugs, the new sides mentats (or can't that be done? I just mean makling the correctly-working duplicates)... just, all updates we got, even if they're normally not used.

Will, I think you need to upload the Demo somewhere else, since the attachments here can be downloaded only by registered members.

Not to mention, old attachments seem to disappear over time.

[Will]

Will, I think you need to upload the Demo somewhere else, since the attachments here can be downloaded only by registered members. I'd recommend Project Perfect Mod forums, if you upload your demo in the public mod announcements section, I think people there will be interested. Besides, the post attachments on PPM are open to public, so you can link to them in any other forum you like.

BTW, if you're going to use the Mercenaries, make sure you fix the Mercenary announcements in the EXE.

Thanks. I'd rather just zip up the whole dir, but I guess that wouldn't be legal, would it?

I will definitely upload it at PPM soon, though I haven't seen too many people posting about Dune II. More promotion is always better, though ;)

I also finished scenarios 14 through 16 yesterday. Another epic battle against the Harkonnen, the Sardaukar, and some supporting Ordos & Mercenary forces. Space is tight, so you start with some pre-built structures and an MCV. The scenario was also designed to be close to the structure limit, with Ordos & Merc forces sending quite a few Ornithopters as soon as they discover you. Destroying or capturing their lightly-defended bases as soon as possible will give you room to expand; they can't replace their structures, because they don't have any Con-Yards.

The Harkonnen and Sardaukar have full-fledged bases, but won't join the battle for about 13 minutes. Better start building those Rocket Turrets right away, though...

One scenario starts you off with a Starport (no Sonic Tanks right off the bat);

The other gives you a Heavy Factory and an IX (Sonic Tanks available, but no Siege Tanks to be ordered, and still needs to be upgraded before you get Launchers/Combat Tanks, and of course you get no access to Carryalls right off the bat);

The third gives you a Repair Facility and a Hi-Tech Factory. This means that you'll probably lose a lot less units than in the other scenarios, but replacing them will take more time.

All three scenarios supply the player with 8 Fremen Trooper squads, which will really help out in the early game.

This is how I've tried to make each scenario play out differently, not just in the lay-out of the map (as it is in vanilla Dune II).

@Nyerguds: if I modify the .exe using an editor, I'll probably not be able to use your d2editor on it from then on. Right?

[MrFlibble]

On a related note, someone should REALLY make some Dune II exes (for all 1.07 versions) with ALL these things fixed... announcements, merc deviation, the vanishing houses and concrete bugs, the new sides mentats (or can't that be done? I just mean makling the correctly-working duplicates)...

The new sides' Mentats can be done, of course, but you won't be able to put the CPS and SHP files into any of the PAKs unless you replace some of the original files (I use INTROVOC.PAK for extra files).

Thanks. I'd rather just zip up the whole dir, but I guess that wouldn't be legal, would it?

I'd rather say it wouldn't be very convenient.

I will definitely upload it at PPM soon, though I haven't seen too many people posting about Dune II. More promotion is always better, though ;)

Abandonia Forums are also a good option.

@Nyerguds: if I modify the .exe using an editor, I'll probably not be able to use your d2editor on it from then on. Right?

Nyerguds added full support for modified EXEs at my request some time ago, so it won't be a problem. You just need to drag-and-drop the modified EXE over the editor's icon.

[Nyerguds]

@Nyerguds: if I modify the .exe using an editor, I'll probably not be able to use your d2editor on it from then on. Right?

ehm, did you completely miss this post? I just told you I even made new improvements to accomodate exes which don't have the same internal and external filename.

[MrFlibble]

I'd rather just zip up the whole dir

You don't need that anyway, regardless of legality/copyright issues. Most files are identical in the different releases of v1.07. I'd suggest to put the following files into the package: DUNE2.EXE, ENGLISH.PAK, SCENARIO.PAK and VOC.PAK. In the readme, tell to back-up those files before installing your mod/campaign.

[Will]

ehm, did you completely miss this post? I just told you I even made new improvements to accomodate exes which don't have the same internal and external filename.

Ahhhhh, so THAT's what you meant. It wasn't clear to me. Thanks!

[Nyerguds]

Look at the picture.... I opened a file called "modded dune filename.exe" in the editor ;)