Last updated: Monday 31 January 2000 NZST
This FAQ contains frequently asked questions about the computer game System Shock, and their answers. Note that this FAQ does not cover the sequel, System Shock 2 - for more information on that game, see the Unofficial System Shock 2 FAQ (hints/walkthrough) or the Official System Shock 2 FAQ (technical help).
If you'd like to see a question added, correct/improve an answer, or you'd like to make any other comment about the FAQ, please email me using the address the_blue_lightning@usa.net. It's my intention to make the FAQ as comprehensive as it can be (to an extent) so any System Shock related information you have would be much appreciated.
Thanks must go to all of those who worked on System Shock or in some way helped its creation. Thanks also to Dan Todd and Saam Tariverdi for creating the TTLG website, and the Trioptimum website before that.
31 January 2000:
System Shock is a 3-d first person action roleplaying game (RPG) created by Looking Glass Technologies, and distributed by Origin Systems, which was released in 1994. It was the first major game to enter the cyberpunk genre. It's a close combination of a 3-d action game and an RPG, but it foregoes some of the more complex RPG elements, focussing more on gameplay.
Cyberpunk refers to the genre of science fiction based in a world where cybernetic enhancements (electronic devices embedded in the human body, not just to replace broken body parts but to enhance function) are commonplace, sentient artificial intelligence is a reality, and huge global corporations hold the balance of power rather than governments. This defines cyberpunk as it is seen in System Shock. But you can have cyberpunk without cybernetics, for example, 2001: A Space Odyessy had a cyberpunk element (the computer HAL 9000 kills off almost all of the crew of the spaceship in order to complete its mission more efficiently), and even without technology, for example, The Difference Engine, which is based in Victorian times and has a cyberpunk-ish theme. The corporations part is generally the defining feature of cyberpunk, however.
The book that brought cyberpunk into existence was Neuromancer by William Gibson, and I'm told it's a good read.
It is the the year 2072. You're a hacker, caught breaking into the computer system of a huge corporation called TriOptimum. You are apprehended and transported to the TriOptimum space station Citadel, orbiting Saturn. A high-ranking TriOptimum executive, Edward Diego, says he will dismiss the charges against you and give you a military grade neural interface, if you hack him into Citadel station's highly advanced AI computer, SHODAN, and give him full control over the station.
You decide to do what Diego asks, and keeping his word, Diego allows you to be fitted with the neural interface, so you can jack into cyberspace whenever you want. This requires extensive surgery, and an artificial healing coma which lasts 6 months.
When you wake up, the hospital ward seems deserted, so you get up and look around. After a few minutes, you realise that something has gone horribly wrong on board the station while you were asleep. It turns out that in giving Diego full access, you removed all ethical constraints upon SHODAN, which reexamined its priorities, drew new conclusions, and took over the station itself.
The station is now overrun with mindless cyborgs, robots, mutated humans and biological experiments gone wrong. As far as anyone knows, you are the only remaining survivor on the station. Your mission is to deactivate SHODAN - and ultimately to stop it from reaching Earth and destroying or enslaving the entire human race.
The System Shock engine was based on the same engine used in the Ultima Underworld games (which were also developed by Looking Glass) and was one of the first "true 3-D" first-person action games (in the sense that it allowed bridges and platforms that you could use to walk over areas that you could also walk underneath). At the time it was dismissed by many as a Doom clone, since Doom came out at around the same time. But the fact of the matter was that Doom and System Shock were quite different games, and technology-wise, System Shock was quite a way ahead.
System Shock had the following features which had not been seen previously in the action genre:
Still, technical achievements alone are not the only reasons why System Shock was (and still is) good. The main reason is that (partly because it is an RPG) it has an incredible level of detail and depth of gameplay, which you didn't get in most games of that time, and still don't get in a lot of action games and RPGs today.
System Shock was developed for the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh platforms. I am not aware of any other ports of the game.
Here is a complete list of the weapons available in System Shock. The descriptions in italics are copied from the System Shock: Terminal Access manual.
| Lead pipe | |
| Description | All TriOptimum security personnel are trained in the use of clubs, pipes and similar instruments. |
| Comments | Sufficient for bashing up mutants and serv-bots early on. Otherwise not very useful. |
| Ammo | Not applicable |
| TS-04 Laser Rapier | |
| Description | This energized lance projects a monofilament thread that is suspended in a contained energy field. Upon contact, the thread slices through organic and synthetic materials, permanently disabling most creatures and robots. The rapier is usually carried only by senior security officers and military commanders. |
| Comments | Excellent. Cuts down just about any enemy in one or two strokes. The only downside is that you have to get close. |
| Ammo | Uses internal energy |
| SV-23 Dart Pistol | |
| Description | This gun provides excellent control of laboratory animals, delivering an explosive bite or a paralyzing neurotoxin. |
| Comments | Really only useful for humanoid mutants on the first level. Don't bother with the tranq darts though. |
| Ammo |
|
| ML-41 Minipistol | |
| Description | Designed primarily as a defensive weapon, this minipistol is standard issue for TriOptimum executives. |
| Comments | Not particularly powerful, but there's plenty of ammo for it. |
| Ammo |
|
| Magnum 2100 | |
| Description | Standard issue for TriOptimum security officers, this pistol is a preferred offensive tool in confined spaces. Rounds are designed for high damage. |
| Comments | Good. Ammo is in short supply early on though. For some reason, Security-2 bots drop ammo for this gun. |
| Ammo |
|
| AM-27 Flechette | |
| Description | Favored among TriOptimum security officers, this 6mm submachine gun fires needle-like ammunition. |
| Comments | Nice all-purpose weapon. Good against mutants and cyborgs, less effective against robots though. Ammo is plentiful. |
| Ammo |
|
| DC-05 Riot Gun | |
| Description | For riot situations, this weapon provides maximum knock-back with minimal damage (recommended for neutralizing less-dangerous targets). |
| Comments | Pretty useless against enemies, but can be used for pushing around grenades without blowing them up (if you're careful). See also 8.5 What is the riot gun good for? |
| Ammo | 20 Rubber slugs |
| MARK III Assault Rifle | |
| Description | This full-sized combat rifle is based on the 2064 Interlocutor KR-5. |
| Comments | It's not quite as powerful as it sounds, and it produces a big recoil and thus has a longer recovery time than the other weapons. Still, it's handy to have around, and can dispatch most enemies with a couple of shots. Penetrator ammo is very scarce, but highly effective. |
| Ammo |
|
| RF-07 Skorpion | |
| Description | The RF-07 is a 9mm submachine gun similar to the flechette, but larger, with heavier ammunition. This is the most powerful weapon in the standard TriOptimum security arsenal. |
| Comments | By far the best firearm in the game. A few rounds from this will take care of almost anything... in fact, balancing against the other weapons it's almost too powerful. |
| Ammo |
|
| MM-76 Railgun | |
| Description | This heavy assault weapon propels a grenade-like projectile that explodes on contact and is capable of penetrating heavy armor. |
| Comments | Pretty useless. The shells do more damage to you than to enemies, and it's easy to miss and hit a wall closer to you. |
| Ammo | 12-count Rail gun clip (heavy armor penetration and fragmentation damage) |
| DH-07 Stun gun | |
| Description | This gun throws a weak plasma projectile at a target, discharging an arc that registers 10 kV to stun living creatures and damage cyborgs. |
| Comments | Pretty useless unless you're playing the game on a low enemy difficulty. Otherwise don't bother with it. |
| Ammo | Uses internal energy |
| Sparqbeam Sidearm (Sparq) | |
| Description | Although meant as a personal defense device, the sparqbeam generates a respectable offensive blast at higher settings. |
| Comments | A good general purpose weapon - keep it until you get a more powerful beam weapon. Particularly useful for shooting out cameras. It does get a bit hot on higher settings, though. |
| Ammo | Uses internal energy |
| ER-90 Blaster | |
| Description | This new laser weapon fires a pulse of high-energy ultraviolet light. The built-in liquid nitrogen cooling system allows for high-intensity damage. |
| Comments | A good replacement for the sparq. Does more damage and doesn't heat up as quickly. |
| Ammo | Uses internal energy |
| RW-45 Ion Rifle | |
| Description | Prototypes of this advanced energy beam gun evolved from late-model beam sidearms. It delivers a powerful stream of ionic particles with more force than normal blaster guns. |
| Comments | Quite powerful, although it eats your energy quite quickly unless you use it at a lower setting. |
| Ammo | Uses internal energy |
| LG-XX Plasma Gun | |
| Description | Experimental prototype. |
| Comments | Extremely powerful, but slightly dangerous. The plasma balls split and bounce around, sometimes ricocheting and hitting you. Eats a lot of energy. |
| Ammo | Uses internal energy |
| SB-20 Magpulse | |
| Description | The intense electromagnetic bursts from this rifle damage any shielded circuitry. It is the recommended means of deactivating malfunctioning combat robots. |
| Comments | Good for taking down hoppers and other robots. Completely useless against organic lifeforms, however. Save your ammo, because there isn't much of it until later. |
| Ammo | 25-count Magpulse clip |
You have to reduce the overall security percentage of the level. This can be done by destroying cameras and CPU nodes on that level (the CPU nodes can be found clustered in one room somewhere. They are usually pretty well guarded). If you want to find out the current security percentage, use the "system analyser" device (press the hardware inventory button at the bottom of the screen and then select the "STATUS v1" item).
Use a "sight" patch (cyan coloured with a yellow stripe). Unfortunately, it only lasts a minute or so. If you can find the lantern attachment, then that's a better alternative (you first get it on level 3). There is of course the option of turning up your monitor brightness or the gamma correction, but that would be cheating :-).
These are very useful devices, which you can use on wiring puzzles to solve them immediately. Note that sometimes if you have already messed around with the wiring panel, the logic probe will not be able to solve the puzzle.
Yes! This can lead to some fun experiments... Try putting grenades in a line and then shooting the end one and BOOM, they all go off at once. You could also use this to destroy a large number of enemies at once, eg. throw some non-live frag grenades in the area where the enemies are, then throw in a nitropack and wait. Or you could increase the power of land mines with a couple of non-live concussion bombs. Endless possibilities... :-)
Grenades are actually quite useful. It's sometimes better to use them instead of going into a room with guns blazing, since you'll take less damage. You have the advantage of surprise, too. Still, once you've got a Skorpion, it probably doesn't really matter either way.
No, it appears not. I had wondered about this, since there is more than you actually need to finish the game, but the only place you can use it is on the four antenna relays on the Engineering level.
No, it doesn't seem like it.
They are other areas accessible from other cyberspace terminals. Each cyberspace terminal leads to a different area of cyberspace, even if there are two on a particular level.
Nope. They are just there for effect.
Earth gets lasered, SHODAN thanks you, and the game ends. Try it, if you're curious.
Apart from the effects it produces, you can see which patches are active (if any) by using the Biological Systems monitor (top left hardware button) if you have it. This will give you a list of the patches active, if any.
You may have seen references to "MFD"s in the game and in the manual. MFD stands for Multi-Function Display. It just means that your three heads-up display areas at the bottom of the screen can be switched to display different things.
Sadly, no. It was common in games at that time that the keys were fixed. If you were able to find some sort of keyboard remap program for DOS (I'm not aware of any specific programs to do this, but they may exist) then maybe you could use that.
Possibly, depending on your hardware and installation. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it crashes as soon as you run it. You may have better luck if you set the following settings for the MS-DOS session that the game will run in (right click on CDSHOCK.BAT or SSHOCK.BAT, depending on which version of the game you're running) and select Properties.)
Thanks to Kasakitis for the above setting recommendations.
You may need to make a DOS boot disk. Take a blank disk, and either go to a DOS
prompt and type SYS A:, or right click on 3½ Floppy, and select
Format, then select Copy System Files Only and press Start.
You may be able to solve this problem also by editing your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. I've found that a CONFIG.SYS file beginning with something like this works well:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM NOEMS DOS=HIGH,UMB FILES=50
You will need to load your mouse driver, and if you're trying to play the Enhanced CD version, your CD-ROM driver and MSCDEX.EXE as well. Some soundcards (like the Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE32 PnP and the Sound Blaster Live) require drivers to be loaded before they will run in DOS, which is a real pain. With the SB Live it's understandable (because it does not use the same architecture) but there is no excuse with the AWE32, which requires no less than four (!) drivers and memory resident programs running before you can get sound and music to work.
One thing you can do, if you have the disk space, is to copy the entire CD to your hard
drive and install and play the game from there, so you don't have to load your CD-ROM device
driver or MSCDEX.EXE. If you don't have an entire partition to spare, you may need to copy the
files to a new directory and then use the SUBST command to make a new drive with
that directory as the root.
It varies randomly, although there is always one in Dr. D'Arcy's office, which is accessed via the lift opposite the hopper. If you're lucky you could find one on a body in the southernmost area of the level (next to the armory) where there are numerous corpses.
I used to think that there was no healing suite on level 3 at all (and it's probably the one level where a healing suite is needed the most!). As I found out, there is a healing suite, accessed via the door in the southwest corner, down a short corridor. It's not easy to see, but there's a switch on the left wall which opens the door.
You need to find an envirosuit to protect you from the virus. Get into MacLeod's storage cell on level 4 (the logs on that level will tell you the code, but first you'll need to lower the security percentage before you are even allowed to enter it in).
Find Abe Ghiran's severed head, in the west area on level 3. Then use it on the retina scan unit. Be ready to blast the cyborg drone inside.
The reactor destruct code is made up of six digits. There is a screen near the CPU nodes on each of the levels from 1 to 6. The screen has a single digit on it, which keeps randomly changing until you destroy all of the CPU nodes in the room. It then stays on one digit, which is one part of the reactor destruct code which you need. In this way the code is different each time you play the game. It's a good idea to write the digits down as you go along, since it's sometimes difficult to find the CPU nodes again later.
If you can't find the screen, and think you might have destroyed it, don't worry. It can't be destroyed, so it must be there somewhere.
Not as such, there are no "type in" cheats as seen in Doom and other similar games, but there are a few bugs that you can exploit (if you want to cheat, that is)
Also see the files section for walkthroughs.
I first read about this in a walkthrough for System Shock back in 1995. According to the rumour, if you took one beverage can from each level and then took them to level 9, then typed in SALT THE FRIES, "something interesting happens".
This was, however, just an unsubstantiated rumour, and it does not work. I have no idea where it started (perhaps the author of the walkthrough made it up - this seems likely), but it has been around for quite a while. If you've tried it, don't worry, I got sucked in too (I tried it twice, with no effect).
This appears thanks to Saam Tariverdi, who co-runs the TTLG website.
"Back when the LG team was working late-night on SS, one of the employees would go out to McDonalds and order like 15 or 16 Extra Value Meals, or something like that. However, the guys at McDonalds, due to the excess baggage, had to pack all the food into their boxes which they received from the manufacturing plant (Fries, Burgers, etc..). On those boxes, the people at Mickey D's put some quotes on there. On the French Fries boxes, they put the quote "Salt the Fries." The dudes at LG though this was funny, so they cut up all the boxes with "Salt the Fries" on it and pasted them all over the office. Hence, the "Salt the Fries" line was born. Remember, it's not Salt the Fries, it's "Salt the Fries." (A quote from Doug [Church] at E3)."
In the end-of-game credits, one of the last things to be displayed is a haiku written presumably by one of the System Shock development team members. Here it is:
Bloodshot pizza box
Caffiene overdrive sorrow
Embrace the chaos
- Bart
Sentient Hyper-Optimised Data Access Network.
This seems to be a source of confusion to the station crew. Some of them refer to SHODAN as a "he", others as "it". I guess before SHODAN became self-aware, "it" would have been used, but after, considering the voice is in fact female, "she" would have been most appropriate. Then again, is it sane to discuss the gender of a machine?
SHODAN is voiced by Terri Brosius, the wife of Eric Brosius who composed the music for System Shock.
That's an elite cyborg. They're only found on the bridge, and they are very deadly.
Well, you give him your own name when you start the game. He is designated TriOptimum employee 2-4601 (see also 7.13). In "The Hacker's Guide to Sin" (see 10. Related Websites) Joseph Morris mentions he calls his character either "PnP Man" for Plug & Play Man, due to his innate ability to add hardware attachments without worry of IRQ conflicts and other configuration nightmares; or Mr Gibbon, because he can often reach a lot further than he should be able to (the gibbon is an animal of the primate family, which has long arms). Generally though, the main character is referred to these days as "The Hacker".
The reason the character has no set name is to remove the personality of the game character, so the player feels more immersed in the game story. You feel like you're participating in the events rather than playing a person in a game (well, I believe that's the intention, and I think it works quite well).
They aren't actually saying anything. Their "voices" are made up of lots of bits of speech cut up and stuck together, creating quite an interesting effect. There's nothing to stop people guessing what they are saying though.
Note that the "System Shock Classic" version (slimline box) does not include a printed version of the Terminal Access manual. Instead, it has a thinner manual with the basics in it, and an on-line copy of Terminal Access on the CD (which is not as good as the hard copy version, IMHO) which runs under Windows. You can purchase a printed copy of Terminal Access at a cost of USD $5.00 plus P&P. It would have been better if they'd used the Adobe PDF format for the on-line version and thus retained the same layout as the printed version, though.
Apart from the fact that there is only one level in the demo version, these are the differences:
One of the access panels on the maintenance level is the "soylant green filtration control". This is a reference to the 1973 sci-fi thriller Soylent Green (starring Charlton Heston). You can find further details in the IMDB. I'd recommend you see the movie if you're interested further.
The colour of the crosshair depends on the type of weapon you are holding:
| Orange | Hand-to-hand weapon (eg. lead pipe, laser rapier) |
| Red | Semi-automatic firearm (eg. pistol, MARK III, etc) |
| Green | Fully automatic firearm (eg. Flechette, Skorpion) |
| Blue | Energy beam weapon (Sparq etc.) |
| Cyan | Energy projectile weapon (eg. stun gun) |
| Yellow | Magpulse |
2-4601, the hacker's designated Trioptimum employee number, is a reference to Jean Valjean's prisoner number in Les Miserables, 24601. Thanks to WingNut_666 for this little bit of information.
"Mistakes you say? WHAT?" Yes, perhaps they made a few mistakes and strange design decisions in creating System Shock. In this section I've also attempted to explain any other things that people may find odd.
None of this makes any difference to how good System Shock is, it's still an excellent game. It's just interesting to note some of the things below.
If the lifts won't go to certain levels because of "shaft damage" then where are the broken lifts on those floors? (Logically there should be lifts that don't work in those exact same positions on the levels above and below them).
On a station the size of Citadel, why are there no living quarters? No kitchens? What about bathrooms? There is a distinct lack of entertainment on the station too (if you don't count the two viewing rooms and the groves). Hmmmm... One possible answer is that these things were there before, but since SHODAN's robots have rearranged and rebuilt parts of the station, it has all gone. There are also inaccessible areas on some levels (notably the Executive level).
Ever noticed how sometimes, it appears as though robots or mutants just appear out of nowhere? (I don't mean when you just run into them or they come up behind you without you noticing. I mean when you are standing there and they just "appear" in front of you.) You can see this more clearly using the automap, if you have one of the later versions of the Navigation and Mapping units where you can see the monsters ("critters"). This phenomenon is most apparent in one part of the ducts on the bridge, where after shooting a certain number of autobombs, they instantly reappear in huge numbers. It sometimes occurs on level R with the hoppers as well, and very often on level 3 with the invisible mutants. You can see another strange effect in a duct on the engineering level, where autobombs just drop out of the cieling as you blow them up.
There is a log on level 1 which explains this:
|
Sender: Kevin O'Connell Date: 09.Oct.72 Subject: New Cyborgs I think we've underestimated SHODAN. I discovered this morning that he's reprogrammed the regeneration rooms all over the station into cyborg conversion chambers. Now, if anyone is badly wounded, they get turned into cyborgs instead of being healed. I think I've managed to disconnect the medical CPU's from SHODAN's main databank, so all of SHODAN's cyborg converters can be easily reset to their normal healing functions without SHODAN noticing. I'm on my way right now to reset the one on the hospital level. |
However, it seems somehow strange that SHODAN would have made it that easy to convert the healing suites back.
The DC-05 Riot Gun, found on level 4 (storage) is quite useless on any enemy you meet from that point on. There is one use for it though: it can be used to push items out of the way without damaging them. This could be useful for moving live mines, etc. The question is, though, why wasn't it in the game earlier? What the heck was it doing so far in as level 4?
If the Cortex Reavers, as written in the manual, exist in cyberspace and in the physical world, then how come there are only three of them in the game (on the flight deck and two on the bridge), but more than a few floating around in cyberspace?
The player can reach a long way in some circumstances, don't you think? (try it with surgery machines or energy stations). Yet he can never reach over a gap. The lead pipe seems to swing a bit too far sometimes as well.
You can drop a live fragmentation grenade and not be killed in the explosion! You can even put a non-live one on the ground and bash it with the lead pipe, and still be alive afterwards, even though nearby corpses are shredded up...
"I just got shredded by three land mines, and now I'm
back with a vengeance! Thank goodness those bots were there to scrape me
off the walls and bring me back to life!"
Still, if the system works anything like it's supposed to in System Shock 2, then
your body is completely reconstructed at the molecular level. How you manage to get
through this with all your equipment is another matter...
Cyborgs get toasted by EMP grenades. Surely you should take at least a small amount of damage from dropping one at your feet?
Presumably the sound is some kind of interference in the hacker's cybernetic devices caused by the radiation.
It just appears there. One minute there's an open space, the next minute, presto! there's a grating blocking the exit. There's a trigger about halfway down the ramp on the inside - go in backwards (facing the entryway) and you can see it appear.
No.
Nope.
I don't know. Even the first-aid kits and weapons have flashing lights on them! I guess the idea was that you'd be able to see items in dark areas. However, you can imagine how dangerous it would be to go into a combat situation carrying a gun which is equipped with bright attention-getting flashing lights - you'd be dropped as soon as you stepped out into the open.
I guess this must be a bug. If a door controlled by a keypad is "blocked by SHODAN security", and you press the number keys after SHODAN's face comes up, you still hear beeps as if you were pressing the buttons. The code is not registered, though.
There is a distinct lack of System Shock utilities. Vasily Volkov has created a resource extraction program (which can be used to extract the wall textures, sprites, sounds etc. from the game). XMI2MID and RIPXMI by Markus Hein can be used to extract and convert the music (you can search the web for these) although there isn't much point since all of the tunes are downloadable at the TTLG website, in MIDI or MP3 format.
No, but there's nothing to stop some clever person from creating one (hint hint :-) Actually, since System Shock 2 is now out, there probably wouldn't be much point. As yet the editor for System Shock 2 has not been released, though, and there is some doubt as to whether it ever will be.
Yes, there are several. In the Trioptimum Corporate Archives there are five different themes, based on different parts of the game. I have also compiled my own theme as well, which is available on my System Shock page.
Yes, there are two. There is Origin's "official" walkthrough, and also the "System Shock Hint FAQ", also by Origin. However, a much better solution, written by Mitch Aigner, can be found here. The text-only version of this is available also (zipped, 12.6K).
Apparently, in the Macintosh enhanced version of the game, the CD also included three audio tracks that were remixes of three of the tracks in the game (the main title theme, the Medical level theme, and the Reactor level theme). Due to a mistake in the roll-out these tracks did not appear in the PC enhanced version, but you can download them from the TTLG Jukebox.
Also available in the TTLG Jukebox are some user-created remixes of some of the music tracks from the game, and in other sections, music from other Looking Glass games including System Shock 2.
Looking Glass's website is at http://www.lglass.com, although they don't mention System Shock much at all on the site. Some of the developers of System Shock broke away from Looking Glass to form their own company, Irrational Games. Irrational teamed up with Looking Glass to produce the sequel, System Shock 2. The publisher, Origin Systems, is now part of Electronic Arts.
This list obviously cannot be complete. If you have a System Shock related website (that is, it has content relating to the original System Shock, not just the sequel) and you'd like to add it to this list, contact me.