The Kasabian Campaign - Episode 1

[Shonji]

Hey Skarok

I am new to these forums from an account standpoint, but been here for maps in the past. I loved your Draraks Empire campaign, it certainly added a lot of challenge, mainly the last 2 levels, I still have yet to beat the final level after dozens of attempts. After playing all of them so many times, I blow through them left and right, but still love them.

I just recently came back into playing DK2 after a break of it and came back here and saw you had this new campaign(I know it isn't technically new, seeing as its been up for quite a few months, but new since I last looked here) It looks very interesting and I could so enjoy a new challenge, but I am not very computer savvy. It may be sad compared to what other people can do, but the most complex thing I can do is just adding maps into the game.

So I was wondering if you could make some sort of tutorial for us kind of idiots that have next to no computer logic whatsoever that want to play this, as well as other maps.

Mainly the 2 problems I seem to have no luck finding a solution to are these-
1. I have the GoG version of DK2 which is version 1.7, is there any way I can erase said version and go back to 1.3? Or better yet, have both available and choose which one you want to play in.(I read that 1.3 is vastly more challenging due to smarter AI vs the braindead one in 1.7, but at the same time there is a lot of maps that seem to only work in 1.7) Just curious if that 2nd option is possible. I am stuck on this part already since in Rex's patchnotes it says it will 100% not work in 1.7, so I am already screwed there lol.

2. What does the commando line mean, and how does it work? I think this is the cmd, but not entirely sure. If that is the case, what do you do in there to load these maps and actually play them?


I am sorry in advance if there is some thread that discusses these topics but I haven't had any luck finding any within the last hour or so of looking. Even if I did, chances are I wouldn't understand it easily. Thank you Skarok or anyone else if your able to help this sad DK fan get this up and running. Very much appreciated.

[Skarok]

Hey Skarok

I am new to these forums from an account standpoint, but been here for maps in the past. I loved your Draraks Empire campaign, it certainly added a lot of challenge, mainly the last 2 levels, I still have yet to beat the final level after dozens of attempts. After playing all of them so many times, I blow through them left and right, but still love them.

Hey Shonji, glad you liked my older campaign! Looking back I think there are a lot of things I could've done better with it, which I tried to do with this campaign, but I'm glad that there are people enjoying it nontheless!

I just recently came back into playing DK2 after a break of it and came back here and saw you had this new campaign(I know it isn't technically new, seeing as its been up for quite a few months, but new since I last looked here) It looks very interesting and I could so enjoy a new challenge, but I am not very computer savvy. It may be sad compared to what other people can do, but the most complex thing I can do is just adding maps into the game.

So I was wondering if you could make some sort of tutorial for us kind of idiots that have next to no computer logic whatsoever that want to play this, as well as other maps.

Are you talking about mapmaking or how to play the campaign? If it's the latter, you pretty much do the same thing you'd do with Skirmish maps. Simply transfer all the map files into your map folder. The only difference then is how you access them, as you won't be using the Skirmish menu for this. You boot up each individual map via a DKII shortcut with a commando line added to it.

1. I have the GoG version of DK2 which is version 1.7, is there any way I can erase said version and go back to 1.3? Or better yet, have both available and choose which one you want to play in.(I read that 1.3 is vastly more challenging due to smarter AI vs the braindead one in 1.7, but at the same time there is a lot of maps that seem to only work in 1.7) Just curious if that 2nd option is possible. I am stuck on this part already since in Rex's patchnotes it says it will 100% not work in 1.7, so I am already screwed there lol.

Well, as far as 1.3 goes, you can get it here. You can't really 'downgrade' from 1.7 to an earlier version, but there isn't really a need to, as you can keep multiple copies of DKII, as long as you install them on different paths and keep the folders separated. I have something like 7 different DKII folders myself.^^

Note that it may say that the links are removed, but the attachment to a 1.3 version is still there. I will keep this campaign exclusive to version 1.3 for now for various reasons, I'm not even sure if it'd work with 1.7 anyways. Still, since most people bought DKII on GoG nowadays anyways I don't see what's wrong about downloading a game you already bought, especially if you consider that you can't downgrade to 1.3 and 1.7 is pretty much a flawed version.

If Hapuga really decides to remove that link as well I'll link to an uploaded 1.3 version of my own copy, or maybe I'll even have my Expansion Pack released by then, which will come with it's own 1.3 game folder.

2. What does the commando line mean, and how does it work? I think this is the cmd, but not entirely sure. If that is the case, what do you do in there to load these maps and actually play them?

Well, basically you just have to right click on a DKII shortcut and go to the properties. Then you can add commando lines behind the path, which should be something like "C:\Users\Ryan\Desktop\Dungeon Keeper 2\DKII.exe" Note that I have my DKII folder on my desktop, the path will be different if you have your folder somewhere else. In the end it doesn't really matter where it is though, as long as you write in the right commando lines.

For booting up SP maps which the ones of this campaign are, add the following: ' -q -level "LevelName" ' in the Properties, changing "LevelName" to the name of the actual map you want to play. And remove the ' 's in front of the -q and after the LevelName".

[Shonji]

Thanks for the help, I think I understand now. If you could add your link to 1.3, that would be great. I tried the one you linked, as well as the General Improvement Mod and neither work at all. The 1.3v link I can load into the game, but as soon as I get to the main menu, it just crashes to desktop. As for the Mod, I can get into the game and it works, but 80% of the screen is just black.

Trying to figure out how to get 1.3v working.

[Skarok]

Alright, gimme a moment to upload it. Btw, I think you can fix most black screen or crashing problems by turning off Hardware Acceleration and using the NVidia Control Panel to turn down the Antialiasing of the game.

[Shonji]

Yeah, you are right. I turned off Hardware Acceleration and loaded into one of the default skirmish maps and that ended up fixing it. Now its a matter of getting Rex's Patch working now. Then I can finally add this gem of yours after.

Also wanted to ask if your Drarak's campaign works in 1.3? I remember your thread saying you would try and convert it to 1.3. Want to see how much different they are compared to 1.7 if it works.

Not surprisingly I ran into a problem, I can't seem to add in anymore maps than the default 4 in 1.3. I tried adding your draraks campaign to see if they would even show up in-game, and they wouldn't even do that. I can get the game to run if I use Autorun, but if I actually try to use the DKII.exe that is right under Autorun, it crashes upon loading the main menu. I am thinking this is the reason none of the maps are showing.

I am still trying to see if I can get it to work, but no idea really what to do.

[Skarok]

Well, about the DE Campaign... I wanted to convert it to 1.3 last year, but I ran into loads of problems with my unstable 1.3 copy at that time, so I never really got that far with it. Technically I could convert it now, but if I were to do that I'd like to change and fix a few things before I release it, which would take up some time. On top of that I'm still improving the Kasabian Campaign and working on an Expansion pack, so it could take some time until I get around to finish up a polished version of it. One more thing I'd really have to do is to fix up my horrible grammar of the other thread.^^

Btw, here's the link to the 1.3 version: http://www.mediafire.com/?676m5h7rz33xmz2

[Metal Gear Rex]

Not surprisingly I ran into a problem, I can't seem to add in anymore maps than the default 4 in 1.3. I tried adding your draraks campaign to see if they would even show up in-game, and they wouldn't even do that. I can get the game to run if I use Autorun, but if I actually try to use the DKII.exe that is right under Autorun, it crashes upon loading the main menu. I am thinking this is the reason none of the maps are showing.

Are you trying to run the maps via Skirmish menu? If so, that's not the way to go about it. I don't think the maps are set up to be played from that but even if you could, you shouldn't. The Kasabian Campaign uses custom settings for the AI in order for it to function properly and provide an appropriate challenge. Setting up AI in the Skirmish menu will overwrite the AI settings on the map.

[Shonji]

That is where I was messing up, I was thinking that was the case.

Just put your patch in and Skarok's Kasabian Campaign in, now to get these to work.


I was able to get your first level to work, thank you both for the help, I am sorry if I was a pain in the ass. But I still have one more problem. Its the screen being all black again, I was able to fix that when I in the main menu, but here when it goes right to the map, I can't figure out how to actually see.

[Skarok]

Hm, did you turn Hardware Acceleration off in the main menu? That usually fixes the black screen problem for me. If that doesn't work, try setting the Antialiasing to 0.

[Shonji]

I did that when it lets me go to the main menu and that works, but it seems to reset and turn back on when I close the game. That is the part that confuses me.

I will try setting Antialiasing to 0