VOGONS

Search

Common searches

Descent too fast - What could I do?

Topic actions

First post, by Pedro_Freitas

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hey guys, how are you doing?

First of all, I'd like to thank you for participating in this community. I apologize for my first post being to ask for some help.

My current rig is:

-MOBO: ASUS P4S800 MX - SE
-CPU: Celeron D 315 - 2.26Ghz
-RAM: 512mb DDR 400
-GRAPHICS: Geforce 4 MX4000
-OS: WIN 98 SE
-SOUND: Creative PCI 128

Definitely it isn't a high-end machine, but it works really fine and it suits my needs well. However, I'm facing a little issue: Descent is one of the games I want to play, but it's speed sensitive and my PC is too fast for it, even for the Anniversary Edition that already comes with patch 1.4a.

Since I want to use my current mobo (I don't have any older platform), I thougth of two possible solutions:

-Speed up my system: install a Pentium 4 2.26Ghz (Northwood, 512kb L2 Cache) and use the extra power to try to run Descent via DOSBOX;

-Slow down my system: install a Celeron 2.66Ghz (Northwood) and try to reach a playable speed. In this case I'm worried about how the shortage of cache of this Celeron will affect the performance of more demading games (Unreal Gold, UT, Quake 3, etc.) .

My question is: What should I do? Are there other options?

Thank you very much in advance.

Last edited by Pedro_Freitas on 2022-02-01, 01:23. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 10, by Pedro_Freitas

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
Anders- wrote on 2022-02-01, 01:10:

Underclock the current cpu, disable cache?

I thought about this possibility, but I couldn't find any option in the BIOS to change the clock speed or disable cache.

By the way, my mobo is a ASUS P4S800 MX - SE.

Reply 3 of 10, by AirIntake

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

https://www.philscomputerlab.com/136-in-1-pentium-mmx.html

Here’s some software to disable cache in many different steps for precise slowdown.

Casio BE-300 Advancement Society alumni

Reply 4 of 10, by STX

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I loved that game, even though it made me feel sick! When I upgraded my family's PC from a Pentium 100 to a Pentium OverDrive 200, Descent Anniversary Edition ran too fast. My solution was to switch to Descent 2. A Celeron D is much faster than a Pentium OverDrive, so you'll need DOSBox or a slowdown utility like Throttle. Nowadays, there is DXX-Rebirth too.

Reply 5 of 10, by Pedro_Freitas

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
STX wrote on 2022-02-01, 02:00:

I loved that game, even though it made me feel sick! When I upgraded my family's PC from a Pentium 100 to a Pentium OverDrive 200, Descent Anniversary Edition ran too fast. My solution was to switch to Descent 2. A Celeron D is much faster than a Pentium OverDrive, so you'll need DOSBox or a slowdown utility like Throttle. Nowadays, there is DXX-Rebirth too.

Oh, yeah! Descent is awesome! I really want to make it work on my retro build!

I've already tried using Turbo and CPU Killer, but I didn't have good results (broken fps). As for DOSBOX, apparently my cpu isn't powerful enought to emulate Descent, as it runs at low FPS. That's why I think about using a P4.

Unfortunately the DXX-Rebirth don't works under Win98 SE (at least as far as I know).

Thanks for the answer, bro!

Reply 6 of 10, by akula65

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Something else to try: Re: Fastest CPU Descent 1 can handle?

And there are possibly other slow-down utilities worth trying: List of Slowdown Utilities

According to DosFreak, DXX-Retro v14x5 is Win95 compatible: Game Port OS Compatibility
Get it here: https://github.com/CDarrow/DXX-Retro/releases
Might be worth trying the latest release as well.

Really old DXX-Rebirth releases might work, but I don't know if they are still available: DXX-Rebirth Version 0.56

Another thread with suggestions: Fastest CPU Descent 1 can handle?

Reply 8 of 10, by AirIntake

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
jmarsh wrote on 2022-02-01, 15:38:

Descent has a command line switch "-640x480" which uses high resolution mode. Not only does it look far better, it also slows the game down enough to run on more modern CPUs.

After 25 years, TIL

Edit: Turns out you need a newer version. My Descent 1.0 didn't work with the -640x480 switch but it worked after I applied the 1.4a patch.

Casio BE-300 Advancement Society alumni

Reply 9 of 10, by Pedro_Freitas

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
jmarsh wrote on 2022-02-01, 15:38:

Descent has a command line switch "-640x480" which uses high resolution mode. Not only does it look far better, it also slows the game down enough to run on more modern CPUs.

I've already tried this and it's still a little bit fast, but totally playabel. However when I try to return to main menu, my screen gets totally messed.

I appreciate your help. Thanks!

Reply 10 of 10, by Pedro_Freitas

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
akula65 wrote on 2022-02-01, 10:40:
Something else to try: Re: Fastest CPU Descent 1 can handle? […]
Show full quote

Something else to try: Re: Fastest CPU Descent 1 can handle?

And there are possibly other slow-down utilities worth trying: List of Slowdown Utilities

According to DosFreak, DXX-Retro v14x5 is Win95 compatible: Game Port OS Compatibility
Get it here: https://github.com/CDarrow/DXX-Retro/releases
Might be worth trying the latest release as well.

Really old DXX-Rebirth releases might work, but I don't know if they are still available: DXX-Rebirth Version 0.56

Another thread with suggestions: Fastest CPU Descent 1 can handle?

Thanks man! You really solved my problem!

I've already tried use slow-down utilities, but none worked (my system got slower, but gameplay totally broken and unstable.

The answer was the early versions of D1X, more specifically the 0.56 one. It works very fine under win98!

Thank you, man!

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to Software
Close window
Close window