System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition Update & Community Participation

[66499ada78d8bTelliamed]

As I already said in email, all I did was make the font converter. You don't need my permission but you have it anyway.

One question, will you be keeping in "menschveracht"?

[66499ada79131Grosnus]

It's only a detail but I would suggest including the high-res spinning Marine/Navy/OSA logos that I recreated a while ago LINK.
They are on the very beginning of the game so they might affect the first impressions.

[66499ada7928dpripyatbeast]

Wow, these are great! I'd be thrilled to add these to the release, thank you!

[66499ada7959aMarvin]

About fan translations: Feel free to use https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4581.0 (partially included in Kolya's translation bundle , only without SCP adjustments), German subtitles can be uses as a resource as well ofc, but I never tested them thoroughly: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=8395.0  Beats having no subtitles at all I guess.

[66499ada79c74unn_atropos]

unn_atropos

SCP: fine by me

@Marvin
translations: Well, the museum I work in is closed and beginning on Friday I can finally, finally, fin🤬ally get my part done.

[66499ada79deaZylonBane]

FWIW, those spinning logos will be included in the next SHTUP-ND, which should be out.... sooooooon?

[66499ada79f08pripyatbeast]

Thank you, unn_atropos! We also recently got permission from Shadowspawn as well as Vaxquis for his Vintage Song Remake v1.0 Mod

[66499ada7a5adRoSoDude]

So far we will be including:

SCP

What will this entail, exactly? SCP extensively uses NewDark features like Squirrel scripting; is that now available in the source port? I'm also curious if it will be the upcoming SCP Beta 5, because Beta 4 has some stuff that needs to be addressed, including some ADaOB leftovers that you'd only know about if you dig around (e.g. grenade damage scaling is utterly broken). I hope all mods are opt-in rather than active by default as well.

[66499ada7a719ZylonBane]

Yeah, I raised an eyebrow at SCP. That uses a lot of NewDark's new toys. Not just Squirrel scripting, but the new terrain texture mapping mode, higher side limits on cylinders, added object blend modes and sorting options, soft-shadowed lightmap generation, the enhanced particle system, material animations, the new detail attachment feature, animated dynamic lighting, pendulum tweqs, and probably a dozen other things that I don't even know are new because I barely touched DromEd before NewDark.

It would probably be possible to get, like, 75% of SCP if you stripped it back to OldDark-level compatibility, but man, it would be a lot of work.

[66499ada7a90aJDoran]

Stephen, it's great to see you involving the SS2 fan community in this project (how I wish the Thief 2014 developers had involved Thief fans...), and I was wondering will SS2EE appear on the PS4? As a primarily console gamer, I was very disappointed that Blood Fresh Supply, Turok 1 and 2, etc, didn't appear on the PS4, and I'd love to pay SS2EE and your upcoming System Shock on console. I'm holding off buying a new generation console for a few months (partly because that way I hope to avoid any hardware faults in the first months' batches, and also because of job uncertainty due to Covid 19), so PS4 versions of SS1 and SS2 would be extremely welcome. Also ports of your older games, if that ever happens.

[66499ada7ac29sarge945]

Please also include the Quest Note Notifier and SS2 Hud Logs mods as well. Although these mods have a few limitations (like showing a HUD icon for the chemical manifest logs, and autoplaying logs over emails), so if you have actual engine level access, it might make more sense as an actual properly implemented QoL feature, since basically every modern game has these conveniences. For example, if this was done properly at the engine level, it would probably be very easy to "queue" up logs until after the previous email/log finishes, similar to how transmissions work in Deus Ex.

[66499ada7ad4cZylonBane]

First, he already said they'd like to include the quest notifier. Second, the HUD Logs mod handling chemical manifests and autoplaying logs are not "limitations", they're working as designed. Blame yourself for installing the autoplay logs version of the mod and then picking up logs while emails are playing.

[66499ada7ae36unn_atropos]

Did not see it in this thread, but I assume that Fan Missions will be supported (or be included) in this Enhanced Edition?

[66499ada7afb2voodoo47]

all oldDark content will be supported, NewDark compatibility is tbd. I mean, squirrel support is nice and all, but no idea how KEX is going to handle 32bit relit levels.

[66499ada7b262hemebond]

Is it so difficult to set it in the config file?

Yes. Would also be great if HUD scaling could be done via the menu.

[66499ada7b5b7pripyatbeast]

and I was wondering will SS2EE appear on the PS4? As a primarily console gamer, I was very disappointed that Blood Fresh Supply, Turok 1 and 2, etc, didn't appear on the PS4, and I'd love to pay SS2EE and your upcoming System Shock on console.

After we ported Doom64 to PS4 we became much more familiar with the console. Expect to see more Nightdive releases on the platform soon. I'd love to release Blood on console but unfortunately that is up to Atari.

I haven't officially announced it yet, but we are planning to release SS2EE on all platforms. We just hit internal testing phase of development. I can't wait to share more 

[66499ada7b6cfvoodoo47]

making the inventory work on a console in any kind of sane manner is going to be a nightmare, I'd imagine.

[66499ada7bab9icemann]

I haven't officially announced it yet, but we are planning to release SS2EE on all platforms.

Awesome news. That I look forward to seeing. SS2 finally getting the console love it nearly achieved (with the dreamcast port). Hope it does well.

[66499ada7bbc4voodoo47]

how about (re)porting to Dreamcast, so we can play it on a pc using an emulator?

[66499ada7bf50JDoran]

After we ported Doom64 to PS4 we became much more familiar with the console. Expect to see more Nightdive releases on the platform soon. I'd love to release Blood on console but unfortunately that is up to Atari.

I haven't officially announced it yet, but we are planning to release SS2EE on all platforms. We just hit internal testing phase of development. I can't wait to share more 

That is brilliant news! I'll definitely be buying it on the PS4, and also your remaster of the first game, if it's still heaed for consoles too.

I have Doom64 on the PS4 (I got it with Doom: Eternal), but I didn't know that NDS had made the port. I've not played it yet. I played it endlessly on the N64, and I am looking forward to revisiting it, and it's especially good that you brought the game to a larger audience, as it's such a fantastic game but so many hardcore gamers never got to play it back in the day since it was N64 only.

Thanks for replying.

[66499ada7c07cZylonBane]

I was just thinking, adding developer commentary nodes to SS2EE would be a nice selling point. Technically it would be trivial  to drop in objects that play some audio when frobbed. The hard part would be roping the original devs into coming up with meaningful commentary to include.

[66499ada7c15bicemann]

I like it. That I'd love to see.

[66499ada7c26evoodoo47]

ah, I knew I was forgetting something as far as SS2EE mods are concerned - SS2 Obj Shrink. quite a few SS2 objects are ridiculously oversized, and once you know you can't unsee it.

no need for this if we manage to get SCP going.

[66499ada7c366icemann]

From memory, Christine's FMs (or the most up to date versions do) use it.