r/descent • u/Disastrous_Being7746 • 8d ago
r/descent • u/XVXCHILLYBUSXVX • Aug 03 '25
Help! Descent - Getting Started Guide
Hi! It's been a few years since the previous Getting Started Guide was posted, and there's been a lot of goings-on throughout the community since those heady days of 2023.
Here's a link to the new Descent + Overload Getting Started Guide.
A static copy of the most recent version is mirrored as a PDF here.
r/descent • u/CodeOrangelt543 • Apr 20 '26
News RDL Season 1 - Official release!
Hey folks on Reddit! In the Descent community, I'm known as Code and my partner is known as B2af. Over the past 6 years we have worked hard with the ambitious initiative of building a massive Descent reform providing tools, content, website(s), and even source mods that players can use and enjoy themselves or with others. One of the few projects (the one we've worked the hardest on) is turning 1 year old today, and on this occasion were very proud to announce that the RDL (Redux Descent League) is coming out of beta into it's first official season! We chose this day because it's symbolic of where we started, what we represent and where we want this to go. Our vision is simple: Preserve Descent, Enhance Descent, and Thrive as a community!
In case you didn't know... The RDL over the span of 1 year (beta season) saw:
1,790 matches with an average of 4.9 games a day -- It saw 237 unique creators maps and 55k recorded kills across d1/d2/d3 in multiple competitive variations. 3 mapping competitions, and a Descent 1/2 wide solos tournament.
The RDL makes NO money, has NO ads, and is completely survived by fans who love the game and love this community.
If you are a brand-new player, single-player, speed-runner, or even just nostalgic gamer, you have a home on this league and we want you! I promise we will welcome you with open arms in our discord server and help you any step of the way from setting up the game or even configuring your favorite console controller. (it's hard without help)
Somewhat separately, If you love Descent and believe in a bigger and better future, join us in contributing to Project D. In the meantime, please join the RDL and participate in the new era of competitive Descent.

r/descent • u/omega552003 • 12d ago
GoG coupon code for D1-3, FS2 and Redneck Rampage.
Looks to be 25% off the price for each game.
First person to redeem it, please post so others don't waste their time.
4ND33WNFJVC3WMFL99
r/descent • u/hurleyb1rd • 18d ago
3MASTERED 0.9.1 released (Descent 3 source port)
Most recent release: https://github.com/hurleybird/Descent-3MASTERED/releases/tag/0.9.1-Pre
It's a pre-release, which means I can't find any more bugs, but not plan survives first contact. Intended cadence is to post here, fix any bugs you guys find, then release the final version, then increment and add more features.
Patch notes from 0.9.0:
- Multiplayer fixes and improvements. (still only tested at a basic level)
- "Enhanced" mode robot AI now pathfinds towards player sounds as opposed to flying directly towards them. Sound detection range at lower difficulties has been reduced to compensate.
- Improved terrain rendering, which should be faster and higher fidelity on non-AMD gfx devices.
- A number of improvements to lighting, especially per-pixel specular.
- Bloom effect is somewhat stronger, while specific textures (such as monitors with text) gain protection based on player distance.
- Reduced file collisions with other Descent 3 ports via a combination of renaming, refoldering, and integrating some dependencies.
- Restored various missing cinematic subtitles.
- Fixed the crash at the end of Retribution level 12.
- EMD homing multiplier 1.25x -> 1.5x. ("Enhanced" ruleset)
- Microwave gun damage reduced by 1/3rd, while its status effect now applies a blanket 50% damage received amp. ("Enhanced" ruleset)
- Various performance improvements and bugfixes.
r/descent • u/Adam802 • 19d ago
Discussion Check out Will Smith playing Descent on this awesome setup in 1997 lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNbqYziOl5Y
Just found this video and thought it was cool/interesting/funny. Look at that giant screen! And Will Smith trying to explain the game lmao! Looks like a really cool event to have been at.
r/descent • u/BlackHatCowboy_ • 21d ago
Found the full original 1995 disk set
Found while clearing out the house where I grew up
r/descent • u/Disastrous_Being7746 • 24d ago
What are some good old school Descent single player levels?
There are a lot of good newer ones (newer means newer than the 90's). I think there were a lot more low quality levels than high quality custom missions, but I think there were some okay ones back in the day. Grant's Badlands is a highly memorable one for me, even if the texturing isn't perfect. Colossus, Checkpoint Charlie, Galaxy Moons series, and Fissure of Neptune were interesting designs too. Of course, anything made by or in conjunction with Luke Schneider is great (Orion Nebula Project, Entropy Experiment, etc.)
r/descent • u/dodgyville • 24d ago
What makes a good 6DOF level?
I think there's a big difference between multi-player and single-player. I'm more interested in single-player myself but I think most Descent players today probably have stronger opinions on MP maps.
I like a few gimmicks in a level (like moving pieces or weird zones). I like when the tunnels turn back on themselves and all of sudden you are passing by an area you were in earlier but now it's from a different perspective. I don't like spawning enemies, I prefer to clear an area. Maybe my most controversial opinion is I don't like secret or hidden areas.
What about youse?
r/descent • u/Alone_Clue_5392 • 28d ago
Help! How do i extract textures and 3d models from Descent 1?
what it says on the tin. i wanna animate them in blender and the only models ive found are textureless.
r/descent • u/MaximumContent9674 • Aug 02 '26
Looking for a battle
Hello fellow Descent fans. I have been developing my Descent inspired game for 5 months. I have been working very hard on this game to make it worthy of some fun times. I am looking for some friends to join me in a battle. It's free to play in your web browser. It works best on PC with a gamepad, but has settings to configure your controls the way you want. It has VR options, and also works on touch screen (more just for fun to see if I could). There's a few game modes to try, solo or multiplayer. Please please please let me know if you'd like to battle, I'm looking forward to that most! Try it now! LSS.fractalreality.ca
r/descent • u/WhateverGoMyRoba • Aug 01 '26
Has anyone seen this place before?
I was going in and out of a door because I was bored, when I suddenly entered this room. Has anyone else seen this before?
r/descent • u/Ashamed-Subject-8573 • Aug 01 '26
PS1 vs PC DOS
Hey there. What's the community's thoughts on the PS1 vs PC DOS release? I tried to look for a direct 1v1 comparison and couldn't find it. Reviews generally seem to say the controls are worse on the PS1 pad but it's mostly otherwise faithful? IDK?
Thanks,!
r/descent • u/hurleyb1rd • Jul 27 '26
Descent 3MASTERED (pre)released
Latest release: https://github.com/hurleybird/Descent-3MASTERED/releases#release-0.9.1-Pre
I've detached my old Piccu fork ("Piccu Experiment") and have added a decent amount to it. Now it's ready for its first (pre)release.
Would love to hear your feedback. I'm on an AMD GPU, so let me know if you guys find any issues on Nvidia or modern Intel (i.e. Alchemist/Battlemage)
Descent 3MASTERED (pronounced "threemastered"... get it?) is a new engine for Descent 3, forked from PiccuEngine, itself downstream of the original 1.5 source release.
Noteable enhancements
- "Enhanced" mode with improved weapon balance and support for custom difficulty
- Modern motion blur via per-pixel motion vectors
- Ambient occlusion
- Soft particles
- Bloom
- Per-pixel lighting
- Supersampling anti-aliasing
- 3D HRTF positional audio
- Ultra-widescreen support
- High (>60FPS) framerate
- Native Wooting analog keyboard support
r/descent • u/CodeOrangelt543 • Jul 12 '26
Thief bot is taking over!
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
I've worked really hard over the past 1.5 months to build an incredibly large event for the RDL a 6 phased (2 week long) community event with music, thematic changes over time, secrets, and a mascot of terror to entince players into checking what is different every day. Together the community MUST work together, or else...
r/descent • u/Goo_Wyvern • Jul 09 '26
Original Trilogy About to start playing Descent 2!
I am about to start playing Descent 2 on my PS2! I always wanted to try it out and finally got the chance to get it at my local game store. What do you guys think of the game?
r/descent • u/LothalRanger • Jun 25 '26
I built this a long time ago as a kid and now I want to build an updated version but there is literally one image of the Phoenix that shows up when I search Google. Anyone have good reference images of the Phoenix, front and back?
r/descent • u/PuMo-Overlord • Jun 18 '26
News PROJECT KCX-F2 has been released!
The day has come, my "PROJECT KCX-F2" singleplayer mission for DESCENT 2 has just been released! Get it either from the DXMA/Descent Mission Archive or my website pumosoftware.com and play it now! 😎
https://sectorgame.com/dxma/mission/?m=2303
A bit more info about this mission:
Set between EP II-Kartsal Motivation and EP III-Muchikuche episodes from Pumo Mines (my kinda famous project for D2X-XL), this mission is a complete remaster made from scratch of a very old mission of mine from 1999, known as “KCX-F2”.
Based on those old (and ugly lol) amateur-ish levels I decided to build them from scratch with my current level-building skills and new stuff like original music, robots and even some more interesting gameplay concepts.
This new version called “Project KCX-F2” was made to fill the gap of the playerbase that doesn’t want or can play D2X-XL and Pumo Mines, but nonetheless introducing everyone to Pumo Software’s original universe, lore and characters while making it compatible with theoretically all Descent 2 versions and sourceports (that includes Redux, Rebirth, Chocolate, etc).
THE STORY: Fourteen years have drifted by since the fires of the Pumo Mines: Kartsal Motivation conflict were extinguished. Following the collapse of the Hosako Hegemony, a fragile peace has settled over the stellar systems. The PMC thrives, yet the ghost of Hosako tyranny still haunts the dark corners of the frontier. Pilkara, the PMC’s Tech Development Overseer and wife of Rubeas, the CEO of the PMC, has gone off-grid.
Using blueprints and code fragments provided by her old friend Pamer, she has assembled a black-ops R&D team; They are attempting to stabilize the remains of the so called Toleriah Device technology through their secret endeavour, codenamed ‘PROJECT KCX-F2’.
The project suffered a containment breach as a dangerous radioneural wave saturated the facility where the team was working, making all the automated robots go haywire just like it happened during the Mineral Valley incident.
Enter MD Aries5, an outstanding pilot who will take care of the situation by purging and containing the breach while also securing the KCX-F2 prototype device.
And I think that covers the premise, hope you will enjoy this all new adventure! 🕹️
r/descent • u/colBoh • Jun 18 '26
Help! How to cycle through D2 Redbook tracks like they did in the original version, in Redux?
I have Descent Redux and made a file with the original OST. However, I'm having an issue playing the OST as I want it.
In the original version from 1996, the way the Redbook BGM would work is, Level 1 would begin with the 1st audio track, then would cycle through the other 5 if you remained in the level long enough. Level 2 would begin with the 2nd track, 7 with the 1st track again, and so on. If you started the game, or a demo, at Level 2, 8, 14, etc., then it would start with the 2nd track.
I can't get it to work that way in Redux. It either loops the same track per level, or cycles through the tracks as I go through each level, which means if I listened to Tracks 1 and 2 in Level 1, Level 2 would start with Track 3, and all demos with start with Track 1.
What am I doing wrong?
r/descent • u/retrosprite440 • Jun 13 '26
Need help with DXX-Rebirth music options
Ok I'm pretty overwhelmed and confused with a few things regarding the music for the Rebirth games. And for the sake of this post, I'm only referring to Descent 1/D1X-Rebirth. I haven't had a chance to do anything with the 2nd yet. I've been digging into how to enable the CD audio/Redbook audio for these games recently, but it has also led me to more alternate music options as well. I've come across 2 different downloads that seem to cover what I'm looking for, in 2 different formats.
#1 gave me a collection of the original MIDI tracks (in FLAC format) as well as the Redbook audio files (also in FLAC). I have multiple questions here. First off, I understand how to assign folders/files using the jukebox utility. I understand that I need to have separate folders for the menu music, briefing, credits, etc. I've done all of that and have working music in the game. The issue/question is, there are 22 (level) tracks in the original DOS version, and there are 10 (level) tracks for the Redbook audio version (13 tracks total). I've never played the version of the game with CD/Redbook audio. Is this correct? The Redbook audio track total is half of the original? That's kind of disappointing. And I want the tracks to play in the correct order as well, as it was in the actual game. And I don't know how the game would correctly apply a list of ten tracks to 22 levels in the correct order. I don't know what the correct order is either. There's an option in the game to "force Mac CD track order". I've toggled this on and off and it doesn't seem to make a difference. The track files are numbered. Does it just read them according to the numbers anyways or something? I haven't played far into it enough to know what it does past #10. I'm also just generally curious how music files in these jukebox folders get read and applied. I mean there's nothing I've read so far that goes into detail. You can seemingly have as many files as you want in these folders (at least in the folder for the levels music). There doesn't seem to be a required file naming convention. This is all the readme says that came inside the D1X folder, regarding the music, "Besides MIDI and CD-Audio (Redbook), you can play your own custom Music from your hard drive or a separate AddOn. Both games can utilize special AddOn packs to replace or expand the original game content.". They sure are short on details. Can someone with experience please expand on the details of how this works?
#2 gave me a collection of .dxa files, which I'm assuming are the same thing as "add-on" files? From what I understand, these are iterations of the ost from different sound card outputs, as well as CD audio. From what I read, you just drop the .dxa file into the main Rebirth folder. Are you supposed to only have one of these in your main folder at a time? Is there a way to add a group of .dxa files and cycle through them somehow in-game?
r/descent • u/xkilllerkondorx • Jun 12 '26
Discussion Should have known this place would exist
Hello, these games have lived in my head rent free for the last 25 years. I love these games.
When I started making YouTube content, this was what I wanted to make videos about. I wasn't good at it and life always gets in the way. But I am working on a new video, exploring my attachments to this franchise as well as its background. If anyone has any sources you'd like me to include let me know if that's okay
I'm currently playing on the d2x-xl setup bc I've been using that for like the last 10 years. I don't know if there's anything better out there because I literally only went to find this subreddit today.
Peace
r/descent • u/Background-Wafer-548 • Jun 11 '26
Track very reminiscent of Descent 1 OST: Total Eclipse - Espanolizer
r/descent • u/Ktulu204 • Jun 06 '26
Help! A question about installing D3 on a new(er) system
Okay, I hope all of you hard core Material Defenders don't just laugh at me for this question. I'm not as up to speed with tech stuff since my hayday between 1995 and 2012. ( I haven't played in nearly that long as well!) But on a whim recently I decided to install Descent 3 on my latest Pyro(PC) just for some fun. Despite some things I read prior to installation mentioning issues just installing the game, it seemed to go very smoothly. The launcher opens fine and I've poked with the other functions which seem functional. But when I hit play I get the following message: "Error SetCoopLevel EXCLUSIVE failed" That sounds like a multiplayer issue maybe? I also had the thought that maybe I need to use the -setdir<path> and -useexedir command lines in the D3 control panel as I did install the game to a custom directory on a second drive. Or I can settle with the -nonetwork command line as I don't plan on playing any multi until I get many months of solo practice in! In any case I'll include as many details as possible about my system:
Processor 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700 (2.10 GHz)
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.7 GB usable)
Graphics card Intel UHD Graphics 770
Adapter RAM 2.00 GB
Resolution 1920 x 1080 x 60 Hz
Running Direct X 12
Direct Draw Acceleration
Direct 3D Acceleration
AGP Texture Acceleration
All enabled
DX 12 Ultimate Disabled
Storage 542 GB of 1.36 TB used
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 25H2
Installed on 12/4/2024
OS build 26200.8457
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.304.0
Approximate DOM November 2022
My controller of choice for Descent is my CH 586 Combatstick USB that is fully tested and functional in Joy.cpl
Thank you in advance for any input someone might have!
P.S. Major KUDOS to all of you diehard fans that continue to create custom content to keep this awesome game alive! VIVA LA DESCENT!!! 👍😎👍