System Shock 2 rebirth questions

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:16 pm

now Beta 1 doesn't include the rumbler, monkeys, and assorted other characters right?

but in the screenshots section these are included as examples, when Etienne Aubert went and got a job, did he make any statements on the distribution of the new and missing meshes?

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 11:26 pm

What are you talking about? Links, NEED LINKS!!!

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:39 am

No links sorry, but basically, System Shock 2 is one of the best games ever made. It came out in the same month as Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament and is also a first person game, so no one played it. It quickly vanished into obscurity despite high reviews and Vatical Entertainment was even going to publish a Dreamcast port of it that got canned. It has a strong cult following though that has given birth to these mods.

The only flaw in the game is that the graphics aren't all that hot, they've aged very badly compared to other 3D games from the same year. Rebirth is a mod that puts in higher resolution meshes for the character models. There's also a mod that has much higher resolution level textures. All of this makes the game look cooler. The rest of the game is just about flawless, especially the sound design.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:29 pm

i am a stupid pirate.

Main Site for Rebirth mod

[quote=""Quote from downloads page, of what is included in mod""]Current version: Beta 1

Release date: 06/04/03
File Size: 3,75 MegaBytes

This is the first beta version available... The mod is still under development, and all new AI meshes aren't remade yet...

This Beta contains the following enhanced characters:
- The Many Hybrid with Pipe
- The Many Hybrid with Shotgun
- The Many Hybrid with Grenades
- The Midwife
- The Cyborg Assassin
- All Dead Crew Members of the Von Braun and the Rickenbacker
- The Ghosts

The others meshes will be available in a future release...
[/quote]

Screenshots link
also, the screenshots page has some very nice comparison photos, so you get a good idea of the improvements made.

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also, for everyone not in the know. creepy as hell game.

spoiler below:
any game that has enemies begging for a merciful death while trying to kill you is something special.

irrational should release a fully xp compatible version with that "spiritual sequel" they are working on... and it should be compatible with the mods.
okay... go.

BenT · Post by **BenT** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:25 pm

SS2 isn't fully XP compatible? Worked fine for me.

Fantastic game. SS1 is even better, IMO. THAT can be a bitch to get running though, being DOS.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:42 pm

hmm, many people have been complaining (graphical glitches, game freezing during cinemas, . also, anyone know of a free site i can get the "shkpatch.exe" from? the only place i've seen it is 3dgamers and their public servers are jacked.

edit: i just made it in line.

kong · Post by **kong** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 6:57 pm

I'm pretty sure it's on http://www.patches-scrolls.de/
Fantastic free site for patches. The greek and german server links work great for me. I never use their Filefront link.

Another ss2 mod you might want to check out is http://shtup.home.att.net/

If you have any trouble running ss2 on xp here's a page about getting ss2 to run on xp http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69958

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 7:23 pm

Haha, I just wanted links to the rebirth thing. I know all about System Shock 2.

I bought it when it first game out; only because I accidentally came across it at Best Buy and was suprised to see it (having not heard about a sequel).

Very very very good game. A bit hard and sparse on the ammo, but good none the less. Always wanted to go back through as a psionic.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:38 pm

BenT wrote:Fantastic game. SS1 is even better, IMO.

Interesting, I've never head anyone else who's said that. It seems the first game has some fans after all.

I enjoyed SS1 a great deal. The cyberpunk setting was interesting and the RPG-style play systems were pretty cool, however the sci-fi horror theme of SS2 (while not as unique) is way better realized and utilized, and the atmosphere is downright amazing! Plus, the game has great ambient sound and sound effects. PLus, the difficulty and sparsity of ammo really racheted up the tension level.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:44 pm

thanks kong for the link to shtup, but i have that waiting already for when my copy of ss2 arrives.

also, i heard of a mod that changes weapon balancing, and gives the user more control over weapon degradation. the homepage for the mod is down (gone?) though, and i don't even know what the file is called.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:47 pm

SS1 is the better game IMO too.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:08 pm

i'm just going to go ahead and say that they are both more than worth playing...

also, despite the drastic change in technology i was surprised to find that both versions are approximately the same size (~130 MB ss2, ~125MB ss1)

Post by **Shatterhand** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 8:23 pm

Yes, both games are indeed awesome, and I think it's a big shame how both games are so much unknown.

The guys who made both games (Forgot their name) have made a few awesome PC games which never made the success the deserved.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 8:39 pm

i'm wondering what staff similiarities there are between: Looking Glass, Blue Sky, and ION Storm (aside from Warren Specter)?

Post by **nZero** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:10 pm

captain ahar wrote:also, i heard of a mod that changes weapon balancing, and gives the user more control over weapon degradation. the homepage for the mod is down (gone?) though, and i don't even know what the file is called.

It's been a while, but I think all of that is stored in an .ini file or something in one of the resource packs, all of which can be opened with WinRAR or similar. Just textedit to adjust weapon degredation, respawn rate, stuff like that. I'm sure someone on TTLG Forums could say more, though.

Irrational and LGS did a fantastic job on the game, I'm about ready to install again and give it another go with the rebirth mod rolled in...

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:20 pm

surprisingly the rebirth mod works with the trial so i got to give that a peep yesterday, sadly though, the shtup mod does not (or at least i couldn't get the thing to work).

and an aside:

aubert (rebirth dev) appears to like his breasts big...

also, the same face is used for the midwife and the dead women on the crew. it's creepy.
----
and its interesting, i remeber looking into this game way back when (when it had a proposed dreamcast release, i was a fiend), and i never understood what kind of game it really was. thanks looking glass.

i still get the shudders thinking about the hanged man.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:04 am

captain ahar wrote: also, the same face is used for the midwife and the dead women on the crew. it's creepy.
----

Storyline-wise it wouldn't make sense if they were different.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:05 pm

little update. finally got system shock working the other day, fucker.

got to say, i love it. more than ss2 even. the only thing, i wish the level design lended itself more toward movement. all the angles and so on make navigation more difficult than it should be.

plus, i'm a big fan of zdoom, so the extra video options "cdshock" threw in are mightily appreciated.

edit: since the last post, i've gotten both mods to work with ss2 as well. so currently, i'm soldiering my way through both games. albeit with no sound to speak of.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:19 pm

If you like this sort of game, you HAVE to check out Strife. It's a great postapocalyptic type deal that was done on the Doom engine (the only official game actually outside of Doom/Doom II/Hexen/Heretic and that marine simulator that got a public release). You go around and meet up with a human resistance to stop aliens from ruling the earth, talk to people, kill whatever you want to affect who you can join, etc. It's reminiscent of Deus Ex actually but with more freedom.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:29 pm

i've played strife. and it is very good indeed. its keeping doom company in my zdoom directory. i said it elsewhere (in a strife thread i created actually), "the only thing this game needs is a real stealth kill. creep up behind someone and take them down in one hit with a knife blow to the back."

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:33 pm

Excellent, it makes me happy to know there are people that played this game.

Much more difficult to find, but Realms of the Haunting is also an awesome System Shock-like experience.

It's seven cds due to a ton fo FMV scenes on it, so as a result I don't think it was readily dumped anywhere. Great game though, the FMVs are actually really well acted and the storyline is great.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:37 pm

looks great, i will certainly try and find a copy.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:43 pm

Yeah the game was a real "underdog" so I don't think you'd be able to get it.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:48 pm

yeah, but 'underdog' is a bit slow, so alternate means must be found.

*doesn't even try to cleverly conceal it*

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:31 pm

Wow, there are other people who know System Shock

Great game, never knew there was a sequel. Need to check it out.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:53 pm

Neo Rasa wrote:Excellent, it makes me happy to know there are people that played this game.

Much more difficult to find, but Realms of the Haunting is also an awesome System Shock-like experience.

It's seven cds due to a ton fo FMV scenes on it, so as a result I don't think it was readily dumped anywhere. Great game though, the FMVs are actually really well acted and the storyline is great.

There are several copies on evil-bay, lowest buy-it-now price is $5. They all claim it has 4 discs, though.

incognoscente · Post by **incognoscente** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:17 pm

captain ahar wrote:albeit with no sound to speak of.

Please stop making baby Jesus cry :(

Mr. Brosius is still my hero.

kong · Post by **kong** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:40 pm

This might be of interest to some of you. It's additional content for the rebirth mod; skins and models. http://www.strangebedfellows.schwarzsil ... ic=8.msg20

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 3:33 am

Ceph wrote:Wow, there are other people who know System Shock

Great game, never knew there was a sequel. Need to check it out.

It's so good. The graphics were shit even when the game was new (remedied today by the Rebirth/etc. texture mods available now) but the sound design is flawless, it holds up today. The respawning enemies are paced flawlessly too. You'll backtrack through an area a dozen times, and just when you do it in a relaxed way some hybrid will rush at you from a corner and try to beat you to death.

Ideally some smart group should rebuild it on the Doom 3/Quake IV engine.

A group was doing an SS2 -> Doom 3 total conversion but EA shut them down.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:13 pm

ea is bastards. that would have been fricking sweet.

anyway, small update. i have working speakers now. yay me.

and it seems the creepiness of the many had dulled in my memory. played it the other day for the first time in a few years with sound, and it was way better than i remembered.

ot: dangun feveron is hilarious.