D2 on a modern computer

[EngDrewman]

What is the best way to run D2 on a newer computer?

What I would like it to do:
*Essentials*
1. Run at the correct speed
2. Play all sound and videos correctly
*Would like, but not essential*
3. Support my USB gamepad
4. redbook audio- is it possible to get it to work on my laptop and is it worth the fuss?
5. Cockpit view at resolutions greater than 640x480

Computer specs:
Computer: HP Pavilion zv6130us
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
RAM: 1.25GB
Video card: ATI radeon xpress 200M w/ 128MB ram
Sound cards: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 notebook edition and the piece of crap that came on my motherboard (Conexant AMC audio)
Hard drive: 160 GB
OS: dual boot Win XP SP3 and Ubuntu 8.10

What I have tried:

1. Plain install in XP, no tweaks
What works:
-All ship and robot sounds, videos
What doesn't:
-Game runs way too fast to be playable
-redbook audio
-USB gamepad
-tiny screen res

2. DosBox (most promising so far)
What works:
-game runs at correct speed, playable
What doesn't
-no sound
-no gamepad
-tiny screen res

3. D2X-XL
-game runs too fast, playable but very difficult
-videos, midi music, and ship sounds work, but no robot and environment sounds, no redbook audio
-USB gamepad works correctly
-uses an INSANE amount of ram
-no way to revert back to the classic cockpit view

4. FreeDOS
-Installer froze

[fliptw]

I've gotten my USB stick to work with dosbox, IIRC, you are stuck with what was possible for analog sticks of the age.

[Duper]

try DXX

[Aus-RED-5]

try DXX

..... or D2X-XL.

[fliptw]

try DXX

..... or D2X-XL.

Read Error
Abort, Retry, Fail?

[Aus-RED-5]

FAIL!


Sorry, I skimmed the post.

My bad.... however:

3. D2X-XL
-game runs too fast, playable but very difficult

Too fast? In what way?
FPS is adjustable within the D2X-XL menu.

... no robot and environment sounds, no redbook audio

-hires_sound 1 enabled in the d2x.ini file?
If so, turn it off unless you do have hires sounds.
Redbook audio will work as long as it's enable in the d2x.ini file and within D2X-XL menu.
Plus the CD should be in the MASTER drive (aka CD/DVD burner drive).
Though from memory. You can specify what drive to read it from by adding the necessary switch in the d2x-ini file.

-uses an INSANE amount of ram

Maybe for a notebook, but then I don't know.
Haven't played it on a notebook in the past 2 years.

-no way to revert back to the classic cockpit view

F3 doesn't work?

For more help - D2X-XL Forum.

[EngDrewman]

Thanks! It's working reasonably well now after changing the things you pointed out in D2X-XL.

One more thing...

Redbook audio will work as long as it's enable in the d2x.ini file and within D2X-XL menu.
Plus the CD should be in the MASTER drive (aka CD/DVD burner drive).
Though from memory. You can specify what drive to read it from by adding the necessary switch in the d2x-ini file.

Where is this switch in the d2x-ini file?

[Aus-RED-5]

Code: Select all

-cdrom <drive name>

Add that to the d2x.ini file.

So if your cd drive is D:Then it should read as follows: -cdrom D:\\

[EngDrewman]

redbook still won't go. Is it worth the fuss?

[Aus-RED-5]

It depends on the person. If you really want it to work?

Then we can try a few other steps.

Otherwise, you can leave it be and it won't hurt the game.

[EngDrewman]

what are the other steps?

[Aus-RED-5]

After looking at my d2x.ini file.

Looks like all you need to do is disable the -nocdrom switch.
It's enabled by default.
So if you see that switch? You can remove it or disable it by placing a semicolon in front of the of the dash.
Here is part of my .ini file:

;gamenet launch parameters
;-ng_player default
;-ng_file missions/d2-2plyr.hog
;-ng_mission dog1.rl2
;-ng_level 1
;-ng_name GameNet
;-ng_join host
;-ng_connect udp
;-ng_type anarchy
;-ng_team 0

;limit the number of segments D2X-XL uses
;-max_segments 900
;launch d2x-xl in fullscreen mode
;-fullscreen
;keep mouse focus in game window
-grabmouse
;use sound sampled at 22 Khz
-sound22k
;skip CD ROM check
;-nocdrom
-cdrom E:\\
;use trilinear filtering and mipmaps
-render_quality 3
;display multiplayer game messages from other players
-playermessages
;suppress duplicate HUD messages
-noredundancy
;don't playback cut scenes movies, but allow robot movies
-nomovies 1
;use bitmap reticle
-gl_reticle 0
;use short multiplayer game data packets (not recommended for high bandwidth connections)
;-shortpackets
;send 10 updates per second in multiplayer games
-pps 10
;add your default player name here to make D2X-XL load it at program start
;-player AusRED5

Once that is disabled and you add the -cdrom <drive path> switch.
Save the file and then launch D2X-XL.
Goto the Config menu and select the Sound Effects & Music menu.
Then enable the \"CD Music (Redbook) Enabled\".

It should work and start playing the music.

[EngDrewman]

Ok I did that and it still isn't doing anything- even with the -nocdrom switch commented out, it still isn't looking for the cdrom drive- as it loads, the drive doesn't spin up nor does the access light blink.

Code: Select all

;gamenet launch parameters
;-ng_player default
;-ng_file missions/d2-2plyr.hog
;-ng_mission dog1.rl2
;-ng_level 1
;-ng_name GameNet
;-ng_join host
;-ng_connect udp
;-ng_type anarchy
;-ng_team 0

;limit the number of segments D2X-XL uses
;-max_segments 900
;launch d2x-xl in fullscreen mode
;-fullscreen
;keep mouse focus in game window
-grabmouse
;use sound sampled at 22 Khz
-sound22k
;skip CD ROM check
;-nocdrom
-cdrom D:
;use trilinear filtering and mipmaps
-render_quality 3
;display multiplayer game messages from other players
-playermessages
;suppress duplicate HUD messages
-noredundancy
;don't playback cut scenes movies, but allow robot movies
-nomovies 1
;use bitmap reticle
-gl_reticle 0
;use short multiplayer game data packets (not recommended for high bandwidth connections)
;-shortpackets
;send 10 updates per second in multiplayer games
-pps 10
;add your default player name here to make D2X-XL load it at program start
-player default
;use the following screen resolution at program start (will be overridden by player profile)
;-640x480
;set the following value to 0 to enable a backwards compatible camera rendering method
-render2texture 1
;set the following value to 0 to enable the original menu style
-menustyle 1
;set the following value to 1 to enable faster rendering of new style menus
-fastmenus 1
;set the following value to 1 to enable sound rendering via SDL_mixer (enables midi playback on non-Windows 

OS-s)
-sdl_mixer 1
;set the following value to 0 to enable original Descent 2 math data handling
-mathformat 2
;enable accelerated vector operation code (needs -mathformat 2, doesn't work on old CPUs)
-enable_sse 1
;set the following value to 0 to use Descent 2 sounds in Descent 1 levels
-use_d1sounds 1
;specify the name of a custom menu background to use here
-altbg_name d2x-xl-wp-3-1500x1125.tga
;specify the brightness of the custom menu background here (0.0 < brightness <= 1.0)
-altbg_brightness 0.75
;specify the transparency of the custom menu background here (0.0 < alpha <= 1.0; -1.0 to keep what's set 

in the image)
-altbg_alpha -1.0
;tell whether to convert the custom menu background to a grayscale image
-altbg_grayscale 0
;let OpenGL handle rendering of layered textures
-gl_alttexmerge 1
;enable usage of hires textures if present
-hires_textures 1
;compute light using the graphics card - experimental, may be slower than using the CPU
-gpgpu_lights 0
;enable caching of resized hires textures on disk
-cache_lights 1
;enable caching of resized hires textures on disk
-cache_textures 1
;enable caching of lightmaps on disk
-cache_lightmaps 1
;enable caching of geometry meshes on disk
-cache_meshes 1
;enable caching of computed model data on disk
-cache_models 1
;enable usage of hires models if present
-hires_models 1
;set model texture size
-model_quality 3
;use 22 khz (1) or 44 khz (2), 16 bit hires sounds
;-hires_sound 2
;enable display of progress bars during longer lasting loading or computing operations
-progress_bars 1
;enable usage of shadow proof robot and ship models (recommended)
-fix_models 1
;use the shadow proof models for regular rendering, too
-alt_models 1
;Use shadows from low res models for hires models
-lores_shadows 1
;enable real time shadowing
-enable_shadows 1
;enable multithreading to speed up rendering
-multithreaded 0
;enable the German localization
;-altlanguage 1
;-text descent.tex.ger
;specify user songs for intro, briefings, credits and levels
;-introsong
;-briefingsong
;-creditsong
;-playlist
;-introsong d:\\programs\\d2\\music\\surviving.ogg
;-playlist d:\\programs\\d2\\music\\d2x-xl-playlist.txt
;make d2x

-xl print diagnostic messages to d2x.log
;-printlog
;freeze robots
;-nobotai
;enable ship-independent camera movement (press Ctrl+Alt+S to toggle)
-enable_freecam 1
;make D2X-XL split large transparent faces into smaller chunks for better transparency rendering
;-split_polys 1
;enable the fast new (1) or slower legacy (0) render paths
-renderpath 1
;allow to save and restore in secret Descent 2 levels
-secretsave 1
;render directly to the hardware draw buffer or to a frame buffer object
-render_indirect 0
-usePerPixelLighting 1

Note: for some reason, the forum won't let me put a backslash after D: in my code above, but it is in my config file.

[Aus-RED-5]

Sorry.

Try looking for a descent.cfg file and open it.
Look for the following switch: RedbookEnabled=1
Might be a zero at the end.
If so? Then change it to a one (as above ^^) and save it. Then move the file into the config folder.

**Note: You will not need the DESCENTG.INI file as well. D2X-XL does not require it.

[EngDrewman]

Still won't go. I think I may just not worry about it. Thanks anyway tho.