Development Changes (System Shock 2)

During its development, like all games, System Shock 2 had gone through many changes. Several elements were either altered from their original design and intentions, or outright removed altogether.

Pitch Document
The original pitch document contains a basic overview of the ideas and game type that they were attempting to make. It is included with some version of the game.

Radio Interview
A radio interview with Ken Levine overviewing some aspects of System Shock 2 's development. It is included with some versions of the game.

Items
Tool_p1: "The CraftTech Electron Spanner is an over-engineered device is generally found in one of two-states:    Broken or about to be broken. Essentially useless, the spanner profited TriOp well until it was     discovered that well-placed officials in the UNN were authorizing their purchase at around 4000% of     market value."

Tool_p2: "The CraftTech Welder exhibits one serious design flaw: it simply doesn't work. However, to save    political face, the unit ended up on numerous TriOp starships and installations. More or less, a paperweight." The game features many useless objects, so why cut two cracks directed at bureaucratic waste?

Vacuum_suit_n83: "A vacuum suit." There is no vacuum suit in the game. The finalized object name list does contain an entry internally known as, but this is shown to the player as "A hazard suit". Likely cut when the mission to depressurize an entire deck was cut.

Sodium_citrate_n981: "Sodium citrate" Inert_Chemical_8_n986: "An inert chemical" Barium_nitrate_n129: "Barium nitrate" Gallium_tetrachlroide_n146: "Gallium tetrachloride" Calcium_hypochodriate_n137: "Calcium hypochodriate" These are obviously chemical compounds, and doing research in-game often requires the player to find chemicals...but all the used chemicals are elements, not compounds.

(These are just a few examples, as the file is littered with them.)

Lead_Pipe_n20: "A sturdy lead pipe" Likely a holdover from the original game, where the initial weapon is a lead pipe. The starter weapon here is a wrench.

RunFast™ Implant
See RunFast™ page.

WormBlend Implant
See WormBlend page.

ToughSkin™ Implant
An Implant partly present in game files. It has its defined short name and a summon code (toughskin), however the code doesn't work, and as such the exact function of this Implant is unknown. Presumably it protected the player from general damage to some degree, similarly to Armor and some Psi Powers.

Psi patch
This unused Hypo has no in-game description and cannot be activated. It can be obtained only via cheat codes. Like other Hypos, recycling it yields 2 nanites.

Game Cartridges
Six games are available for the GamePig™. Another 5 can be summoned using codes, but cannot be found in-game. One more, Slots, can be found only in the game files. However, editing even them won't allow to play it.

Deck 1 (Engineering) -
Purging radiation Lines 273 & 274 LogText7:"To: All Engineering Staff\n\    This ship's safety systems are a total mess. I told those idiots...In the event of total failure of the     reactant coolant systems, you leech the contaminant from the deck by a controlled rapid decompression.     You can do this by opening the shuttle bay doory. There's a control system in command control that     controls the shuttle door protocols. You can override these protocols with an systems override chip     45M/dEX. The chip's stored in auxilary storage 5 in the coolant tubes, keycode: 34760.\n" The final game has you purge the radiation by overriding the fluidics monitoring computer, which also requires hardware override 45m/dEx.

Warning about the fuel scoop Line 218 EmailText4:"Stop where you are...if you heat up the engine core with the Fuel Scoop open, you could flood    the catalyst chambers with reactant and incinerate the entire ship. Head down to the Fuel Scoop and set     the scoop modulation to 4523. Careful...modulating the scoop will send out a class B alert to the security     system...you might get some company.\n" This warning is not present in the final game, and indeed there is nothing to be done with the fuel scoop.

Deck 2 (Medical/Science) -
No notable changes.

Deck 3 (Hydroponics) -
Changes to research Line 48 EmailText2:"Okay, stop where you are. There’s a vial of an experimental material called Toxin-A. I’ve    picked up some data from some of the sci staff resisting the xenomorphs. They were developing the Toxin     to reduce the growth of the aliens. But I can’t find any data on how you should use it. You must     research the toxin with the Crick analyzer.  If you don’t have a Crick Analyzer, find one. If I figured     this out, they might have to. Remember... Your corpse is useless to me.\n" There is no Crick Analyzer, and research is done through the Research skill. Since the final game just requires you to have the Research skill for this part, you are given enough cyber modules to purchase the skill if needed.

Deck 4 (Operations) -
The sim units Line 51 EmailText1:"My children have co-opted the simulational computers on this deck. They use that power to    conceive a mutagen that will transform the meat of your dead comrades into hunter-killer hybrids. I will     this not allow this to happen. Destroy the 4 simulational computer nodes...but beware...life grows     within the womb of these walls...life that has never seen the surface of the earth...Matters on deck 5     also require your attention. Approach your work as you see fit...but accomplish, human...disappointment     is not something I will accept from a mote such as you.\n" While dealing with the simulation computers is still required in the final game, the number and method have both changed: the final has three computers which must be reprogrammed with associated cards.

Deck 5 (Recreation) -
Scrapped ambush? Line 50 EmailText1:"They lie in ambush. Hack the computer inside the security station to take control of their     defenses.  Why do you delay?  Obey me.\n" This warning does not appear in the final game. Also, turrets are hacked directly rather than by way of remote computers.

The transmitter Line 266 Okay, Delacroix. Frank and I have got the transmitter almost ready to go. Once its up and running, we’ll be able to warn Earth. As soon as you get the access shunt online later today, we’ll be able to divert enough power from the primary computer core to make the transmission. Until then, we’ve locked off the gym. If something were to happen to us and you needed the access code, think back to the night at the basketball game. You'll find the answer there.\n" The transmitter requires a code to work, but this code is not a reference to a basketball game and no reference is made to any game while on Deck 5.

Player's origin Line 269 LogText2:"Mon ami, there is something you should know about. I have received information from some form    of artificial intelligence that is calling itself SHODAN. Yes, SHODAN. Wherever this intelligence actually     came from, it has a terrible grudge against these annelids and has saved my life more than once.  "SHODAN"     has told me that there is a deep cover UNN operative aboard the ship, armed to the hilt and equipped with     R-grade cyber implants. This individual apparently lead us to Canopus in the first place and Forrest and     Korenchkin were apparently taking their orders from him. I’ve attached a security shot of the operative     taken shortly after their revival in Cryo recovery.\n" A very interesting change regarding the player character. While this log exists in the final game, the extent of the player's backstory is limited to being a UNN operative. This also makes reference to Forrest, a character who was ultimately renamed Diego to tie to the first game. Also, the released game takes place near Tau Ceti, not Canopus.

Deck 6 (Command) -
No notable changes.

UNN Rickenbacker -
Meson acceleration coil Line 61 EmailText2:"t is clear that the secondary meson acceleration beyond this portal has also been    sabotaged...if you approach it, you’ll destroy the rest of this ship.\n" Issues with the meson acceleration coil are still present in the final game, but you are warned about them far in advance to finding the door the the problem coil. There is however an entry in the final game if you attempt to enter the area where the coil resides prior to reversing gravity, but it's SHODAN Access Blocked berating you for being stupid.

Body of the Many -
No notable changes.

SKILHELP.STR
Weapon skills are mostly the same, although Alien was replaced with Exotic and Conventional was replaced by Standard. Alien Research was truncated to simply Research, while Weapon Repair, Weapon Modification, and Weapon Maintenance all dropped the prefix.

STATHELP.STR
The Psionic ability stat was originally going to be Intelligence. Likely changed when they found they had no other use for it at all.

A Luck stat is mentioned, but was completely scrapped. Similarly, experience points are referred to despite no such thing existing in the final game.

These three changes happened fairly early in development, with the EXP idea seemingly lasting the longest.

TRAITS.STR
Cyber-assimilation O/S Upgrade was originally called Borg, which was most likely changed due to copyright reasons, although the associated item that it allows you to find on destroyed robots is still referred to internally as "cheeseborger".