USAGE.md

Descent 3 Open source usage instructions

Important note: This open source distribution of Descent 3 DOES NOT CONTAIN GAME ASSETS. Assets must be acquired separately from an official copy of the game, and copied as described in the next section.

This is the first release of the Descent 3 open source engine, that should be considered a beta version. If you find a bug that has not been reported before, please open a new ticket it on our online issue tracker.

1. Make sure that you have a copy of Descent 3. You can purchase a copy of Descent 3 from GOG or Steam.

2. Install Descent 3. Note for Steam users: If you own Descent 3 on Steam, then it’s recommended that you install the Windows version of the game even if you’re running macOS or Linux, otherwise movies will not work due to current lack of OGV support. You can use either Steam Play or SteamCMD to install the Windows version of the game on macOS or Linux.

3. If your version of Descent 3 is older than v1.4, then update it to v1.4.

4. Find the installation location of Descent 3. Using the Steam client, you can find it from the library page using the Manage > Browse local files context menu.

5. Create a new folder named D3-open-source.

6. Copy the following files from your installation of Descent 3 to D3-open-source:

   • All .hog files
   • The missions folder
   • (Optional) All .pld files
   • (Optional) The movies folder

7. Create the custom/ folder in D3-open-source

8. Obtain new Descent 3 engine files:

   • If you want to use pre-built binaries, then download the latest release. For a more cutting-edge experience with the latest features, use the artifacts from the latest automated build. You can find the list of automated builds here.
   • If you want to build the engine files yourself, the follow the instructions in BUILD.md. Once you build the engine files, they’ll be put in builds/<platform>/build/<build-type>/. For example, if you’re using Linux and you create a “Release” build, then the files will be located at builds/linux/build/Release.

9. Copy all the new engine files into D3-open-source and overwrite any conflicts.

10. Special notes:

    • D3 Open Source compiles level scripts in their own hogfiles. Make sure you copy and overwrite d3-{platform}.hog.

11. Run the game:

    • On Windows, run D3-open-source\Descent3.exe from a command-line or double-click on the Descent3 executable.
    • On Linux, cd to D3-open-source and run ./Descent3. Wayland users may need to set environment variable SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland before launching the game.
    • On macOS, the .app bundle is currently not signed, so your operating system will not let you run it by double-clicking it. To remediate that, open your terminal and cd to D3-open-source. Run xattr -c ./Descent3.app, xattr -c ./netgames/*, chmod +x ./Descent3.app/Contents/MacOS/Descent3, and then run the game using ./Descent3.app/Contents/MacOS/Descent3

Troubleshooting

Descent 3 Message(Error: Couldn't find the string table.)

This error means that game data could not be found. Make sure you copied all game files to the D3-open-source folder, and that you're running the game from this same folder.

Base directories

A base directory is a directory that Descent 3 expects game files to be in. When you run Descent 3, it will try to access many different files. Most of those files need to be stored in a base directory. There are two different types of files that are stored in base directories:

• Read-write files are files that can change while you play Descent 3. Examples: <you name>.plt and files in the savegame/ directory.
• Read-only files are files that do not change while you play Descent 3. Examples: d3.hog and files in the movies/ directory.

Descent 3 has two types of base directories:

• The writable base directory can contain both read-write files and read-only files. There is only one writeable base directory. By default, the writable base directory gets set to the current working directory.
• The read-only base directories can only contain read-only files. There can be any number of read-only base directories. By default, Descent 3 uses zero read-only base directories.

You can set the writable base directory and the list of read-only base directories using the -setdir, -useexedir and -additionaldir command-line options (see the next section).

When Descent 3 tries to find a read-only file, then it will look through the list of base directories in this order:

• the last read-only base directory that was specified on the command-line,
• the second-to-last read-only base directory that was specified on the command-line,
• the third-to-last read-only base directory that was specified on the command-line,
• …
• the first read-only base directory that was specified on the command-line and, finally,
• the writable base directory.

Files that are in base directories that are higher on that list will override files that are in base directories that are lower on that list. For example, lets say that you run Descent 3 like this:

Descent3 -setdir /home/user/my-writable-base-directory -additionaldir /home/user/my-read-only-base-directory

Let’s also say that both my-writable-base-directory and my-read-only-base-directory contain a file named d3.hog. In this example, Descent 3 will load /home/user/my-read-only-base-directory/d3.hog because read-only directories have a higher precedence than the writable base directory. Descent 3 will ignore /home/user/my-writable-base-directory/d3.hog.

Command-Line Options

The following command-line options are available in Descent 3. You can set command-line options on the Misc. tab of the Setup section of the Descent 3 launcher or by creating a shortcut to Descent3.exe. Case is not significant in command-line options, and -, --, and + are all accepted.

Display Options

• -aspect <value>

  Type: floating-point number

  Default: 1.3333333333333333

  Platform: all

  Description: Specifies the screen aspect ratio for non-standard displays, such as wide-screen TVs.

• -display <number>

  Type: integer

  Default: 0

  Platforms: all

  Description: Run game on the selected display.

• -fullscreen or -f

  Type: boolean

  Default: On

  Platform: all

  Description: Run game in fullscreen mode.

• -height <height>

  Type: integer

  Default: 480 unless you select a different value in the options menu

  Platform: all

  Description: Sets the screen resolution to the specified height, if possible.

• -himem

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Forces normal operations even when low memory conditions are detected.

• -lowmem

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Uses scaled-down textures and lower quality (8-bit) sounds to conserve memory.

• -NoRenderWindows

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Causes all windows to be fully transparent. Use this option if your card does not correctly render partially-transparent windows.

• -superlowmem

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Uses the -lowmem settings and further scales down textures to conserve memory.

• -vsync

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Turns on Vertical Sync. The flag will be enabled in the registry so it will be on when the game is run again.

• -width <width>

  Type: integer

  Default: 640 unless you select a different value in the options menu

  Platform: all

  Description: Sets the screen resolution to the specified width, if possible.

• -windowed or -w

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Runs the game in a window.

Audio Options

• -nomusic

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disables music.

• -nosound

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disables all sound, including music.

Input Options

• -deadzone# <k>

  Type: # is either the character 0 or the character 1. k is a floating-point number.

  Default: 0.2

  Platform: all

  Description: Specifies the size of the deadzone for a joystick.

• -mlooksens <scale>

  Type: floating-point number

  Default: 9.102

  Platform: all

  Description: Determines how much the player moves when the mouse is moved.

• -mousesens <scale>

  Type: floating-point number

  Default: 1.0

  Platform: all

  Description: Adjusts the sensitivity of the mouse when not using mouselook mode.

• -nomousegrab or -m

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disable mouse capture.

Performance Options

• -fastdemo

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Causes a demo to play back at the highest speed your computer is capable of.

• -forcelightmaps

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Forces the use of lightmaps, even the Default Detail Level is set to Low in the launcher setup.

• -framecap <fps>

  Type: integer

  Default: 60

  Platform: all

  Description: Limits the framerate to the number of frames per second specified.

• -nomotionblur

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disables motion blur on robots (Pentium III only).

• -nosatomega

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disables alpha saturation on the omega cannon effect.

• -nosparkles

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disables powerup sparkles (Pentium III only).

Multiplayer and Network Options

• -audiotauntdelay <time>

  Type: floating-point number

  Default: 5.0

  Platform: all

  Description: Sets the time in seconds the a user must wait after sending an audio taunt before he or she is able to send another. This option is only active when starting a server.

• -autoexec <file>

  Type: path

  Default: <writable-base-directory>/netgames/autoexec.dmfc

  Platform: all

  Description: Specifies the full path and file name of the multiplayer config file to be loaded and executed when a multiplayer game is initialized.

• -dedicated <config file> or -d <config file>

  Type: path

  Default: None

  Platform: all

  Description: Starts a dedicated server.

• -gamespyport <port>

  Type: integer

  Default: 20142

  Platform: all

  Description: Specifies a port for to listen for GameSpy requests.

• -gspyfile <config file>

  Type: path

  Default: gamespy.cfg

  Platform: all

  Description: Specifies a GameSpy configuration file to use.

• -httpproxy <addr> or -httpproxy <addr:port>

  Type: string

  Default: None

  Platform: all

  Description: Specifies an HTTP proxy server. Descent 3 uses HTTP to auto-download a mission; use this option if your ISP requires a proxy server for HTTP connections. If the first form is used, the port value defaults to 80.

• -nooutragelogo

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disables the Outrage logo that is normally displayed for five seconds at the start of a multiplayer game.

• -nomultibmp

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disables sending or receiving in-game custom bitmaps for ships.

• -nonetwork

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disables all network multiplayer functionality.

• -playermessages

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Disables all weapon-related HUD messages in multiplayer games.

• -pxoport <port>

  Type: integer

  Default: 20142

  Platform: all

  Description: Specifies the port that PXO will tell clients to use when contacting a server. The default is 2092.

• -useip <IP>

  Type: string

  Default: All available network interfaces

  Platform: all

  Description: Binds Descent 3 to this IP address. Use this option to tell D3 which IP address to use if your computer has multiple IP addresses.

• -useport <port>

  Type: integer

  Default: 2092

  Platform: all

  Description: Specifies the port that TCP/IP and IPX will use.

• -usesmoothing

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Enables code to smooth the interpolation for fast-moving objects. This will fix "skipping" problems with fast weapons, such as the Phoenix. This option applies to clients only; using it on the server has no effect.

Base Directory Options

• -additionaldir <path>

  Type: path

  Default: None

  Platform: all

  Description: Adds a directory to the list of read-only base directories. This options can be used multiple times to add multiple directories to the list.

• -setdir <path>

  Type: path

  Default: .

  Platform: all

  Description: Sets the writable base directory.

• -useexedir

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Tells Descent 3 to use the directory in which the executable is located as the writable base directory.

Other Options

• -logfile

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Generates a logfile d3.log if using the Debug build. All mprintf statements output to the logfile.

• -loglevel <LEVEL>

  Type: string

  Default: INFO (on Release), DEBUG (on Debug)

  Platform: all

  Description: Set log level (NONE, VERBOSE, DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, FATAL)

• -makemovie

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Causes the demo system to save a screenshot of every frame during playback.

• -mission <name>

  Type: string

  Default: None

  Platform: all

  Description: Loads the specified mission file at startup.

• -pilot <name>

  Type: string

  Default: None

  Platform: all

  Description: Specifies the pilot to use, skipping the pilot selection dialog when the game starts.

• -service

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: all

  Description: Run game in service mode.

• -winconsole

  Type: boolean

  Default: Off

  Platform: WIN

  Description: Enable windows console (off by default).