System Shock® 2 (1999)

Nightdive Studios Irrational Games Looking Glass Studios

Released: May 10, 2013
Platforms
Last updated: 14 Sep 2026, 05:55 GMT

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20 posts

07 Oct 2025Developer post
System Shock 2 (1999) Delisting Notice
System Shock 2 (1999) will be delisted from PC platforms on October 10, 2025. Existing owners of System Shock 2 (1999) will still be able to re-download and play it from their library, but new users will no longer be able to purchase System Shock 2 (1999) as a standalone product.
08 Jul 2020Developer post
MacOS update for System Shock 2
Hello Mac Hackers, As you may be aware, Apple dropped support for 32-bit applications in its Catalina operating system. The latest update for System Shock 2 has been updated to run on these platforms using an updated compatibility layer. Many thanks to Gcenx and the Mac Porting T
04 Jul 2019Developer post
v2.48 is available now for Windows and MacOS
Hello Soldiers, A new update for System Shock 2 is available now for Windows and MacOS that brings the game up to version 2.48. The update fixes a few in-game issues as well as restoring a previously unheard e-mail from SHODAN. It's in Ops. Can you find it? Steam configs have bee
29 Sep 2017Developer post
Patch 2.46 is available now on Windows and Mac
Hello Hackers, It's been a while, but a new update for System Shock 2 is now available. It contains the following fixes, improvements and modernisations: Windows, MacOS The EXE has been renamed from Shock2.exe to SS2.exe to avoid old Windows compatibilities being applied on game
Hello Hackers,
It's been a while, but a new update for System Shock 2 is now available. It contains the following fixes, improvements and modernisations:
Windows, MacOS

The EXE has been renamed from Shock2.exe to SS2.exe to avoid old Windows compatibilities being applied on game launch. You will need to restart Steam for the launcher to point to the new executable,
Fixed the problem with battery not fully charging items sometimes,
Partially fixed the problem with Pyro field glow effect never going away after saving and loading while active,
The Recycler will no longer recycle equipped implants, preventing issues,
Fixed many miscellaneous problems on doors, lights, and eggs,
Fixed many upside down or badly rotated objects,
Fixed many cases of rogue props on objects,
Fixed quite a few cases of script duplication,
Fixed a few extreme cases of objects floating off walls and floor,
Fixed the almost completely broken 'Find Delacroix' quest,
Fixed a couple of quests that were starting up or completing in a slightly buggy way
Fixed all the broken piles of worms in the last few levels,
Some tweaks to various existing setups to make them work smoother (explore the DML files if interested in details),
Disruption grenades now actually deadly as per their description,
Rick turrets now corpse normally,
Grenade Hybrids now launch grenades from their hands instead of their abdomens,
The starting controls now use WASD,
The default music volume level has been lowered slightly,
Enhanced Precision disabled by default as having it enabled was causing issues with Steam Overlay and Windows 10,
The default resolution when starting the game is now 800x600,
Fixed the Rick1 torpedo radiation area so it is not possible to progress without purging the radiation, as that could result the game getting into an unwinnable state,
Few Rick1 areas were made less prone to unintentional falls,
Restored the broken MedSci2 sub-armory code PDA note,
Fixed some AIs failing to perform their scripted event under certain circumstances,
Ops2 red assassin will trigger properly even when approached from the other side,
Fixed some AIs not being affected by the Stasis Field Generator,
Simplified the MEDSci broken door fix,
A few membranes were moved a bit in the Many level,
The Shotgun now has a muzzle flash,
Navigation markers now properly identified by HUD, and can also be deleted by selecting,
A few more fixes to some improper objects.
The in-game UI is now set at a fixed resolution, and will scale better at high (1920x1080 and above) resolutions. If you wish to disable this change, open cam_ext.cfg in NotePad, and add a semicolon to the beginning of the line 'd3d_disp_scaled_2d_overlay 800 600'
MacOS Only

Fixed Wineskin locking on MacOS High Sierra,
Updated Wine version from 1.8.1 to 2.16,
If you are experiencing random crashes on MacOS, first back up the folders that contain your save games in 'System Shock 2 (dot) app/Contents/Resources/drive_c/Program Files/System Shock 2/save_*/', Uninstall System Shock 2, making sure that the dotapp file has been removed, and then reinstall the game. Put your save game folders back in 'System Shock 2 (dot) app/Contents/Resources/drive_c/Games/SS2/'.
Many thanks to "Le Corbeau" for providing the 2.46 patch, and to the community for many of the fixes provided here.
This patch is only for the Windows and Mac version of the game right now. Linux will receive the update soon.
Daniel G,
Nightdive Studios.
Original post
29 Sep 2017Developer post
Patch 2.46 is available now on Windows and Mac
Hello Hackers, It's been a while, but a new update for System Shock 2 is now available. It contains the following fixes, improvements and modernisations: Windows, MacOS The EXE has been renamed from Shock2.exe to SS2.exe to avoid old Windows compatibilities being applied on game
Hello Hackers,
It's been a while, but a new update for System Shock 2 is now available. It contains the following fixes, improvements and modernisations:
Windows, MacOS

The EXE has been renamed from Shock2.exe to SS2.exe to avoid old Windows compatibilities being applied on game launch. You will need to restart Steam for the launcher to point to the new executable,
Fixed the problem with battery not fully charging items sometimes,
Partially fixed the problem with Pyro field glow effect never going away after saving and loading while active,
The Recycler will no longer recycle equipped implants, preventing issues,
Fixed many miscellaneous problems on doors, lights, and eggs,
Fixed many upside down or badly rotated objects,
Fixed many cases of rogue props on objects,
Fixed quite a few cases of script duplication,
Fixed a few extreme cases of objects floating off walls and floor,
Fixed the almost completely broken 'Find Delacroix' quest,
Fixed a couple of quests that were starting up or completing in a slightly buggy way
Fixed all the broken piles of worms in the last few levels,
Some tweaks to various existing setups to make them work smoother (explore the DML files if interested in details),
Disruption grenades now actually deadly as per their description,
Rick turrets now corpse normally,
Grenade Hybrids now launch grenades from their hands instead of their abdomens,
The starting controls now use WASD,
The default music volume level has been lowered slightly,
Enhanced Precision disabled by default as having it enabled was causing issues with Steam Overlay and Windows 10,
The default resolution when starting the game is now 800x600,
Fixed the Rick1 torpedo radiation area so it is not possible to progress without purging the radiation, as that could result the game getting into an unwinnable state,
Few Rick1 areas were made less prone to unintentional falls,
Restored the broken MedSci2 sub-armory code PDA note,
Fixed some AIs failing to perform their scripted event under certain circumstances,
Ops2 red assassin will trigger properly even when approached from the other side,
Fixed some AIs not being affected by the Stasis Field Generator,
Simplified the MEDSci broken door fix,
A few membranes were moved a bit in the Many level,
The Shotgun now has a muzzle flash,
Navigation markers now properly identified by HUD, and can also be deleted by selecting,
A few more fixes to some improper objects.
The in-game UI is now set at a fixed resolution, and will scale better at high (1920x1080 and above) resolutions. If you wish to disable this change, open cam_ext.cfg in NotePad, and add a semicolon to the beginning of the line 'd3d_disp_scaled_2d_overlay 800 600'
MacOS Only

Fixed Wineskin locking on MacOS High Sierra,
Updated Wine version from 1.8.1 to 2.16,
If you are experiencing random crashes on MacOS, first back up the folders that contain your save games in 'System Shock 2 (dot) app/Contents/Resources/drive_c/Program Files/System Shock 2/save_*/', Uninstall System Shock 2, making sure that the dotapp file has been removed, and then reinstall the game. Put your save game folders back in 'System Shock 2 (dot) app/Contents/Resources/drive_c/Games/SS2/'.
Many thanks to "Le Corbeau" for providing the 2.46 patch, and to the community for many of the fixes provided here.
This patch is only for the Windows and Mac version of the game right now. Linux will receive the update soon.
Daniel G,
Nightdive Studios.
Original post
29 Jun 2016Developer post
'System Shock' Kickstarter is Live and includes a Pre-Alpha Demo for everyone!
Hello fans and owners of System Shock 2! As you may be aware by now, everyone here at Nightdive has been working very hard for a number of months on something very special. On the 22nd of September 2015, Nightdive released System Shock: Enhanced Edition. The re-release was met wi
29 Jun 2016Developer post
'System Shock' Kickstarter is Live and includes a Pre-Alpha Demo for everyone!
Hello fans and owners of System Shock 2! As you may be aware by now, everyone here at Nightdive has been working very hard for a number of months on something very special. On the 22nd of September 2015, Nightdive released System Shock: Enhanced Edition. The re-release was met wi
30 Mar 2016Developer post
Patch 2.45 is available now and Pre-Alpha footage of System Shock!
Hello Everyone, A New update for System Shock 2 (v2.45) is available now. This update was not created by Night Dive Studios. It was provided by "Le Corbeau" and addresses the following issues: General: Fixed broken "sun_runtime_obj_shadows" (worked in DromEd but not the game exe)
Hello Everyone,
A New update for System Shock 2 (v2.45) is available now. This update was not created by Night Dive Studios. It was provided by "Le Corbeau" and addresses the following issues:
General:

Fixed broken "sun_runtime_obj_shadows" (worked in DromEd but not the game exe)
Fixed path priority order bug with subtitle files (was accidentally reversed)
Reduced risk of the door drifting bug that can happen in some occasional FMs (door-based objects that should rotate but instead of rotating just float away into infinity)
Added "no_unload_fmsel" option to cam_mod.ini (can be useful if experiencing crash with FMSel, especially on Windows 10)
DromEd:

Fixed DXT related crash (when running editor in HW mode)
Fixed crash accidentally re-introduced in the previous version when loading (old) missions with bad door objects (objects internally flagged as doors despite not being doors)
Fixed ambient sounds disappearing after playing in-game movie
Fixed link data for certain link types (AIWatchObj) getting reset when reordering them (in link list dialog)
Fixed original glitch in vhot evaluation that could under some circumstances affect "show_vhots", coronas and particle attachment links using vhots
Fixed DML syntax error bug when working with links that have no data set
Fixed missing field indexing in DML export (for properties that contain multiple fields with the same name)
Fixed a bug that could occur under certain circumstances with StimSource and Receptron commands in DMLs
Fixed a few crashes that could happen in rare situations
Fixed buggy transform for vhot and subobj detail attachment links when parent object is scaled
Added mono warning for ObjTxtReplace properties with textures that couldn't be found/loaded
Added "spew_stimulations" command to toggle mono output for stim events
If you don't like the update, you can roll back to any of the previous updates by right-clicking on "System Shock 2" in your Steam games list and going to Properties. In the "Betas" tab, you can select any older version of System Shock 2 from the dropdown list.
If you haven't seen already head on over to http://www.systemshock.com where you can watch our Pre-Alpha trailer for System Shock and sign up for our newsletter!
Enjoy the update!
Daniel,
Night Dive Studios.
Original post
30 Mar 2016Developer post
Patch 2.45 is available now and Pre-Alpha footage of System Shock!
Hello Everyone, A New update for System Shock 2 (v2.45) is available now. This update was not created by Night Dive Studios. It was provided by "Le Corbeau" and addresses the following issues: General: Fixed broken "sun_runtime_obj_shadows" (worked in DromEd but not the game exe)
Hello Everyone,
A New update for System Shock 2 (v2.45) is available now. This update was not created by Night Dive Studios. It was provided by "Le Corbeau" and addresses the following issues:
General:

Fixed broken "sun_runtime_obj_shadows" (worked in DromEd but not the game exe)
Fixed path priority order bug with subtitle files (was accidentally reversed)
Reduced risk of the door drifting bug that can happen in some occasional FMs (door-based objects that should rotate but instead of rotating just float away into infinity)
Added "no_unload_fmsel" option to cam_mod.ini (can be useful if experiencing crash with FMSel, especially on Windows 10)
DromEd:

Fixed DXT related crash (when running editor in HW mode)
Fixed crash accidentally re-introduced in the previous version when loading (old) missions with bad door objects (objects internally flagged as doors despite not being doors)
Fixed ambient sounds disappearing after playing in-game movie
Fixed link data for certain link types (AIWatchObj) getting reset when reordering them (in link list dialog)
Fixed original glitch in vhot evaluation that could under some circumstances affect "show_vhots", coronas and particle attachment links using vhots
Fixed DML syntax error bug when working with links that have no data set
Fixed missing field indexing in DML export (for properties that contain multiple fields with the same name)
Fixed a bug that could occur under certain circumstances with StimSource and Receptron commands in DMLs
Fixed a few crashes that could happen in rare situations
Fixed buggy transform for vhot and subobj detail attachment links when parent object is scaled
Added mono warning for ObjTxtReplace properties with textures that couldn't be found/loaded
Added "spew_stimulations" command to toggle mono output for stim events
If you don't like the update, you can roll back to any of the previous updates by right-clicking on "System Shock 2" in your Steam games list and going to Properties. In the "Betas" tab, you can select any older version of System Shock 2 from the dropdown list.
If you haven't seen already head on over to http://www.systemshock.com where you can watch our Pre-Alpha trailer for System Shock and sign up for our newsletter!
Enjoy the update!
Daniel,
Night Dive Studios.
Original post
12 Aug 2015Developer post
New Update Available Now
Hello everyone, A new update for System Shock 2 is available. The v2.44 patch, which was provided by "Le Corbeau", contains the following fixes: Fixed render state bug that could randomly disable texture filtering on something if DXT1 distant art was present in the mission Fixed
Hello everyone,
A new update for System Shock 2 is available.
The v2.44 patch, which was provided by "Le Corbeau", contains the following fixes:

Fixed render state bug that could randomly disable texture filtering on something if DXT1 distant art was present in the mission
Fixed an occasional memory corrupting bug
Fixed mouse wheel even generating false left button double click events in some situations
Changed material override rules so a material file is required to be at the same path level or higher priority than the loaded image, in order to be considered
Enabled simple show_stats command for game exe (fps and pos)
Documented the previously undocumented "small_portal_repel" config var (helps reduce jittter when walking across portals)
Added "highlight_level" and "head_focus_speed_tol" config vars (which previously were only available in DromEd)
Added support for mouse buttons 4 and 5
Added support for raw mouse input (see "use_raw_mouse_input" in "new_config_vars.txt")
Added config var for setting custom speaker config (if supported by device/system)
Added support for adding/removing meta properties via DML
Added subtitles_max_dist options (to allow skipping of subtitles for sounds that are beyond a certain distance)
Included a Large Address Aware patcher (EnableLAA) for convenience (for more info search "troubleshooting.txt" for "Large Address Aware")
Updated various documentation
Other things include:

Windows - OpenAL 2.0.7.0 is now downloaded and installed upon first running the game. This will allow users to chose the 'OpenAL' Hardware Acceleration setting from the Audio menu.
For Mac and Linux, the affects of this patch may vary. Wine ( www.winehq.org ) is used for emulation and therefore, some notes above may not apply.
Don't like the update? You can roll back to any previous version of the game by going into the game's properties on Steam and, in the Betas tab, choosing your desired version from the Dropdown list.
We hope you enjoy the update. Many thanks to Le Corbeau.
-The Night Dive team.
Original post
12 Aug 2015Developer post
New Update Available Now
Hello everyone, A new update for System Shock 2 is available. The v2.44 patch, which was provided by "Le Corbeau", contains the following fixes: Fixed render state bug that could randomly disable texture filtering on something if DXT1 distant art was present in the mission Fixed
Hello everyone,
A new update for System Shock 2 is available.
The v2.44 patch, which was provided by "Le Corbeau", contains the following fixes:

Fixed render state bug that could randomly disable texture filtering on something if DXT1 distant art was present in the mission
Fixed an occasional memory corrupting bug
Fixed mouse wheel even generating false left button double click events in some situations
Changed material override rules so a material file is required to be at the same path level or higher priority than the loaded image, in order to be considered
Enabled simple show_stats command for game exe (fps and pos)
Documented the previously undocumented "small_portal_repel" config var (helps reduce jittter when walking across portals)
Added "highlight_level" and "head_focus_speed_tol" config vars (which previously were only available in DromEd)
Added support for mouse buttons 4 and 5
Added support for raw mouse input (see "use_raw_mouse_input" in "new_config_vars.txt")
Added config var for setting custom speaker config (if supported by device/system)
Added support for adding/removing meta properties via DML
Added subtitles_max_dist options (to allow skipping of subtitles for sounds that are beyond a certain distance)
Included a Large Address Aware patcher (EnableLAA) for convenience (for more info search "troubleshooting.txt" for "Large Address Aware")
Updated various documentation
Other things include:

Windows - OpenAL 2.0.7.0 is now downloaded and installed upon first running the game. This will allow users to chose the 'OpenAL' Hardware Acceleration setting from the Audio menu.
For Mac and Linux, the affects of this patch may vary. Wine ( www.winehq.org ) is used for emulation and therefore, some notes above may not apply.
Don't like the update? You can roll back to any previous version of the game by going into the game's properties on Steam and, in the Betas tab, choosing your desired version from the Dropdown list.
We hope you enjoy the update. Many thanks to Le Corbeau.
-The Night Dive team.
Original post
26 Mar 2015Developer post
Spirits of Xanadu, a System Shock 2-esque exploration/adventure game.
Night Dive Studios brings you a game made by Allen Trivette and Lee Williams. Spirits of Xanadu, an exploration / adventure game heavily inspired by, among other notable influences, System Shock 2. Product Description: "At the farthest edge of the explored universe, the research
26 Mar 2015Developer post
Spirits of Xanadu, a System Shock 2-esque exploration/adventure game.
Night Dive Studios brings you a game made by Allen Trivette and Lee Williams. Spirits of Xanadu, an exploration / adventure game heavily inspired by, among other notable influences, System Shock 2. Product Description: "At the farthest edge of the explored universe, the research
14 Feb 2015Developer post
New Update Available Now
Hello everyone, A new update for System Shock 2 is available for Windows and Linux. Mac will follow in the coming days. The v2.43 patch, which was provided by "Le Corbeau", contains the following fixes: Fixed various smaller issues that could potentially affect stability Fixed li
Hello everyone,
A new update for System Shock 2 is available for Windows and Linux. Mac will follow in the coming days.
The v2.43 patch, which was provided by "Le Corbeau", contains the following fixes:

Fixed various smaller issues that could potentially affect stability
Fixed light radius from dynamic lights on other objects so it matches light radius on terrain (instead of infinite)
Fixed (or at least reduced) issue where on rare occasions it could turn AIs invulnerable and non-collidable after loading or level transition (fix may not apply to existing savegames where this already happened)
Fixed bug with archive extraction failure not being detected properly in FMSel, at least for archives with unsupported compression method (like old zips using "Implode")
Fixed some bugs in FMSel with localization, paths containing umlauts and other special characters, and added OGG to WAV conversion option fixed DML parsing bug with link IDs
Fixed bug with "d3d_disp_enable_atoc 1" on nVidia where it ended up using SSAA (if available) instead of ATOC
Fixed bug where filtering was applied to even pixel scaled UI in DX9 on most resolutions even when it shouldn't have
Added subtitle support
Added support for mission DMLs to include so called fingerprints, data that can link a DML to a particular mission (because mission filenames are often the same for different OMs/FMs)
Added support for mission DMLs to be bundled in dbmods subdirectories
Added support for DMLs to request additional OSMs and to reference objects by name
Removed GOG EULA.txt
Don't like the update? You can roll back to v2.42 by going into the game's properties and, in the Betas tab, choosing v2.42 from the Dropdown list. That will rollback your installation of System Shock 2 to the version that was on Steam previously.
Enjoy!
Original post
14 Feb 2015Developer post
New Update Available Now
Hello everyone, A new update for System Shock 2 is available for Windows and Linux. Mac will follow in the coming days. The v2.43 patch, which was provided by "Le Corbeau", contains the following fixes: Fixed various smaller issues that could potentially affect stability Fixed li
Hello everyone,
A new update for System Shock 2 is available for Windows and Linux. Mac will follow in the coming days.
The v2.43 patch, which was provided by "Le Corbeau", contains the following fixes:

Fixed various smaller issues that could potentially affect stability
Fixed light radius from dynamic lights on other objects so it matches light radius on terrain (instead of infinite)
Fixed (or at least reduced) issue where on rare occasions it could turn AIs invulnerable and non-collidable after loading or level transition (fix may not apply to existing savegames where this already happened)
Fixed bug with archive extraction failure not being detected properly in FMSel, at least for archives with unsupported compression method (like old zips using "Implode")
Fixed some bugs in FMSel with localization, paths containing umlauts and other special characters, and added OGG to WAV conversion option fixed DML parsing bug with link IDs
Fixed bug with "d3d_disp_enable_atoc 1" on nVidia where it ended up using SSAA (if available) instead of ATOC
Fixed bug where filtering was applied to even pixel scaled UI in DX9 on most resolutions even when it shouldn't have
Added subtitle support
Added support for mission DMLs to include so called fingerprints, data that can link a DML to a particular mission (because mission filenames are often the same for different OMs/FMs)
Added support for mission DMLs to be bundled in dbmods subdirectories
Added support for DMLs to request additional OSMs and to reference objects by name
Removed GOG EULA.txt
Don't like the update? You can roll back to v2.42 by going into the game's properties and, in the Betas tab, choosing v2.42 from the Dropdown list. That will rollback your installation of System Shock 2 to the version that was on Steam previously.
Enjoy!
Original post
01 Apr 2014Developer post
System Shock 2 is now available on Linux
If you thought your Linux machine was safe from rogue artificial intelligences, think again! SHODAN has had access to your root account for a while now without your knowledge and is currently downloading and installing itself onto every Linux-based machine on Planet Earth! To cel
01 Apr 2014Developer post
System Shock 2 is now available on Linux
If you thought your Linux machine was safe from rogue artificial intelligences, think again! SHODAN has had access to your root account for a while now without your knowledge and is currently downloading and installing itself onto every Linux-based machine on Planet Earth! To cel
19 Aug 2013Developer post
System Shock 2 - Now Available for Mac OS X
Attention all Apple Mac Owners! The Tri-Optimum Corporation is now hiring for their newest expedition into the farthest reaches of space. All Mac users are encouraged to report to their local training and recruitment centres immediately and get ready to become part of history. Sy
19 Aug 2013Developer post
System Shock 2 - Now Available for Mac OS X
Attention all Apple Mac Owners! The Tri-Optimum Corporation is now hiring for their newest expedition into the farthest reaches of space. All Mac users are encouraged to report to their local training and recruitment centres immediately and get ready to become part of history. Sy
14 Jul 2013Developer post
System Shock 2 is the Community's Choice!
Thanks to everyone who voted to make System Shock 2 the Community's Choice. We hope you love the 75% discount, and we hope you enjoy all the trading cards, emotes, badges, and profile backgrounds we've created for you! We hope you enjoy the Von Braun's maiden voyage!