Acorn Arcade: Dune_II_released_as_freeware: Acorn Arcade forums: Dune II released as freeware!

Posted by Tim Fountain on 00:47, 20/7/2001 | Games, RISC OS

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

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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.

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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!)

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Jeffrey Lee

Message #86989, posted at 14:37, 23/7/2001, in reply to message #86988

Unregistered user

Yay!

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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!

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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...).

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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

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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!

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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 :).

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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!

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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 :)

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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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