this will work in any version of D2.

in your D2 folder make a new TXT document and name it ROBOT.TXB (all caps) and...

that's it, that's all you have to do :)

Ok so basically i grew up on Descent 1 and 2 right? I used to watch my dad play when he got home from work. Then when I was about 10 years old I started playing it myself (badly of course) but thanks to the wonderful Descent community, I can still play both games to this day.

And, the funny part - in high school I was first introduced to the industrial music genre as a whole through my sister's friend who lent me his entire cd collection, mostly industrial artists. And included in said collection was Skinny Puppy. I only found out they did a couple tracks for D2 around that time in high school, when I finally ripped the redbook soundtrack from the game disc itself. I was like .... bro are you KIDDING ME right now, like how cool is that shit? And I had no idea the whole time. Descent 2 redbook was DEFINITELY what made the industrial genre appeal to me later in life.

Also side note, the track Pain (which never played on my OG copy of d2 redbook? but I found it on the planet descent website included in the redbook download I believe) just sounds kind of like a front line assembly song. It's just so amusing to me how blatantly industrial the redbook soundtrack is, and all of the tracks are still bangers to this day. And I used to wonder why the hell I'm so into the industrial genre 'out of the blue' (it really wasn't though lmao.)

Its just a cool little nerd detail that I greatly enjoy having in my life tbh. I love these games so much.

Hey All,

I wanted to share with you a little side project I've been working on for the past year. Ever since I saw that a team had released a raytraced version of Descent, I wanted to see what it might look like if the materials for the game were also upgraded. So, I set about create full hi res PBR materials. I've now created most of the materials for the first 5 levels of the game and am releasing it. This texture mod requires DXX-Raytracer 1.3.0 and can be downloaded here: https://perceptualgames.net/DMRP

Found on Descentbb.net, it looks like Kevin Bentley who was on the dev team got approval from Matt Toschlog to release the source code to Descent 3 earlier this year. You can find it on GitHub here:

https://github.com/DescentDevelopers/Descent3

Dr. Sweitzer looks like Linus Torvalds, but with older appeareance. I believe this could either be a deliberate reference or a curious coincidence.
Linus Torvalds was already a prominent figure in technology in 1999 (the year Descent 3 was released), known for his role as the creator of the Linux kernel.

Interplay, as a developer, had a history of including small references and cultural nods in their games, although it's unclear if they intentionally made this connection in Descent 3. But it makes sense, given that Dr. Sweitzer is a technical and ethical character, quite similar to the respect Linus inspired for his role in free software. Therefore, it could have been an implicit homage.

Additionally, the glasses and hairstyle match Linus's appearance. So, I think my hypothesis that this is an Easter Egg isn’t far-fetched at all.

https://preview.redd.it/zmwzgam7661e1.png?width=1928&format=png&auto=webp&s=2639419ffb27b0c9ee51db3e051cbde9f8654b7a

https://preview.redd.it/g772qvue661e1.png?width=240&format=png&auto=webp&s=16ac9b0a35735725063ba363d827805c3950fa89

https://preview.redd.it/a862szzf661e1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=048dbc246fa0699a0c7a71e646ecc645129a8131

I recently got a Roland SC-88Pro and saw that nobody has uploaded Descent OST in SC-88Pro
So I made a soundtrack pack for DXX-Rebirth with it.

D1X-Rebirth: https://www.mediafire.com/file/fa5bcpc02w26xfz/D1X-SC88Pro.DXA/file
D2X-Rebirth: https://www.mediafire.com/file/ehu9umleqj2grww/D2X-SC88Pro.DXA/file

All you need to do is to put this file in the same folder as DXX-Rebirth.

And incase you are using the High Res pack from this Post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/descent/comments/1dn0c4g/d1xr_high_res/
Do not use the MIDI patch.

I'll make a SC-88 mode soundtrack soon.

I just saw Civie11's video on Descent, and as he stated that option is only available on the .60 beta version of the engine, which is not available on the website anymore, but is there really no way to enable it on the current latest .58.1 version? If not, then a download link the .60 beta would be much appriciated.

Descent retro review

Maybe I'm just not seeing it but I can't find a way to disable the in-game timer, it's a little distracting. Can someone help with this?

Hi, first time on this subreddit. I was blessed to still have the copy of the Descent II CDs I grew up with, and I'm glad Rebirth has an option to play the music directly off said CDs.

However, said music is so loud that I have trouble hearing the sound effects, and I can't turn it down via the Music Volume option in the main menu. Sacrilege, I know. Anyone know how I can fix this?

Continuation from the post Descent I Soundtrack - Arachno SoundFont

I have created and uploaded the DXA archive of Descent II MIDI in Arachno SoundFont.
And just like the Descent 1 pack, it's created to be used with D2X-Rebirth.
Link: D2X-ARACHNO.DXA

I met someone who told me at one time their job was being a competitive gamer and that they made a living doing so and that they competitively played the Descent games (this would have been back in the franchise's heyday) and later Quake some. Is there anyway I could find records or documents of this? How big were the competitive scenes of these games back in their time? I was considering maybe seeing if I could interview them for a podcast or future video if I could validate things.

Hey, all! I've been getting back into Descent 1 and 2 since the Descent 3 Source Code was announced. So far, I'm liking Rebirth more than Redux; especially when using a mouse to aim.

But, onto the main thing: I own the Descent 1 and 2: The Definitive Collection CD set. I remember D2X-XL had a specialized version of Mission Builder 2 with bug fixes and such. Is there such a level editor for Rebirth/Redux? If so, where can I find it? If there is none, is there a mission builder which will work with Rebirth/Redux? And if there is, is Rebirth or Redux the better choice for it?

Notes: Using the GOG versions of Descent 1, 2, and 3.

Thank you.

D1X-Rebirth

MS-DOS

Is it just me or you guys have noticed this difference too?
Also the MIDI playback seems off even if I extract the HMP files and play it on a MIDI player.
Only the MS-DOS version produces the correct MIDI playback.
If anyone has noticed this, is there a known fix?
(I know the proper fix is to rework the the MIDI engine in DXX-Rebirth, reported the issue: DXX-Rebirth Issue:800)

Need help with Descent 2 in DOSBox Staging

I have GOG’s copy of Descent 2, and despite looking up several tutorials I cannot get DOSBox Staging to load it up.

I tried creating a batch file, and mounting the game’s iso (GOG’s copy is called DESCENT_II.gog) but it doesn’t work. Perhaps DOSBox Staging doesn’t recognize GOG’s files?

Here’s my batch file:

@echo off

imgmount d H:\DOS\DESCENT_II.gog -t cdrom

d:

descent2.exe

c:

mount -u d

cls

When I try to mount the image, Staging says “the image must be on the host or local drive.” The executables are in GOG’s folder, but when I try to run them it says “Cannot find a CD-ROM drive”. Do I need to somehow convert GOG’s files for Staging to recognize it?

I’m brand new to DOSBox Staging, and am generally terrible with command lines, but I am trying to learn. Thanks for any and all help!

EDIT: Got it working! Thanks for everyone’s help!

I'm not a coder, so can't do this myself or I would.

Get this... someone should use the model of the Pyro from the D2 cutscenes, and import it into D3 as a playable ship!

Surely that's feasible? It would be a dream of mine to be able to fly it in-game, as for me it's the gold standard Pyro. What do you think? Is anyone up for the task?

this DXA patch lets you play D2 Maximum as the main mission. complete with all the cinematic cutscenes, briefings, escape sequences, etc. it even keeps track of your high score.

Counterstrike is still playable, but without all the cinematics and stuff.

*this patch only works for D2XR and its varients.

Download: https://www.mediafire.com/file/0bmw31p15vow921/D2XR-MAXIMUM.DXA/file

Install: just put the DXA file in your Descent2 folder.

https://preview.redd.it/a5v8mgtdlmkd1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9237634dc6122040531fb65bdee49d87457c4cc4

Credits: Dan Wentz, Jeff250, ThugsRook, Ryusi117

I always loved the quality of the sythesis from Arachno SoundFont.
So I made a soundtrack pack for D1X-Rebirth with it.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/wc3kt4m39lbeq6s/D1X-ARACHNO.DXA/file

All you need to do is to put this file in the same folder as D1X-Rebirth.

And incase you are using the High Res pack from this Post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/descent/comments/1dn0c4g/d1xr_high_res/
Do not use the MIDI patch.

Ethereal Synth

Also great for Mothership, Starfinder and The Expanse

Hi all! Pudlez, the current maintainer of the DXX Retro Tracker very kindly shared a compilation of the tracker's archive earlier today. Game results are saved with filenames that are timestamped and have the host's handle and level. The HTML files themselves have way more info, but extracting complete datasets out of everything would be a pretty monumental task and involve reading 50000 files for all their info.

Anyway, I cooked up a couple graphs that give an interesting lens into D1/2 over the last decade. If you have an alias you'd like to look at a graph of hosting stats for, let me know.

There are plenty of other ways we could look at this, though most of them get pretty silly. :45 is the most common second that games were hosted on, with 912 games. The least common was :03, with just 804 games. Just one second later enjoys middling popularity, at 867. Perhaps interesting -- if a bit stalker-y -- is building activity profiles for players by when they host during a day, and what levels they host at different times (or even different seasons). Again, figuring out how to read and dump stats on all 50k+ HTML files could probably yield a ton of deeper information, but I'd hardly know where to begin.

Again, thanks to Pudlez for hosting and maintaining the tracker and dumping the archive, and for everyone who's helped contribute to it over the last 10 years! See you in the mines.

​

Games per year probably makes a lot of sense, with a big peak soon after the tracker went up and DCL started. Bear in mind 2024 isn't over yet, and the tracker started in August of 2014. still time for 2024 to grow over 2023!

Is there a seasonal cycle? Yes, but not what you'd expect! Looks like activity generally *drops* as months get colder, generally peaking in July and August. January's spike makes a lot of sense though. In contrast to the above, this data could be considered a near-complete decennial set, since the tracker's records go back to august of 2014, and it's August of 2024 as of this writing. I think the March/May/August numbers coincide with Roncli's Observatory cycle, but I don't have data to prove it -- I think we could probably count anything with 'obs' in the game title, but that involves reading 50k+ HTML files.

Is there a cycle within a month? Sorta!! Very strange, people don't like playing around the 13-16, and the end of the month. I have a hard time believing everyone's paychecks all line up on those days, but anything is possible!

This covers the top 50 most-played maps. Obviously, Logic takes the cake, but Lurk and Flea are really closely jockeying for position. Ascend might've peaked early -- tons of games on it, but it doesn't see all that much playtime these days, given 2nd and 3rd place are frequent anarchy contenders.

Let's look at who's playing. Bear in mind this is hosts, not participants, but with such a large dataset you can get a good sense of who's playing -- and probably who is hosting what. Lots of familiar names!

And we can dig into some cross-sections -- I love Swarthy's Ethylene, but do I host it a lot? You bet! ofc I get dragged into some absolute dog ass core levels and am a super fast host so I put up all kinds of stuff, especially when I was learning the game. mindtrix? fuzed? come on, really

While we're at it, let's look at a real gamer who hosts some banger levels: LEE. A good variety! Surprising: ugh is far and away top slot!

https://preview.redd.it/hve0v3s9x1ed1.png?width=1605&format=png&auto=webp&s=fb3a532095f507b78000821d44b898a5ef0778a6

I am coming from Freespace 1/2