SS2 Blaydes99 RttUNN

[6743cb011c2e7Aurora]

I think it is a fluke, as I couldn't reproduce it anymore, now that I tried.

[6743cb011c48cicemann]

It's that ghost in the machine at it again.

[6743cb011c5fcAurora]

We got into the escape pod on the Gallo now. This was followed by a cutscene, and then a continue screen with short text explaining what happens next. I press 'continue' and it plays the shuttle takeoff video from the vanilla SS2 campaign training phase, followed by another continue screen that only says 'Test' or something. This is repeated three times, until the SS2 cutscene of the soldier boarding Von Braun plays. The game crashes after this.

[6743cb011c79dvoodoo47]

well, good to know the FM is completable in MP, if nothing else. no idea whether the way ending is set up is MP compatible, the crashing would suggest it's not - anyway, a crash should always create a crash dump, so make that available please.

does it crash for both players in the same way?

[6743cb011c8f7Aurora]

Actually only crashed for me (the host), while the cutscene didn't play at all for the other two players. This is something that happened with the vanilla campaign's ending as well, but strangely I remember a few FMs actually fixed this so the cutscene played for everyone. Normally, the host would have to disconnect the game in order for the cutscene to play for other players as well.

Crash.dmp is 344mb so I cannot upload it here.

Edit:

Apparently there are two endings. How do you get into the other one?

[6743cb011ca36voodoo47]

as mentioned before, the crashdumps compress nicely (use max compression). should have about 50-80mb when zipped. not sure whether regulars are allowed to post attachments above 50mb, but you can always use sendspace or whatever. include shock2.log (or in your case, ss2.log) as well.

there aren't two endings, it's just one of those choices that are supposed to make you feel like there are more options when in fact there aren't (meaning, only one will not get you dead).

[6743cb011cbd2Aurora]

Here you go: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18409631/crash.7z it may take a while to synch on Dropbox, so keep refreshing every 10 minutes or so. The forum did not let me upload a 46mb attachment.

What are the ending 'choices' if I may ask? Can I see the other cutscene(s)?
[ss2.log expired]

[6743cb011cd00voodoo47]

you can try to escape by yourself but that will get you killed. cutscenes are in \FMs\rttunn\cutscenes folder.

//also, the current log please.

//nothing interesting in the crashdump. this is the reason why nobody wants to touch multiplayer, just too much weird random crap.

[6743cb011d284Aurora]

I finished Return to the UNN by Blaydes99. It has become my favourite fan mission - maybe a close tie with UNN Polaris by Christine.

RttUNN starts out by introducing you to some densely built streets, somewhere on Earth nearby a UNN facility, under a reddish dusk sky. Robots and hybrids chase you through alleyways filled with pipes and technological junk. The atmosphere is suspenseful.

Before I delve further, I must say the beginning was quite overwhelming with the endless enemy spam around every corner. You start out a weakling yet you are immediately greeted with protocol droids and shotgun hybrids. This actually put me off from playing the FM the first time around on my own, before returning to it half a year later. Fortunately it lets up once you get inside, where the hordes become more manageable.

The shopping mall was pretty cool, but it was more of the same old stuff seen in SS2 and other FMs, probably owing to recycling the same stock textures and objects in the same old fashion.

The Titus facility stands out with its architecture and atmosphere. Two areas worth mentioning are the dark and spacious main hall which you can oversee from a higher level, and the shuttle bay where you can see the city outside, now at night time. We actually found out how to climb on top of this area. It was very cool to be up there and it gave me some ninja-assassiney Mirror's Edgey vibes, even though there's nothing to do there. The garden in the facility is alright with a somewhat unique style in comparison to other gardens, but suffers from horrible enemy spam. On the other hand, excellent soundtrack choices compliment the atmosphere.

By far my favourite part of the entire FM is the second part of Earth, after the shuttle crashes. It is a rainy city that prominently features a TripOptimum office. The open spaces are a refreshing contrast to cramped hallways, both visually and gameplay-wise. Visually, large open spaces with skyscrapers and bright logos are much more impressive to view and adore than tight corridors. Gameplay-wise it averts the whole experience being a corridor shooter; I like having a plenty of space for maneuvering, dodging particles. Bonus points for hackable turrets in the big open yard area. The rain absolutely crowns the atmosphere audiovisually. As I stood under shelter where you start in the area, I could almost feel the cold from the rain and wanted to stay next to the burning shuttle wreckage for warmth.

The UNN Gallo, despite recycling base game resources in a standard manner, manages to be a quite interesting spaceship. The different decks are unique in style. Some of the areas are mazy and as such did not appeal to me as much in terms of gameplay or visuals, as it becomes too much of a corridor shooter. On the other hand, even in the mazey areas, everywhere is absolutely packed with detail, thanks to good texturing and a generous use of objects and decals. Every square metre has screens, cables, ducts, bolts, signs, equipment, and other stuff. I liked the view of the ship's exterior through some of the windows, and the high resolution space sky is worth every pixel. Overall I enjoyed exploring around the Gallo, apart from the frustration resulting from constantly getting lost on one of the decks.

The ending is a bit abrupt and anticlimatic. However I always felt the original game as well as most FMs I played also have poor endings, so no surprises nor disappointments here. Props for including cutscenes, which are quite close to the standards of the original game. I must admit that the story was a bit lost on me on the first playthrough, because the audio logs sound like quiet mumbling behind static, and often start playing right in the middle of music and action. The voice acting could have been better, if in no other aspects, then at least in recording quality and volume.

Overall RttUNN is an enjoyable experience. Weapons, items, upgrade stations, and medbeds are spread out evenly and placed appropriately to match a constant step up in difficulty, though again it bears mentioning that some areas have overwhelming spawning, like the beginning and the garden.

If I had to pick a few things that stand out in this FM overall, I would highlight the extremely good use of detail, lighting, and background music. There is virtually nowhere in the FM that looks plain or boring, and the soundtrack choices compliment the atmosphere perfectly. The author hit the nail on the head with music better than anything I've seen so far in SS2. The open space areas on Earth were the best thing in this FM. I wish there was more of that. By now we have already seen a million cramped spaceship corridors in the System Shock universe, so anything else for a switch is always refreshing.

Using open spaces, like the big yard in front of the TriOp office in this FM, one could unleash a lot of potential for more interesting gameplay and areas. You would have a lot of room to maneuver fighting AI NPCs, and you would see much more use for the grenade launcher and other powerful weapons that are practical to use over longer ranges. In a large arena with multiple strong enemies dwelling around, the stasis field generator would be a godsend. More of that, please.

[6743cb011d67eAurora]

//nothing interesting in the crashdump. this is the reason why nobody wants to touch multiplayer, just too much weird random crap.

I think it would help to at least do co-op playthroughs among developers. You would probably run into the same issues as I have, and be able to determine what causes them better than from a post on a forum that tries to explain it.

[6743cb011d80avoodoo47]

not necessarily - I'm pretty sure I can replicate the problem with the ending, but I have no idea why is it happening, apart from "MP doesn't like this setup". can this be made MP compatible? no idea. all I can do is change things around randomly until it stops crashing. not exactly optimal.

-abrupt ending: the FM was supposed to have a continuation (that didn't happen). asked the author (he is still around) to make any existing unreleased resources available, but never received a reply, so we'll have to assume that whatever existed is now gone forever.
-enemy spam: the ecologies are set to spawn one AI per level every 2 minutes should their total number fall below 3 for larger levels and 2 for smaller levels (very, very mild respawning). if you are getting more that that, then it's bugging out/not behaving as intended.

[6743cb011d995voodoo47]

1.08 rc6 is up - reworked the ecologies again, hoping to decrease the chance of out of control spawns - again, if working properly, the spawns should be very, very mild.

[6743cb011db09Valet2]

From this level to the end of the game, bugs:

- purple sky
- NO enemy spawn
- you can hack a hacked crate
- (not sure) camera's sound couldn't be heared

and some other stuff which were different before.
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[6743cb011e2f3voodoo47]

- purple sky

Also make sure to load Olfred's Fixed Objects and SHTUP-ND (bottom of the first post), this is pretty much required for everything to look and work properly (the patch has been made with these two in mind).

pretty sure I did nothing with crates, so it must be an orig - need to know which crate. yeah, bloody spawns, looks like they still don't work properly at all times - I'm biting the bullet and remaking them from scratch in the next patch. no changes to cameras as well.

[6743cb011e457voodoo47]

patch rc7 attached to the first post - quick surgery to kick the ecologies back into a working state (rc6 had a really, really dumb setup error that pretty much disabled them). fully tested with the game exe on the first level - idling in a corner of the map for 15 minutes resulted in 5 new spawns, so things definitely work now. how reliably is a completely different question though. it's safe to update mid game (though only maps that were not visited yet will receive the fix).

also, some details on that multi hackable crate and the "other stuff" would be helpful.

[6743cb011e5f2Valet2]

I might be wrong but that fuel regulator thing - if I remembered correctly you could trigger a bad ending right away, until you put something somewhere. But now it's not clickable.

Also, this safe is closed, and I didn't get a passcode for the phone.

And the bridge gravishaft is still locked. But I've managed to pass there through the downward lift, killed the reaver.

Aaand... Sec. A area is closed, and I don't have a code for it.

We've played multiplayer, so we might have missed something. But I never had difficulties with this fm before (although it was hardcore due to overloaded spawning).
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[6743cb011e740voodoo47]

well, obviously you need to find the codes and cards to gain access. no idea what's supposed to be wrong with the fuel regulator (not clickable? you are supposed to use the canister on it, nothing else), but pretty sure it works, if it didn't, it wouldn't be possible to complete the game.

multiplayer can result in oddities, but shouldn't make things like logs and cards disappear.

[6743cb011e846Valet2]

Okay, thanks!

So I need to apply graphical mods to make space look normal? And use rc7 to fix spawning? I mean that's all? Will start the mission again then.

[6743cb011e98avoodoo47]

yes, as mentioned, fixed objects and SHTUP-ND need to be loaded (modmanager). rc7 should fix spawning that got semi-broken in rc6 (it seems like the rc6 setup works in the editor, but not in the normal game, and I've only tested it in the editor, so I didn't find out - a mistake I'm not going to make again), meaning AIs will spawn properly (or at least I hope so) again.

also fixed that annoying rotating sign that was blocking bullets when trying to shoot the plaza mall camera in the first level while at it.

[6743cb011eab9voodoo47]

hey Valet, could you test the next rc? retweaked the tram ride intro level and the first normal level (titus), trying to make things work better in MP (random stuff shouldn't spawn at the entrance to the UNN facility anymore), and hoping that nothing got broken along the way, but no time to fire MP myself (would have to reassembly another computer).


//now attached to the first post.
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[6743cb011ec49ZylonBane]

You actually can test multiplayer on a single computer. Just fire up multiple instances of SS2. Not sure if multiple physical installations are also necessary, but that's how I tested it.

[6743cb011ed5avoodoo47]

that is an entirely new level of playing with oneself. anyway, good to know.

[6743cb011ee86voodoo47]

1.08_patch_rc9 is up - retweaked the ecologies so spawning would be more aggressive (pretty sure they will work perfect in a couple of years). it's ok to update mid-game, but only not yet visited maps will be affected.

//no portraits on Gallo? gallo2 egg 851 no trigger, 221 needs patrol link to 1403. //fixed in rc11
//the 88009 code is not getting logged into the notes (gallo1).

[6743cb011f636Hardcore]

Hello everybody, this is really a nice FM, my first of all FM's on SS2 I played so far but the ending was a little bit disappointing with a small hope for the future because of "to be continued".

In a large arena with multiple strong enemies dwelling around, the stasis field generator would be a godsend.

Actually I explored every corner in this FM for every item and CM and I found the stasis field generator in the last 10 minutes before the end. It's on the top of the Nacelle B capsule in the big room.