[System Shock & 2] - SHODAN's Liberation Is At Hand

emnmnme

Protocol droids are so polite.

Operative21

Stormwatcher wrote:

The protocol droids are some of my most hated enemies. The open-close-open-close sounds of big bulkhead doors at the cargo bay, plus their eerie chattering frayed on my nerves like nothing else. I'm perpetually paranoid at that damned place.

The first time I played through that section my initial impression of them was "Oh hey! They have friendly C3P0 type protocol droids. Man, they sure do have alot of them stored here."

This was, of course followed up by an impression of "Sweet jumping jesus on a pogo stick! Not friendly! Not friendly at all! Aaaaaaugh! My organs!"

jdarksun

emnmnme wrote: »

Protocol droids are so polite.

Excuse me, sir.
Where did you go?

Redlance

The big problem with being so psi dependent was the inability to hotkey psi abiltiies like I could my weapons.

You can hotkey your psi powers. In the overlay screen just select a power and push one of the function keys. Then that power will have F# in the upper left corner of the display. You can even switch powers with a weapon equipped, then pull out your amp and have the power ready to go.

RMS Oceanic

I made the following on this website and it contains a spoiler:

Tamin

jdarksun wrote: »

emnmnme wrote: »

Protocol droids are so polite.

Excuse me, sir.
Where did you go?

Oh dear. I drove a customer away.
Sir? Sir, there's no charge!

Operative21

RMS Oceanic wrote:

I made the following on this website and it contains a spoiler:

Awesome.

Tamin

Redlance wrote: »

The big problem with being so psi dependent was the inability to hotkey psi abiltiies like I could my weapons.

You can hotkey your psi powers. In the overlay screen just select a power and push one of the function keys. Then that power will have F# in the upper left corner of the display. You can even switch powers with a weapon equipped, then pull out your amp and have the power ready to go.

I didn't know you could specify one like that, but you can also tap F1 (or F2, etc.) to cycle all the powers of the first tier.

edit: actually, I just tested this. The F1 (or other) bit stays on the Tier X slot; you (or at least, I) can't specify a 'default' power. F1 (in or out of use mode) just cycles through all the tier one powers I have purchased.

You can cycle powers without an amp equipped, but unless you pop into use mode, you won't know which power you have active.

Luca72

I just played this through for the first time about a month before it was released on GOG (the internet fairy delivered me a totally legal copy), and it was one of the best video game experiences I have EVER had.

I've got a question about the GOG release though - does anyone know if any of the money goes to the original developers? I figure most of them are at Irrational, and probably don't even get royalties from SS2 because of the whole licensing confusion. Does the money just go to GOG? I guess it wouldn't hurt to add to the numbers, to show that people are still dedicated to this franchise.

Also, does this mean the license has changed hands? Is there any possibility now of all the licenses for this game finding their way to a single group?

As in... like... maybe... there could be hope for a System Shock 3?

Redlance

Tamin wrote: »

Redlance wrote: »

The big problem with being so psi dependent was the inability to hotkey psi abiltiies like I could my weapons.

You can hotkey your psi powers. In the overlay screen just select a power and push one of the function keys. Then that power will have F# in the upper left corner of the display. You can even switch powers with a weapon equipped, then pull out your amp and have the power ready to go.

I didn't know you could specify one like that, but you can also tap F1 (or F2, etc.) to cycle all the powers of the first tier.

edit: actually, I just tested this. The F1 (or other) bit stays on the Tier X slot; you (or at least, I) can't specify a 'default' power. F1 (in or out of use mode) just cycles through all the tier one powers I have purchased.

You can cycle powers without an amp equipped, but unless you pop into use mode, you won't know which power you have active.

I should have clarified. If you tie a power to a F# key and push that button, it will switch. So if you put a power to F1 then it will always be that power. The problem is I don't know how to unbind a power. Unless your game is working different from mine, and just cycling the tier while something is bound to that key.

Tamin

Luca72 wrote: »

I just played this through for the first time about a month before it was released on GOG (the internet fairy delivered me a totally legal copy), and it was one of the best video game experiences I have EVER had.

I've got a question about the GOG release though - does anyone know if any of the money goes to the original developers? I figure most of them are at Irrational, and probably don't even get royalties from SS2 because of the whole licensing confusion. Does the money just go to GOG? I guess it wouldn't hurt to add to the numbers, to show that people are still dedicated to this franchise.

Also, does this mean the license has changed hands? Is there any possibility now of all the licenses for this game finding their way to a single group?

As in... like... maybe... there could be hope for a System Shock 3?

I would be astonished if Levine (for example) received so much as a penny.

It's not impossible that the insurance company would find some compromise with EA; but do you really want EA to make a system shock 3? I mean, just consider that a minute.

Zxerol

Give it to BioWare and let them have at it. Renegade interrupt SHODAN's stupid face and romance a Cyborg Midwife. Advancing that RPG genre.

Tamin

Redlance wrote: »

Tamin wrote: »

Redlance wrote: »

The big problem with being so psi dependent was the inability to hotkey psi abiltiies like I could my weapons.

You can hotkey your psi powers. In the overlay screen just select a power and push one of the function keys. Then that power will have F# in the upper left corner of the display. You can even switch powers with a weapon equipped, then pull out your amp and have the power ready to go.

I didn't know you could specify one like that, but you can also tap F1 (or F2, etc.) to cycle all the powers of the first tier.

edit: actually, I just tested this. The F1 (or other) bit stays on the Tier X slot; you (or at least, I) can't specify a 'default' power. F1 (in or out of use mode) just cycles through all the tier one powers I have purchased.

You can cycle powers without an amp equipped, but unless you pop into use mode, you won't know which power you have active.

I should have clarified. If you tie a power to a F# key and push that button, it will switch. So if you put a power to F1 then it will always be that power. The problem is I don't know how to unbind a power. Unless your game is working different from mine, and just cycling the tier while something is bound to that key.

Could you take a screenshot of this "power tied to a F# key"? Because when I was testing it, this is what I was seeing:

The F1 in the upper-right never moved. I tapped F[1-12] after clicking on the PSI Shield in the upper-right and the bottom-right.

Naturally, F[6-12] did nothing, but each tap of F[1-5] would first switch to that tier and then cycle.

Then I went over to the PSI panel and tried F[6-12] on a tier 2 power. Switched back to shoot mode and tried to access it. Nothing.

I'm really very curious why our games are working differently. Do you have a disc version or gog? Any patches?

Redlance

Tamin wrote: »

Redlance wrote: »

Tamin wrote: »

Redlance wrote: »

The big problem with being so psi dependent was the inability to hotkey psi abiltiies like I could my weapons.

You can hotkey your psi powers. In the overlay screen just select a power and push one of the function keys. Then that power will have F# in the upper left corner of the display. You can even switch powers with a weapon equipped, then pull out your amp and have the power ready to go.

I didn't know you could specify one like that, but you can also tap F1 (or F2, etc.) to cycle all the powers of the first tier.

edit: actually, I just tested this. The F1 (or other) bit stays on the Tier X slot; you (or at least, I) can't specify a 'default' power. F1 (in or out of use mode) just cycles through all the tier one powers I have purchased.

You can cycle powers without an amp equipped, but unless you pop into use mode, you won't know which power you have active.

I should have clarified. If you tie a power to a F# key and push that button, it will switch. So if you put a power to F1 then it will always be that power. The problem is I don't know how to unbind a power. Unless your game is working different from mine, and just cycling the tier while something is bound to that key.

Could you take a screenshot of this "power tied to a F# key"? Because when I was testing it, this is what I was seeing:

The F1 in the upper-right never moved. I tapped F[1-12] after clicking on the PSI Shield in the upper-right and the bottom-right.

Naturally, F[6-12] did nothing, but each tap of F[1-5] would first switch to that tier and then cycle.

Then I went over to the PSI panel and tried F[6-12] on a tier 2 power. Switched back to shoot mode and tried to access it. Nothing.

I'm really very curious why our games are working differently. Do you have a disc version or gog? Any patches?

Sure, I'm using the GOG version. THe only mods I have or SHTUP rebirth and tacticool

Tamin

Redlance wrote: »

Tamin wrote: »

Redlance wrote: »

Tamin wrote: »

Redlance wrote: »

The big problem with being so psi dependent was the inability to hotkey psi abiltiies like I could my weapons.

You can hotkey your psi powers. In the overlay screen just select a power and push one of the function keys. Then that power will have F# in the upper left corner of the display. You can even switch powers with a weapon equipped, then pull out your amp and have the power ready to go.

I didn't know you could specify one like that, but you can also tap F1 (or F2, etc.) to cycle all the powers of the first tier.

edit: actually, I just tested this. The F1 (or other) bit stays on the Tier X slot; you (or at least, I) can't specify a 'default' power. F1 (in or out of use mode) just cycles through all the tier one powers I have purchased.

You can cycle powers without an amp equipped, but unless you pop into use mode, you won't know which power you have active.

I should have clarified. If you tie a power to a F# key and push that button, it will switch. So if you put a power to F1 then it will always be that power. The problem is I don't know how to unbind a power. Unless your game is working different from mine, and just cycling the tier while something is bound to that key.

Could you take a screenshot of this "power tied to a F# key"? Because when I was testing it, this is what I was seeing:

The F1 in the upper-right never moved. I tapped F[1-12] after clicking on the PSI Shield in the upper-right and the bottom-right.

Naturally, F[6-12] did nothing, but each tap of F[1-5] would first switch to that tier and then cycle.

Then I went over to the PSI panel and tried F[6-12] on a tier 2 power. Switched back to shoot mode and tried to access it. Nothing.

I'm really very curious why our games are working differently. Do you have a disc version or gog? Any patches?

Sure, I'm using the GOG version. THe only mods I have or SHTUP rebirth and tacticool

gooooofy

I don't have Rebirth (don't like the models) or tacticool. So one of those is likely the culprit. Let me see which one.

edit: well, I still can't make this work. So I dunno ...

Luca72

Tamin wrote: »

Luca72 wrote: »

I just played this through for the first time about a month before it was released on GOG (the internet fairy delivered me a totally legal copy), and it was one of the best video game experiences I have EVER had.

I've got a question about the GOG release though - does anyone know if any of the money goes to the original developers? I figure most of them are at Irrational, and probably don't even get royalties from SS2 because of the whole licensing confusion. Does the money just go to GOG? I guess it wouldn't hurt to add to the numbers, to show that people are still dedicated to this franchise.

Also, does this mean the license has changed hands? Is there any possibility now of all the licenses for this game finding their way to a single group?

As in... like... maybe... there could be hope for a System Shock 3?

I would be astonished if Levine (for example) received so much as a penny.

It's not impossible that the insurance company would find some compromise with EA; but do you really want EA to make a system shock 3? I mean, just consider that a minute.

What I was getting at is that if System Shock isn't seen as a valuable commodity anymore, but a group (like Irrational in my sweetest dreams) wants to make another installment anyway, then maybe EA would be willing to sell the license. But I guess it's a Catch-22. If interest doesn't seem high enough, no developer is going to spend the kind of cash it would take to the game. And if interest does seem high enough, EA can just keep the license and make Dead Shock 5.

BTW, does anyone have a list of enemy quotes? The wiki has some, but not all of them. Those cyborg midwives scared the shit out of me so much that I'd make a point to take them out whenever I heard them before they could get the jump on me, and I missed some of their audio.

I'm at least aware that little ones need lot's of meat.

Luca72

double post

Tamin

Luca72 wrote: »

Tamin wrote: »

Luca72 wrote: »

I just played this through for the first time about a month before it was released on GOG (the internet fairy delivered me a totally legal copy), and it was one of the best video game experiences I have EVER had.

I've got a question about the GOG release though - does anyone know if any of the money goes to the original developers? I figure most of them are at Irrational, and probably don't even get royalties from SS2 because of the whole licensing confusion. Does the money just go to GOG? I guess it wouldn't hurt to add to the numbers, to show that people are still dedicated to this franchise.

Also, does this mean the license has changed hands? Is there any possibility now of all the licenses for this game finding their way to a single group?

As in... like... maybe... there could be hope for a System Shock 3?

I would be astonished if Levine (for example) received so much as a penny.

It's not impossible that the insurance company would find some compromise with EA; but do you really want EA to make a system shock 3? I mean, just consider that a minute.

What I was getting at is that if System Shock isn't seen as a valuable commodity anymore, but a group (like Irrational in my sweetest dreams) wants to make another installment anyway, then maybe EA would be willing to sell the license. But I guess it's a Catch-22. If interest doesn't seem high enough, no developer is going to spend the kind of cash it would take to the game. And if interest does seem high enough, EA can just keep the license and make Dead Shock 5.

BTW, does anyone have a list of enemy quotes? The wiki has some, but not all of them. Those cyborg midwives scared the shit out of me so much that I'd make a point to take them out whenever I heard them before they could get the jump on me, and I missed some of their audio.

I'm at least aware that little ones need lots of meat.

EA has no incentive to sell the(ir portion of the) rights. Even if they're utterly convinced the game would flop, the mere fact that someone is looking to buy them is more than enough for them to say "it's not for sale". Sitting on the rights makes them no money, true. But selling the rights creates an uncertain future.

Maybe the buyer will go under, and the rights will be lost entirely.
Maybe the game will succeed and EA just made their competition a boatload of money.

There are many outcomes, I think, but those cover the extremes.

Think of Monopoly. Even if you don't care for a given property, it's still worthwhile to purchase it if you happen to land there, because you're then denying it to your opponents. Even if you never develop that property. And that's probably the only lesson Monopoly has to offer.

At any rate, EA would have to sell the rights to Take-Two; a major competitor. And then Take-Two would assign Irrational Games to it.

For myself, I have no faith that Irrational could pull off SS3. They haven't made a game I've liked since System Shock 2.

Bioshock was meant as a spiritual successor; I would expect them to put as much passion, talent, and skill into it as they would a physical successor. To say I was unimpressed is to put it mildly.


But, I really don't want this thread to become SS2 vs. Bioshock. So I will stop myself there.

spitfirek

My friends and I are trying to play multiplayer using hamachi, but we are getting "join failed" errors when we try to connect to each other. We have hamachi as the primary network so we are getting the proper IP addresses in the game, we have unblocked SS2 in the firewalls, we are all using the exact same version/mods, everything looks like it should work. Anyone have any experience with this and how to fix it?

UPDATE:
We tried uninstalling and deleting all the files in the game folder, reinstalling with the fresh GOG install and it didnt work. We ran SS2tools v5 with the multiplayer option selected and it didnt work either. Maybe it is a setting in hamachi?

Lork

Don't bother with Hamachi. Just have the host forward the appropriate ports on their router and you should be able to join over the internet by typing in their IP. I would also recommend against using any mods, even the fan patch or cosmetic ones. The game is unstable enough already, and mods just cause even more problems.

emnmnme

But ... SWAT 4 was excellent and Irrational made that one.

Commander Zoom

Tamin wrote: »

At this point you realize that you have no feet

(The Hacker's Guide to Sin, 1998)

subedii

I don't know whether this is a tip people have already mentioned (and it's been so long I might not even be remembering right), but if you've got additional stuff you'd like to keep around but you've got no space, you can put it in the lift. Items in the lift get transferred between levels, which I thought was a really nice touch.

Just remember it if you find yourself transferring ships.

Tamin

emnmnme wrote: »

But ... SWAT 4 was excellent and Irrational made that one.

I never played it!

So I suppose the statement was slightly unfair.

Freedom Force wasn't bad, but I just couldn't get into it. And T:V was alright (not my favorite) for MP , but I held the SP to a higher standard, given that Irrational worked on it. And it failed miserably from what I remember.

--

Commander Zoom wrote: »

(The Hacker's Guide to Sin, 1998)

yes! thank you. I was trying to remember the name of this. I want to say there was another in the same vein.

Nocren

Tamin wrote: »

Commander Zoom wrote: »

(The Hacker's Guide to Sin, 1998)

yes! thank you. I was trying to remember the name of this. I want to say there was another in the same vein.

Reminds me of that one writeup of SS1 where the author pointed out that you're not human, you're more play-dough then man, given that the "mold" of the res chambers and that you can manipulate things from 10 feet away with your long, pliable arms.

Tamin

Nocren wrote: »

Tamin wrote: »

Commander Zoom wrote: »

(The Hacker's Guide to Sin, 1998)

yes! thank you. I was trying to remember the name of this. I want to say there was another in the same vein.

Reminds me of that one writeup of SS1 where the author pointed out that you're not human, you're more play-dough then man, given that the "mold" of the res chambers and that you can manipulate things from 10 feet away with your long, pliable arms.

this is that writeup

Fairchild

FREEDOM FORCE was a very good game, much improved in the sequel, FREEDOM FORCE VS. THE THIRD REICH. But they were made in the brief interval before licensed comic book MMO's appeared, so we will not see their like again.

sniffle

(blows nose)

Tamin

subedii wrote: »

I don't know whether this is a tip people have already mentioned (and it's been so long I might not even be remembering right), but if you've got additional stuff you'd like to keep around but you've got no space, you can put it in the lift. Items in the lift get transferred between levels, which I thought was a really nice touch.

Just remember it if you find yourself transferring ships.

yes, I always forget to bring (end-game)

the hazard suit with me to the Body of the Many. Fortunately, I always have dozens of rad (and med) hypos at that point, so it's not too much trouble

kaliyama

Anyone want to start up a multiplayer game of this in a bit?

Nocren

For those of you that like running your stuff through Steam so you can use their handy overlay, Tri-Optimum has provided you with this handy ID tag for quilt/grid view.



Enjoy, insect.

Salvation122

I cannot possibly express how happy it makes me that discussion of this game in this thread only really happens after the sun goes down.

kuhlmeye

So, let's say I bought the GoG version, and I'm playing it on my desktop. And then let's say I was traveling tomorrow and Wednesday, but wanted to play on my laptop while I'm traveling. Can I just transfer my saves over to my laptop and call it good?

Also, does anyone know if the GoG version can install to a flash drive?

Tamin

kuhlmeye wrote: »

So, let's say I bought the GoG version, and I'm playing it on my desktop. And then let's say I was traveling tomorrow and Wednesday, but wanted to play on my laptop while I'm traveling. Can I just transfer my saves over to my laptop and call it good?

Also, does anyone know if the GoG version can install to a flash drive?

Yes, you should be able to drag and drop the saves.

I'm not sure about installing to a flash drive. Let me see if I can track one down.

Redlance

kuhlmeye wrote: »

So, let's say I bought the GoG version, and I'm playing it on my desktop. And then let's say I was traveling tomorrow and Wednesday, but wanted to play on my laptop while I'm traveling. Can I just transfer my saves over to my laptop and call it good?

Also, does anyone know if the GoG version can install to a flash drive?

Go to C:\GOG Games\System Shock 2 (default directory) and you'll see save_#. Just copy those folders to your wherever you installed SS2 to. Not sure on the flash drive, try running the installer and pointing the directory to the flash drive?

Tamin

yeah, I can't find any of my flash drives. Which is silly and aggravating.

jdarksun

I'm pretty sure you can just zip the entire folder up and transfer it over, or redownload SS2 from GOG and transfer the saves.

kuhlmeye

@Tamin yeah, whenever I need a flash drive, they seem to grow legs and go missing.

Thanks for the replies on the saves. That's what I figured, but I wanted to be sure. I'm downloading the installer on my laptop, I suppose I'll see if it installs to a flash drive properly.

kuhlmeye

Well, it doesn't appear to "just work". It installed okay, took a little bit longer than installing to the hard drive, but when I try to launch it, it gives an error and says

Unable to locate or load d3dx9_43.dll

I image I could probably get it working with some fiddling, but I really don't feel like fiddling.

EDIT: Apparently I do feel like fiddling, because all I needed was to install the latest DX9 redist, and now it runs after being installed to a flash drive. Excellent.

Stormwatcher

It should be a really portable game, in the sense that it should run fine from a thumbdrive after all you did.
The funny thing for me is remembering the looooooooooooooooong loadtimes back when the game came out, I stared at those swirling Trioptimum rings for ages. Now it's just Blink! Game's up.

azith28

Any word about the steam version yet?