Descent 3

Descent
Descent	1994
Descent II	1996
Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War	1998
Descent 3	1999
FreeSpace 2	1999
Descent: Underground	TBA

Key points

Frame rate is capped at 50 FPS;^[1] use command line arguments -framecap X with the cap you want.

Mac OS and Linux versions are currently not available in digital distribution. They will be coming later on.^[2]

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail

No longer sold digitally due to licensing issues.^[3]

Two demo versions were released

Downloadable content (DLC) and expansions

Name	Notes
Mercenary

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

Latest patches for every game version available here

Skip launcher[edit]

Launch the game with -launched parameter^{[citation needed]}

Skip intro videos[edit]

Launch the game with -nointro parameter^{[citation needed]}

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Outrage\Descent3\
Mac OS
Linux

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\savegame\
Mac OS
Linux

*.plt in the installation folder stores pilot-related settings.

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings[edit]

Video settings.

Detail settings.

Graphics option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor		FOV is far too low.
Ultra-widescreen		FOV is too low.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	Can be forced in your GPU's control panel.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Can be forced in your GPU's control panel.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Enabled by default. Set in Options, Video.
60 FPS	50 FPS default cap;^[1] use the command line arguments `-framecap 60`
120+ FPS	Use `-framecap X` command line arguments with the cap you want.
Color blind mode

Widescreen resolution[edit]

Add resolution switches^[4]

Go to the shortcut/launcher properties:
- If you are skipping the launcher, right-click the MAIN.EXE shortcut and choose Properties.
- If you are using the launcher, run it and go to Setup, Misc.
Add your resolution in the following format: -width 1920 -height 1080 -aspect 1.78
- -aspect should be 1.78 for 16:9 or 1.6 for 16:10
Click OK to save your changes.

Notes

If the output is pillarboxed in-game use the key to the left of ← Backspace to zoom in.

Higher resolutions like 2560x1440 will crash the game; use dgVoodoo 2 to remove resolution limits.

Input settings[edit]

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Go to Config, Joy/Mouse and click the question mark beside the axis.
Controller
Controller support		Supports force feedback but not vibration.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Go to Config, Joy/Mouse and click the question mark beside the axis.

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback

Audio settings[edit]

Audio settings.

Audio options	Native	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound and Music.
Surround sound		Via A3D 2.0 and DirectSound3D
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 2, DirectSound3D, A3D 2.0^[5] Correct support for the latter requires latest patch^[6]

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	CC	Notes
English
Polish				Only available in Polish retail release. 'Mercenary' expansion pack was never translated.

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		Co-op, Versus
Online play		Co-op, Versus

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated		Use D3Server3.
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed[edit]

"Error: Unable to set temporary directory to ... The directory is in use" error at launch[edit]

Delete .lock file^{[citation needed]}

Go to <path-to-game>\custom\cache\
Delete .lock
The game should now start normally.

Mouse movement issues on Windows 8.1[edit]

For the GOG.com version use the Windows 8.1 mouse lag fix installer on the My Games page.

Install mouse fix^{[citation needed]}

Install the Descent 3 mouse fix.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	6
OpenGL	1.2
Glide	3
Software renderer
64-bit executable

Disable motion blur[edit]

Launch the game with -nomotionblur parameter^[7]

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95	98, NT
Processor (CPU)	Pentium 200 Mhz	Pentium II 300 MHz
System memory (RAM)	32 MB	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	210 MB	500 MB
Video card (GPU)	4 MB of VRAM DirectX 6.1 compatible	8 MB of VRAM DirectX 6.1 compatible

References

[FPS_cap-1] 1.0 ^1.1 http://www.descent3.com/patch/Readme_14.txt

[2] Linux | Steam Community

[3] Descent 1+2 & Descent 3 - Removed From Sale, page 8 - Forum - GOG.com

[4] Descent3 | WSGF

[5] Games List - All Titles supporting 3D Audio

[6] Aureal A3D Central - Frequently Asked Questions - General

[7] Descent 3 readme

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

Developers

	Outrage Entertainment
Linux	Loki Software
Publishers
	Interplay Entertainment
Engines
	Fusion
Release dates
Windows	June 11, 1999
Mac OS	November 24, 1999
Linux	1999