DescentBB

I`m starting Descent 1 with the file d1x143_oglmw.exe. Default resolutions (in menu) end at 1024x768.

However, that is extremely blocky and pixelated on my 22\" Eizo despite the game being mostly dark. I`d like at least 1600x1200, but preferably 2048x1536. I believe/hope that these values are stored in some kind of config file.

I also noticed that my little son (a huge fan of descent BTW - just like his father ) aims better when the resolution is changed from 640x480 into 1024x768. So maybe his aim would get better with higher resolution

Funny, how 12 yrs ago I was happy to play it at 320x200 and was in total awe when switched the res through command line into 640x400. But that was on 14\" CRT, not 22\".

You might try the D2X-XL or D1X-Rebirth projects, which will be more up-to-date than the old D1X_1.43 version. I think they can both handle resolutions well above 1024x768.

(D2X-XL has tons of new custom features / DXX-Rebirth keeps the original feel of the game - they're both very good at what they do, pick whichever one suits you.)

OMG, now that`s pretty cool ! Rebirth has so many features that make it fantastic compared to D1X.143 :
It starts in, like 3 seconds ? WTF ? Why did dx143 take up to 25 seconds to load ?

The game offers up to 1600x1200 right away AND it remembers the resolution when you start the game again. So you don`t have to set it up again and again each time you run it.

Then, the map doesn`t switch resolution which was extremely annoying in D1X.143 and made the map almost unusable. Plus, it used to crash or hang. Here, the map is instant in less than half a second. Just wow.

I don`t need the map almost at all, but my son isn`t very familiar with later levels and uses the map quite a lot, so he`ll LOVE this feature. Though I still don`t get how can a 4-year old child navigate in that wireframe, but he seems to have no problem with that.


Descenting in 1600x1200 is WAY different compared to 1024x768. It`s still a little blocky, but that`s almost negligible. I`ll probably stay in 1600x1200 since my monitor has 85 Hz at this res, which is better for eyes.



All in all, thanks for the recommendation !

VladR wrote:OMG, now that`s pretty cool ! Rebirth has so many features that make it fantastic compared to D1X.143 :
It starts in, like 3 seconds ? WTF ? Why did dx143 take up to 25 seconds to load ?

It's called tighter code. Also, to get rid of the blockyness, enable mipmapping in the ini file.

Yeah, I enabled mipmapping right away.
By \"blockiness\" I mean that the pixels itself are huge and the resulting picture is therefore pixelated. After all 1024x768 on 22\" is relatively something like 400x300 on an old 14\" monitor.

But 1600x1200 with 4xAA sort-of gets rid of it. Now that`s the way how Descent 1 should have been played those 12 yrs ago

Mine isn't blocky.

my settings

Graphics:
-aspect 1400x1050 use specified aspect
;-hud <n> Set hud mode. 0=normal 1-3=new
;-hudlines <n> Number of hud messages to show
-hiresfont use high resolution fonts if available
;-persistentdebris Enable persistent debris. Works in singleplayer only
;-noreticle Disable reticle

OpenGL:

;-gl_mipmap Set gl texture filters to \"standard\" options for mipmapping
-gl_trilinear Set gl texture filters to trilinear mipmapping
;-gl_transparency Enable transparency effects
;-gl_reticle 1 Use OGL reticle 0=never 1=above 320x* 2=always
;-gl_voodoo Force fullscreen mode only
;-gl_fixedfont Do not scale fonts to current resolution
;-gl_prshot Take clean screenshots - no HUD and DXX-Rebirth writing

So basically what I'm using is:

-aspect 1400x1050
-hiresfont
-gl_trilinear

Technically, yours is blocky - or aliased (should`ve used that term previously) - you can clearly see the jagged edges in the distance. But it`s almost invisible in 1600x1200 with 4xAA (though with some brighter areas the edges still get jaggy, but nothing major).

I`ve started playing Descent 1 again because of that new resolution. It`s been a long time ago when I realized it`s 2am already and I`m still playing

BTW, now that you can clearly see into huge distance, there`s a new artifact (if you can call it like that). Now you can clearly see how walls are suddenly appearing in the distance. I understand that during old days one couldn`t spot it in those prehistoric resolutions (320x240 anyone ?).
But, it would be great if this distance was tweakable (though I can imagine it`s buried somewhere pretty deep in the renderer and most probably there are lots of other dependencies).

But it doesn`t hurt to ask

the small texture size doesn't help much. Thats why the few edges that don't get a lot of aliasing(those that come infinitely close to straight) stand out so much as opposed to a more modern game

any kinda AA at 1600x1200 is silly. and small jags? so? This is WAY better than if I turn off the trilinear filtering.

I used to play with the old 640x480 res back in the day where the bots were barely more than 6 pixels at a distance. This is so much better. I personally don't have a problem with graphics. If jags and low res textures are bothersome, I recommend D2x-XL. There are hi-res textures being built for that mod that are quite nice.

This game is ancient and i feel that we as a community are quite fortunate to have folks like Deidle and Zico still willing to work on these pos engines 13 years later. (I'm not saying you're being ungrateful, just givin props.)

My screenshot btw was taken at 1400x1050 without any AA. when I'm shooting bots, i don't really notice jags. ; )

You seem to regard 1600x1200 as a sort-of high resolution, right ? That`s ok if it works for you.
I see lots of people all around who don`t seem to notice any difference between 1024x768 and 1600x1200, so it`s all relative.

Hey, and don`t forget that 12 yrs ago I played first Descent in 320x200 Back then enemies were far from being 6 pixels tall - barely a pixel or two You differentiated among them just by color and sound, hehe

When I discovered higher resolutions through command-line switches, I dreamt that hopefully one day I`d be able to play the game in 1600x1200. Fast forward 12 yrs and it`s here

It`s just a pitty that you never get to play the newest game (for a first time) in a quality it deserves (which is exactly the case with Descent).
Because playing it for the first time can happen (by definition) just once.

1600x1200 is pretty much everyday these days with flat panel and wide screen etc. It hasn't been until recently that AA was supported over 1024x768 (or there abouts).

It's just that jags have never bothered me much as I've not been willing to take the performance hit in most games to eliminate them. (my boxes aren't bleeding edge.)

In D1, under any mod, I'm not sure you will ever completely get rid of them. I think that one goal Deidle is reaching for. Zico on the other hand isn't really. He's just trying to make it play better and get the bots out of the 3 to 6 pixel range!

Personally, I would love to see all 3 games ported to another engine with complete texture reworks along with all the eyecandy... but.. that is more work than anyone is going to do for free...or have to. It wouldn't be legal for that matter. oh well.

for the most Uberest grafix in game you want to check out the new Crysis mod \"Natural\"
some pretty snazzy realism there.

I run D1 at the same as my desktop resolution on my CRT: 1280x960 @ 100 Hz, except I use 16x AA and 16x AF since it is so easy on the video card anyway. With any modern video card even at those settings you can still lock the framerate to whatever you want in D1/D2.

In D3 my card can go all the way up to my monitors max 1920x1440 with 16x AA and 16x AF and still get 200 FPS most of the time, but I use 1280x960 for that too since 1920x1440 only runs at 70 Hz refresh rate...

Duper wrote:It's just that jags have never bothered me much as I've not been willing to take the performance hit in most games to eliminate them. (my boxes aren't bleeding edge.)

Sure, my rig isn`t up to modern games too. After all, there`s only so much what a Core2Duo with a 7950GT can do. But for a Descent that`s more than enough power.

Duper wrote:Personally, I would love to see all 3 games ported to another engine with complete texture reworks along with all the eyecandy... but.. that is more work than anyone is going to do for free...or have to. It wouldn't be legal for that matter. oh well.

There is something I could help with - at least graphics-wise. It wouldn`t be a next-gen look - actually far from it, but it could still be a huge visual leap - I`m talking about Global Illumination - Radiosity lighting. On the other hand it would sort-of preserve it`s original feeling.

Duper wrote:for the most Uberest grafix in game you want to check out the new Crysis mod "Natural"
some pretty snazzy realism there.

Yeah, but then again that`s not Descent

Diedel has been muttering about doing something (possibly a port, but I'm not entirely sure) to the Q3 engine... perhaps if we get enough programmers and some artists together, something might happen there. I'd be quite interested as well, truth be told.

I most probably wouldn`t like to dive to Q3 source codes. I`d rather prefer using my own engine of course
Currently it`s more of an outdoor -

But there`s a weapon component, streaming-terrain renderer, full 6DOF Control system and a basic AI component (and of course all other things needed to run it).

We could make outddor Descent3-like levels right away

And best of all - there practically wouldn`t be a polygon limit Few weeks ago I had a scene with 4M triangles and had 30 fps on a low-end GF7600. So no more troubles whether the enemy has 750 or 1030 tris (as is the issue now with Descent 1). It could have 15.000 or 30.000 tris and it wouldn`t matter for today`s cards at all

And believe me, a ship that has 15.000 polygons looks \"a bit different\"

No more \"texture hacks\". Everything could be polygonal - each pipe, each weapon - evrything can be as detailed as necessary.

Excellent!

does the Q3 engine support stick?

I will not port Descent to the Q3 engine because that engine is hopelessly outdated. I will shoot for something up-to-date, like the Irrlicht engine. I also prefer it over any proprietary engine built by some single guy (which I suppose is yours Vlad, or am I wrong?). The Irrlicht engine has a lot of developers and support and looks really good.

Vlad, did you ever try D2X-XL? You can play D1 missions with it, too, and it has a lot graphical and gameplay enhancements. Of course it cannot compete with a modern engine, but it's still a huge step forward from vanilla Descent 1/2 or (DXX-Rebirth).

Haven`t tried d2x-xl yet since I only have this 3dfx version of Descent 2 and this version seems to be missing some files that d2x-xl needs.
But I`m going to try it with Descent 1.

Since yesterday I`ve been reading your site and everything that you had fixed/upgraded. Respect

You are right, that`s my engine - written just by myself.


So, you are actually considering porting the Descent into some other engine after all the work that you put into D2X-XL ?
Have you considered Ogre, BTW ?

Yes, I am. I have considered Ogre, but Irrlicht looks better to me.

You can only get so far with the D2 engine, and I want to create something that blows every Descent fan straight out of their socks (me included ).

We have quite a good team with people for modelling, texturing and sound, so there is a foundation to create the required game content. Of course we'd need more people with more time, but it's a start - more than what had been there half a year ago. We could definitely use someone who is really good at graphics programming (and 3D math, cough).

Having my own forum proves to be a big blessing.

Btw, please check your PM.