Hi.

How are lives supposed to work in this game? I thought you always have 3 lives per level. However, then I ended the 4th mission with just 1 life remaining, and 30 % of health. And I started the next mission with this exact amount of lives and health, too. Even after I died and started level from scratch from the game menu, it always starts with 1 life, 30 % health. Is this expected or is it some kind of bug?

So, it is 3 lives per mission or 3 lives per whole game?

Today I begin this game and I die in the first mission (sob!)... But at the beginning of the next mission I still had 3 lives.

Hi, thanks for your answer!

So I tested it with the Vanilla version and really if I finish e.g. first mission with just one life remaining, I have 3 lives at the beginning of the next one.

When I do the same in the DarkXL 9.50 app I was playing Dark Forces on before, it behaves as described in my original post (next level starts with stats I ended the previous level with).

So, either this is some kind of bug in DarkXL (but it is odd they would miss such an issue) or I am doing something wrong :/

You're welcome! :)
I'm playing Vanilla. I didn't even know that mod. Maybe someone more expert than me could help you.

There may be differences depending on the selected difficulty level and in DarkXL. But, I thought generally the lives are permanent, with more to be found in each level. Also, your progress is always saved when you finish a level. So, if you ended one level with 2 lives and no shield, that is what you always start the next level with. If you want to improve that, you need to go back to the last level and finish it with better stats.

I'm not sure why it was different to you. Maybe try out if it differs with selected difficulty level. I couldn't find out through a search if that affects it.

Also, note that DarkXL was never finished and still has several bugs, including missing weapons. The original developer is currently working on a new source port, but with various delays already there's no telling when it will be released. Otherwise, the DOS version paired with "Dark Forces DeHacker" for full mouse controls is the most complete way to play the game right now.