https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140085
And this is an explanation by somebody about what this could possibly be about:
This is really awesome. I’m currently playing through the original Thief so this will be pretty cool once I get around to playing Thief 2. I’ve been meaning to play SS2 as well.
Holy shit.
That is fucking sick. I love the Thief community.
I’ve been wanting to play System Shock 2, so will this help with that?
I think the System Shock licence is still with EA, so it’s unlikely we’ll see a digital release.
It’s split between EA and an insurance company so that’s pretty much keeping it from being rereleased.
MY FEELS
Damnit.
This goes way beyond just a patch. Someone has been covertly working with the source code leak to basically make the engine way better. This means future high-res textures, better lighting, all kinds of stuff.
The Dark Engine has been saved.
Feels, Neo. Endless Feels.
Could this possibly mean we could eventually get things like RT shadows and other improvements (possibly if someone put the work in to bring it up on par with the dark mod)
And maybe even fully integrated and proper multiplayer support? I could never get Thief 2 multiplayer to work but I always wanted to play it so bad 
Apparently there’s a way to get the Thief 2 patch working with the original. I tried moving everything into the directory and doing other things that it said to do but I don’t see any differences when I start it up.
ABSOLUTELY ! ! !
I recently re-installed SS2 and have been playing it on and off. Yesterday, I found out about this new patch, and immediately downloaded and installed it. Last night I was playing SS2 in true 32-bit mode along with numerous other glorious visual and audio enhancements provided within this new patch. Bloom, coronas, SMAA, increased resolution options, multi-monitor support, etc., etc. As well, there are a number of menu and key-binding improvements. Not to mention the dramatic oh-my-god improvements to the present limited capabilities of the game editors and tools. We should see an avalanche of mods soon coming forth addressing long-time issues with visuals and lighting. Nothing on the scale of what BM has accomplished, but it will allow SS2 and Thief 1 & 2 to leap and bound their way forward graphically to compliment their already great gameplay.
What a stupendous month… two of my favorite games, Half-Life and SS2 get monumental makeovers. Ya gotta love the gaming times were in. Now, if only Half-Life 3 was in our immediate future!
According to Classic Game Network, SS2 is now abandonware.
I’ve seen it on their site as an ISO download.
In fact I downloaded it from there years ago, so I have to assume it’s legit.
Should I play the original System Shock before playing SS2? Or are the games reasonably self-contained?
It wouldn’t hurt to play SS1 first, since it’ll fill in a lot of backstory and it’s a great game in its own right. But it’s VERY different from SS2. The first game is part adventure game, part shooter, with some crazy modular upgrades and survival elements tossed in. The second game is a straight-up survival horror RPG. If you’ve played Ultima Underworld, SS1 is a lot like that, but with a crazy complex interface and no friendly NPCs. There’s nothing out there like it any more, so it takes a big mental adjustment to play it. SS2 seems really modern by comparison.
I’m all for downloading this game because its chronic out-of-printness is a travesty, but just slapping “abandonware” onto something don’t necessarily make it fuckin’ so – to paraphrase that dude from Reservoir Dogs.
Abandonware is essentially just the community’s way of saying “the rights holders probably aren’t going to shut our asses down.” EA has sent C&D and takedown notices to places hosting SS2 in the recent past, so they definitely aren’t cool with it being openly hosted.
As far as I can see, Amazon, Ebay or car boot sales would be the only locations to buy SS2.
Quite why EA doesn’t make it available for digital d/l is a mystery.
They can’t release it because they don’t own the entire rights, unfortunately.
They have first dibs on the trademark and apparently some of the copyrighted material, and Star Insurance owns the rest. The real question is why do they bother enforcing a game for which they don’t own more than a small percentage of the rights? Also weird is the fact that they let pretty much anyone distribute the first game and never say a peep about it.
system shock 3 confirmed
So where do I get System Shock 2 if I want to play it?
Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.
