General Improvement Mod - A New Unofficial Patch for DK2

[Wyrmcast]

New download link: https://keeperklan.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=109

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General Improvement Mod for Dungeon Keeper 2 by Wyrmcast

G.I.M. Version 1.05


This is a mod/unofficial patch for Dungeon Keeper 2 version 1.7.
It has the better AI for enemy Keepers from DK2 official patch
version 1.51 and features from the GOG patch 1.7 version; the user can
choose between the official patch 1.51 DKII.exe or the GOG DKII-dx.exe
to get the best benefits from them along with my own additions and
fixes. Check this mod's changelog (in the file "GIMChangelog.txt") for
a list of what this mod has changed in the game.


This mod comes bundled/integrated with other maps, mods and
tools by other authors. These other assets are used either
because I was a main contributor to them, they have been
abandoned or because I have permission to use them. These
other assets are not to be considered properly as parts of
this General Improvement Mod and respects should be paid to
the bundled mods' respective authors.


It's recommended to use the "Conqueror" AI personality for
Skirmish maps. I've found through testing that the "Conqueror" AI
is the best AI personality for the following reasons: It generally
has the best Dungeon build layout, it launches more and better
attacks than other AIs, it maintains its gold reserves better, it
makes better use of traps and doors, it uses the combat pit more
wisely and it doesn't freeze up as much as other AIs (mainly because
it doesn't need to waste as much space on useless rooms).



MANUAL INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS MOD:


1.) Do a fresh install of Dungeon Keeper 2 and use the
version 1.7 official patch to patch it to version 1.7 if
your install does not come with the version 1.7 patch already
applied.

2.) Go to the folder where you installed Dungeon Keeper 2
(such as in Program Files\Bullfrog\Dungeon Keeper 2).

3.) (Notice to DKII GOG Edition Users: Skip this step and
proceed to step four). Delete all of the files in the folder
except UNINST.dll, Uninst.isu and WEANETR.dll. Don't delete
any of the subfolders within the folder Dungeon Keeper 2 (such
as the Data and DK2TextureCache subfolders).

4.) Go to the Bullfrog\Dungeon Keeper 2\Data\editor
folder.

5.) Delete the maps subfolder.

6.) Go back to the main Dungeon Keeper 2 install folder and
extract/copy the contents of the mod's compressed archive
into your Dungeon Keeper 2 install folder and overwrite over
any existing files if asked to do so for this step.

7.) (OPTIONAL) If you would like to be able to watch the DK2
cinematics in-game without using a CD, download the Movies.zip
archive and extract it into the Bullfrog\Dungeon Keeper 2\Data
folder.

8.) (OPTIONAL) You can create shortcuts to DKII.exe and
DK2 Editor pro.exe and place them where you wish for easier
access to the programs. If you have a shortcut to DKII.exe
you can put optional command lines in the shortcut to be
run when you start the game using the shortcut.

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Some Very Old Versions

GIM_v0.62.7z
GIM_v0.16.7z
GIM_v0.15.7z

[Metal Gear Rex]

Interesting. I'll have to check this out in greater detail at a later date, specifically when I can transfer my 1.7 DKII over to my new computer as I have only 1.3 on here atm. If it turns out to be any good I might apply my balance patch to it and work with it from there. I've had ideas on how to get a Maiden Creature to work as a special tank to rival the Bile Demon, but my patch is stuck on 1.3 as I don't have access to 1.51 and anything beyond that generally sucks.

Though I have to wonder, to what extent can you mod DKII? There's a number of things beyond 1.3 that irk me that I would like to see changed. One off the top of my head is the dying instantly trait being hardcoded in for the Lord/King. There's a great many more issues I noticed while working with my patch and I'm wondering what exactly you can improve/fix.

[Metal Gear Rex]

Thanks for your interest, I appreciate hearing from you as I have been following your work a bit recently. I do think the Maiden could be improved in design (right now I just consider her a creepy creature to think about). I wonder why why your patch is stuck on 1.3? Maybe some kind of Windows registry check issue?

Oh no, I didn't mean its stuck in that kind of sense. I mean I don't have access to the 1.51 version of DKII and I'm not going to bother applying my patch to anything beyond that as those versions of the game have inferior AI and are much less stable compared to 1.3. I think 1.3 maps are compatible with other versions of the game aside from 1.7, as that version crashes due to the missing Maiden / Jack-in-the-Box trap data. This is, however, an untested theory as I have neither 1.51 nor 1.61 to test it.

Maiden's pretty much in the same situation as all the vanilla DKII Creatures. Complete loss of potential on what it could be. It's obvious how rushed she was though as one of her abilities doesn't even work properly.

As for my patch, I've taken a break from it but will be getting back into it soonish. I played it again recently and enjoyed it, save for the occasional crashes for various reasons.

Well, theoretically you could mod DKII to a huge extent, if you could reverse engineer the program executable and the texture formats. But it's a huge amount of work (as you can see if you look at the Keeper FX project). I helped with the editing of the official editor for the creation of DK2 Editor Pro and as more of a novice then I can tell you it was a real mind bender to learn just hexadecimal alone

I'm aware of the efforts it would take to mod DKII more heavily. It was moreso simply wishful thinking on my part. Its sad and disappointing, but there's nothing that can change fact. Personally, I think I've had enough frustrations from DKII working with the editor alone to be perfectly frank. Having to deal with the coding and all that could easily get messy, especially when dealing with the great number of questionable to outright bad design choices.

This 1.51 based mod doesn't have the dying instantly trait hardcoded for the King, Lord of the Lands and other units, so you can bring them to prison and convert them (although the conversion animations are a bit funny/hilarious.) Even the stone knights get knocked unconscious by Horny if they are not flagged for instant death, I think.

Converting animations are amusing and glitchy. But it is good to hear they don't die instantly. Level 5 in my patch relies on the Player being capable of imprisoning Lords.

Stone Knights should die instantly though, just like Skeletons or Vampires. They all have the "Doesn't leave dead body" flag on them.

As I said, much of the issues of improving and fixing the game come down to the executable, if you wish to have real extensive modding. I find it interesting, like as maybe a bit of a challenge. You can also experiment with the game files. That's partly what I did for this mod, I plugged in the 1.7 and 1.61 game files into the patch version 1.51 base game.

It would take a while to produce even a list of things to be fixed in an extensive mod. I'm not familiar with programming so I have no idea how reasonable or unreasonable some of the things on this "wishlist" will be. These range from bugs to properties of a room to AI. (For the AI, I was thinking of some things like Imp priorities as Imps seem to have a lower priority for collecting bodies or will sometimes try and drag a body through enemy terrain)

I'm probably just getting ahead of myself though.

[Metal Gear Rex]

I think the Maiden, Jack in the Box trap, Mercenary Portals and Elite Creatures are not really missing from version 1.51, believe it or not. They are just missing their graphics and they are not complete (You could almost say the Jack in the Box trap is much more effective on 1.51 though, as it crashes the game when triggered). The Maiden crashes the game when it hits someone with its second special ability, the mercenary portals don't attract Mercenaries and the Elite Creatures do not have their skins, they are unattractable through portals and I don't know if their stats are better than normal creatures.

Really? Huh. I know the elites exist in 1.3 but are missing their skins, and the Elite Goblin is bugged for some reason. Their stats are indeed better in their own way. The Maiden though doesn't appear to be in specifically 1.3.

I never really used the Maiden's abilities enough even on version 1.7 to really have an opinion on how they are supposed to work. I just know she has a web spray and I guess some sort of poison/acid spray.

I'd have to look it up personally to find out myself. I don't know it off the top of my head like everything else.

There is a Tantanoid map pack map called "Ancients" which I tested in my mod. It didn't have Stone Knights set to die instantly (I think), so when Horny attacked the Stone Knights on the map he only "knocked them unconscious" instead of destroying them. I could attach the map if you want to find out for yourself (The map is currently not in the mod because it has a hall of mirrors graphics glitch).

Unnecessary, I'd know from making just a normal map. It's very possible that map has some global data configuration to allow Stone Knights to leave bodies.

If we could recreate the executable source code, fixing bugs, room properties and AI would be quite possible (as opposed to extremely difficult as is the case now). But yes, we would need to reverse engineer the game first (or somehow find the source code from EA or something. Or maybe from a former Bullfrog employee).

I think its more likely and easier to reverse engineer the game than sitting around hoping to run into someone who is not only an ex DKII developer but also capable and willing to share such information with us. Relatively speaking of course.

I have noticed that imps seem to ignore unconscious enemies and corpses, often times even when they were dropped near the enemies and corpses by me. They are often more interested in other things, like reinforcing walls. It's much an annoyance yes. Would love to fix that myself if I could.

One thing to note about this is that when dropping Imps, if you drop more Imps than there are bodies they get stuck or confused for some reason. I don't really understand it myself but it just seems like really faulty coding.

[Metal Gear Rex]

The Maiden's code in the .exe seems to already have been almost completed in 1.51. Just needed to add the graphics, texts and sounds for her from 1.7. I think she's pretty buggy though when she gets her last ability/attack at high level (even more so than you were saying I think, since it completely crashed the game when I hit an enemy with her poison attack).

Interesting. Though what I meant by buggy is that it literally does nothing in 1.7 if memory serves.

I don't think the Ancients map had a globals file, since it looks like it was made with the old DK2MapperGUI editor (the one which people used before they had the official editor). Well, that and the fact that there was no globals file for the map.

I dunno. I've seen some weird things pulled off with that editor, like neutrals lacking alliances with other Creatures allowing them to fight Heroes.

You can also make bigger maps with the DK2Mapper unofficial editor, some people made something like 200x200 tile size maps. I guess it could still be useful to supplement the official editor if you want huge maps.

Yes I'm aware. The official editor is capped at 128 while DK2 Mapper allows up to 500x500, which is obviously insane and probably pointless as well as eventually the game bugs out with too many Creatures or general things.

That's interesting about the imps. I have notice sometimes when I drop many of them they just sit there standing around. Sometimes I just try to pretend to myself that the imps are idiots/lazy as a rationalization. But it still usually annoys me a lot.

Maybe its just my imagination but when I'm playing my patch, I seem to have much less tolerance for such things. I consider vanilla DKII to be pretty bad honestly so it comes as no surprise, but with my patch its like a reminder of an annoyance and imperfection that is simply beyond the realm of my ability to fix.

It's either that or its generally annoying to get screwed over by something so stupid when you're playing a relatively serious game. One of the two.

[Hapuga]

Hey,

just some quick worshiping lines. You are my hero. Regarding further improvement - I was dying to fix the game for years. Appears as you went much further than I did. I have a descent knowledge of C++ and am capable of producing clean code. Ill attempt to recreate the architecture of the game if you dare to go that far. Even if it won't succeed, we will get tons of experience and fun.

UPDATE:

Installed on GOG version. Works like a charm. (win 7, administrator settings, disabled hardware acceleration ingame)

[Hapuga]

Nice!! Where are yu reading the data from? Di you have access to AI data? Where is it stored?

[Hapuga]

Yeah, I pretty much got to the same point you did. I was trying to find any unbound strings or patterns that would resemble something human-readable in .exe, but had no success. I hoped that you did some black sorcery on .exe

[Hapuga]

Well, I have un-"safedisced", modified a bit and disassembled the .exe. My problem right now is that I don't have much knowledge of Assembly programming language. If I did I might be able to get further.

I will have to learn more about Assembly.

Oh and by the way, the DKII.exe that comes with your game when you don't remove Safedisc is not the real .exe. It's just a launcher. The real .exe is the ".icd" file. And the .icd file is in an encrypted wrapper which safedisc unwraps.

Still very impressive. I will closely follow your progress.

[Keeper Decagon]

This patch is looking great so far. I have installed and tried it, and I thought that I might as well report a couple of issues I've noticed.

• Firstly, the Mercenary Portals in the Frosty's Realm, Frosty's Lair and Frosty's Castle maps don't work.
• Secondly, in the Skirmish maps, the Lair, Hatchery, Treasury and Library seem to be locked on the "No" setting, and so the AIs cannot build those basic rooms.

I'll continue to play the patch and report any issues. Keep up the good work!