If anyone doesn't know, there are two main Descent 1/2 ports for modern computers: DXX-Rebirth and D2X-XL.

They are both good, depending on what you want. Rebirth is trying to stay as close to the original, in terms of gameplay, while D2X is trying to make it better.

DXX-Rebirth is available from: http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/ and D2X-XL is available from: http://www.descent2.de/index.html

Just wanted to make sure everyone knew that they were both there.

Happy Descenting!!

Can mods please sticky this one? Useful info which really shouldn't get buried amongst old posts again.

I have tried D2X, D2X-XL and DXX-REBIRTH on Ubuntu-9.04 amd64.
Unfortunately the only one I could get to work was DXX-REBIRTH. But boy am I over the moon about how good it runs under Linux!
I purchased Descent 1 & 2 but could not get them to run any good with dosbox on my old linux machine. So these Descent ports really made my day.
I compiled all three from source.
D2X would seg fault when launching.
I never got D2X-XL to compile as it needed a modified SDL libs first.
D1X-REBIRTH and D2X-REBIRTH both ran awsome for me though. Just remember to rename the Data files to lowercase if in Linux.

I bought the classic Descent pack, and Rebirth (I'm horrible enough at the game, I don't need new stuff hehe) lets then run flawlessly on my netbook. Through DOSBox it was just too laggy and slow. I'm gonna have to try it on my more powerful desktop upstairs sometime to see just how high I can push the resolution. :)
I'm having the same problem with Duke Nukem 3D and DOSBox, hoping the high res pack for that will let it run a little better.

I used DXX Rebirth because it's super-easy to set up and I'm AMAZINGLY lazy. Or just impatient, I wanted to jump into the game asap.
One of these days I'll try D2X-XL, because eyecandy IS always fun. But DXX Rebirth is great for anyone who's in a hurry imo.

I discovered it myself.
This should be stickied!
How does the D2X play?
I'm loving Rebirth because it really stays close to the original plus the OpenGL graphics and with high resolutions on my wide-screen is just gaming heaven,

Hey guys, i got the DXXrebirth... and i used it on the GOG version..... now the soundtrack is no more and replaced by MIDI tracks... is there any way any of you know how to fix it?

I just got Descent 1 & 2 download, and tried Descent 1. It runs fine on Win XP with dosbox, but I can't get it to run with d1x-rebirth. The readme.txt wasn't very clear about how to install rebirth ... I copied descent.hog & descent.pig files to same directory as rebirth installation [ ...\Descent 1\,d1x-rebirth_v0.55.1-win] and I downloaded and installed the latest openGL drivers for my Nvidia 8600, but d1x-rebirth doesn't even launch ... no application in task manager, no sound or video, no error messages, na da ... would someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong?
I have good memories of playing it back in the original dos release, and would like to play it again with better graphics.

Is your descent.hog and descent.pig patched to version 1.4a?
I wrote a small guide http://www.multi-players-zone.com/descent.htm
I might need to change things or add things to it but you can get patches there as I think the link in the readme to the patches for Rebirth might be dead links.

I did the opposite--dumping Rebirth's files into the original Descent 2 folder. That worked just fine.
Rebirth won't play CD audio by default, unfortunately, but you can get around this by pointing its "jukebox" feature at the soundtrack MP3s. You can also use a real Descent 2 disc in the drive if you happen to have it (GOG's reduced image doesn't seem to work for this).

DXX-Rebirth: Comes in two flavors, D1X and D2X. You can probably guess which version is used for which game. Installation is simple: download the zip of whichever package corresponds to your OS, and extract all files into the directory in which D1 or D2 is installed.
D2X-XL: Installation is consid]erably more involved than that of Rebirth. Instead of outlining it in this thread, follow the link in the footer. I believe the package is now self-extracting, but I'd check the installation page just in case.
Features:
Rebirth-
The closest port to the original. Stable. Very close to the Descent everyone knows, but adds support for much higher resolutions. Supports UDP/IP multiplayer in addition to the legacy IPX protocol. All things considered, Rebirth is the closest to Descent without being Descent. If you want to get some games going in Kali, Rebirth is pretty much required.
XL-
Greatly enhanced port of D2, almost to the point of being a completely new game. Game mechanics are modified, although the -nostalgia switch can bring most everything back to original settings. Tons (TONS) of new visual effects, AI, weapon, and physics modifications. Supports HUGE levels (check out Sirius' Anthology, located in the level spotlight on the XL page) and high resolution textures/models. Enables multiplayer over TCP/IP (with tracker support), so technically all you have to do is host a game and anyone could join.
Honestly, it all boils down to personal preference. For singleplayer, if you want the "authentic" experience, use Rebirth or XL with the -nostalgia switch enabled. IMO, XL is amazing for replaying through the singleplayer missions after already having beaten them "normally."
For multiplayer, personal preference is a factor, but stability ranks higher on the list. Rebirth has almost become standard, being the preference of players on Kali as well as the only port supported on YANG. In addition, XL is a bit notorious for bugs (however, do not dismiss the port on this alone, many people have never had any trouble with XL).
Links:
Rebirth - http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/
D2X-XL - http://descent2.de/
XL Installation - http://descent2.de/install-frames.html
Kali - http://kali.net/
YANG - http://www.multi-players-zone.com/yang/

I was kind of disappointed that GoG chose to release the games using DOSBox only when there are the D2X-XL and DXX Rebirth projects out there.

At the least having these versions as an option would be very nice, since the set up for D2X-XL is a bit cumbersome with having to copy and paste the files to various directories.

The other issue is that the DOSBox version is sketchy in my windows 7 64bit system while taking the files and copying them to a D2X-XL port worked much better on the system, and looked better to boot. I'm also interested to see what DXX Rebirth is like as well. I will definitely be checking them out.

I don't mind the dos versions, as they are the most accurate versions available.
Both Rebirth and XL screw with the game physics, and XL is very unstable, making them both a poor choice for replicating an accurate gaming experience. Even with the new rebirth version, I still find it difficult to dodge homing missles, so I won't recommend it until that is fixed.

I dont' have nay issuies dodging homing in D2x. Maybe you aren't fast enough?

I did say that Rebirth and D2X-XL should at least be given as installation options alongside the DOS version. The main issue with the DOSBox version that GOG has implemented is it doesn't really work on 64bit Windows 7, Rebirth and D2X do. They also look better, and since they are both Open Source, just as DOSBox is there really isn't any reason not to include them as options with the purchase. I'd be willing to pay a little more for the games if GOG did this. Granted this can be done manually as well, but it's a bit of a pain.