DescentBB

Hi,

I am running Windows 2000 and I am glad I found this remake for the game. I played it for years quite a while ago but now it doesn't work well on new systems.

I extracted D2X-XL into my \Descent2 folder and the game tries to start (I see a screen), then it goes away. Stderr.txt says:

Fatal signal: Segmentation Fault (SDL Parachute Deployed)

Does anyone know how I can start this? Thank you.

#1 If you haven't, patch your regular Descent 2 to version 1.2
#2 D2X-XL will not run with the shareware Descent data (I'm saying this just in case)
#3 Update all your drivers (video, audio, chipset) (if you haven't already)
#4 Update your Win2K to the latest service pack (if you haven't already)

If that doesn't help, try to install Descent 2 in another folder (you can keep your first installation), patch it if required, then unzip d2x-xl.zip to that folder, try again.

I have a Win2K system available and no problems with D2X-XL there, so basically it works on Win2K.

I just patched to version 1.2.
I have the full version of Descent2.
I have Windows 2000 w/SP4 and all the updates.

The only thing I can think of is that my video card is pretty bad, a Kyro2 64mb. I played with some .ini file settings but with no luck. This is what I'm using:

-grabmouse
-sound22k
-nocdrom
-gl_trilinear
-gl_alttexmerge
-playermessages
-noredundancy
-nomovies
-gl_reticle 0
-shortpackets
-pps 10

I think your video card is the problem.

Have you tryed the Compadibilty options for d2x-xl.exe file?

Sometimes changing that can help. Try different settings and see what happens.

I don't believe that Kyro card has sufficient OpenGL support.

When I right click on the program, I'm not getting a Compatiblity tab. Is that just for XP?

I figured it was my video card. Is there any .ini options that can lower or remove some advanced graphics settings to make it work for me?

I have SP4.

The Compatiblity mode appears on some .exe's but not this one...

Hm. I just saw the Kyro2 can run Quake 3, so it should easily run d2x-xl. Do you have the latest drivers?

You can try to add

-use_shaders 0
-render_quality 1

to your d2x.ini.

Diedel, the kyro2 line easily hits 1000fps in Descent 3. The only thing it lacks for d2x-xl is pixel shader capability. I know because I used to own one. (Hercules 3D Prophet 4500)

http://www.tweak3d.net/reviews/hercules/prophet4500/

You can turn off shader usage by d2x-xl (see above post). And d2x-xl finds out whether it has shaders or not.

I found out however that I had introduced a bug that would cause d2x-xl not to find the game data if it wasn't stored in a subfolder of the D2 folder named 'data'.

Bug fixed now (1.5.36).

Thank you all for the help.

It's close. Now I can start up Descent2 and get to the start up screen. I can play with options, but when I try to play, it just closes, right after it shows all the new robots.

I am running windowed, and it also closes when I try to increase the windowed resolution to 800x600. Trying in fullscreen results in the same problems.

My .ini file is:

-grabmouse
-sound22k
-nocdrom
-gl_trilinear
-gl_alttexmerge
-playermessages
-noredundancy
-nomovies
-gl_reticle 0
-shortpackets
-pps 10
-use_shaders 0

Tried d2x-xl 1.5.37 on Win2K pro SP4 today, and it worked like a charm (NVidia GF2 MX400). It's really hard to help you now, Annorax, I'm afraid.

I wonder whether the problem is your gfx card's OpenGL support, or maybe SDL has troubles with it.

I figured it would not work, most cool remakes don't.

Thank you for your help. I plan to get a new computer within a year so I'll make sure to keep watching this project. It's great and the only currently worked on Descent remake project I've found. I'll be around.

Why don't you get a GF 5200 for your computer? They don't cost much and should work as well as the Kyro. That's the card I have in my WinXP pro machine.

Hmm.. that is something to think about. Let me go visit Newegg and see what they have.

Faster GF FX 5200 250/400 MHz, 128 MB for less than 40 USD ...