System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition

[66346646f3bb3icemann]

According to Kotaku, an enhanced edition of System Shock 2 is on the way.

Article:
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/08/system-shock-2-pc-remaster-enhanced-edition/

I'm not sure how much more enhanced you could make SS2, beyond what newDark + the existing mods already out do.

[66346646f3d7dlgs]

I asked on twitter if they port to KEX engine and Stephen liked it, i assume KEX engine port confirmed.

[66346646f409fvurt]

old news.. it was reported way back in june, guess most major sites missed that tweet..

But yeah, makes me wonder what they could possibly do to top the enhancements the community has brought over so many years now..

[66346646f41f8icemann]

If they did an engine change, wouldn't that muck up every FM out there?

[663466470018dvoodoo47]

only two things - modern multiplayer, and console ports. not seeing them touching any resources as the purists and vanilla people would rip them apart.

most FMs and mods should work (unless they change how resource loading works), but they will require updates to work fully/properly, most likely (unless they replicate the dml/mtl system 1:1 in KEX).

as mentioned earlier, the most likely scenario is that you will use the EE build for MP, and patch up with the tool and go NewDark for everything else. so virtually no change from our end.

[6634664700523ZylonBane]

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/08/system-shock-2-pc-remaster-enhanced-edition/

Good lord, whoever wrote that doesn't realize that SS1 always had a full-screen mode.

[66346647006caKolya]

It seems likely they will contact mod authors (like you, ZB) to integrate those mods directly into their enhanced edition. If they would deliver it without mods it would be a pretty poor "enhanced edition" compared to a modded game. Obviously they'd want to avoid such a comparison.

[6634664700804voodoo47]

hard to tell - pretty sure a lot of people would be happy just with working MP and full controller support (doesn't NewDark already have that? I really can't be bothered to explore anything controller related, dislike those things).

ah, forgot about linux and mac (because who wouldn't, right?) - I guess with moving to KEX, native ports would be possible as well.

[663466470092cicemann]

Besides the MP side of things, I just can't see on what would be good to have. NewDark SS2 + SHTUP is all I need.

For SS1, I completely could see the benefits, but not with SS2. And then it would create a divide features wise between what NewDark brings an official enhanced edition. Maybe they got in touch with NewDark's creator?

[6634664700b39edx]

I guess the source code release for SS2 will be happening soon, too.

Maybe they got in touch with NewDark's creator?

Unless something changed, they didn't have much luck with that:

https://twitter.com/pripyatbeast/status/1042823964542660608

[6634664700c6evoodoo47]

they didn't, afaik. and no wonder, with the big scary sqeenix still owning Dark, suing everyone into oblivion as soon as they just look at one of their ips in a funny way.

[6634664700e08edx]

Coincidentally, just saw this article:

No one knows who is patching System Shock 2 | Rock Paper Shotgun - No-one knows who is patching System Shock 2
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/08/12/no-one-knows-who-is-patching-system-shock-2

[6634664700f2avoodoo47]

that pretty much confirms they are moving SS2 to KEX, this means they won't have to deal with sqeenix as they won't be using Dark.

[663466470104aZylonBane]

My understanding of Kex is that it's mostly just a replacement renderer. You still need all the underlying game logic, which means you still need the original engine running in the background.

[6634664701153voodoo47]

google/wiki says "engine framework". no idea what would that encompass, but it's used for Turok1/2, SS1EESP, and BloodFS, and they didn't have the source for Blood, so it definitely is something that can be used as a full replacement engine.

[6634664701248edx]

I  wonder if that could mean it would be possible to run cutscenes above the 640*480 limit?

[6634664701320voodoo47]

if they really are building things on KEX from scratch, such limitations should be the first thing to go (or rather, to not implement).

[6634664701474pripyatbeast]

We want to also make sure there are proper source ports for Mac & Linux - the current solutions are not optimal

[6634664701592icemann]

Is there a big market on Linux? My impression is that its very niche.

[6634664701a02RoSoDude]

Nightdive's Blood remaster on the Kex engine was notably buggy and inaccurate on release (and while it's since improved, NDS no longer has the right to update it any further since they have to hand it off to Atari for legal reasons). In addition to the fact that this "Enhanced Edition" will offer virtually nothing to me as a non co-op player on Windows who uses New Dark mods, there's also a possibility that it will introduce new bugs and issues on release. NDS does good work on their remasters and rereleases overall, but this news holds nothing for me.

For what it's worth, the only real issue I ever found with the SS1 EE was recoil being too low on automatic weapons, which for all I know may have been an issue with the original mouselook mod.

[6634664701de6NoMis]

We want to also make sure there are proper source ports for Mac & Linux - the current solutions are not optimal

Doesnt SS2 run just fine under wine? So why bother?

[6634664701f39Delcos]

wow,
there are people here?

[663466470218bZylonBane]

wow,
there are people here?

What is your Rain Man obsession with people being here?

[6634664702427volca]

Hoping this will also mean a source code release of Dark with a nice fitting open license.