System Shock demo on Arcade Mania Vol.2 CD

[67419145c9823unn_atropos]

Just saw a System Shock demo on LGR (6:20, with a Mickey Mouse Icon???). SSR has pretty much made it impossible for me to find information about a demo for the original game. Didn't know that there was one...

Here you can download the whole CD content. Sadly I lack the skill an patience to get the game to run. Maybe one of you can take a look. There are some file names I'm not familiar with. What's handart.res? (the weapon animations I presume) What's shadtable.res? etc.
Maybe some interesting stuff to be found?

Due to space limitations, the demo does not include the intro cut scene, SVGA gameplay, or anything beyond level one of Citadel Station. The final version of the full CD will, however, feature the following: SVGA cut scenes and  gameplay, full speech, VR headset support, and over 10 complete levels to  explore.

[67419145c99a9Kolya]

I can't make much sense of the content of that ISO. Maybe someone can extract the demo?

[67419145c9abcunn_atropos]

System Shock is in the folder MANIA2\SSHOCK. I'll attach it here.
Oh, and there is a Bioforge demo at F:\MANIA2\AGAMES2\BIOFORGE

[67419145c9cbavoodoo47]

quick butchery to make the demo assets run under SHLINK - go to \bin and run shlink.exe, don't forget to set the resolution to 640*480 and audio options/messages to "both" once you start a new game.

quicktested up to the first cyberspace, everything seemed to work ok - let me know if you stumble upon something obviously broken.


//the same/latest demo seems to be available here as well: https://archive.org/details/SSHOCK

[67419145c9de4Kolya]

Nice. Thanks to you both.

[67419145c9f16voodoo47]

the ending is screwed up though - once you hit the elevator L2 button, you get teleported into the room with clickable screen instead of getting the demo complete screen. too bad, was kind of hoping it would work well enough to make it an official download.

unless we have a way of editing it and making it better - either preventing the button from working or having it print a "end of the demo" message. do we? never really explored all the SS1 stuff that's been around.

[67419145ca18fdertseha]

Is the overall goal to resurrect this particular download, or to get hands on a shareware version of SS1?

If it's about the shareware versions, I have both (with and without audio logs - as well as the original HD-release without audio logs), which I could pack up.
If it's about to resurrect this download, I haven't had a look with InkyBlackness at the handling of the elevator in the demo yet. Either the jump to the end screen is somehow hardcoded, or the elevator panel is a reskinned button that executes an end-game action. I'll have a look in the evening today.

[67419145ca29cvoodoo47]

I'm quite sure it's the latter, though the functionality is somehow coded into the shareware exe, it seems (which is not used with the SHLINK version).

and yeah, the general idea is to take the (best available) shareware version, and make it available in an easy to play/modernized form. if you have some newer/better version, please make it available - this one has logs and music, but is limited to 320*200 resolution unless SHLINKed, for example (checked via dosbox).

[67419145ca4c4dertseha]

I've had a look at my HD-demo version. First of all, I needed to patch the editor, which, at the moment, has some hardcoded assumptions. These will be removed in the next release. Right now it crashes trying to open the demo level.

The elevator panel is still an elevator panel - even properly set up, referencing the panel of the non-existent level 2. So, this has me believe it is a dedicated build of the engine.
Although the "big" resources (such as not needed level textures) are not present, all the small stuff off the full game is there: log texts, trap texts - even the cyberspace level is fully utilized although you can't enter all sections in the demo.

Here are two demo versions I have:
* CD Demo: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B74wu_2eEeTxOXBSeDVKTVZlTWM
* HD Demo: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B74wu_2eEeTxQkVueFFpbDlMQ1k

I seem to have lost the original archive of the HD Demo, so the directories of that have recent timestamps. Yet all the files have pristine timestamps from 1994 and 1995 (the good years )
Still, those timestamps can be faked, and I haven't analysed any potential bloatware in there. You people are far better and more experienced at refurbishing such packages 

[67419145ca5fbvoodoo47]

the cd demo looks identical to the demo unn_atropos shared, the hd demo looks older. requires exactly the same amount of butchery as the first demo, and the ending bugs out in the same way.

lets wait for that editor update - and hope someone knows how to actually map the end game to that elevator button.

[67419145ca884dertseha]

requires exactly the same amount of butchery as the first demo, and the ending bugs out in the same way.

Which one do you mean? The CD-demo or the HD-demo? I just tested the HD-demo, which could end the game fine at the elevator.

Sorry that the CD-demo package is the same, I haven't cross-checked. Though I'm confused about my archives as well now - because I believe I had a running CD demo in my dosbox, and this one bails out on me now that I want to test it...

[67419145cab17dertseha]

Though I'm confused about my archives as well now - because I believe I had a running CD demo in my dosbox, and this one bails out on me now that I want to test it...

Correction: I had a wrong cyb.cfg with the CD path not absolute. Quick test, and the game of the CD-demo could be ended fine. (combat/mission 0, simply ran across hallway and used elevator).

I'm running dosbox under linux, what are you running it with?

[67419145caca6voodoo47]

SHLINK - you can download the SHLINKified cd demo from one of my previosu posts (SS1demo_shlink.7z).

the idea is to get the level to finish properly when running with that.


my guess is that the level itself is just the regular level with a regular elevator switch, and enddemo activation is being handled by the shareware exe, but as mentioned, that is not being used when you are running it via SHLINK, so weird things happen instead. the solution would most likely be to map the button to enddemo directly via a map edit.

[67419145cae3edertseha]

Ohh - ok, now I see what this SHLINK is about - amazing how diverse the ecosystem around SS1 is. I'm sorry, I didn't get that.

So, yes, we're on the same page now. The elevator button is a regular one, with its behaviour being hardcoded in the demo exe.
It could simply be replaced by a button that executes the end-game action, assuming that this action works the same in the demo exe.

A more elaborate mod could then be to use a button that is not used anywhere else in this level and reskin it with the elevator panel image - though its behaviour would still be that of a button, i.e., use it and immediately have the credits. The level selection will not be available - a detail that can be overlooked.

I'm still working on my next museum video, trying to get that done for the weekend, which will include the new editor release. Then I'll have a look on modding the two demos.

[67419145caf18voodoo47]

yes, that is exactly what's up. will wait eagerly.

[67419145cb046dertseha]

Status update: I replaced the elevator panel with a simple switch and made it perform the end-game action. Works with shlink. Bonus revelation: the archive files of the CD and HD demos are identical, so the mod can be applied for both.

I'll now spend some time in trying to reskin the button to make it look like the elevator panel.

Also: This was my very first time with nowadays keyboard layout & mouse-look in SS1 - it felt... weird.

[67419145cb12avoodoo47]

don't bother (with the reskin), unless you really enjoy it.

now where's that fixed level, gimme gimme gimme.

[67419145cb21ddertseha]

Patience
I've allocated to spend only a few hours on extending the editor for this. So far I'm faring quite good.
Also, that switch looks very weird in the elevator, so a proper reskin is recommendable.

[67419145cb2d5voodoo47]

as long as it looks like a switch of some sort, and triggers endgame properly, all is good - but it's your call of course.

[67419145cb437dertseha]

Here you go. Attached are the archive.dat and objart.res files.
Changes:
* archive.dat: Replace the elevator panel with the switch 9/0/1 which is not used anywhere else in the level
* objart.res: Changed the two images of this switch to be those of the removed elevator panel

Not done:
* Changing of object name. This feature might go into the editor at another time. And I suspect people don't single-click identify everything they see.
* Changing of switch sound. On slower computers (like the virtual machine on my development box) the mechanical switch sound can be heard. Not on my beefy Windows machine, on which I tested it though.

Both archive.dat and objart.res are the same in both demos, so they can be applied equally.
Have fun!

[SwitchAsElevatorPanel.7z expired]

[67419145cb55cvoodoo47]

thanks - and attaching the updated full package again (also readded some of the original LGS pictures and txt files). it would be great if someone more versed in SS1 (speedrunning) could confirm that everything works ok and the demo can be finished on 1+ difficulty (it completes properly on 0 difficulty, that I did check, and I plan to go through it on normal, but it might take me a while), once that is done, we can pop the download into its own topic and have it available for anyone wanting to sample the EE version (sort of).

[67419145cb699voodoo47]

found a little something - the new enddemo switch ignores the security level, meaning that as long as you physically get to it, you can end the demo. technically, this shouldn't be allowed, as in the full game, the player can use the elevator switch only after lowering the security level significantly (don't remember the precise number, but you need to take out the nodes).

this makes a fair bit of the level optional, but I don't see this as a problem - if the player wants to explore more, he can simply choose to NOT flip the switch prematurely. the ending not glitching out is much more important.

[67419145cb937dertseha]

found a little something - the new enddemo switch ignores the security level...

oops - thanks for the heads up! I forgot to check and copy the condition to the switch. (After all, my modding video series has yet to get to variables and conditions...  )

New archive attached.

[archive.dat expired]

[67419145cba85Hikari]

The edited demo files are listed as expired. Given how useful this is that is somewhat problematic. Also, thank you for doing this thing.