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Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Polpolion on March 07, 2008, 08:29:07 pm

Title: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 07, 2008, 08:29:07 pm
I need a bit of help for this game. So here's the situation: Every single time I've played through the game (3 times now), the lights have been off on Deck 3 (hydroponics), and I've been forced to go through the entire level with the laser rapier because otherwise I couldn't see. But I didn't really think that the lights were even supposed to be on until I was watching a few youtube videos a few days ago.

At first, I thought it was my individual gamma setting, but it wasn't. Then, I thought I had actually consistently been forgetting to do something optional in the game, so I looked at some walkthroughs, but I didn't see anything that I didn't do.

So I ask this forum: 1) Are the lights supposed to be on in deck 3 (as opposed to it being a hack or mod)? 2) If so, how do you turn them on? :confused:
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: CP5670 on March 07, 2008, 11:48:19 pm
Are they off in the entire deck? I haven't played this game in a long time and don't remember much, but the lights were definitely on around the elevator area where you started. That was actually the most well lit deck in the game from what I remember.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Davros on March 08, 2008, 05:19:13 am
the lights are supposed to be on in hydroponics
iirc you cant turn them off
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: TrashMan on March 08, 2008, 05:31:27 am
SS2! A great game!

A Friend of mine loves this game so much he modded the **** out of it. Completely re-balanced everything and fused his changes with the best mods out there (better textures, better models).
And he bugged me too until I agreed to make a new EMP rifle for the game. He should bring me the whole completed mod today..we'll see how it plays. ;7
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Roanoke on March 08, 2008, 05:42:27 am
I can't recall anywhere in the game where the lights are an issue.  :doubt:


Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: General Battuta on March 08, 2008, 11:17:16 am
I don't think I've ever encountered such a cinematic game. It'd be so much worse in the dark.

I played this through on co-op mode with my brother and it was just...beautiful.

"Okay, I'm sure the rifle's unjammed. I've got you covered. Open the door."

"bip bap bop bip bip bop" *hacking door*

"Hmm...it's kind of dark in there...can you see anything? Is that a -- "

"OH MY GOD THE EGGS!"

"SO MANY EGGS AHHHH THE LARVAE THEY'RE INSIDE ME!"

"THEY'RE COMING OUT OF THE CEEEILING!"

*frantic assault rifle fire*

"GET OUT GET OUT RUUUUUN!"

And then the frantic fumbling for a syringe of antidote to save the poor infected cyborg from death -- only to be interrupted by the polite, terrifying yammerings of one of those damn protocol droids.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 08, 2008, 11:54:37 am
Are they off in the entire deck? I haven't played this game in a long time and don't remember much, but the lights were definitely on around the elevator area where you started. That was actually the most well lit deck in the game from what I remember.

Just the sectors that you don't have to load to get to from the elevator.


I've taken some screenshots just to verify what we're seeing here:

Here are two pictures of the elevator room:
(http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/7315/ss24pb5.png)
(http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/876/ss25hs5.png)

Two pictures of the window room above the pathway to the freezer:
(http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/489/ss21zm9.png)
(http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/1097/ss22vq2.png)

And a picture of the hallway connecting the two said areas:
(http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/5314/ss23qq4.png)
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: phatosealpha on March 08, 2008, 12:03:39 pm
They should be much, much brighter then that.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 08, 2008, 02:03:27 pm
They should be much, much brighter then that.

Any idea on how to fix it?
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Davros on March 08, 2008, 02:36:14 pm
video card ?
graphics settings ?
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 08, 2008, 03:10:15 pm
ATI radeon 9550, 1024x768x16. It also happened on all of the other screen resolutions, though. I can't remember if there's any other important settings, so I'll go look now.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: phatosealpha on March 08, 2008, 09:46:28 pm
Offhand I don't.   But it's been a while since I've played, and I'm on the nVidia side of things which means different issues.

Try the SAFE_TEXTURE_MANAGER 1 thing?

You asked over at the TTLG? 
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Mr. Vega on March 08, 2008, 11:20:03 pm
It is powered by the Dark Engine after all. :D
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: SadisticSid on March 09, 2008, 05:55:54 am
I've taken some screenshots just to verify what we're seeing here:


That's actually kinda cool. It'd certainly take the cake as the creepiest level in SS2, although the lack of a flashlight would make it impossible for a newbie.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Roanoke on March 09, 2008, 07:14:52 am
I've taken some screenshots just to verify what we're seeing here:


That's actually kinda cool. It'd certainly take the cake as the creepiest level in SS2, although the lack of a flashlight would make it impossible for a newbie.

I always prefered Engineering's cargo decks myself. Though that cyborg midwife is kinda freaky.
Shame they didn't use lighting more as the dark engine was obviously capable of doing so.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Hellstryker on March 09, 2008, 11:05:18 am
I've taken some screenshots just to verify what we're seeing here:


That's actually kinda cool. It'd certainly take the cake as the creepiest level in SS2, although the lack of a flashlight would make it impossible for a newbie.

I always prefered Engineering's cargo decks myself. Though that cyborg midwife is kinda freaky.
Shame they didn't use lighting more as the dark engine was obviously capable of doing so.
:lol:
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 09, 2008, 11:25:17 am
I've taken some screenshots just to verify what we're seeing here:


That's actually kinda cool. It'd certainly take the cake as the creepiest level in SS2, although the lack of a flashlight would make it impossible for a newbie.

It does, but like I said before it's utterly impossible to do without the laser rapier. And using the laser rapier isn't quite as empowering and psychologically beneficial as blowing the crap out of things with the grenade launcher (admitidly, all of those heavy weapons are actually useless with the AP rounds).
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: CP5670 on March 09, 2008, 12:45:52 pm
Are you getting this in the entire game, or just in that level?

If it's the former, it's probably due to the ATI brightness glitch that occurs in a number of games, which is annoying but easy to work around.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 09, 2008, 04:32:14 pm
Are you getting this in the entire game, or just in that level?

If it's the former, it's probably due to the ATI brightness glitch that occurs in a number of games, which is annoying but easy to work around.

The former. And it's only that specific area; if you go past any bulkheads it's fine until you return to that area. I'll certainly look up the brightness glitch thing, too.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: MP-Ryan on March 10, 2008, 08:28:56 am
Up your gamma if you can as a temporary fix.

SS2 is by far my favorite game of all time.  I made the mistake once of playing through Hydroponics and Ops in the dark.  Never again.  That game is terrifying with headphones on in the pitch black.  *shudder*

Invisibility is a must-have for deck 4.  Then you can just scoot by all those nasty ***ing spiders and assassins.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 11, 2008, 06:48:50 pm
Quote
SS2 is by far my favorite game of all time.  I made the mistake once of playing through Hydroponics and Ops in the dark.  Never again.  That game is terrifying with headphones on in the pitch black.  *shudder*

Actually, I think even with this glitch, the Engineering cargo bays are the creepiest part of the game. You can't see 3 feet in front of you because of all of the crates, yet you can hear so much, and it's all dark and glowy too.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: phatosealpha on March 12, 2008, 12:05:56 am
That deck is dangerous too, unless you know the trick to dealing with suicidal robots.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: CP5670 on March 12, 2008, 12:36:15 am
Quote
The former. And it's only that specific area; if you go past any bulkheads it's fine until you return to that area. I'll certainly look up the brightness glitch thing, too.

You said the former but described the latter. :p The problem I referred to is basically that if you have changed the brightness or gamma in the driver settings, loading certain games causes them to revert back to their defaults. The simplest solution is to use ATI Tray Tools to bind a hotkey to changing the gamma back, and hit that key whenever you start a game. This works nicely for me in all but one game.

If this is your problem though, it will affect the entire game, including menus and stuff like that.

Quote
SS2 is by far my favorite game of all time.  I made the mistake once of playing through Hydroponics and Ops in the dark.  Never again.  That game is terrifying with headphones on in the pitch black.  *shudder*

I play all my games just like that, and this was no exception. Didn't seem "terrifying" to me at all. :p

Quote
That deck is dangerous too, unless you know the trick to dealing with suicidal robots.

Is that the one where you run up to them and repeatedly smash them with a melee weapon, causing them to walk backwards without returning fire?
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Roanoke on March 12, 2008, 05:13:18 am
or do what I do: cack your pants and run away
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 12, 2008, 07:12:18 am
Just shoot them. It's not like it's a waste of ammunition that early in the game, plus you can kill literally every other enemy with a few good wrench swings without taking damage until ops.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Roanoke on March 12, 2008, 07:34:03 am
I always play on Impossible. Much, much better. 
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 12, 2008, 07:48:20 am
I always play on Impossible. Much, much better. 

I tried that before, but that was immediately after I played it the first time so I got too depressed half-way through, so I stopped playing. The next few times I played were on hard. The only parts that I really had trouble with was the last deck on the Rickenbacker, with the two rumblers and spiders. :/
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Roanoke on March 12, 2008, 07:54:37 am
TBH I always intend to try something "new" evertime I play but never bother. I've still never tried Psionics but I alway end up becoming a grunt with the assault Rifle.

Speaking about the Assault Rifle, if I was going to edit SS2 I'd make the Rifle much less powerful per individual shot but put in alot more ammo. It's really too powerful and makes auto fire completley obsolete. Only takes 3 shots to kill a Rumbler where as the big green cannontm (I forget the name) takes 2 shots and you get far less ammo for it.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: phatosealpha on March 12, 2008, 05:17:18 pm
Is that the one where you run up to them and repeatedly smash them with a melee weapon, causing them to walk backwards without returning fire?

Nah, I mean the exploding protocol droids, and the way that localized pyrokineses makes you immune to their explosions. 
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 12, 2008, 05:50:57 pm
PSI skill is too expensive. The only time I ever spent anything on PSI is when I go the duplication skill. Unlimited ammo is nice...
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Flaser on March 13, 2008, 06:28:14 am
TBH I always intend to try something "new" evertime I play but never bother. I've still never tried Psionics but I alway end up becoming a grunt with the assault Rifle.

Speaking about the Assault Rifle, if I was going to edit SS2 I'd make the Rifle much less powerful per individual shot but put in alot more ammo. It's really too powerful and makes auto fire completley obsolete. Only takes 3 shots to kill a Rumbler where as the big green cannontm (I forget the name) takes 2 shots and you get far less ammo for it.

Just install the MOD called Straylight's Anomalies, Discrepancies And Outright Bugs Mod, it fixes things and makes the AR a lot more accessible while also toning ti down. (Though with a STD 6 skill it's still deadly).

While you're at it, you'd probably also want to install the SHTUP and Rebirth mods that overhaul the in-game models and some of the textures.

Get all of these here:
http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php?PHPSESSID=0cbe1385f35d0410a0f4828ba61728cb&board=2.0
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Hellstryker on March 13, 2008, 06:56:41 pm
TBH I always intend to try something "new" evertime I play but never bother. I've still never tried Psionics but I alway end up becoming a grunt with the assault Rifle.

Speaking about the Assault Rifle, if I was going to edit SS2 I'd make the Rifle much less powerful per individual shot but put in alot more ammo. It's really too powerful and makes auto fire completley obsolete. Only takes 3 shots to kill a Rumbler where as the big green cannontm (I forget the name) takes 2 shots and you get far less ammo for it.

Just install the MOD called Straylight's Anomalies, Discrepancies And Outright Bugs Mod, it fixes things and makes the AR a lot more accessible while also toning ti down. (Though with a STD 6 skill it's still deadly).

While you're at it, you'd probably also want to install the SHTUP and Rebirth mods that overhaul the in-game models and some of the textures.

Get all of these here:
http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php?PHPSESSID=0cbe1385f35d0410a0f4828ba61728cb&board=2.0
Shut up mod? Rofl
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: MP-Ryan on March 18, 2008, 11:45:12 am
PSI skill is too expensive. The only time I ever spent anything on PSI is when I go the duplication skill. Unlimited ammo is nice...

See, I go almost entirely psionic.  The early weapons get you killed way too easily.

Invisibility for the win.  The only thing you can't avoid with it is The Many and SHODAN herself, and a grenade launcher takes care of them nicely.  The red friends can also be dispatched with a couple disruptor grenades.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Davros on March 18, 2008, 02:40:42 pm
ok i may be remembering this all wrong
but did you have to restore power to that deck ?
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 18, 2008, 03:03:36 pm
ok i may be remembering this all wrong
but did you have to restore power to that deck ?

No; on Hydro you had to get toxin-A into the environmental regulators.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Roanoke on March 20, 2008, 03:33:53 pm
well you restore ship wide power to get to the deck in the first place  :)
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Polpolion on March 20, 2008, 04:29:35 pm
well you restore ship wide power to get to the deck in the first place  :)

Yeah, but that shouldn't have any impact on the lights there, since I always go there after I restore the power. You can get to hydroponics if and only if you restore power.
Title: Re: System Shock 2 "mishap"?
Post by: Roanoke on March 21, 2008, 07:11:41 am
I can't recall the lights beinf affected at all (either before or after power restoration). I just recall the radiation tubes being purged.