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Now that it's been more or less confirmed that this version uses the 2012 New Dark patch (released by Le Corbeau on Ariane4ever) integrated into an older version (v. 4.0) of SS2Tool (containing various bugfixes by several authors and maintained by Kolya on Systemshock.org) I think it's time for GOG to explain why no credit was given to any of those patch authors. Wait, scratch that: Not only was no public credit given whatsoever, Stephen Kick of Night Dive Studios and Guillaume Rambourg of GOG.com actually proclaimed themselves as the "expert tech ninjas" patching the game to its released state (see http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/13/many-questions-system-shock-2-comes-to-gog/ ).

Now, as NewDark was released anonymously, there is still a slim chance that a private agreement was reached with Le Corbeau or that Le Corbau himself is connected to Night Dive Studios. But again, as NewDark is based on the Thief 2 source code which belongs to Eidos, this is highly unlikely, being the potential cause for a lawsuit (which still applies, of course, as NewDark is part of this release).
Still, this does not apply to the author and co-authors auf the SS2Tool. Systemshock.org has long been an active website for System Shock modding and bugfixing and most of the programmers and mod builders there can be reached for comment easily.

So, long story short, what gives, GOG?

Edit: A GOG staff member commented on TTLG:
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140849&page=3&p=2166662&viewfull=1#post2166662

Edit2: And the conclusion:
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140849&p=2166979&viewfull=1#post2166979

Edit3: Stephen Kick's view on the subject:
http://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4517.msg52164#msg52164
Post edited February 20, 2013 by Marvin
little correction - ss2tool 4.0 (includes NewDark) has been used to create the GOG install. and yeah, the author of the tool (Kolya) should have been credited. and NewDark should have been mentioned as well. plus, there is no magic ninja stuff added, it's just NewDark, exactly the way ss2tool installs it.

I must say this is not a very nice thing to do.
Post edited February 14, 2013 by voodoo47
Totally agree.
This is really nothing new. GOG has frequently used patches, hack, cracks and pretty much anything they can to get a game running, without crediting any of the original authors. I believe the main reason for it is, while the original work done is phenomenal, it is not authorized by the original rights holders and they can't publicly credit them without offended those rights holders.
if they used the ss2tool (and they did), they should have mentioned it, and credited the author. it's basic etiquette.
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voodoo47: little correction - ss2tool 4.0 (includes NewDark) has been used to create the GOG install. and yeah, the author of the tool (Kolya) should have been credited. and NewDark should have been mentioned as well. plus, there is no magic ninja stuff added, it's just NewDark, exactly the way ss2tool installs it.

I must say this is not a very nice thing to do.
I wrote "integrated into an older version of SS2Tool". Added the 4.0 note for clarity, is it correct now?
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cogadh: This is really nothing new. GOG has frequently used patches, hack, cracks and pretty much anything they can to get a game running, without crediting any of the original authors. I believe the main reason for it is, while the original work done is phenomenal, it is not authorized by the original rights holders and they can't publicly credit them without offended those rights holders.
1) True (the Arcanum crack comes to mind), but this was never done to such an extent.

2) I don't know the legel details of fanpatches, i.e. if every patch and mod automatically belongs to the company holding the rights to the actual game but this still does not explain why GOG cannot at least acknowledge the people involved.
Post edited February 14, 2013 by Marvin
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cogadh: This is really nothing new. GOG has frequently used patches, hack, cracks and pretty much anything they can to get a game running, without crediting any of the original authors. I believe the main reason for it is, while the original work done is phenomenal, it is not authorized by the original rights holders and they can't publicly credit them without offended those rights holders.
That's not necessarily true; where GOG are the ones integrating the fixes, they're very good about getting permission first and complying with any relevant licences. (My fixes are in a number of GOG games, so I can speak from personal experience there.) I would suspect that what happened here was that the game was provided to them pre patched. They might not even know what it contains.
Common courtesy never hurt anyone. Crediting the release solely to GOG's "expert techninjas" (RockPaperShotgun interview) is rather questionable.
Didn't GOG acknowledge Timeslip's work on DDFix, that was used for their Thief releases? (Again, after the community pointed it out.) If they could do that, before, they can do it again. At least for SS2Tool, if not NewDark.

Even though I already own a boxed copy of SS2, and I frown at Night Dive/GOG claiming their "expert techninjas" did the work of patching the game, I'll purchase SS2 anyway. Because I want to see SS1 released, and perhaps good sales will even mean something new for the System Shock franchise in the future.

But, it would be nice if Night Dive/GOG came clean about the fact that - beyond making SS2 legally available for download, in a convenient installer - they really didn't do any additional work on the game.
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timeslip: That's not necessarily true; where GOG are the ones integrating the fixes, they're very good about getting permission first and complying with any relevant licences. (My fixes are in a number of GOG games, so I can speak from personal experience there.) I would suspect that what happened here was that the game was provided to them pre patched. They might not even know what it contains.
I never said they always do that, but they have done it many times before. To my knowledge, the only people they regularly credit publicly are found here: http://www.gog.com/thanks
Indeed guys c'mon what gives. Even if legally the patch material belongs to the publishers a simple 'we have only been able to release a product that works so well after only a few short months because of the hard work fans have put forward and due to the plethora of fan-created material that needs these fixes to work we are releasing pre-patched using community tools' would have been nice.

I'm still buying because, c'mon legal version of the game. Trouble is this puts a damper on my enthusiasm.
Didn't Night Dive say this release was also going to be on Steam in the future?

So does GOG really have anything to do with what Night Dive has done? Shouldn't it be Night Dive that does any crediting?

Also whenever other big companies utilize dosbox of scummVM, etc, do they ever credit the fan community who made those products?

Does the Steam version of the Thief 1 and Thief 2 use similar patches as the GOG version? They were released on Steam not long after GOG iirc?
apart from the last one (which is a YES), we don't know (who actually screwed up). that's why it would be nice if GOG cleared up the situation.
Oh look, drama! I haven't seen that on the internet since the last thread about this.
Post edited February 15, 2013 by Al3xand3r
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Baggins: Does the Steam version of the Thief 1 and Thief 2 use similar patches as the GOG version? They were released on Steam not long after GOG iirc?
To expand on voodoo47's answer, the steam version is the GOG version, but with the branding removed. GOG did all the work of creating that installer.