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Co-op (co-operative) Descent 3 servers require different settings than anarchy games.

This article describes the process for a dedicated Descent 3 co-op server on the Windows platform by using the server tool. The settings for Linux and in-game servers should be kept very similar (actually: identical). Have a look at in-game servers with correct respawn rate to circumvent a bug in Descent 3 with the respawn rate for powerups.

Before you start thinking about hosting co-op servers, you need the correct co-op modification. The one Outrage has shipped originally with Descent 3 more than a decade ago is not very suitable for co-operative games. Go to improved co-op mod to download the correct file. No one wants to play a co-op game anymore with a maximum of 3 players in ships with plastic bubbles around them that protect the ships from friendly fire. Get the new co-op.d3m file and put it in your "netgames" folder.

When you start the server tool, you need to add a new server or modify an existing one.

Click on the Edit button to change an existing server, or click on the Add button to create a new server. As you can see in the above image, I'm going to edit an existing server. Create a new one, if your list is empty. You can also use the Copy button to copy the settings of an existing server and alter its settings afterwards, if you have one you wouldn't want to change.

This window pops up:

We'll go through all these settings, so don't worry if it looks a bit complicated on first sight.

On the top left, you can see a field called Server name (req.). This is the name of your server with which it is going to show up on the game trackers. Enter any name you like, but I think you should try to avoid special characters. In the example above, I called mine "Along The Line".

The next setting is the D3 Executable. If you don't have Pyromania installed, the only option you have here is "Descent 3". If Pyromania is instaleld, "Pyro15" is another option, but in most cases I doubt that you'd like to host a Pyromania server for co-op: Your potential players couldn't join easily, unless they have set up Vortex to use the Pyromania mod for Descent 3 version 1.5, which seems quite unlikely.

Underneath the D3 Executable is a field called Mission name. You need to select a co-op mission here, unless you intend to run an anarchy level in co-operative, which certainly wouldn't make much sense. Anarchy levels tend to not have robots or mission goals.

The mission "Descent 3: Retribution" is a good choice, unless you know already which other co-op mission you'd like to host. You can try the missions in co-op in an in-game server to find the mission of your choice. Bare in mind that many single-player missions are unplayable in co-op, and that many others need a bit of intervention from server operator during the game. The mission Descent 3: Retribution is no exception here.

After you have chosen an appropriate mission, you can decide with which level the mission starts (Level). This is the setting underneath Mission name. In case of the Retribution, there are several issues to consider, but give it a go anyway and see for yourself. If warp is on, the same level plays over and over again. Since this doesn't seem very appropriate for co-operative games, set it to warp: off, which is the default, hence you don't usually have to change it.

For the Game type, you need to select "Co-op". Anything else wouldn't make it a co-op game, would it?

If you have more than one "Co-op" in this list, use the one that says "Co-op" alone, i.e. don't go for one like "Co-op original" or similar. Otherwise your players won't be able to join.

Max players: This is one reason why it is so important to use the new co-op game type and not the one Outrage have shipped with Descent 3 originally. If you have the original co-op mod, you can select here what you want, but you can still only have up to 3 players in the game. The new co-op.d3m file really hosts a server with the amount of players you set here in this field (Max players).

For a co-op game, the amount of teams (Num. teams) doesn't matter. You can leave the default value of 2. Co-op games can't have more than one team anyway, and Descent 3 takes care of this later in the game, but the server tool doesn't want you to select just one team only.

If you click on the button Team options, another configuration window pops up.

The box next to Enable team damage is checked by default, and it should stay like this. In theory, and if you have the new co-op.d3m, if you untick this box, players can't shoot each other anymore. It is as if they don't exist for each other's weapons. If you have the original co-op game type, Descent 3 doesn't care what you tick here. In this case team damage is always off.

Note that one of the challenges of team games is to take care of each other. Many co-op players believe that a co-op game is not challanging enough if team damage is not on. You wouldn't want to play soccer without the risk of hitting your own team's goal either, would you?

That's why it's best to leave Enable team damage ticked in this settings window. Just leave the settings like in the above pictue.