This hack was inspired by some rather obnoxious issues plaguing this otherwise fantastic game. Some have been addressed in other hacks but a couple have not, namely:
The Protection talisman being literally useless.* It’s supposed to “reduce all types of damage directed at the user,” whereas it actually decreases the damage your spells deal. The second problem is the Combat Sense Spell Lock, which is supposed to “enhance the combat ability of the user” while it actually (barely) raises your defense.

Going beyond the obviously broken mechanics, a few other things were annoying enough that I felt compelled to address them as well:

Fetishes: Fetishes only having 10 uses severely diminishes their usefulness, especially with higher-level spells, to the point of literal uselessness. As a result I increased their uses to 38 (the highest number the game can display properly before the graphics tiles become garbage). This makes them actually worth at least considering carrying, which is more then could be said before. Effects all fetishes in the game (I think).
Max Clip Size: The max clips a character could buy at a time was 20. They could still hold more if traded them, up to 99, but 20 was the limit for purchasing, per character. This seems pointless and just makes for more inventory management, so it’s been removed and now you can buy until your character has 99 clips.
Tar Pits: Without a doubt the single worst intended feature in this game and I can’t see anyone complaining about their removal. The “No More Tar Pits”* hack by “capitalj3” solves this perfectly by leaving just one tar pit for if you want to delete a program. Since it’s a perfect fix, I’ve included it as well.
Not Respawning at 100%: For whatever reason when you die and respawn your mental health will be at 80% and your physical 60%. Now they’ll both be at 100%
Wired Reflexes bug: Should probably just be standard in every Shadowrun patch by now. Fixes a bug caused by wired reflexes when using melee attacks. Not discovered/fixed by me at all, merely implemented here.
Agira’s Power Focus text: Agira Tetsumi sells the level 4 power focus item, yet in the “Contacts” menu it says he sells the (nonexistant) level 3 version. Simple fix.
Title Screen: The words “Hack 2025.1” were added to the title screen to make it obvious this is a hack (version 1). It looks a bit crummy since space is limited but I wanted some distinguishing mark on the title screen.

Things not changed/added:

Stats on weapons/spells. Some weapons/spells are definitely worse then others, but tweaking each one would just open up more debate as to what’s the correct value for this or that.
Smartlink bug: You don’t actually need a Smartlink accessory on a gun to get the benefits as long as you have the Smartlink cyberware installed. While this is definitely a bug, I find it harmless and it allows shotguns to get a little boost they couldn’t otherwise.
Equipping Magic you shouldn’t be able to: For some reason you’re able to buy and cast spells at a higher level then your essence (magic) level should allow. While this is again a definite bug, I feel it allows for more interesting build combinations, and if you don’t want to abuse it then simply don’t.
Power Focus: This is a pretty weak item, slightly increasing the success chance of all spells (does nothing for drain). But since it at least does in fact do something noticable, I don’t find it egregious enough to buff.
Stats on cyberdecks
Prices/reward amounts
Karma requirements/reward amounts
Any starting items/stats
Any graphics
Any bugfixes other than the aforementioned

This hack was made over the course of a couple weeks, primarily using a hex editor and the debugging tools in MAME. Ghidra was used for a small portion to help understand some routines, since I don’t know 68k assembly.

I have to give a special shout-out right here to “doog81” for being an absolute chummer and testing this hack out and providing his feedback, since he’s way more knowledgable at this game then I am. I really appreciate it.

Please see included changelog for full list of changes.

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