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[MrFlibble]

Cool, thanks a lot

BTW, could you please update the Dune II Unofficial Fix with as well? The version on the site is outdated. The new version can be found here:
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/...e2_107_fix.rar

[Dave]

Sure! Just done, I followed the developement of those fix in the past and you all did a great job.
I always hoped for a Multiplayer Mod for Dune II, is there something under developement or the project was too much ambitious?

[MrFlibble]

Originally Posted by Dave

Sure! Just done, I followed the developement of those fix in the past and you all did a great job.

Thanks Glad you like the patch

Originally Posted by Dave

I always hoped for a Multiplayer Mod for Dune II, is there something under developement or the project was too much ambitious?

I think there have been rumours about a multiplayer mod back in the day, but I suppose they weren't substantiated. There's no code in the original game to support any form of multiplayer, so a serious enhancement would be needed for that. Perhaps the guys from the OpenDune project, who are making an engine recreation of Dune II based on original code analysis, will add multiplayer someday, but for now you can play either Dune Legacy (some builds do have multiplayer, but I don't know if it is functional) or Dune 2: The Golden Path, which is primarily focused on multiplayer battles (although it has quite a few new features compared to the original).

[MrFlibble]

Recently I've found a very old unofficial patch for Dune II that added Gravis Ultrasound support. Unfortunately, that patch does not work well with DOSBox, but the principle behind it allowed me to make a suitable replacement. The simple trick behind the patch is that the setup programme tells Dune II which drivers and sound files to use, so replacing certain drivers with GUS drivers does the job. For the patch, I replaced the Sound Blaster driver with the GUS digital driver, and the MT-32 driver with the GUS MIDI driver. That way, you can use the Sound Blaster Pro for SB emulation if you want to, and you can still select Sound Canvas (which replaces the Tandy 3 voice option) too, although it is recommended that you use the original Dune II setup and sound files if you want Sound Canvas-synthesized music.

To install the patch, simply extract the following files into your Dune II directory, overwriting the old files when necessary (it is advised that you make a back-up copy of the old files first):

DUNE2G.BAT
DUNE.CFG
SETUP.EXE
SETUPENG.DIP
SOUND.PAK

The DUNE.CFG file is already configured to use Gravis Ultrasound for sound effects, speech and synthesized music, so if you do not want to change this, simply run DUNE2G.BAT to play Dune II with GUS music and sounds. For more information, refer to the patch readme file supplied in the package.

NOTE: This patch was made for use under DOSBox, and was not tested with a real Gravis Ultrasound card. There's no guarantee that is will work with real GUS at all.

[Edit] Attachment has been removed. Check the post below for a link to the new version of the patch.

[MrFlibble]

Nyerguds has helped me with a more efficient batch file to launch Dune 2 with Ultrasound emulation. The new version of the GUS patch is found on his site:
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/..._gus_patch.rar

[MrFlibble]

I've updated Super Dune II Classic to v1.5g, but I can't log in to the FTP since my username/password information seems to have become obsolete.

[Dave]

Details sent in your inbox

[MrFlibble]

Cool, I'll upload the new version ASAP

[MrFlibble]

Those who have ever tried running Dune 2 from Windows are most likely familiar with this problem that digitized sounds and speech will seemingly randomly disappear and reappear as the game gets progressively unstable. Well, it turns out it's not due to a programming bug or faulty drivers, but some speech files for the in-game Mentat announcements are simply corrupt. Whenever such sound file is played, all further sound playback is halted until you go to the Mentat or options screen, but, more importantly, these files screw up memory, ultimately leading to crashed. There are only few of them for the Harkonnens and the Ordos, but a whole lot of frequently used files for the Atreides. Here's the list:

AATRE.VOC
AFREMEN.VOC
AHARK.VOC
AORDOS.VOC
ARADAR.VOC*
HSABOT.VOC
HWARNING.VOC
OFREMEN.VOC
OHARK.VOC
*This is most likely the real cause of the "radar bug" that was supposedly fixed in v1.07

Fortunately, the corrupt files weren't hard to fix, so I repackaged the PAK archives with speech sets for each House. This should remedy any problems with sound hat might arise when running Dune 2 under Windows. DOSBox users aren't likely to notice the difference, as for whatever reason the problem with speech files does not seem to affect game performance at all when run in DOSBox.

Currently, you can download the fix here but I'll upload it to the FTP if you'd like to add it to the site.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Affirmative on that.