01/04/2000

              green2red for System Shock 2
              ============================
                                        Qbi'2000


Finally I found a solution for the "wrong-color-problem" in the
german version of System Shock 2. Fortunately the designers
didn't make it too hard to change textures since the .crf files
are only zip-archives. So I was able to make a "patch" within about
one hour (writing this instruction took at least another hour...).

It is not an automatic patch, so be warned! You have to do a little
manual work. But if you're familiar with WinZip or any other zip-
utility it should be a piece of cake!

Since the original textures are in the game's archives as well, it was
easy to replace the wrong colored textures with the right ones. I only
had to manually recolor the writings-on-the-wall to keep them german.

I also corrected a little texture misalignment which made the "Zugang
gewhrt"-terminal jump one pixel to the left and right while blinking.

But now to the important stuff: How to install the right textures??
Here we go:


 Installation Part 1:
 --------------------

  1. Copy "obj.crf" and "bitmap.crf" from your SShock2 directory to a
     temporary directory (e.g. "c:\temp"). If the files aren't in the
     game directory make sure to have at least a "medium" installation
     of the game.

  2. Rename the two files in the temp directory to "obj.crf.zip" and
     "bitmap.crf.zip".

  3. Unzip the files into two different folders in your temp directory
     (e.g. "c:\temp\obj\" and "c:\temp\bitmap\"). Make sure to enable the
     "Use folder names"-option in WinZip.

  4. Unzip the "obj-patch.zip" file out of the green2red.zip archive into
     your temporary "obj"-folder ("c:\temp\obj\"), make sure to enable
     the "Use folder names"-option and confirm overwriting.

  5. Unzip the "bitmap-patch.zip" file from the green2red.zip archive into
     your temporary "bitmap"-folder ("c:\temp\bitmap\"), make sure to
     enable the "Use folder names"-option  and confirm overwriting.

  6. Zip the two folders (if you use WinZip, right-click on each of
     them and choose "Add to obj.zip" respectively "Add to bitmap.zip"
     in the folders' context menus).

  7. Rename the two newly created zip-files "obj.zip" and "bitmap.zip"
     to "obj.crf" and "bitmap.crf" (also read "Additional Information").

  8. Rename the original "obj.crf" and "bitmap.crf" in the SShock2
     directory to "obj.bak" and "bitmap.bak" and move the patched
     archives ("obj.crf" and "bitmap.crf") from the temp directory into
     your SShock2 directory.

  9. Delete "obj.crf.zip" and "bitmap.crf.zip" as well as the temporary
     folders "obj" and "bitmap" from your temp directory.

     You're almost finished, but please read on!


Even after correcting the textures the spatters remain in a yellow-green
color. This is because they aren't objects but F/X of the 3D-accelerator.
But of course I've got a solution for this, too ;-)


 Installation Part 2:
 --------------------

  Open the shock.cfg file located in your SShock2 directory using any
  text editor you like and add the line (of course without the quotes)

  "menschveracht"

  before the line containing "TerrTextures16".

Furthermore this re-enables some removed details such as the "hangman"
in the the first level (please read the "known limitations" section!).

Now it is done! The censorship is no longer and the german translation is
still untouched.


 Additional Information:
 -----------------------

  * If you're having problems renaming the .crf.zip-files back to .crf
    try one of the following solutions:

    1. Rename the files via the MS-DOS-Commandprompt ("ren"-command)
       ("Start->Programs->MS-DOS-Prompt")
       or
    2. Turn of the - in my opinion totally stupid - hiding of known
       file extensions in Windows' Explorer.
       This is quite easy:
       Click on "Extras->Folderoptions..." in the Explorer menu and
       select the second tab "View" in the following dialog. There's a
       box labelled "Enhanced Settings:", which 4th line reads "hide
       file extensions for known file types". Clear the checkmark left
       to it by clicking once on it. Tadaa, all file extensions are visible
       in Explorer now and the .crf.zip-files can be renamed to .crf-files
       in Explorer.

    Note: Since I have the german version of Win98 installed the names of
    the above settings may be not exactly correct. But I think they can
    be easily identified ;-)

  * If you want to switch back from the red to the green configuration
    simply rename the patched files in the SShock2 directory to "obj.new"
    and "bitmap.new" and rename the old files ("obj.bak" and "bitmap.bak")
    to "obj.crf" and "bitmap.crf".
    Putting a semicolon (";") before the "menschveracht" line in the
    "shock.cfg" file disables this option (please read the "known
    limitations" section!).

  * By renaming the files and disabling/enabling the option you can easily
    switch between the two configurations.


 Known limitations:
 ------------------

  * Regarding the textures there are no limitations.

  * The "menschveracht" flag only has limited effects on savegames: Though
    the spatters become red for savegames created without the flag, the
    hangman doesn't appear (this should also concern other disabled objects).
    It seems that the game puts the state of the flag into the savegames.
    So you have to start a new game to make sure the flag is considered by
    the engine. Sorry, but I can't change that :-(
    But if the flag is already set when saving a game, there is no problem.


If you've got any problems, questions or suggestions regarding this patch,
feel free to email me!


Have fun and watch your back!
cu
	Qbi

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