smba on 30/7/2007 at 22:28

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Hi,

i ve been looking around the internet to find some active projects depending on System Shock 2. I recognized that all modifications/projects are without updates since a long time, the forums are even as dead. only found some new posts, but not a lot with updates or statements to current projects.

is there a little rest of developers working on personal projects with system shock2, or its engine ?

I love this game, and everytime i play it it throws me deep into its scare world. as no other game it combines two genres to a totaly new one with a deep story and atmosphere. imho, there is no game out there today which could compete with system shock 2.

ive got years of experience in free game development, several little mods or projects i was working on the last years make me think about something bigger. so i thought about some kind of remake of system shock 2 with a new, up-to-date engine, higher graphics and much more.

i know there are several projects out there to rise the detail of system shock 2, but i am not talking of recreation textures or models for the original engine. i am talking about recreating the game on a modern engine, with little improvements, bugfixes compared to the original game.

also, i thought about to make the coop-gameplay part to the main-part, because thats what modern games still miss.

that are just thoughts. to begin and finish such a project, you need a team of artists and designers.

Ultraviolet on 30/7/2007 at 23:49

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Well, if you go with a new engine, which is cool, you'll have to completely redo the content -- for legal reasons. Which could be good. What you should do, if you want the feel of the mechanics and the atmosphere, is look at the complaints of long time players, and the way that people have been modding the game already.

The Anomalies, Discrepancies, and Outright Bugs mod is a good balance/technical correctness mod. You could look at what's being done with that, and at the commentary on it on these boards, and see what it aims to do and what it would do but can't do and use your new engine to make these things possible.

As far as a dead community goes, it's not so much that as people just do their projects pretty silently here, versus having big project threads and lots of screenshots.

smba on 31/7/2007 at 07:12

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for legal reasons suc ha project needs complete standalone content, thats right. everything has to be redone. this would be necessary to, because new engines need new high quality content.
the name "system shock2" is protected, using it would be illegal, thats right. but i dont think EA would shot it down if you do not use the name, and do not use any official content.
but i wont begin such a project on my own without a team ;) and it seems eveybody is busy here. its nice to see that there are projects still alive :thumb:

Some_twerp on 31/7/2007 at 10:10

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For converting SS2 to a more advanced engine, perhaps you could do this as a workaround: if you're going to be using sounds from SS2 and stuff, make the installer scan for a copy of SS2 and get the sounds and whatnot from the installation.

Or: you need an installation of SS2 (and ergo theoretically already own a legal copy) to run the prettier version of SS2?

smba on 31/7/2007 at 12:28

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That was the idea:

an installer scans for the CD or a Sshock directory, because the Sounds / Music files can still be used. All other media should be recreated (Textures, Models, 2D etc.)

So, is there any interest to start such a project?