Installing d2x on Windows ------------------------- Unzip the binary release (d2x-x.x.x_mingw.zip), placing the files in your descent2 directory (C:\GAMES\DESCENT2 by default) You will also need the SDL and SDL_image runtime libraries. Get SDL-1.2.x-win32.zip from here: http://www.libsdl.org/download-1.2.php And get SDL_image-1.2.x-win32.zip from here: http://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/ Unzip these files and place the DLLs in your descent2 directory, or you can place them in your system directory if you want to use them with programs other than d2x. See below for data installation. Installing d2x on MacOS X ------------------------- I guess we need to figure out the binary distribution first, eh? Base Data Installation ---------------------- In addition to d2x, you need some data files to play. In Windows or DOS, they go in the same directory as the d2x binary (C:\GAMES\DESCENT2 by default). On unix, these files usually go into a shared data directory (/usr/local/share/games/d2x by default). They can also go in $HOME/.d2x, or in an arbitrary directory specified with the -hogdir option on the d2x command line. The base install depends on which version of the datafiles you have. d2x currently supports just about any version of Descent II, and can use almost any version of Descent I as an add-on. Place these files into your shared data dir: Full Version (PC or Mac): descent2.ham descent2.hog descent2.s11 descent2.s22 alien1.pig alien2.pig fire.pig groupa.pig ice.pig water.pig If you want movies, place the .mvl files in your shared data dir: intro-h.mvl and/or intro-l.mvl other-h.mvl and/or other-l.mvl robots-h.mvl and/or robots-l.mvl The mvl files from the Mac version will not work. They are in a different format! OEM Version (Destination: Quartzon): descent2.ham descent2.hog descent2.s11 descent2.s22 fire.pig groupa.pig ice.pig water.pig If you want movies, place the .mvl files in your shared data dir: intro-l.mvl other-l.mvl robots-h.mvl and/or robots-l.mvl PC Shareware: d2demo.ham d2demo.hog d2demo.pig Mac Shareware: d2demo.ham d2demo.hog d2demo.pig descent2.s11 exit.ham d2.mn2 Add-on Mission Installation --------------------------- d2x should be able to play any missions for Descent I or Descent II, including the original Descent I mission (Descent: First Strike) In order to play any add-on missions, you need to have a full set of textures. That is, your base installation above must be the "Full Version", the "OEM Version", or the "Mac Shareware" version. To install an additional mission, just place the .hog and the .msn or .mn2 file into your missions directory. The missions directory can be inside the system-wide data dir, or your $HOME/.d2x dir. d2x will look in both places. To install the original Descent I mission: Place descent.hog into your data dir. d2x tries to make Descent I levels look as close to the original as possible, using just Descent II textures. However, if d2x finds a .pig file from Descent I (except PC shareware and 1.0 versions) installed in the data dir, it is able to improve the originality by reading textures from there (except for animated textures). Vertigo Installation -------------------- Vertigo consists of both netgame enhancements (codenamed HOARD) and an additional mission. To install HOARD, place hoard.ham in your data dir. To play the vertigo mission, place d2x.hog and d2x.mn2 in your mission dir. If you want the movies that go with the vertigo mission, place d2x-h.mvl and/or d2x-l.mvl in your data dir. Notes ----- In unix, all filenames must be in _lower case_. It's important. It is not necessary to run the D2 setup program to extract the files you need, just use unarj to extract the files from descent2.sow on the cd. If you use the mac demo data files, and they are not auto-detected (colors come out wrong), use the -macdata switch. If your computer has performance problems playing the movies, you can tell it to play the low resolution versions by setting MovieHires=0 in your descent.cfg file. You can also override this setting by passing the -lowresmovies switch or by deleting all *-h.mvl files.