Descent 3

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		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.
GOG.com		Descent 3 + Mercenary. Comes pre-configured with nGlide.
Steam		Descent 3 + Mercenary.^[2] Linux and macOS versions are enhanced ports.^[1]

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

Essential improvements

Patches

Latest patches for every game version available here

Skip launcher

Launch the game with `-launched` parameter^[2]

Skip intro videos

Launch the game with `-nointro` parameter^[2]

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.

Detail settings.

Graphics feature	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;^[3] 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^[4]^[5]

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.
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)
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.

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

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^[6] Correct support for the latter requires latest patch^[7]

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

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

Issues fixed

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

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

For the GOG.com version, use the Windows 8.1 mouse lag fix installer from the game library.

Install mouse fix^{[citation needed]}
Install the Descent 3 mouse fix.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	6
OpenGL	1.2
Glide	3

Executable	PPC	16-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^[8]

Disable Windows 95 compatibility (Steam)

Disable Windows 95 compatibility^[2]

Go to <path-to-game> and edit descent3install.vdf with a text editor.

Replace the install script with:

installscript"
{
	"firewall"
	{
		"Descent 3"		"%INSTALLDIR%\main.exe"
	}
}
"kvsignatures"
{
	"installscript"		"ae6f36bbf6850d924011583c9a45f397d815843cb8aa9e03b04367c4563bebd81dc1104a1b27bda3699bff37cbcda2c2277b94558559994a055fe20da5d65710611ed3335789a2ecc6210350c503dfa1b366b4a6a8d3807e8351e27f698df33c4b2d6ee3b3eeec1c65b699efb437b15c4dc2cd726a0b9c1eae6d7f7855469b0f"
}

Save the changes.
Right click on descent 3.exe and choose properties.
In Compatibility tab disable Run this program in compatibility mode with and click OK.
Right click on main.exe and choose properties.
In Compatibility tab disable Run this program in compatibility mode with and click OK.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95	98, NT
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 200 MHz	Intel 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

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

↑ Applications writing to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE will be redirected to other locations based on various criterias, see the glossary page for more details.
↑ 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

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 Project: Descent 3 - Ryan C. Gordon on Patreon
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 Verified by User:Suicide_machine on 2017-12-16
↑ http://www.descent3.com/patch/Readme_14.txt
↑ Descent3 | WSGF
↑ Verified by User:SonicWind149 on 2021-11-13
↑ Games List - All Titles supporting 3D Audio - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Aureal A3D Central - Frequently Asked Questions - General
↑ Descent 3 readme

[HKLM-3] Applications writing to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE will be redirected to other locations based on various criterias, see the glossary page for more details.

[gamedir-4] 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).

[RCG2020Ports-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 Project: Descent 3 - Ryan C. Gordon on Patreon

[Sui-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 Verified by User:Suicide_machine on 2017-12-16

[FPS_cap-5] ttp://www.descent3.com/patch/Readme_14.txt

[6] Descent3 | WSGF

[SW149-7] Verified by User:SonicWind149 on 2021-11-13

[8] Games List - All Titles supporting 3D Audio - last accessed on May 2023

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

[10] Descent 3 readme

[1]

[2]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

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 11, 1999
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