D2X-XL - The Most Feature Rich Descent Source Port

[destiny2]

If you want to play Descent, but would like it to look better than the original game and its DOSBOX version, then D2X-XL is the Descent source port for you.

D2X-XL is the most feature rich Descent source port available today, and also the oldest Descent source port that is still being maintained and actively developed.

D2X-XL offers you

• High resolution textures
  
• Improved player ship and 3D powerup models
  
• Resampled high quality sound
  
• Resampled game music in ogg format and playlist support
  
• Many graphical enhancements, including new effects (smoke, lightning, colored light, etc.)
  
• Simple installation and automated updating
  
• As icing on the cake you are getting full Oculus Rift support!

All of D2X-XL's additional features are making it the flagship Descent source port available today. Of course they are all optional, so you decide how to enhance your Descent gaming experience with D2X-XL.

D2X-XL runs on Windows, Linux and OS X. Find it at http://www.descent2.de.

Please note that you need the commercial Descent 2 game to run D2X-XL. You can purchase Descent 2 e.g. here on Steam.

karx11erx (D2X-XL maintainer)

[Trov]

"All of D2X-XL's additional features are making it the flagship Descent source port available today"

This is debatable. I know you have your misgivings with Rebirth but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a considerably high player base.

Unless Interplay or Olde Skuul specifically deems a port to be the flagship, one really can't say which one is. Same goes for other games like Doom and Quake.

[destiny2]

I think the meaning of "flagship product" is pretty clear: It is the biggest, best, feature rich and so on and so on product available. It doesn't mean the most popular. Just look at cars. The C class certainly isn't Mercedes Benz' flagship product, although it is the backbone of the company's revenue. The Maybach is their flagship product. Being a "flagship" product is not defined by a group of people, but by its properties. I think that D2X-XL undebatably is by far the most feature rich Descent source port available; hence I dare name it "flagship" source port.

[Trov]

"Flagship product" is used by a company to describe its highest quality product. But you aren't part of the same "company" as those who make other source ports, so claiming that yours is the flagship over theirs is disingenuous. It would be like Mercedes saying the Maybach is the flagship of all luxury cars.

Besides, more features does not necessarily make it the "best." This is subjective, and somewhat biased coming from its creator. It is not very humble. I would say the same if Zico came and did the same for DXX-Rebirth.

[destiny2]

Tarvis,

before I even bother shredding your rhetorics, please answer one question: Have you installed D2X-XL recently, tried all its features and thoroughly compared it to Rebirth? In other words: Do you even know what you are talking about? Or are you just trying to reduce the entire issue into an argument about a single attribute I have used to describe D2X-XL?

[destiny2]

So you didn't? Thought so.

[Dergraham Linkler]

I would like to point out that every time I downloaded and installed D2X-XL, every time I heard that there were "so many" bug fixes, I try it out and it's always the same buggy piece of ♥♥♥♥ it always has been. I've tried again and again every time there's an update and still, no improvement. So it's not worth trying to download again, because I know it's still gonna be a buggy piece of ♥♥♥♥ and I even prefer vanilla Rebirth to it.

If you want the best port, it's D2X Rebirth Retro Mod 1.3a. That is the most stable and best port there is of Descent 2, made by someone who played before the days of Rebirth and D2X-XL. Much higher quality, not at all buggy, and albeit it's not flashy, it runs considerably better and gives a better sense of nostalgia for those who played before any of this porting nonsense.

[destiny2]

Thank you for your deep and qualified insight. I guess D2X-XL got downloaded several tens of thousands times because people hate it so much.

Nothing is so hard as man's ingratitude, as the saying goes.

Your comments about the retro mod are plain wrong.

When did you say did you last try D2X-XL?

[[Overlord PuMo]]

Interesting, if someone writes something about XL on a Rebirth topic (even without necessarily bashing Rebirth), everything explodes (and usually in the nuclear way). But people come here to the D2X-XL topic to specifically bash it, and that is alright? mmmhh... :/

[PigmyRhino]

"The Most Feature Rich Descent Source Port" is equal to, "The most bug-ridden, crash-prone Descent Source Port"

As someone who's had his foot in both camps, and knows both programs fairly well, I gotta go with Rebirth, and more specifically, RetroMod 1.3a. For the very reasons Zaphod brought up. D2X-XL looks nice if you own a machine that can handle the cluster of add-ons that are shoved into it. But not everyone is blessed to be so lucky with a machine like that

[[Overlord PuMo]]

The thing is (objectively talking), that if indeed D2X-XL was pretty unstable some years ago, it's not the case nowadays (and I'm talking of the present, versions 1.17.8x, that are the only ones you can get nowadays).
It's much like Darkplaces for quake: Some years ago it was hard to get it to work and had lots of bugs, but now is the best Quake port out there, because of its many features (including graphical ones).

As it has lots of features, it's true that if you want to enjoy them it requires a bit more of tweaking and work to get it look exactly as you want compared to Rebirth, and also is true that some versions, like very early 1.17.0x (with the Oculus thing) and those dating from the 2008 to 2010 range were pretty buggy, but it's not the case right now. Every program requires time to evolve, and as D2X-XL indeed has lots of features (very good ones IMO) it required time to get to its full maturity.

I need to make this clear: I like Rebirth, I think it's a good port and I also enjoy it every now and then, but I think that D2X-XL, specially as it's now, it's simply better just because of the great development and graphical features it has, so for me (and it's not just for being biased or something), is correct to call D2X-XL the "most feature rich" port (and that doesn't means Rebirth is bad or something, quite the contrary).

Also, I think D2X-XL is the best for playing Single Player, and to make full-blown campaigns (with complex scripting, environmental effects, etc).

- Now on another note, why when talking about D2X-XL some people tend to use a negative and pejorative tone most of the time?
It's OK if some people don't like it for some reason or another, or if it doesn't runs on their machines, but why there must be swearing and rude behaviour (like Zaphod saying 'buggy piece of s*it') ?
Why just don't let everyone choose their favorite port, and enjoy it freely?

It's sad and offensive for us D2X-XL users to always see people bashing our favorite port with such rudeness.

[fenke]

Originally posted by Pumo:

Now on another note, why when talking about D2X-XL some people tend to use a negative and pejorative tone most of the time?

There might be very long history associated with it, people asking for help about it, as well as those with critique did not always get treated respectfully.

It's sad and offensive for us D2X-XL users to always see people bashing our favorite port with such rudeness.

It is the result of these users, as a group, bashing the people that weren't praising this port.

[[Overlord PuMo]]

However, although I do understand (I've been there since the very early days of D2X-XL), it's not the fault of us the D2X-XL user group as you said.
I'm part of that group since the very beginning, and I NEVER, EVER attacked nor bashed anyone for not 'praising' our favorite port (and mind you, I'm even an elite user on the XL forums since years already and friend of karx11erx). That part of your post is not true at all, as I always talked nicely about Rebirth and its users.

Also, of the other XL users I know (like Yokelassence, Aus-Red, etc), they never talked negatively about Rebirth users, so that's utterly false.

There has been some personal issues between some users and the developer (that is karx11erx), but not between the users group, and I know as I'm part of that group since the very first days of XL.
Unfortunately due to those personal problems with the developer directly, Rebirth users attacked XL users with no reason (as if the XL users were representatives of karx11erx or something, the same error you're making on your assumptions on your post...)

I'm not taking sides at this moment, I mean, sometimes the fault on past issues lied on the users asking for help, and sometimes on the developer karx11erx (he's not perfect or even near to something like that, and he never claimed otherwise, and everybody knows that. There were occasions where he was not on a very good mood, but I think that happens to everyone anyways).

You don't like karx11erx/Diedel? fine, but don't bring that personal issues to us the users that haven't even attacked or said a thing (and saying otherwise, that us, the XL user group bashed Rebirth fans is a falsehood)...

And you see my point:
If users want to blame the developer, it's their decision, they are free to blame it, but it's not the fault of us the users nor the faul of the port itself (D2X-XL is only a program, a bunch of code, it's NOT a person nor a representative of a person).
People tend to get some things way too personal, and that happens not only in the Rebirth vs XL realm, but also in the infamous PS/Xbox/Wii/PC arguments, where people start attacking PERSONALLY a gamer just for their preferences.

Why don't we all as users (indendently of developers) forget those personal issues and start to get along? It's really that hard?

[PigmyRhino]

Under no circumstance was i trying to attack people that used XL. to each their own is a sentiment i live by daily. The program itself has always been buggy for me and as a result, I tend to stick with Rebirth and Retro. Like I said, if you can get it to work, then it's a really great program, but if you can't, like most people i know, Rebirth is the better choice.

[fenke]

Originally posted by Pumo:

However, although I do understand (I've been there since the very early days of D2X-XL), it's not the fault of us the D2X-XL user group as you said.
I'm part of that group since the very beginning, and I NEVER, EVER attacked nor bashed anyone for not 'praising' our favorite port (and mind you, I'm even an elite user on the XL forums since years already and friend of karx11erx). That part of your post is not true at all, as I always talked nicely about Rebirth and its users.

I am not talking about anyone in particular, just pointing out that some of the negativity towards the xl-port you see here might be due to how the 'xl community' as a whole has presented itself to the casual observer in the past. At least, they did not leave a favourable impression with me - at some time in the past. They appeared hostile, on the XL forum as well as on the BB. It might have been a temporary thing, but firsy impressions tend to last.

There is an odd tension, a sensitivity, about XL that I can not explain but that has a tendency to have discussion wander into heated debates.

There has been some personal issues between some users and the developer

Which is probably why he would be wise to stay away from
(that is karx11erx), but not between the users group, and I know as I'm part of that group since the very first days of XL.
Unfortunately due to those personal problems with the developer directly, Rebirth users attacked XL users with no reason (as if the XL users were representatives of karx11erx or something, the same error you're making on your assumptions on your post...)

I'm not taking sides at this moment, I mean, sometimes the fault on past issues lied on the users asking for help,

Personally, I believe it never is, a new user asking for directions is never responsible for any badmouthing coming in his direction. If people don't want to answer the same questions over and over, if they can not deal with the frustration born from crashing games, then they should not read the newbie questions.

You don't like karx11erx/Diedel? fine, but don't bring that personal issues to us the users that haven't even attacked or said a thing (and saying otherwise, that us, the XL user group bashed Rebirth fans is a falsehood)...

I am an outsider and not really part of that history, but I've an interest in Descent and yes, I do have preferences. Occasionally I have visited the other forums, noticed the rivalries and left, but now I do see these old issues returning here. I would like all ya veterans to find a modus where you can co-exist on the Steam forum without bringing that past here. Preferably without any small personal hints, since they tend to escalate.

Why don't we all as users (indendently of developers) forget those personal issues and start to get along? It's really that hard?

I agree.

[[Overlord PuMo]]

Originally posted by fenke:

...Ocasionally I have visited the other forums, noticed the rivalries and left, but now I do see these old issues returning here. I would like all ya veterans to find a modus where you can co-exist on the Steam forum without bringing that past here. Preferably without any small personal hints, since they tend to escalate.

That would be perfect! Good to see you agree with some of the points I made.
But it seems it's hard for people to let the past go away, and even harder to forget the old and stinky personal issues.

-

Originally posted by PigmyRhino:

Under no circumstance was i trying to attack people that used XL. to each their own is a sentiment i live by daily. The program itself has always been buggy for me and as a result, I tend to stick with Rebirth and Retro. Like I said, if you can get it to work, then it's a really great program, but if you can't, like most people i know, Rebirth is the better choice.

I was not talking specifically about you. I've known you since sometime already and I consider you one of my Descent friends, as I always got along well with you and see you as a nice guy, and you're not a total biased fanboy, so no worries on that matter.

In all honestly, I may not like so much how you call XL bug-ridden and crash-prone (I suppose is a natural protectiveness as XL fan? Although you are certainly right regarding old versions), but you're not as rude and pejorative as other users, and never saw you attack us XL users either, so my comments are not directed towards you. ;)