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Descent 3 Source Code

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Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#111
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if the two of you are disagreeing or not, so genuinely asking: Could it be that you are both right? As in, you should stop right away when you start getting motion sick, but with time it will get better? Something like: play 15 minutes everyday, stop as soon as you are sick, and after a while you will be able to play 30min, etc. I have no idea, just asking for a friend :-).

This is interesting for me to, but I'd be surprised to learn someone actually has an authoritative answer.

Data points would be interesting too. Someone saying "I used to get sick after 15min, and now I can play for 60min without a problem. I always stop playing right when I start getting sick".

You know, just to see that it has happened to someone :-)

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#112

I loved loved loved this game. Never understood why this concept didn’t become a whole genre. No actual up, 360 degree freedom, enemies that were smart and could snipe you. Wasted many hours back then and very eager to try this out.

Freespace was the (un?)official successor. Freespace 2 was incredible and I’d be willing to bet it holds up to this day. Nowadays we have the modern version of Elite Dangerous, but its flight mechanics are too close to aeronautic flight mechanics to compare to Descent.

When I bought Free space it was actually titled Descent: Freespace - The Great War.

I wish the series had carried on, I really wanted to find out where the confusing plot threads of Freespace 2 went!

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#113
post #9

Now lets see if someone can dredge up the Tribes 2 source code and we'll have a perfect recreation of my summers in the computer labs.

That's EarthSiege universe, eh? I've been working on and off to decompile EarthSiege 2. Might take another stab at it this summer... maybe there are code similarities, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

EarthSiege 2 was amazing - many hours spent there. I used to multiplayer with a friend: one of us would steer the HERC's legs and one the turret.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#114
post #9

Now lets see if someone can dredge up the Tribes 2 source code and we'll have a perfect recreation of my summers in the computer labs.

IIRC Torque3D is based on Tribes 2 but a lot has been replaced over the years.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#115
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you have trouble with nausea?

Everyone has nausea initially when using VR. It will go away eventually. You need to train your brain to not feel G forces when you see movement.

I've owned multiple VR headsets and have many, many hours of VR experience. With seated experiences (vehicles/aircrafts/rollercoasters) I never got nausea, not even initially.

The only experiences that made me nauseas were the ones that simulated movement of characters, where pressing a button would move the character and camera forwards. That was just too much of a disconnect. Movement by teleporting was not a problem.

It was worst the first few times, and I did not last long before I had to take a break, powering through was not possible. With experience it got better, the nausea/dizzyness was less intense and I could play longer sessions, but it never went away completely.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#117
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It will go away eventually. No. It can actually get _worse_, as you get more sensitized to VR. The recommendation seems to be to _stop_ using VR if you get motion sick, rather than trying to power through it.

Not sure if the two of you are disagreeing or not, so genuinely asking: Could it be that you are both right? As in, you should stop right away when you start getting motion sick, but with time it will get better? Something like: play 15 minutes everyday, stop as soon as you are sick, and after a while you will be able to play 30min, etc. I have no idea, just asking for a friend :-).

I remember playing VR games with my HP Reverb G2 years ago and I did initially power through the motion sickness for a bit, but it did get better over the weeks until it just wasn't an issue at all.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#118

Found this gem on the Wikipedia page[0]: > A study published in 2002 used Descent 3 to study hawkmoth flight activities. Using the game's editing module, the researchers created a virtual environment consisting of a flat plane with rectangular pillars, across which the animal successfully navigated. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_3#Other_uses

Some crazy stuff… they Clockwork Oranged a moth to a VR machine with pheromone misters and electrodes

> In this paper we describe a novel insect flight simulator design that combines realistic, interactive visual environments with mechanosensory and olfactory stimuli in conjunction with state of the art multichannel neurophysiological recording techniques. This system takes advantage of currently available computer technology and MEMs fabrication techniques and we use it to examine activity from many CNS neurons in parallel during realistic closed-loop flight of the hawkmoth, Manduca sexta.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01650...

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#119

I loved loved loved this game. Never understood why this concept didn’t become a whole genre. No actual up, 360 degree freedom, enemies that were smart and could snipe you. Wasted many hours back then and very eager to try this out.

Not that you asked, but there's exactly one (popular) game that utilizes the same control scheme in modern times, Outer Wilds. Although it's not a shooter, it's quite a nice adventure game. https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/ There is, however, an outright continuation of the subgenre, in Overload. https://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/Overload/

I know what my next steam purchase is...thanks for sharing, never heard of it and I loved the Descent games when I was a kid.

Re: Descent 3 Source Code

#120
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that you asked, but there's exactly one (popular) game that utilizes the same control scheme in modern times, Outer Wilds. Although it's not a shooter, it's quite a nice adventure game. https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/ There is, however, an outright continuation of the subgenre, in Overload. https://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/Overload/

Overload is awesome! However I wonder if some remnants of 90s game design like tight time limits and repeating enemy ambushes that make the game such a familiar and intense experience for the old school in reality disadvantage the game and the genre from reaching wider audiences. There was also another classic Descent contender, Forsaken, that got remastared in 2018 to run on Linux and macOS in addition to modern Win…

Making it a 6DOF shooter at all probably severely hampered any chance of achieving mass appeal. If it had been 40-80 hour open world, character-based, third-person action adventure game, their chances would likely have been much higher.
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