System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition Update & Community Participation

[674207ffc6d53voodoo47]

I actually agree, giving the EndurBoost and ExperTech their own colors is not a bad idea.

not sure about the hypos though.

[674207ffc70cbsarge945]

The hypos make sense as part of a bigger effort to help the colorblind.

So it would make sense to include them as an optional mod selectable as "colourblind friendly implants" or whatever.

Also I'm pretty sure those implants are originally based off scp suggestive. I'd fully support adding them since they are basically how it should have been from the start.

[674207ffc7220voodoo47]

yeah, I'm actually thinking it'd be nice to slurp the implants (or the idea of recoloring them) into SCP beta5, the Duke Nukem Forever edition.

also, "Where Am I?" Extreme Retro Mod has been mentioned on discord, not a bad idea either.

[674207ffc75fcJDoran]

The hypos make sense as part of a bigger effort to help the colorblind.

So it would make sense to include them as an optional mod selectable as "colourblind friendly implants" or whatever.

I hadn't thought of that. All games should do what they can to help visually/aurally impaired players as much as possible. It should have been more or less an industry standard two decades back that all first person games, for example, have optional subtitles, on-screen cues for where sounds are coming from (can you play the Thief games if you are deaf?), the option to change in-game colours depending on your own type of colour blindness*, etc.

Yet the gaming industry as a whole doesn't seem too bothered about players with these needs. Or maybe it is, but it's not apparent in the games I play. I bet some indie game developers do take it into account, though, as they can take the time to target their work at any demographic they chose.



* There are quite a few different types of colour blindness, and one of the most common is apparently a difficulty interpreting red and blue. And unfortunately one of the most common combination of colours in team based games is the red team versus the blue team.

[674207ffc78adZylonBane]

also, "Where Am I?" Extreme Retro Mod has been mentioned on discord, not a bad idea either.

I would be against that, for the exact reason I gave in that thread. Also because it would now conflict with SHTUP's animated Citadel textures.

[674207ffc798cvoodoo47]

ah, right, forgot about that.

[674207ffc7ac2icemann]

What's that one? Changes the level?

[674207ffc7bb9ZylonBane]

There is a link to it.

[674207ffc7ca0icemann]

Ah so there is

[674207ffc83c0tiphares4]

What am I missing? Is there a mod that I haven't included that should be? Is there a feature or something you'd like to see in the release? Please let us know!

i would highly urge to implement these mods as well:


SS2 Repairman

SS2 Big Droid Immortality Protocol

those will make droids, med-beds, turrets and some other items hackable/repairable as well

Some here will argue that they are too game-altering, but when i've played system shock 2 first in 1999 i fully expected robots/droids/turrets to be hackable, and was disappointed when they were not.. in my opinion this was maybe originally intended but not realized due to time constraints? you could ask the original developers about this?, since you are in contact with some of them..




and maybe add even that:

SS2 Alarming Cameras



and also this of course as someone else has already mentioned:

SS2 Distinguishable Implants

and the recolored green-antiradiation hypo skin by RoSoDude of course, as someone has already mentioned too




and this:

SS2 Stackable Snacks

since it always was very immersion breaking to me to be able to stack ammo for e.g. but not other small random stuff like bag of chips or cigarettes, etc.  As someone else has also mentioned before this even doesn't need (much) rebalancing, since all the stackable chips bags or soda cans in the game wouldn't make more than a handful of med-hypos etc.

[674207ffc84daZylonBane]

Just stop. You're suggesting mods that would introduce significant gameplay changes.

[674207ffc8608tiphares4]

: /   come on.. it's an ''enhanced edition'', and those are optional mods, and as said before at least some of these changes would have been implemented anyways, if the original developers had more time/ressources at their hands.. i would like to hear the original devs opinion to this btw. , since at least there are thoughts of a commentary function..

[674207ffc8726voodoo47]

the numbers are clear here - what people want are fixes for anomalies, discrepancies and outright bugs, and improved visuals, download counts for those mods are in tens of thousands. anything that alters the gameplay significantly has just a fraction of those numbers, and such mods and ideas are better off left for the (not yet confirmed, but come on, we know it's happening) SS2R, as already mentioned.

[674207ffc89a9Rainalkar]

Very nice to hear all of this happening. Carry on boldly ahead.

[674207ffc8cf1Hikari]

Just stop. You're suggesting mods that would introduce significant gameplay changes.

Allow them to be turned off or on and let the user decide. I can see value in having a vanilla experience, but certain mods that go 'hey that underused skill has mods that allow that skill to get some use.' combined with quality of life in stackable snacks and the mods that allow for easier visual distinction.

One bug I actually kinda liked because it felt like one of those things that if you knew it existed. That being keeping implant functionality if you used the recycler on equipped implants. If there was a way to have a toggle on new game startup to akkowvor disallow that would be pretty neat.

Similarly being able to cheese by taking stuff from the tutorial if you could carry stacks out in a specific way an not pick up any of the dropped stuff til you are ready to leave into career path stat creation? If that could be a toggle that would be neat too.

I am only speaking for me and I'm fully prepped for zylon to rip me a new disposal chute but I am all for having those options that allow people to do dumb exploitation of the game, or go in where that is specifically disallowed. My first thought is if you start in easy mode having those be active and disable on harder difficulties, but I would rather leave it to the end user if giving the user options isn't a gwrgantuine burden for developers.

[674207ffc8e09voodoo47]

I'm very sure it will be possible to add/load more mods. however, overdoing the base build is probably a bad idea - as in, if I were to give just one recommendation, then not overdoing it would be it.

[674207ffc91cdZylonBane]

Allow them to be turned off or on and let the user decide.

By that logic, Night Dive should go full kitchen-sink and include EVERY mod. Let the user decide!

No. The point of the default mod load is to offer a prettier, less buggy, but fundamentally vanilla experience. If anyone wants to add mods beyond that, there's absolutely nothing stopping them from coming here and downloading them.

[674207ffc9354JossiRossi]

Also, the more mods included and the more things they change, the more testing will need to be done before releasing it. You don't want to ship a game with possible mods that break things in a certain combination.

[674207ffc943cicemann]

We don't want another Cyberpunk 2077. No thanks.

[674207ffc96e3sarge945]

By that logic, Night Dive should go full kitchen-sink and include EVERY mod. Let the user decide!

This literally exists. It's called the mod manager.

I see no point in NightDive "including" mods when the existing mod manager works fine. The only thing they could really do to improve convenience is ship with ss2mm.exe and maybe have a handful of preconfigured mod folders inside the DMM folder.

It seems to me like this is being thoroughly over-engineered when a simple solution already exists.

What we really don't want to end up with is the "NightDive Mod Manager" with the handful of blessed mods on it, AND the "regular mod manager" for everything else. That will complicate the situation, not simplify it, especially for new users.

[674207ffc99dfZylonBane]

What we really don't want to end up with is the "NightDive Mod Manager" with the handful of blessed mods on it, AND the "regular mod manager" for everything else.

What crazy alternate-universe version of this thread are you reading where anyone said or implied that's what was going to happen?

[674207ffc9b91Denhonator]

It should also be remembered that this enhanced edition isn't just about grouping mods together and selling that. It's a new engine that is (hopefully) more stable and capable. For one, we might finally have stable co-op. I would imagine this can also open the door to new mods that weren't possible before, who knows.

[674207ffc9f9bKolya]

What we really don't want to end up with is the "NightDive Mod Manager" with the handful of blessed mods on it, AND the "regular mod manager" for everything else. That will complicate the situation, not simplify it, especially for new users.

I assume that Night Dive will integrate mod selection into the game menus, because they can.
It seems rather crazy to assume that they will use BMM. They're a company and will prefer an integrated solution, just because it's easier.
It remains to be seen whether their integrated manager will support all existing mods or even BMM's features. But that is the least problem.
It's clear that it will support mods that rely on Kex features. What would be the use of Kex if it didn't bring it's own feature set?
So there will be a mods split, because there is an engine split. We will have Kex-only-mods and quite possibly NewDark-only-mods.

[674207ffca113Kolya]

One thing I just realized: If someone will use SS2Tool on SS2EE they will probably end up with the same NewDark based game you get now. Because SS2Tool doesn't care much as long as the game resources are there. And while I'm proud of the tools robustness, this may not be what that user had in mind.

@pripyatbeast You could prevent this by naming your game executable something other than "ss2.exe" or "shock2.exe".