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The player ship sits in front of a huge sphere with energy conduits
Available now: D2X-XL 2

Old game -
new soul

D2X-XL is an improved and modernized version of the classic 3D shooters Descent 1 and Descent 2. It allows you to play both games with a single program.

Download D2X-XL About D2X-XL
Windows · Linux

D2X-XL

Carefully crafted enhancements in every area of the game, while still preserving the gameplay of the originals.

Installation Manual FAQ Multiplayer How-to Modding All D2X-XL pages

DLE

The Descent 1 and 2 level editor, with many advanced editing functions.

Introduction General UI Lighting How-To Music How-To Version History Download DLE

Levels

My collection of hand picked single and multiplayer levels for Descent 1 and 2.

Single Player Multiplayer Architectural Level Spotlight 3rd Party Missions Hints
10/18/26 D2X-XL v2.0.9 is out! Download it.10/18/26 D2X-XL v2.0.8 is out! Download it.10/18/26 D2X-XL v2.0.7 is out! Download it.10/17/26 D2X-XL v2.0.6 and DLE v1.13.1 are out! Download it.10/13/26 D2X-XL v2.0.5 is out! Download it.10/13/26 D2X-XL 2.0.4 is out! Download it.10/10/26 D2X-XL 2 is out!

Worklog

Notes on features and problems from the development of D2X-XL, newest first.

All 181 articles
In-game screenshot: a wall panel with deep relief around a glowing blue window

Textures

 In-game screenshot in cartoon style: the player ship in a hall with outlined walls

Cartoon Style

 In-game screenshot: rock walls with tessellated relief

Hardware Tessellation
More AI Improvements 3D Cockpits Code Cleanup Lighting and Color Effects Sound Optimizations DLE

Featured levels

Hand picked single and multiplayer levels for Descent 1 and 2.

Level Spotlight
Screenshot of Year Of The Tiger Sirius

Year Of The Tiger

Fantastic D2X-XL mission with impressive architecture!

 Screenshot of The Sphere Yokelassence

The Sphere

Stunning 4 level D2X-XL mission with awesome architecture and effects

 Screenshots of Descent Vignettes DarkFlameWolf

Descent Vignettes

Beautiful 25+2 level Descent 1 mission featuring "Descent In A Nutshell"

 Title picture of The Enemy Within DarkFlameWolf

The Enemy Within

A massive and awesome multi-author Descent 2 mission.
A large orange robot fires a missile in a rock cave

Downloads

Software Wallpapers Screenshots

News

D2X-XL v2.0.9 is out! Download it.

- improved robot ai

D2X-XL v2.0.8 is out! Download it.

- "multithreaded -n" means "use all cores except n"

- decreased memory consumption during precomputation of mission data

- stripped unneeded messages from log file

D2X-XL v2.0.7 is out! Download it.

- improved robot models

- removed robot joints

- D1 exit sequence now renders correctly

- Powerups with glowing orbs are better visible against bright backdrops

- Powerups containing a ship icon had the ship upside down

- improved the 3D cockpits again

- fixed: you always loaded into a new level with 100 energy and 100 shield points, no matter how much you had when leaving the previous level

- fixed: nothing got rendered in secret levels

- fixed the rendered robot aspect ratio in briefings

- added a feature to batch compute all level data for entire missions

- added a green menu style

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