Hi all I was wondering if there is an alternative way to install System Shock EE (or it's equivalent) onto my desktop that doesn't require the windows 7 platform update.

I say this because every time I install that update my computer gets this weird bug that causes a black screen for a few seconds practically every time my browser tries to load an image or video, even closing a tab with those images or videos causes a black screen so browsing through sites like reddit or even wikis can become annoying as hell.

The classic edition works fine without it so why does the EE need this update to run?

the very obvious answer to that is that the game requires functionality that is only available after applying the platform update.

if you can't install that, I guess the community source port is your only way - check the demo, and if satisfatory, get a full release (you will need data from the classic/DOS edition, don't use EE).

Thanks!

btw what exactly do I download for the full version? I can see a few links to other stuff besides the windows zip such as the source code. Is that optional or required?

Also to clarify I was wondering why the EE needed those functionalities from the update. System shock is such a really old game that I can't really see why it needs to utilize some code from an update when people already found a way to play it long before the update existed.

you need systemshock-windows.zip from the latest stable release - just extract it, and place the DATA and SOUND folders from the classic edition into the res folder. the notes from the previously linked demo topic still apply.

software/hardware dependencies are exactly what the coder set them to be - so if you'd want lets say, Sid Meier's Civilization (the very first one) to use raytracing and run only on an i9 with a RTX gpu under win10, you can code it that way.

feel free to report bugs and anomalies if you end up playing through the entire game, either here or on the systemshock.org helpdesk.