smf2626 on 5/5/2009 at 23:30
hello all.
First off, haven't posted here in awhile, but was looking for a couple quick answer to some questions I had. Now before everybody jumps my arse, I did some searching before posting, but couldn't find the answers I wanted. in most cases, I was overloaded with information.
before I go any farther, I gota thank all the people who have made playing this game, and its sequel, possible. It's amazing what you people have done. How many people would be able to get either of these games to run without your tutorials?
Anyhow, I just recently got SS2 working on my vista machine (thanks to you guys), and after beating that game for probably the 100th time, and emboldened by my ability to get it running on vista; I decided to give SS1 a try.
I've never played it. My last attempt to get it running was with an XP machine, and it didn't go so well. I managed to get it running, but barely, without sound, and in a very unstable way.
now with vista, its been much easier. I downloaded a copy, which I assume is not looked down on too much here. Not that I'm a pirate, I buy all my games, including SS2. But considering how difficult, if even possible, it is to get a game from 1994 running, I wasn't going to waste the money. Unless, of course, i can play it in its entirety. then I'll probably buy one just to have it. But as far I could can tell from the forums, downloading it seems to be acceptable.
anyhow, with a lot of patients, and dosbox, I've got it running fine, with sound. but the logs and email don't have any. I have to read them. Is that the way they're supposed to be, or should I also be able to hear them? I can hear all other sounds (music, bots, mutants, and the effects of weapons and stuff) just not anything from email or logs. oh, and I can hear the intro, so its not like I haven't heard any speech.
how long is the game?
relative to SS2, how hard is it?
and finally, I still have an old computer, my first actually. It's a Packard bell with a cyrix II processor running at 300mhz with 32mb ram, 3 gig hard drive, and no sound or video cards, running windows 98. How would that computer run SS1? would it be easier to play the game on it than windows?
thanks in advance for the help.
FemtoCat on 5/5/2009 at 23:47
[Esc] -> audio -> audio options -> messages: both
D'Arcy on 6/5/2009 at 00:25
Well, do make sure that you're running the enhanced CD version of the game. The floppy disk version didn't have audio logs/e-mails.
Blaze on 6/5/2009 at 03:42
I think the best thing you can get from the internet is (
http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/topic,211.0.html) System Shock Portable. It isn't a remake or something, it's the CD enhanced version made playable on new machines. So it has the audio log sounds for sure and should run fine on Vista. I think it is better to play with SSP than trying to run it on your old computer. (As far as i know, System Shock doesn't like win9X, but with a fix, you can still run SSP on that config if you want, too.)
Well, the difficulty is highly configurable and thus, it will depend on you how hard will it be. But i can tell you that it will take long time to beat it for the first time with any difficulty setting. (Exept if you play it on the highest setting for the story, beacause than you get only 8 hours to finish the game.)
crazy_Clown on 6/5/2009 at 09:39
For me SS1 is harder because of controls. They are so clumsy compared to modern games' ones. :erg: Better mouse look (and inventory) could really help here.
Al_B on 6/5/2009 at 18:57
Quote Posted by smf2626
It's a Packard bell with a cyrix II processor running at 300mhz with 32mb ram, 3 gig hard drive, and no sound or video cards, running windows 98. How would that computer run SS1? would it be easier to play the game on it than windows?
Yes - and it'll probably perform better than windows on that rig too... :)
Seriously, though, as others suggest if you've got a modern machine then dosbox + SSP is the way to go. You'd probably get it to work but why go through the pain (and cost of finding a new doorstop)?
As far as the controls are concerned - they're a little clunky by today's standards until you get the hang of it. However, they do match the pace of the game on the whole and level geometry.
Enjoy the game - it's well worth it.
smf2626 on 6/5/2009 at 22:30
Quote Posted by FemtoCat
[Esc] -> audio -> audio options -> messages: both
I don't have that option. just one for the number of channels and one for stereo
Enchantermon on 6/5/2009 at 23:22
Then you probably have the floppy version with no audio logs. You really should download SSP; you'll have audio logs and will be able to run it on newer machines.
Harvester on 6/5/2009 at 23:37
Remember that cdshock.bat runs the cd version while sshock.bat or shock.bat (forgot what it was exactly) runs the floppy version without speech.
BTW you can run SS1 cd version on Win98 just fine if you adjust a couple of memory settings.
smf2626 on 7/5/2009 at 23:53
Quote Posted by Enchantermon
Then you probably have the floppy version with no audio logs. You really should download SSP; you'll have audio logs and will be able to run it on newer machines.
its definitely the CD version. was a 120MB download if I remember correctly. Like I said before, the audio logs and email are the only sound I don't have. I even had the audio in the begining intro. thought it was pretty neat how SHODAN's voice changed at the end.
