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

1. Make sure that you have a copy of Descent 3. You can purchase a copy of Descent 3 from GOG or Steam.

2. Install Descent 3.

   • Note for Steam users: If you own Descent 3 on Steam, then it’s recommended that you install the Windows version of the game even if you’re running macOS or Linux, otherwise movies will not work due to current lack of Ogv support. You can use either Steam Play or SteamCMD to install the Windows version of the game on macOS or Linux.

   • Note for non-Windows users: If you have the Windows version of the game on CDs but you don’t want to use Windows to install them, then you can follow these instructions:

     How to install the Windows Dual-Jewel version of Descent 3 in Wine

     1. Make sure that you have Wine installed.
     2. (Recommended) Run winecfg and make sure that “Emulate a virtual desktop” is enabled.

     3. (Optional) Determine if you’re going to be affected by a bug with Descent 3’s installer, and potentially apply a workaround:

        1. Download Environment Size Checker.
        2. Run wine environment-size-checker.exe.
        3. If that program tells you that your environment is more than 32,724 bytes large, then you’ll need to unset or shorten environment variables before running Descent 3’s installer. If you don’t, then the installer will page fault.

     4. Install Descent 3:

        1. Insert disc 1.
        2. Make sure that disc 1 is mounted.
        3. Determine which drive letter Wine is using for your CD drive. (Hint: try running wine explorer).
        4. Run wine '<drive-letter>:\Setup.exe'.
        5. Follow the installation wizard’s instructions until it asks you to choose a “Setup Type”.
        6. Select the “Full” Setup Type, then click “Next”.
        7. Continue following the installation wizard’s instructions until it asks you to insert disc 2.

        8. Switch to disc 2:

           • Run wine eject <drive-letter>:.
           • Make sure that the disc was unmounted and ejected.
           • Insert disc 2.
           • Mount disc 2.
        9. Continue following the installation wizard’s instructions until it asks you to insert disc 1 again.
        10. Switch back to disc 1. Follow a similar procedure to the one that you used to switch to disc 2.
        11. Finish the going through the installation wizard.
        12. When the installation wizard finishes, it will open an explorer window. Close out of that window.
        13. Unmount the disc.
        14. Eject the disc.

     5. Install Descent 3: Mercenary:

        1. Insert disc 3.
        2. Make sure that disc 3 is mounted.
        3. Run wine start /d <drive-letter>: setup.exe -autorun.
        4. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard.

3. If your version of Descent 3 is older than v1.4, then update it to v1.4.

4. Create a new folder named D3-open-source.

5. Copy the following files from your installation of Descent 3 to D3-open-source:

   • All .hog files, except for d3-linux.hog
   • The missions folder
   • (Optional) All .pld files
   • (Optional) The demo folder
   • (Optional) The movies folder

6. Create the following folders in D3-open-source:

   • cache/
   • custom/
   • custom/cache/

7. Obtain new Descent 3 engine files:

   • If you want to use pre-built binaries, then download one of the artifacts from our latest CI run. You can find a list of CI runs here.
   • If you want to build the engine files yourself, the follow these instructions. Once you build the engine files, they’ll be put in builds/<platform>/Descent3/<build-type>/. For example, if you’re using Linux and you create a “Release” build, then the files will be located at builds/linux/Descent3/Release.

8. Copy all of the new engine files into D3-open-source.

9. Run the game:

   • On Windows, run D3-open-source\Descent3.exe.
   • On other platforms, run D3-open-source/Descent3.

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++ libsdl2-dev libncurses-dev zlib1g-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++ SDL2-devel ncurses-devel zlib-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.