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Descent 3

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Descent 3
Descent 3 cover
Developers
Outrage Entertainment
Linux Loki Software
Mac OS (Classic) Graphsim Entertainment
Linux Ryan C. Gordon[1]
macOS (OS X) Ryan C. Gordon[1]
Publishers
Interplay Entertainment
Re-release Sold Out Software
Engines
Fusion
Release dates
Windows June 17, 1999[2]
Mac OS (Classic) November 17, 1999
Linux July 2000
macOS (OS X) January 31, 2020[1]
Reception
Metacritic 89
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, FPS, Shooter, Vehicle combat
Vehicles Space flight
Art styles Realistic
Themes Sci-fi
Series Descent
Descent 3 on HowLongToBeat
Descent 3 on IGDB
Descent 3 guide on StrategyWiki
Descent 3 on MobyGames
Descent 3 on Wikipedia
Descent
Descent 1995
Descent II 1996
Descent 3 1999
Descent (upcoming) TBA

Descent 3 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action, FPS, shooter and vehicle combat game in the Descent series.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
Oversized DRM in US release (lead-out area shortened and used for data, to prevent most contemporary CD-RW drives from copying the method), LaserLock DRM in European release. Can be removed using an officially sanctioned no-CD patch.
Windows
Mac OS
Linux
GOG.com
DRM-free
Descent 3 + Mercenary.
Comes pre-configured with nGlide.
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Descent 3 + Mercenary.[3]
Linux and macOS versions are enhanced ports.[1]
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Two demo versions were released
The source code of the game was never released, unlike the other titles in the series.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Mercenary
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

Latest patches for every game version available here

Skip launcher

Launch the game with -launched parameter[3]

Skip intro videos

Launch the game with -nointro parameter[3]

InjectD3

An injector program that patches the game with fixes and changes, including windowed and borderless fullscreen modes, new mouse code, OpenAL support, and the ability to change the field of view.
In early development.
Currently only patches the OpenGL renderer.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Outrage\Descent3\[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\savegame\[Note 2]
Mac OS (Classic)
Linux
*.plt in the installation folder stores pilot-related settings.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings.
Video settings.
Detail settings.
Detail settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Use InjectD3 and set the field of view option to your liking in InjectD3Configuration.exe.
Windowed
See Disable Windows 95 compatibility (Steam) and use dgVoodoo 2, D3DWindower, or InjectD3.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Use InjectD3 and set the screen mode option to "NewFullscreen" in InjectD3Configuration.exe.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Use InjectD3 and set the Multisampling option above 1 in InjectD3Configuration.exe.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Enabled by default. Set in Options, Video.
60 FPS
50 FPS default cap;[4] use the command line arguments -framecap 60
120+ FPS
Use -framecap X command line arguments with the desired cap.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Widescreen resolution

Add resolution switches[5][6]
  1. Go to the shortcut/launcher properties:
    • If skipping the launcher, right-click the MAIN.EXE shortcut and choose Properties.
    • If using the launcher, run it and go to Setup, Misc.
    • If using InjectD3, open InjectD3Configuration.exe.
  2. Add the desired resolution in the following format to the applicable command line arguments field: -width 1920 -height 1080 -aspect 1.78
    • -aspect should be 1.78 for 16:9 or 1.6 for 16:10 (calculate by dividing width by height)
  3. Click OK to save the changes.
    • Additionally, for InjectD3, launch the game from InjectD3Configuration.exe, as the arguments will only work if the game is launched from there.

Notes

If the output is pillarboxed in-game, use the key to the left of ← Backspace to zoom in.
Resolutions higher than 2048 pixels on either axis will crash the game; use dgVoodoo 2 to remove resolution limits.

Input

Keyboard and mouse State 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.
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
PlayStation controllers
Generic/other controllers
Additional information
Button prompts Input settings icon - Generic Controller.svg
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State 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[7]
Correct support for the latter requires latest patch[8]

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
German
Retail only; download for digital releases (does not affect Mercenary)
Polish
Only available in Polish retail release. Details 'Mercenary' expansion pack was never translated.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
16 Co-op, Versus
Online play
16 Co-op, Versus
The official HEAT service has been shut down.

Connection types

Issues fixed

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

Delete .lock file[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\custom\cache.
  2. Delete .lock
  3. The game should now start normally.

Mouse movement issues on Windows 8.1

For the GOG.com version, use the Windows 8.1 mouse lag fix installer from the game library.
Install mouse fix[citation needed]
  1. Install the Descent 3 mouse fix.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 6
OpenGL 1.2
Glide 3
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Mac OS (Classic)
The 64-bit executables for OS X and Linux are currently only available for the enhanced Steam ports, and there are no plans for a Windows release of said port.[1]

Disable motion blur

Launch the game with -nomotionblur parameter[9]

Disable Windows 95 compatibility (Steam)

Disable Windows 95 compatibility[3]
  1. Go to <path-to-game> and edit descent3install.vdf with a text editor.
  2. Replace the install script with:
    installscript"
    {
    	"firewall"
    	{
    		"Descent 3"		"%INSTALLDIR%\main.exe"
    	}
    }
    "kvsignatures"
    {
    	"installscript"		"ae6f36bbf6850d924011583c9a45f397d815843cb8aa9e03b04367c4563bebd81dc1104a1b27bda3699bff37cbcda2c2277b94558559994a055fe20da5d65710611ed3335789a2ecc6210350c503dfa1b366b4a6a8d3807e8351e27f698df33c4b2d6ee3b3eeec1c65b699efb437b15c4dc2cd726a0b9c1eae6d7f7855469b0f"
    }
  3. Save the changes.
  4. Right click on descent 3.exe and choose properties.
  5. In Compatibility tab disable Run this program in compatibility mode with and click OK.
  6. Right click on main.exe and choose properties.
  7. In Compatibility tab disable Run this program in compatibility mode with and click OK.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 200 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 210 MB
Video card (GPU) 4 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6.1 compatible
Mac OS
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 7.5
Processor (CPU) PowerPC 604e
System memory (RAM) 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 350 MB
Video card (GPU) 6 MB of VRAM


Notes

  1. Applications writing to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE will be redirected to other locations based on various criterias, see the glossary page for more details.
  2. When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References