Got a smokin', reliable, consistent Internet connection?  Got a server in a data center?  Hosting your own Descent 3 server on Windows is easy. Once you've bought the game and installed it on your server, follow these steps to get up and running.

Backup Your Server

It's always a good idea to back things up before making changes.

1. Backup the game directory (e.g. c:\games\descent3) and any important files on the server
2. Backup your registry

Patch D3

1. Download the 1.4 patch
2. Install it

Configure D3

1. Start the D3 Launcher (Start, Programs, Descent 3, Descent 3)
2. Click Setup
3. Click "Network" tab
4. Ensure "LAN/Direct Connection" and "T1, ADSL, T3, etc." are selected

Get Levels

1. Go to our D3 missions section
2. Choose "Popular"
3. Download all of the files there and extract the contents to your c:\games\descent3\missions directory

Get D3 Download Link Surgery

Link Surgery provides an updated list of download URL's to players when they attempt to auto-download missions upon joining your server

1. Go to our D3 dedi utilities section
2. Download the Link Surgery file
3. Backup your Descent3 directory
4. Extract the contents to your Descent3 graphics directory (c:\games\descent3\custom\graphics)

Get Anti-Cheat Code

Anti-cheat code helps prevent cheating from happening on your servers.

1. Go to our D3 dedi utilities section
2. Download the latest Anti-Cheat code
3. Backup your Descent3 directory
4. Extract the contents to your Descent3 directory (c:\games\descent3) overwriting any files
5. Update the AntiCheat.ini file (c:\games\descent3\anticheat.ini) to the following non-default settings:
• priority = 3
• smoothing = 0
6. If working, starting a new server will result in the console displaying "AC Proxy DLL: vX.XX"

Get D3 Server Tool

1. Go to our D3 dedi utilities section
2. Download the D3 Server Tool
3. Extract the contents of the D3 Server Tool to where you want to run the tool from (c:\program files\D3ServerTool)

Configure Auto-starting

With a dedicated server, it's important that Windows and the D3 Server tool is started automatically (from unintended restarts due to power outages, etc.) to keep servers up as much as possible.

1. Open the Registry Editor by going to Start, Run, regedt32
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
3. Configure the following registry settings to the Windows account that you'd like to run the D3 servers under (the account must stay logged in at all times)
   • DefaultUserName:  <user account>
   • DefaultPassword:  <insert your password here>
   • AutoAdminLogon:  1
     If any of these keys do not exist, right-click, New, String Value, type the name of the key, and hit enter. Double-click the key to change its value.
4. Test the auto-login of Windows by restarting the server
5. To configure the auto-start of D3 Server Tool, create a shortcut to c:\program tools\D3ServerTool\D3Server3.exe and place it in the startup directory at c:\documents and settings\<user>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
6. Test the auto-startup of D3 Server Tool by logging off and back on

Configure D3 Servers

1. Start the D3 Server Tool if it's not already started
2. Click "Global options..." Set the following recommended global settings. Of particular importance are:
   • Auto restart servers: 170 (D3 servers must be restarted every few hours or else odd effects are noticed in games)
   • Default packets/second:  12 (higher PPS is recommended for today's broadband connections)
   • Default frames/second:  999 (Setting maximum framecap enables servers to perform optimally - Avoid using 0 as this will force D3 servers to utilize 100% of the CPU the entire time it's running)
   
    
   
   
3. Click "OK"
   
4. To create a D3 server config, click "Start server..."
5. Click "Add..."
6. Set your desired server settings.  Of particular importance are:
   • Default packets/second:  12 (higher PPS such as 12 is recommended for today's broadband connections)
   • Default frames/second:  999 (Setting maximum framecap of 999 enables servers to perform optimally - Avoid using 0 as this will force D3 servers to utilize 100% of the CPU the entire time it's running)
   • Allow game tracker:  Ensure this is checked so your games will show up on the public game trackers
   • Send rotational velocity:  This should be enabled considering today's connections are quite speedy and are almost LAN-like
     
      
     
     
7. Click "OK";

Start Up Some Servers

1. Click "Start servers..."
2. Choose a server config
3. Click "Start"

Server commands

Check out some helpful commands you can enter at the D3 server console to make changes on the fly.

Issues?

Issues connecting and/or seeing your servers are frequently caused by firewalls or routers blocking the required ports.  The following ports should be permitted to the server:

• Descent 3:  2092-2099 (UDP)
• GameSpy:  20142-20149 (UDP)

Check any Windows firewall and/or hardware-based firewalls/routers.

Questions?

1. Run a search on the forums and if you can't find the answer, make a post! There are very helpful Descenters in both locations.
2. Pose your question in chat at #Descent3 on irc.gamesurge.net