Dune II Mouse Helper (utility for improving DOS version controls)

[Osprey]

Download: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/955-dune-ii-mouse-helper/

 

Dune II Mouse Helper
v1.2
for Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (1992) by Westwood Studios

This utility allows for better mouse control in Dune II when played in DOSBox under Windows. It runs in the background while you're playing and maps the game's built-in keyboard commands to the right and middle mouse buttons and the mouse wheel. This allows you to give context sensitive orders with the mouse buttons (like in more modern RTSes) instead of using keyboard commands or mousing over to the command bar. It also allows for scrolling the map with both the mouse wheel and the WASD keys, as well as other minor convenience features. There are modern Dune II recreations that offer these features and more, but this utility is designed for gamers who prefer to play the original DOS game in DOSBox, yet find it frustrating to use the original control scheme. This utility tries to add a little more user friendliness without reducing the nostalgia.

Features
========
 * Right click to order units to move, attack or harvest (see Notes below).
 * Right click to build or place structures, as well as pause or resume construction.
 * Right click and hold to repair or upgrade structures.
 * Middle click to explicitly order units to attack or harvest (for times when right click isn't ideal; see Notes below).
 * Middle click to open or close a structure's production screen.
 * Left click and hold to auto-select units and structures as you mouse over them (for quickly checking health).
 * Move the mouse wheel up/down/left/right to scroll around the map.
  (A horizontal scrolling mouse wheel and Windows Vista or later are required for left/right scrolling)
 * Hold down Shift while scrolling down/up or click the 4th/5th mouse buttons to scroll left/right.
  (For mice without horizontal scrolling mouse wheels or pre-Vista machines)
 * Use the mouse wheel to scroll units and structures on the production screens (then right click to build them).
 * Press WASD to scroll around the map (can be disabled).
 * Press Esc to open the game's Options menu (which, normally, requires pressing F2).
 * Press F1-F3 a second time to toggle their screens off (rather than having to press Esc to).
 * Press Shift + F10 to show and hide this list.
 * Press Shift + F11 to toggle scrolling with WASD.
 * Press Shift + F12 to toggle auto-selecting units and structures while holding left click.
 * Press Pause/Break to pause and un-pause the helper (disabling and re-enabling all above features).
 * Supports Dune II v1.07 and v1.00, Super Dune II and Super Dune II Classic.

Instructions
============
Simply run Dune2MouseHelper.exe and then run the game.

(Optional) Create a shortcut that will run the helper and game together:
1. Click on the "Create shortcut" button on the helper's main window.
2. Drag and drop your existing shortcut onto the area at the top of the next window
   ..or..
   Build a shortcut from scratch by selecting your DOSBox executable and, optionally, your DOSBox .conf file and game executable.
  (Both options will create a new shortcut that runs the helper, then DOSBox (+ the game), then exit the helper when DOSBox exits)

Configuration
=============
There are a few options that you can configure on first run, via the tray icon or via in-game hotkeys:
 * Whether to show the GUI window. Default: On. Applies only to running the helper by itself, not via shortcut.
    Toggle off to launch the helper silently to the tray.
 * Whether to exit when DOSBox exits. Default: On. Applies only to running the helper by itself, not via shortcut.
    Toggle off to leave the helper running.
 * Whether to enable scrolling the map with the WASD keys. Default: On. Hotkey: Shift+F11.
    Toggle off to have the WASD keys perform their normal command functions.
 * Whether to enable auto-selecting of units and structures while holding left click. Default: On. Hotkey: Shift+F12.
    Toggle off if you accidentally trigger it while performing regular left clicks or it slows down minimap panning.

Notes
=====
 * Right clicking to harvest works only in v1.07 of Dune II. In v1.0, Super Dune II and Super Dune II Classic, use middle click to harvest. If you're not sure which you have, send a harvester to a spice patch with right click and, if it doesn't harvest when it gets there, you know to use middle click.
 * Right click doesn't actually send an attack command because that would cause units to attack the ground when you meant only to move them. Instead, right click sends a move command, since units will automatically enter guard mode and engage enemy units when they get to the destination. This works for attacking in most cases, but you'll need to do a middle click to explicitly order units to attack worms or from a distance.
 * When right clicking to build, place, hold or resume production, try to keep the mouse pointer away from other structures or units to avoid inadvertently selecting them. That's because right click is also used for giving unit orders and, therefore, must send a left click to complete those.
 * If anything doesn't work in fullscreen that works in windowed mode, try changing the "output" mode in your DOSBox .conf file. (ex. to "overlay").

Modification
============
This utility is simply a compiled AutoHotkey script. If you're not satisfied with the given mappings or functionality and would like to tweak them, the source script (Dune2MouseHelper.ahk) is provided in the "src" folder. You will need to download AutoHotkey from www.autohotkey.com to compile it. In the folder where you installed/extracted AutoHotkey will be a "Compiler" folder. In there is Ahk2Exe.exe, which you can use to compile your modified Dune2MouseHelper.ahk into a new Dune2MouseHelper.exe. An icon for you to use is in the folder with Dune2MouseHelper.ahk. You don't need to compile or worry about Dune2MouseHelperFunctions.ahk (which mostly has code related to the GUI, not the game). It'll be included automatically when Dune2MouseHelper.ahk is compiled. For help with using AutoHotkey, see the help file (AutoHotkey.chm) that comes with it.

Other
=====
If you like this utility, you may be interested in these related uploads...

Warcraft Mouse Helper: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/954-warcraft-mouse-helper/
Outlaws Mouse Helper: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/970-outlaws-mouse-helper/
SkyNET Mouse Helper: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/982-skynet-mouse-helper/
All (and any newer) uploads: https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=user_activity&search_app=downloads&mid=3342

Changelog
=========
1.2
 * Added support for Dune II v1.0, Super Dune II and Super Dune II Classic.
 * Added GUI that allows creating shortcuts and configuring options.
 * Changed command to build and place to right click.
 * Changed command to upgrade and repair structures to right click and hold.
 * Added ability to right click to pause and resume construction.
 * Added ability to middle click to open and close production screens.
 * Added ability to left click and hold to auto-select units and structures (for quickly checking health).
 * Added ability to right and middle click while holding down modifier keys (like Shift).
 * Improved speed and responsiveness of mouse wheel scrolling.
 * Added ability to hold Shift while scrolling the mouse wheel down/up to scroll left/right.
 * Added ability to use WASD keys to scroll the map.
 * Added ability to press Shift+F10 to display this helper's feature list while in the game.
 * Added ability for F1-F3 to also close the screens that they open.
 * Added ability to press Pause/Break to pause and un-pause the helper.
 * Eliminated requirement to use DOSBox's opengl mode if playing in fullscreen.
 * Added workaround to support DOSBox SVN-lfn.
 * Changed when the utility exits to after DOSBox (rather than Dune II) has exited.
 * Replaced icon.
1.1
 * Added ability to scroll the map with the mouse wheel.
 * Changed 4th/5th mouse buttons to scroll left/right (for mice without horizontally scrolling mouse wheels).
 * Added ability to middle click to repair structures and return the harvester to base.
 * Added larger icon.
1.0
 * Initial release

Edited February 12, 2018 by Osprey
Updated to v1.2

[Osprey]

I've updated the utility with a lot of changes and additions. Of special note is that it now works with Dune II v1.0 (was just v1.07 before), Super Dune II and Super Dune II Classic. Other differences are noted in the change log above.

[drnovice]

It seems nice. I have to ask to my bros if he can try this and give me any feedback.
Just a thing: right button of mouse centered the pointed tile in original behaviour, right?

[Osprey]

On 3/30/2018 at 11:17 AM, drnovice said:

It seems nice. I have to ask to my bros if he can try this and give me any feedback.
Just a thing: right button of mouse centered the pointed tile in original behaviour, right?

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the original behavior of right click was to center the screen on the pointer. I believe that you could still have it do that if you were to modify the script, but I imagine that most people wouldn't want that, since later games that used right click for giving orders (like Command & Conquer and Warcraft II) dropped the screen centering, as well.

[Nyerguds]

Pretty, but isn't this sort of irrelevant with Dune Dynasty building the same thing into the actual game?

On 4/7/2018 at 2:05 AM, Osprey said:

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the original behavior of right click was to center the screen on the pointer. I believe that you could still have it do that if you were to modify the script, but I imagine that most people wouldn't want that, since later games that used right click for giving orders (like Command & Conquer and Warcraft II) dropped the screen centering, as well.

Uhh... Warcraft II did that, but C&C did not. In C&C, left-click is context-sensitive command; move when clicking terrain, attack when clicking an enemy unit/building, and select when clicking a friendly unit/building. Right-click deselects the currently selected object.

Right-click commands weren't introduced into the C&C series until C&C Generals.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Nyerguds