Dune 2000 Campagin Modding Tut (2011)

[Gruntlord6]

Dune 2000 Campagin Modding Tut

By: www.gruntmods.com

In this tutorial, I will show you the basic steps to editing the location of AI units and buildings, as well as your own. Please note that objectives, AI behaviour, and other similar data is stored in the .mis file, which will not be covered in this tutorial.

Getting Started

This will require a knowledge of where units spawn at the beginning of the level.

If you don’t know much about it, trial and error is your best option.

1. Open any mission map on shai-halud. (Test.map will be used in this guide)

You will see the map normally, except there will be random worm/spice symbols on the map. Why? They are the unit spawn points. Shai-halud can read spawn points, but it is only meant for multiplayer, so it uses the only spawn icons it has (Shai-halud can read and create spawn points for thin and thick spice, as well as sandworms.) Don’t be alarmed if these change as you move around the map, as the program has no idea what the spawns are and is randomly guessing based on the spawn points it knows.

2. Select “select mode” from the check box.

3. Find the spawn you want, whether it be a unit or building. A good way of counting how many squares the object will take up is clicking in select mode.

1 square in Shai-Halud is 1 square in game.

Placing a building on the edge of the map (in a way that would cause part of it to be cut off) will result in the game crashing. If you place it on different terrain then what it was copied from, it will override that terrain with it's own terrain data( it does not look good, and usually does not function well). Placing a building belonging to an AI too close to an enemy base, the AI will send any units they build straight to the enemy base, as they believe they are under attack.

Units may be placed anywhere as they cannot crash the game based on placement choice. If placed on different terrain then what they were copied from, they will also override that terrain with their own terrain data ( still does not look good) and may possibly be trapped if surrounded by impassible terrain. Units placed for AI players will be treated as if they were on guard mode and will not be moved by the AI. If a pre-placed unit is destroyed, the AI will not rebuild it. If a pre-placed unit is under the effect of a deviator, it will treated as if the AI built it upon the effect wearing off ( the AI will move them around and use them for attack).

4. Press “ctrl+c” to copy the selected unit/building. (Here on referred to as “object”)

5. Find the appropriate spot that you would like to place the object.

6. Press “ctrl+v” to paste. If you are placing a building, keep in mind that you must have enough room for a building, or it will not spawn properly. This is where trial and error comes in. .

FAQ

Q:I get this error: “Set Pixel On Radar 16”

A:You have a building that is partways off the map, move it so it is completely inside the map.

Q:I get this error:“GenerateUnitMoveOrder: Invalid targetX [gGameTicks = 705] ”, "ModelUnitAdd: Unit added at 69 15, outside map area[gGame Ticks=1]"

A:This happens if you do a drastic change to a map that makes it very different in size or geometry. A scripted event is attempting to run and is crashing the game when it fails. Usually this happens if reinforcements are arriving off of the map or a similar situation is occurring.

Q: I cannot see the map, all I see is gray/black/white messy blobs and worm/spice spawns.

A:If you cannot see the terrain in shai-halud, and only see garbled black and white images, you need the tileset file, which can be located Here.

Extract the zip file to C:\Program Files\Shai-Hulud 2000\Tilesets (C:\Program Files (x86)\Shai-Hulud 2000\Tilesets for 64bit users)

Q: I copied a Fremen from H4V1 to A4V1, and it belonged to the emperor?

A: Westwood took a shortcut in programming to save time. Each misson can feature multiple factions of the same house. For example, in H4V1 there are multiple groups of Fremen. In H8V1 there are 3 groups of Ordos. The way it works is that there is a special flag in .mis file that can overide which house that faction is. In fact, I could edit a .mis file so every faction was Ordos.

Once .MIS modding advances, we will be able to play as the emperor, smugglers or mercenaries, but for now we can only play as the 3 major houses.

For now, just make note of this fact as sometimes you may end up copying a unit/building you think is one house, but it may be actually another when used on another level/mis file.

Q: My map won't start ("Setup.cpp: No worms were found on this map (a5v1.map) [gGameTicks=0]")

A: You need to add worms to your map, as the game will not run without spawning worms. If you do not want worms on your map, create a small circular area of sand surrounded by dirt, and fill it with worm spawns. Worms cannot cross dirt, and the game will be able to spawn worms in this area.