How to: play online, get levels, and connect to the community

[[UF]LotharBot]

Hello, Steam Descenters!

Believe it or not, the original community that surrounded Descent is still around and playing online -- I play competitively every day, with folks who have been playing this game more or less continuously since it came out!

I'd like to help point you toward the active Descent community, in case you're interested in joining us.

For fun, here are some videos of some good pilots playing:

Descent 2 Anarchy Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKRlg0cCQKY

Descent 1 Summer 2013 Rangers Tournament Semifinals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8eCULTB3IQ#t=7m11s

A Random D2 Duel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JSCK7ITnQU

...

[Aerohead2819]

Originally posted by Acknown3:

Thanks, it wasn't exlicitly stated whether that was for the entire Descent game or just a multiplayer program. Not everyone is a Descent vet.

Also, during the installation process, there were multiple addons that were unchecked by default. Are any of these useful?

Here's a bit of info on the addons available:

1. Vertigo for D2 (This was an official expansion created by Interplay. You need the original Vertigo files to install it)

2. Retro Mod (This is a modification of Rebirth for the competitive community. Several changes have been made to certain elements [particularly multiplayer elements] to make it even more like the original. Most of these changes should be merged into the official Rebirth code in the next release, so Retro may or may not be needed then. As it stands now though, most competitive play is done with the Retro Mod)

3. Mission Packs (These are collections of missions. The Rangers are the main multiplayer community currently and they have created both anarchy and co-op mission packs for people to use. The Descent Championship Ladder [DCL] is a group of highly competitive players who challenge each other to 1v1 matches. They have their own missions pack available as well)

4. Soundtracks (These are high-quality recordings of the original MIDI soundtracks in lossless format. One was recorded using an OPL3 soundboard, and the other using an SC-55. If the MIDI music you hear isn't what you remember, one of these packs may be more similar to the soundboard you had back in the day, and therefore will sound like the way you remember it)

5. German Briefing (This is an addon that converts the text of the briefings into German)


I would recommend getting the Retro Mod, all the mission packs, and whichever soundtrack you prefer.

[hwangman82]

I checked out the Rangers site but I still don't see how to set up online multiplayer. I have a small group of friends who just bought Descent and we want to play online (not local). I see people saying this can be set up but no actual instructions. How involved is it to do this?

[Verran]

Download Mumble and install it:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mumble/

Then join the Descent Ranger's Mumble server here:
Server: mumble.descentrangers.com
Port: 31393

We will help you.

[[UF]LotharBot]

Originally posted by hwangman82:

I checked out the Rangers site but I still don't see how to set up online multiplayer. I have a small group of friends who just bought Descent and we want to play online (not local). I see people saying this can be set up but no actual instructions. How involved is it to do this?

Follow these steps:

On Windows, get the Rebirth installer: http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/download/dxx/user/afuturepilot/download.php?f=DXX-Rebirth_Setup.exe (for Mac or Linux, download the game direct from http://www.dxx-rebirth.com ). Run the installer and make sure to select Retro Mod and the mission packs.

Then instead of running dosbox.exe, run either d1x-rebirth-58.1.exe or d1x-rebirth-58.1-retro-whatever.exe (you and your friends will all need to run the same version; if you get a "protocol mismatch" error, that means you're not running the same one as the host.)

Somebody will need to host a game. The host will need to set up port forwarding on their router, for UDP port 42424. (Use google to find instructions for your particular router.) Using the multiplayer menu in Rebirth/Retro, the host will go to "host game" and select the level and options they want, and everyone else goes to "find/join game". It should show up automatically; if it doesn't, press F4 to refresh the menu. You may need to tell Windows Firewall to allow Descent to access the internet (there will be a popup if Windows blocks Descent.)

You can see the list of currently hosted games both from the join game menu and at http://dxxtracker.reenigne.net/ .

If you're still having trouble, follow the directions at the top of the descentrangers.com page to connect to our Mumble server, and ask someone for help.

[Verran]

Bump.

Go get Rebirth: http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/download-dxx-rebirth/

Go get Mumble: http://mumble.sourceforge.net/

Check us out: http://www.descentrangers.com/

Mumble Server: mumble.descentrangers.com
Mumble Port: 31393

[PigmyRhino]

^ That really is the best way to get more info on playing online :)

[sam.]

I really wanna start to play online, but online gaming seems really complicated with dos games (Descent(<3) in this case).
Whats the best way to do it?

[Aerohead2819]

Download Rebirth using the installer linked above. Then go download mumble, and visit the Rangers server.

[God]

Ok, whenever I try to join some servers, it says my version or game protocals are different than the ones on that server and other times it'll say that the map is not in my data, even though I installed the map packs. How do I fix this?

[Aerohead2819]

The protocol mismatch is most likely because they're using Retro Mod (and you're not) or vice versa. As for the map not being installed, there are thousands of D1 and D2 maps out there, and the map packs only contain the most common ones. I would get on Mumble with the Rangers and ask around :)

[God]

Ok. I already have Mumble and I already use RetroMod so... I'll ask around. Thanks!

[[UF]LotharBot]

It's worth noting that Retro not only caps homing missiles at 25 fps, it also restores them to original 25 fps behavior. If you run rebirth, homing missiles follow wider arcs so they tend to go around corners.

This will be fixed in the next version of rebirth as well.

[PigmyRhino]

Bump