Jump to content

I integrated my extended mod into the vanilla d2k campaign


Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

here's a download link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M8_jCbBd8YPS4KBKiZJoguzn5RHWpzx1/view?usp=sharing

but I'm gonna ramble on for a few down here so yeah

if you dunno how to install a custom campaign, just unzip that pack to your d2k directory. overwrite whatever's replaced. details about setup below spoiler:

  Reveal hidden contents

regarding gameplay:

  Reveal hidden contents

the player usually begins the campaign maps with just a Construction Yard, so here are some build orders:

  Reveal hidden contents

lots of options, huh?

anyway, that's all. if you have any questions, just hmu in the replies or something lol enjoy

Edited by Fey
update mentioned in post on 10/2/21
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

just did a little hotfix. download link has been updated. a fellow kindly found some issues for me, so I went ahead and fixed them. details and some other troubleshooting here:

music wasn't properly starting at the start of each map. easy fix, turned out the inis didn't have that data so I just added the music lines.

the player for some reason has tech level 8 on the final atreides and ordos missions. nothing there, so, I just dropped it to tech level 7. doesn't really affect anything; it simply resulted in the Research Center being upgradable for absolutely no reason on those levels.

there's an issue at the moment with the latest exe where if you restart a mission, you default to side zero, which can change your faction if you're playing the Harkonnen or Ordos campaigns. nothing I can do about that, but it's an easy fix: just exit the mission and then load it up again, or if you save your game and then load it back, your faction will be maintained. this is the latest exe, so it has a bit of experimental stuff in it :P

an issue with sound conflicts with multi-language packs was also found. this is kind of a big one, since it can result in none of the new sounds being recognized or played in-game, which kinda ruins the mod lol. if your installation of the game has multiple language options, simply unzipping the campaign and running it may not work. the game would pick a specific GAMESFX folder, like "GAMESFXEng," "GAMESFXRus," etc. the way the new Mission Launcher works is, it copies files under CustomCampaignData into place, and then replaces the original files when you're done with a mission. given that the folder under CustomCampaignData is simply "GAMESFX," it may not work! the solution is to simply rename the GAMESFX folder under CustomCampaignData > FeyVanilla > FeyVanilla > data to the same name as the GAMESFX folder your game is actually using. likewise, there is another GAMESFX folder under data in the zip, and the stuff in there will have to be put in the proper folder too.

this is also the reason that briefings might be missing from the Mission Launcher, but the patched exe by Klofkac is very versatile and you can simply view the briefing in-game via the pause menu.

or, you know, you can just do a fresh install with the first Dunemaster link here that doesn't contain any of this MultiLanguagePack nonsense:
https://dunemaster.webs.com/files

that works too.

oh, if you need the music, just drop the "Music" folder under "data" in your main d2k directory. here's a zip containing all the tracks, including the bonus community-made ones from Gruntmods:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15_-haRV_H2M0tX8DXFm_2Q7-d3ZD5fIF/view

uhh, that should be all. enjoy lol

Edited by Fey
typo xD
Posted
  On 9/21/2021 at 1:56 PM, Danku said:

Very interesting update at a glance! Looking forward to trying out more of it when back from vacay, will hopefully get to stream some!

Expand  

thank you for having a look, Danku! I hope you enjoy what you see when you get back :)

I'll put that more in-depth list of new shit you requested here:

  Reveal hidden contents

the really big thing is that the units are all balanced around their types, first and foremost. they each have their own role where they excel, to a much greater degree than how they were balanced in the original game.

ALL infantry self-heal and are inexpensive, but move relatively slowly and are easy to slaughter. light armored vehicles, or LAVs, are all fast but fragile. armored units tend to not deal so much damage or have crappy range, but absorb a ton of damage compared to other unit types. LRA, or long range artillery, are slow and expensive backline support units with tremendous range and firepower, and can attack over walls or turrets without exception. and logistics units like MCVs, haresters, engis, etc are your "keep me away from combat lol" guys. if you count base defenses, then fortifications like walls or turrets would be your sturdy but stationary stuff. needs power, probably also needs some support from friendly units at least until you reach a critical mass of them, but hey, you can repair them on demand and that's pretty cool.

so... your LAVs are best in the open sand, swarming slower enemy units or surgically striking enemy Harvesters, and if you try to send them against a strong enemy frontline, they'll just be eaten up really fast. infantry, best if given the occasional break from combat to heal up, best if escorted by faster or stronger units, and if you throw them into enemy Grenadiers or Siege Tanks or something without scattering them first, they can be lost rather quickly. etc. etc. strengths and weaknesses!

some of the new unit quotes are intended to give an impression of what a unit excels at. generic infantry may respond if selected with "Strength in numbers!" for instance.

the first few missions of any of the three campaigns are good for getting the hang of how exactly LAVs and infantry complement each other in this mod. and especially if you want to check out Grenadiers and the new Shotgunners under less complicated circumstances than you might find on later missions! armor is added on mission 4, logistics on mission 5, and LRA on mission 6.

anyway, hope that helps ya check out things in full lol

Posted
  On 9/27/2021 at 10:26 PM, Danku said:

stream

Expand  

thanks so much for checking it out, Danku! I hope you had a blast :) I certainly did, joining in for this stream

unfamiliarity with the mod, and skipping past all the introductory levels that might have helped give you ideas of how to handle the enemies on the later maps, no doubt contributed to the inordinate difficulty on the final missions :P so for anyone else browsing this thread and wondering how those final levels might be even remotely fair, I threw up a quick clip of my own start on H8V1 just as an example. I started this on easy difficulty, same as Danku (though they ARE possible to complete on hard mode, I wanted a direct comparison), and I did an aggressive build order combining the safe economy and high economy starts.

the third spoiler in the original post has a list of potential early game build orders.

on normal or hard difficulty, the strategy might need some adjustment on account of more limited funds early on, or the mercs could be outright destroyed. but here's the clip:

https://streamable.com/j27049

the first 4 mins 20 secs, blaze it, of the map. got an economy set up, turned the mercs friendly, set up autoguns on the north side and made grens available to force-fire in case of sabos, etc. but, a tip for this map: if you set up an autogun turret above the western cliff overlooking where the ordos units come down, it can fire on a lone sabo before it stealths. autogun turrets' ROF is so high that stealth units cannot re-enter stealth while under fire from one. still a good idea to have a gren force-firing the choke just in case one manages to slip by, like if that autogun turret is occupied with another unit at the time a sabo comes down, but the turret in the right position by itself can stave them off.

I would add that simply playing some earlier missions to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the various units and structures, and how existing ones have changed, would be more effective than looking at my dumb little clip :P something Danku could not do on account of only having limited time to showcase the mod, but again, for anyone else reading this. so nevertheless, I do hope that clip helps if anyone else skips ahead!

Posted (edited)

Danku has been playing through some more and some glaring issues have been brought to light.

First of all, I accidentally put a Harkonnen Palace for the Emperor on A9V1, meaning the enemy got two Death Hands. That's unacceptable, so I HAD to update this.

Although the special weapons are balanced in a multiplayer sense, or for a custom campaign built with the mod, I went out of my way to leave as many things that were vanilla behaviors alone in the vanilla campaign maps. Even things Westwood left broken, or difficulty spikes, or AI shenanigans, stuff like that. The special weapons are a different story. Due to how they are balanced, and how it takes the player time and resources to tech up as is intended with the mod, the extremely low special weapon delays on final maps were a nightmare difficulty spike that warranted a change.

Also, while the original game had technology shown to the player in the form of intel screens in the briefing window, I did not integrate anything from the mod into the Mission Launcher's new intel screen. This led to confusion on how the tech tree develops, and hindered learning about the new stuff.

So, here's a summary of what's fixed:
 - The exe is updated. Restarting missions works fine now.
 - That dumb issue of two Palaces of Destruction on A9V1 was fixed. Sorry about that lol
 - Also fixed an issue on A9V2 where the main Harkonnen enemy was actually at low power.
 - ddraw was replaced with a default one instead, so it doesn't have my settings and all that junk.
 - Special weapon delays have been increased wherever the enemy uses special weapons. This gives more time to build up, tech up, and upgrade stuff.
 - A special tip to put concrete under all buildings is at the start of any map where an enemy Palace of Destruction exists.
 - The player receives an advance warning message before a special weapon activates for the first time.
 - Enemy special weapons are revealed from mission start.
 - Whenever new tech becomes available, there is an in-game message pointing the player in its direction on the tech tree. Play from level 1 and on for the full tour!
 - Any new units or structures built on the first level they're available on will come with a brief message summarizing their role.
 - Messages for existing units were also added, to give a clearer idea of how they might be changed or used in the mod.
 - The player gets one additional delivery of reinforcements on any version of level 3 to show off Grenadiers.

Mostly, these are just messages helping the player learn the new tech tree and stuff, and fixing the glaring balance issues with special weapons by having them occur after a longer time. You'll still need a solid strategy to beat the final levels, but hopefully you have all the advice you need on the way up to the endgame to put one together!

Enjoy.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and if you have a multilanguagepack, that issue still exists. I'd refer you to this post here on how to fix that:

But if you don't want to bother, then here's a copy of my Dunemaster installer with no multilanguagepack BS. Just do this fresh install and the zip in the OP will work perfectly.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HikTvQBfZyEvoBbMkr5LGcCVma6MH3sJ/view

You can also find it via the first link on this page:
https://dunemaster.webs.com/files

Hope that helps. :)

Edited by Fey
Posted

This is AWESOME that there are new missions to play and I am really looking forward to playing!

BUT...

I'm nowhere near technically as advanced as you guys on this forum and I cannot get this to work.

I have downloaded the new Dune Installer here - http://www.mediafire.com/file/lr4j70pq0n1xnl7/Dune2000_installer.exe/file

Then I tried to copy the files a few different ways but I get a "Baselimage is NULL for SIEGE TANK or QUAD etc [gGameTicks = 0]

Would it be possible to post an "Idiots guide" to installing this so people a bit more simple like me can manage to play!!

Thanks for the patience and any help in advance!!!

Posted
  On 10/10/2021 at 1:24 AM, sbruc065 said:

help

Expand  

Ayyo, sure mate.

So that looks like the non-MultiLanguagePack Dunemaster install, which is good! No weird shenanigans to deal with.
sadigjshdgjudkg.png.4fa8be469f0c044d1e9240f587b23cac.png
^^^ This here is what your install folder looks like immediately after installing. Look at the Data folder, that's the most important part.

Now, this is what's in the zip:
ashjbdghbjsdjhbjh.png.091b724a613cb6ca099b171c48c88710.png
So here's what you do. Put ALL OF THIS in the folder in the first screenshot, also known as your 'root d2k directory.'
 - The CustomCampaignData folder and its contents are added to the directory.
 - Merge the data folder in the zip with the one in your d2k directory.
 - Replace the exe for both the game and the Mission Launcher.

To launch the modified campaign, or any custom campaigns for that matter, run the MissionLauncher application and navigate to the House you want to play via All Missions.

What do these files and folders do or contain?
 - The ddraw tools are used for rendering on modern PC and you can launch ddraw.ini to adjust your resolution and fullscreen or windowed settings.
 - The exe is a community patched version made by our very own Klofkac. If you'd prefer, you can get the one from his thread right here:

 - The Mission Launcher is the newest version by Feda, which is designed to load mods on a per mission basis. This is used so the mod doesn't overwrite the original game.
 - The CustomCampaignData folder contains the mod data the Mission Launcher application uses in place of normal game data while on any of these modded maps.
 - Inside the data folder is some new sounds used in the mod and all of the mission files.

Hope that answers all of your questions. If you have more, you're welcome to stop by the single player d2k discord; we help folks here all the time.

  On 10/10/2021 at 1:24 AM, sbruc065 said:

AWESOME

Expand  

Thank you! :D I hope you enjoy this mod.

Posted

In addition to the Mod Overview above, I've been streaming this campaign and slicing the vods for historic record on YouTube - so if people are having difficulties getting past missions etc. they can have a look at it, playlist link below (so far includes Atreides & Ordos campaigns, should contain Harkonnen by end of next week as well!)

 

  • Upvote 1
Posted

Thanks so much for the help! Sorry for the late reply, have been busy with work but managed now to get this working and have played the first mission which was GREAT!  Would love to see more missions in this format on this version!!  Awesome job to all involved, thanks for taking the time out to do this and make people you have never met happy!

  • Like 1
Posted
  On 10/22/2021 at 11:20 PM, sbruc065 said:

Thanks so much for the help! Sorry for the late reply, have been busy with work but managed now to get this working and have played the first mission which was GREAT!  Would love to see more missions in this format on this version!!  Awesome job to all involved, thanks for taking the time out to do this and make people you have never met happy!

Expand  

Thank you for playing!! I'm so glad to hear you got it working and enjoyed the first mission. :) If you need help with future missions, please do feel free to stop back any time!

  • Like 1
  • 10 months later...
Posted

I don't understand that I have dune 2000 dragged and overwritten all the files from the link above and no new drives and similarly I don't have it there is still good old dune  :D any fix or what i do bad?

Posted
  On 9/1/2022 at 1:32 PM, Sares said:

I don't understand that I have dune 2000 dragged and overwritten all the files from the link above and no new drives and similarly I don't have it there is still good old dune  :D any fix or what i do bad?

Expand  

Hey there dude!

These files don't overwrite the original campaign maps. To play them, assuming you've copied the files to the right place, you'll have to launch the Mission Launcher application from the directory Dune 2000 is installed in, and then head to All Missions and either Atreides, Ordos, or Harkonnen.

The zip is packed up to be unpacked straight to the root directory of your Dune 2000 installation folder and everything falls into the correct place. Try that!

Hope that helps. :)

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.