SSII Levels... - by theabyss
maxdmg on 7/3/2006 at 10:24
I'm sure you could get away with just a few bits here and there with an ss2 theme if placed on a map that otherwise wasn't too ss2 looking :rolleyes:.
Vraptor7 on 7/3/2006 at 16:40
Er is noone going to suggest Dromed?
theabyss, just in case you didn't know, you can design levels for System Shock 2, there is a level editor called Dromed which you can use to make maps and up to a certain extent, modifications to the gameplay. It's a more legal way of doing this if you're serious about it - there have been a lot of attempts to bring SS2 to other engines before this with little success thanks to legal problems. I don't know if you'll like it much after using UnrealEd though, it's quite a bitch to work with ;) but it's well loved over here so you'll get a lot of support for it if you need help.
Spitter on 7/3/2006 at 16:41
He tried but didn't get far, as you can read from the original post.
theabyss on 7/3/2006 at 19:02
Hey Thanx guys for the replies.
@Vraptor:Never heard of DromEd.But now that you mentioned it...i googled about it and found out that the DromEd is for the Thief Series.Yeah that could work but it would take some time to get used to another editor.
Right now i am pretty familiar with the Ued.
The Problem is not editing the Levels.I could remake some of the SystemShock Levels pretty quick cause they are not that complicated compared to what is standard right now in Leveldesign.
Actually you cant really compare the Unreal Series with any of the SS,DeusEx
or Thief Series.I think thats what makes them (the TTLG Games) so special.
The problem was the Coding work - thats the reason why i stopped.For a working Mod you really need to have a good coder.All the other stuff i did all by myself - the modelling of the Arm/PsiAmp, the animation, the skinning, the coding for working inGame,the Enviourment/static Meshes,textures and the LevelDesign.
But coding the interactions,HUD and other features that makes SSII special is a whole other world and cannot be done by a noob coder like me.
Actually it was just a Test how far i could come with my knowledge...well not very far i guess ;o)))
BTW the legal issue is an interesting point too.But i wonder why there is a Thievery Mod out for UT then?
Link:(
http://www.thieveryut.com/) ThieveryUT
Greetz
TheAbyss
JediKorenchkin on 7/3/2006 at 19:12
Thievery, as far as I know, is based on the same sort of idea as the Thief games. But that's different than using the same levels, models, characters, et cetera.
Enchantermon on 7/3/2006 at 19:19
Quote Posted by theabyss
@Vraptor:Never heard of DromEd.But now that you mentioned it...i googled about it and found out that the DromEd is for the Thief Series.Yeah that could work but it would take some time to get used to another editor.
Wait, I'm confused.
You tried using ShockED (the SS2 level editor), right? That's what Vraptor7 was referring to. DromED was built for creating Thief, then was used for SS2 (and was dubbed ShockED), then was tweaked to introduce some bugfixes and was used for Thief 2. So, ShockED and DromED are basically the same thing. When talking about modding SS2, we use the terms ShockED and DromED interchagably, even though the versions of the editors themselves aren't interchageable.
theabyss on 7/3/2006 at 19:53
@ Enchantermon:Hm, so they are basically the same - didnt know that.Like the Ued has diff. Versions for diff. Games (Devastation,Rainbow Six Series etc.).
@JediKorenchkin:Well i wouldnt have used the same stuff anyways...not even the textures.(256x256pix Shocked vs max 2048x2048 pix in Ued).
I think Companies cannot really do much about a MOD that just uses a Idea of the Gameplay - like you said - but they do much about for example Name/Content using.i heard that some Star Wars Mods had lots of trouble with Lucasgames - even the Goldeneye Mod (James Bond) if you are using just parts of the name - which is understandable imo.They have to protect their Content.But i never wanted to use any of those things anyways.Or would i have been in trouble calling the MOD: "Unreal Shock" ? ;o)
Bjossi on 7/3/2006 at 20:19
Can EA really do anything about a SS2 mod if levels, models etc. are started from scratch?
Quote Posted by steo
uhh, you're still doing it...
What is wrong with how he types the posts?
Silkworm on 7/3/2006 at 22:23
Quote Posted by Bjossi
Can EA really do anything about a SS2 mod if levels, models etc. are started from scratch?
What is wrong with how he types the posts?
1. Legally no, in fact all of what EA has done is illegal, Fair use rights cover *any* free mods, even if they directly take copyrighted content as long as they can demonstrate educational use and make no profit directly. In real life of course no single person could possibly afford the legal procedure you would have to go through to fight a corporation like EA, but what they are doing *IS* against the law. EA thus has the ability to make up the rules as they go along, and are likely to try to keep the bar raised as high as possible
2. Your screen resolution might be too low to see this, but all of his lines and paragraphs cut off at an arbitrary point for no reason. Very annoying esp if the rest of the posts are correctly fit on the screen
JediKorenchkin on 7/3/2006 at 22:55
Everything I've seen used in your screenshots is fine, so far as I know. Calling the mod Unreal Shock would also be fine.
In terms of what EA is doing illegal, it doesn't matter. As said, they have a huge backing. What will happen if they think your mod is too like their games is they will email you a cease and desist. If that doesn't work, they contact the person hosting your website. Basically regardless of legality, there isn't anyone who wants to go up against EA.
Having no website, or public website, is a great way to keep under the radar, but with newer game engines it's impossible for one person to do everything, and recruiting without a website is rather difficult.
