Incline System Shock 1 Thread

[taxalot]

For all those who care, the source port works perfectly on Linux using Wine, without any sort of tinkering. That is a nice thing.

The one feature that makes it to me : the ability to customize controls. I have been playing the original CD version so far, and not the "old enhanced" because it simply wouldn't do on an AZERTY keyboard. I guessed I could have configured my OS to switch to a US layout, but what the hell. I can also confirm importing old savegames work perfectly.

 

[mwnn85]

Didn't even realize they were still working on this; I thought they were all done with the enhanced edition.
There doesn't appear to even be a front page announcement on GOG
Maybe Monday, coinciding with a sale? (like on steam 50% off, £3.50)

This release is pretty much what I was hoping the Shockolate port would eventually turn into.
1024x768 is the max with Shockolate.
He's got basic midi music working and the intro but I don't hear any sound effects yet...

This new release does appear to work normally through WINE (3.15)
I always use a clean wine prefix for each game.
The music wasn't working at first like the people in the GOG post; I had to start the Fluidsynth service for MIDI support. (don't need to do that with native ports - they build it in)

There's a big MODIFICATIONS button on the menu which leads to a LEVEL and MODS sub menu.
You can find the option for DOS faces there.
The text mod over at systemshock.org makes the text match the audio - even works as a mod for the new release apparently.
1080p+, FOV options, shader options, control options, options galore.
No complaints here.

Both sets of keybindings are still a bit crappy.
Be nice if they shared some of the further updated source code but I doubt it.
Will they bother releasing it on Mac/Linux? Rather run it natively given the choice.

 

[RoSoDude]

Okay, just beat it on max (3/3/3/3) difficulty with 59 seconds to spare. Holy fucking fuck.

Security and Bridge were ridiculously nerve-wracking since I had spent a leisurely 4 hours shutting down the laser and exploring for goodies. I saved exactly enough logic probes for all three wire puzzles in the Bridge, which was an absolute godsend (I'm horrible at the puzzles). I had predicted that the game would be a lot more hardcore on Mission difficulty 3, since you're heavily discouraged from employing degenerate strategies -- lemming rushes from Cyborg Conversion Chamber regenerations eat up valuable time, running back to medbays and power stations is inadvisable compared to using items to stay healthy and powered up, sucking at the puzzles like I do encourages using genius patches or logic probes, resetting constantly in cyberspace will drain entire minutes at a time, shooting enemies in the foot around corners with low-power weapons is a waste of time so it's better to use rare high-power ammo and grenades to efficiently take out groups, and so on. But I can also see why it's rare for games to impose global time limits on your playthrough, because while the added tension was brilliant, it would have felt absolutely awful if I had failed the entire game due to cumulatively sub-optimal play in the last 6 hours.

I mostly avoided energy weapons other than the Magpulse, Laser Rapier (duh), and Plasma Rifle in this run. It was just more efficient to save energy for the Energy Shield and Jump Jet. Tried to use grenades as much as possible, but I could never quite get them to throw like I wanted to (since the trajectory is affected by your current speed, cursor position, and I think cursor speed). The Flechette gun and Magpulse proved invaluable -- especially cool is the fact that projectiles inherit your velocity, so you can "curve" slow Magpulse rounds around corners. I felt like I got the Pistol too late for it to be useful, other than as an ammo-saving tool (but as I've stated, time was more of a concern). I saved most of my Beserk patches for the endgame, which was super helpful against the Cyborg Enforcers and Security-2 Bots that get thrown against you, both of whom are super beefy. Diego was a pushover. It was extremely satisfying to have my previous knowledge of Citadel Station rewarded as I (mostly) expertly zoomed through it with the Turbo Booster. There was definitely more than one Nice Jump, even if SHODAN failed to acknowledge the others.

Oh, and if you're going "WTF" at those 71 regenerations, I avoid savescumming altogether and just keep playing if I screw up (the brief period before I've activated the Cyborg Conversion Chamber on a level is the exception). On Mission difficulty 3, this actually makes the game substantially harder. A few regenerations were still intentional, to get back health or warp to an advantageous location. Obviously I stuck with the default Enhanced Edition control scheme as per my earlier recommendations, so I didn't get any help there.

Post your times, Codex.

EDIT: Also, check out Wong's messed up portrait in this audio log, haha.

Spoiler

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I have yet to beat System Shock on maximum difficulty, the best I've done is (unwisely) play the game as normal while the timer was running, and just barely managed to disable the antennas before it ran out.

 

[Average Manatee]

I am physically and mentally incapable of using foreknowledge to shortcut areas and avoid searching all levels 100%. Not in a game that is fun, anyway.

 

[RoSoDude]

I am physically and mentally incapable of using foreknowledge to shortcut areas and avoid searching all levels 100%. Not in a game that is fun, anyway.

That's honestly fair. While it's a fun challenge for masochists like me and enforces better play, it also puts a figurative gun to your head when it comes to staying on task and only taking actions which serve your larger goals. I really only had high-level knowledge of the game's objectives, solutions, and level layouts transfer over, so I still had to fully explore the majority of levels to get my bearings. The groves were an exception, as I beelined for the safety override switch in all three without any other wandering, but it's not like I remembered the layout of any one. A truly insane challenge would be getting station security level down to 0% on 3/3/3/3 difficulty.

There's something to be said for the tension created by a timer (I'd argue Prey: Mooncrash is a great example in microcosm), but 7 hours is a bit much. The way SS2 encouraged efficient play and discouraged degenerate strategies organically through its game systems strikes me as obviously superior. In particular, the way enemies respawn based on a timer and not just how many are still present on a level means that faffing about too much will put you up against a lot more enemies, chipping away at your resources which are in rather shorter supply. Lemming rushes from the QBR drain nanites and mean you'll face freshly spawned enemies on your way back to where you were, and making too frequent trips to health/energy stations will do the same. Squander the duration of security grid hack and you lose out on more nanites to disable it again lest you risk getting spotted by a camera, sending even more enemies your way. Efficicient pathing to chemical storerooms while exploring and completing objectives is rewarded, and it's better to let research tick in the background rather than hiding in a closet while every corridor repopulates with new spiders and Cyborg Midwives.

Anyway, System Shock is still awesome, the timer is for nutjobs who want it to hurt real good, the source port works great, and you're a loser if you remove enemy respawns from SS2.

 

[Trithne]

So I installed the Source Port, and got this fucking imformative message:

Turns out if the path to the game is longer than 64 characters, this shit happens.

The default path for the install, on this system where I don't really have a lot installed so I don't maintain a particular games drive or anything, is

C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\System Shock - Enhanced Edition

That's 71 characters. The DEFAULT.

This has not filled me with much in the way of confidence.

 

[Luka-boy]

]C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\

Is that the default install path for GOG Galaxy?
I remember Steam having issues with older games if installed in Program Files being the reason I installed it in c:\Steam back when I used Windows. Is that still an issue?

 

[RoSoDude]

As someone on reddit pointed out, it turns out you can still use your old System Shock Enhanced saves from before; they weren't removed by the source port update as I had thought.

The old saves are stored in ...\SS1EE\res\data\, while the new saves are stored in ...\SS1EE\res\missions\archive\. Copying the old ones over worked just fine.

EDIT: Darn it, a recent update moved the current saves (and where you put fan missions) to a new directory. For me, the new location was ...\AppData\Roaming\Nightdive Studios\System Shock EE\missions\archive, though others have reported that they didn't have to look in "Roaming".

 

[RoSoDude]

I found this System Shock review entertaining. You can tell he had a jolly old time with the game. No discussion of the game in real depth, but highlights a lot of its surface aspects in a fun way -- the best part is when he explains why System Shock is the most gangster game ever made. Very well done for someone's first video.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I found this System Shock review entertaining. You can tell he had a jolly old time with the game. No discussion of the game in real depth, but highlights a lot of its surface aspects in a fun way -- the best part is when he explains why System Shock is the most gangster game ever made. Very well done for someone's first video.

I get huge Christopher Walken-vibes by listening to this guy. Not a bad thing.

 

[Tweed]

I think Night Dive outdid themselves with the source port. It seems like it runs quite a bit smoother than the original "enhanced" edition and it looks just a little bit nicer. Also, being able to reload your gun on the fly without fiddling with the mouse cursor is kind of nice as well.

I'm really curious as to what kind of mods people will be developing. I hope someone can make energy weapons run off of their own rechargeable power source instead of your personal energy pool, might actually make them useful beyond the using the SPARQ beam for the first part of the game and the laser rapier for invis mutants and anything stupid enough to get in your way when you're on a berserk patch.

 

[Morkar Left]

Can you knowledgeable guys help me out a bit; which is the definitive to go version of system shock right now? (preferably with german translation)

 

[Tweed]

Can you knowledgeable guys help me out a bit; which is the definitive to go version of system shock right now? (preferably with german translation)

The source port (enhanced edition) has the German translation and intro, I think it's been there since the original game was released.

 

[Morkar Left]

Can you knowledgeable guys help me out a bit; which is the definitive to go version of system shock right now? (preferably with german translation)

The source port (enhanced edition) has the German translation and intro, I think it's been there since the original game was released.

Thanks. I have the Enhanced Edition installed and it seems that gog changed the Enhanced Edition with the sourceport in septembre. I guess I just have to reinstall from gog to get the source port.

 

[LESS T_T]

Second fan mission from the author of the first one (System Shock ReWired): https://www.moddb.com/mods/system-shock-ruby-station/

More of a showcase for 14 new weapons. Requires the NDS source port.

RUBY STATION Fanmission and Weapon Mod released!

The second fanmission for System Shock called RUBY STATION and its standalone weapon mod just arrived! Play through the singleplayer level Ruby Station and learn about the 14 brand new weapons before taking them with you while replaying the original System Shock campaign. Before you play, you might want to read through the paragraphs below to find out what Ruby Station actually is:

The Fanmission
Unlike the first fanmission System Shock ReWired, the Ruby Station fanmission is just an addition to introduce the new weapons and their advantages and disadvantages to the player. It's a single level in which you take over the role of a UNN Soldier being send to Ruby Station to test some new weapons authorised by the UNN. While she follows her orders, an incident occurs and she sees herself surrounded by clones and replicas of monsters from Citadel Station. UNN was nice enough to clone the horrors created by SHODAN to use as test dummies for new recruits. Nice, huh?

The Features
Most of the work on Ruby Station went into creating new spriteart for existing weapons, textures, crates, posters, icons, the userinterface etc. A big chunk of original textures got redrawn and added more details to give them a more modern look and be on par with the high resolution the Sourceport provides. Each weapon required up to 5 sprites that had to be changed and redrawn to fit the new look the mod wants to establish. I do hope that whoever plays the fanmission or uses the weapons will enjoy the new art as much as I enjoyed making it.




Standalone Weapon Mod
The main star of Ruby Station is the gameplay mod, which changes the original weapons of System Shock. Old-time players that already finished the original game many times can now play through it again with a completely different set of weapons. For example. The handguns now use anti-personnel OR armor-piercing bullets and have different rates of fire. The Magpulse is now a Plasma Rifle ala Doom. The useless Riot Gun is now a powerful shotgun. Among other things!




Now please enjoy the mod and fanmission! You are awesome for playing it!
-3RDplayer

 

[LESS T_T]

New fan mission. Since the author started work on this before the source port release, this only works with "classic", System Shock Portable version:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ju27_qSepPfFgeQXpyo9cpsxUik58fxF/view
https://www.moddb.com/mods/lazarus-decy-a-story-driven-system-shock-modification

Lazarus Decλy is an interactive multimedia video game project, utilizing Looking Glass Technologies’ 1994 PC classic, System Shock as a base. The goal of the project was to create an expansion pack-like experience, adding to the base game, utilizing some already existing game assets, whilst introducing many new and original assets which include: Original music, original audio log recordings, original textures, an original map design, and an original story unrelated to the base game whatsoever.

This mod is compatible with the Classic Edition (DOS) version only! Use of the SSP Tool is recommended!

My mod is still waiting to be authorized, the download can be found in a google drive link on the mod's Youtube Trailer: (Youtube.com)

In the year 2167 secret underground facility Lazarus Laboratories sought to further extend the average human life span as a part of a government contract, using nanite cybernetics (aka Cyber-nites).

The Cyber-nites were a resounding success with numerous in-house test groups, saving lives even. Unfortunately, however, there was one fatal flaw with the Cyber-nites, they couldn’t repair psychological damage.

If left unchecked, the Cyber-nites can rewrite a patient’s brain chemistry entirely, leaving behind only mindless shells with animalistic brains and calculated defense measures.

You are a patient that has woken up from stasis, the entire facility has been abandoned, only mindless cyborgs and the corpses of dead faculty remain. You must discover the secrets behind Cyber-cycle-sickness, and escape the facility with your life, if you can…

Porting to the source port is apparently in the works by the author of other fan missions: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=10255.msg127647#msg127647

I began this project way back before the finished source port existed. Classic Edition (DOS) was always the primary focus from the beginning, I had to keep project scope in check, to make sure I could actually complete it on time, avoiding feature creep.

When the source port came out, I realized I might have had to throw away a lot of my work I had already completed, and with a school related deadline to meet in order to graduate that wasn't an option. So instead, I didn't bother to figure out how SS:EE Mods function, as there was and still is little to no documentation on how to do so, and my focus was better utilized elsewhere.

From the tests I have done in recent times, the modern SS:EE breaks the music I composed anyways, and doesn't load up resources for some reason.

3RD Player offered to port my mod, and is working on a source port version, as far as I know. Whether or not he'll ever get it working is unknown.

Lazarus Decay is meant to be played using the Classic Edition (DOS), in conjunction with the SSP tool.
I will provide updates to this Classic Edition (DOS) version if I feel it necessary, or there's a crazy balance issue or bug.

In my eyes Lazarus Decay is complete, I have done what I had set out to do initially, and then some. Tell an original story utilizing the System Shock toolset, and create a game I'd want to play.

 

[LESS T_T]

Shockolate - System Shock, but cross platform!

A cross platform source port of the System Shock source code that was released, using SDL2. This runs well on OSX and Linux right now, with some runtime issues to sort out.

The end goal for this project is something like what Chocolate Doom is for Doom: an experience that closely mimics the original, but portable and with some quality of life improvements - and mod support!

 

[LESS T_T]

25th anniversary thing:



Doug Church said he shouldn't be programming:



Pity Doug is practically hiding from public eyes and won't join the stream.

 

[prengle]

congwatuwations on being old, system shock 1, you deserve virtually all of the love you get (and more)

however it does suck watching stephen kick milk the fuck out of the system shock ip for easy retro trend cash and acting like he's somehow as important as the people who initially made the goddamn game. it sucks even more to watch people like warren spector, eric and terri brosius, tim stellmach and practically all of the looking glass alumni rot away on twitter like the senile, talentless boomers they are, shitting themselves over blumpf and throwing away any form of credibility they may have once had with the absolute dumpster fire that was underworld ascendant

Pity Doug is practically hiding from public eyes and won't join the stream.

to be honest, doug church is doing himself a favor by staying off social media and avoiding this stream. looking glass as it was in the 90s is completely and utterly dead in more ways than one

god it hurts so much.

 

[Maggot]

stephen kick is learning the art of the conman from the master, warren spector

 

[LESS T_T]

The big box and vinyl soundtrack are coming:

 

[Tweed]

Got to pimp it for all it's worth while they still can.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm not forking over $35 for an ultra-mixed edition of the elevator muzak. The SS1 music isn't that good.

And I already own the original big box release, they'd have to throw in some neat swag to sway me to buy the game again.

 

[Infinitron]

Here's that System Shock 25th anniversary stream: