Descent 3
2 ports
Descent 3 (Descent3)
DescentDevelopers/Descent3
Descent3: the community edition of the Descent 3 engine, released as open source under the GPL-3.0 on April 16, 2024. It includes the 1.5 patch that Kevin Bentley and Jeff Slutter wrote, which never shipped, brought to a stable state by the Descent community. Version 1.5.0 (August 16, 2024), the first release, is the work of 28 contributors over four months: it fills in what the patch was missing, prioritizes compatibility with current CPUs and the developer experience, and keeps features mostly identical to the released code. It runs on 64-bit Linux, Windows, and macOS using SDL2, on AMD64 and ARM64 processors; 32-bit support was dropped. It also ships HogMaker, a utility that builds platform-specific HOG files with the level scripts. There are official builds for Windows x64, Linux x64, and macOS (Intel and Apple silicon). The project is still active: the last commit is from October 23. The repository includes the level scripts and demo data files (the demohog folder) and does not contain the game’s assets.
You needThe data files from your own copy of Descent 3, copied as described in the USAGE.md that ships with the executable; the project includes no game assets. Plus 64-bit Windows, Linux, or macOS (x86-64 or ARM64).
Descent 3 (Piccu Engine)
InsanityBringer/PiccuEngine
Piccu Engine: a new engine for Descent 3 based on the version 1.5 source code released in April 2024, which incorporates almost every change from InjectD3. It can be dropped straight into the game’s folder or into a separate one with the data files copied over, and it covers the campaign, the Mercenary expansion, and multiplayer, with a dedicated server. It adds a centered window mode, scaling in windowed and fullscreen modes, a fullscreen mode that doesn’t change desktop settings, new mouse code that reads the mouse at its native rate instead of the original’s 20 Hz, an adjustable field of view that expands automatically in widescreen, with a cockpit that works at that aspect ratio, restored OpenGL features (specular highlights, mipmapping control), OpenAL sound with no crackling, environmental reverb, and Doppler, HUD text scaling, menus at 60 fps, MSAA, videos that fill the screen width, and XInput controllers. Savegames, demos, and pilots go to the user’s Saved Games folder unless you use portable mode. Version 1.2 (September 9, 2024) added an OpenGL 3.3 renderer, which 1.2.1 made optional because it ran poorly on Nvidia cards, game listing on trackers that speak the Gamespy protocol, and mission downloads over HTTPS. The latest stable release is 1.2.2 (September 12, 2024), for Windows; since June 2025 there have been 1.3.0 test builds that move input, window, and graphics context handling to SDL, the latest from July 25, 2025, and the latest commit is from August 27, 2026. Like the released source code, the repository includes data from the Descent 3 Linux demo (four levels, graphics, sounds, the menu music, and text, about 15 MB) and the full game’s text tables.
You needThe files from your own copy of Descent 3 updated to version 1.4: d3.hog, extra.hog, and extra13.hog, and in missions d3.mn3, d3_2.mn3, d3voice1.hog, d3voice2.hog, and training.mn3, plus merc.hog and merc.mn3 if you own the Mercenary expansion; the Steam release’s data works too. Multiplayer also needs the netgames and online folders, Fury.hog, and bedlam.mn3; the movies are optional. Plus Windows.
Installs with
Questions
What projects are there for Descent 3?
The catalog has 2 ports for Descent 3, all on this page with their status.
What do I need to play it?
Your own copy of Descent 3 (Windows). Recompendium only links projects that don’t distribute the game, and each entry says which version or region you need.
Which one is the most popular?
Descent 3 (Descent3), with 3,021 stars on GitHub.