Nice I have always thought SS1 was better than SS2.

eL_PuSHeR wrote:

Nice I have always thought SS1 was better than SS2.

I like them both equally for different reasons. SS1 is a lot more atmospheric and explorative than SS2, given cyberspace and its varying environments. SS2 however has a stronger combat engine, simpler controls, and multiplayer. :B

I hope they supply the original ISO. I lost my original CD years ago. 🙁

MusicallyInspired wrote:

I hope they supply the original ISO. I lost my original CD years ago. :(

That would be the simplest approach, sure, but since System Shock has no CD Audio tracks, they may decide not to do that. I think it's going to depend mostly on the attitude, skill and approach of whoever does the porting.

I still have my original CD buried somewhere. Never got anywhere near to playing it.

I hope the SSP people release an "installer" of some sort that will effectively re-build SSP from whatever package ends up being released. I understand it was a pretty good piece of work.

And I'd still like to hear at least a little of the story from Night Dive about what they've been doing. Even if it's all very boring, I'd like to see just how boring it is.

I assume that System Shock would be like a typical GoG release, DOSBox bundled with PDF manuals and an install of the game that would not be simple to get running on appropriate hardware.

The game can just be downloaded from this archive project...

If the game doesn't use CD Audio tracks, I actually prefer it it runs from a folder. Makes it easier to add to my 120 GB drive on my Socket 7 machine. But if they remove the SETUP files to change sound cards and things like that, that's not cool.

Luckily GOG is getting better. The Doom release, unlike Steam, includes all the SETUP files.

SystemShock may have been good in it's day, but the graphics are just way behind now.

I'd really like to see a HD version of System Shock. Yup, the one uses OpenGL, runs natively on Windows, but still retains its MIDI music so that I could use sound fonts with it. Re-texturing is okay as long as it keeps the game's original 'look and feel' --things like DOS-era vibrant colors instead of different shades of grey.

That'd be hard since most of System Shock's aesthetic is brought to you by the power of Deluxe Paint's gradient fill 😁 if it does get a reboot you know it'll just take the dxhr techno piss ambience and/or crank up the bloom like it's 2006.

leileilol wrote:

That'd be hard since most of System Shock's aesthetic is brought to you by the power of Deluxe Paint's gradient fill 😁 if it does get a reboot you know it'll just take the dxhr techno piss ambience and/or crank up the bloom like it's 2006.

Um.... say again? So, is such aesthetic hard to reproduce with modern shader?

GOG has released it!

System Shock: Enhanced Edition.

Buy through this link to support DOSBox

Was an instant buy for me 😊

Unlike most GOG releases they seem to have actually included a number of community mods/fixes.... this release runs natively under Windows, includes 1024x768 resolution and a mouselook mode.

See here for details
https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=8030.0

I've completed the game before but it might be worth playing again to see how different it is with the new interface 😀

Nice!

I'm downloading the installers. There are two version in your library. Enhanced Edition (90 MB) and Classic Edition (360 MB). Hopefully it's an ISO installation image!

"the game runs natively under windows, no (slow) dosbox emulation"

🙄

DosFreak wrote:

"the game runs natively under windows, no (slow) dosbox emulation"

🙄

That's cold. They have started their business around DOSBox.

The classic version does use DOSBox though.

The classic edition comes with 3 shortcuts. One to run SETUP and configure sound, one for floppy version, one for CD version. I'm burning the ISO image (.bin) and hopefully it's a full installation disc.

EDIT / Update!

YES! The image is the full installation CD! Here running in 640 x 480 on a Celeron 300 😁

philscomputerlab wrote:

DosFreak wrote:

"the game runs natively under windows, no (slow) dosbox emulation"

🙄

That's cold. They have started their business around DOSBox.

Not to worry, that comment is not from the GoG team. Using the term slow with emulation is kind of redundant, emulation will always be slower than native source ports etc.

Oh, I see it now 😊

This is an exciting release. Had to check this out ASAP, Also to see what is new in the "Enhanced Edition".
It works well 😀, I am not sure what this is though: Is this a custom Dosbox like wrapper for the original DOS code? Or is this a completely decompiled + recompiled program, like the OpenDune project? SShock.exe is just 200kB, so I suspect the bulk of the program is in SShock.dat. SShock.exe requires SDL2.dll.

Edit: I think it is a wrapper/emulator like Dosbox, why else would the drivers mpu401.mdi and sb16.dig still be retained. sb16.dig being a Miles audio driver for the Sound Blaster 16 (ISA). Sb16.dig was modified recently. Probably by swapfix.com, which is included in the classic edition, and described as "SB16.DIG stereo fix".

Edit2: Source "This is the CD version of the game, now running through a custom windows loader that has been created by Malba Tahan". More info on an older SHLink version, with source code.

"sshock.ini" has these options:

1[SSHOCK]
2FullScreen=Yes
3FullScreenMode=Desktop
4WindowWidth=1024
5WindowHeight=768
6Filter=Nearest
7Stretch=Proportional
8SoftRenderer=Off
9VSync=No
10VideoMode=5
11CustomWidth=854
12CustomHeight=480
13CustomAspect=0
14UseModePicking=On
15Language=English
16MouseHand=Right
17DoubleClickTime=21845
18Joystick=On
19JoyDeadZone=5000
20JoyDivider=100
21GammaCorrection=19005
22TextLength=Normal
23OnlineHelp=On
24MusicVolume=100
25SoundVolume=100
26AudiologVolume=100
27Messages=Both
28SoundChannels=8
29StereoSound=Normal

There is also "controls.cfg" with the profiles "original", "custom" and "lefthanded". Each key of these presets can be modified.

As for the Classic Edition: the executables outside of the CD image are the untouched original files:
SSHOCK.EXE, dated 28-11-1994 06:31, size 1.254.195
CDSHOCK.EXE, dated 28-11-1994 06:31, size 1.543.695
INSTALL.EXE, dated 24-08-2015 21:09, size 360.233 (no differences despite date)