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Comment by BlackDeath3 | Hacker News Reader

I'm actually working my way through System Shock 2 for the first time ever. Man, it's dated, but I keep hearing about how great it is, and I'm a big survival-horror fan.

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The graphics are a bit rough even for 1999, but there are a few user-made mods which help a bit with that, and once you get past the looks, the user interface gives a surprisingly high amount of credit to the player -- especially in comparison with the modern "press X to not die, press Y to win" style.

I recently played through SS2 again, largely for nostalgic reasons, and here's a list of the mods I used, in the order in which I installed them. (Install order matters because, SS2 not being designed for mods, they overwrite core game files; System Shock 2 Mod Manager is highly recommended for keeping everything straight.)

I won't link them because they should all be easily searchable, at most by adding "ss2 mod" to the mod name in your search query; if you can't find one, comment and I'll update with a link.

* Anomalies, Discrepancies, and Outright Bugs (ADaOB) v0.3.0 - bugfixes, &c.

* four hundred v?? - hi-res textures

* SHTUP Beta 6 - more texture improvements

* DeepFriedBeer's sound upgrade v3b - much improved game sound

* PSI-Amp V2 - High-poly/high-res texture replacement for the psionic amplifier weapon.

* Rebirth 02 - High-poly-count model replacements; goes very well with high-res texture packs.

* The following "Tacticool" weapon replacements:

- Assault rifle v1.0

- Grenade launcher v1.0

- Laser pistol v1.1

- Shotgun v1.0

- Wrench v1.0

- Pistol v.11b (ADaOB v0.2.8 compatible)

* Vurt's Hi-Res Space v1.1 - High-resolution skybox texture

I won't pretend that, even with these mods, the result is anything like a modern game in terms of looks. But it's a lot better than stock SS2, and if you're having a lot of trouble getting past the game's looks -- and that's worth doing, if you like your games to make you think and keep you on your toes -- then a setup like this one may help.

Thanks for the list. I'll try those out!

Here, this'll save you some time downloading them individually:

http://aaron-miller.me/misc/Aaron%27s%20SS2%20mod%20collecti...

I'll check that out when I can. Thanks!

It's not ever going to look like a modern game looks because it's not using the graphical engine of a modern game. I find that the most jarring thing is the low-polygon mobs - if you're only going for one mod, grab one that reworks the mobs.

The amazing thing is that the environment looks so good despite the graphical limitations of the time. A stellar job was done folding the starship interiors into the boxy limitations of the day's graphical tech.

There's a rather good Let's Play by Psychedelic Eyeball, here: http://lparchive.org/System-Shock-2-(by-Psychedelic-Eyeball)... As I recall, he does a good job of holding back on spoilers, but you might want to finish the game before watching, just in case there is some side comment or hint that slips out.

Well, SS2 didn't really stand the test of time at the time it was released. It was released 1 year after Half-Life and looks much older ;).

Still, if you can look behind the graphics and can somehow relate to the time back then, it was also so different from Half-Life in many regards.

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