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Topic Summary

Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 10. April 2025, 17:42:53 »

ok, new patch available, requires the latest SS2tool update (10april2025). if using RealSG, you will need 1.07 or newer.

 - readded a few gamesys fixes that seemingly got lost after the last update
- replaced the convoluted and barely working vanilla proximity grenade scripts with NVscript, mines actually do damage now, and can be shot to explode so the player can't soft lock the game by trapping himself anymore
- edited the gamesys to move the shotgun hybrid scripts to a separate metaprop to not clutter the archetype (SCP style)
- modified a few corpse locations to fit the environment better
- all toilets flushed to the floor as the new model makes it very apparent they float in mid-air
- removed some superfluous punctuation from OBJSHORT.STR (both EN and DE)

to install, extract the zip to your Polaris folder, and overwrite. as always, anyone is free to use/not use this extra patch, and Christine is free to integrate/not integrate it into her fan mission.

note to self - the mutated plant could use the T2 eyeball plant treatment (turning around to look at the player).
Posted by: Stingm
« on: 24. March 2024, 03:27:36 »

You need to play it. It finishes the story.
Posted by: Kal
« on: 23. March 2024, 18:23:02 »

Hello Christine,

I've spent the last week or so playing through your fan missions (except for urlaub because I assume it's a joke mission?) and I gotta say these are some amazing fan projects, the level design rivals that of Looking Glass and pure passion oozes out of them.

What I'd like to know is, do you have a new website where you share your stuff? In the original FM posts you linked a website where you said you share assets and development material but it's down now, is there still a way to access that content?
Posted by: Jules
« on: 06. April 2023, 11:35:50 »

voodoo47That's a good point, there was definitely less urgency compared to the previous entries and the original SS2 campaign in particular. I've always played the base game very carefully, relying mostly on my melee weapons and being conservative with my supplies. Playing FMs, and this one in particular, made me feel comfortable with using my supplies more and just being more trigger-happy, which made for a nice change of pace.

Incidentally, this reminds me of how it is only in this FM that I finally felt bold enough to use the grenade launcher, and that's after four playthroughs of the original...
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 06. April 2023, 11:27:29 »

I also found the lack of a nagging AI refreshing. sometimes you just want to go around blowing up stuff and killing all the things in peace.
Posted by: Jules
« on: 06. April 2023, 11:22:58 »

I've really liked this! While a tad shorter, the quality is up there with the previous FMs in the series with the refreshing addition of being set on a planet's surface rather than on the usual spaceship. The fact that the setting was winter-themed was a definite plus for me, as I've always had a soft spot for such environments in videogames. I also cannot miss mentioning the ice rumblers, or however they're called. As my character was still too weak I was forced to sneak past most of them, fighting the occasional one, which made for some pretty intense moments.

I also liked the new subplot about a scientist involved in the usual morally ambiguous schemes. It was especially nice to see this subplot being developed even further (and satisfyingly concluded) in Urlaub. Little touches like this go a long way in making the overall experience more enjoyable.

I'd also like to mention that I really liked the voice acting this time around. I felt like there were a couple of times in Ponterbee when it was somewhat immersion breaking (even though I know we're talking about community work and people working for free, so don't take my comments too seriously). This time around, however, I felt like the quality was evened out pretty nicely.

It's a real shame that the SS2 FM community has never been as large as the Thief one. Still, I understand the reasons - Thief being mission-based with no real character progression, it's relatively easier to design for. Luckily, I've still got a couple of FMs left to play.
Posted by: Stingm
« on: 10. June 2022, 02:45:05 »

I don't think any changes are needed. I knew where to look and found it.  Also I love all your missions for System Shock 2 and Thief series. I play them all the time. They are just awesome. Thank you for all the hard work and you are very much appreciated.
Posted by: Maskina
« on: 09. June 2022, 18:23:35 »

The more you know.

I am new to fan missions and I am astounded by these creations of yours, truly well done.  :cyborg:
Posted by: Christine
« on: 09. June 2022, 05:27:42 »

Perhaps I should make a cardslot at the tunnel for the level transit.  :thinking:

When I built this, these two levels were one. When I was almost done, I got problems with objects that became invisible. To fix that, I had to separate the levels.
I was far away from the old limits, but I had to make the snowfall with particles, I guess this made the problems  :thinking:
Posted by: Maskina
« on: 08. June 2022, 19:18:29 »

voodoo47
Yes, you expect them to be on the same level at least. Fearing that it's a bug when it's not.

Learn something new every day. Think outside the level.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 08. June 2022, 19:06:48 »

this is actually one of the few small details I don't exactly love - sometimes, important items are just scattered around (semi) randomly, easy to overlook.
Posted by: Maskina
« on: 08. June 2022, 18:05:44 »

Christine
I backtracked to the first level and found the missing key card in an area that I had previously overlooked.

Pardon to question the authenticity of this mission.

I would like to say my thanks to voodoo47 and Christine. Your help is valued.
Posted by: Christine
« on: 08. June 2022, 05:26:12 »

Like voodoo said, in a snowy area with trees and ice beasts, but not in this level. You have to go back, the keycard for the maingate is in the previous level. 

http://www.southquarter.com/christine/polaris-024.html
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 07. June 2022, 20:32:03 »

aha, so not that one. ok, the one you seek is on another random corpse, you will have to search the snowy areas with trees outside where the ice beasts lurk.
Posted by: Maskina
« on: 07. June 2022, 19:37:33 »

voodoo47
Thanks for the reply and information. I do not seem to find the body that you are referring to.

See attached picture. I believe this is the first key card, early on in the mission.

Cyber you later, hackilator.
[Ss2 Screenshot 2022.06.07 - 20.29.14.83.png expired]
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 06. June 2022, 22:36:43 »

if you mean the key I think you mean then it's on a random corpse - one would expect it to be inside the security checkpoint, but that is not the case. there is a corpse hanging on a railing, check the underpass where the big bots dwell.
Posted by: Maskina
« on: 06. June 2022, 21:48:22 »

There seems to be missing a key card for the UNN Facility Polaris. I have searched at the bridge architect and back and forth on the same level. No key card in sight.

Assistance is greatly appreciated.  :cyborg:
Posted by: Christine
« on: 29. May 2020, 14:06:23 »

I have updated the UNN Polaris to Version 3, Newdark. I hope you'll like it  :)

Kolya has updated the first post  :thumb:

https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=578.0
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 02. February 2017, 16:50:42 »

shot myself in the leg a bit with the quickfix by including the extra hybrid model - updating is highly recommended.

at this point, making mods is not the difficult part - making them so they would play well with all the other mods is.
Posted by: Kolya
« on: 29. January 2017, 14:39:43 »

Quote by voodoo47:
anyone remembers what the LarkSS addons are all about, btw?

Quote by LarkSS:
SS2_LarkSS_UNN-Polaris_NewDark-Addons.7z
New lightmaps, updated NVScript, glass door materials* and an fm.cfg for better NewDark stability.

*Does not include the doors in earth.mis since for the life of me I cannot find the texture files for them and greydoor.gif amazingly isn't it.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 29. January 2017, 13:21:38 »

anyway, two more fixes (all cig related objects resized properly, smoking will restore one psi point, and tall plants removed physics to hopefully prevent them from falling into floors) and off the package into the first post goes - it's definitely good enough for anyone who wants what it offers.

anyone remembers what the LarkSS addons are all about, btw?
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 28. January 2017, 23:36:57 »

it doesn't really qualify as fixing the fm, it's just stuff I kept throwing into the dml as I was playing, tweaking those few things that I found annoying - an easy venture as all the code snippets already existed in other dmls.
Posted by: Valet2
« on: 28. January 2017, 23:24:21 »

Thanks for fixing that fm!

It was ages ago when I completed it by my own. Since then I've been played through 3 times with different people in co-op mode. I must say every time I had strong pleasure, lots of emotions, it was an awesome experience. I loved the design, atmosphere, various style of places, the final level and the need to going back, remembering the places you've been through hours ago.

And of course ducks! More cute ducks! I even made this t-shirt for a friend.
[utec-tshirt.jpg expired]
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 28. January 2017, 20:25:46 »

so yeah, completed this for the first time (few seconds shy of three and half hours total), so lets have another good, bad and ugly standoff;

the good:
-not being on a spaceship for a change
-nicely crafted levels, lot of attention to detail
-no Shodan (because you can't do Shodan properly without Terri, and if something can't be done properly, it's better off not being done at all)
-good voiceovers
-all the custom objects

the bad:
-almost no music. not sure why - maybe to amplify the big abandoned base setting?
-feels a bit dull after a while. not sure whether it's the absence of an overwatching AI, or not really having anything else to do than to basically just rummage through everything to get all the keys and codes to the final area. things felt much less dynamic than Minstrel or RttUNN (even though I went through those two like a million times because of all the fixup efforts).
-some areas looked like they were constructed for humans ten feet tall, usable objects like card readers and shelves with stuff being placed way, way too high. the fact that Goggles is always in his permanent tactical crouch (or rather, has eyes/the player camera on his chest) isn't helping things. felt like a dwarf sometimes. strangely enough, only some of the levels seem to have this - maybe different mapper?
-a few visual and audio choices felt a bit off (rumbler audio on the ice beasts, which I disabled after five seconds of gameplay, and some of the mutated plants).
-some important items placed quite randomly, making them easy to miss unless you loot everything very thoroughly. such items should usually be locked at places of high importance to prevent this, or some quest notes that mention a person with an item of interest has gone to area x because of reason y should be added after picking up a log with the relevant info. the last quest note is also very vague, had to go through logs to find out what was supposed to be done, and usually, you don't want to force people to do that, anything really important should be logged in the pda notes automatically.

and the ugly:
-a (very) few reversed and floaty objects here and there.
-some of the new objects not set up properly in the gamesys, resulting in bad physics and even worse rest positions when thrown onto ground.
-that old problem with giving the player annelid weapons, but forgetting to activate alien weapons in the upgrade station.
-consumables do nothing when health is full, just play the nope sound, no message is displayed. should be "health full", but realistically you should just be able to eat a donut even if you are not bleeding.


which brings us to the quickfix attachment (see the first post), because you can't really expect me to play a fm without fixing it at least somewhat, now can you;
-fixed positioning on a few objects
-fixed physics stuff on a few custom objects (donuts, chocolate bar, sdcard, cigs)
-alien weapons get discreetly enabled once the player finds the annelid shard (found a broken sound trap while doing this so fixed that as well)
-can eat and drink as much as one wants
-ice beasts no longer use rumbler sounds
-cigarette butts size now matches those in the ashtrays (custom object)
-cigarette packs now sized so they would fit into the cigarette cartons (custom object) properly, also will give one psi point when smoked, SCP style
-tall plants removed physics to hopefully prevent them falling into floor
-integrated appropriately modified versions of RealSG and Shotgun Muzzle Flash minimods (remember, Fixed Objects and an appropriate version of RealSG need to be loaded in the mod manager. SHTUP-ND and Object Shrink are also highly recommended)

unpack to the Polaris folder, if interested. there will be no conflicts with the regular versions of RealSG and Shotgun Muzzle Flash if you have them loaded.
Posted by: Hikari
« on: 08. July 2015, 03:42:31 »

OK I've been through the crew area, garden, pool, etc... I have an override card now where do I use it at? It feels like i"m missing something basic but I dunno how to get into the science section. :aii:

Edit: After looking through the TTLG archives found what I missed and... yea super depressing ending to the mission, but on the whole very well crafted.
Posted by: D.B.
« on: 07. August 2014, 22:45:24 »

My question still stands.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 07. August 2014, 21:17:47 »

ok, the map name is unique, so this is not caused by a dml conflict. nothing to see here then.
Posted by: D.B.
« on: 07. August 2014, 20:59:40 »

Level - Polaris Outside II
Yes, i am using Rebirth.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 07. August 2014, 20:48:06 »

two questions, on what level is it supposed to be, and are you using the Rebirth mod?
Posted by: D.B.
« on: 07. August 2014, 19:34:07 »

Where is the Main Gate keycard? I've searched everywhere and i cant find it. No need for that "Try looking harder" - just tell me where it is.
Posted by: rccc
« on: 20. February 2013, 20:59:13 »

I just finished playing through all three FMs by Christine. I just need to express how great they all were. Thank you for creating these. Thanks also to all who contributed, you know who you are. I can't imagine how much effort it took to finish these. I haven't discovered a single bug or glitch. It all seemed very consistent.

When I started I expected something like a "fanmade level", what I experienced was more like a complete new game. So much content! New objects, complete story, voice acting, cutscenes, ... it's all there. Fantastic!

Now before I start with my second run of SS2 I guess I need some Urlaub  :thumb:
Posted by: LarkSS
« on: 02. February 2013, 06:53:59 »

Hah silly me. I'm used to searching for "*glass" and adding materials to the textures that come up (Christine keeps a common naming convention in this fashion for the glass doors) and didn't realize unnglass.pcx actually is the plain gray glass used in earth.mis. I suppose I didn't see the reflections when testing because I forgot the env_map, which I must have caught on to before I actually ran multiplayer. In any case, the archive is set up properly so no changes are necessary.
Posted by: Kolya
« on: 02. February 2013, 02:01:37 »

Added your addons to the first post. Thank you for your work.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 01. February 2013, 19:43:25 »

it's certainly a way, but I'm not exactly a Shocked expert.
Posted by: LarkSS
« on: 01. February 2013, 19:41:17 »

Is that the way it's done? I spent awhile wondering why ShockEd wouldn't tell me. Oddly enough, as soon as I tried the map in multiplayer the doors had reflective materials applied, though I'm still unsure why... I check on it again later whenever I make time.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 01. February 2013, 08:10:45 »

have you tried checking the model file with hexeditor? you should be able to find the corresponding textures that way.
Posted by: LarkSS
« on: 01. February 2013, 07:17:45 »

SS2_LarkSS_UNN-Polaris_NewDark-Addons.7z
New lightmaps, updated NVScript, glass door materials* and an fm.cfg for better NewDark stability.

*Does not include the doors in earth.mis since for the life of me I cannot find the texture files for them and greydoor.gif amazingly isn't it.
Posted by: Fironkkuify
« on: 25. December 2010, 00:28:44 »

This FM was pretty unique in that it took place exclusively on a planet's surface and therefore had a different feel to it than Ponterbee or Nightwalker did.  But it actually fit with System Shock 2 quite nicely (proving that its strength is not only found in space on starships or space stations -w- ).  It was enjoyable to explore and the designs were, again, incredible. 

The only thing I'd have to say I have trouble with (but it's not necessarily a bad thing at all, it's just I don't like fetch quests -w-; ) is finding all the codes and cards.  But down the road, it was a bit of fun finding them.  And the satisfaction of finally finding them?  Extreme.  A very memorable gaming experience.  Excellent work X3
Posted by: Enchantermon
« on: 03. June 2010, 21:09:23 »

You're welcome! :)
Posted by: Golan2072
« on: 03. June 2010, 20:38:38 »

Thanks :)
Posted by: Enchantermon
« on: 03. June 2010, 18:40:21 »

Christine actually made a fourth installment in this series as well, don't forget that one! ;)

Urlaub
Posted by: Golan2072
« on: 03. June 2010, 17:16:12 »

Christine, I've finished all of your three FMs and I must say that they are excellent; in particular, the UNN Nightwalker is, IMHO, even better than the original SS2 and almost as good as SS1; Polaris is as good as SS2 and Ponterbee is almost as good as SS2! Well done! :thumbwink:
Posted by: Golan2072
« on: 03. June 2010, 16:38:06 »

Thanks for the info! :)
Posted by: Christine
« on: 03. June 2010, 13:11:07 »

The second activation code is in the science sector, search the corpses in the morgue.
Posted by: Golan2072
« on: 02. June 2010, 06:03:18 »

Any idea where the second activation code is?
Posted by: Golan2072
« on: 29. May 2010, 08:20:53 »

I've got as far as the High Security research area, but for some reason I can't find the fourth activation card (I've already found the one in Grim's office, the one in the monkey cage and another one) and I also can't find the second activation code. Any help?
Posted by: Tagappi
« on: 19. August 2009, 17:07:14 »

Man.. that damn key card was in very easy place to look up  :smurf:...
Posted by: Shakura Jolithion
« on: 18. August 2009, 00:18:49 »

Is there a psi-amp in the intro level or before the first enemy encounter? I really wanna get lvl 5 psi skills at the start, but it seems like I have to go with weaponry instead =/

Also, I can't find an access card for athletics or the third key-code. I've gotten the control card and activated 1 & 2

Edit: Dang, just found it... stupid keycard was in a room in the crew sector, somehow I missed one freaking room =/
Posted by: Tagappi
« on: 08. August 2009, 10:03:33 »

Where can I find main gate key card :confused:? I searched it at everywhere :sweat:, even jumped down from the bridge and swimmed in to the hole thinking that I maybe can find it there :shifty:. but nope  :suicide:, do where can I find it?
Posted by: ragnar-gd
« on: 09. June 2009, 20:54:38 »

Well, a few minutes later I found out. Stupid me.
Just watched the end-movie. Tough.
Now only shocking ruins and "Urlaub" remain...
Suggestion: If you transfer one character from one mod to the other: Why not build skills up within this trilogy?
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