Obtaining Descent

Naithin · Post by **Naithin** » Sun May 30, 2004 2:00 am

Descent 3 especially. I am a legal owner of the descent series (descent 1-3, not the freespace games, never checked those out) and have over the years lost and/or damaged the disks for the games.

I saw Descent 3 for sale rather cheaply at an online store, but being in NZ racks up the cost of it rather rapidly.

1x Descent 3 PC $ 4.95

1x Shipping & Handling Per Order $ 4.00

1x Shipping & Handling Per Shipment$ 23.50

1x Shipping & Handling Per Item $ 5.50

Original price, $4.95 US, I can handle that for the convenience of getting a CD for it again, but the rest of it is too much to pay for a 2nd time around. Especially considering that since I'm from NZ, the cost basically doubles when put into our currency. :/

Just wondering if there is a better / easier / cheaper way of reobtaining these. I've managed to track down Descent 1 and 2 again alright, but the Kahn / Kali community seems all but gone (At least the Descent playing variety, seems Kali at least has gone through a rebirth lately) but Descent 3 is proving to be highly elusive.

Any help would be appreciated.

btw, out of curiousity, is anyone here still a remnant of the old Kahn days? I used to play as Belgarion or Jono as my alias, back when Tiny, one of the creators if I remember rightly, still hung out in the kahn channel quite a lot.

Just wonderin if anyone I know is still around.

I only discovered that Descent still /has/ a community earlier today, I had sadly thought it had all died away, as finding any recent trace of it on the net had been quite futile.

Anywho, I'm waffling now, so will end this. If nothing can be done about Descent 3, does anyone wanna go for some rounds of Descent 1? (Still my favourite between D1 / D2

)

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Sun May 30, 2004 2:54 am

i was a Kahn player way back in the day, but i played ALOT more on Kali. Kali had all the good competition. I did play with guys like Knopi, Tiny, Yubb, Grendelwulf, Iceman (the original, theres been like 8 or 9 in descent over the years) melvin, deimos, Punk, and Moon that i can remember. I know there was a ton more but I can't really remember any other names. Don't recall you though, sorry

You play under any other names or on any of the major ladders besides the ones you listed?

The Kali descent community was going just as strong as D3's until Kali went through its transformation. That pretty much killed off any remaining descenters, and before that Windows XP greatly diminished our numbers. I'd love to play some D1 but it won't play correctly enough in XP.

talk to mobius or roid or someone near you, they may be able to help you. DarkHorse and Xena on Kali would be a good idea too, they're kiwi's. if all else fails you can get it through means outlawed on this board. i'm sure someone will still have a cd.

rijruna · Post by **rijruna** » Sun May 30, 2004 3:29 am

gday from aussie & welcome to d3
I can get u a copy a lot cheaper than that. G2 [from aussie 2] has a few copies & I`ll phone him to see about sending you one, so alls not lost.
it seems that even tho d3 is an older game that there is quite a few new ppl arriving all the time.
P/M me & I`ll set it up
cheers
rij

HaAGen DaZS · Post by **HaAGen DaZS** » Sun May 30, 2004 4:33 am

tried ebay?

Naithin · Post by **Naithin** » Sun May 30, 2004 5:11 am

Actually kurupt, yer nick is familiar.. But my memory isn't the best over that time any more, and I know I've come across other Corrupt's in my gaming travels since then. (After Kali/Kahn faded, I went over to the Quakeworld scene, played QW:Team Fortress mostly, still one of my favourites even today, but I still miss descent a lot)

Anywho, I played in the Cases' ladder, for both Descent 1 and 2, I did much better in Descent 1 ladder than I ever did in D2 (I really didn't like a lot of the new weapon additions, that pheonix cannon, omega cannon and the 6 spread cannon thing (can't remember it's name now)) I never really enjoyed. I much preferred the original D1 plasma cannon / fusion cannon battles.

I did later play on Kali as well, but that was more towards the end of what I percieved to be the major sort of 'time' for Descent 1 / 2, Descent 3 was released, or nearly released, and players were drifting, myself included.

---

HaAgen: No, I haven't, but I don't really like ebay all that much to be honest.

Rijruna's option sounds like it might be a go though. Will just need to see what shipping costs between NZ and Aus are.

Thanks for the responces thus far, tis very appreciated.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Sun May 30, 2004 7:11 am

Look out for either Mobius or XeonJr, as they both live in NZ.

De Rigueur · Post by **De Rigueur** » Sun May 30, 2004 8:01 am

Naithin wrote: Especially considering that since I'm from NZ, the cost basically doubles when put into our currency.

Speaking of Mobius, didn't he say something about NZ monetary conversion before?

Topher · Post by **Topher** » Sun May 30, 2004 8:11 am

Interplay replaces scratched CDs for like $5 a series. You would have to ask them about lost CDs though...

Naithin · Post by **Naithin** » Sun May 30, 2004 2:30 pm

I haven't actually tried Interplay, just tried now though, seems their online store and whatnot is actually down at the moment, which I'm not too surprised about, considering at present they're battling off bankruptcy from what I know.

I still have the manual in my manual box I think, so maybe they'd accept that, but I'm thinking even if they did, would end up having to pay a lot in shipping to get the manual to them and for the CD back to me, so might end up still being cheaper checking out the deal with G2 the aussie, and his package is completely boxed set that comes with the Mercs addon pack which I missed last time around.

Anywho, will see how it goes. Thanks for the continued suggestions andd responces.

Diedel · Post by **Diedel** » Sun May 30, 2004 2:38 pm

If Interplay dies it might at least open up a way for a D3 sequel somehow ...

Naithin · Post by **Naithin** » Sun May 30, 2004 2:53 pm

Aye, I had had that thought too. But it seems that in their death throws, they're trying for all their worth to milk out some more money 'owed' to them from the Descent license.

I'm just surprised a 'Descent-like' thing hasn't been released by someone else.. Although I guess after the flop that was Forsaken (was there another project to? I think there was.. But can't seem to recall now) that others might have been much more hesitant to repeat those mistakes.

But god I'd love an up to date engine with the same gameplay we found in the first 3 descents, first especially.

Phoenix Red · Post by **Phoenix Red** » Sun May 30, 2004 5:30 pm

I don't think any mods would have a problem with someone on this board providing you a link to a CD image provided a) you're an owner of the software's liscence (you are) and b) it was kept to PM (so no opportunists could abuse the link).

For this reason I reccomend getting in touch with Krom on this board, who has the FTP space and good nature to give you a download.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Sun May 30, 2004 5:41 pm

DCrazy, I can hear Xeon spewing at you saying he's in New Zealand! He's a filthy AUSSIE for goodness sake!

Naithan, I have a spare set of full-retail D3 discs you can have for nix. email me at d3help at xtra.co.nz and we'll work something out. My only requirement is that you play myself, Contact, and CraigM online occasionally.

Alternatively, call me on 0800-345-443 during the day, (03)366-0566 at night, or (0274)549-548 any time.

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Sun May 30, 2004 8:12 pm

it may or may not have been me you're remembering, who's to say. i did slum around on cases ladder from time to time, but i was more active on the IDL than anything. i also quacked a bit with makaveli, stan, and tobycat. i don't know if those names ring a bell. a team named the defects (dfx-) by chance? eh, it was a long time ago, so you probably wouldn't... i remember just about nothing from back then, such a long time ago

i did remember one more name from kahn though, Buddha. b00d was a pimp.

i was still around after d1 calmed down, but i didn't play a whole lot. i checked my IDL Profile and i officially retired on april 17th of last year, but judging by my matches i was clearly done way before that. heh

theres only 10 players left on the old bird, such a shame. for me, that ladder was descent.

i'm with you on the d1 > d2 thing. d1 has always been my baby, my favorite game of all time. the gameplay is just superior to anything i've played since. i just wish it would work on XP better and more consistently. i'd love to play again.

i've seen a few d1 players venturing into d3 lately. merl, bubble, rethink, daz, kufyit. maybe i'll play some d3 again to show these guys how to play

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Sun May 30, 2004 9:42 pm

/me makes a note to harass Mobius since he did somethin stupid like post phone numbers on a public board.

bwahahaha

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Sun May 30, 2004 9:53 pm

Don't plan on making it a habit.... don't forget it's international. Might as well be calling the moon, seeing as that's where his head is half the time.

Naithin · Post by **Naithin** » Mon May 31, 2004 12:51 am

Hey guys, thanks again for the responces. Thanks especially to Mobius, and Pheonix Red (On behalf of Krom).

Checking in with Mobius first, as obtaining a proper CD set again would be great. But Mobius, if parting with the CD's is any problem, then it's good to know got this other option as well. Assuming D3 is an easy to burn ISO? It's fairly dated, so doubting too difficult to make a working copy of it, but my memory is pretty foggy in regards to what cd copy protection was like back then.

Anywho, thank-you again, it'll be great to get back into Descent again online in the near future.

llClutchll · Post by **llClutchll** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:26 am

Naithin wrote:Although I guess after the flop that was Forsaken

I remember the day Forsaken died, Acclaim released Multiplayer Cheats for the game. They were even promoting them and had a complete schedule of when they would be available. The Forsaken server on Kali went from 200 - 300 people to less than ten overnight. It was doing rather well until then. They slit their own throats on that one.

XeonJr · Post by **XeonJr** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:38 am

Damn straight, Mobius!

LunchBox · Post by **LunchBox** » Mon May 31, 2004 7:26 pm

D3 was nothing more than an 'Overburn' back in its day.. It was before they have 700mb CD's. You have to have a burner that would burn more than 650mb on a regular CD

Useless copy protection with the advent of 80min media

Box

Suncho · Post by **Suncho** » Mon May 31, 2004 8:52 pm

Naithin, buy 50 copies of Descent 3. You only have to pay the $27.50 once.

That's $550, averaging out to $11 per game including shipping. Then you can turn around and sell 49 of them for 15 bux a pop (I'm sure other New Zealanders would be greatful for the discount).

In the end you'll make $185 all said and done. =)

Naithin · Post by **Naithin** » Mon May 31, 2004 10:49 pm

Hah Suncho, not a bad idea, if I actually had that sort of money lying around to do it with. Heh.

If I did, buying another copy of it even at that insane price wouldn't be such a big deal.

Not a bad idea for someone else to pickup on mebbe.

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:01 am

I would E-mail interplay and ask 'em for a replacement- the 5 bucks you pay them for the replacement would be more than the price of the game, these days. (If they really read and think about the email, they shouldn't have any problems sendin yah a copy)

Defender · Post by **Defender** » Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:04 pm

That's assuming interplay still exists.

Naithin · Post by **Naithin** » Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:02 pm

Yeah.. Interplay is pretty much dead already. But it's alright, got things sorted out now.

Should be setup again and ready to roll before too long.

I think the rights to descent though are so tied up that it'd be a legal nightmare no matter what for any company to try do any sort of new descent title unfortunately.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:37 pm

Phoenix Red wrote:I don't think any mods would have a problem with someone on this board providing you a link to a CD image provided a) you're an owner of the software's liscence (you are) and b) it was kept to PM (so no opportunists could abuse the link).

For this reason I reccomend getting in touch with Krom on this board, who has the FTP space and good nature to give you a download.

As if I would just hand out access to my FTP server and bandwidth on a big open BB like this...

Naithin: Check your private messages.