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First post, by appiah4

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What is the best way of running Dune 2000 on Windows 10?

  • OpenRA does not run the complete campaign as far as I know.
  • Gruntmods seems to be a good way of getting it working but I'm not sure about how accurate it is
  • PCem seems to be the only way to emulate a Slot-1 PC with enough grunt to run this but I'm not sure how demanding the game is - would this work on my Ryzen 2600?
  • Custom installer and running it in Windows 95 compatibility mode under Windows 10, but I doubt this would be a good idea at all
  • Another way I did not think of?

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Reply 2 of 11, by svfn

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i finished the entire campaign using Gruntmods once, it ran fine on Windows 10 with cutscenes. it had difficulty selector and i found the full HD resolution too 'high' as it made everything tiny, so played with a lowered resolution 🤣. gameplay wise i can't say the difference since it was my first playthrough.

for multiplayer matches i'd go with OpenRA tbh, since it has modern QoL although it's a different experience.

have not tried other emulators as i don't have a need to. it was either Gruntmods or run on a proper retro PC. although, there are instructions on how to install/patch it for 64-bit Windows on pcgamingwiki: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Dune_2000 if you want to do it manually.

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Reply 3 of 11, by ZellSF

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Just follow the instructions on PCGW: there's a custom installer and an unofficial patch. Install those and a graphic wrapper and you're good, the unofficial patch recommends cnc-ddraw, but dgVoodoo and DxWnd also works nicely if you prefer those (I much prefer dgVoodoo's scaling options and DxWnd is usually better if you want to run windowed).

appiah4 wrote on 2021-07-06, 13:57:

OpenRA does not run the complete campaign as far as I know.

It also quite noticeably is not Dune 2000 at all. Might be a fun multiplayer game, but it doesn't play remotely like Dune 2000.

appiah4 wrote on 2021-07-06, 13:57:

Gruntmods seems to be a good way of getting it working but I'm not sure about how accurate it is

That's basically a pirated version of Dune 2000 packaged with a custom campaign and unspecified patches. I would avoid it if you only want to play the original campaign.

appiah4 wrote on 2021-07-06, 13:57:

PCem seems to be the only way to emulate a Slot-1 PC with enough grunt to run this but I'm not sure how demanding the game is - would this work on my Ryzen 2600?

I don't think PCem is well suited for gaming. It still has too bad input lag / frame pacing and its scaling options are not great. I would only use it as a last resort, or for testing things.

appiah4 wrote on 2021-07-06, 13:57:

Custom installer and running it in Windows 95 compatibility mode under Windows 10, but I doubt this would be a good idea at all

It's not. Windows 95/98 compatibility modes under Windows 8+ introduces some nastiness that should generally be avoided (mainly performance problems, but they also conflict with graphic wrappers).

Reply 4 of 11, by ZellSF

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Also just in case you care. Dune 2000 uses 640x400. That's a 5:6 PAR (pixel aspect ratio) resolution. It's supposed to be 4:3.

So to display it properly as it was back then, you need to scale 640x400 to a 4:3 resolution. Preferably a really high one to reduce scaling artifacts. These (640x400) games are one of the reasons I'm happy I don't have a 1080p monitor.

If you want widescreen with the correct PAR I'll just say good luck.

Reply 5 of 11, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Just install the game, install patches if available and use dgVoodoo if required. IIRC the game also has Glide which may also be used with nGlide

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058

Reply 7 of 11, by xcomcmdr

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Tests results ->
Both On my Windows 10 laptop just now, a desktop computer, and at the time I tested on both of them (years ago) :
- Windows 98 mode is needed, otherwise the game won't have focus (maybe the shim GiveUpForeground would be sufficient instead ?)
- dgVoodoo2 is needed, otherwise the videos show a black screen.

There's no conflict between the Windows 9X compatibility mode and dgVoodoo2 with this game.

Edit: Nice unnoficial patch ! I didn't test it, but it probably makes the Windows 98 compatibility mode redundant, which is a good thing.

Reply 10 of 11, by gcxd68

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Hi, I actually made a universal installer for Dune 2000. It asks for the original CD-ROM, detects the language and installs the appropriate 1.06 update as well as a DirectDraw wrapper. No mod will be installed : the goal was to bring back the original look and feel of the game. You can see it here and download it through the description : https://youtu.be/lnAGkJAmlzM

Feel free to try it !