So, just how do you use this thing? Well, despite the fact that we believe it to be incredibly straightforward and intuitive (are you reading this Outrage?), we have whipped up a few notes here for you to read and take to heart. A quick once over should answer any questions you may have, and you can get back to Descenting. First of all, the installation instructions:
- Download D3DSU
- Extact to your harddrive. You can place the program anywhere you like.
- Create a shortcut either on your desktop or your Start Menu
From now on, to run Descent 3's dedicated server, just double-click the shortcut to D3DSU, change any settings to your liking, click on the LAUNCH D3 button to start Descent 3, and click on PLAY to start the dedicated server with your settings.
After you "install" and run D3DSU, you will see the main screen (pictured on the left). Here is where almost all the action takes place. A brief description of each field follows:
Game Settings
Game Name: enter anything here, it will show up as the server name when someone connects to the game
Mission Name: this is the name of the file found in the descent3/missions folder that you wish to play
Game Type: select which type of game you wish to play
Connection Type: select the protocol used over your LAN
Game Options
Max Players: maximum numbers of players allowed in the game
Kill Goal: when one player reaches this many kills, the server will end the level and proceed to the next one
Start Level: enter a number higher than 1 to skip to other levels contained within a mission
HUD Names: (this feature is not implemented yet, but keep checking back) select whether or not to display player names over their ships during the game;
NOBODY = will not show player names on any ships
TEAMS = will only show you names of people on your team (so you don't waste ammo!)
ALL SHIPS = will show all players names
Packets Per Second: kind of a technical setting than you shouldn't play with unless you know what you're doing
Time Limit: how long to play a level before proceeding to the next one (in minutes)
Respawn Time: how long of a delay before weapons and power-ups are regenerated after someone grabs them (in seconds)
Difficulty: useful only for Robo-Anarchy or Co-op games where there are robots in the levels with you
