My performance is the same in Vista as it was in XP for other games (Oblivion, BF2, source games) on max/near max graphic settings. While it's possible that STALKER simply doesn't like Vista (post-patch), I doubt it.
So I have a gig of ram, a core 2 duo E6300, and a Geforce 7800GT graphics card, and I cannot get this game to run at a smooth framerate. I turned quality down, I lowered resolution, lowered shadow quality, turned off dynamic lighting, lowered grass fensity. I just can't get it to run and it baffles me.
So I have a gig of ram, a core 2 duo E6300, and a Geforce 7800GT graphics card, and I cannot get this game to run at a smooth framerate. I turned quality down, I lowered resolution, lowered shadow quality, turned off dynamic lighting, lowered grass fensity. I just can't get it to run and it baffles me.
The game ran terribly for me, even though my specs were well above the recommended. Then about three weeks ago Nvidia released some new drivers that, iirc, helped with Stalker and older Nvidia cards.
Now the game runs perfectly, with all options on, whereas before it was unplayable. Sadly, the game still IS unplayable in a way. I looked forward to this game for at LEAST the last two years, and I've already taken it off my HDD. Most half-assed-could-have-been-great game ever. I have never experienced combat mechanics that ruined a game this efficiently. For a week I went back and tried, time after time, trying sooo hard to look past the combat mechanics, just couldn't do it.
So .. so.. sad. I was extremely happy when I bought this game, but Christ almighty did it turn out to be a let down for me.
So I've played this for maybe an hour and a half so far and my performance seems worse than it should be.
My specs:
x2 4200+
7800gt
2 gb of ram
I'm running the game at medium settings with objects dynamic lighting. If I up the lighting to full dynamic and the settings to high (with some specific ones lowered), then the game runs fine except when there's a fire in front of me or it's raining; with objects dynamic, the game runs smoothly constantly. I feel like my computer shouldn't already (it's a year and a half old) require full medium settings to run new games with a decent framerate.
Does anyone have any idea if something is wrong or is PC hardware simply a bitch?
EDIT: Vista's Games Explorer won't recognize STALKER .
Switch to Static Lighting if you haven't already. It will make all the difference in the world. Also, keep the texture settings to 75% or lower. If you max the texture settings, Stalker's resource management will choke.
So I have a gig of ram, a core 2 duo E6300, and a Geforce 7800GT graphics card, and I cannot get this game to run at a smooth framerate. I turned quality down, I lowered resolution, lowered shadow quality, turned off dynamic lighting, lowered grass fensity. I just can't get it to run and it baffles me.
If you're running with Static Lighting and still having problems, you may want to try updating your drivers to 101.09 (XP 32-bit).
Thing about the shooting is it's not enough like your average FPS to make running and gunning advisable for the most part. You really have to stick to cover and make those shots count, especially in the beginning when all you have is a starter pistol. Use iron sights when you're trying to fire from beyond a gun's normal accurate range; figure anybody that's just across a small room you can shoot from the hip, otherwise crouch and take aim. This gets better once you get your hands on a rifle and start climbing in rank, and later on you'll have access to much better armor and will last a lot longer under fire.
In short, accuracy and survivability pretty much have to be earned. I can see why some people might not dig it, and again I confess that I normally loathe the 'you'll get used to it' point, but it really does get worlds better once you get a feel for it, and even more so when you get to the good hardware.
So I've played this for maybe an hour and a half so far and my performance seems worse than it should be.
My specs:
x2 4200+
7800gt
2 gb of ram
I'm running the game at medium settings with objects dynamic lighting. If I up the lighting to full dynamic and the settings to high (with some specific ones lowered), then the game runs fine except when there's a fire in front of me or it's raining; with objects dynamic, the game runs smoothly constantly. I feel like my computer shouldn't already (it's a year and a half old) require full medium settings to run new games with a decent framerate.
Does anyone have any idea if something is wrong or is PC hardware simply a bitch?
EDIT: Vista's Games Explorer won't recognize STALKER .
Switch to Static Lighting if you haven't already. It will make all the difference in the world. Also, keep the texture settings to 75% or lower. If you max the texture settings, Stalker's resource management will choke.
So I have a gig of ram, a core 2 duo E6300, and a Geforce 7800GT graphics card, and I cannot get this game to run at a smooth framerate. I turned quality down, I lowered resolution, lowered shadow quality, turned off dynamic lighting, lowered grass fensity. I just can't get it to run and it baffles me.
If you're running with Static Lighting and still having problems, you may want to try updating your drivers to 101.09 (XP 32-bit).
The game performs perfectly at objects dynamic and medium settings so I see no reason to lower the graphics to static lighting. Plus, objects dynamic looks soo much better. I just updated my drivers from the beta to the final release version of the latest drivers--I'll check if that helped tomorrow.
Ok, someone from the somethingawful forums posted the features from the patch, they are as follow
- Added 'sv_listmaps' console command for viewing the map rotation list.
- Fixed problems with players in LAN mode.
- Fixed problems with standing corpses when a player connected to the server
- Fixed behaviour of items in the inventory during Free For All and Team Deathmatch.
- Fixed version numbering.
- Made the auto-patcher recognize what region you are
- Fixed crashes when using digital keyboards with some localizations.
- Fixed problems with crashing when creating a screenshot of a saved game.
- Added support for more mouse buttons.
- Fixed problems with crashing on the Army Warehouses map.
- Fixed problems with spawning players near or in the player's vision.
- Reduced action time for the life simulation. Now the system will spawn new neutral characters slower. Also the movement times for neutral characters in levels where the player is not present has been reduced as well.
Stupid X-18, I had 600+ rounds of ammo when I started there but,
that damn firey poltergeist is damn hard to see when you can't figure out where it is.
By the time I got back to the Bar, I only had 15 rounds left. I thought I was lucky when for some reason a Merc spawned right outside the bar area with some more ammo, but his buddies were waiting in a building killing some rookies. Assholes suprised me.
Repeating for those who may not have read the OP, there is a memory leak issue in the game that will cause STALKER to run crappy or crash. To remedy this, add "-noprefetch" without quotes to the end of the target line in the shortcut. Then you just have to deal with the rest of the reasons for the PC crashing
I am having some wierd performance issues with this game as well.
Now I understand my PC ain't the snappiest of beasts these days (Athlon 64 3700, Gig o' RAM and a Geforce 7800 GS AGP).
When I run it under the lower of the dynamic lighting settings (as in the one above static lighting), as soon as I leave the bunker and look at the little town outside it, my framerates go to about 0.5fps! After about 5 seconds, if i can move the view away from the town, it returns to respectable framerates.
Running it with static lighting is smooth as silk, but it looks like ass on a stick.
Is this because my PC is getting long in the tooth (I didn't think it was that old!) or is there something more sinister going on?
Addendum: I am running with the -noprefetch option.
I had (before installing Vista) a custom ini that improved the visual quality (HDR lighting settings that made it look more realistic) while at the same time reducing a lot of the stuttering and slowdown. I can't find it now though and didn't think to back it up
Thing about the shooting is it's not enough like your average FPS to make running and gunning advisable for the most part. You really have to stick to cover and make those shots count, especially in the beginning when all you have is a starter pistol. Use iron sights when you're trying to fire from beyond a gun's normal accurate range; figure anybody that's just across a small room you can shoot from the hip, otherwise crouch and take aim. This gets better once you get your hands on a rifle and start climbing in rank, and later on you'll have access to much better armor and will last a lot longer under fire.
In short, accuracy and survivability pretty much have to be earned. I can see why some people might not dig it, and again I confess that I normally loathe the 'you'll get used to it' point, but it really does get worlds better once you get a feel for it, and even more so when you get to the good hardware.
The only gripe I have about the game is that the weapons are somewhat strangely rated.
There's no way a G36s are that much more powerful then g3 or AK-47 guns.
Also shotguns are gimped early on. You have to deal with that double barrel version for a long time and eventually you can get the pump action, but by then everyone has WAY better rifles making the shotguns somewhat use less in the game. And in a game where zombies and mutants are plentiful, a shot gun is something you'd want to have.
Thing about the shooting is it's not enough like your average FPS to make running and gunning advisable for the most part. You really have to stick to cover and make those shots count, especially in the beginning when all you have is a starter pistol. Use iron sights when you're trying to fire from beyond a gun's normal accurate range; figure anybody that's just across a small room you can shoot from the hip, otherwise crouch and take aim. This gets better once you get your hands on a rifle and start climbing in rank, and later on you'll have access to much better armor and will last a lot longer under fire.
In short, accuracy and survivability pretty much have to be earned. I can see why some people might not dig it, and again I confess that I normally loathe the 'you'll get used to it' point, but it really does get worlds better once you get a feel for it, and even more so when you get to the good hardware.
The only gripe I have about the game is that the weapons are somewhat strangely rated.
There's no way a G36s are that much more powerful then g3 or AK-47 guns.
Also shotguns are gimped early on. You have to deal with that double barrel version for a long time and eventually you can get the pump action, but by then everyone has WAY better rifles making the shotguns somewhat use less in the game. And in a game where zombies and mutants are plentiful, a shot gun is something you'd want to have.
Yeah, the shotguns are a bit of an oddity. The ammo is so damn heavy that they are a bitch to use as a backup rifle. The best i can figure out is that with the variety in ammo they are intended as a sort of jack-of-all trades weapon. In theory you can use it as a powerful short range weapon with the standard cartridges and then use the alternative ammo types to use it as a long-range sniping weapon so you don't have to carry an assault rifle and a sniper rifle but in reality it's hugely inferior to the alternatives in both regards and with a bit of conservatism, you can happily carry a decent assault rifle, a sniper rifle and sufficient ammo for both anyway.
I hate the side quests where you have to fetch some random artifact or a pseudodog's tail or something. I don't know where to look. Does anything negative happen if you fail a quest?
I hate the side quests where you have to fetch some random artifact or a pseudodog's tail or something. I don't know where to look. Does anything negative happen if you fail a quest?
Not at all - non-'special mission' sidequests will only give you cash (lagely useless) or mid-level artifacts (which you find all over the place). If you fail one you don't get the reward, but there's no penalty.
I hate the side quests where you have to fetch some random artifact or a pseudodog's tail or something. I don't know where to look. Does anything negative happen if you fail a quest?
Not at all - non-'special mission' sidequests will only give you cash (lagely useless) or mid-level artifacts (which you find all over the place). If you fail one you don't get the reward, but there's no penalty.
Just for anyone curious, the pseudodogs are the wolverine-looking things, usually found with packs of wild dogs, and always aggressive (unlike some wild dogs). Took me forever to figure out what they were referring to when I was supposed to go hunt a pseudodog.
FrostyAlphaWolf on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
0
OtakuD00DCan I hit the exploding rocks?San DiegoRegistered Userregular
edited May 2007
I thougt Pseudodogs were thuse huge bloated mutant dogs, not the incredibly mean pissed-off ones that lead packs outside of the Bar, if that's what you mean.
I've been shooting the dogs that look like real dogs thinking there was something that made them "pseudodogs" and not just "dogs" that I didn't see. Bugger.
I thougt Pseudodogs were thuse huge bloated mutant dogs, not the incredibly mean pissed-off ones that lead packs outside of the Bar, if that's what you mean.
I think you're thinking of the boars or the flesh, the pseudodogs have flatter, meaner, almost humanoid faces compared to the wild dogs it seems to me. The guy above me posted a picture.
You can usually find pseudodogs in the wilds around Cordon, and sometimes south of the Bar trench checkpoint. And yeah, it took me a while to figure out what they were; I don't think the PDA ever lists them.
Well, finally finish the game with the good ending
Am I assuming correctly thinking that
The C-consciousness basically pissed off the "Earth" and the zone was a punishment? And by destroying it Strelok returns Chernobyl to a normal state?
I also thought that maybe Strelok somehow died after destroying the c-consciousness and the green fields represent his heaven.
Any thought guys?
Well, finally finish the game with the good ending
Am I assuming correctly thinking that
The C-consciousness basically pissed off the "Earth" and the zone was a punishment? And by destroying it Strelok returns Chernobyl to a normal state?
I also thought that maybe Strelok somehow died after destroying the c-consciousness and the green fields represent his heaven.
Any thought guys?
It's vague enough to be open to some degree of interpretation, but the C-Consciousness definitely created the Zone as a byproduct - or rather, the physical manifestation - of their experiments to 'modify' the human race on a global scale. With their destruction, their experiments end and, presumably, so does the Zone.
As for Strelok, he says "I made it," so I'm assuming he got out alive and just wanted some rest at the end of it. It's not impossible that he died at that point, given the radiation and god knows what else in the plant, but the ending doesn't really say enough about what happens afterwards to be sure about his fate.
How many hours is it taking you guys to beat the game? I have 5 days to beat and review the game (for my high school newspaper), and I have AP tests coming up so I barely have any spare time.
Depends if you're wanting a specific ending. If you want the worst/easiest ending, you can run past just about everything, do a few story quests to get the appropriate suits/clearance, and be done in maybe 8 hours or so? I'm sure someone has done this approach...
I'm just looking to get a solid enough experience with the game to review it. I know I should beat it but I just don't have time to to do so properly.
On a separate note: I just entered the Garbage and whenever I'm full of gear I need to sell, the only place I know of to sell weapons and stuff is at the very beginning of the game. That means I have to run back through the Garbage, and then through Cordon, just to sell my shit. How soon will I find another trader? Is there an easier way to sell my gear (something like Oblivion's fast travel) or should I just not bother picking up every item I find?
I'm just looking to get a solid enough experience with the game to review it. I know I should beat it but I just don't have time to to do so properly.
On a separate note: I just entered the Garbage and whenever I'm full of gear I need to sell, the only place I know of to sell weapons and stuff is at the very beginning of the game. That means I have to run back through the Garbage, and then through Cordon, just to sell my shit. How soon will I find another trader? Is there an easier way to sell my gear (something like Oblivion's fast travel) or should I just not bother picking up every item I find?
There are three full-fledged traders in the game: Sidorovich, the Barman, and Sakarov out in Yantar. These guys will buy just about anything and have unlimited money to do so. There's also a guy in the Freedom base in the warehouses who has a shop, but he has limited funds and isn't much use in the way of buying things unless you buy something from him first to boost his own cash stores.
You can trade with most every stalker you meet that doesn't attack you, but they won't buy weapons or ammo. You can, however, sell off surplus medical supplies, artifacts, food or creature parts, and it's a great way to dump off inexpensive things that tend to stack up.
And really, money is near useless so far. You only need to carry a main gun and handgun around, maybe a backup main, and ammo to cover them all. You can drop any other guns that you won't use, as well as the countless clips of ammo you'll get. Just every once in a while, check your inven and drop all your spare ammo/loot in a dead body (to keep from clogging your graphics with 60 boxes laying around :P). I usually just carry around my 3 guns, 5x of some food, and lots of medkits, maybe some energy drinks. Cutting back on being loot-happy helps you move through a lot faster, which it sounds like you need.
And if you don't feel you need to complete a game, then just a few hours of playing will give you a good idea of the phenomenon. At least long enough to find a decent accuracy assault rifle; one of the main complaints people always have is how inaccurate guns are, it's mainly a starter issue.
You can get the Realism Pro mod to make the weapons more accurate, fix their range and projectile velocity, damage, etc. by changing them to their real-world values. It makes the early weapons a good bit more effective, but keep in mind the NPCs are using the same weapons properties, so their uncanny accuracy is only enhanced which will necessitate you making full use of cover whenever you get in a firefight. At least until you pick up a set of quality armor (Stalker Armor or better).
So I played through a bit... Basically I got to the military guys protecting the tunnel under the railroad and decided I needed something better than my shotgun. Soooo... I went the other direction and found a patrol of military guys. Kinda easy pickings, their guns were nice. There was just this minor problem with the 8-9 man party they sent out after me. Well, I didn't have a problem with them... the small town of STALKERS had a problem with em.
So now there is all of one Stalker left in the town, and the military base is completely depopulated. I made a little shrine to the victims by dropping a stack of rifles though so it's all good. =P
I replayed again recently and made a habit of driving a jeep down to the military outpost and back, generally hit-and-running three of them, and then they'd send guys out, like you said. Great way to get guns 'n' ammo at the start of the game.
I'm just looking to get a solid enough experience with the game to review it. I know I should beat it but I just don't have time to to do so properly.
That's kind of hard to say. You should definitely play right through to the ending as it differs in feel quite dramatically from the beginning survival/RPG-esq parts of the game, but at the same time, you need to play the beginning parts of the game sufficiently long enough to be able to give fair appraisal to their quality. I'd say you want to put in at least 15-20 hours at the beginning areas of the game (up to and including shutting-down the brain scorcher) then you can probably just push for the ending as quick as you can. Once you enter the brain scorcher zone the game switches to being pretty linear and once you get through prypiat, I don't think you can even turn back and reenter the wilderness anyway, so you're full-steam ahead on the FPS railroad by that point. Maybe another 5 hours should finish it if you're good and don't dilly-dally about.
You can get the Realism Pro mod to make the weapons more accurate, fix their range and projectile velocity, damage, etc. by changing them to their real-world values. It makes the early weapons a good bit more effective, but keep in mind the NPCs are using the same weapons properties, so their uncanny accuracy is only enhanced which will necessitate you making full use of cover whenever you get in a firefight. At least until you pick up a set of quality armor (Stalker Armor or better).
sweet!
anyone have trouble with installing this mod? I don't want to loose my game.
I'm just looking to get a solid enough experience with the game to review it. I know I should beat it but I just don't have time to to do so properly.
That's kind of hard to say. You should definitely play right through to the ending as it differs in feel quite dramatically from the beginning survival/RPG-esq parts of the game, but at the same time, you need to play the beginning parts of the game sufficiently long enough to be able to give fair appraisal to their quality. I'd say you want to put in at least 15-20 hours at the beginning areas of the game (up to and including shutting-down the brain scorcher) then you can probably just push for the ending as quick as you can. Once you enter the brain scorcher zone the game switches to being pretty linear and once you get through prypiat, I don't think you can even turn back and reenter the wilderness anyway, so you're full-steam ahead on the FPS railroad by that point. Maybe another 5 hours should finish it if you're good and don't dilly-dally about.
Ouch, 20-25 hours. I guess I'll have to game like mad this weekend.
@ LaCabra: Where did you get a jeep? Is this later in the game?
Posts
The game ran terribly for me, even though my specs were well above the recommended. Then about three weeks ago Nvidia released some new drivers that, iirc, helped with Stalker and older Nvidia cards.
Now the game runs perfectly, with all options on, whereas before it was unplayable. Sadly, the game still IS unplayable in a way. I looked forward to this game for at LEAST the last two years, and I've already taken it off my HDD. Most half-assed-could-have-been-great game ever. I have never experienced combat mechanics that ruined a game this efficiently. For a week I went back and tried, time after time, trying sooo hard to look past the combat mechanics, just couldn't do it.
So .. so.. sad. I was extremely happy when I bought this game, but Christ almighty did it turn out to be a let down for me.
Switch to Static Lighting if you haven't already. It will make all the difference in the world. Also, keep the texture settings to 75% or lower. If you max the texture settings, Stalker's resource management will choke.
If you're running with Static Lighting and still having problems, you may want to try updating your drivers to 101.09 (XP 32-bit).
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1622
In short, accuracy and survivability pretty much have to be earned. I can see why some people might not dig it, and again I confess that I normally loathe the 'you'll get used to it' point, but it really does get worlds better once you get a feel for it, and even more so when you get to the good hardware.
Looking forward the army warehouse fix
Pokemon Pearl: 2577-9731-8070
Contact - 0043 9563 6121
that damn firey poltergeist is damn hard to see when you can't figure out where it is.
By the time I got back to the Bar, I only had 15 rounds left. I thought I was lucky when for some reason a Merc spawned right outside the bar area with some more ammo, but his buddies were waiting in a building killing some rookies. Assholes suprised me.
STEAM
/beatdeadhorse
Now I understand my PC ain't the snappiest of beasts these days (Athlon 64 3700, Gig o' RAM and a Geforce 7800 GS AGP).
When I run it under the lower of the dynamic lighting settings (as in the one above static lighting), as soon as I leave the bunker and look at the little town outside it, my framerates go to about 0.5fps! After about 5 seconds, if i can move the view away from the town, it returns to respectable framerates.
Running it with static lighting is smooth as silk, but it looks like ass on a stick.
Is this because my PC is getting long in the tooth (I didn't think it was that old!) or is there something more sinister going on?
Addendum: I am running with the -noprefetch option.
I had (before installing Vista) a custom ini that improved the visual quality (HDR lighting settings that made it look more realistic) while at the same time reducing a lot of the stuttering and slowdown. I can't find it now though and didn't think to back it up
The only gripe I have about the game is that the weapons are somewhat strangely rated.
There's no way a G36s are that much more powerful then g3 or AK-47 guns.
Also shotguns are gimped early on. You have to deal with that double barrel version for a long time and eventually you can get the pump action, but by then everyone has WAY better rifles making the shotguns somewhat use less in the game. And in a game where zombies and mutants are plentiful, a shot gun is something you'd want to have.
Yeah, the shotguns are a bit of an oddity. The ammo is so damn heavy that they are a bitch to use as a backup rifle. The best i can figure out is that with the variety in ammo they are intended as a sort of jack-of-all trades weapon. In theory you can use it as a powerful short range weapon with the standard cartridges and then use the alternative ammo types to use it as a long-range sniping weapon so you don't have to carry an assault rifle and a sniper rifle but in reality it's hugely inferior to the alternatives in both regards and with a bit of conservatism, you can happily carry a decent assault rifle, a sniper rifle and sufficient ammo for both anyway.
Pokemon Pearl: 2577-9731-8070
Contact - 0043 9563 6121
Not at all - non-'special mission' sidequests will only give you cash (lagely useless) or mid-level artifacts (which you find all over the place). If you fail one you don't get the reward, but there's no penalty.
This game is awesome, by the way.
EDIT: Apparently this is a Pseudodog:
I think you're thinking of the boars or the flesh, the pseudodogs have flatter, meaner, almost humanoid faces compared to the wild dogs it seems to me. The guy above me posted a picture.
They're freaking hard to see in the loot menu. When I finally noticed it, I was like "Shit... how many tails have I missed so far?"
3ds friend code: 2981-6032-4118
Am I assuming correctly thinking that
I also thought that maybe Strelok somehow died after destroying the c-consciousness and the green fields represent his heaven.
Any thought guys?
Pokemon Pearl: 2577-9731-8070
Contact - 0043 9563 6121
As for Strelok, he says "I made it," so I'm assuming he got out alive and just wanted some rest at the end of it. It's not impossible that he died at that point, given the radiation and god knows what else in the plant, but the ending doesn't really say enough about what happens afterwards to be sure about his fate.
On a separate note: I just entered the Garbage and whenever I'm full of gear I need to sell, the only place I know of to sell weapons and stuff is at the very beginning of the game. That means I have to run back through the Garbage, and then through Cordon, just to sell my shit. How soon will I find another trader? Is there an easier way to sell my gear (something like Oblivion's fast travel) or should I just not bother picking up every item I find?
There are three full-fledged traders in the game: Sidorovich, the Barman, and Sakarov out in Yantar. These guys will buy just about anything and have unlimited money to do so. There's also a guy in the Freedom base in the warehouses who has a shop, but he has limited funds and isn't much use in the way of buying things unless you buy something from him first to boost his own cash stores.
You can trade with most every stalker you meet that doesn't attack you, but they won't buy weapons or ammo. You can, however, sell off surplus medical supplies, artifacts, food or creature parts, and it's a great way to dump off inexpensive things that tend to stack up.
And if you don't feel you need to complete a game, then just a few hours of playing will give you a good idea of the phenomenon. At least long enough to find a decent accuracy assault rifle; one of the main complaints people always have is how inaccurate guns are, it's mainly a starter issue.
So now there is all of one Stalker left in the town, and the military base is completely depopulated. I made a little shrine to the victims by dropping a stack of rifles though so it's all good. =P
That's kind of hard to say. You should definitely play right through to the ending as it differs in feel quite dramatically from the beginning survival/RPG-esq parts of the game, but at the same time, you need to play the beginning parts of the game sufficiently long enough to be able to give fair appraisal to their quality. I'd say you want to put in at least 15-20 hours at the beginning areas of the game (up to and including shutting-down the brain scorcher) then you can probably just push for the ending as quick as you can. Once you enter the brain scorcher zone the game switches to being pretty linear and once you get through prypiat, I don't think you can even turn back and reenter the wilderness anyway, so you're full-steam ahead on the FPS railroad by that point. Maybe another 5 hours should finish it if you're good and don't dilly-dally about.
sweet!
anyone have trouble with installing this mod? I don't want to loose my game.
@ LaCabra: Where did you get a jeep? Is this later in the game?