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Descent 3

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Descent 3
Descent 3 cover
Developers
Outrage Entertainment|Outrage Games|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
Engines
Fusion
Release dates
Windows June 11, 1999
Mac OS (Classic) November 17, 1999
Linux July 2000
macOS (OS X) January 31, 2020[1]
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

Key points

Frame rate is capped at 50 FPS;[2] use command line arguments -framecap X with the cap you want.

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)
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 all other titles in the series.

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]

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 settings

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

Template:Video settings

Widescreen resolution

Add resolution switches[4]
  1. 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.
  2. 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 (calculate by dividing width by height)
  3. 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.
Resolutions higher than 2048 pixels on either axis will crash the game; use dgVoodoo 2 to remove resolution limits.

Input settings

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

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

Network

Multiplayer types

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

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 on the My Games page.
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[5]

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

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