System Shock System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition by Nightdive Studios

[LESS T_T]

SS2EE part from Fragments of Silicon interview:



They're considering optional hi-res models for enemies and weapons, faithful to the original designs unlike Rebirth mod.

 

[voodoo47]

that pretty much means the'll be redoing the motions. yuck.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

How does the Kex engine compare with the Dark engine? The Dark engine is quite advanced for the sound propagation. Thief and ss2 are still the state of the art in this aspect.

 

[LESS T_T]

How does the Kex engine compare with the Dark engine? The Dark engine is quite advanced for the sound propagation. Thief and ss2 are still the state of the art in this aspect.

I don't think KEX replaces any gameplay-related part of the game. As I understand KEX will be more like a wrapper around the original code, replacing interfaces to things like graphics APIs and inputs.

 

[Venser]

Ugh...we were literally crawling inside the dev's asshole.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Bad Sector]

The Dark engine is quite advanced for the sound propagation. Thief and ss2 are still the state of the art in this aspect.

FWIW this isn't really true, many games use sound propagation that improves over the basic ideas introduced in the Dark Engine. As an example check this presentation PDF from 2015 about Hitman's sound propagation system (it isn't really technical except a tiny bit at the end, it should be easy to follow even if you aren't into programming). The method discussed there is actually kinda similar to the method Thief uses - both rely on manually placed volumes and have sound travel through portals between these volumes. However Thief only considers the center of the volume ("roombrush"), whereas the method shown in the PDF does take into consideration the entire volume, the opening of each portal (so, e.g., a portal at the end of a tunnel/vent/pipe will have a narrower range whereas the portal at the end of a door will have a wider one) and even an approximation for the wall materials and how they affect the sound in terms of absorption and reflection. In addition, unlike Thief, the presentation also covers dynamic geometry (meaning moving objects, not doors) though that is independent from the volume-and-portal method described.

There was also another presentation i remember reading some time ago which again used a similar method, however instead of placing the volumes by hand, they were generated automatically using the level geometry and they were using some modified path finding algorithm to figure out how a sound emitted in one room would reach another room. Sadly i cannot remember the name of the game that used this method :-/

Having said that, it is true that most games out there do not bother with any of the above and simply use the emitter's position, ignoring any geometry or room layout. At best you get some low pass filter. But there are games where you can see (or, well, hear) the sound coming from the "proper" direction instead of inside walls and such - for example i just made a test in Deus Ex Mankind Divided and noticed that after i broke some wall, there was a fan at the other side placed *next* to the hole (the broken wall) but if i moved the camera so that there was a (different) wall between me and the fan, then the sound felt as if i came through the hole instead of where the fan would be. Closing doors/windows/etc affected the sounds too (e.g. there are rooms where you can't hear a TV if the door is closed).

In general i think these systems exist in games nowadays, but because there is so much going on it is much harder to notice them (and also most likely why not many games bother with them). For example i had to turn off music completely *and* find a room where not much else was audible. In normal gameplay there are so many sounds (and the music itself) coming from all sorts of directions that unless something stands out, it is hard to say where they come from.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[good fucking shit happen]

Ugh...we were literally crawling inside the dev's asshole.

No wonder I thought that part of the game seemed shitty.

 

[RoSoDude]

That reminds me, Stephen Kick recently came to the SystemShock.org board to request permission for community mod integration into SS2EE. Originally this was going to include the Rebirth NPC models, but they were recommended to make their own recreations as Rebirth isn't particularly faithful.

https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=11449.0

Hello everyone, this is Stephen from Nightdive with a bit of an update.

We are currently nearing the end of reverse engineering Shock 2 and wanted to reach out to the various authors and content creators that have worked diligently for so many years on some of our favorite mods to see if there was interest in including your work with the official release.

So far we will be including:

Vurt's Space Textures, Flora, Hi-res Water, Organics/Goo
ACC's Four Hundred (400) Hi-res Terrain Textures
Eldron's Psi Amp
Olfred's Fixed Objects
Grosnus' Hi-Res Spinning Marine/Navy/OSA logos
SCP
SHTUP
ZylonBane's New Quest Notifier
Vaxquis Vintage Song Remake v1.0 Mod


11/03 Update:
Eldron has joined the team to create new enemy models and finish any remaining weapons.

We're looking to include both SHTUP and SCP and are in the process of getting permission from the contributors. Here is the current progress...

SHTUP:
ZylonBane - Permission Granted
IceNine - No Contact Info
Black Boe - No Contact Info
Eldron - Permission Granted
Eshaktaar - Permission Granted
Hires - No Contact Info
Rattkin - Email Bounce Back
Darksharp - No Contact Info
SNAFU - Email Sent
Garcie - No Contact Info
Ichu - No Contact Info
Nameless Voice - Permission Granted
Pride Assassin - No Contact Info
Thunderpeel - Email Bounce Back
Shadowspawn - Permission Granted
Telliamed - Permission Granted

SCP:
ZylonBane - Permission Granted
Antimatter_16
Nameless Voice - Permission Granted
Nemyax
Olfred - Permission Granted
Straylight
Thiefsiefool
unn_atropos - Permission Granted
voodoo47 - Permission Granted
Zygo

Other mods we'd like to include are:

Mercurius' Tacticool Weapon Replacements
Fan Translations

Ultimately our goal is to have the visual mods selectable in the options menu with the ability to play the vanilla game if so desired. With all this said we need to get permission from everyone involved to include it, and in the advent of not being able to reach someone or if someone doesn't want to include their work we need to know what it is so that we can replace it. I've started sending PM's to those listed above, but if you have not heard from me yet, please feel free to reach out.

We've already hired a few members of the systemshock.org community and we're always looking for other talented individuals to join our team and contribute to the Shock franchise, so again, please don't hesitate to reach out if you think you'd be a good addition to our team!

Anyone who grants Nightdive permission to use their work will be credited in the game and given keys to the Remake and SS2:EE as a thank you. We will also be giving beta access to those who want to try it out and provide feedback.

When the project is complete we will release the source code on our github

What am I missing? Is there a mod that I haven't included that should be? Is there a feature or something you'd like to see in the release? Please let us know!

We've created a new section in our public discord server for SS2:EE discussion. If you are one of the mod contributors feel free to message me or our community manager for a special user role. https://discord.gg/fNJ7zaE

As I brought up in the thread, I have some qualms about mods being distributed with the official release. I hope they're toggled off by default, otherwise we'll get a bunch of people playing a wholly different version of SS2 without realizing it. There are also conflicts with the existing NewDark releases -- the EE sourceport is built on an incomplete source and will not be compatible with a ton of NewDark mods. Currently, the SS2 modding process is running SS2Tool, downloading mods from SS.org, and installing them with Blue Mod Manager. It's easy to swap in the latest version of any mod you want, and NewDark features enable a ton of cool stuff that wasn't possible before (expanded editor limits, tons of new graphical features, DML injection for gamesys/maps, runtime script extension), and won't be compatible with SS2EE. In particular, the SCP mod requires a bunch of these critical features, so I'm not sure what their plan is for its intended inclusion. SS2EE will have to update as new mod versions are released or just lock in the release versions, in addition to managing all of the version differences... I dunno, unless you're a Linux user or want to play coop, I'd just stick with NewDark.

It's great that Nightdive will be releasing the source once they're done (I hope that means the actual SS2 source and not just a Kex shell around it or something), as that'll be useful even for NewDark modding. For my purposes, seeing the vanilla scripts decompiled would be majorly helpful.

 

[Baron Dupek]

No "embrace monke" for ya

 

[Morgoth]

 

[kangaxx]

Part of me is interested, I'm not going to lie. The Von Braun was one of the most atmospheric stages for any game ever IMO. Just don't know whether I can be bothered to buy into VR at this point.

 

[Curratum]

The bullshit with the SS1 remake has been going on nearly 5 years now. There is no game and there will be no game.

Star Citizen has been going on for 8 years versus 5 years and even that hilarious, tremendous long-con has more to show than SS1.

 

[Perkel]

Star Citizen has been going on for 8 years versus 5 years and even that hilarious, tremendous long-con has more to show than SS1.

? Project first was made as recreation of original with better graphics then remake and now is back to recreation. That is like 3 different games being made. Probably mostly by small team.

 

[kangaxx]

Being honest, the only way I still squeeze time out of this game is in drunken multiplayer with a couple of similarly middle aged mates, trying weird builds etc. If they only fixed multiplayer I'd probably buy EE. Mods already fix most everything else except enemy models IMO.

 

[Infinitron]

From last week: https://www.ign.com/articles/system-shock-2-enhanced-edition-full-vr-mode-announced

System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition Gets a Fully-Playable VR Mode
Play the classic sci-fi horror game in VR.

System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition is getting a fully playable VR mode. IGN can exclusively reveal that Nightdive Studios is working on the fully-fleshed VR mode complete with its own VR-focused development team.

It began when Nightdive Studios posted a tweet in January showing Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick using a VR controller to play System Shock 2. The tweet served as a hint at what Nightdive Studios was already looking into for its enhanced version of the sequel, which was whether or not VR could work for System Shock 2.

“During the process of reverse-engineering the missing libraries for System Shock 2, we had an opportunity to play around with the idea of creating a standalone VR version,” says Kick in an interview with IGN. “And so we brought on an [VR] expert to look about the cod and give us a brief idea of what kind of things we could do.”

With this blueprint, Nightdive found that there was a solid enough foundation in System Shock 2 to begin fleshing out a full VR version. Kick says System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition will be fully playable in VR along with the game’s multiplayer mode. So co-op can be played in VR in cross-platform, where one player can be in VR and another can play on a standard PC.

Kick was also clear that VR isn’t just a tacked-on extra, but a fully-fleshed out feature. Nightdive is working with an outline on how to create a “really remarkable, built from the ground up VR experience.”

Nightdive cites the immersive potential of VR as one of the main reasons for pursuing this dedicated mode for System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition. “When you’re in VR, you’re the one actually swinging the weapons, you’re reloading [the guns] yourself, you’re not just hitting a button and having the character reload the gun automatically.”

The team has been studying other VR games and one title that has set a bar for immersion is Half-Life: Alyx, which Nightdive says is a big inspiration. “[Half-Life: Alyx has] just become essential in creating that feeling that you’re there… Things like being able to pick up items from a distance is something that was really important in Half-Life: Alyx, and it’s something you’ll be able to do in System Shock VR as well.”

Currently, System Shock 2 VR is in the prototype stage, so the VR version will not be released alongside System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition, which is planned to be released alongside Nightdive’s full remake of System Shock.

 

[kangaxx]

From last week: https://www.ign.com/articles/system-shock-2-enhanced-edition-full-vr-mode-announced

Currently, System Shock 2 VR is in the prototype stage, so the VR version will not be released alongside System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition, which is planned to be released alongside Nightdive’s full remake of System Shock.

Sounds like we could be waiting a while.

 

[Nano]

Why wait that long? Do they not want money?

 

[kangaxx]

I think they're just nowhere near completing either.

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

I don't see a crossover market between nostalgiacs and VR users. Waste of time and resources.

 

[Nano]

Waste of time and resources.

At Nightdive, of all places? Why, I never.

 

[LESS T_T]

:confused_travolta:

 

[Invictus]

Love the updated look; it keeps faithful to the original but with a modern look
Kind of makes me hope more DarkEngine games get updated

 

[Bad Sector]

Yeah it looks fine, though i wouldn't call those textures "modern" - ever since mainstream developers figured out how to do normal mapping, the painted diffuse-only texture style has been largely abandoned (outside of Nintendo's handhelds). Sometimes it feels like a lost art considering how hard it is to find information about diffuse-only texture painting that wasn't written in the early 2000s.