Notes on features and problems from the development of D2X-XL, newest first.
Software Tessellation (DLE)
Descent levels are built from cube shaped segments, so caves and rock formations in them tend to look blocky.
DLE now has tools to refine such geometry. Segments can be split into smaller ones, with their textures, walls, triggers and objects being carried over to the new segments.
"Round Structures" smooths the tagged surface, turning angular structures into rounded ones. "Increase Surface Detail" pushes the corners of a surface in and out irregularly, which turns it into rough rock.
Both tools leave doors alone and refit the textures to the changed faces. They can be restricted to rock, water and lava textures, so the technical parts of a level stay as they are, and faces that have to stay flat can be tagged as planar.
A structure as built and after rounding it:
Rock with surface detail added, and such geometry in the game:
News
A new D2X-XL update fixing broken screen resolution persistence is available
There is yet another D2X-XL update is available (the new Pumo Mines broke a few things ...)
Believe it or not: There's a new D2X-XL version online!
Uploaded updated D2X-XL and library source code that compiles with Visual Studio 19
After a really long time, another new DLE version is available
A new DLE version is available (hear, hear!) :D
A new Max OS X version of D2X-XL is available!
D2X-XL now offers a cartoon style render mode!
New D2X-XL and DLE versions are available
Blarget has got his own area in the level spotlight
New D2X-XL and DLE versions are available
A couple of levels have been added to the level spotlight
Hooray! We're finally having a new Mac OS X version of D2X-XL!
D2X-XL now features an observer mode for multiplayer games
A new D2X-XL version with improved multiplayer synchronization is available
A new D2X-XL version fixing out of sync problems in multiplayer games is available
A new D2X-XL version with many multiplayer bug fixes is available
Added high quality (ogg) Descent 1 and 2 music to the downloads area
A new D2X-XL version with important bug fixes is available
D2X-XL compiles and runs on Linux again!
Descent 1 and 2 high res textures are now available as complete downloads
A new DLE version with a ton of bug fixes and improvements is online
A new D2X-XL version is online
A new D2X-XL version with a much needed bug fix is online
A new DLE version is online
Published another DLE version with more bug fixes and improvements by Sirius
Published a new D2X-XL version
Published a new DLE version with tons of bug fixes and improvements by Sirius
D2X-XL now supports Oculus Rift 3D headsets!
Updated DLE and D2X-XL to support new level features requested by Pumo
Added an article about DLE's new tunnel generator to the worklog
DLE's new tunnel generator is finished
Added a new article to the worklog
Published a new DLE version
Added a new article to the worklog
Added two new articles to the worklog
D2X-XL and DLE-XP now support triangular segment sides!
DLE-XP has an OpenGL render and 1st person view!
New DLE-XP version available
Wrote a new worklog article
Check out DarkFlameWolf's level spotlight section!
New DLE-XP and D2X-XL versions are available
A new DLE-XP version is available
Added a worklog article about the way point feature