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[Kadve]

Descent 3 programmer releases the classic space shooter's source code, including a surprise patch developed 15 years ago but never released

Infinite degrees of freedom.

www.pcgamer.com

The source code for Descent 3 has been released, and is available to download now on Github.

Spotted by Linux programmer Daniel Gibson on Mastodon, the code was released by Descent 3 programmer Kevin Bentley earlier this week. Described by Bentley as the "latest version" of the code, it includes an unreleased '1.5' patch codesigned by Bentley and another Descent 3 designer, Kevin Slutter, several years ago.


"The first thing I want to do is get everything compiling again," writes Bentley in the release announcement. "After that, the code needs to be cleaned up some, to remove the old version control comments." He notes that "a lot of this code was written by a really great team, but keep in mind we were much younger and less experienced back then."

Lots of source flying around right now. No'one seems to be sure whether this was sanctioned by Interplay though something tells me no.

 

[Guilty_AI]

 

[MikeM]

Right in my childhood.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Great.

But the only Descent worth playing is FreeSpace.

 

[Don Carlo]

Right in my childhood.

The feelings are mutual brother

 

[yet_another_alt]

Great.

But the only Descent worth playing is FreeSpace.

But FS2 is better than the first. Although I guess the expansion and the sequel didn't have Descent.

 

[CGNoire]

Isnt there already an open source Descent port out there?

 

[Duchess]

Obligatory:

grep -R "shit" .

./physics/FindIntersection.cpp:    // sort shit
./physics/FindIntersection.cpp:  // sort shit
./grtext/grtext.cpp:    {0xbe, 0xa5, 0xa4, 0xb9, 0x00},                   // = shit
./legacy/FontEditor/FontKern.cpp:                               // gosh, comparing pointers like this may not be the best method...this is shitty code...
./legacy/editor/ObjectDialog.h: * Object palette works (shitty scaling of powerups.)
./legacy/editor/ObjectDialog.cpp: * Object palette works (shitty scaling of powerups.)
./legacy/editor/GrFontDialog.cpp:               mprintf((0, "shit!\n"));
./2dlib/memsurf.cpp://  does shit.
./ddio_lnx/lnxfile.cpp:  //  rcg 06092000 what's all this working dir shite?
./Descent3/terrainrender.cpp: * changes for shitty direct3d cards
./Descent3/WeaponFire.cpp: * Added more shit to the matcen code   :)
./Descent3/gamesequence.cpp: * changes for shitty direct3d cards
./Descent3/weapon.h: * Added more shit to the matcen code   :)
./lnxmvelib/mvelibl.cpp:**  It uses SDL. We love it. Woohoo. None of this low-level X11 shit. --ryan.
./dd_sndlib/Ds3dlib.cpp:      // Determine if we are running NT or have a shitty Win95 sound card

and:

grep -R "fuck" .     
./lib/polymodel.h: * upped polyvecs for that fucker brent
./grtext/grtext.cpp:    {0xab, 0xb8, 0xae, 0xa6, 0x00},                   // = fuck
./legacy/editor/KeypadDialog.cpp: * Damn, another fuckup.
./legacy/editor/KeypadDialog.cpp: * Oops, a fuckup fixed.
./legacy/editor/GrFontDialog.cpp:                       mprintf((0, "fuck!\n"));
./legacy/editor/gameeditor.cpp: * Don't set game window to be active.  It fucks something up under NT
./2dlib/pen.cpp: * Fixed  hline clipping fuckup.
./2dlib/viewport.cpp: * Fixed clip_rect fuckup.
./renderer/opengl_ryan.cpp:    /* God I feel fuckin' dirty. */
./renderer/opengl_ryan.cpp:  //  the fuckwork before I had to.  :)  --ryan.
./renderer/dyna_gl_ryan.h:/* bk00614 - fuckit
./win32/winapp.cpp: * optimization problem which fucked up OS detection in os_init in release

and:

grep -R "cunt" .
./grtext/grtext.cpp:    {0xae, 0xb8, 0xa3, 0xb9, 0x00},                   // = cunt

That last one actually surprised me! LOL!

 

[ClanOfNone]

Great.

But the only Descent worth playing is FreeSpace.

Preach. Freespace 2 in particular was amazing and kinda the swan song for the space opera shooter a la Wing Commander.
I was pretty hyped when Star Citizen was announced, a shame it turned into a giant wet fart of a money laundering scheme.

 

[Kadve]

Isnt there already an open source Descent port out there?

Not for the third game

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

Great.

But the only Descent worth playing is FreeSpace.

Freespace is great. Descent 1, 2, and 3 are better.