Rock on System Shock fans, exstended play

[Spy<VS>Spy]

So alright, there is a low majority out there that has ever played System Shock by looking glass technology's. a 1994 tittle published by Origin. you know, those 'we create worlds' people. rereleased in 95 with CD shock, an enhanced CD-ROM addition, later bundled in an origin value pack with wing commander 3, and bioforge.

right now you can get a free download from most places on the net...somewhere, though working copy's are 'semi' hard to find...more difficult then free porn but less difficult then getting hacks on wares sights.

Alas even if you owned this great title surfing back to the good old days was pretty much impossible unless you fired up an old dos base system. and few first timers are willing to monkey with this game to get it to work, which by the way is impossible on NT based systems.

Well no more, doing my monthly search on the web to see if new progress has been made i stumbled apon this site here.
http://www.m3fe.com/index.php?page=sshock

Citadel station residences rejoice! a new exe file for CDshock has been out, and fireing it up on my XP machine was easy as piss. no hassel involved!

so if you havnt played sshock yet, and have a windows 2000/xp machine, get it! for all those who have exsperinced the joy of the greatest FPS game EVER made...thats right, half-life? puh! doom? please! marathon? dont even go there you dont hold a candle to it...it still today provides more meat to FPS then it did way back then.

[CryptoChronic]

whats so good bout it?

[Duder]

Thers more to System shock then kill monsters and find a blue key.....

[evs]

play it and find out!

it is awesome

deus ex borrowed loads of system shock, and neocron in turn borrowed most of deus ex :P

[jernau]

Originally posted by CryptoChronic
whats so good bout it?

Everything.

For starters :
1) It had, indeed still has, by far the most controllable interface of any FPS ever. Even it's own sequel couldn't match it.
2) Best character development of any non-D&D RPG.
3) Unparalleled story - no single player game comes within a hundred miles of either SS even now.
4) Sound - impossible to explain. Especially in SS2.
5) Detail - everything in SS has a name, description, use etc. My favourite was clicking on a blood-drenched carpet and getting "the carpet needs cleaning" :)
6) Well ahead of it's time - 3D cards were scarily new at the time and yet this game wanted to be REALLY 3D so it did it all in software. It took about 5 or 6 years before anyone made a PC that could do it full justice.

[Spy<VS>Spy]

If you're wondering what's so great about it, read Doug Peterson's review (http://www.mobygames.com/game/view_review/reviewerId,13878/gameId,681/platformId,2/) of the game on MobyGames.

and they say i never read things before i post. ivestigate yourself, the topic of 'why is this game so good' has been done to death, this topic is, hey, now i can actually get it to work without being a rocket sceintist.

[Cliffraiser]

yeh but where can i get it, i still need the game :P

[Spy<VS>Spy]

well you could buy it from places like ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3053536019&category=11047

and better still you can catch the demo floating around, ewasy enough to find on file planet.
http://www.fileplanet.com/files/40000/43717.shtml

or you can hunt for it, online. which is what i did before i rebought a new copy, having lost my orginal. it can be tricky though, took me about 1 and a half hours on multible search engines before i could find a working copy.

i did a breif search, see if i could get lucky...i might later tonight, place it on my ftp site if i can compress it to a good amount. or someone else can do the honors.

*edit, i did find a working zip of the orginal version. http://www.oldgames.bgbest.net/view.php?name=sshock though i am unsure if the new exe will work with this, i shall idly continue to gaze around to see if the CD version, which is noticably larger is around.

[Lanigav]

I still haven't been able to play it because it absolutely hates my sound card (I'm running 98). Hopefully I can get it to run once I finally upgrade my dinosaur of a machine.

I really wish someone would remake it with a modern graphics engine. It'd be better then 99% of FPS games out there.

[Spy<VS>Spy]

you ungrateful bastards are lucky today, in being the nice guy, i did the searching for ya...you can find CD systemshock, free for you of no charge, perfectly legal by copywrite lays to own by clicking

here (http://www.thehawk.dk/games/view.asp?game=1157&sort=99&show=0&offset=30&list=2)

there may still be some tricks, but just type your problems into a search engined, system shock running on windows 2000, or whatever and you should find a link to some forums, forums will show you all the info you need if your a dumb moron like myself. most wont have trouble though, should work slick as a button...btw, ati based cards perferm better then the geforce, but there is an easy fix, sound cards, may be tricky, but meh more often then that, you can figure it out.

thats my boy scout deed for the day.

[Benjie]

Originally posted by Spy<VS>Spy
here (http://www.thehawk.dk/games/view.asp?game=1157&sort=99&show=0&offset=30&list=2)

Thankyou. Never even heard of that site before. Seems to have a lot of cool stuff. :rolleyes: :D :cool:

[Matthew.v.smith]

Sshock is amazing!!!

I got both Sshock 1 and 2 got em both from Ebay

Sshockd death animation is pretty good if u ask me
and on sshock 2 u actually get scared and the Cyborgs speak in a weired (mental) way that helps u feel alone in a twisted place all on your own :eek:

they are both amazing games but i had to pull out my old Windows 95 pc to play sshock 1 :)

and to play sshock in EXE takes loads of programs to be running in paralel otherwise it just crashes on startup but get it wrking right and its a excellent game :)

Matty.

[Benjie]

I just Downloaded SS1. Intro runs, created my character an set all my options. Game crashes, somthing about setting files=30 in my Config.sys. I know what it means coz I had to do it to Ultima 8 a while back but I have forgotten all the fine details. Anybody fancy earning themselves a cookie?:)

System shock 2 was a God of a game, even when I first played it a couple of months ago. :) Yes I wasn't an origional SS fan but I was an origional Dungeon Master/Chaos strikes back fan and that makes me special. ;)

[StryfeX]

Open up your config.sys file and if there's an entry "files=xx" (xx is some number, 30 in this case?) change it to "files=100". If not, then add "files=100" at the bottom.

Try increasing the number by 50s if it still doesn't work.

--Stryfe

[Benjie]

No joy.

Do you mean you have to open config.sys with wordpad and copy and paste "files=100" with " 's and everything?

My config.sys is directly in c:\ and only has 2 lines in it.

I thought you had to go to Properties in the SS.exe and then the advanced tab.

I remember when I finally did get it right with U8 I was missing somthing really dumb. Any chance of a fool proof guide?

[StryfeX]

Originally posted by Benjie
Any chance of a fool proof guide? Nope, 'cause then someone'll make a better fool. :lol:

About the problem... Did you add the "files=100" (without the quotes) to the config.sys (that you opened with notepad)?

--Stryfe

[Rade]

System Shock 1 pwnz j00, SS2 is a joke in comparision.

[Benjie]

Originally posted by StryfeX
Nope, 'cause then someone'll make a better fool. :lol:

About the problem... Did you add the "files=100" (without the quotes) to the config.sys (that you opened with notepad)?

--Stryfe

Yes. What am I missing? I am runnig on win 98. Thinking of digging up 95 though but then I won't be able to run Gothic 2, Arx Fatalis or Divine Divinity. :(

[Rade]

No files=100 in my w2k tyvm. :P

**edit: divine divinty sucks ass imo, even tho I loved all BG
games and diablo, what am I doing wrong?

[QuantumDelta]

Meh...Storyline?
FS1 / 2 > SS 1 / 2

Control/Action?
Tribes2 > SS 1 / 2

Atmosphere?
SS > All.
Music?
Depends on personal taste.

Graphics?
...........................................................lets not even go there.

[Ogre]

Lll.ll.lll..llook at you hacker. Panting and sweating as you ruuu.uu.uuun through my corridors.

*heh* gotta love it when the game taunts you throught out the whole thing

though i think i enjoyed 2 more ,jus due to the heart attack factor as one of the zombie things popped outta nowhere, or the chimp psi fireballed yah in the back

either way, i say get both of em if yah aint played em yet:D

[DonnyJepp]

Thank you thank you thank you.

I just got done playing this for 2 hours and it plays like (or better than) some titles on the shelves today. I completed level 1!

The good walkthrough: (for those that don't know it by heart)

http://www.ttlg.com/ss1/walkthrough/

[Lareolan]

Originally posted by Spy<VS>Spy

Well no more, doing my monthly search on the web to see if new progress has been made i stumbled apon this site here.
http://www.m3fe.com/index.php?page=sshock


Oh my GOD Spy! I LOVE YOU! I've been trying to get SS working on my machine for over two years. I've tried everything including emulating an older PC-DOS machine on my computer using some programs I can't remember by name right now. Heck, I even tried running dosemu and wine on Linux to get this game working, and nothing. It would still crash 1-5 minutes after start. This looks like it actually fixes that bug so I can play the game once again. WOOHOO!

System Shock was THE game that got me to believe that games don't have to all be dumb shooters. System Shock 2 proved it yet again, and still most companies don't get the message and only a select few dare to break away from the norm in titles like DeusEx (A mere rip off of SS IMO) and Max Payne. I know SS doesn't have today's top notch graphics and the controls are a bit irritating at times (I wish you could bind body positions to keyboard instead of clicking on the little icon to couch/lean etc...) But it's STILL one of the best games ever made, hands down. It's story is still awesome and sure as hell beats modern games that claim to have "intricate" or "complex" storylines such as DeusEx or Half Life. You all owe it to yourselves to at the very least try the game out :)

[Ithaqua]

If you want to check out another game with a fantastic immersive storyline try ... Hostile Waters (http://www.3dgamers.com/screenshots/games/hostilewaters/) . There are some screenies.

Now, getting hold of it might be a little tricky... Rage went under ages ago. You might be able to get hold of it from interplay who did the US distribution, or chips & bits.

IT's worth it even if for no other reason than it features the voices of Tom Baker (Dr. Who) :D , Paul Darrow (Blake's 7), and Glynis Barber

[Omnituens]

Originally posted by jernau
4) Sound - impossible to explain. Especially in SS2.

The woman's voice in SS2 was sooo freaky and atmospheric. that game had the best use of sound outside a stealth 'em up.

[Spy<VS>Spy]

yeah its sad to see looking glass turn away from what they do oh so well, its like seeing captian kirk give up command of the enterprise to some sniveling federation geek...

For me the company has shown us game play that remains untouched to this very day, and thats very impressive. they showed us how a game could attack us rather then having a player attack a game, putting us into citadel in SS, and again returning us to the mahem in shock 2.

they touched their magic into the ultima seires, and again in theif, ALWAYS making the gamer think, and feel their world and really breaking the mold to what ever is out there.

If looking glass would have ever made a MMPOG, i sir, would play it. sure LG never made the perfect game, but they create works of arts that are almost above being called mere computer games. :)

I'm glad those of you revisteing it or doing so for the first time enjoy it, those that are having trouble with getting it running, there are ALLOT of forum boards and sites dedicated to getting this old game to run. and most of the time, you can if your good at following dirrections get it to work without much fuss. wish you luck.

Don't forget to salt the fries. :D

#edit, oh, and btw...before there was even the thought in anyones head about tribes 1 or 2, there was a little tittle called 'Terra Nova' which was the first PC game to feature planet side squad and team combat. most probably giving birth to this genre intirely...made also, by Looking glass.

[ZoneVortex]

oh damn dude, i never played ss but I played SS2 a lot. sweet game

[Matthew.v.smith]

Classic Zombie Quotes.

Hurrry Ruuuun.
Silencceeee the Disscooord.
Arrggh Killl me.
Something.......is not right.
The many sings to us we are we are we are.

The Scariest things in the game are the Spiders i gotta admit.
i hate it when they jump at u and land on your head before slipping off they are so well moddeled and move so fluidly that i wouldent be surprised if an arachnaphobic couldent play.
:D

Midwife Cyborgs are the funnah.

Matty.:angel:

[Zu (Pluto)]

System Shock is by far the best computer game I've ever played. It's old now, and doesn't look that good, and the controls seem really clunky. The CD edition was tops, with full voice-overs. But nothing I had played before or since has had the same "wow". It had so many classic bits in it. "Nice jump, hacker", "Welcome to my killing jar, Insect", and that race to save the survivors holed up trying to reach the armoury. *sigh*

SS2 was OK, in that it managed to capture a little of the feel of SS, but just wasn't as good. The hacking wasn't as fun and the end... well, let's not talk about the obvious rush-job that was the end.

If you can get it to work on your ultra-modern bleeding-edge ring, fire it up and give it a whirl. Its a little hard to get into but try at least the entire first level. It's got lots of little stuff in we take for granted in games today but it was waay ahead of its time.

As for Looking Glass, they are I feel the example of how good game companies don't survive. Innovation? The willingness to buck the trend and try new things? They sadly don't count for anything. Most of LG's games got critical review and were all excellent, but they just weren't mainstream enough. Joe Average gamers doesn't even bother to try them and so LG went out of business. It's not about making good games - it's all about making games that sell :(

Members of LG are now here and there and still adding their little magical polish to more mainstream styled games. I wish them well.

Zu

PS. Oh yes. Those who are trying to sshock to work might want to try www.sshock.com (I think), or try the link from www.ttlg.com.