Dateiliste

Let's start off with joining a game, because this is most likely what everybody wants to do first. The built-in process in Descent 3 is not quite appealing if you're planning to do it more often. The game requires you to enter the game host's IP address. If the host is not running the game on the default port 2092 you even have to add the game's port number.

With the Descent 3 Direct IP Launcher you don't have to enter IP addresses and port numbers anymore, if you can copy and paste them from somewhere.

Another issue is that before you can join online games you first need to know which games are currently running and where you can find them. There are several options, but Vortex and the Descent 3 game browser ("The Tracker") are most likely the best. The tracker at http://d3.descent.cx/tracker.d3 only works reliably for dedicated servers and its handling is not entirely as convenient and quick as Vortex. Vortex has the additional benefit that it not only lists Gamespy servers but also the ones captured by the tracker. That means that Vortex almost always lists a few games more than the tracker.

Vortex is some sort of a chat client with built-in support for Descent3 (or the other way round, depending on how you look at it). Using Vortex is actually very very simple. For more information visit Vortex's homepage at http://www.slyclan.de. Before you start downloading and installing Vortex now, better have a look at Installation of Pyromania, because this installer gives you both, the Pyromania mod and Vortex, in one single step. It also integrates Pyromania into Vortex during the installation, which otherwise is quite a hassle to do manually.

Of course, the official versions of Gamespy and Kali can be used too. Both are not free, but Kali asks for a one-off registration fee while Gamespy requires a subscription.