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Descent II

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Descent II
Descent II cover
Developers
Parallax Software
Mac OS (Classic) Interplay Entertainment
Publishers
Interplay Entertainment
Release dates
DOS March 13, 1996[1]
Windows March 13, 1996[1]
Mac OS (Classic) 1997
Windows (DOSBox) July 22, 2008
macOS (OS X) (DOSBox) October 25, 2012[2]
Linux (DOSBox) Unknown
Reception
Metacritic 89
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
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 II on HowLongToBeat
Descent II on IGDB
Descent II on MobyGames
Descent II on Wikipedia
Descent
Descent 1995
Descent II 1996
Descent 3 1999
Descent (upcoming) TBA

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

Key points

Engine is open source with modern multi-platform ports available. It is highly recommended to use either D2X-Rebirth or D2X-XL.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
Descent II source code download page

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
Startup disc check
DOS
Windows
Mac OS
Epic Games Store
DRM details are not known
Windows
macOS (OS X)
GOG.com
DRM-free
DOS version pre-packaged with DOSBox.[3]
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Steam
Icon overlay.png
DOS version pre-packaged with DOSBox.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
A demo version is available from Archive.org.

Version differences

The Infinite Abyss and Definitive Collection have slightly remixed versions of the game's soundtrack.[4]

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Vertigo Series
DOS

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest official patch 1.2 (DOS, Mac, Win95/98), Rendition Vérité patch (requires patch 1.2) and S3 ViRGE patch are available at soggi.org.
The 3dfx-patch Release 6 is available at soggi.org.
Unofficial Unauthorized D2 Sound Patch - Corrects D1 robot sounds in D2.
Descent 2 DOS 3dfx modded-patch v1.06b that has no cd and no ship bobbing (ship bobbing speed is tied to framerate and is too fast on modern systems with original code) available at [1] for DOSBOX Enhanced Community Edition [2]

Source ports

This is a selective list of source ports available for Descent II. These ports are major upgrades to the game and will improve almost all aspects of the game. Most notably, these ports support Windows, OS X, and Linux natively without the need for DOSBox.
Name Description
D2X-Rebirth Focused mostly on maintaining original gameplay and being authentic. Feature List
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
D2X-XL Focused mostly on graphical and gameplay improvements. Changelog/Feature List
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
DXX-Retro Based on DXX-Rebirth. Focused mostly on improving multiplayer. Source & Changelog
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Project D2X Very old source port, hasn't been updated in a long time. This project was the base for DXX-Rebirth & XL
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
DOS

Descent: Maximum

Descent: Maximum was the PlayStation version of Descent II. An unofficial total conversion can be downloaded here.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
DOS
Windows <path-to-game>\[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
DOS
Windows <path-to-game>\[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

Video

In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.
In-game screen resolution settings.
In-game screen resolution settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Multi-monitor
Use D2X-Rebirth (D2X-XL has incorrect scaling).
Ultra-widescreen
Use D2X-Rebirth (D2X-XL has incorrect scaling).
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
For DOSBox toggle with Alt+ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
A source port is required. See Source ports.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
A source port is required. See Source ports.
60 FPS
120+ FPS
A source port is required. See Source ports.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Available through D2X-XL
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file.
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio
Choice of Red Book or MIDI music (configured with SETUP.EXE).
General MIDI audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Russian
Fan translation by users site «Descent2.ru»

Network

Multiplayer types

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

Connection types

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Native 3D
Use D2X-XL (anaglyph, 3D TV).[5]
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Descent 1 - 2 (DXX-Rebirth) [OpenGL].
vorpX
G3D
Officially supported game through D2X-XL, see official vorpx game list.
Headsets
SteamVR
This game might be playable with the Revive Compatibility Layer (compatibility list).
Oculus VR (LibOVR)
Use D2X-XL.[5]
Windows Mixed Reality
This game might be playable with the Revive Compatibility Layer.
Forte VFX1
Said to have added support with the game's v1.1 patch.[6] May also work with v1.2, though this has not been confirmed. Unknown if any source ports support the headset.
Devices
Tracked motion controllers
Traditional controller
See Input for details.
Keyboard/Mouse
Play area
Seated
Standing
Room-scale

Other information

Also supported the now antiquated RRedline graphics API for Rendition Redline cards.
Also supported the now antiquated S3D graphics API for S3 ViRGE cards.
Also supported the antiquated QuickDraw 3D/RAVE API on the classic Mac OS.

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DirectDraw 2.1 Requires the Windows 95/98 patch.
OpenGL 1.0 Requires a source port.
Glide
Requires an official patch from interplay. Also requires a fork of DOSBox with Glide support if being played in DOSBox.
Software renderer
Default mode in source ports and only mode without graphics patches from interplay
DOS video modes VGA, SVGA
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bitARM Notes
Windows
64-bit requires a source port.
macOS (OS X)
OS X support requires a source port.
Linux
Requires a source port.
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Human Machine Interface (HMI) audio drivers

System requirements

DOS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 5.0
Processor (CPU) Intel 486DX 50 MHz
System memory (RAM) 8 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 50 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA video card
Sound (audio device)
Mac OS
Minimum
Operating system (OS) System 7 (classic)
Processor (CPU) PowerPC 601 90 MHz
System memory (RAM) 8 MB (3 can be virtual memory)
Hard disk drive (HDD) 18 MB
Video card (GPU) 640x480 display with 256 colors
Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel 486DX 50 MHz
System memory (RAM) 16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 700 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA video card
macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.6.8 "Snow Leopard" (runs in DOSBox)
Processor (CPU) Intel Core Duo 2 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU) 64 MB of VRAM
Supported Sound Cards: Sound Blaster (Pro, 16, AWE32); Media Vision Pro-Audio Spectrum (Plus, 16, Studio); Gravis Ultrasound/Max; Roland SCC-1 (MIDI music only)


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 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).
  2. 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data.

References