This is the Descent 3 open source engine, licensed under GPL-3.0. It includes the '1.5' patch written by Kevin Bentley and Jeff Slutter several years ago and brought to a stable condition by the Descent community.

In order to use this, you must provide your own game files. See the Usage section for details.

Version 1.5 Notes

There is no "release" yet. The current milestone is "1.5 Stable", which is meant to more or less be Descent 3 as it might have been if the 1.5 patch had made it to retail years ago. Artifacts can be downloaded from the Actions tab. The milestone needs testing on all platforms. Please report issues when found.

Usage

Purchase Descent 3 from a reputable source and install it, then replace the main binary with the newly built Descent3 binary under ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/Descent3/*/Descent3[.exe]. See your platform below:

Windows

If still using the Descent 3 launcher, copy your Descent3.exe binary to your install folder and rename it main.exe (back up your old one). Otherwise, drop in Descent3.exe and play!

MacOS

Right-click Descent3.app, click Show Package Contents. Back up your Descent3 binary and drop your built Descent3 binary into the install (Contents/MacOS) folder.

Linux

Back up your Descent3 binary and drop your built Descent3 binary into the install folder.

Building

Build steps below assume you have already cloned the repository and entered it locally.

Building - Windows

Requires Visual Studio 2022 and C++ Tools (cmake and vcpkg)

Install and configure vcpkg:

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd vcpkg && bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
setx VCPKG_ROOT="C:\path\to\vcpkg"
setx PATH=%VCPKG_ROOT%;%PATH%

Build Descent 3:

cmake --preset win -D ENABLE_LOGGER=[ON|OFF]
cmake --build --preset win --config [Debug|Release]

Building - MacOS

brew bundle install
cmake --preset mac -D ENABLE_LOGGER=[ON|OFF]
cmake --build --preset mac --config [Debug|Release]

Building - Linux (Ubuntu)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends ninja-build cmake g++ libsdl1.2-dev libsdl-image1.2-dev libncurses-dev zlib1g-dev libspdlog-dev
cmake --preset linux -D ENABLE_LOGGER=[ON|OFF]
cmake --build --preset linux --config [Debug|Release]

Building - Linux (Fedora)

sudo dnf update --refresh
sudo dnf install -y ninja-build cmake gcc-c++ SDL-devel SDL_image-devel ncurses-devel zlib-devel spdlog-devel
cmake --preset linux -D ENABLE_LOGGER=[ON|OFF]
cmake --build --preset linux --config [Debug|Release]

Contributing

Anyone can contribute! We have an active Discord presence at Descent Developer Network. If you are interested in maintaining the project on a regular basis, please contact Kevin Bentley.