Mod Idea Regarding Saving

[680faa780a519Adore33]

So I know you can Hard Save and Quick Save anytime in this game.  Which is great and all.  That being said, it is hard to resist saving all the time.  It's an old game I get that, it's just an odd choice to some degree to allow it.

Would it be possible to remove the saving from the menu and quicksave to implement a saving device into the game world?  Something you have to interact with.  Possible ideas...

- Spend Nanites to save.
- Play a hack game "0 Hack Skill needed" to save.
- Just press a button on a separate device to save.
- Second button, or same button near Quantum Bio-Reconstruction Machine locations to save.

Not a game-changer or anything, just seems more realistic to me and what the game strives for in its details.
A new player is likely to spam quicksaves and in the end, hurt the overall experience.
Dead Space save mechanic comes to mind...

Also, thank the modders and systemshock.org for hosting all this.  These mods and you guys/girls make this game better than it already is and keeps it playable on modern hardware.  So thanks for all the work you guys/girls do.  We all appreciate it, some are just more silent than others about it.

[680faa780b093sarge945]

Saving is handled by the engine internally with no mod access, so this is largely impossible.

I like that you're trying to reduce save scumming though.Your best options right now are to disable the quicksave hotkey and use only autosaves. Kolya has a "no saving" mod around here somewhere, but it just makes it so the game can't actually write save files, so it's more of an ironman thing.

[680faa780b4b7icemann]

If you don't like saving, don't do it. Simple.

No mod needed. At the same time I did love how Dead Space 1 & 2 (and not 3) did it.

[680faa780b744Adore33]

icemann
It has nothing to do with not liking saving.  It's to make saving more realistic and meaningful in the game world.

[680faa780baeeicemann]

Well in the real world you can't save and reload. Hell, if I could do save states in real life I'd be a millionaire of Biff Tannen proportions.

[680faa780bd05Join2]

Copy-paste response to the silly "just don't save" simplification:

The fun is largely in the struggle, the challenge, which player-defined saving of course runs counter to. Nobody denies that.
Yet saves in some form are desired for numerous sensible reasons, so the question is where and when, which is something a player cannot determine on the fly without a deep understanding of the game events and rules. There could be a really tough diff spike coming, or some harsh death trap, the player doesn't know, yet "just don't save" when it is fair the player should have one is apparently the answer...I just beat secmod 3 for the first time on impossible. I don't know what Thiefsiefool had in store for me around the corner, and yet I am expected not to save and lose much progress in a brutal and somewhat RNG-prevalent game. Wouldn't be a problem if the designer who has the knowledge instead said when I could just as he does permit health packs or ammo placements.

[680faa780be40icemann]

I play Doom 2 every now and then and just don't save at all, and see how far I can get without dying. Great fun. I don't need game features disabled for it. I just don't save. Easy.

In SS2's case I'm sure some would enjoy a save station mod that disabled manual saves. Though as join says it would require an overhaul of gameplay as well.

[680faa780c06dAdore33]

icemann
As I stated game world, not the real world.

[680faa780c332Adore33]

icemann
So you think having the ability to save whenever you want is the intended way the developers wanted you to play?  They want you to use the QBRM.  You die you start at the last activated one.  You need to save at some point regardless.  Having a quick save defeats the whole purpose of the difficulty of the game.  Saying just don't use it is not a solution to me.  The average person playing any game IS going to use such a feature if it exists.

Playing classic DOOM and not saving and seeing how far you get is a challenge run, it's not a normal gameplay run.

[680faa780d17aicemann]

icemann
So you think having the ability to save whenever you want is the intended way the developers wanted you to play?  They want you to use the QBRM.  You die you start at the last activated one.  You need to save at some point regardless.  Having a quick save defeats the whole purpose of the difficulty of the game.  Saying just don't use it is not a solution to me.  The average person playing any game IS going to use such a feature if it exists.

Playing classic DOOM and not saving and seeing how far you get is a challenge run, it's not a normal gameplay run.

Yes that's what the developers intended for players to be able save whenever they wanted because that is what is in the game. If they want to save occassionly, often or not all, that is for the player to decide, as that is providing the player with that choice. And yes that is fully what was intended and I commend Looking Glass for doing that. The first game was done the same as well. Save scum or not, completely up to the player. That is good game design.

As for the save station mod idea, that is a challenge (just like my no saving thing for Doom 2), not a normal game mode, as that is not in the vanilla version of the game. Perfectly fine to have, but not part of the standard SS2 experience.