Emperor: Battle for Dune is an RTS game made by Westwood Studios and Intelligent Games. It is the last game by Westwood Studios set in the Dune universe. Unlike Dune 2000, which was a remake of Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty, Emperor: Battle for Dune was a proper sequel that took place after the storyline of the original, featuring entirely different factions as opposed to ones sharing most of their arsenals. It was the first Westwood-branded RTS to use a 3D engine, but it used Intelligent Games' Xanadu engine rather than Westwood's then-in development W3D, contrary to subsequent beliefs. It was distributed on 4 CD-ROMs, one for installation and the other three for each faction's campaign.
Post-release support included 4 official patches and several map packs, as well as a map editor. Due to contemporary issues on some systems caused by the SafeDisc v2 DRM, an official install fix was released to bypass this DRM in both the game's installer and the main executable, but the disc check and serial key were retained.
Due to security updates to Windows 10 and later and certain prior versions of Windows, the game will not run without using the aforementioned official install fix due to an un-fixed version using SafeDisc. Performance issues, mainly noticable lag in gameplay, have started occurring with Windows 8, and the solution for this is using a wrapper like dgVoodoo 2. The official multiplayer service, Westwood Online, was redirected to the community-run XWIS server in 2005 in agreement with EA's German community team, and using the in-game multiplayer menus lead to it without any additional configuration, but the multiplayer scene has essentially vanished over time. Unlike other Westwood RTS games, CnCNet does not support Emperor: Battle for Dune.
General information
- Dune2K.com - A major Dune fansite with an active community
- XWIS (legacy multiplayer replacement, default server lookup leads to this service)
- Emperor: Battle for Dune section on CNCNZ.com
Availability
Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
Retail |
|
SafeDisc v2 DRM and CD-ROM volume label check. SafeDisc is removed with the official install fix; see Bypassing SafeDisc |
|
|
Essential improvements
Bypassing SafeDisc
- The game will not run on Windows 10 and later, as well as updated prior versions of Windows without using an official installation fix (see the SafeDisc DRM article for more information).
Follow the procedure[1]
|
- Copy the contents of disc 1 to the hard drive.
- Replace the setup executable with the one from the official install fix.
- Install the game using the new setup executable.
- Install Patch 1.09.
- Extract the file
EMPEROR.EXE from the install fix archive and copy it to <path-to-game> , overwriting the old file.
Notes:
- This fix also applies to certain computer configurations which existed during the game's original release, which were incompatible with SafeDisc.
|
Patches
- Patch 1.09 updates the game to the latest version.
Map packs
There were officially 4 map packs for multiplayer and singleplayer skirmish play released as separate downloads on the developer's now-defunct public FTP server.
- PCGamingWiki archive of downloadable map packs
Skip intro videos
Delete/rename video file[2]
|
Delete or rename the file <path-to-game>\DATA\MOVIES\LEGALS.BIK
|
Lag fix in Windows 8 and newer
Use dgVoodoo 2[2]
|
The game lags terribly in modern operating systems. In order to fix this, use dgVoodoo 2.
- Download dgVoodoo 2 and unpack it in
<path-to-game> .
- From the
MS\x86 subfolder, copy all files to the main directory.
- Run dgVoodoo2 setup through
dgVoodooCpl.exe in the game directory.
- Select your appropriate graphics card from the drop down menu in "Adapters to use/enable"; in "Appearance," choose "Centered". Now click on the "DirectX" tab above. Input "512 MB" in the "VRAM" menu. Deselect "dgVoodoo watermark". Click on the "apply" button, then press "OK."
- Run the game. Notice the main menu will still lag, but the game itself will run fine.
|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
Video
Input
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
|
Music, Sound and Voice |
Surround sound |
|
|
Subtitles |
|
|
Closed captions |
|
|
Mute on focus lost |
|
|
Royalty free audio |
|
|
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
|
|
|
|
Traditional Chinese |
|
|
|
|
French |
|
|
|
|
German |
|
|
|
|
Korean |
|
|
|
|
Network
Multiplayer types
Type |
Native |
Players |
Notes |
LAN play |
| 8 |
Versus
|
Online play |
| 8 |
Versus Lobbies point to XWIS by default since 2005 as part of an agreement with EA. |
Connection types
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 |
|
Map editor
- The official map editor is available for download from Dune2K.com and CNCNZ.com.
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 7.0a compatible | |
Notes
References