VT - Developer Tools

If you are interested in Descent developing, these are the best tools available:

The original Descent 1 source (1.5MB, 23 Jan 98) is available for download! Please read the FAQ before attempting to compile. The latest D1x build, 1.20, is available here.

Miner 1.61 (747kB, 22 Feb 98) is the latest build of the level editor Parallax used to create the levels for Descent 1. It was recently released as part of the D1 source, and has been revised by Kevin Bentley to be less crash-prone. Visit the Project: Miner Home Page for more information.

Devil 2.2 LC2 (672kB, 31 Aug 98) is the latest version of the original D1/D2 level editor. It's a bit harder to use than DMB2, but it's at the right price. :) You can visit the Devil Home Page for more information.

The DMB2 upgrade patch (981kB) is available. This will patch your 2.1b release version to 2.6. For a full rundown of the new features, check out the Brainware Home Page. Note that a demo of DMB2 is available on our Demos and Patches page.

Descent Manager

Descent Manager is a suite of tools for all aspects of editing and modifying Descent. You can edit your recorded demos, view your multiplayer stats, edit and add colour to your multiplayer macros, edit your savegames, get level reports, manage HOG files, create new bots, extract movies, and much more! The Beta 06f version at the bottom was the last non-module version made, so until separate modules are made for each part of the original DM, download this as well. Check out the home page links for more info on each tool.

DM DETLEF32 beta 2 for Win32, a must-have level-downloading and sorting program. (1.9MB, 14 Sep 98). Note: requires DLLPack 1.1 beta 5 or higher, available below. Homepage
DM PLREdit beta 1b for Win32, allows viewing of your player stats, and editing of your multiplayer macros and start levels etc. (448kB, 15 Sep 98). Homepage
DM Robot Construction Kit beta 3, containing HAXMEdit beta 6 for Win32 and beta 2 for DOS, and Polytron beta 6 for Win32 (2.2MB, 6 Jul 98). Requires DLL pack (below). Homepage
DM DemoEdit beta 02 for DOS, an editor for Descent 1 and 2 recorded demos (204kB). Homepage
DM MVEExtract 32 beta 1 for Win32 allows you to create stand-alone EXEs of the movies from Descent 2, Descent: Freespace, Shattered Steel, Virtual Pool, Voyeur and other Interplay titles. (632kB, 27 Jun 98). Homepage
DM VPView beta 4, a browsing and extracting utility for both the Descent: Freespace playable demo and the full version (424kB, 12 Sep 98). Homepage
DM DLL pack 1.1 beta 5 for Win32, required for all DM Win32 modules (3.2MB, 2 Apr 98). Note: if you already have DLL pack 1.1 beta 4, get the beta 4 -> beta 5 upgrade instead (602kB), or if you have 1.1 beta 3, get the beta 3 -> beta 5 upgrade (1.2MB)
Descent Manager beta 06f for DOS, the last full DM release, containing the tools not yet modulised. (389kB) Homepage

Check out the DM Home Page for more info.

DTX2 1.02 (308kB, 21 Jul 97) is an excellent program that will allow you to grab and alter D2 graphics and sounds. Visit the DTX Home Page for more info.

PMView 2.6 beta (172kB, 14 Dec 97) is a viewer for D2's robots. It requires OpenGL, which comes with Win95 OSR2 and NT4. If you are using the original Win95, you will need to also get these DLL files (349kB) and put them in your \Windows\System directory. Visit the PM View Home Page for further info.

FS Viewer 1.0 (54kB, 18 Sep 98) is a ship viewer for Descent: Freespace's ships - it is basically the same thing for FS as PMView above. It also requires OpenGL, so if you don't have them you will need to also get the DLL files (349kB).

Rbotedit 1.3 (144kB, 16 Jun 98) is a robot information editor, so you can edit things like textures, gunpoints, segments and joint info. It also matched texture info so that you get the best fit when saving into a HXM. Visit the Rbotedit Home Page for more details.

This Freespace ANI converter (91kB, 26 Jun 98) allows you to convert your own PCX and AVI files into ANI files, which you can then import into your custom FS missions.

DCheck 1.1 (638kB, 14 Jan 98) is a Win32 program that allows you to quickly check a mine for a number of things, for example, if it supports Flag or Hoard play, how many textures were replaced by POGs, and much more! Check out the DCheck Home Page for more info.

Hoggle 1.3 (47kB, 21 Feb 98) is a nifty Windows HOG file manager, so you can add/remove/rename/reorder missions, and add briefings, etc. A great little HOG manager. :)