SS2 Zygo Arena

[66331346341e7Zygo]

Tags: °FM °multiplayer °SS2
New version uploaded. This version requires newdark (v2.4)

If anyone wants the old dark (2.3) compatible version let me know and I'll make it available again.

After a development time of over two and a half years (!) here it is, the much delayed Arena. (As discussed on TTLG)

Basic premise: you wake up in environs mysterious and have to fight your way to safety. Monsters and items are generated randomly and there is a plot, of sorts, to follow. In essence it's a frag fest. It also ought to be multiplayer compatible, and rather difficult. There are plenty of alterations from the basic SS2 system and some interesting additions including a full automap, altered weapon balance and effects, and new enemies with new means of attack. Skill costs etc. have been rebalanced too. Hackable (neutral) cameras allow for you to 'see' enemies in nearby areas on the automap and upgraders will disappear once used to reappear in new locations.

Manual installation instructions and more information are included in the readme.

NOTE: There is a non-consistent crash bug which is, er, non-consistent. It's also infrequent, but I would recommend fairly frequent saving in case it does occur.

NOTE 2: Hard is a lot easier than it was, but it still lives up to its name, as does impossible...

[6633134634587Kolya]

Yay! \o/
Thank you Zygoptera, coming from you I'm sure this FM will be nothing short of excellent.
I'll try it tonight.

Edit: What about an announcement on TTLG shockgen? 

[66331346346f6Zygo]

I'm about to post on TTLG, it finished uploading near 1am and I felt tired so didn't announce it in TTLG immediately. It's also why I'll add some xtra comments to the first post I probably should have added initially.

[66331346348e3Kolya]

WOW!

This is the new multiplayer's choice. It's fast, hard and surprisingly untypical for shock.
And it's crazy cool. 

There were some problems installing this, related to write protected files in the install dir.
Try rightclicking your shock2 install dir, choose properties and turn off write protection for ALL files including subfolders.
Then install the Arena.


Zygoptera's Arena FM was announced here on TTLG.

[6633134634a4fAssassin]

Zygo's arena is relly good FM.
Its really not in ss2 style.

[6633134634b97OnyxPaladin]

Is this compatible with Zombies mod manager?

[66331346358bcThe Brain]

Zombies? 
It's Zombe's, not Zombies. And yes it is.

[6633134635a57Kolya]

A mistake that can easily happen to anyone. 

[6633134635bafDoooom]

I've just downloaded the whole thing, unzipped it (I wasn't sure what to do) and read the readme.
But I'm having some problem. The readme is a little unclear on how to install the FM.
I've installed SS2MM and went over SS2 with SS2Tool_v2.7 (that's what windows explorer says)
Can anyone help me and explain what to do with it?

[6633134636042Nameless Voice]

Chang the file extension to .ss2mod and let the mod manager handle it.

[6633134636204Doooom]

Heh, I got the problem solved before you answered, I didn't have my visible extensions enabled. Thanks anyway.
But I'll be glad to chat with anyone else about this FM. I've been playing for an hour already.
It is really cool, but I keep dying ridiculously much, even on Easy. Any tips to help me out?
By the way, I'm still stuck with my wrench and pistol, and I've noticed certain types of object come out of different spawners. Can anyone tell me out of which spawner new weapons come out?

[663313463633fRabenseele]

For some reason my automap does not work. Is there any file i can edit to make it work again? I don't really like to reinstall if I can avoid it.

[66331346365d3Kolya]

I take it you mean your automap doesn't work in this FM. That's unfortunately normal since no map data was provided with the mission IIRC.

[66331346367f0Doooom]

I've just been playing a lot of Arena today, and I've stumbled upon some bugs I'd like to inform you all about.
First, after I received the message that my implants ran out of power, many items in my inventory were given a 0 amount of energy (My recycler had 0 power left, as if my recycler was an implant). This was also done to my armors and such.
Second. I have noticed that the Hybrid Grenadiers throw "Worm Grenades" sometimes, these spawning a worm. A great idea, but I often pass through the centre, noticing that my security (an army of hacked security bots *cough*) took care of the grenadier. Downside, I see a lot of floating in mid-air worms cause of that (off-screen Worm-grenade detonation?)
And some other things I'd like to say.
I really think it's unfair to be ably to recycle weaponry and armor. It makes the center destroyer almost uselss (only usefull for organs) and sometimes causes you to recycle your only pistol by accident.
By the way. I've noticed a weapon spawner in the upperlevel which is locked down with glass, when does it open? Cause I have been playing a lot (changed 2 sim units already) and nothing has changed yet, and I really want that light-saber in there!

[6633134636a64Zygo]

Arena does have a map, it only becomes visible once progress is made, though the player blip ought to be visible all the time. Primarily that was so that the Map OS upgrade had a purpose, at least if taken early.

The zero power thing is a bug which I could never fix, it ought to effect only powered items but doesn't. It has no practical effect, and since the alternative was removing the system I left it there. Same with the floaty worms- I think it had to do with the grenades hitting an AI and detonating in mid air. They're supposed to drop down (as with the ones in some of the original missions with drop from vents) but for some reason they occasionally won't.

Being able to destroy the weapons in the pit is useful if you don't get a recycler, which can happen. If it weren't there you could potentially have a gotcha situation if you're unlucky enough to get 'useless' weapons or break them, and get no recycler.

IIRC the weapon in the central area is accessible by clicking the glass cover, which will go up, slowly

[663313463710dDoooom]

Sorry for the late response, I only just found out you responded.

This FM is actually amazing, since it fills in the spot for 'people who only have a few minutes to play'. It's just jump right in start shooting stuff.

Though I've been playing it a lot alone and with my brother on Co-op. I finnally thought I'd complete the arena story, but I got at the 'destroy SHODAN and reboot Xerxes' part, but I've got no clue what to do. I've been running around like crazy with my runfast implant (amazing how usefull the Repair skill can get here) and I've killed about 50 or more of those SHODAN holograms.
Any help here what I should be doing on the last part?

@Zygo: Like you probably might've read, I've almost completed the game (I think), but the map is still as empty as it was at the start. Also, I got the Spacial Aware perk which eventually did show the map. But when I activate "Minimap" (you know, when you're watching your map, activate the Minimap option) I don't see a darn thing in the upper right corner. Any help there as well?
One more not on perks (at OS Machines). Wouldn't it be better to increase the amount of CM's you get from the 'Naturaly Able' perk or something; those 8 CM's are nothing compared to the increased cost of Upgrades. Perhaps something like 20 would be better? (it IS a one time perk after all and you're 'wasting' an OS slot on extra CM's so it should be worth something, shouldn't it?)

One more thing I'd like to say about those unfixable bugs.
It's not that bad, if you managed to build this thing almost from scratch but with some bugs, you still made an amazing mod to be enjoyed by the many people who still enjoy this game. Kudo's to you.

Thanks in advance.

PS: Still have to check that glass tube thing.

[66331346373e7Zygo]

Sorry for the late reply, probably irrelevant now but...

Shodan is hiding through a partially transparent wall. There are clues as to where this is (sound, you can see through the wall, a few other things). It's in one of the upstairs areas. Unfortunately that is one of the things which is impossible for me to know how easy or not it is to find- the only person I've ever seen play the mission found it the very first time they went into the relevant area but I'd imagine there'd be a lot of variation. Once you're there there are four different ways of winning, iirc modify, hacking and repair as well as brute force can be used to win.

No idea what was happening with the map, it and the minimap worked fine for me when I downloaded the zip file and checked. It's a shame, it makes hacking cameras quite useful as you can tell what's in rooms before going there. I'd agree with increasing the Naturally Able bonus, but it cannot be changed short of script editing, I believe.

[66331346395d2Enchantermon]

Tinyupload link is dead.

[6633134639a3eKolya]

Thanks for the heads-up, I attached the archive as an additional download.

[6633134639b80Enchantermon]

Sure thing.

[6633134639cfbGamer]

The game crashes when trying to start a new game with this mission activated. I'm using Zombe's SS2 Mod Manager 1.10 on WinXP Sp3. I already tried disabling the write protect flag on Sshock2 folder and subfolders and it did not help.

[6633134639eadKolya]

May I ask why you're using an outdated version of the mod manager? If I remember correctly it could not deal with the script and motions files.

In any case, I just tested the FM on a fresh install + SS2Tool.

[663313463a11bFironkkuify]

It's funny how well a survival mode fits in System Shock 2.  Excellent work my friend X3

[663313463a9e6unn_atropos]

°blueprint °arena

Wow, this was a though one for making blueprints...
I haven't played this to the end yet, maybe I will add some more stuff like upgrade units and spawn points.