Re: SS2 CyberBlutch Rebirth 05

Posted by: Jacklynn

« on: 09. May 2025, 21:25:17 »

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I actually agree with your point here, that the horror element supersedes the realism.  Thing is, 1) if you can make something realistic without any penalty, I figure why not and 2) I find ripped off faces very underwhelming, just like I find doom monsters, aliens and everything else that's "supposed to be scary" not scary.  The images that stick in my mind and scared the crap out of me the most were subtle distortions of familiar things.  This is personal opinion of course but blood, screaming, horns, guts... it just doesn't do it once the jump scare or novelty of the art immediately wears off.  I can forget the look of some beast 2 seconds after I see it.  What will haunt my dreams is why that hot chick made breathing sounds like her lungs were half full of water and rocks.

YES! Exactly the same.
The missing face never really a scare point for me. I always always always loved unsettling over just jumpscare or direct horror.

This is why I liked the creepy sounds and intact body. A shocked expression on her face forever stuck in a state of her thoughts and control being written over while what she was suppose to keep private is out for the world to see. It is degrading and humiliating. I don't really care about seeing the boobs, I'm straight and they do nothing for me but just seeing that shocked expression, the noises she makes... just paints a whole new thing of wow what an insane messed up faith.

Vs the original art where I just feel like there is nothing to morn, to think about. She was an unwilling participant but there is absolutely nothing left of her that is human for me to feel bad about. No expression.

That is how I feel about it.

My most memorable moments in gaming have always been things that give me pause while having a very unsettling feeling about it. Like Clive Barker's Jerchio seeing people on the crosses suffering for decades and decades in the rain with blood and entrails all over with sheets on them to cover them was just idk different from the usual oh look scary thing. 

Posted by: RocketMan

« on: 28. January 2024, 21:48:04 »

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I know this is an old post, but the whole point of the original aesthetic is to make it scary and intimidating to the player. You could say the same for the sounds and speech that the enemies make, and on and on. The goal to create a sci-fi horror environment and impact the player is what is most important, and not to be superseded by trying to make a model that is more practical or realistic in the "game world". When I first played SS2, I dreaded fighting midwives (for a while at least) because they looked creepy, sounded creepy, and did lots of damage.

I actually agree with your point here, that the horror element supersedes the realism.  Thing is, 1) if you can make something realistic without any penalty, I figure why not and 2) I find ripped off faces very underwhelming, just like I find doom monsters, aliens and everything else that's "supposed to be scary" not scary.  The images that stick in my mind and scared the crap out of me the most were subtle distortions of familiar things.  This is personal opinion of course but blood, screaming, horns, guts... it just doesn't do it once the jump scare or novelty of the art immediately wears off.  I can forget the look of some beast 2 seconds after I see it.  What will haunt my dreams is why that hot chick made breathing sounds like her lungs were half full of water and rocks.

Posted by: blaydes99

« on: 16. January 2024, 19:37:14 »

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I always assumed it was a creative decision but my god.  What is the point in ripping the face off?  How do you even try to justify that?  Do worms and swarms recoil at the sight of human females?  Maybe they're Klingon.  Again, I'm reminded of how Eldron elegantly dealt with this problem as well by making the face look as if it had some sort of necrosis going on rather than the face being quite obviously ripped off.  Having said that, while his model is in my opinion the best one, I personally prefer the Cyberblutch midwife's overall appearance.  Maybe part of that is because it looks more generic than having dozens of Bloomes walking around.  That's probably what prompted me to make a mod that used Eldron's model only for the Bloome encounter.  That way I could use the Cyberblutch model for all others.

I know this is an old post, but the whole point of the original aesthetic is to make it scary and intimidating to the player. You could say the same for the sounds and speech that the enemies make, and on and on. The goal to create a sci-fi horror environment and impact the player is what is most important, and not to be superseded by trying to make a model that is more practical or realistic in the "game world". When I first played SS2, I dreaded fighting midwives (for a while at least) because they looked creepy, sounded creepy, and did lots of damage.

Posted by: sarge945

« on: 10. September 2023, 04:37:48 »

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My god... the current filename for SHTUP is "SHTUP-ND_beta1.7z ". The "7z" is the FILE TYPE. There is no "1.7" version of SHTUP, nor is there any version that's labeled as such.

To be fair, this is a common issue I see with 7z all the time. Especially with multiple versioned project, like

MyProject_1.1.5.7z

It's really easy to confuse the last number for a version number.

Why couldn't they have gone with .sz instead of .7z for their file extension?

Posted by: Goodsir

« on: 09. September 2023, 06:53:40 »

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voodoo47
Good to know thanks

Posted by: Goodsir

« on: 09. September 2023, 06:52:07 »

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ZylonBane
God your right I'm a dumbass, I was looking at the download link when I said that.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 24. August 2023, 06:51:43 »

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also, b comes after a, wonder which version is the newer one.

and Secmod Rebirth patches have been deprecated (a long time ago), if you are using that (and also other outdated bits), you are asking for trouble.

Posted by: ZylonBane

« on: 24. August 2023, 02:36:41 »

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SHTUP-ND_beta1.7 - After downloading the file it's named 1 instead of 1.7 to help with confusion

My god... the current filename for SHTUP is "SHTUP-ND_beta1.7z ". The "7z" is the FILE TYPE. There is no "1.7" version of SHTUP, nor is there any version that's labeled as such.

Posted by: Goodsir

« on: 24. August 2023, 01:54:12 »

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RealSG_Rebirth_1.05
SS2_Rebirth_v05a
SHTUP-ND_beta1.7 - After downloading the file it's named 1 instead of 1.7 to help with confusion
Secmod_RebirthPatch_1.04

I cant shake the feeling that none of these are the newest version.

Also which of these two is newer?  SS2_Rebirth_v05a
                                                               SS2_Rebirth_v05b

Posted by: Goodsir

« on: 24. August 2023, 01:29:02 »

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Pocok   
No no, if you read right above the two download links in this very page for Rebirth, it says to load RealSG with a higher priority over Rebirth, Rebirth is the meat, RealSG just adds a nice hat on top. You want a hat yes? Everyone enjoys a hat

Posted by: Pocok

« on: 07. June 2023, 16:55:32 »

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voodoo47
Appreciate the reply, thank you.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 07. June 2023, 16:47:27 »

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if you are using Rebirth, then use (just) the Rebirth edition.

Posted by: Pocok

« on: 07. June 2023, 16:13:45 »

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Hello, I've come across a mod called RealSG_1.05. What's the difference between that and the Rebirth edition? Can/should I use both?

Posted by: RocketMan

« on: 04. June 2022, 03:44:51 »

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I always assumed it was a creative decision but my god.  What is the point in ripping the face off?  How do you even try to justify that?  Do worms and swarms recoil at the sight of human females?  Maybe they're Klingon.  Again, I'm reminded of how Eldron elegantly dealt with this problem as well by making the face look as if it had some sort of necrosis going on rather than the face being quite obviously ripped off.  Having said that, while his model is in my opinion the best one, I personally prefer the Cyberblutch midwife's overall appearance.  Maybe part of that is because it looks more generic than having dozens of Bloomes walking around.  That's probably what prompted me to make a mod that used Eldron's model only for the Bloome encounter.  That way I could use the Cyberblutch model for all others.

Posted by: Jacklynn

« on: 03. June 2022, 17:12:21 »

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JacklynnUm, I'm gonna warn against that. As of late fileplant has been distributing some "innova media download manager" malware crap. Besides, doesn't the latest version already have the cyborg midwifes' titties out? They're even more noticeable with this texture.

Yeah, when looking for the file myself on fileplanet, originally my AV acted up so I deleted it and grabbed the one in the link suggested by Rocketman.

Honestly, the boobs are meh for me. I overall wanted the face back. The face on the OG Rebirth to me look a lot more fitting than the cut off face in the original game or the newer versions of Rebirth.

Posted by: GuyFawkesGaming

« on: 02. June 2022, 06:40:42 »

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JacklynnUm, I'm gonna warn against that. As of late fileplant has been distributing some "innova media download manager" malware crap. Besides, doesn't the latest version already have the cyborg midwifes' titties out? They're even more noticeable with this texture.

Posted by: Jacklynn

« on: 26. May 2022, 12:27:20 »

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Don't worry, I feel exactly as you do.  Exactly.  Whether that makes you feel any better is another story lol.

I'll tell you why she has metal plates over her boobs.  It's because the designers didn't want to show them.  We can only speculate what made them squeamish about that but it looks stupid to me too.  They were pretty clear in the logs that they wanted caregivers for the eggs and Nurse Bloome had the sweetness and gentleness that made her the ideal caregiver to serve as the prototype.  Now one of system shock's themes is to distort our understanding of what human is, so they peeled her face off and butchered a good half of her so she looked like an abomination.  That's fine with me.  The mechanical legs were due to the corrosive/toxic nature of the eggs and the fumes they give off IIRC.  The face was probably a creative/thematic decision.  Everything else was just censorship.

Download the original rebirth version, not the ones that have been updated here.  Then you have to pull fembot.bin/.cal and the associated textures from the txt16 folder out of that mod and overwrite those you'd find in the latest version.  It's not too hard once you have both versions.  The first one is in Kolya's post just under the main post.

Thank you!
I tried looking for the original version even from fileplanet and moddb and just couldnt find it... cant believe it was just sitting here the entire time! xD

Also thank you for the reply! Wasn't expecting anyone to be so fast in responding.

Posted by: Jacklynn

« on: 26. May 2022, 12:24:02 »

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Why would cyborg midwives need breasts? You realize they weren't literally nursing the eggs, right? So they got chopped off. That's the entire point of the horror of the midwives, that everything human about them, including their free will, was stripped away except the bare essentials needed to tend to the eggs.

Some people just get personally offended at the thought of being denied bOoBs no matter what the context. It's weird.

I don't really understand what your personal issue is on what I deem more fitting.
I'm not 'offended' at the thought of being denied boobs, if we are being quite real here I have XX chromosomes and I am straight.

I voiced my overall view point in the most mature possible way I could.
If you want to get more into it, I don't see a personal reason to why they would metal up the boobs... they didnt remove the boobs, the model bust size didnt change at all so to me unless the stuffed more machinery in her breast I don't see why it'd be plated up.

I personally found the look of horror on her face on top of being completely stripped and degraded to be exposed solely to take care of the eggs way more fitting since there is an absolute disregard of personal morals involved when transforming her. Cutting off the face and plating up the boobs seems excessive with no general reasoning behind it.

I dont think they 'need' breast but I think if someone is rushing to transform an unwilling females suspect into a midwife caring role they aren't going to make it personal like cutting their face off.

And if I am being completely honest I never liked the hair of the original model - yes despite the portrait and who it was modeled after.

I asked a very genuine question, there is no need to be passive aggressive about it.

Posted by: RocketMan

« on: 24. May 2022, 17:28:49 »

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It's a plausible creative choice but I don't buy it.

The better question is, why would parameter X of an existing design need to change when it has no impact one way or the other on the task at hand?  You've heard the old adage, if it aint broke, don't fix it, right?  Should we chop off all the hybrids' dicks?  Shave their heads?  Maybe remove a spleen or appendix or wisdom tooth?

Removing skin and tissues from the body quite frankly is invasive, traumatic and detrimental to the health of the organism.  Adding steel breast plates is a waste of materials, design effort and bulk.  I could go on and on all day about how these are poor engineering choices but I didn't think that level of evidence was necessary for what was quite obviously a modesty issue. 

Also I'm convinced that because disagreement on this issue makes you a pervert by default, it's no wonder nobody said anything about the rebirth changes.  Isn't it possible that putting a steel bra on a model is just irksome in and of itself and not because, "you took my porn away!".

Some people just get personally offended at the thought of being denied bOoBs no matter what the context. It's weird.

I can answer that one for you.  It's because sex is a taboo in the west despite the superficial attempt to portray to the contrary.  People are shamed for discussing it so when bOoBs are removed, some people, who are sick and tired of living in such a schizophrenic space, feel compelled to say something about it.

I think it was Eldron who made the best version of the midwife we ever had.. pity nobody uses it.  It was authentic but even he put the boobs back on without sexualizing the overall aesthetic.

Posted by: ZylonBane

« on: 24. May 2022, 16:38:09 »

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Why would cyborg midwives need breasts? You realize they weren't literally nursing the eggs, right? So they got chopped off. That's the entire point of the horror of the midwives, that everything human about them, including their free will, was stripped away except the bare essentials needed to tend to the eggs.

Some people just get personally offended at the thought of being denied bOoBs no matter what the context. It's weird.

Posted by: RocketMan

« on: 24. May 2022, 16:21:11 »

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Don't worry, I feel exactly as you do.  Exactly.  Whether that makes you feel any better is another story lol.

I'll tell you why she has metal plates over her boobs.  It's because the designers didn't want to show them.  We can only speculate what made them squeamish about that but it looks stupid to me too.  They were pretty clear in the logs that they wanted caregivers for the eggs and Nurse Bloome had the sweetness and gentleness that made her the ideal caregiver to serve as the prototype.  Now one of system shock's themes is to distort our understanding of what human is, so they peeled her face off and butchered a good half of her so she looked like an abomination.  That's fine with me.  The mechanical legs were due to the corrosive/toxic nature of the eggs and the fumes they give off IIRC.  The face was probably a creative/thematic decision.  Everything else was just censorship.

Download the original rebirth version, not the ones that have been updated here.  Then you have to pull fembot.bin/.cal and the associated textures from the txt16 folder out of that mod and overwrite those you'd find in the latest version.  It's not too hard once you have both versions.  The first one is in Kolya's post just under the main post.

Posted by: Jacklynn

« on: 24. May 2022, 11:51:48 »

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Is there anyway to get the original rebirth midwife model?
For whatever reason I always found that more fitting considering the role and the look of absolute horror on the face.
Also don't really see why the boob would be metal plated.

Its hard to ask without sounding like I just want to see nudity but it honestly just always felt more fitting to me. Never really understood why people found it attractive.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 12. April 2022, 09:33:11 »

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probably just one character over the limit or something.

Posted by: bubblybroccoli

« on: 11. April 2022, 23:44:00 »

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Thanks, Voodoo! I moved the entire game directory outside of wine to my main subset of directories to make the path as short as possible, reconfigured my wine setup, and then ran like normal, all the models have been updated. What baffles me is that only Rebirth was being affected.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 11. April 2022, 08:42:15 »

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depending on how you are loading it - with the modmanager, it's pretty much impossible that one properly loaded mod would work and the other one not, unless linux is doing something crazy like clipping the modpath inside cam_mod.ini because it thinks it's too long. anyway, try to load just Rebirth and nothing else, and maybe make the modfolder name as short and simple as possible (Reb5 for example), see what happens.

Posted by: bubblybroccoli

« on: 11. April 2022, 02:27:58 »

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Is it possible for just one mod not to work? I've been trying to install Rebirth for a couple of hours and I can't make it work. I'm on Linux (the game works flawlessly), I have the GoG version, and I'm using dmm to install the mods. Everything is working correctly so my OS shouldn't be the problem. I have tested Secmod and SCP, both with many texture mods and they are working fine, everything shows up in my game, but rebirth isn't getting applied so the old low poly models are the only thing left unmodded. I even tried a fresh installation and apply only rebirth to no avail.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 24. August 2021, 07:49:59 »

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that mod combination actually probably is going to work without major issues (putting that weird inventory problem aside). maybe. but still, why would you use ADaoB, if you can use SCP?

Posted by: Dancsi39

« on: 23. August 2021, 23:41:19 »

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Ok, i understand all this, thanks.

I use this mod manager, that is mentionned on this page : https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4447 (SS2 Blue Mod Manager v1.16.1) and 2 mods that are also on that page (Rebirth 0.5, SHTUP-ND) + SS2 Straylight ADaoB and SS2 Schatten SHMUP, added/installed with the blue mod manager then activated them I launched the game from there.

I didn't installed SSTool in order to get the mod manager, I installed it manually, that's why I said that I don't need to use it.

Posted by: Kolya

« on: 23. August 2021, 23:18:10 »

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Listen to the man Dancsi39. I wrote SS2Tool and Voodoo created the Steam build and tons of mods. We know what we're talking about.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 23. August 2021, 21:55:23 »

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um, we kind of are the people who put together the tool, the mods, the mod manager, AND the steam build. we do know what works with what, how, and whether something is required or not.

so here is the official disclaimer: the steam build is ready to go if you don't care about mods. if you want to load mods, use SS2tool to patch up your SS2 install, this will install the mod manager, load the required 3rparty scripts and resources, and make sure everything is up to date. this is required for most mods to work properly.

while you can just drop the modmanager into the steam install, you will only be able to load pre-NewDark (very old) mods, almost everything made in the last decade will work only partially, or not at all. you would have to load the scripts and resources into your install manually to remedy the situation. this is NOT recommended (as it's pretty much impossible to do it right if you are a regular user).


to make it short, you wanna load mods? patch up with the tool, download the latest versions of the mods, set them up according to the linked guide, and you are good. do anything else, you are on your own.

Posted by: Dancsi39

« on: 23. August 2021, 21:32:34 »

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Even if the tool works fine with the steam version, there is no need to use,

SS2Tool

    Essential patcher which integrates the NewDark patch and fixes various issues.
    Latest versions automatically disable the intro video for you (if you wish to re-enable it for whatever reason, add always_play_intro to the cam.cfg or cam_ext files).
    SS2Tool requires Vista or later due to included Rsync, however NewDark runs on 2000/XP or later. One can patch it on a Vista machine then transfer it to an older machine. Digital versions already include NewDark and compatibility fixes for modern systems however the tool is still necessary for proper mod support.

As I said, The Steam version of SS2 is already patched with NewDark, and this tool mostly fixes problems that are not present in the Steam version, only on the retail one.

Even without the mods I installed 2 days ago, the game runs fine.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 23. August 2021, 20:26:05 »

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the tool does work with the steam version, and has to be applied if you want to load mods properly. so yeah, the problem was most likely caused by using outdated tools and files. go here: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4447

Posted by: Dancsi39

« on: 23. August 2021, 17:02:26 »

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Fully patched with ND means that the game on Steam is the updated version, fully patched for modern systems, compared to the retail (CD version), it also adds widescreen support.

Check PCGamingwiki's site, you will find all the information about the Steam version of SS2 (retail and digital).

SS2Tool doesn't work with that version, that's why I have to use another SS2 mod manager tools and most of of them use the .ss2mod format. What I do is simply change the .zip extension for .ss2mod and after, I can add the mod with the mod manager.

I used the guide on play-old-pc-games dot com to setup SS2 with mods on my computer

This mod + 3 others that I use are there.

As i said, the mod works fine now, it was a one time issue (probably a keyboard bind messed up the left clic on the mouse.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 23. August 2021, 08:37:11 »

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yep. also, fully patched with ND, what does that mean - using just the steam build? or extracted the raw ND package on top of that? or SS2tool patched (which is what really should have been done if one wants to load mods).

as mentioned, odd things going on (I still see no way how Rebirth could affect the UI in that way), that's why I have asked for logs (or even better, the entire SS2 install folder minus DATA).

Posted by: Marvin

« on: 23. August 2021, 06:37:10 »

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.ss2mod? Sounds like ancient mods being used.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 21. August 2021, 17:36:25 »

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would be interesting to find out - as mentioned, I don't see how this could be happening. what other mods were you/are you using, and what priority? share the logs if you can. are you able to break it again if you change the priority again?

are all corpses affected (all killed enemies, and also the corpses already placed in the levels)?

Posted by: Dancsi39

« on: 21. August 2021, 17:14:42 »

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Hi again,

I just activated the mod again, put it on the top of the priority list and everything works now, i don't know what happened.

Posted by: Dancsi39

« on: 21. August 2021, 17:00:19 »

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Hello voodoo47,

I am using the Steam version of SS2 (fully patched with NewDark) using SS2 Blue ModManager v1.16.1 to install/activate the mods (the mods are in .ss2mod format). I launch the game from the modmanager too. The game is installed on another HDD (not the default installation folder in Steam). I run the original game/mission.

With the mod activated, I see that the Pipe hybdrids are different, so I know the mod works, but I can't pickup any items from them (or from corpses).

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 21. August 2021, 07:29:42 »

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that sounds.. impossible, as the mod does not modify mechanics in any way. running the game from program files? running the original game or a fan mission? is this happening only with shotgun hybrids? start by posting your ss2tool.log and ss2bmm.log.

full dissection will be necessary here, probably - copy your entire SS2 folder to your desktop, delete the DATA folder, zip the SS2 folder up, and upload to gdrive (or any other filesharing sire), post the link.

Posted by: Dancsi39

« on: 21. August 2021, 00:04:59 »

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After I installed this mod, I can no longer pickup items from corpses or enemies. When I click on them, I see the item(s) they hold (nanites, vodkas, etc.) but when I click on the items itself, nothing happens.

If I disable this mod, it's working again.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 10. April 2021, 12:42:04 »

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no, you only need the latest package.

Posted by: rysiek

« on: 10. April 2021, 12:39:22 »

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 Hi do I have to install every part of rebirth : 1,2 ,3 etc... or do I need only latest no 5 to get everything? Thanks

Posted by: endwars

« on: 11. January 2021, 21:21:50 »

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Well, it would have been cool and it would make things a lot easier, but I see your point.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 10. January 2021, 18:44:09 »

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full tool integration with the website has been suggested before, while not impossible, it certainly is not happening any time soon.

what we have right now works well enough for 99% of people, the rest can always get support on the forums.

Posted by: endwars

« on: 10. January 2021, 18:30:55 »

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I wish we had a compilation mod or installer of sorts.

You know, you select some mods to install from the list and the installer downloads and installs the latest version. You could select things like unoffical patches, graphical mods etc. You could section options based on how close they are to the vanilla or how recommended they are. Would be cool and more accessible to the new players.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 10. January 2021, 16:48:44 »

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always extract/load via the manager if you can, this will avoid such problems.

Posted by: endwars

« on: 10. January 2021, 16:26:53 »

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It look like I messed up the installation. (Didn't copy all files somehow) Assassin model was missing in the folder.

Thanks.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 10. January 2021, 16:18:56 »

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the cyborg assassin, yes.

Posted by: endwars

« on: 10. January 2021, 16:13:10 »

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Was this model ever incorporated? If so I have never seen it in the game.

Posted by: voodoo47

« on: 29. December 2020, 19:13:25 »

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mid-game mod activation or other not so recommended shenanigans, most likely. just kill the guy and proceed, new spawns should be fine. if not, let me know.