System Shock 2

Overview

System Shock 2 is, in my humble opinion, one of the most enjoyable games ever created. A blend of first-person shooter and role playing, with lots of creepy-scary thrown in. The fact it's still available for purchase so long after the August 1999 release speaks volumes. Unfortunately, it's so old people can have horrible trouble just getting it to run properly on modern computers. There are plenty of FAQs around, but remarkably little in the way of simple installation instructions. To help spread the joy and alleviate the suffering, I've composed some instructions complete with relevant links and files to help people install the game and get it running properly. There's also directions on modernising the appearance.

    Back to top ↑

Installing System Shock 2

• Perform a full install of the game to a Sshock2 folder somewhere. If you can't get setup.exe to start, use a -lgntforce parameter. For example if your CD drive is D:, Start, Run, D:\setup.exe -lgntforce to install the game.
• Download and install the official shkpatch.exe patch. This will update the game to version 2.3, which is XP compatable.
• Open the cutscenes folder that's in your game folder. Double-click intro.avi, to see if if plays. If it doesn't, download and install the updated version of the Ligos Indeo Codec.
• Download sshock2.zip. Open the zip, and put the files in your Sshock2 folder replacing existing files. This fixes dualcore processor problems, supports the DDfix patch, and sets safe texture mode.
• Download DDFix. DDFix is a fan-created fix to allow the Dark Engine to look as good on modern video cards as it was supposed to. If you want more information, check out TTLG.com.
• Open the zip file, and put the files in your Sshock2 folder. Close the zip file.
• Optional: Edit the ddfix.ini file to set the desired screen resolution, and set antistropic filtering to 1.
• Test the game! It should run with all movies working.

    Back to top ↑

Visual Improvements

System Shock 2 is an old game, and both the characters and the textures look dated. Here are some techniques to improve the look of the game.

How to make System Shock 2 characters look better:

• For advanced users only! Be sure to make a backup copy of your working game folder before starting!
• Download Etienne Aubert's Rebirth mod from this thread at www.strangebedfellows.de.
• Open the zip, and copy the mesh folder to your Sshock2 folder.
• All done, and ready to play!

How to make textures in System Shock 2 look better:

• For advanced users only! Be sure to make a backup copy of your working game folder before starting!
• Make a backup copy of your working game folder before starting.
• Download shtup_beta6.zip from shtup.home.att.net.
• Delete the following folders from your Sshock2 folder:
  BITMAP
  FAM
  FONTS
  INTRFACE
  OBJ
• Create a RES folder in your Sshock2 folder.
• Move all 16 of the .crf files from your Sshock2 folder to the RES folder you just created.
• Open Install.cfg using Notepad.
• Find the line that starts with resname_base, and add \res to the first path. For example:
resname_base c:\games\shock2+f:\shock2
becomes:
resname_base c:\games\shock2\res+f:\shock2

• Save the file.
• All done, and ready to play!

    Back to top ↑