System Shock 2 Community Patch (SCP)
Beta 5 - December 31, 2023

About
=====
SCP is an unofficial patch for System Shock 2 that delivers an authentic and
highly polished gameplay experience, hopefully approximating the form SS2
would have taken if Irrational had had a few more months to work on it before
release. It is not a total conversion, a source port, a reimagining, or a remake.
It is not SS2 for experts, nor is it SS2 for newbies. It’s just SS2, but better.

Development of SCP has been guided by three primary goals: consistency, polish,
and visuals.
- Consistency: As an immersive sim, SS2's greatest strength is its ability to
  make players feel like they're really trapped on board the Von Braun with all
  its horrors. So while we've tweaked game systems here and there, the goal
  hasn't been balancing gameplay, but rather creating a world that's internally
  self-consistent and, where sensible, consistent with real-world expectations.
  Anything illogical, gamey, inconsistent, or otherwise immersion-breaking,
  we've tried to correct.
- Polish: SS2 is a classic, but it was put together in a hurry. We've gone over
  every square inch of SS2 to clean up the rough edges. Floating objects,
  misaligned textures, typos, missing quest notes, flaky scripting, etc. We've
  even restored some elements that were originally intended to be in the game
  but never worked before.
- Visuals: There are some amazing graphical mods for SS2, but certain features
  of the NewDark engine are beyond the scope of standalone mods, so we've
  implemented them directly in SCP. We've also included fixed versions of any
  models or textures that had technical problems. In all cases, we've attempted
  to keep the visual style consistent with the original game.


Requirements and Installation
=============================
SCP requires a retail copy of System Shock 2, patched to version 2.46 (NewDark)
or higher. To ensure that you're running the most current version, use SS2Tool
6.1 or higher to make a new installation. SS2Tool is available here:
https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4141.0

Hardware requirements are slightly higher because of the better lighting and
enhanced effects. If your netbook was struggling when running vanilla, it will
struggle more with SCP.

SCP should be installed as a standard SS2 mod. For SS2 mod installation
instructions, see here:
https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4447.0

As a baseline patch, SCP should usually be installed at the lowest priority
when installed with other mods. We've done what we can to ensure that SCP is
compatible with the major audio/visual mods for SS2.

SCP is NOT compatible with major gameplay overhaul mods (SecMod, System Shock
Infinite, etc). It is probably compatible with mods that only tweak graphics,
sounds, or specific aspects of gameplay.

SCP will not work with games started in any previous version of SS2,
including previous versions of SCP. You will need to start a new game after
installing this version of SCP.

If any of the script modules required by SCP fail to load, this will be
detected at game start and you won’t be allowed to proceed until you’ve fixed
it.


Credits
=======
SCP was made possible by the efforts of:
- antimatter_16 (extreme mapping)
- citadel conversion project (SS1 models)
- dan thron (additional dialog)
- grosnus (Rickenbacker automaps)
- kolya (project hosting)
- nameless voice (scripting, mapping)
- nemyax (tools programming)
- olfred (modeling, modeling, and more modeling)
- straylight (ADaOB, from which SCP sprung)
- thiefsiefool (SecMod, from which we stole many cool features)
- unn_atropos (automap fixes)
- voodoo47 (mapping, project management)
- zygo (mapping)
- zylonbane (mapping, texturing, scripting, project management)
...and voluminous feedback from the SS2 community


Full Documentation
==================
For the full SCP documentation, including all change notes, see
SCP_beta5_readme.pdf, located in the SCP root folder.
