Shadowrun

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Games for Windows Live

Playing Shadowrun requires the user to create a free games for windows live account. At this point the only reliable way to find a game is to play through matchmaking with Xbox 360 players.

While Microsoft originally intended for Shadowrun players to have to purchase a gold Live subscription to use features such as matchmaking and cross-platform play they later changed the system to allow PC players access to these normally gold only Live features for free.

Gameplay

Shadowrun is an online only first-person shooter (3rd person with katana or smoke activated) introducing mild cyberpunk elements to the gameplay. The game takes place in Brazil in the year 2031: before the events that shaped the Shadowrun universe.

The player is assigned one of two factions to play as: The megacorp RNA Global, or the resistance group known as The Lineage. Playable races are Human, Elf, Troll, and Dwarf. Each race has their own unique racial traits.

• Elves are the fastest race, but also the weakest. They are slowed substantially by heavy weapons and will quickly be killed from sustained fire. However, their speed makes up for this, as well as their special ability which allows them to heal when not taking damage if they have essence available. Elves have the second greatest amount of essence (10). They are best suited for hit and run tactics. Elves require essence if they are to heal.

• Trolls on the other hand, are the slowest race, but the strongest. No weapon, no matter how heavy, will slow them down, and they can take an incredible amount of damage, especially with their special ability. When taking sustained fire, a troll will use its essence to harden its skin. This slows it down but allows it to take enormous damage. Trolls generally have the least amount of essence of all the races. Their actual number of essence pips is 7 (same as humans), but unlike humans trolls will lose essence if they buy technological equipment and they also require essence to power their special ability. They are basically the team slayer and "tank". When a troll is using a katana a single blow deals a significant amount of damage to an enemy.

• Dwarves are closer to the troll end of the scale. They are slightly faster than trolls (still slow however) and fairly strong, not being hampered much by heavier weapons. Dwarves can take a good deal of damage and as a bonus they can withstand a direct headshot from a sniper rifle, which is fatal for any other race. Their special ability is that they can steal essence from other players (friend or foe) and from magical objects like strangle and minions. They also have 12 total essence, which is the largest amount in the game. To balance this out, dwarves regenerate essence very slowly.

• Humans are the middle ground of the races. They are the second fastest after elves and second most resilient after trolls. They are also the third strongest when it comes to carrying weapons. Humans have several small advantages that give them a unique play style: their essence isn't removed by technological equipment, as it is with all other races; and they also start the first round with an extra 500 dollars. They have a total of 7 essence pips.

Players can purchase magic, technological equipment, and weaponry at the beginning of each round of play. At the beginning of the first round they have $2000, except humans who have $2500. Each new round adds $1400 for each player, plus money the player earns by helping his or her team during each match. Money can also be reduced by team killing or damaging your teammates during the round.

Magic includes:

• Teleport enables users to instantly warp 8–10 meters in the direction of their movement, even through solid objects. Costs 3 essence per use.
• Resurrect allows a player to bind a fallen teammate to their own life energy in order to bring them back to life, as well as stop teammates from "bleeding out." Costs and locks away 4 essence in most cases, but might be less depending on if your team is behind. Locked essence is restored if all resurrected teammates die (again). A cleared body cannot be resurrected.
• Strangle produces a field of crystals which restricts the movement and drains the essence of any player caught amongst them. Locks away 2 essence, which is restored if all crystals are destroyed.
• Summon produces a creature that relentlessly attacks hostile entities on sight. Locks away 4 essence, which is restored if the creature dies. Costs 4 essence, and will also hold that essence until the creature dies.
• Gust is a burst of powerful wind that can push enemies and objects away, and if timed carefully, can break a player's fall. Gust will also cause significant damage to a player who has smoke activated. Costs 2 essence.
• Smoke allows a player to turn their body to smoke, causing bullets, explosions, and falls to cause no damage, though being hit with Gust will cause significant harm. If smoke is equipped, Enhanced vision will not detect the player beyond a certain short range -- even if smoke is not currently activated. However, equipping smoke also significantly slows the player's essence regeneration. Gust will also cause significant damage to a player who has smoke activated. Costs 1 essence but will slowly drain more essence the longer it is used until it is depleted or deactivated.
• Tree of life creates a tree that heals anyone nearby, as well as providing a physical barrier that can be used for cover. Costs 3 essence.

Technological equipment includes:

• Grenade allows the player to throw grenades. The player may have two stocked at any given time. They do not remove essence. All players start with 2 grenades per round and are free of charge.
• Enhanced vision allows the player to detect nearby enemies, as well as teammates, through walls. Enemies with smoke mapped cannot be seen unless within a short distance. Removes 3 essence.
• Glider enables short-distance flight and enhanced leaping height. Removes 2 essence.
• Wired reflexes enhance the player's running speed and allow the deflection of bullets when wielding a katana. Activating Wired Reflexes results in a short burst of super speed at the cost of a little health. Removes 2-4 essence depending on the race you play (2 for troll, 3 for dwarf, and 4 for elf).
• Anti-magic generators very quickly drain the essence of any player or magical object caught in their field. They are thrown exactly like grenades. They remove no essence from their user.
• Smartlink assists players by increasing enemy tracking abilities and automatically preventing firearms from firing when a teammate is in the cross hairs. Removes 2 essence.
• Grapple (Cut from the final release) According to Mitch Gitelman, it was supposed to be a cross between Spiderman’s web-shooter and Batman’s grapple gun. It was supposed to take up the empty slot in the tech menu, but it was taken out of the game before launch.

Weapons Include:

• Katana is a melee weapon. The amount of damage it does depends on the strength of the user. If an enemy is hit in the back it is capable of killing in one hit by causing a mortal wound, which deals a large amount of damage instantly and makes the enemy lose health over a long period of time(Unless resurrected by teammate or standing beside a tree). Costs $1000.
• SMG, a cheap, low-damage weapon that reloads quickly and fires very fast. It's not very heavy, making it usable by all races and battle types. it has a high amount of recoil and is best fired in bursts. Costs $500.
• Pistol, this is your standard, cost-free weapon. It is the first weapon that every player starts off with. The pistol causes moderately low damage but its speed and maneuvering abilities make up for it.
• Rifle, good damage with little recoil makes the rifle a good weapon, and its price makes it a cost-efficient purchase. It is highly useful for damaging enemies under a tree of life. Its damage is also highly useful for taking down trolls. It has more damage and more accuracy but lower firing rate than the SMG. Costs $500.
• Rocket Launcher, the most powerful weapon in the game and the most expensive purchase at $5000 and each rocket costing $1000. Whilst it is the most powerful weapon in the game since it can kill anything in one shot, the rockets are slow when fired and can be dodged, especially since there are audio and visual cues showing where a rocket will hit.
• Shotgun, a powerful and cost effective weapon that can easily stop a charging enemy. It has the 2nd highest damage after the rocket launcher. It is not a very fast firing weapon and has a slow reload time but its power makes up for it. Costs $750.
• Minigun, the weapon with the highest firing rate in the game, and also the heaviest, is ideal in the hands of a troll. Individual rounds have low stopping power but it has a high fire rate and a very large ammo count. Costs $1250.
• Sniper Rifle, 4 shots to a magazine and rather expensive, however, this gun is great in the hands of a skilled marksman. A single shot to the head will kill all but the dwarf. Very useful for elves or humans to use, but can only be fired if scoped in and taking damage will lower your scope. Costs $2500.

Clearing bodies is a way of destroying a body by shooting it, and will prevent enemies from resurrecting their allies; eliminate an enemy player from getting another chance to fight in the round; and will increase your team's chances of winning the round. However, if your team is winning it will become harder to clear enemy bodies, and also easier for enemies to clear your team's bodies and vice-versa. Body clearing is disliked by some players, and sometimes both teams may agree to not clear bodies. In all games, body clearing is allowed, however, in a few games, destroying is discouraged.

Issues

As of November 15, 2010 Xbox and PC players cannot hear each other using the in game voice system. You can still hear people on the PC platform. There appears to be no fix for this issue as it is inherent to the Xbox live platform.

Users experiencing difficulty playing the game on Windows 7 should try running the game in compatibility mode with Windows Vista.

An unofficial patch exists which will enable a legally owned copy of the game to run on Windows XP. The steps to use these files are as follows:

   If you want the XP compatibility, copy the files from the xp/ subdir to your installationfolder.
   If you want a shortcut on your desktop, this is the time to make one!

Attempt to run it

At this point, double click on Shadowrun.exe and hope for the best. If it works, you can go on your merry little way. If you have the same luck that i did, you've got a few things you can do. "This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may resolve the problem"

If you encounter this error do the following:

   Re-install DirectX. Just for fun. Let's rule this out as the problem.
   Install the Microsoft VisualC++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable package.

You should now be able to play Shadowrun in XP.

All that remains is for you to configure your Live account. At some point, it may tell you that Shadowrun needs to update. This is OK. Said update may also give an error that "The original file does not exist." This error can be ignored, however, as reloading Shadowrun should fix the issue.

See also

• 1-800-Magic - a machinima series from Rooster Teeth Productions created using the Shadowrun engine.