System Shock Portable v1.2 actually works!

[bobbynewmarkiii]

...for me, at least.

Last time I played System Shock was c.2002 before I 'upgraded' my 300mhz laptop to Win98SE. I used it as a MIDI box, so couldn't bring myself to go back to Win95 and loose USB support. Anyway... System Shock Portable is a project to bring System Shock to modern PCs. I got stuck on v0.7, which didn't work on my machine, but somehow I missed v1.2, which works fine on my 1.2Ghz laptop - get it here http://www.systemshock.org/index.php/topic,211.0.html. I have to use the DOSbox boot and any resolution above 320x200 is a bit choppy, but, hey - this is a retro game right!?! All of the boot options are easily accessible via the Launcher program, and Malba Tahan's mouselook mod addresses the only serious flaw (in my opinion) of the original build of this seminal game - what direction would gaming have taken if the original had a decent control scheme?

Anyway - I'm totally stoked that this is working for me and would thoroughly recommend that all my fellow racketboyers with even a passing interest in sci-fi / cyberpunk / fps / rpg / action adventure gaming give this a go. Back in '02 I was forced out by Win98 before I could finish the game - I got just past the point where I made a bit of a faux pas with the mining laser (anyone who has played this through probably knows what I mean!).

Also - I couldn't resist installing SS2 and discovered that, somehow, given the passage of time, the HOTU rip of SS2 now plays videos the right way up for me - previously I've had to play the game with the few cut scenes playing inverted. Get it by following the links here http://www.homeoftheunderdogs.net/game.php?id=3924So, now is the time if you want to catch up on this awesome, timeless, peerless, superb, chilling, ahead of it's time series. Fuck Bioshock - this is where it's at!

[J T]

Sweet! Thansk for that. I've been wanting to play these two games for a good long time now. I have never played either one before, but they are legendary in reputation.

I have been hoping that GOG.com would get a legit copy and I'm still waiting for that. For now, this will give me a chance to experience the games since I doubt I could get the originals running on my machine without someone making a launcher like this.

[Ack]

I'm hesitant to try it. I'm pretty sure it was a false positive, but my anti-virus freaked when scanning the file. It says "multiple runtime compression aspack,nupx"

[gumbooo]

I completed ss2 just now (again) and discovered this topic:) I love this game, never played ss1 properly. During one break i checked if there is version of ss1 compatible with vista, and found ssp1.2. It is working great, just not easy to get use to ss1 gameplay after playing ss2

[bobbynewmarkiii]

Sorry to hear about any virus scares. System Shock has always been a bugger to get working, even back in the day you had to free up system resources or get a fail message reading 'don't forget to salt the fries'... not particularly useful! Is the virus scare on the SS2 package? I remember getting something like that for SS2 a few years ago, but ran it anyway and didn't notice any adverse consequences.

I forgot to mention that System Shock Portable uses the CD-ROM version of the original, with audio recordings for most of the logs you find on the the deceased former inhabitants of Citadel Station, as opposed to text for the 3.5" floppy disk version.

The play style for SS is quite different from SS2 - the puzzles can be quite tricky - this was very much a thinking man's FPS.

[Ack]

Actually the scans came up while using 7zip on their .7z files I downloaded from MegaUpload. From what I read it was the scanner freaking over the way things had been compressed.

[J T]

Actually the scans came up while using 7zip on their .7z files I downloaded from MegaUpload. From what I read it was the scanner freaking over the way things had been compressed.

I unzipped System Shock Portable with the IZArc program (great free zip software by the way), and didn't have a problem with the compression, but my antivirus flagged "affinity.exe" as a potentially unwanted program. Here's an explanation of what it is: http://www.leweyg.com/download/affinity.html

Also, quitting the game takes you to a DOS prompt instead of windows, but all you have to do is type the phrase "exit" to go back to Windows.