Key points
- Released as Dune II: Battle for Arrakis in Europe.
General information
- Dune Wiki - The Duniverse
- Dune2K.com - A major Dune fansite with an active community
Availability
| Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
| Retail |
|
Manual-based copy protection |
|
|
- Although a Dune II "demo" is available it is not actively playable; the executable more or less plays the missions out it's self without your intervention much like a pre-release demonstration video.
Version differences
- The European version has a different title screen subtitle with its EU name and lacks the into voice over. These are minor aesthetic changes and can be changed back with this unofficial patch. Another similar patch that preserves the European title screen can be found here. Yet another minor graphical difference is that the pause menu is not centered in the EU version; a hack to fix it can be found here. The European version also has additional languages. There are also some minor version specific bugs for each though these are ironed out by the 107 patch fix below.
Essential improvements
Patches
1.07 patch
- Download link
- Official patch which corrects issues with the Starport building. The European versions come pre-updated, making this unnecessary for it.
Sound fix
- Download link
- Official patch which enables the use of multiple sound devices simultaneously (i.e. MT-32 music with SoundBlaster digital and FM audio). A separate version for the European release can be found here.
1.07 patch fix
- Download link
- Changelog
- Unofficial patch which corrects issues introduced and unfixed by the 1.07 patch. Includes the sound fix above, though still requires patch 1.07 to be applied first.
Gravis Drivers
- Thread & download link
- Unofficial patch that adds support for the Gravis Ultrasound to Dune II. Note that there are two versions of this driver available, one for real machines and another for DOSBox. Select the correct version for your setup.
Miscellaneous
- EMCPatch adds some game improvements: buildings no longer decay for no reason, carryalls always bring repaired units from the repair facility back where they picked them up (you no longer need to surround the repair facility with walls for this), and missile turrets get always out-ranged by rocket launchers (previously, they had to be positioned at certain angles to get out of turrets' range). It requires WWPak to install, a version for SuperDune (and derivatives) can be found here.
- REP-HI-FIX adds missing animation frames to the repair facility and Hi-Tech factory. Like the fix above it requires WWPak to install. A separate version with a faster heavy factory "production ended" animation can be found here.
- Dune2Retro is a mod of the unpatched version of the game that adds fixes for the glitches but keeps the original balancing and other gameplay features. Also includes SuperDune2 (See below in fangames for details).
- Enables more modern mouse controls: ordering units with the right mouse button, scrolling with the mouse wheel and building and placing structures with the middle mouse button.
- Requires the original DOS game running in DOSBox under Windows.
Source ports
- Full-featured ports which enable playing the game on modern systems (Windows/Linux). Support high-resolutions and widescreen. Employ modern interface with zooming, contemporary RTS controls and build queueing.
- Include numerous bug fixes and optional gameplay enhancements.
- Require original game assets (
*.pak)
| Name |
Notes |
Renderer
|
| Dune Legacy |
In active development, supports 64-bit and Mac OS X. Includes an optional upscaler to smooth out graphics. Introduces multiple difficulty levels for campaign mode and bot AIs for MP. Supports LAN and internet multiplayer with record/replay. Includes a map and scenario editor. |
Direct3D
|
| Dune Dynasty |
Offers borderless fullscreen and proper MIDI support with custom SoundFonts for music playback. Contains a jukebox and cutscene viewer. Includes a random map generator for local "skirmish" mode. |
Direct3D, OpenGL
|
More detailed lists of unfinished ports, as well as fan-made campaigns, can be found at: Dune II fangames, Custom maps and Dune II clones and remakes
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
- Stored in hex values, Not human readable.
Save game data location
Video
Input
Audio
| Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
| Separate volume controls |
|
Music and Sound Effects/Speech; toggle only |
| Surround sound |
|
|
| Subtitles |
|
All dialog is text-based. In-game notifications are either displayed text or audio. |
| Closed captions |
|
Major notifications have displayed text when audio can't be played. |
| Mute on focus lost |
|
For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file. |
| General MIDI audio |
|
|
Localizations
- Changing the active language requires you to re-run the entire setup precess through the
setup.exe. If you find this annoying you can use the setuplan.exe which is a slimmed down setup program meant only for switching the active language.
| Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
| English |
|
|
|
|
| French |
|
|
|
European version only. |
| German |
|
|
|
European version only. |
| Spanish |
|
|
|
Found in rare European versions only. Replaces German language in typical EU release. |
| Italian |
|
|
|
Found in rare European versions only. Replaces French language in typical EU release. |
| Russian |
|
|
|
Only available in Russian retail release. There are no official patches for this version leaving it at version 1. Unofficial patches to port newer patches can be found here. |
Network
Multiplayer types
Issues unresolved
- There are numerous bugs that remain in the game that haven't been addressed by any patches, official or unofficial. A good source list is available in this PDF. An experimental compilation of hex fixes are available here (sign in required to download document).
Issues fixed
Windows sound crash
Although Dune can run on older versions of Windows (without restarting in MS-DOS mode), sound corruption usually occurs followed by an eventual crash. This is due to some of the sound files being damaged and causing memory leaks.
|
Replace the sound files[1]
|
|
Download this and replace the files.
|
Other information
API
| Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
| DOS video modes |
MCGA, VGA |
|
System requirements
| DOS |
|
Minimum |
| Operating system (OS) |
3.3 |
| Processor (CPU) |
Intel 80286 |
| System memory (RAM) |
640 KB
2 MB for digitized sound |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) |
10 MB |
| Video card (GPU) |
VGA |
References
