Dreamcast beta of System Shock 2 port found - UPDATE: Source files found

[6637a9562e955Kolya]

As has been posted on TTLG, a guy who goes by the handle of game_player_s has apparently found a beta version of a Dreamcast port of System Shock 2 on a second hand bought developer HD. Plus files belonging to a Dreamcast port of Thief.
http://dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2047

So far none of these contents have been made available yet, possibly they haven't even been retrieved from the HD yet. All there is right now, is a file listing of the relevant folders: http://www.segaforums.com/psoarchive/dc/

[6637a9562ed4fEnchantermon]

Nice!

[6637a9562eeceZylonBane]

Holy cow!

Don't see anything that resembles source files though.

[6637a9562f048Enchantermon]

True, but perhaps some of those MIS files are unstripped; maybe we can finally have the complete collection of unstripped files.
Plus, as RocketMan mentioned on TTLG, perhaps the owner could even run data recovery on the drive and see what else he could pull off of there. If the Dark source was on there at one time and hasn't been overwritten, maybe it could be recovered. It's a long shot, but possible, is it not?

[6637a9562f262Kolya]

I also looked for source files first, but it doesn't look like it and considering the nature of this port, I think there wouldn't have to be any. It seems this would have been a port running on Windows CE (under DirectX 6). During the 2 years time of cooperation between Sega and Microsoft there was this idea that PC apps could be easily ported this way. But the WinCE environment didn't take full account of the Dreamcast's capabilities and the few games that were ported this way (usually preloading WinCE themselves before the actual game) ran quite laggy, especially compared to games developed specifically for the DC. So that might be a reason why the port was canceled.
And it might mean that the files are not much more than a regular SS2 install plus some WinCE and DC specific files. Of course there's no way to be sure without having access to the data. Even just a different build of shock2.exe could get the right people some clues. And yeah, unstripped missions would be nice and who knows what else is out there..
Well as you may have seen, I asked game_player_s friendly but firmly to put up an untampered archive, explaining our cause as good as I could. There were also some suggestions on the dreamcast-talk board to create a DC bootable SS2 game and sell it (for "donations"). If we ever get the full archive it might take a while.

[6637a9562f38aKolya]

Meanwhile the files have been released, as currently discussed here on TTLG.

[6637a9562f49cBlue]

Pretty cool. I used to be a huge Dreamcast fan and while the PC version is all I need this is definitely a novelty interest to me!

[6637a9562f5edScorpion]

This is interesting. I'm going to download this and put it on a CD, then put it in my Dreamcast and see if this works.

Edit: I see Thief 2 is in there as well. I'll try that too while I'm at it.

Yet another edit: Found out that SS2 for Dreamcast doesn't seem to have any playability at the moment. It's best to wait for a more complete version to be found, if any. As for Thief 2 I haven't the slightest clue.

[6637a9562f7d7MasterPhW]

Hey there.
I registered here, because I think here are still the most dithyrambic SS2 fans out there.
Lately some dreamcast fans released a set of wince binaries and tools of two games that should be ported to Dreamcast back in the days.
The funny thing about this: one of the archives has the source of 3 games in it: System Shock 2, Thief 2 and Deep Cover (an unreleased PC game).
Don't you think, that THIS community would be able to do great stuff with it?
I can't post it here (copyright reasons, don't want to be banned after my first post), but I hope I can find here some people which are interested in looking into the source and probably bring some action into the SS2 scene.
Contact me via PN or write into this thread.
Btw: It isn't clear, whether it's the COMPLETE source, but it seems so.

[6637a9562f931Enchantermon]

There's already a topic about this here. Also, unfortunately, the files released are not source files; they're apparently the files that would have been released on the Dreamcast CD had the game gone into production. No one has since found anything truly useful from them.

[6637a9562fa69MasterPhW]

Yesterday a new archive was released with a lot (complete?) source files of all these three games.
It's called thief_2_service_release.7z and is in the folder "rdrive\prj\thief2".
Sorry for not seeing the other thread before.
Could you merge the threads?

[6637a9562fbddEnchantermon]

I see; very interesting. And you're sure that these are the files for all three, not just Thief 2 (my download hasn't finished yet)?
In any event, I'm not a coder, so I wouldn't be able to do anything with it, but perhaps there is indeed something to be done! Merging the threads now.

EDIT: Oh, and here's the link to the new archive for those who don't want to go digging through the Dreamcast forum's thread. Link

[6637a9562fd4fMasterPhW]

Thanks for merging.
All three games are using the so called dark engine, an updated version of the former quake engine.
There are different main folders for game specific sources, like shock for the SS2 source, DeepPC for DeepCover and Dark (for DarkProject) for thief files.
The problem is, they aren't propertly commented, so it will be a pain in the ass to get them sorted correctly.
But it's an interesting deep view into parts of the development.
I didn't know, I was allowed to link the file. Thanks for doing so.

[6637a9563037bEnchantermon]

There are different main folders for game specific sources, like shock for the SS2 source, DeepPC for DeepCover and Dark (for DarkProject) for thief files.

Download finished, and now I see what you're talking about.
Very, very cool! A lot of these files are nonsense to me (like I said, I'm not a programmer), but it's exciting to know that we finally have something to work with.

I didn't know, I was allowed to link the file. Thanks for doing so.

Yeah, we wouldn't have banned you for that. These are looking like files the SS2/Thief community has been needing for years.

[6637a956304dcMasterPhW]

Dunno, every message board is different in offering links for probably copyright protected material.
Btw: wouldn't it be better to change the thread title to something more appropriate, like "Dreamcast Beta port and source of System Shock 2 leaked"?
Could attract more people into this thread.

[6637a956309d2Marvin]

All three games are using the so called dark engine, an updated version of the former quake engine.

It's an original engine although Thief indeed looked like a Doom engine type game at first.

[6637a95630e16MasterPhW]

All three games are using the so called dark engine, an updated version of the former quake engine.

It's an original engine although Thief indeed looked like a Doom engine type game at first.

Ahh, yeah. Got that wrong.
You are right, it's a original engine. For everyone else who wants to know more, just check the wikipedia article.

[6637a95630f13dspair]

edit: ooops nevermind

[6637a9563108evoodoo47]

ok, so the dark engine source genie is out of the bottle? I guess I don't need a xmas present anymore

[6637a95631368MasterPhW]

ok, so the dark engine source genie is out of the bottle? I guess I don't need a xmas present anymore

It seems that it is the main part of the source, but most probably the complete stuff from the dark engine from 1996 up to the year 2000, with additional assets for all these three games.

[6637a95631470xyzoutcast]

Anyone still have the source to share? I cant find it anywhere

[6637a956317e5RocketMan]

What would you do with it anyway?  I thought it was incomplete...

[6637a956318ffxyzoutcast]

They said the Dreamcast port was incomplete but the actual source for the dark engine was complete and had stuff from the unreleased dark engine game Deep Cover.

[6637a95631a0fZylonBane]

If memory serves, the discussion on TTLG was that it was incomplete, missing some DLLs required to build a functional game.