has anybody got ss2 to run on xp?I have the cd and the patches but cant figure out how to " backup the exe with the new exe".Im not super pc savvy.

Well it probably means you are supposed to overwrite the SS2.exe in the System Shock 2 folder by another one that you downloaded somewhere. By "backup" they mean to backup the original .exe somewhere else.

And if you have a newer computer, you may need to disable one core - that is done by ... You know what, if you'll have trouble running the game, i. e. it'll run weirdly slow or it'll crash all the time, reply to this post and I'll tell you how to prevent that

I have a HP laptop with no graphics card.Its a 1.86 pentium.

A 1.86? So, what, dual/quadcore? That's exactly what Fenixp was talking about. You will probably need to set affinity to one, which basically means ctrl+alt+del (you need to do this while in game but before game crashes, don't worry, once you get to the task manager, it can't crash) then processes tab, right click ss2.exe and set affinity, then uncheck all but one of the CPU's. If you can't make heads or tails of this, no biggie, we'll try to guide you step by step.

Tell us how is the laptop called, there should be some kind of "HP awesome 12345" or some crap like that written there. I'll google the specs.

its a pentium m(?)it says compac nc6220 on it.ss2 does not get into the game before it puts up an error message.thanx for your patience people.

Well... It doesn't seem like dual-core. And SS2 should run on it just fine.

So, you patched it and it doesn't work? And what did you do with the .exe file?

Also, try to browse this guide - if you don't understand something, just ask, I'll try to elaborate.

Koyla's SS2Tool does the job fine, but right now, i see the forums require an account to view the stuff. No idea why.;/

Joining to view is what i do not do. ;)
I'll have to stick with mirrors. Anyhow, i already have a few versions of the ss2tool, i've been following this project for a while. I'm just giving the OP a nudge in the right direction. ;P
Anyhow, the forums are on http://www.systemshock.org/ [appears they've changed the host, they were StrangeBedfellows before]

Get the newest version of SS2tool

I can vouch for ttlg.com and it's sites. I was an active member back in the Thief days, and it is run by die hard Looking Glass Studios fans. If you need to run System Shock, Thief, Terra Nova, Ultima Underworld, or Deus Ex or if you want any mods or fan content this is the place to get it. I have never been spammed or had any unwanted contact from joining the forums there, either.

Looks like they had to close off the systemshock.org site for a bit due to bot attacks, so you may need to google to find the mods or help for SS2 at the moment.