Playing Dungeon Keeper 2 in 2023

This is a guide for manually configuring Dungeon Keeper II (GOG version) to work better on Windows 10.

- Use higher game resolutions, enable Environment Mapped Bump Mapping / Sine Wave Waters.
- Using dgVoodoo2 DirectX wrapper for Patch 1.5 DKII.exe as an alternative, and differences with GOG's Patch 1.7 DKII-DX.exe.
- Restoring Environmental Effects (EAX) audio option.

Useful Patches and Links

File	Description
dgVoodoo2 [dege.freeweb.hu]	For use with DKII.exe as an alternative to GOG's DKII-DX.
DK2Tweak [www.quaddicted.com]	Edit Dungeon Keeper II registry without using regedit.
Elite Creatures list [dungeonkeeper.fandom.com]	Elite Creatures are only available after installing patch v1.61, and in skirmish/pet dungeon/multiplayer modes.
Temple Sacrifice Recipes [keeperklan.com]	Special sacrifices probably require later patch 1.7.

Changing Game Resolution

GOG version should default to 800x600, you can use 1024x768 by changing it in the graphics options in game, or use higher resolutions by first enabling it in registry.

Note: Resolutions higher than 1024x768 will likely result in invisible text in the game's Esc menu, so it is best to stick to 1024x768 unless you don't mind no menu text.

The registry key is located at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Bullfrog Productions Ltd\Dungeon Keeper II\Configuration\Video

Edit Screen Width / Screen Height's decimal values to 1024 and 768 respectively via regedit.

If you don't want to manually edit via regedit, you can use DK2Tweak:

General Improvement Mod (GIM)

General Improvement Mod (GIM): https://keeperklan.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=109 [copy and paste since Steam link filter messes up the url]

It is a mod/unofficial patch by Wyrmcast for Dungeon Keeper 2 version 1.7. GIM also includes updated v5 QMixer dlls so it may help with sound issues.

Автор сообщения: "Wyrmcast"

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.

Follow the instructions in the mod's GIMReadme.txt to install. However, to use this mod without the mod author's balance changes / creature modification, do not copy over the included 'Data' folder, just get the fixed levels maps for patch 1.7: https://keeperklan.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=141 in order to properly attract all units in the campaign.

Decide if you want to play with patch 1.51 or 1.7.

Games saved with different versions are not compatible, it will not load correctly if you load a game saved with 1.7 DKII-DX.exe with 1.5 DKII.exe and vice versa. The common suggestion is to use DKII.exe to play singleplayer and DKII-DX for multiplayer games, or depending on which patch version you prefer.

DKII.exe

- Uses Patch 1.51: https://keeperklan.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=83
- Use dgVoodoo2 as wrapper.
- When added as a non-Steam game, you can take screenshots with Steam's screenshot key.
- Easier to capture video with Nvidia Share/ShadowPlay since it is fullscreen and not desktop capture.
- Unable to alt-tab.
- better AI keepers.

DKII-DX.exe

- GOG uses Patch 1.7 by default: https://keeperklan.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=7 so you don't have to patch anything.
- Using GOG's wrapper, higher zoom out by default without mod.
- can alt-tab.

DKII.exe would need dgVoodoo2 wrapper to run properly, see dgVoodoo2 section below for more info on running with DKII.exe.

Notes:
- If you are unable to run DKII-DX.exe after copying dgVoodoo2 files over, try renaming or removing dgVoodoo2's DDraw.dll file temporarily in the game folder.

dgVoodoo2 for DKII.exe

If you don't want to use GOG's DKII-DX renderer, you can also use dgVoodoo2 (DirectX mode) to play the game. You would then launch the game via DKII.exe instead of DKII-DX.exe.

Download the latest stable version from the official site[dege.freeweb.hu]. Extract the following files to DKII game's base directory:

• dgVoodooCpl.exe
  
• dgVoodoo.conf

from the \MS\x86\ directory to game base directory:

• D3D8.dll
  
• D3D9.dll
  
• D3DImm.dll
  
• DDraw.dll

Launch dgVoodooCpl and configure General / DirectX options, mostly you only need to set your resolution and leave others at defaults.

Useful Commandline Options

Commandline options can be added to your game shortcut file, at the end of Target line, separated by a space for each option:



-nomovies = Disable intro cinematic.
-nointmouse = Disables frame-rate independent mouse pointer.
-32biteverything = Enables 32Bit Textures, ZBuffer and Display.
-disablegamma = Corrects screen tinting and colour corruption caused by the mouse cursor.

-enablebumpmapping = Enables BumpLuminance.
-enablebumpluminance = Enables BumpMapping.
-level X = Plays a level where X is the level name. Levels are stored into the Data\Editor\Maps directory. Campaign levels are named level1...level20, level 6, 11, 15 have multiple versions. Secret levels are named secret1...secret5, My Pet Dungeon levels are named: mpd1...mpd7.

Sources:
https://keeperklan.com/threads/681-Command-Lines-List
https://keeperklan.com/threads/30-Cheats-Game-help-Guides

Editing config.ini

Your config.ini is located at:

%appdata%/GOG/DungeonKeeper2/

For copy pasting: https://pastebin.com/raw/5jCc6wrf

There are two sections Video and Misc. Steam has trouble showing brackets for sections, so this is for the Video section:

LowZBuffer=1
Antialias=12
;Controls antialiasing and also the fps fix for the main menu. 0, 1, 2, and 12 are also valid settings.
ExtraAntialias=0
;Doesn't do anything on any graphics card less than 10 years old, afaik
HighRes=1
;Allows you to pick higher resolutions, at the expense of broken menu text
Anisotropy=1
;Adds anisotropic filtering on textures
Vwait=1
;Controls vsync behaviour
ScaleMode=1
;Controls screen scaling behaviour, particully if your screen isn't 4:3
DisableFourCC=0
;Disables some specialized texture formats, which may solve crashes on some graphics cards at the expense of corrupting movies.
Bumpmap=1
;Enables bumpmapping effects on water/lava.
RealFullscreen=1
;Set to 0 to run in a fullscreen window. Can help with alt-tab crashes, but can have some side effects.

For Misc section:

CpuIdle=0
;Turn up if you don't want it hogging 100% cpu time
SingleCore=0
;Setting to 1 would cause lag in Possession mode
DisableDEP=1
RestoreMode=0
NotOnTop=0

Enable Extra Graphical Options

Environment Mapped Bump Mapping

With patch 1.70, Dungeon Keeper 2 supports Environment-Mapped Bump Mapping (EMBM), a DirectX 6 feature, more historical info via WaybackMachine[web.archive.org].

Use these commandline options to enable Bump Mapping:

-enablebumpmapping -enablebumpluminance

In addition, you also want to add Bumpmap=1 in your config.ini under the Video section, config.ini for GOG installations are located at %appdata%/GOG/DungeonKeeper2/

I am not sure if this option works correctly, since the original screenshot from Wayback is not displaying. This screenshot by devilhood shows what it might be like:

Sine Wave Waters

The wiki shows an animation[dungeonkeeper.fandom.com] of how Sine Wave Water looks, it looks wobbly.

There are 2 ways to enable this, by using DK2Tweak[www.quaddicted.com] to load and edit DKII registry, or manually editing Dungeon Keeper II registry using regedit.



The registry key is located at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Bullfrog Productions Ltd\Dungeon Keeper II\Configuration\Video

Sine Wave Water: Edit DWORD (32-bit), set value to 1.

Restoring Environmental Effects Audio Option

Dungeon Keeper II supports DirectSound 3D & EAX. With a compatible Creative sound card, you can enable Environmental Effects audio in game options.

For EAX compatible Creative sound cards like X-Fi Titanium, you could use Creative ALchemy on Windows 10 to enable EAX.

You can also use DSOAL[www.nexusmods.com] to enable the option, without needing a Creative sound card.

Follow the readme files on detail installation steps. It usually involves extracting dsoal-aldrv.dll, dsound.dll and alsoft.ini to DKII's game directory.

It defaults to 44100Hz by default, so change the relevant values in alsoft.ini from 44100 to 48000 if you want to use this mod with 48000Hz sample rate. Go to your speaker's properties and untick "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device", then disable or untick any sound enhancements in there and untick Spatial Sound.

Launch the game and enable Environmental Effects in the audio options.

I can't find any DSOAL comparisons, but these videos show how it sounds:

Dungeon Keeper II 1.51, native EAX on Windows XP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HHkqgJpfJA
Dungeon Keeper II 1.51, EAX disabled
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvg_stIEqEM
Dungeon Keeper II 1.7, EAX with Creative Alchemy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbX4G4-__-8

Links

• https://www.gog.com/forum/dungeon_keeper_series#1628455879
  
• https://keeperklan.com/forum.php
  
• https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Dungeon_Keeper_2

[LMR_1]

I don't know if these issues are known, but for me water appears very muddy as if i have the texture settings set to low, but every other texture is high resolution. Additionally i can't get the bumpmaps to work at all.

Edit: seems enabling bump maps is what causes the water issue, noticed it also breaks the lighting of lava.

[svfn]

@nuffi and CtaLieN, I am not sure, it has been awhile since I run the game. Don't remember missing text in menus or crashing at menus when I ran the GOG version.

[nuffi]

Does the voodoo version also has the problem with missing text in menus?

[CTaLieN]

My game won't even start on win 10, does nothing after clicking "play". If you try to start the game from its folder, neither DKII nor DKII-DX work. The give me the same error 0xc0000022

[Urec]

Thank you so much for this guide!
Huge request; All applications from the resource: https://keeperklan.com/ - post separately. (For example, on Google Drive). Or send me an email: [e-mail]
For some reason these applications are not downloading for me. The forum opens, but the download does not start. I tried different options, but there was no result. (The problem is not with the antivirus).
I really want to remember the past and have some nostalgia, so I would be grateful for your help!