System Shock 2, hi res graphics.

patch

Guys,
A few months back, someone posted up a link for a hi res pack which brought SS2's graphics up to date. All the googling in the world is turning up feck all, and the search engine shows up nowt either.

Does anybody remember where it was?
Cheers, Pat.

Mad Mike

Rebirth is the mod you want.

Here is the link: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aubert/sshock/sshock_rebirth.htm

Just folly the instructions.

Delighted to see someone new playing SS2. I think this is a superb but forgotten game - for some bizarre reason it never made it to budget release.

Mad Mike

Oh and by the way I had a few hiccups getting SS2 to run on XP - so when I finally got it working I wrote down the steps I needed. I still have the list of steps if any one wants it.

patch

Cheers Mad Mike... I found that mod alright.
Was I wrong in thinking that there's a conversion for the graphics in SS2 itself? I *thought* I could play the original with the updated graphics?

I found a patch to allow it's use on XP, but tis good to know I can ask if I get stuck!

Mad Mike

Sorry Patch I may have confused the issue by calling Rebirth a mod. Rebirth doesn't change the gameplay one bit - it just tarts up the character graphics. It only does a few of the main characters but since these are the ones you see a lot of it really is worth using.

Boberto

Cool! Thanks for that!
I loved system shock 2 and was put off playing it again because the graphics looked so old... Shall give it a try

hamster

I got System Shock 2 myself before Halloween last year and downloaded an update called Rebirth_Beta_1_updatedModels.zip. Look for "rebirth" and should come across it. 3.8Mb. Good game. But so many other things to get into. Amiga Emulation at the moment...

PcP

There is also a high-res pack (not rebirth) which does indeed bring the graphics more up to date. You can get it from the download section here .

hth

patch

Thanks guys, I'll give it a go over the weekend!

Mad Mike

Originally posted by PcP
There is also a high-res pack (not rebirth) which does indeed bring the graphics more up to date. You can get it from the download section here .

hth

Superb site PcP. I notice that there are still a fair number of active posters to the forums. SS2 is definitely a game that more people should play. Reading one of the posts in the forums reminded me just how well the music and sound in this game is designed to scare the daylighta out of you.

Patch - Post back when you 've played a bit to give us an opinion.

Matt Simis

Originally posted by Mad Mike
Oh and by the way I had a few hiccups getting SS2 to run on XP - so when I finally got it working I wrote down the steps I needed. I still have the list of steps if any one wants it.

Strange, I didnt have to do anything extra in XP? Perhaps it works better with Directx9b, as I know there was issues with Win2k + DX8.



Matt

Thorbar

System Shock 2 is one of my all time favourate games pity it seems very unlikely that System Shock 3 will be made.

BLITZ_Molloy

The guys at Ion Storm might well try to do another System Shock (and alot of the Looking Glass staff now work there so it would be a proper sequel). They're doing Thief 3 at the moment. As they're sharing the same FPS engine among all their games they could probably do one without spending a fortune.

I really liked SS2. The graphic design and attention to detail is fantasic so it actually looks rather good even without all the downloads.

The game got on my nerves though. All the respawning enemies, lack of ammo and weapons breaking down is really good for building tension but if your not that good at the game you get totally screwed mid way through. I just got to a point where all my weapons were broken and I hadn't any ammo. Must get back to that game from the start and give it another go.

Lyconix

Superb game, nice to see that not everyone has forgotten it... unrivalled atmosphere and attention to detail.

I'm tempted to play it again... getting a co-operative game going once I've got broadband might be a good idea.

regeneration

I never fully played that game - got as far as a couple of hours play into it before stopping, I seem to recall re-spawning enemies p*ssing me off. Must reinstall and try it again.

Mad Mike

Originally posted by BLITZ_Molloy
The game got on my nerves though. All the respawning enemies, lack of ammo and weapons breaking down is really good for building tension but if your not that good at the game you get totally screwed mid way through. I just got to a point where all my weapons were broken and I hadn't any ammo. Must get back to that game from the start and give it another go.

I can understand how the unreliable weapons might annoy someone but for me that just added to the tension. You had to keep our head down because you could never be sure of having enough firepower to blast your way out of a tricky situation.

Big hint for anyone just starting the game - Use melee weapons (eg trusty old wrench) for as long as you possibly can. Save your unreliable guns and limited ammo for later in the game when you really need it.

Had a look over my old notes about getting the game to run on XP and in fact a lot of the problems were of my own making (not using the correct version of the game and not installing to the default directory).

PcP

Originally posted by Mad Mike
Superb site PcP. I notice that there are still a fair number of active posters to the forums.

Well heres the thing. I've had ss2 sitting here for ages and never played it because it didn't work on XP. When I read Patches posts above I went looking for the xp patch. So I found the xp patch, and the patch Patch was looking for, and that site. So everyones a winner... except Blitz_Molloy and regeneration who got stuck half way through and are in fact losers
It's a good game tho, I should've tried getting it running ages ago.

regeneration

Originally posted by PcP
except Blitz_Molloy and regeneration who got stuck half way through and are in fact losers .

oi! :P Though as soon as I read this thread, I went looking for my installation disk, and I think my brother nicked it on me :O wahhh! wanna play it again.

Scruff

never played it even though heard so much about it.
think i will now though!
downloading the game at the min free from The Underdogs

po0k

I'm trying to install it on Win2k SP4, DirectX9.0b.
When I put the CD in the drive the autorun menu comes up, I click Install and nothing much seems to happen.
Under Taskmanager "setup.exe" and "wowexec.exe" come up, the neames are shifted one space to the right in teh Name column, and don't seem to be doing anything.
When I go to close process it takes a second then I get a dialogue coming up saying they're 16-bit apps.

What can I do to install it?

What do I then need to get it running under Win2k?

po0k

Ok, sorted the install issue, needed a reboot and "setupe.exe -lgntforce".

Runs now, until I try getting into the game itself.
Screen goes black and I get an error dialogue saying Direct3D couldn't report the correct amount of memory on the 3D card (GeForce2 Pro 64Meg DDR).
I've patched to 2.03 and installed the Win2k/XP fixed .EXE, doesn't seem to help.

Drivers are Forceware 53.06

po0k

From Timmy's Site
System Shock 2 game running in 3D accelerated mode hangs at a black screen.

Symptom(s):

* System Shock 2 game running in 3D accelerated mode hangs at a black screen when game play is attempted.
* Error: "Direct 3D device driver does not accurately report texture memory usage"

Solution:
A game patch (2.30) is available from the game manufacturer that fixes this issue. After installing this patch, you will need to edit the shock.cfg file in the System Shock 2 folder on the hard drive. Open the shock.cfg file with notepad, and add the text "safe_texture_manager" on a line of its own. This change will become active when the file is saved.

This applies to:

* ATi Rage.
* Intel 82810/82815.
* Nvidia GeForce with the 53.xx driver set.

Fixed and working on Win2k SP4

Mad Mike

Good work getting it working there sixpak. I cannot understand why this game was never re-released in Budget with all the appropriate patches.

Anyway - now that you are up and running you wight want to try the rebirth patch which tarts up the character graphics a bit.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aubert/sshock/sshock_rebirth.htm

Don't forget to give us an opinion of the game once you have played for a bit.

D

Last time I tried rebirth not all the models were done (it was still early in beta) so some enemies did not show up at all , rumbler etc, has this been fixed? are all the models done?

Mad Mike

I played the full game with Rebirth last Autumn. There were no missing creatures at that stage although not all of the models have been updated. If a model wasn't updated you just got the original.

I did have a funny called the "missing wrench" bug where some weapons dissapeared because I had SS2 installed in a directory other than the default directory. The rebirth website decribes this bug and gives quick fix involving a minor edit to a config file. I wonder if your missing grumblers could be a similar problem.

hamster

I recommend trying to sort it out anyway... it's one hellva game. Now if only I had TIME to play it like the oldie days.... Boo Hoo!

po0k

I've installed the Rebirth mod, the decal texture pack, the hi-res shotgun pack (from rebirth), Genn's weapon texture pack and the Command Deck fix.
Before adding any of the above you ahve to make the game "mod ready", take all the .crf files from the root SShock directory, create a folder called "RES" and put them in it.
Change the resname_base
Install.cfg file to resname_base C:\Sshock2\res.
I took off the +G:\Sshock2 part and it seems to still work fine.
Also, to get it working with my graphics card I had to put safe_texture_manager on a line on its own in SHOCK.CFG file.
With the Command Deck fix you might want to rename the original files to something else instead of just overwriting/ replacing them.

Things are working perfectly, except for one niggle.
I don't seem to be able to bind CTRL to crouch which is seriously annoying for me.

Any ideas?

Mad Mike

I just fired thegame up and tried binding CTRL to "toggle crouch" - it doesn't work for me either. Bizarrely I can bind CTRL to "Hold Crouch". Seems like a bug. I used the Standard FPS keyboard layout that SS2 allows you to load. It binds toggle crouch to X which is reasonably handy when you are using W, S, A & D for movement.

On the subject of minor niggles. My biggest gripe about SS2 was the fact that it uses the same slot to save quicksaves and autosaves. On several occasions I burst through a door into sudden death at the claws of a hideous monster only to find that my last quick save had been "helpfully" overwritten by autosave just as I emerged through the door. New players be warned.

po0k

I got the Ctrl crouch working now, bound it to hold crouch, works just like Half-life now.