Descent 2 Interpreter V0.01 Released

[halo9]

Just been playing this and it works great! Doesn't seem to recognise diagonals yet and the key customiser doesn't recognise all the buttons, but the hard work looks like it's already been done.

This is a really nice surprise... Descent used to be one of my favourites, my nick 'halo9' comes from when I used to play the gane with friends after school back in around 1995. I've never played Halo on xbox. Too fancy for me...

 

[hackgrid]

Mh strange, the games crashes after some time. (200,280,300Mhz)

 

[Megagun]

GP2x + D2x + Descent 2 (full game, I think. Not exactly sure there ) + Emutweak + MMUhack + 270mhz (I might be able to reach 280 in D2x. Not sure) = Awesomeness. It isn't exactly 'fullspeed' as I used to get it on the old 486, but it IS playable. Very muchly so. I don't really see THAT much control lag though. But there's a bit. Could be because of the control method Descent itself uses.

And about the 'control lag': be happy! In the original game, playing with a mouse was impossible because of the EXTREMELY low sensitivity. you needed to roll the mouse like 1 meter to the left to do a 180 degree turn XD

Now, does it also play Descent 1 datafiles? Myself, I found the Descent 1 missions to be a bit more fun and nicer graphics-wise. Especially that first level. That one is a classic and really awesome.

Anyways, awesome release. Playable if you overclock a lot. Could only get better with time

 

[Fishbong]

I gotta check out if it works with the Hires Texture mod. And if the speed is affected by it.

Also i ripped the CD music from the CD and i think it still sounds great. Please add mp3 music support sometime!

 

[DaveC]

Thank you all very much for all you post/comments/etc.


From what I can say the sound is perfect. Graphics are okay. Could be faster, but over all it is playble.
I have to fix that really 320x240 is shown. Now it is 320x200.

Isn't that because the game ran at 320 x 200 on the PC? If so that is the normal resolution. If you are planning to scale the screen to 320 x 240 please leave an option to have it at 320 x 200 1:1 as well. Scaling looks *UGLY* so an option somewhere to leave at original resolution is a must, maybe just center the screen when using 320 x 200 mode.

Looking forward to this, good work.

 

[Fishbong]

It was 320x240 on the PC.
But somehow i have the feeling, you just copied and pasted that text, must have been the 100rd time you posted exactly the same.

Or am i talking to a bot? Silly me.

 

[yuujin]

is there a way to get the strafe buttons working? i'm being fried, d'oh! :O

 

[SunSpire]

Well I tried creating a package containing the d2x port along with the shareware files only, but the truth is that it will never completely run on its own without further files from inside the full version archives as there are some differences in file names/extensions and the port is obviously written for the retail version. I tried stripping down the full versions content to make it look exactly like the demo (with only the 3 demo levels, sounds etc), but it does not work too well and I doubt it's worth the effort, ... just grab the full version from somewhere guys!

@ zico and paines~

Being a sounder myself ... I'd offer to write a dedicated soundtrack for the gp2x version of descent, should .mp3 support be added in the future. Just shoot me a message if you're interested

"SunSpire"

 

[sand_man]

But somehow i have the feeling, you just copied and pasted that text, must have been the 100rd time you posted exactly the same.

Or am i talking to a bot? Silly me.

was thinking the same thing

 

[nubie]

Thank you all very much for all you post/comments/etc.


From what I can say the sound is perfect. Graphics are okay. Could be faster, but over all it is playble.
I have to fix that really 320x240 is shown. Now it is 320x200.

Isn't that because the game ran at 320 x 200 on the PC? If so that is the normal resolution. If you are planning to scale the screen to 320 x 240 please leave an option to have it at 320 x 200 1:1 as well. Scaling looks *UGLY* so an option somewhere to leave at original resolution is a must, maybe just center the screen when using 320 x 200 mode.

Looking forward to this, good work.

I find it funny that you have no information on Descent. There were many video modes, including 320x240 and 640x480. I want to know if I can play at 640x480 on a TV.

I think you are a bit silly to expect someone working from a source code designed to go to resolutions of 1,024x768 and above to try and scale 320x200.

I have to fix that really 320x240 is shown.

It is entirely feasible he meant: "I have to fix it so that really 320x240 is shown."

I don't know, but please calm down DaveC, once stuff leaves the domain of hardware and lathes you can get downright illogical.

 

[SeanU]

I have an old copy of Descent II : Destination Quartzon 3D that came with an old Vodoo card. I copied all of the files (a few pig files were missing) and the game works really well. I don't think my version has all the levels, but it works. Thanks!

 

[paines]

V 0.0.2
Hi

On www.paines.de you will find the new binary.
I will pack a new Release when some other featuers are fixed, like screen resolution etc.
So, no need for a new release (imho).

This is just a binary release so that you guys can play/test better.
The inputs are enhanced for sliding etc.

Best regards

paines

 

[krosfyah]

Thanks for the update, the extra controls make all the difference.

For some reason I'm not experiencing lag anymore either. It's nice and smooth with no overclocking

 

[grahf]

Just FYI, the most popular DOS video mode from that time period was 13h, which is 320x200, not 240. I dont know firsthand about Descent II, but chances are thats the default or low quality mode.

 

[TelcoLou]

I'm at a loss for words here!

Wonderful work!! Thanks so much ... it's ... amazing!!!

 

[DaveC]

I find it funny that you have no information on Descent. There were many video modes, including 320x240 and 640x480. I want to know if I can play at 640x480 on a TV.

I think you are a bit silly to expect someone working from a source code designed to go to resolutions of 1,024x768 and above to try and scale 320x200.

I have to fix that really 320x240 is shown.

It is entirely feasible he meant: "I have to fix it so that really 320x240 is shown."

I don't know, but please calm down DaveC, once stuff leaves the domain of hardware and lathes you can get downright illogical.

Um go into the config screen that is part of Decent itself (not the interpreter). Do you see an option there for 320 x 240? No? 320 x 200 right? Hmm. It seems that you have no information on Decent It uses dos 13h mode which is what resolution? Before flaming and making dickhead comments do research.

This means that it would have to be scaled to get 320 x 240 which looks like crap. Which is why it should be an option and not required.

 

[SunSpire]

The controls in the new version work a lot better and the lagging when pressing a key is gone as well, tho with the current button setup the player ship turns upside down too easily with the gp2x stick I just finished the 1st level which wasn't really possible before, cool stuff!

All it still needs now is a slightly better framerate (runs pretty well with 266 MHZ already), fullscreen or centered view. I would really appreciate it if it was possible to completely disable the cockpit and play with the rectangle on screen only.

Keep up the great work!

"SunSpire"

PS: Any chance of adding the F2 key somehow to reach the options menu ingame? Like, pressing the vol up and down buttons the same time or something like that.

 

[paines]

The controls in the new version work a lot better and the lagging when pressing a key is gone as well, tho with the current button setup the player ship turns upside down too easily with the gp2x stick I just finished the 1st level which wasn't really possible before, cool stuff!

All it still needs now is a slightly better framerate (runs pretty well with 266 MHZ already), fullscreen or centered view. I would really appreciate it if it was possible to completely disable the cockpit and play with the rectangle on screen only.

Keep up the great work!

"SunSpire"

PS: Any chance of adding the F2 key somehow to reach the options menu ingame? Like, pressing the vol up and down buttons the same time or something like that.

Thanks man.

The lagging was due to a debugging output. Each time a key was pressed 2 printf's were executed. That caused the lag.
Now the bin is stripped, which I have forgotten in the 0.01 release.

I will start working on the gfx glitches tonite.

Yes I wanted to bind a key to F2 , or rewrite the whole thingy a bit so that when you press start, the game is paused and the menu is shown where you can make changes to input or load/save gamestates. Don't know how much works this is, we will see.


regards
paines

 

[Gruntfuggly]

Just noticed there is a PC copy of the game on ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Descent-2-Software-N...1QQcmdZViewItem

A bit steep for me in the UK, but might be good for somebody else...

 

[Fishbong]

This means that it would have to be scaled to get 320 x 240 which looks like crap. Which is why it should be an option and not required.

It´s a 3D game you dork, everything in a 3D game is constantly being scaled dependig on the distance to the players Point of view. The graphics are made out of polygons and textures, not sprites. Got the difference?

Say, did you ever play a 3D game on a PC and changed the resolution? Or were you too afraid of it "looking crap"?