Difference between revisions of "Emperor: Battle for Dune"
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}} | }} | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===Playing on Linux with Wine using mounted images=== | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is not a tutorial on how to use wine, this guide simply resolves | ||
+ | the one major hurdle to getting wine working properly with backup disk images. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Disk images are a great way to keep your 20-year-old collectable game CD's safe in their jewel cases. | ||
+ | They work great with E:BFD under Windows but sadly there are a few extra hurdles for us Linux users to consider. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The main issue is the game won't be able to see the images even when they are mounted. | ||
+ | The mount point of the image that holds our files is user-readable, however, | ||
+ | device information is held on the device loop located at /dev/loop*. | ||
+ | This is not user-readable and sadly is what holds the volume labels the game hunts | ||
+ | for at various points while playing. This isn't usually a problem for wine as it's | ||
+ | a very niche situation. This is why the installer works fine with images when running under | ||
+ | Windows but not in Linux under Wine. To resolve this I have 3 solutions of varying permanence. | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''CHOOSE ONLY ONE''' | ||
+ | |||
+ | #Quickest, but least permanent. Permissions fixing. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Every time you mount the disk image to play the game simply run the following in the terminal. It will set permissions to user-readable on the device associated with your disc image so Wine can read the label off of the image as we need it to. Wipes every reboot. | ||
+ | |||
+ | <pre> | ||
+ | sudo losetup --list | grep 'Dune\|Emperor' | cut -f1 -d' ' | xargs sudo chmod 0664 | ||
+ | |||
+ | </pre> | ||
+ | |||
+ | #More steps but holds till you wipe your WINEPREFIX. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We need to find out the drive label in our wineprefix associated with out mounted image. You'll have to look under winecfg. Lets pretend it is x. | ||
+ | In our wineprefix under dosdevices directory you will see two symlinks, X: and X:: the first points to our image mount point, the other points to the loop device it's attached to. We need to delete X:: the loop device link, and make a new one pointing directly from our image file to X:: | ||
+ | <pre> | ||
+ | cd ~/.wine/dosdevices | ||
+ | rm x:: | ||
+ | ln -s /path/to/EMPEROR1.iso x:: | ||
+ | </pre> | ||
+ | Wine will be able to read the label off of that link. Reopen winecfg to make sure you can see the Volume label populated under the CD drive when you have advanced options selected. | ||
+ | |||
+ | #Lasts forever. Takes longest. Requires ISO editing tool, I used iso master. | ||
+ | For this we are going to add a file named .windows-label to the root of each iso image. | ||
+ | <pre> | ||
+ | echo "EMPEROR1" | sudo tee /.windows-label | ||
+ | </pre> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Move the generated file to the root of your iso. Then repeat this process for disks 2, 3 and 4. | ||
+ | |||
+ | With this label file added to the disk images wine will forever be able to read the volume label any time you go to use it which means the Installer will be happy and put up no complaints about there not being a CD | ||
==Game data== | ==Game data== |
Revision as of 12:25, 16 October 2021
Developers | |
---|---|
Westwood Studios | |
Intelligent Games | |
Publishers | |
Electronic Arts | |
Release dates | |
Windows | June 12, 2001 |
Taxonomy | |
Modes | Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
Pacing | Real-time |
Perspectives | Bird's-eye view |
Controls | Multiple select, Point and select |
Genres | RTS |
Themes | Sci-fi |
Series | Dune |
Dune | |
---|---|
Dune | 1992 |
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty | 1992 |
Dune 2000 | 1998 |
Emperor: Battle for Dune | 2001 |
Frank Herbert's Dune | 2001 |
OpenRA (unofficial) | 2010 |
Dune: Spice Wars | 2023 |
Dune: Imperium | 2024 |
Dune: Awakening | TBA |
General information
- Dune2K.com - A major Dune fansite with an active community
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | SafeDisc v2 DRM - SafeDisk removed with the official install fix, generic volume-label CD checks persist; see Playing with out CDs & restoring cutscenes |
Essential improvements
Install Fix + Patches
- Install Fix Fixes Installation and Game Startup. Required on Windows 10+
- Patch 1.09 updates the game to the latest version.
Official Install Fix procedure for Windows 10
- Copy ONLY the setup up folder of disc 1 to the hard drive.
- Replace the setup executable INSIDE the setup folder with the one from the official install fix.
- Install the game.
- Extract the file
EMPEROR.EXE
from the install fix archive and copy it to<path-to-game>
, overwriting the old file. - The Official Win 10 Install Fix is now Complete
- Install Patch 1.09.
Skip intro videos
Delete/rename video files[citation needed] |
---|
Delete or rename the file |
Performance/Crash fix in Windows 8/10
Follow the procedure[citation needed] |
---|
This section is only for people who've applied all the install fix patches above and still have issues. The game can behave oddly on modern operating systems, such as Windows 8 and 10. Hyperactive mouse cursor, strange stuttering despite good framesrates. Some users report an immediate crash with error message "Action not supported". The most commonly recommended fix for all these problems is a wrapper called "dgVoodoo 2" by Dege. Follow the instructions in this video (Dark Ruler fix). This should eliminate any issues. If you still have problems, recheck both that the install fixes were applied and that dgVoodoo 2 is installed correctly. (Note: the program may be detected as malware, this is because heuristic malware engines can't really tell a good function modifier from a bad one. Do some research if you have any concerns. You will see it is quite a popular fix for old games.).
|
Playing with out CDs & restoring cutscenes
(There has been serious misinformation surrounding this subject that needs addressing)
- The official SafeDisk patches (SETUP.exe/EMEPROR.exe) only remove the advanced SafeDisk checks that broke under Windows 10.
- Several generic volume label CD checks persist during campaign selection even after the official install fixes are applied.
- The patch was never meant to remove the CD requirement, only restore playability.
- THERE IS NO OFFICIAL WAY TO PLAY WITHOUT A CD. You will have to source the UNOFFICIAL GAME.EXE patch (Google it)
- The following steps only work to restore cutscenes when using the UNOFFICIAL GAME.exe patch
- These facts were carelessly omitted in the original version of this article.
Follow the procedure carefully |
---|
- Source the unofficial 1.09 NOCD GAME.EXE and copy over the original GAME.EXE.
- Applying this patch breaks cutscenes(because they are on the CDs) You will have to follow the remaining steps below to restore cutscenes in-game.
- Copy the contents of the game disks 2, 3, and 4 into separate folders in the games directory, e.g. CD2, CD3, and CD4.
- Edit the file
<path-to-game>\resource.cfg
. Look for the following section, where the letterX:\
represents the drive you installed the game from:
CD1 .\data\ CD2 X:\ CD3 X:\ CD4 X:\
8. Replace the letter X:\
with the respective folders for each disk, e.g.
Make sue you do the same for the Movies files as well.
CD1 .\data\ CD2 .\CD2\ CD3 .\CD3\ CD4 .\CD4\
9. Do the same edits to wherever it says Movie.
10. Save the file and run the game.
}}
Playing on Linux with Wine using mounted images
This is not a tutorial on how to use wine, this guide simply resolves the one major hurdle to getting wine working properly with backup disk images.
Disk images are a great way to keep your 20-year-old collectable game CD's safe in their jewel cases. They work great with E:BFD under Windows but sadly there are a few extra hurdles for us Linux users to consider.
The main issue is the game won't be able to see the images even when they are mounted.
The mount point of the image that holds our files is user-readable, however,
device information is held on the device loop located at /dev/loop*.
This is not user-readable and sadly is what holds the volume labels the game hunts
for at various points while playing. This isn't usually a problem for wine as it's
a very niche situation. This is why the installer works fine with images when running under
Windows but not in Linux under Wine. To resolve this I have 3 solutions of varying permanence.
CHOOSE ONLY ONE
- Quickest, but least permanent. Permissions fixing.
Every time you mount the disk image to play the game simply run the following in the terminal. It will set permissions to user-readable on the device associated with your disc image so Wine can read the label off of the image as we need it to. Wipes every reboot.
sudo losetup --list | grep 'Dune\|Emperor' | cut -f1 -d' ' | xargs sudo chmod 0664
- More steps but holds till you wipe your WINEPREFIX.
We need to find out the drive label in our wineprefix associated with out mounted image. You'll have to look under winecfg. Lets pretend it is x. In our wineprefix under dosdevices directory you will see two symlinks, X: and X:: the first points to our image mount point, the other points to the loop device it's attached to. We need to delete X:: the loop device link, and make a new one pointing directly from our image file to X::
cd ~/.wine/dosdevices rm x:: ln -s /path/to/EMPEROR1.iso x::
Wine will be able to read the label off of that link. Reopen winecfg to make sure you can see the Volume label populated under the CD drive when you have advanced options selected.
- Lasts forever. Takes longest. Requires ISO editing tool, I used iso master.
For this we are going to add a file named .windows-label to the root of each iso image.
echo "EMPEROR1" | sudo tee /.windows-label
Move the generated file to the root of your iso. Then repeat this process for disks 2, 3 and 4.
With this label file added to the disk images wine will forever be able to read the volume label any time you go to use it which means the Installer will be happy and put up no complaints about there not being a CD
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Westwood\Emperor\Options\[Note 1] |
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | <path-to-game>\DATA\saves\[Note 2] |
Video
Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | Forcing a resolution other than 4:3 results in a cropped screen. See the WSGF entry. | ||
Multi-monitor | |||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | |||
Field of view (FOV) | |||
Windowed | Use dgVoodoo 2 | ||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | |||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | |||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | Can be forced in video card's Control Panel or by using dgVoodoo 2. | ||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS | UI animations are framerate dependent and seem to be intended for 30 FPS, playing twice as fast as they should at 60 FPS and four times as fast at 120 FPS. |
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | Mouse controls can't be changed. LMB is for selection/orders, RMB is deselection/viewport panning, LMB+RMB viewport rotation. | |
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Touchscreen optimised | Depends on system to co-operate. Only if touch input doubles as mouse input (tapping = LMB, holding = RMB, etc.). No special touch-screen controls or touch-screen control-overlay | |
Controller | ||
Controller support |
Controller types |
---|
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | Music, Sound and Voice | |
Surround sound | ||
Subtitles | ||
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
French | ||||
German | ||||
Korean | ||||
Traditional Chinese |
Network
Multiplayer types
Type | Native | Players | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
LAN play | 8 | Versus |
||
Online play | 4 | Versus |
Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 7 |
Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Windows |
Middleware
Middleware | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Cutscenes | Bink Video | |
Multiplayer | Westwood Online |
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 95 | 98, 2000, ME |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Pentium II 400 MHz | |
System memory (RAM) | 64 MB | |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 600 MB | |
Video card (GPU) | 16 MB of VRAM DirectX 7 compatible |
Notes
- ↑ Applications writing to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
will be redirected to other locations based on various criterias, see the glossary page for more details. - ↑ When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below
%PROGRAMFILES%
,%PROGRAMDATA%
, or%WINDIR%
might be redirected to%LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore
on Windows Vista and later (more details).