Let's drink to him once more. He was a good S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Ragnar Dragonfyre

After reading through this thread and much of the last thread, I'm probably going to pick this game up today (along with FFIV-DS 8-)).

Being one who doesn't shirk from a challenge and likes to get the most out of any game, I'm interested in going straight into Oblivion Lost. I'm usually the type that will hold back on playing a game if it's incomplete (The Witcher is sitting on my HDD just waiting for the enhanced edition). How much of a departure is this mod from the vanilla game? Would I be "missing out" on anything, or is Oblivion Lost just considered to be completely superior?

Well, I'm off to the store. I've got three days off and it's raining out. Time to get my game on!

EddieDean

I never got the complaints about gun accuracy. When I realised that running made me hella inaccurate, I started using cover better. When I realised that gravity had an effect on my shots, I started considering range and compensating for it.

The ballistics system is awesome.

Stormwatcher

EddieDean wrote: »

I never got the complaints about gun accuracy. When I realised that running made me hella inaccurate, I started using cover better. When I realised that gravity had an effect on my shots, I started considering range and compensating for it.

The ballistics system is awesome.

This man speaks the truth

Sueve

Anybody know a fix for super bright NPC flashlights?

SithDrummer

Ragnar Dragonfyre wrote: »

Being one who doesn't shirk from a challenge and likes to get the most out of any game, I'm interested in going straight into Oblivion Lost. I'm usually the type that will hold back on playing a game if it's incomplete (The Witcher is sitting on my HDD just waiting for the enhanced edition). How much of a departure is this mod from the vanilla game? Would I be "missing out" on anything, or is Oblivion Lost just considered to be completely superior?

The Restoration Pack is basically about polishing and improving the original game, while Oblivion Lost takes the game in a different direction entirely.

Dr Snofeld

EddieDean wrote: »

I never got the complaints about gun accuracy. When I realised that running made me hella inaccurate, I started using cover better. When I realised that gravity had an effect on my shots, I started considering range and compensating for it.

The ballistics system is awesome.

I think many of the complaints stem from people playing on rookie and this whole "beyond 100m only 20% of shots will hit" thing, which is never explained anywhere and in fact this thread is probably the first place many people have heard of it.

IceBurner

Stormwatcher wrote: »

EddieDean wrote: »

I never got the complaints about gun accuracy. When I realised that running made me hella inaccurate, I started using cover better. When I realised that gravity had an effect on my shots, I started considering range and compensating for it.

The ballistics system is awesome.

This man speaks the truth

I didn't have any issues at first, but then I started to notice it took a riduculous amount of ammo to land a single hit on bandits at medium range with my weapons. I started looking for accuracy mods, but then found out about the random hit chance. I bumped the game up from Novice difficulty and have had no issues since.

goggles

Ugh, so I guess I kinda did things out of order. I was doing side missions for the barkeep in the wild territory and ended up saving the professor. I didn't realize Yantar was part of the main quest, and so after I saved the professor, I went there. This was before I did X18. I ended up clearing X16, and then went back to do a few more side missions. Well I was on my way back to see if Sidorovich had anything for me and met up with "Guide" who gave me a mission to go "meet with the doctor." So, now I can't complete that mission or the "take jobs from barkeep" mission because I've already triggered them and they won't compelete. I'm betting this will change the way the game ends eh?

Dr Snofeld

goggles wrote: »

Ugh, so I guess I kinda did things out of order. I was doing side missions for the barkeep in the wild territory and ended up saving the professor. I didn't realize Yantar was part of the main quest, and so after I saved the professor, I went there. This was before I did X18. I ended up clearing X16, and then went back to do a few more side missions. Well I was on my way back to see if Sidorovich had anything for me and met up with "Guide" who gave me a mission to go "meet with the doctor." So, now I can't complete that mission or the "take jobs from barkeep" mission because I've already triggered them and they won't compelete. I'm betting this will change the way the game ends eh?

Different doctor, you can still do that quest. Beyond that, I don't know.

Tim James

My new computer is coming together. E8400, ATI 4850, some RAM, and a motherboard. I think I'll pull the trigger this week because there's a lot of rebates out this month. I will be extremely sad if Clear Sky gets delayed to 2009 because I would have waited until then, though they keep saying it is only a version 1.5 of the engine, so I can't imagine the maximum settings changing that much.

[EDIT] I notice I have August 29th off from work. I don't think my wife is going to see much of me that weekend. I'm not one to rush through a game right when it's out, and I'll take my time, but I can't wait to see what they have in store for us.

Daemonion

Great work, Stolls. The Marked One would be proud.


Hey, I'll ask this again - anyone know how to fix the sun shadow bug?

I think it is a problem with the FOV, but, basically, turning sun shadow on really, really fucks with the shadows on the edges of the screen.

SithDrummer

Daemonion wrote: »

Great work, Stolls. The Marked One would be proud.


Hey, I'll ask this again - anyone know how to fix the sun shadow bug?

I think it is a problem with the FOV, but, basically, turning sun shadow on really, really fucks with the shadows on the edges of the screen.

From the previous thread, I think this works for non-widescreen too:

ChasersR4Wimps wrote: »

Tim James wrote:

Syngyne wrote:

Sceptre wrote:

So, I'm having an odd problem. I'm getting some weird shadow bugs. Basically, as I turn, the shadows to the sides of my screen will flicker. I have full dynamic lighting on, and lowering it to object makes it go away, but it also makes it significantly less beautiful.

Turning off sun shadow also makes it go away, but again, beautifulness.

Any ideas?

I got this too, it was like a box or something just out of my vision was casting a shadow on the ground. Never did find a fix for it, I just sort of tuned it out after a while.

Wow, now that you said that it does sound familiar. I think I ignored it as well. Stupid game that we love.

Are any of you running in a widescreen resolution? I'm pretty sure that the fix to the weird shadows on the side was to change the "r2_sun_near_border" variable in the user.ltx file from .75 to 1. I seem to remember this eliminating the problem for me.

Sueve

Sueve wrote: »

Anybody know a fix for super bright NPC flashlights?

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Dr Snofeld

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/07/23/interview-gsc-on-stalker-clear-sky/

Short interview. The important points are that most dialogue will be in English, except maybe the campire talk, but the action music from the trailer was made FOR the trailer. There is an option to turn on action music in game, but that's just it, an option.

So that's a relief.

Tim James

Dr Snofeld wrote: »

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/07/23/interview-gsc-on-stalker-clear-sky/

Short interview. The important points are that most dialogue will be in English, except maybe the campire talk, but the action music from the trailer was made FOR the trailer. There is an option to turn on action music in game, but that's just it, an option.

So that's a relief.

??????????????

Jetsetlemming says:

The fanciest of the fancy Clear Sky graphical features are DX10, but the Clear Sky DX10 features will work in Windows XP with a DX10 videocard.

Waiting on confirmation. If I don't have to go Vista, that will make my life so much easier.

Pharezon

Dr Snofeld wrote: »

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/07/23/interview-gsc-on-stalker-clear-sky/

Short interview. The important points are that most dialogue will be in English, except maybe the campire talk.

God damn it.

Dr Snofeld

Pharezon wrote: »

Dr Snofeld wrote: »

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/07/23/interview-gsc-on-stalker-clear-sky/

Short interview. The important points are that most dialogue will be in English, except maybe the campire talk.

God damn it.

Well I don't mind too much. I'd like to know what those jokes are.

And at least they'll have Russian accents, instead of all being American or whatever. Which given the developer's location is actually pretty obvious. So it could be worse.

Roshin

Great OP, there. It finally convinced me to download and try a modpack.

KungFu

Fuck, this thread has made me want to get this game after years of hiding from it. Years back before it got delayed and shelved, I was following it and thinking it sounded awesome. But when it came out and people said they changed it from what they shown around, I just wrote it off and pretended it didn't exist.

I has dropped my wallet.

Morninglord

Hooooooooly shit I just started playing this. The first fire fight was a bitch until I played it as if I was really there and not Gordon Freeman. Ducking to cover, stealing shotguns off the ground, dragging corpses in to cover to loot them, flankin doods.

Then I did a bunch of stash finding and shit.

This game is mindblowing.

I have a question about anomalies: am i supposed to be able to find relics near them. Cos I go as close as I can and I find nothing.

I was also wondering where the shopkeeper is until I saw the trade button and now I have everybodies vodka. It's mine, they can't have it back.

Morninglord

Dartboy wrote: »

On this run I've sworn I won't use the Vintorez, I even went and sold the one you can find as soon as I got to it. The Vintorez really is overpowered compared to everything else, it's way too damaging, accurate, scoped, and silenced that it just kills most of the firefights and makes a lot of the other guns pointless. It's a lot more fun to not have an "I Win" gun, plus it means the Gauss Rifle is actually useful. I mean seriously.

It makes a freaking Rail Gun useless.

This happened in Crysis. The main korean rifle was the best gun in the game once you figured out how to time the breathing cycle to snipe long distance. Especially when you get the antipersonell ammo.

IceBurner

SithDrummer wrote: »

Daemonion wrote: »

Great work, Stolls. The Marked One would be proud.


Hey, I'll ask this again - anyone know how to fix the sun shadow bug?

I think it is a problem with the FOV, but, basically, turning sun shadow on really, really fucks with the shadows on the edges of the screen.

From the previous thread, I think this works for non-widescreen too:

ChasersR4Wimps wrote: »

Tim James wrote:

Syngyne wrote:

Sceptre wrote:

So, I'm having an odd problem. I'm getting some weird shadow bugs. Basically, as I turn, the shadows to the sides of my screen will flicker. I have full dynamic lighting on, and lowering it to object makes it go away, but it also makes it significantly less beautiful.

Turning off sun shadow also makes it go away, but again, beautifulness.

Any ideas?

I got this too, it was like a box or something just out of my vision was casting a shadow on the ground. Never did find a fix for it, I just sort of tuned it out after a while.

Wow, now that you said that it does sound familiar. I think I ignored it as well. Stupid game that we love.

Are any of you running in a widescreen resolution? I'm pretty sure that the fix to the weird shadows on the side was to change the "r2_sun_near_border" variable in the user.ltx file from .75 to 1. I seem to remember this eliminating the problem for me.

Ahah! I'd been thinking that was the issue, but did not know how to check for a shadow FOV setting. Voila, and thanks. I'll fix this ASAP.

Ultimanecat

The Trader is the very first guy you talk to down in the bunker in the starting area.

Anomalies eventually produce artifacts, but it takes several game days. You aren't going to find many artifacts worth equipping early on, anyway (and the best artifacts almost have to be gotten through quests and not randomly).

Tim James

Morninglord wrote: »

Hooooooooly shit I just started playing this. The first fire fight was a bitch until I played it as if I was really there and not Gordon Freeman. Ducking to cover, stealing shotguns off the ground, dragging corpses in to cover to loot them, flankin doods.

That reminds me of what originally hooked me on the game. Running to that first area to help a few stalkers take out a bunch of bandits. They were in a pitched firefight with the last enemy, everyone behind cover, no one able to make any progress. So I snuck around through a building to flank him.

I got about 20 yards away from him, with a completely unobstructed view, and he didn't instantly turn toward me to ruin my plans. He was focused on the other stalkers in front of him. I was floored.

Then I shot him in the side.

Morninglord

I had a quick readthrough. If I want a no headaches from installing a bunch a crap slap on fix me up of stalker (yes I typed all that without pause) I should just get the repair mod and tweak my weapons file to 100.
Yeah?

Tim James

Or just get the Stolls Mod Compilation, which seems to work for everyone with little headache. Least amount of annoyances left in the game, but changes a lot from vanilla, so it's your call. Personally, I think you'll be fine with what you've got listed, but the original game didn't bother me much.

Morninglord

I'm having zero problems with the original game other than those two. I don't want to add anymore stuff until I've played through at least once.

As for difficulty at 100, I played through Far Cry on realistic so this is like coming home to find the house is glowing in the dark and theres werid fucking storms passing by and jesus christ what was that oh god kill it BANG BANG BANG

Tim James

Go for it then. You'll be fine.

Might want to play with Float32 (do a Google search), which improves the shadows and stuff. I had no problems with it, and it's very simple.

Morninglord

I hit a snag, I can't find weapons.ltx I'm using the steam version and it doesn't appear to exist.

there's also no gamedate folder to put the repair mod I got in. Uh anybody know about any steam friendly mods.

IceBurner

Shoot, I forgot all about that. You need to extract the files from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s archives first, and there's one line you need to modify to tell S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to give priority to the extracted files instead of the compressed ones in its archives.

Let me dig up that info and edit it into my post. My apologies :X

malkoth

Id also recommend the Weather Overhaul mod, doesnt change gameplay much, but definitely adds to the "oh shit" factor during night time.

Stolls

Sueve wrote: »

Sueve wrote: »

Anybody know a fix for super bright NPC flashlights?

May have something to do with the light-23 mod. I'll take a look at it and see if there's something that can be clipped out.

Morninglord

Warg I just got ambushed by ten million white dogs.

Not a big deal except I turned the difficulty up to master to get some weapon accuracy so they really goddam hurt. Blarg.

IceBurner

Okay, edited my post about modding the game, sorry for the brain fart.

Tim James

What the..??

http://forums.mapcore.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=11008&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

Dx10 effects will be avaible for XP users as well so no worries about that. You won't find anything new in the leak btw, it's just what you could see on E3 and nothing more. (1+ year old)

Supposedly Buddy is a designer at GSC.

Stolls

Tim James wrote: »

What the..??

http://forums.mapcore.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=11008&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

Dx10 effects will be avaible for XP users as well so no worries about that. You won't find anything new in the leak btw, it's just what you could see on E3 and nothing more. (1+ year old)

Supposedly Buddy is a designer at GSC.

Instant Game of the Year contender.

Sueve - did some testing with vanilla and a couple different light mods. I think there's no getting around the whole light-in-the-face thing. Have a look:
Here's how it looks in vanilla.
This is the light-23 mod in the partial and full packages.
And this is the flashlight range increase mod in the core package.

The last one increases beam strength and distance, while light-23 has a slightly weaker beam, but a wider radius and a higher spot angle (85 degrees as opposed to 60). However, the glare coming from NPC flashlights doesn't seem to appreciably change from mod to mod, or in vanilla for that matter.

DeMoN

I'm very low on cash so there is a contest between clear sky and fallout for my affection. Clear sky is winning.

IceBurner

Stolls wrote: »

Tim James wrote: »

What the..??

http://forums.mapcore.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=11008&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

Dx10 effects will be avaible for XP users as well so no worries about that. You won't find anything new in the leak btw, it's just what you could see on E3 and nothing more. (1+ year old)

Supposedly Buddy is a designer at GSC.

Instant Game of the Year contender.

Sueve - did some testing with vanilla and a couple different light mods. I think there's no getting around the whole light-in-the-face thing. Have a look:
Here's how it looks in vanilla.
This is the light-23 mod in the partial and full packages.
And this is the flashlight range increase mod in the core package.

The last one increases beam strength and distance, while light-23 has a slightly weaker beam, but a wider radius and a higher spot angle (85 degrees as opposed to 60). However, the glare coming from NPC flashlights doesn't seem to appreciably change from mod to mod, or in vanilla for that matter.

That's because it's a sprite, as in a 2d graphic Most light halo-type objects/FX in 3d games are sprites, since the rendering work necessary to create real ones is astronomically more computationally expensive than just faking it.

043

I put the prefetch fix in, and it seems that my game likes to skip graphically, every few steps.

So I deleted the gamedata folder with the mods, and I think I fucked it -- mods won't install anymore. Was my first problem from a lack of prefetching? And can I make mods work again?

Steam version, btw.