SS2 Christine FM1: Ponterbee Station V5

[66488489691c6Christine]

Polaris is done, I'm just waiting for the last 2 logs. 

[6648848969389ZylonBane]

Need any graphics polished up?

[66488489694a9Christine]

You could take a look at the latest beta if you want, and see what you can do 

[66488489695e5Garret]

Me and a friend is playing this FM Co-op but when we go to level 5 with the elevator my friends game stops working as it should. He can't exit the elevator while I can. If he then dies he will start outside the elevator but he can't see me although I can see him running around, and he can kill me while I can't kill him.
This seems to be a very strange bug. Does anyone know what might be the problem.
Other then that we like this FM, nicely done, keep up the work.

[6648848969732Kolya]

Have a save game before you used the elevator?

[664884896982cGarret]

Yes we saved the game before we entered the elevator. We tried by saving on floor 5 as well and then load it, but it didn't work.

[6648848969943Kolya]

I remember having the same bug in a multiplayer game with Nameless. I was glued to the backwall of the elevator. That was with the original game.
Anyway, try loading the pre elevator save game and go to another level. Then go to level 5.

For me the problem simply vanished btw. I died and was resurrected but my friend could still see me, at least I think so.

[6648848969a73Garret]

Yes, we tried by going through level 3 and 4 before we went to level 5, but no success there. He's not glued to the back of the elevator, he can move around in there, but he can't exit it and for him it seems like I'm stuck, but I can move around outsite the elevator and I can see that he's moving around in the elevator. The game is working perfectly for me (I'm the host btw), but for him he's stuck in the elevator. This is the first time we've encountered a bug of this magnitude and we just finished playing through the original SS2 mission in MP mode.

[6648848969bb0Kolya]

Sorry to inform you, this seems to be a genuine bug.

EDIT: Despite of the two messages I just linked to I heard from another 2 people (Nameless, Hemebond) on IRC that they finished Ponterbee in multiplayer. Make of that what you will. 

[6648848969cc8Christine]

Some players have problems in multiplayer, some not. 

It's a Singleplayer-campaign and this missions were never tested in Multiplayer. I really don't know how to fix bugs that only came up in Multiplayer. The starting points looks fine and "should" work....

[6648848969db6Garret]

That's really sad, up to that point we really enjoyed this campaign. If there is a fix to it that would be wonderful. Playing System Shock 2 in multiplayer is awesome.

[664884896a00fVenoM_31]

Different accents in the logs are cool! Unfortunately, though, intonation somewhere seems quite unlike that current state one Ponterbee worker should feel (perhaps) at the moment. Don't get abused, that only my humble opinion, I just got it, I don't know... Somewhere... Like that guy who unpacks the delivery and finds tons of rubber ducks, after all, he's simply laughing (perhaps couldn't believe he reads so funny a log ).

And besides, where is THE MAP? I got headache trying to remember all the things I've seen in the station! Finally I had to map out difficult levels myself, trying to find something (I was looking for that garden stash where Garrett the thief placed his goods, and still I haven't found it after all).

But in general, very nice, indeed. All elements of original game are properly used in a new manner: I can't recall anything that was already seen in the original SS2. Great job!

There are some things out of logic, though. The mind of the many was destroyed in the original SS2. Of course, the self-educating and progressing organism tries to create a new Overmind will, but oh... How does it know how to make those cyborg midwives again? Found another "Korenchkin"? . And do all the TriOp stations and ships have a supply of monkeys on board?
I understand, one might want to use maximum of the already-done, but never expire logical tolerance!

The idea of new enemies are great, badly they behave just like hybrids! In such a way they aren't even a challenge to anyone! They (IMHO) should be faster, much more agile. They are the final enemies of the player, after all! A good idea for PS v.3 .

[664884896a140Cap. John Matrix]

Well, I'd fixed my monitor's problem and, in the first time, started the game. WOW, I see me in another world of nightmares  like the original SS2 When that keypad boom, I jumped here in my chair; it was around 1:30 A.M. and I'm using a headset. Excellent work, Christine!

[664884896a302Egamtoow]

My friend and I played this one on co-op, we were both very impressed by the level design, my friend said he even liked it better than the original campaign in System Shock 2. However, it was too late before we realized there was a major bug affecting the 5th deck that caused our games to desync. :C

I could open the elevator door but my friend could not, his game was frozen, he also mentioned that my character was frozen in place from his perspective. So I came up with the brilliant (at the time) idea of stealthing my way through the entire deck with invisibility due to my huge stockpile of PSI hypos, everything was going fine until I reached a bulkhead, my loading screen appeared but his did not.

@Christine: Are you planning on fixing this bug? Or are you finished with this FM? Thanks.

[664884896a48aNameless Voice]

I'm not sure what causes this, though I have a vague recollection of having it happen to me.
On the other hand, I've played all the way through this FM in multiplayer twice, so I know it's possible to overcome.

[664884896a624Chandlermaki]

oops! i installed the FM without backing up the nessesary files. Does anyone have them?

[664884896a71cNameless Voice]

What files are you referring to?

[664884896a810Kolya]

You can find all the original files on your CD.

[664884896a8fcChandlermaki]

i just got them from the CD , I asked because i was too lazy.   

[664884896a9edOmar]

I just beat Ponterbee Station today, and is there any way I can continue my game from the Ponterbee station storyline to the vanilla SS2 storyline?

I ask this because I played the expansion "Return to the UNN" and I was able to continue the main SS2 storyline. Is there any way I can continue?

[664884896ab33Silencer150]

I'm giving this mission a try.  Looks impressive so far.  I just was wondering if this is compatible with any of the gamesys mods.  I had Pop's D&E installed and the strings seemed to conflict, so I deactivated that one.  Then I decided to try Crion's CMJ, but it doesn't appear to be working at all.  The Mod Manager didn't say there was any conflict between the gamesys mods and the fan mission.  Is it even possible to play this mission with those mods?

[664884896b25dRainalkar]

I'm giving this mission a try.  Looks impressive so far.  I just was wondering if this is compatible with any of the gamesys mods.  I had Pop's D&E installed and the strings seemed to conflict, so I deactivated that one.  Then I decided to try Crion's CMJ, but it doesn't appear to be working at all.  The Mod Manager didn't say there was any conflict between the gamesys mods and the fan mission.  Is it even possible to play this mission with those mods?

Depends what is changed in gamesys for Ponterbee. There were no stats/skill etc changes afaik. If it's only strings that don't match that isn't a big deal. Btw, which strings?

[664884896b470Silencer150]

Hmm, guess I was wrong.  What I meant by that was that the fan missions didn't seem to know to use the modified strings that went with Pop's D&E for the psi powers, even though the mod works fine in the original game.  A similar thing happened when I tried to run Crion's mod, in that the fan mission played as if it were using the original shock.gam instead of the modified one, even though the original game could run the mod fine.  I checked the files for this mission and it doesn't do anything to the gamesys at all, so I don't know what's causing it to neglect the mods.  Regardless of which mod I try to use, Ponterbee runs using the game's original shock.gam for some reason. 

Might this have something to do with the install.cfg?

[664884896b57dNameless Voice]

If an FM has custom content in it (as Ponterbee does), it is practically guaranteed to use its own gamesys, not shock2.gam.
Only very simple FMs will not have one.