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The Official D2_3DFX FAQ
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D2_3DFX is the name given to the unofficial 3DFX-enhanced "patch" for Descent 2. It is not a patch so much as a replacement for the main Descent2.EXE. (Note: This does not mean you can just download the .EXE and play D2 for free.) This program gives you the ability to play Descent2 on your 3DFX-based video card or accelerator, taking advantage of its enhanced graphical capabilities and drastically improved speed and smoothness.
D2_3DFX is commonly confused with D2VOODOO, which is the officially-supported 3DFX enhancement for D2. However, D2_3DFX, much better than D2VOODOO as it is, is not being supported by 3DFX, Interplay or Parallax Software. Please do not contact any of these companies in relation to D2_3DFX, as they will not give you an answer.
Descent is, in my opinion, the most awesome, interesting and challenging 1st-person shooter game series ever made. Similar to Quake, Doom, Unreal and Half Life in concept, Descent puts a new twist on the 3D world: Instead of running around on the ground, you fly a small fighter ship in a zero-gravity environment, which gives you the ability not only to move forward, back, left, right, and to turn left and right; but you can also move up and down, pitch forward and back, and roll left and right, similar to how you would in a flight simulator. Therefore, you have six degrees of motion!
For more information on the Descent series, please visit Interplay's Descent Page.
What do I need to run D2_3DFX?
In order to play D2_3DFX, you must have at least the following:
- A 486 DX4/100 or higher
- A 3DFX-based 3D accelerator card employing the Voodoo, Voodoo Rush, Voodoo2, Banshee or Voodoo3 chipset. (Note: Only D2_3DFX v1.06b supports Voodoo2 and above.)
- Descent II FULL/Registered, for DOS, version 1.2
- 32 MB of RAM.
- DOS4GW.EXE in your D2 directory.
- MS-DOS 6.x, Windows 95 or 98.
Can I run D2_3DFX in Windows 2000 or Windows Me?
(02/21/2001) Well, it seems I was mistaken in my original response to this question. Several WinME users have reported that they have no trouble running their older DOS games in this environment, though I still have yet to hear back from anyone running Win2K. Apparently WinME does provide enough DOS compatibility to be able to run these older games, though I'm currently not aware of what needs to be done (if anything) to get it working properly. Anyone care to enlighten me? =)
Can I use D2_3DFX with my S3 Virge or Rendition Verite card?
No. D2_3DFX will only run on 3DFX-based accelerator cards. There are separate versions of Descent 2 available for the S3 Virge and Rendition Verite cards. Please visit the Descent Network's Patches Page to download the appropriate version.
If you have a video card other than any of those listed above, you will be limited to using the original non-accelerated version of Descent 2.
Can I use D2_3DFX with my nVidia-based TNT, TNT2, GeForce, etc. card?
At this time, no. nVidia's drivers do not support Glide, and therefore do not give you the ability to play D2_3DFX or any other Glide-only game. However, because nVidia recently purchased 3DFX and rights to all of its hardware, software and manufacturing facilities, we may be seeing an updated set of drivers fairly soon that will give us this Glide compatibility. Stay tuned.
However: Keep in mind that D2_3DFX is such an old program that it may not run for you even if Glide support is added. If/when Glide drivers come out for these cards, I'll check into compatibility with this old program and keep you all informed. Please do not e-mail me regarding this question, as I will not be able to answer your questions until I have more information.
The first step to installing D2_3DFX is to install Descent 2 itself and ensure that it has been patched to version 1.2. (If you're installing from D2: The Infinite Abyss or D2: The Definitive Collection, D2 will already be patched to v1.2.) D2_3DFX requires version 1.2, so if you need a patch, go to the Descent Network's Patches Page
Once you've done that, download D2_3DFX v1.06b (you can download earlier versions, but this is not recommended) from the D2Voodoo/D2_3Dfx Download Page and save it to your hard drive. Double-click the downloaded executable and enter the location of your Descent2 directory to unzip the files. You will now have the file d2_3dfx.exe in your D2 directory, and you can run this file directly to start D2_3DFX.
Depending on which 3DFX chipset you have, you may want to use a batch file to launch D2_3DFX, so that you can adjust various parameters in its operation, including framerate capping and gamma controls. Please consult the Table of Contents to jump to the section that's correct for your card.
D2_3DFX was written by Andy Hanson, a member of the team at 3DFX Interactive, as a spare-time project. Many people have written to me mistakenly thinking that I (KieferSkunk) am the author of D2_3DFX, and similarly the Descent Network team has gotten this too. No, I assure you all that this is pretty much all Andy's work.
D2_3DFX is often confused with D2VOODOO, which is the 3DFX enhancement patch that is officially supported by Interplay and 3DFX. D2VOODOO, however, suffers from many compatibility issues and does not provide nearly the number of enhancements that D2_3DFX does. Despite this, D2_3DFX is not supported by Interplay, Parallax Software, Outrage Entertainment, Volition Inc. or 3DFX, so you will not be able to ask them questions about it. (That's why I'm doing this FAQ, actually. =)
When will the next version be out?
I no longer have any contact with Andy Hanson. As a result, I seriously doubt that we will see another release from him - last I heard, he hasn't worked for 3DFX for a very long time. The Descent2 source code is out, though, so it's possible that someone may produce another derivative work sometime in the future.
What's your stance on framerate caps?
By default, D2_3DFX will run at 60 FPS (or whatever your refresh rate happens to be at 640x480) and will not go above that rate. This usually results in a very smooth game, but many people seem to feel that this limitation is a bad thing, and they want to unlimit their framerates to get the highest possible values. I have provided the best information I have for doing this in the Voodoo1 and Voodoo2 sections below.
However, when your framerates get to be too high (usually over 100 FPS), you will start noticing various problems. These include homing weapons that are next to impossible to dodge, your ship bobbing up and down way too fast or too much, stability errors, and even image shearing and tearing that you otherwise wouldn't see. I have an explanation for these errors below. One additional side-effect, particularly for people with really fast computers, is that you may even see your game play much faster than it's supposed to. This introduces all sorts of control problems, and it may also get you branded as a cheater in multiplayer games since it would give you an advantage over other players with slower computers.
My official stance is this: That you would be best advised to leave your framerates capped at your monitor's refresh rate. The game will be plenty smooth, and you probably won't suffer any of these problems I just outlined. If you must see your framerates soar, please feel free to check out the optimizations listed for your card.
Does D2_3DFX support resolutions other than 640x480?
Unfortunately, no. D2_3DFX is hard-coded at 640x480 and cannot be set to anything higher. Also, the cockpit isn't present in D2_3DFX, so all you're left with is the status bar at the bottom of the screen.
Who, me? =) Well, I'm glad you asked! I'm KieferSkunk, and I've been running the D2_3DFX FAQ for several years now - pretty much ever since the first public release was out. I used to provide technical support for common problems on various Descent-related forums and newsgroups, Kali, etc., and eventually I got involved with beta-testing D2_3DFX before Andy released the public versions. Since originally it was just me and a few other people testing, I ended up answering a lot of the initial questions about it. After a while, I compiled the most common questions and stuck 'em up here as a FAQ.
Since then, the FAQ has grown and become quite popular. I'm proud of my achievement. =) But I try not to let it get to my head. If you're interested in learning more about me, please visit my Homepage.
What do I do if I have a question you haven't answered here?
Unfortunately, I'm no longer taking questions about D2_3DFX. The project has been dead (at least to my knowledge) for several years now, and my involvement in the community has all but completely disappeared. As time and technology have advanced, so have my interests. It's my sincere hope that you can find the answers to your questions in this FAQ, but if not, I apologize and will need to defer to other people who may still be active in the community.
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Why does D2_3DFX give me a garbage message and quit when I try to run it?
If you see a garbage message and D2_3DFX fails to run, you may have one of the following problems:
- You forgot to put the D2 CD in the drive.
- You may not have enough memory (either conventional or extended) to run the program. Free up some memory and try again.
NOTE: To the best of my knowledge, the garbage messages were only present in old versions of D2_3DFX. v1.02b and up display these error messages correctly.
Why does D2_3DFX give me the message "Stub.exe failed - Could not find DOS4GW.EXE"?
You must have the file DOS4GW.EXE in your Descent2 directory. The original release of Descent 2 had this file built-in, but the 3DFX release doesn't. Click on the link to download a copy of this file.
Why does D2_3DFX give me the message "Unable to find entry point in DLL file"?
D2_3DFX requires what's called a "Glide driver". (Glide is 3DFX's Graphics Library, commonly referred to as an API, and is similar to OpenGL and Direct3D.) The file you need is GLIDE2X.OVL and is distributed as part of your 3D card's drivers. It should appear in your Windows directory. If necessary, copy this file from your Windows directory into your D2 directory.
If you do not have the Windows Glide drivers installed, I recommend downloading and installing them. Go to the homepage for the manufacturer of your 3D card for more information, or better yet, grab the latest reference drivers directly from 3DFX's website.
Why does D2_3DFX give me the message "Expected Voodoo Graphics, not found" or similar?
You will receive this message if you are using the GLIDE2X.OVL for the Voodoo1 chipset and you do not have a Voodoo1 card. (This means that if you are using a Voodoo2, a Banshee, a Voodoo Rush or Voodoo3, or you don't have a 3DFX card at all, the Voodoo1 driver will not work at all.) Replace GLIDE2X.OVL with the correct version, which you should be able to find in your Windows directory.
Why does D2_3DFX hang on startup when I don't specify -nosound in the command-line?
I am currently still investigating the cause of this problem. A common cause, however, appears to be with owners of SoundBlaster AWE32 and AWE64 cards, as well as more recent cards like the SB Live and the SB PCI 128. The best solution so far appears to be to run your SETUP program and verify your soundcard's settings. I also recommend disabling the Music Card setting here - D2_3DFX seems to not be able to handle music cards properly, unlike its unaccelerated counterpart.
See the question on not having sound for more information on soundcard settings.
Why does D2_3DFX crash in the middle of a game and sometimes leave my screen in an unusable state?
D2_3DFX v1.02b has a known problem in which it will issue "Assertion Failures" at odd places in the game, resulting in you being kicked back out to DOS/Win95 without warning, and usually accompanied by a single-line error message. Please download v1.06b from the Patches Page to correct this problem.
Note: Due to bugs in DOS4GW and in the original Descent2 code, the game may still crash, and it may leave your screen in an unusable state as a result. It was quite common to see DOS4GW errors occur in the middle of a game in the non-accelerated version of D2, but since your 3DFX card is active, you won't see that text output if D2_3DFX crashes. Unless your Glide drivers are intelligent enough to tell when the program has finished running, you will probably be sitting there seeing the last thing it rendered while you attempt to regain control of your system. Currently the only known way to correct this problem is to reboot. (Unless you happen to have a switchbox or two monitors or something.)
Why do I see "Out of Environment Space" when trying to use a batch file to launch D2_3DFX?
When this happens, you indeed have run out of environment space (the memory space used for environment variables, which include your PATH statement, the location of your TEMP directory, etc.). To correct this problem, simply add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS and reboot your computer:
shell=c:\command.com /e:2048 /p
Barring any serious setup or configuration problems in Windows, this solution will work for ALL DOS-based programs, BAT files and command-prompt shells.
Why can't I see more than a few cubes ahead of me?
Your detail levels MUST be set to Highest in order for D2_3DFX to work properly. Run your original Descent2.exe and set your detail levels to "Highest", then re-run D2_3DFX. That should fix the problem.
Note also that you should set your Screen Resolution to 640x480 in the original Descent2.exe - this will prevent D2_3DFX from switching to a really small screen size whenever you make changes to your settings.
NOTE: If you're using a Voodoo Rush card, you may possibly continue to have problems with limited viewing ranges, even after following the procedures above. I do not know why some people are still having this problem.
Why don't I have any sound in D2_3DFX? I had sound in the original version of D2!
If you're running D2_3DFX for the first time and you don't have any sound, your joystick doesn't work, or you cannot get it to run with sound, the most common cause of this is that you had been playing the Win95-native version of D2 prior to playing D2_3DFX. D2_3DFX is a DOS application, not a Windows app. As such, it can't use the drivers and settings provided by Windows, but instead requires its own setup in DOS. You can set this all up by running SETUP.EXE in your Descent2 directory. (D2_3DFX will also tend to lock up if the supplied settings are incorrect.)
Default settings for most SoundBlaster cards (including the SB Live with SB16 emulation) are:
- Port I/O Address : 220
- Interrupt Request (IRQ): 5
- 8-bit DMA Channel : 1
- 16-bit DMA Channel : 5
- AWE32/64 Wavetable addr: 620
First try using the AutoDetect feature to detect your soundcard. If this doesn't work or it comes up with the wrong settings, you will need to set up your soundcard manually. You can verify your settings by going back into Windows, then going "Start >> Settings >> Control Panel >> System >> Device Manager >> Sound, Video and Game Controllers". Double-click on your soundcard, then click on the "Resources" tab to read your settings. Write these down and enter them as prompted by SETUP.
NOTE: If you have a computer with a built-in sound system (such as an ESS Audiodrive) or any other so-called SoundBlaster-compatible soundcard, you must select either "Sound Blaster" or "Sound Blaster Pro" as your soundcard (unless an option exists for your specific card). The SB16 and AWE32/64 settings will NOT work and may end up crashing your machine.
If for some reason you don't have a SETUP program in your D2 directory (or the one you have runs an installation routine rather than taking you to the DOS configuration screen), you must reinstall Descent2 from your CD and tell it NOT to install the Win95 version of the game. By installing the DOS version only, you will ensure that there aren't any conflicts between the original non-accelerated version and D2_3DFX. If you need to, patch D2 to v1.2. Then apply the D2_3DFX patch and any other files you may need (such as DOS4GW.EXE). You should then be set.
(03/17/99) If you find you're having trouble with MIDI music in D2_3DFX (you can have sound effects, but not MIDI background music), try disabling the "Music Card" in SETUP. This will make it so you have no music from within the game (unless you use your CD Audio). Personally, I actually prefer this setup, since it allows me to play MIDIs in Windows using FoxPlay. Not only do I circumvent a possible soundcard setup problem in D2_3DFX, but I get to listen to literally whatever I want while I'm playing, rather than hearing the same old music over and over again. You might give this solution a try.
(06/30/99) After doing a little more research, I discovered that D2_3DFX itself has a bug that prevents it from working properly with the MIDI systems on SoundBlaster AWE32/64 cards, and many of their descendants such as the SB Live!. In the event that you can't get your game to run with one of these soundcards, you MUST disable the "Music Card" in SETUP as described above.
Why doesn't my controller work in D2_3DFX? It worked fine in the original D2!
Same rule applies - D2_3DFX can't directly use the Win95 joystick drivers, so you're both limited in the sticks you CAN use (you may have to download a program called JoyFix98 - sorry, link currently unavailable), and also in their functionality. As soon as I have URLs for common controller FAQs, I'll post them here, since I'm not much of a joystick man. However, you might want to try the "-joypolled" option in the command-line.
Why do sounds stutter, particularly when I'm picking up items?
This generally happens in setups with Voodoo1 cards. In this case, D2_3DFX needs a little tweaking via a batch file before it'll run properly. Check out the Voodoo1 section for information on how to optimize and tweak D2_3DFX for best performance with your card.
Why can't I move my ship with my mouse?
Why does my ship bob up and down so much more than it used to?
Why is it so hard to dodge homing weapons?
These things are due to a bug in the actual Descent2 engine which causes erratic behavior at high framerates. The current problems appear to be that your ship will "bob" up and down a lot more than normal, and homing/guided/mega/shaker missiles are generally much more difficult to dodge than under "normal" conditions. Also, if you prefer to play with the mouse, you'll notice that it's almost completely unresponsive when your framerate gets to be above about 40 FPS, despite your best efforts to maximize its sensitivity. This is again due to a bug in the original D2 engine - it shows up more in D2_3DFX because of the program's speed.
A workaround to this problem is to force your 3D card to limit its framerate to 30 FPS. This is done by adding or changing the following environment variable to your AUTOEXEC.BAT or D2_3DFX.BAT file:
SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=2
If you're running D2_3DFX (or any other DOS program, for that matter) in Win95 and you wish to use the PrintScreen key within the program, you need to disable the PrintScreen function in the Win95 shortcut. To do this, find the shortcut in your Start Menu, right-click and go "Properties >> Misc". Un-check the box marked "PrtSc" under 'Win95 Shortcut Keys'. This will now allow you to use that key to save screenshots.
NOTE: If you are using D2_3DFX v1.01b or lower, you will NOT be able to save screenshots properly without using an external program! Versions 1.02b and up can do this properly.
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How do I create a batch file to optimize D2_3DFX?
The best and easiest way to optimize D2_3DFX is to write a batch file (.BAT) to launch D2_3DFX.EXE for you. This BAT file will also include a number of environment variables which affect how the program behaves. If you have trouble with "Out of environment space" messages, see the solution above.
Preparing the BAT file is easy: Just copy the text below into a text editor and save the file as a .BAT file in your Descent2 directory. You can call it whatever you want - d2_3dfx.bat is recommended. Comments in yellow reflect extra modifications that you may need to make to suit your preferences.
------------------------ @echo off REM Disable splash screen SET FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH=1 REM Proceed at monitor's refresh rate SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=1 REM Wait for Vertical Sync SET SST_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=1 REM Optimize Voodoo settings SET SST_GRXCLK=57 SET SST_FASTMEM=1 SET SST_FASTPCIRD=1 REM Set screen refresh rate. Valid settings are: 60, 75, 85 and 120 Hz. REM WARNING: Do NOT exceed your monitor's maximum refresh rate at 640x480! SET SST_SCREENREFRESH=75 REM Set GAMMA settings as appropriate. May require some experimentation. REM Valid settings are 0.25 to 1.95. SET SST_GAMMA=x.xx REM Launch D2_3DFX - include -joypolled if joystick doesn't function properly. d2_3dfx.exe -shortpackets -packets 5 -playermessages %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 ------------------------
How do I adjust my brightness settings?
D2_3DFX uses the general brightness settings from your original Descent2 executable. Therefore, in order to adjust the brightness in D2_3DFX, simply run your original Descent2.EXE, adjust the brightness up or down in the Options screen, then re-run D2_3DFX. Also, use the environment variable SST_GAMMA=x.xx (seen above) to adjust the gamma control for your 3DFX card. x.xx should be a number between 0.25 and 1.95.
NOTE: If, despite having followed the steps above, D2_3DFX is NOT responding to your GAMMA settings, check the date/time of your GLIDE2X.OVL file and also make sure that you have the latest 3DFX drivers installed for your card. (See above) If your copy of GLIDE2X.OVL is older than roughly 04/97, chances are that the problem is being caused by an old Glide driver. Make sure you have the latest drivers installed, and then copy over the new GLIDE2X.OVL to your D2 directory if necessary.
First off, lemme point you to my stance on framecaps. I do not officially recommend that you unlock your framerate, since it can cause problems ranging from control issues to getting you branded as a cheater in multiplayer games.
That having been said, you can unlock your framerates by changing the following variables in the above batch file:
SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0
SET SST_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=0
How can I lower my framerate so I can play with a mouse?
You can set your framerate to half that of your monitor's refresh rate by changing the following variables in the above batch file:
SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=2
SET SST_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=1
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How do I create a batch file to optimize D2_3DFX?
The best and easiest way to optimize D2_3DFX is to write a batch file (.BAT) to launch D2_3DFX.EXE for you. This BAT file will also include a number of environment variables which affect how the program behaves. If you have trouble with "Out of environment space" messages, see the solution above.
Preparing the BAT file is easy: Just copy the text below into a text editor and save the file as a .BAT file in your Descent2 directory. You can call it whatever you want - d2_3dfx.bat is recommended. Comments in yellow reflect extra modifications that you may need to make to suit your preferences.
------------------------ @echo off REM Disable splash screen SET FX_GLIDE_NO_SPLASH=1 REM Proceed at monitor's refresh rate SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=1 REM Wait for Vertical Sync SET SSTV2_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=1 REM Set screen refresh rate. Valid settings are: 60, 75, 85 and 120 Hz. REM WARNING: Be sure not to exceed your monitor's maximum refresh rate! SET SSTV2_SCREENREFRESH=75 REM Set GAMMA settings as appropriate. May require some experimentation. REM Valid settings are 0.25 to 1.95. SET SSTV2_GAMMA=x.xx REM Launch D2_3DFX - include -joypolled if joystick doesn't function properly. d2_3dfx.exe -shortpackets -packets 5 -playermessages %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 ------------------------
How do I adjust my brightness settings?
D2_3DFX uses the general brightness settings from your original Descent2 executable. Therefore, in order to adjust the brightness in D2_3DFX, simply run your original Descent2.EXE, adjust the brightness up or down in the Options screen, then re-run D2_3DFX. Also, use the environment variable SSTV2_GAMMA=x.xx (seen above) to adjust the gamma control for your 3DFX card. x.xx should be a number between 0.25 and 1.95.
NOTE: If, despite having followed the steps above, D2_3DFX is NOT responding to your GAMMA settings, check the date/time of your GLIDE2X.OVL file and also make sure that you have the latest 3DFX drivers installed for your card. (See above) If your copy of GLIDE2X.OVL is older than roughly 04/97, chances are that the problem is being caused by an old Glide driver. Make sure you have the latest drivers installed, and then copy over the new GLIDE2X.OVL to your D2 directory if necessary.
First off, lemme point you to my stance on framecaps. I do not officially recommend that you unlock your framerate, since it can cause problems ranging from control issues to getting you branded as a cheater in multiplayer games.
That having been said, you can unlock your framerates by changing the following variables in the above batch file:
SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=0
SET SSTV2_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=0
How can I lower my framerate so I can play with a mouse?
You can set your framerate to half that of your monitor's refresh rate by changing the following variables in the above batch file:
SET FX_GLIDE_SWAPINTERVAL=2
SET SSTV2_SWAP_EN_WAIT_ON_VSYNC=1
Why does D2_3DFX hang or quit after showing me the "Experimental Beta" notice or the intro movie?
If you have a Voodoo2 card (or two cards linked via SLI), check your Windows driver setup to see if the option "Force Triple Buffering for Glide Apps" (or anything resembling that option) is enabled. If so, DISABLE this option and try it again. Leaving this option enabled may cause D2_3DFX to attempt to do something it's not able to do, and will either cause it to hang or crash.
Special thanks to jls for the information.
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Why can't I get D2_3DFX to work with my Banshee?
(06/12/99) Thanks to Pixelman for some updated news on Banshee support: a new set of drivers for the Banshee are available specifically for D2_3DFX (I don't know if they'll serve any other purpose). You can download them by clicking on the link. Unzip the files in this ZIP directly into your D2 directory - do NOT replace your existing Banshee drivers in the Windows directory.
The most common problems with Banshee cards, when not using these drivers, appear to be that powerups appear as thin lines or garbage on the screen, background textures have a tendency to jump around and display incorrectly, and the cockpit status bar does not display properly and/or flickers. Similar problems have been reported with the Voodoo3 chipsets.
Why can't I get D2_3DFX to work at all with my Voodoo3?
Why can't I get D2_3DFX to work with my Voodoo4, Voodoo5, etc.?
Why won't D2_3DFX run more than once with my Voodoo3?
Why do my textures get all messed up when I use the Automap?
Why can't I adjust my framerate, gamma or vsync settings for my Voodoo3?
These are the most commonly-asked questions I've gotten in relation to D2_3DFX on newer computers. It seems that most, if not all, of the issues for V1 and V2 owners were resolved with v1.06b, but it left some problems for owners of more recent video cards.
In general, if you're having trouble getting D2_3DFX to run, the first thing you should do is to make sure you have the latest drivers installed and that you have no duplicate drivers sitting around. (Having more than one copy of GLIDE2X.OVL on your system can cause problems, I've discovered.)
Unfortunately, I'm unable to help beyond that. I don't have any compatible hardware to work with anymore, and based on the results I've heard of from other people, I'm going to have to simply declare that D2_3DFX is fundamentally incompatible with the Voodoo3, Voodoo4 and Voodoo5-series cards. This is my official declaration - basically meaning that I cannot and will not attempt to provide support for these cards. I don't have the ability at this point to continue researching solutions to these problems.
Thank you all for your great support of this site and this FAQ. It is much appreciated.
