ADG Episode 165 - Dune II

Ever wonder which game spawned the typical base-building, unit managing RTS format you see in countless games? Well, here it is! Today on Ancient DOS Games, Gemini's taking a look at Dune II, developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive around the end of 1992. This episode covers how the game is played, how to obtain the game, and how to get it working best on modern systems using DOSBox.

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Additional Information and Corrections:

* Some people have been reporting that the file download at CFS is coming up as a malware/virus. I can assure you it's not and that those are false positives. Part of the reason this may be happening is because the CFS website isn't well known and the file was updated not long before my review went live to add a missing data file, the filedate of which is a little wonky but is the correct file nonetheless.

* Turns out Tandy audio IS supported... but the game will refuse to use it unless it explicitly detects a Tandy machine in place. DOSBox emulates Tandy machines easily enough, but doesn't provide higher graphics support for EGA/MCGA/VGA/etc. when it does, so you can get the Tandy audio working in DOSBox if you don't mind having a blank screen. Alternatively, there might be some unofficial builds of DOSBox out there which can emulate a Tandy machine type with a better graphics device, but I don't know enough about those builds to say for certain. I'm also told the Tandy 3-Voice sound in this game isn't so great so it probably isn't worth the effort to get working. :P

* I was actually playing v1.0, not the patched version, over the course of this review. It's possible some of the things I discussed were fixed in the patched version, although from what I understand even that version is still buggy. There's also a fan-made patch out there which fixes even more issues so that's another thing to go looking up if you're so inclined.

* Although you might think the unit-limit is memory related, it's actually not. If you know how to edit the mission files you can jack the unit limits as high as you want. Have fun manually controlling 100 units though... :P

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[Garrette]

Rest in peace, Westwood Studios. We'll never forget.

[pepijnschermer]

I got all fuzzy feelings from this video. This game was actually my first introduction to the Dune universe in general. When I first read the books I was mildly dissapointed that the Ordos were nowhere to be found.

[Tore]

There's also a reimplementation (based on reverse engineering) of this game called OpenDune which runs on modern OS-es and if you want a more "user friendly" version you can try Dune Dynasty which is based on OpenDune and ads some Command & Conquer features to it like box selection of units. To play OpenDune or anything based on it you need the original game data.

By the way in Westwood games the fog of war is referred to as "the shroud".  ;)

Many sites host versions of Dune 2, though I'm unsure if any one of them are really allowed to do so.

[torgo_]

I love this game, so many memories! I remember using the spice harvester to squish the enemy foot soldiers.

[CarlMahnke]

There was a trick with the ordos nerve gas rocket launcher. Once you had control over an enemy unit you would click on the attack button but wait with setting the target. Then, when the unit changed its color back you would give the attack order and the unit would follow your command (like attacking its own base).

[johnnyjohn]

"The spice extends life, the spice expands consciousness, the spice is vital to space travel."

[MarianoDevourment]

I was working on a project and this video in the background listening to ti... I instantly recognized the intro from dune 2 with the first note. Loved this game and its music.

Harkonnen all the way.

[LuaanTi]

The computer player definitely does rely on an economy - there is a very famous exploit where if you attack the enemy harvesters with an infantry unit and let that poor guy get squashed, the harvester will not do anything anymore. This completely tanks the enemies' production, and after you defeat the initial units he has, it's trivial to steam-roll him even in the endgame levels.

[avabethmcghee]

All that click-click-click-click-click, back and forth, advancing all units manually and still maintaining clearly defined ranks.. you are far, far more patient than I am.

[LuderSatan]

Great review. But It would have been cool if you also had used a minute on explaining how each house/faction have special units, that are unique to their faction. 

The Atredis have a Sonic tank, that destroes enemies via sound. Very destructive. And they have fremen mecenaries they get through their palace. 

The Harkonen have a Devastator tank, which has to tank barrels and is the most powerful unit (i think). And it can selfdestruct. The Harkonen also have a Scud-missile-ish missile they get through their palace: the death hand missile, which is very unaccurate. 

And the Ordos have a trike that is much quicker that the ones other have. They also have a rocket launcher that have gas in it, that makes enemy troops fight for you for a time being (deviator is it called). And they also have a spy or sabotor from their palace, which I never got to work correct. 

And the Emperor, with the color of purple, have its own ground-troops, the Sadauker.

Love this game.

[timlwetzel]

That PC speaker tune was music to my ears. 

Wait...I can't hear anything

[Zamolxes]

Memories! That's how I played Dune 2 for the 1st time, back in 1992/1993.

[ByGeorge]

I subbed as soon as I realized what ADG stands for.

[RetroSwim]

Walk without rhythm, and it won't attract the wyrm...

[GeneralDudeMcAwesome]

Again a very nice video! Keep up the awesome work :)

[sideshowpianist]

Regarding support for playing music over PC speaker, I had come across a few games that actually had very good music over PC speaker. Two that come to mind are Duck Tales: The Quest for Gold and Tank Blasters.

Tank Blasters is interesting since it somehow renders the wave data of the game's music and sound effects over the PC speaker, as though the PC speaker were a normal speaker. They might have used some kind of sound card emulator code.

[MaximilienNoal]

Could you do an episode about Dune 1 ? Seems to be forgotten because of Dune 2 despite being as very good game. Played both games to death on an Amiga back in the day, good times. :)

[BeyondTheScanlines]

I'd like to think I'm okay with RTS's, but this was totally a painful one to play, even back in the day - I guess the hostility of Dune itself didn't help that much.

Great review as always!

[ameerm]

Brother and I Played this game so much. Nostalgia

[majmunx]

This games is awesome, but it's abnormally difficult due to fact that you have can't select a group of your units, and AI is brutal... Warcaft 1 also has this problem.

I also found out about your channel just recently, and it's excellent!!
Been watching LGR for quite some time, loving his stuff also.
DOS gaming FTW :D

Can you do Alien Carnage/Halloween Harry review?
Yes I know LGR did it, but I would like to see your opinion on the game ;)