Part [5]. OTHER PROBLEMS


-- [5a] ---------- Why can't I save my game in the middle of a level?

Interplay and Parallax intentionally did not enable saving of games in the
middle of a level, much to the chagrin of Descent players. :)

Their rationale is that if you could save anywhere, you could save before
every big battle and be done with the game much faster than if you had to
struggle through every level. While opinions vary on the subject,
Interplay's rationale is solid, in this viewer's opinion.

Word is that Parallax will add improved saving options in the registered/
retail version of Descent. Stay tuned...


-- [5b] ---------- I just died; where did all my stuff go?

Your stuff (weapons, energy, etc.) remain where you died. Just fly back
where you died and gather all your stuff back.


-- [5c] ---------- How can I skip past all the dialog in the beginning of the game?

Hit "Enter" to stop the scrolling, or hit "Esc" to stop the entire dialogue
and to bring you directly to the game.


-- [5d] ---------- How can I avoid motion sickness?

Descent is a very immersive game, and you will likely still feel like
you're inside Descent's environment for a short time after playing. Many
people complain of motion sickness, or feeling ill after playing a while.
Try to follow the following advice if you're having problems.

:: Try different display sizes.
:: Try sitting closer/further from the display.
:: Try different machine speeds.
:: Try different input devices.
:: Play on your friend's computer, and see if it is better/worse.
:: TAKE BREAKS WHILE YOU PLAY.
:: If you have a sound card, try playing with/without the sound.

Of course, if you have any medical problems while playing this game,
stop playing IMMEDIATELY and call your doctor.


-- [5e] ---------- I'm having hallucinations when I look away from the monitor.

You've been playing far too long, and you need sleep. Go take a nap. :)


-- [5f] ---------- Descent and Cyrix CPUs

If your game is locking up, try this:

"Set Windows to give DOS programs 100% of the time slicing, and run
Descent from there. The game will take longer to load, including
quite a bit of disk thrashing at one point...but will still be quite
playable."
-M J MacKenzie


-- [5g] ---------- Advice for 4 MB memory setups<br>
"...the best setup seems to want emm386.exe with the RAM switch...
I still turn down the detail levels though because in combat it slows
down quite a bit. Also, use smartdrive, about 256K. Anything larger
eats into your RAM too much."br>
-Bradley Becker


-- [5h] ---------- My frame rate is too slow. Any suggestions?

Try the following, in order: (Thanks again to mdmbkr on
#descent for help in writing this.)

SOFTWARE solutions:

:: Change the game detail to something simpler. (F2)
:: Reduce the size of the screen. (+ and -)
:: Switch to the status bar screen instead of the cockpit view.
this increases speed, but minutely.
:: Turn off the music. This will also dramatically increase
the framerate, especially if you have a less powerful CPU.
Also consider turning off the digital sound effects. You can
use the setup program to make these changes.

HARDWARE solutions:

:: Make sure Smartdrive is loaded, as it has a drastic improvement.
See your DOS/Windows documentation for details (or just run
Memmaker -- this installs Smartdrive automatically).
:: Get a faster video board -- word is, the faster the video
board, the better.
:: Get more memory.
:: Get a faster computer.


Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
As a disclaimer, I do not work for any software company, and I am
just a satisfied gamer who is extremely impressed with the Descent
game engine.

If you have any contributions or comments to this FAQ, please send
them to me at decuirjd@netcom.com on the Internet. You'll get full
credit. Thanks!

Happy Descending!

JDD/1-03-95


HTML version of this FAQ done by DrChandra on 95.01.05.