Thief 2, System Shock 2 Get Surprise Updates
A major, mysterious fan-made patch has breathed new life into two Looking Glass classics.
Thief 2: The Metal Age [http://www.amazon.com/System-Shock-2-Pc/dp/B00000K4AX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348702001&sr=8-1&keywords=system+shock+2] are two of the most glorious videogames ever made. There's no room for discussion or debate on the topic, that's just how it is. But they're also rather old - System Shock 2 came out in 1999, Thief 2 in 2000 - and honest fans will admit that even when they were new, they weren't much to look at. Fans have released a number of mods for System Shock 2 that dramatically improve its visuals but it takes a good degree of comfort with such things to get them installed and working, and even so, they leave some elements untouched.
But a couple of files that recently turned up on the French site Ariane4ever promise to change all that. They're unofficial patches that bring a huge number of visual improvements to the games, such as windowed mode, widescreen resolutions, 32-bit color, improved textures and much more, while at the same time boosting their overall performance and stability. These aren't just minor tweaks; they represent major overhauls to both games. There are even single-level demos for both, if you just want to give them a spin without having to actually reinstall the full games.
It sounds a little dubious and despite living in the frigid wastes of the north I don't actually speak French, but fortunately the good folks at the TTLG forums are all over it and they've given both patches a resounding thumbs up. Who "Le Corbeau" is and what drove him (or her) to create these updates now, more than a decade after the fact, is a mystery. But if you're a taffer or a hacker with an itch for some old-school goodness, you should definitely give them a look.
Sources: Through the Looking Glass [http://ariane4ever.free.fr/ariane4ever/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4287&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30]
Permalink
A major, mysterious fan-made patch has breathed new life into two Looking Glass classics.
Thief 2: The Metal Age [http://www.amazon.com/System-Shock-2-Pc/dp/B00000K4AX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348702001&sr=8-1&keywords=system+shock+2] are two of the most glorious videogames ever made. There's no room for discussion or debate on the topic, that's just how it is. But they're also rather old - System Shock 2 came out in 1999, Thief 2 in 2000 - and honest fans will admit that even when they were new, they weren't much to look at. Fans have released a number of mods for System Shock 2 that dramatically improve its visuals but it takes a good degree of comfort with such things to get them installed and working, and even so, they leave some elements untouched.
But a couple of files that recently turned up on the French site Ariane4ever promise to change all that. They're unofficial patches that bring a huge number of visual improvements to the games, such as windowed mode, widescreen resolutions, 32-bit color, improved textures and much more, while at the same time boosting their overall performance and stability. These aren't just minor tweaks; they represent major overhauls to both games. There are even single-level demos for both, if you just want to give them a spin without having to actually reinstall the full games.
It sounds a little dubious and despite living in the frigid wastes of the north I don't actually speak French, but fortunately the good folks at the TTLG forums are all over it and they've given both patches a resounding thumbs up. Who "Le Corbeau" is and what drove him (or her) to create these updates now, more than a decade after the fact, is a mystery. But if you're a taffer or a hacker with an itch for some old-school goodness, you should definitely give them a look.
Sources: Through the Looking Glass [http://ariane4ever.free.fr/ariane4ever/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4287&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30]
Permalink
