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Acorn Arcade forums: News and features: Dune II released as freeware!
 

Dune II released as freeware!

Posted by Tim Fountain on 00:47, 20/7/2001 | ,
 
Jason Tribbeck has released his port of the classic real-time strategy game Dune II as freeware. Apparently, Westwood Studios (producers of the original game) now consider Dune II to be 'abandonware', and a quick search on Google reveals hundreds of sites where you can download the game for the PC for free. Jason hasn't had a response to his request for permission from Westwood (after two months), but he's made it quite clear on his website that he'll remove the game if they have any objection.

So what are you waiting for? Dune II is the best (only?) RTS game available for RISC OS, and is the first in the line of Westwood RTS games that turned into the Command & Conquer series. If you're still not convinced, have a read of our old review. The version available is patched and ready to go (so it should be StrongARM compatible, but please let us know if you run into any problems), and weighs in at about 3.7MB (~20 minutes on a 56k modem). You can download it from http://www.tribbeck.com/dune2/.
 

  Dune II released as freeware!
  (14:12 20/7/2001)
  Jason Tribbeck (18:40 20/7/2001)
    Jason Tribbeck (18:47 20/7/2001)
      Jeffrey Lee (14:37 23/7/2001)
        Jeffrey Lee (18:50 30/7/2001)
          Tim Fountain (20:27 30/7/2001)
            Rich Goodwin (12:07 31/7/2001)
              Jeffrey Lee (18:07 31/7/2001)
                Tim Fountain (18:21 31/7/2001)
                  Rich Goodwin (08:53 3/8/2001)
                    Gunnlaugur Jonsson (03:02 7/8/2001)
                      Adam (10:01 8/10/2001)
 
Jon Message #86986, posted at 14:12, 20/7/2001
Unregistered user Not there atm
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Jason Tribbeck Message #86987, posted at 18:40, 20/7/2001, in reply to message #86986
Unregistered user Due to technical reasons, I had to remove it this morning. After spending some money, these have been sorted out, and the site is now back up.
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Jason Tribbeck Message #86988, posted at 18:47, 20/7/2001, in reply to message #86987
Unregistered user Oh, and if anyone wants any manuals, boxes and so forth, then ask CJE Micros. I think a manual is about a fiver (but ask first - don't quote me on it!)
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Jeffrey Lee Message #86989, posted at 14:37, 23/7/2001, in reply to message #86988
Unregistered user Yay!
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Jeffrey Lee Message #86990, posted at 18:50, 30/7/2001, in reply to message #86989
Unregistered user Bah! All those building & unit limits suck!

I'm on the last level (Or at least it looks like the last one), and since you're under a constant barrage of enemies I decided to build a nice wall of rocket turrets infront of my base.

Then when those long range missiles start blowing up parts of my base, I decide it's best to build some backup spice refineries and construction yards... only to find I've reached the building limit! Bah!
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Tim Fountain Message #86991, posted at 20:27, 30/7/2001, in reply to message #86990
Unregistered user Yeah it's a bit annoying. The best thing to do is blow up an enemy building, then you can build another one yourself :). For the unit limits, you can still order ships from the Starport even when the limit has been reached (although the stock in the startport is limited so that's only good for a few extra tanks...).
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Rich Goodwin Message #86992, posted at 12:07, 31/7/2001, in reply to message #86991
Unregistered user If you use my cheat you can order what you like from the starport, including enemy units ;)

The enemy long-range rocket often misses, so save the game often and if you don't like the damage you've just taken reload your saved game and you'll find you can complete the level quite easily.

Of course Jason never finished the game properly, he just cheated. Even my Dad has finished it several times over :p
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Jeffrey Lee Message #86993, posted at 18:07, 31/7/2001, in reply to message #86992
Unregistered user I suppose I can just get one of my tanks to blow a few of the turrets up for me.

I've also noticed that the computer is fond of cheating... e.g. building new buildings in the middle of nowhere, ontop of my units, and ontop of its own units!
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Tim Fountain Message #86994, posted at 18:21, 31/7/2001, in reply to message #86993
Unregistered user Also, there's a massive bug which you can exploit if you're playing as Ordos (I'm sure I've posted this before, but anyway). If you 'convert' an enemy unit temporarily using the Deviator, click on the 'Attack' button but don't select a target until it changes back to it's usual colour. Then pick a target, and the enemy unit will keep attacking that unit/building until one of them is destroyed.

Very useful for taking out Palaces/Construction yards that are quite deep in the enemy base :).
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Rich Goodwin Message #86995, posted at 08:53, 3/8/2001, in reply to message #86994
Unregistered user I've just found out that in the couple of weeks since Jason released Dune II as freeware, there's been nearly 700 downloads!
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Gunnlaugur Jonsson Message #86996, posted at 03:02, 7/8/2001, in reply to message #86995
Unregistered user That could mean a good freeware/shareware game might be able to get some decent attention - there obviously are people out there downloading RISC OS games :)
  ^[ Log in to reply ]
 
Adam Message #86997, posted at 10:01, 8/10/2001, in reply to message #86996
Unregistered user GREAT! Thanks go out to Westwood/Virgin and mostly to our Greek Mythologie hero Jason! I remember years ago I spend whole nights playing Dune II on the PC and this is a great conversion, giving neat MIDI music on my XG synth!
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Acorn Arcade forums: News and features: Dune II released as freeware!