[.::Tin Can::.]

I played Descent when I was just a little child, and I played it on the Mac.

Good times. I didn't know how to strafe back then.

[Omniscaper]

Wow of people still duking it out in Descent 1 (D1X 1.43). Just got back from a 4 way battle in TOTAL CHAOS. FUN FUN.

www.kali.net provides all the multiplayer goodness for many old games by faking ipx connections between people. Free trial (whats lock out is still unknown to me) with no time limit that I see. Can't wait to get into an 8 way battle.

[Mongoose]

Kali, All-Seeing Eye, KQuery, and Gamespy Arcade (*blech* ) are all ways of finding D3 servers without PXO, as is this web-based browser.  If you're really interested, though, I'd highly recommend Vortex, a fan-made program that incorporates a server browser, level auto-download, and D3's official IRC chat channels.  

Kali's pretty much the place to be for D1 and D2 games; its IPX emulation works flawlessly with both games.  If you're going to run D1 on a modern machine, you'll need to download the D1X 1.43 patch.  For D2, I highly recommend D2X-W32, a patch for D2 that is being actively worked on and frequently updated by Diedel.  He just added D3-style CTF and Entropy into D2; definitely a must-see.  You mentioned Kali's free trial, Omniscaper; it's actually limited to 30 days.  Beyond that, you either have to get a new set of trial codes with a different e-mail address or pay the $20 lifetime fee.  And when I say lifetime, I mean lifetime; some people have had their serial numbers for 10 years or so.

Phreak, it's highly possible to play multiplayer Descent using a mouse; in fact, some of the game's best players are mousers.  It's definitely not easy, though; at least in my opinion, it has a much higher learning curve than a stick.  I've never attempted to fly with a mouse myself.  When you're comparing things, though, nothing is more difficult than flying all-keyboard; yes, there are actually excellent pilots out there who do so.

[Nuke]

i started with descent 2. i  played that game all the time. i started modding in descent 2. had a level and a few new robots as well as a new player ship. unfortunately i lost it all in a hard drive crash back in 97'. i got descent 3 the august before freespace 2 came out. i want able to play it much because the computer i had at the time was a woping 120 mhz powerhouse with a voodoo 1 card. fortunately i got a new machine later that year and d3 ran like a charm. i was able to beat the came before i got my copy of freespace 2. after that it kinda got shelved. i liked descent 2 beter. i liked the dark scary feel of the game. the only modern game that comes close to that feel was doom3, and that sucked.

there were a few clones, forsaken would have to be the best descent clone, it had better multi support and ran pretty fast on my machine. there was another one by eidos, teracide i think. i played the demo that was packeged with my voodoo card  it was actually prety good. it had you flying through big spaceships and the game had a space sim mode as well. unfortunately i never aquired a full version.

[Hunter]

I did a whole load of modding in Descent 3, most of which you can find here: http://sectorgame.com/d3/levels.php  

[phreak]

Originally posted by Mongoose
Phreak, it's highly possible to play multiplayer Descent using a mouse; in fact, some of the game's best players are mousers.  It's definitely not easy, though; at least in my opinion, it has a much higher learning curve than a stick.  I've never attempted to fly with a mouse myself.  When you're comparing things, though, nothing is more difficult than flying all-keyboard; yes, there are actually excellent pilots out there who do so.

when i played D3 on PXO back when PXO still existed, the only way you can use mouse if the axes are reversed which is bull****.

[Annorax]

Originally posted by Mongoose

Phreak, it's highly possible to play multiplayer Descent using a mouse; in fact, some of the game's best players are mousers.  It's definitely not easy, though; at least in my opinion, it has a much higher learning curve than a stick.  I've never attempted to fly with a mouse myself.  When you're comparing things, though, nothing is more difficult than flying all-keyboard; yes, there are actually excellent pilots out there who do so.

I wouldn't call myself excellent... but I fly FS keyboard-only. Any idea where I could get D3 reasonably cheap?

[Dark RevenantX]

Descent? PLAY PONG!

[Unknown Target]

EDIT: Never mind.

[Liquid Fire]

Yes, pxo is down. However, it hasn't really hurt the descent community. On the contrary, things are actually a little better without pxo. We now have much more efficient game trackers that look and work better. The only drawback is that new players need to go to descent websites to figure out how to play multiplayer.

You actually don't even need to download anything (besides the patch and whatever level's being played) to play descent 3 online. Just go here to see all the games that are up. But obviously, it's better with game trackers that have autodownload and such.

[Mongoose]

Annorax, you could probably find a copy pretty cheap on eBay or Amazon.  I've also heard that Fry's Electronics stores sometimes carry copies, so if you've got one in your area, check it out.

Phreak, you're getting reversing the axes confused with mouselook; they're too separate things.  You can choose whether or not to reverse the Y-axis in your controller config.  (Personally, I can't stand playing any game with a non-reversed Y-axis, espeically after playing Descent and Freespace for all these years.  The first thing I do in any console game that requires the use of the stick is to reverse that axis; it just feels much more natural that way. ) Mouselook, on the other hand, allows a mouse user to completly spin the ship 180 degrees by moving it to the left or right, similar to most FPS games, unlike the normal steering motion that the keyboard and joystick use.  This is obviously a pretty cheap option, since it allows a mouse user to spin around at a moment's notice.  Just about every D3 server has always blocked people with mouselook enabled; you can disable it in one of the config menus.

[phreak]

Originally posted by Mongoose
Phreak, you're getting reversing the axes confused with mouselook; they're too separate things.  You can choose whether or not to reverse the Y-axis in your controller config.  (Personally, I can't stand playing any game with a non-reversed Y-axis, espeically after playing Descent and Freespace for all these years.  The first thing I do in any console game that requires the use of the stick is to reverse that axis; it just feels much more natural that way. ) Mouselook, on the other hand, allows a mouse user to completly spin the ship 180 degrees by moving it to the left or right, similar to most FPS games, unlike the normal steering motion that the keyboard and joystick use.  This is obviously a pretty cheap option, since it allows a mouse user to spin around at a moment's notice.  Just about every D3 server has always blocked people with mouselook enabled; you can disable it in one of the config menus.

well why didn't anyone tell me that existed ?

[Triple Ace]

Ah the memories of one of the greatest games ever.

[Nuke]

hey hunt, where do i remember you from? name sounds familiar.

[Hunter]

As "Hunt Smacker?" Uh. Hmm. I only ever used "Hunter" in Descent and various aliases.  VBB? Eve online?

[DaBrain]

I lost the Descent 3 CD that came with my Voodoo3.

Is there any place to get old games like this?

[Stealth]

Ebay

[Mongoose]

Either that or Amazon.  From what I've heard, Fry's electronics stores often have bargain-bin copies, so try there if there's one in your area.  You might also get lucky and find a copy of one of the Descent games in the bargain bins of your local game stores; I've seen D2 several times in my local Electronics Boutique, and I managed to find both of the PS1 Descent releases in GameStop.  Other than that, there are always...other...methods of obtaining things.

[Nuke]

it musta been the vbb, never played eve

[Stealth]

yeah he was pretty prominent in the VBB

hey anyone up for a few games later tonight or something?