Descent 3

Descent 3

Developers
	Outrage Entertainment
Linux	Loki Software
Mac OS (Classic)	Graphsim Entertainment
Linux	Ryan C. Gordon
macOS (OS X)	Ryan C. Gordon
Publishers
	Interplay Entertainment
Re-release	Sold Out Software
Engines
	Fusion
Release dates
Windows	June 17, 1999
Mac OS (Classic)	November 23, 1999
Linux	August 9, 2000
macOS (OS X)	January 31, 2020
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
Descent	1995
Descent II	1996
Descent 3	1999
Descent (cancelled) renamed to S.T.F.U (Ships That Fight Underground)	TBA

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

The game's source code was released on GitHub by Kevin Bentley, one of the game's programmers, on April 16, 2024. It includes changes from the unreleased v1.5 patch. This code would be built upon by the community to create a finished version of the patch, released on August 16 of the same year.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Official GitHub source code repository

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. Linux and macOS versions are enhanced ports.

Demo versions

Two demo versions were released.

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

Skip intro videos

Launch the game with -nointro parameter

Patch 1.5

A community port of the game made from Descent 3's previously-unreleased 1.5 patch, featuring 64-bit clients and various other modernizations and fixes to the game's code.

Piccu Engine

A source port built off of the 1.5 patch that makes several more enhancements to the game, including restoration of missing features in the OpenGL renderer, native widescreen support, adjustable FOV that is automatically expanded for widescreen, easy switching between fullscreen and windowed modes, bug fixes, and more.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Outrage\Descent3\
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\
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	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution or use Piccu Engine.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Use Piccu Engine and set the FOV option to your liking in the Video menu in Options. Automatically expands for widescreen.
Windowed		See Disable Windows 95 compatibility (Steam) and use dgVoodoo 2, D3DWindower, or Piccu Engine.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Enabled by default. Set in Options, Video.
60 FPS		50 FPS default cap; 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.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Widescreen resolution

Add resolution switches

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. 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. Notes Piccu Engine natively supports widescreen resolutions, and the desired resolution can be found under Change... in the Video menu in Options. 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 sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
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

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound and Music.
Surround sound		Via A3D 2.0 and DirectSound3D, or OpenAL through Piccu Engine.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 2, DirectSound3D, A3D 2.0 Correct support for the latter requires latest patch

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 Parallax Online service has been shut down. However, a revival of the service can be accessed through the 1.5 Patch or for 1.4 users, by editing the hosts file. Account creation is required to play with this method.

Connect to Parallax Online with Version 1.4

Install the PXO Revival Patch
Make a PXO account. Download the PXO Revival patch. Extract the ZIP and place Parallax Online.d3c in the \online folder in your Descent 3 directory, replacing the old version. Run the game and log in.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated		Launch MAIN.EXE from the command line with -dedicated Dedicated.cfg as the parameters.
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	2092
UDP	2092

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

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

For some users, the game's mouse movement may be laggy or stuttery.

Install DirectInput 1-7 to 8 Wrapper
Install the DirectInput 1-7 to 8 Wrapper.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	6
OpenGL	1.2
Glide	3

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	ARM	Notes
Windows						A 64-bit version compatible with ARM is available with Patch 1.5.
macOS (OS X)						An ARM version is available with Patch 1.5.
Linux
Mac OS (Classic)

Patch 1.5 drops support for 32-bit systems.

Disable motion blur

Launch the game with -nomotionblur parameter

Disable Windows 95 compatibility (Steam)

Disable Windows 95 compatibility

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

Mac OS (Classic)

macOS (OS X)

Linux

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
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	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
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	350 MB
Video card (GPU)	6 MB of VRAM