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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
10/13/26 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 180 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
3D Cockpits Code Cleanup Lighting and Color Effects Sound Optimizations DLE Caches and Crash Reports

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 v2.0.5 is out! Download it.

- D2X-XL's hires ships didn't get loaded any more

- removed a startup message about missing vertigo files

- added an occasionally appearing donation message

D2X-XL 2.0.4 is out! Download it.

- fixed rotation thruster activation on hires ships

- cockpits are now visible during level fade-in

- hud icons are integrated in the full cockpit now

- ship doesn't bounce at every wall or floor contact anymore, but slides as it should

- added 3D cockpits for PyroGL, PhantomXL and Wolf

- blue shockwave will only be rendered for boss, mini boss and player ship explosions

- submodels of flares containing these weren't rendered

- compiled shaders will now be stored in an api specific subfolder of cache/shaders

- now delivering windows executables as d2x-xl-directx.exe and d2x-xl-vulkan.exe

d2x-xl.exe is now just a launcher that preferably starts d2x-xl-directx.exe (it doesn't have the Vulkan version's stutter at the start of the first level and is just as fast as Vulkan). If it doesn't find d2x-xl-directx.exe, it will try d2x-xl-vulkan.exe.

D2X-XL 2 is out!

A complete overhaul: new renderer, reworked textures, lighting, effects, sound, robot AI and multiplayer. See what's new and download it.

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