Running Descent 3

Table of Contents

1. System Requirements
2. Command-Line Options

System Requirements

Minimum:

• A 200MHz Pentium processor
• 32MB RAM
• 3D accelerator video card with 4 MB of texture RAM
• 210 MB hard disk space
• DirectX 6 certified sound card
• If you have Windows 95 or Windows 98, DirectX 6.1 software
• If you have Windows NT 4.0, Service Pack 3 or greater

Recommended:

• A Pentium II 300MHz processor
• 64MB RAM
• 500 MB hard disk space

Command-Line Options

The following command-line options are available in Descent 3. You can set command-line options on the Misc. tab of the Setup section of the Descent 3 launcher. Case is not significant in command-line options.

Display Options:

• -aspect <value>: Specifies the screen aspect ratio for non-standard displays, such as wide-screen TVs.
• -height <height>: Sets the screen resolution to the specified height, if possible.
• -himem: Forces normal operations even when low memory conditions are detected.
• -lowmem: Uses scaled-down textures and lower quality (8-bit) sounds to conserve memory.
• -NoRenderWindows: Causes all windows to be fully transparent. Use this option if your card does not correctly render partially-transparent windows.
• -superlowmem: Uses the -lowmem settings and further scales down textures to conserve memory.
• -vsync: Turns on Vertical Sync. The flag will be enabled in the registry so it will be on when the game is run again.
• -width <width>: Sets the screen resolution to the specified width, if possible.
• -windowed: Runs the game in a window.
• -z32bit: Enables the 32-bit z-buffer on cards that support it, such as the Matrox G400.

Audio Options:

• -nomusic: Disables music.
• -nosound: Disables all sound, including music.

Controls Options:

• -alternatejoy -directinput: Causes DirectInput to be used for the joystick or other game controller, instead of standard Windows API.
• -chpro: Enables a CH Flightstick Pro or compatible joystick.
• -deadzone# <k>: Specifies the size of the deadzone for a joystick.
• -mlooksens <scale>: Determines how much the player moves when the mouse is moved.
• -mouseman: Enables special handling for the Logitech MouseMan.
• -mousesens <scale>: Adjusts the sensitivity of the mouse when not using mouselook mode.

Network and Multiplayer Options:

• -autoexec <file>: Specifies the full path and file name of the multiplayer config file to be loaded and executed when a multiplayer game is initialized.
• -nonetwork: Disables all network multiplayer functionality.

Other Options:

• -fastdemo: Causes a demo to play back at the highest speed your computer is capable of.
• -forcelightmaps: Forces the use of lightmaps, even the Default Detail Level is set to Low in the launcher setup.
• -framecap <fps>: Limits the framerate to the number of frames per second specified.
• -highvidmem: Causes 2 MB Voodoo 1 cards to behave as if they had more memory.
• -makemovie: Causes the demo system to save a screenshot of every frame during playback.
• -mission <name>: Loads the specified mission file at startup.
• -nocompress: Turns off S3TC texture compression for cards that support it.
• -nocrashbox: Disables the error dialog displayed if Descent3 crashes.
• -nopentium3: Disables detection of the Pentium III processor.
• -nomotionblur: Disables motion blur on robots (Pentium III only).
• -nosatomega: Disables alpha saturation on the omega cannon effect.
• -nosparkles: Disables powerup sparkles (Pentium III only).
• -setdir <path>: Specifies the working directory for Descent 3.
• -timetest <file>: Causes Descent 3 to play back the specified demo file upon startup.
• -useexedir: Tells Descent 3 to use the directory in which the executable is located as the working directory.