Hey guys,
I believe GOG.com is a great chance to finally get a legal copy of Descent 1 and 2 for little money; and the best news about this is that with the Descent game data you can play Descent 1 and 2 on Windows, OS X and Linux in high resolution (up to 1920x1200 and higher), with colored lighting, high resolution textures and models, smoke and light effects, and and and ... oh well, just watch this video clip. ;-)
Just grab D2X-XL (it's free) from the D2X-XL download page . Read the D2X-XL installation instructions to find out how to install it. For support register on the D2X-XL forum.
And if you find D2X-XL is giving you a great time playing Descent, you can donate a few bucks to me for my efforts. ;-)
karx11erx/Diedel
D2X-XL maintainer

Hey Karx, I'm a satisfied user of D2X-XL. Glad to see you here (especially as zico is currently ranting about how GOG and Interplay are stealing money cause they didn't release Descent for free). I'm really enjoying the improvements you put into the game (even if my computer isn't good enough to turn all the cool effects on). Thanks for all your hard work!

Heya! :-)
I have written a statement regarding zico's rant here.
I am glad GOG.com is there and I hope they will succeed in the long run.

I just bought Descent 1&2 and managed to set up your d2x-xl. From what I can tell, it works great. I have a question about downloading the hires resources. The install guide points me to the general downloads page for hires sounds and models. I go to the homepage, and use the menu on the left and click on Downloads. There I can find binaries for all OS available, a source repository, archives, a descent 2 demo, and 1 hires model. I don't see anywhere else on the menu for downloads. Am I looking in the right place?
Edit- Nevermind. The side menu wasn't showing all the options from the page I was on. I found it.

I just bought D1and2 and am going to install this :D I Like how people rework old graphic engines with newer, higher res graphics. I think it is awesome a game like this can have such a life, and glad GOG came along for legal copies.
I think they are helping Interplay jump start itself too...
EDIT: That zico dood is the creator of rebirth? Wow... Here I thought he was just a butt hurt forum troll.

yeah, zico is creator of Rebirth. Well, I guess I understand his sentiments - running Descent in DosBox is really way back... But you can hardly use logical arguments in face of gaming companies nowadays, I guess :) EA and its DRM for example. And Interplay is probably going to squeeze every $ they can get considering their situation.
karx11erx: zico has somewhere claimed he 'understands' Descent engine better than you? O_o? I have never noticed that.
I have tried both ports and I ended using Rebirth, because it suits me better as I don't feel the need to modify Descent much (and it's more simple to use :) But I am really gratefull for both your ports - I wish there were more people as great as you are! .-)

Rebirth for me as well.

Yeah, Rebirth. Why settle for more if you can have less. :P
What does that have to do in a D2X-XL thread anyway.

More like "why settle for more features that I don't care about if I can have lean and mean?"
Still, I have to credit your port for doing better music support.

Yeah, why care about better graphics and a lot less bugs?
Still has absolutely nothing to do in a D2X-XL related thread. Go make your own if you want to advertise Rebirth.

No trouble installing D2X-XL with the GOG data files. I also installed Pumo's mod demo, with D2X-XL files and GOG data files.
There are a lot of fan made missions that are specifically made for D2 with D2X-XL. Most level designers who are making D1/D2 levels are using D2X-XL. So if you want 'original Descent'... IIRC D2X-XL offers a nostalgia setting... Then to play newer missions, set back to XL mode.

I've recently had good success getting it running on my Mac, I'm sure there are some Windows features I had a long time ago that I don't see here...
I can't tell you how great to run this and Freespace 1/2 natively though!

Guys, try DXX-Rebirth: http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/
Even though Zico is anti-GOG, it still works with the GOG downloads and it's much more true to the actual games and a lot less buggy than D2X-XL

It won't run on my Mac. I don't really come across bugs in D2X-XL... except maybe some lazy robots here and there... that just helps me get through the levels though.

Oh no, not this again *head slap*. I have not come across any bugs in D2X-XL and as for being "True" to Descent 99% of the changes are graphical only (colored lighting and the like(which looks really nice, by the way)) and the rest are minor changes that are easy to turn off (like the omega cannon being able to destroy incoming missiles). In fact, you can simply add -pureD2 to the end of the location line of the shortcut, and it D2X-XL will automatically disable all additional functionality.