Heya guys and Descent fans! I may have found a solution for the ultra fast gameplay of Descent II. It may also help for Descent I.

The game is CPU speed sensitive. The faster the CPU the faster the gameplay is to a certain point. What you want to do is locate the file dosboxDescent2.conf located in your Descent 2 Folder.

Open it with a text editor like Notepad++ and edit the following line:

cputype=auto to cputype=pentium_slow

Save it and enjoy Descent! :D

You can use DosBox Configurator that comes with the game no problem that comes with the game.

You can also use the source port Rebirth: http://www.gog.com/forum/descent_series/the_unofficial_dxx_rebirth_installer_released :)

I believe its faster this way. Why installing a third party program when you play the classic way with a simple line change in a config file. :)

Plus, you get the Redbook OST without modding anything

Because DOSBox runs differently on different machines, so the emulation is faster for some than others (as evident by your need to change the config file). The DXX-Rebirth is open source and multi-platform, so it provides an OS native engine meaning it can utilise timers for the speed of the machine as it is designed for newer machines.

Plus it works really well and having a higher resolution means that the game textures keep their detail further in the distance making it look sharper.

D1X-Rebirth has even been used on the GOG.com Twitch livestream.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAKS7hUkIMk

Also the source port has fixed a few different bugs in the original game :)

But if you like playing it in DOSBox by all means, continue! lol :)

Also, the source port has better joystick support (though I haven't played it myself yet). Seriously, playing Descent with a keyboard blows and IIRC, DOSBox support for joysticks isn't that stellar either.

Rebirth is definitely the way to go.

I use Rebirth with an old 3D Pro with the gameport to usb converter and it works flawlessly.