S.T.A.L.K.E.R. SOC Total Conversion mods

[Coyote]

This morning I was playing and I had just finished x-18. So I was making my way through the building and up to the roof and was encountering the usual army resistance when a blowout started, only the Army hadn't been fighting just me. There were three dwarfs, one bloodsucker and a pack of dogs and cats that had been harassing them outside and subsequently followed them in during their tactical retreat. I lasted about three seconds in this shitstorm...

Oh god, the dwarfs. Fucking horrifying things. And then I find out they're a normal creature in Dongs Over Pripyat...

Yeah, I just played CoP for the first time recently, and when the hunter in Jupiter sent me after those two burers, I went in and saw them, thought, "Dwarves? This'll be a cakewalk", and proceeded to have my ass handed to me. They're easily the toughest enemies in the game, even over the pseudogiant (who takes several clips to bring down in CoP but is easy to avoid), controller (easy to deal with if you can get within 3-4 meters or snipe around corners), bloodsucker (just shoot when your targeting reticule turns red/lure them to water so you can see where they are or take a few quick shots when they lose invisibility and then dodge) and chimera (talked up quite a bit in the game, but a single headshot can kill them, and it's easy to avoid their pounces unless you're overencumbered). Their resilience and ability to pull your weapon out of your hands makes them a pain to deal with even if you're decked out in the game's best gear, they can freeze you in place if you don't have enough endurance, and they can kill you in 2-3 mind blasts no matter how well-armored you are.

Fortunately, in CoP you only encounter those two on that quest and a few more in X8. If you encounter them outside - which is pretty rare to begin with - they're easy to avoid.

 

[JrK]

They're easily the toughest enemies in the game ...... Their resilience and ability to pull your weapon out of your hands makes them a pain to deal with even if you're decked out in the game's best gear, they can freeze you in place if you don't have enough endurance, and they can kill you in 2-3 mind blasts no matter how well-armored you are.

Ehm... really? The first time I came across them I died because I didn't know they would pull stuff out of my hands. I reloaded, and totally owned them bitches by planting my knife in their faces. Just running up to them and knifing worked... And now you're telling me they can freeze you and mind blast you?

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Knifing is actually the best tactic, iirc, it does a lot more damage to them and if you're close enough they don't use a few of their powers.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/lost-alpha

The only total conversion mod for Stalker... and it's finally coming out this summer!

 

[poocolator]

All this talk makes me want to reinstall the game.
Tell me, bros, was the engine optimized for Clear Sky/CoP?

 

[praetor]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/lost-alpha

The only total conversion mod for Stalker... and it's finally coming out this summer!

what? where did you get that info?!

last post on moddb by dezodor (mod leader), some 8h ago:

Release will be when we finish it I don't know when, really. The new site will be ready this week, as for alpha format 4, we will make it in May or June, because we need to concentrate on other things now, and video making is not in the list.

doesn't look to me like it's coming out any time "soon". maybe by the end of the year, but i wouldn't put money on it

 

[jonnypolen]

All this talk makes me want to reinstall the game.
Tell me, bros, was the engine optimized for Clear Sky/CoP?

Clear Sky was buggy as hell and didn't seem optimized at all, but CoP was smooth and worked flawlessly. I played CS with the Complete mod, and that ironed out some of the worst bugs. Unmodded it was a nightmare.

 

[Multidirectional]

I loved Oblivion Lost just for being totally batshit at times. Certainly kept things interesting.

+1

Your stories made want to reinstall Oblivion Lost yet again. This is the mod I couldn't play without as soon as I tried it the first time. It made the game feel more sandboxy, which worked in its favor. If that "Super Mod Pack" is just OL with more I might try that one this time. *edit* Nah, Super Mod Pack seems too big and unfinished so far, I'll stick with good old Oblivion Lost 2.2 + Weather Overhaul addon recipe for now. I may still try that super pack after it's finished.

 

[Shiny]

All this talk makes me want to reinstall the game.
Tell me, bros, was the engine optimized for Clear Sky/CoP?

I thought it actually looked better or equal to CoP...

 

[Shiny]

I loved Oblivion Lost just for being totally batshit at times. Certainly kept things interesting.

+1

Your stories made want to reinstall Oblivion Lost yet again. This is the mod I couldn't play without as soon as I tried it the first time. It made the game feel more sandboxy, which worked in its favor. If that "Super Mod Pack" is just OL with more I might try that one this time. *edit* Nah, Super Mod Pack seems too big and unfinished so far, I'll stick with good old Oblivion Lost 2.2 + Weather Overhaul addon recipe for now. I may still try that super pack after it's finished.

The game itself is really quite improved from Oblivion Lost, (especially the gunplay and gun physics),but there is a really big bug having to do with the Army Warehouse district where if ANY Duty guys die than you get crash problems if and when you try to enter the district afterwards.

 

[Coyote]

Ehm... really? The first time I came across them I died because I didn't know they would pull stuff out of my hands. I reloaded, and totally owned them bitches by planting my knife in their faces. Just running up to them and knifing worked... And now you're telling me they can freeze you and mind blast you?

I always forget about the knife in the STALKER games. But yeah, they've got a few different abilities:

1. Pulling weapons out of your hands.
2. Draining endurance. If they hit you with this (at least on the hardest difficulty), it either slows you down or stops you completely until you've regenerated a bit of endurance. It also makes it easier for them to successfully pull your weapons, I think.
3. Raising their hands over their heads to create a shield which make them invulnerable. To bullets, anyway.
4. Psi-blasting you for ~1/3-2/3 of your health (again, at least on the hardest difficulty). They can do this surprisingly often, too, I think once every 5-10 seconds; this can be quite deadly if there're two of them or they freeze you in place using #2 at the wrong moment.

 

[poocolator]

Fucking balls of honey and mead.

My exams are done; I installed Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. (I have actually owned the game since 2007; t'was one of the few games I had bought of the 21st century.)

So, keeping in mind that the last time I played the game was 2007 (I reached pripyat, couldn't be bothered to progress further), I downloaded the super mod pack 2.4.99999... (...)
... figuring I had already experienced what there was to experience in my first (vanilla) playthrough, all those ages ago. I was correct to a degree. To a degree...

Let me expound:
I installed the game today after all these years, and installed the super mod pack; and started playing... everything's going as per what I remember. Then, the first mission occurs involving the clearing of the factory of bandits. To my surprise, things go much easier than what I remember. I credit the ease to the improved gunplay physics; I did notice a difference in gunplay after all of these years. The frustration involved with gun-battles was gone, simply put. Certainly, it didn't feel this way the first time I played through the game, amen.
So, blah blah blah, I did my usual shit.
Then comes the mission involving meeting Fox (whose brother is streeeel or some cyrillic shit). I run into him after hopping through a timed puzzle in a tunnel. I keep him alive so that he gives me a blowjob and his congratulations. Great. (I had already done the Nimble mission at this point, mind.)

I go back to the trader at this point to sell of the shit I collected off the bodies I killed from both missions. It occurs to me that some AI faggots took the opportunity to pick up as many guns as possible before I could. I confirm this idea by checking the tradeables inventory of the the friendly AI's in the factory I had cleared out earlier. So the AI does actually pick up stray guns/ammunition/shit? It looks like it; I'll just have to be quicker, I guess.

In any case, I return to the trader from the beginning, the one who really loves his hobbit-hole, and sell off the excess shit I have. Then, seeing that night is settling, I double-click my sleeping bag and sleep for 5 hours. You know, I categorically avoid adventuring during the night...

No problem there; I wake up refreshed with the break of dawn.

Then. Suddenly--

Spoiler

What. The. Fuck...

What happened to the sky?
To the pretty bird-songs I had fapped to?

All the NPC's in the starting town run towards the cellar... I follow them, being the sheepmind-slave that I am. It comes to my attention through realization vis-a-vis reading these forum posts that I have just begun experiencing a Blowout. And not the pleasant sort of blowout, either.
My first blowout. I feel honoured.

I'll stop here; but I've gotta say that, yeah, aside from a retarded crash, I'm enjoying the fuck out of the super mod.
I want to make a special mention about the ballistics-- holy shit.

That is all.
God almighy. It's like a new experience altogether.

 

[villain of the story]

Would you suggest this mod to a first timer? Or should I play the vanilla game first to appreciate the improvements of mods?

 

[praetor]

Would you suggest this mod to a first timer? Or should I play the vanilla game first to appreciate the improvements of mods?

play it with Complete first. it's basically a bugfix (ZRP mod) with some aesthetic (video and audio. although the audio mods do have some effects on gameplay since they weren't properly commented in the original) mods thrown in for good measure

 

[zool]

Would you suggest this mod to a first timer? Or should I play the vanilla game first to appreciate the improvements of mods?

play it with Complete first. it's basically a bugfix (ZRP mod) with some aesthetic (video and audio. although the audio mods do have some effects on gameplay since they weren't properly commented in the original) mods thrown in for good measure

Seconded. Complete is a good mod that doesn't change the game too much. The only thing I don't like is the UI changes but I can live with it.

 

[Jaesun]

Would you suggest this mod to a first timer? Or should I play the vanilla game first to appreciate the improvements of mods?

play it with Complete first. it's basically a bugfix (ZRP mod) with some aesthetic (video and audio. although the audio mods do have some effects on gameplay since they weren't properly commented in the original) mods thrown in for good measure

Seconded. Complete is a good mod that doesn't change the game too much. The only thing I don't like is the UI changes but I can live with it.

Thirded.

 

[Shiny]

So the AI does actually pick up stray guns/ammunition/shit? It looks like it; I'll just have to be quicker, I guess.

Yes, and as per one of the mods in the pack, they will apply them or break them down and use the silencers/nade launchers etc. if their current weapon is superior.

 

[villain of the story]

But how they decide what weapon is superior? Is the different needs for close, medium & long ranges and covert vs. overt needs accounted for?

Would you suggest this mod to a first timer? Or should I play the vanilla game first to appreciate the improvements of mods?

play it with Complete first. it's basically a bugfix (ZRP mod) with some aesthetic (video and audio. although the audio mods do have some effects on gameplay since they weren't properly commented in the original) mods thrown in for good measure

Seconded. Complete is a good mod that doesn't change the game too much. The only thing I don't like is the UI changes but I can live with it.

Last I played, albeit VERY briefly (a couple hours), I was using a close captions (subtitles) mod with the original Russian voice acting. Everything in English except speech. Can I still use that with Complete?

 

[zool]

But how they decide what weapon is superior? Is the different needs for close, medium & long ranges and covert vs. overt needs accounted for?

Would you suggest this mod to a first timer? Or should I play the vanilla game first to appreciate the improvements of mods?

play it with Complete first. it's basically a bugfix (ZRP mod) with some aesthetic (video and audio. although the audio mods do have some effects on gameplay since they weren't properly commented in the original) mods thrown in for good measure

Seconded. Complete is a good mod that doesn't change the game too much. The only thing I don't like is the UI changes but I can live with it.

Last I played, albeit VERY briefly (a couple hours), I was using a close captions (subtitles) mod with the original Russian voice acting. Everything in English except speech. Can I still use that with Complete?

I don't know, I haven't tried it. Btw, got any link where I could download the Russian voiceovers?

 

[villain of the story]

http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Authe ... Pack;90521

 

[DraQ]

I just use ZRP but I'm just that much of a purist.

I'm also horribly lazy.

 

[poocolator]

I just cleared out the Military Faction's outpost between Cordon and Garbage. There were quite a few of them, but I took them down from a distance using the magick of <<surprise>>... and the help of some rabid mutant dogs.

In any case, I found that the Military faction shows up red on my radar (I'm playing "Elite" difficulty, which includes radar). I figured this means that they're hostile. However, I had my doubts: I encountered a lone military faction soldier (showing up as red) in the field. He didn't fire at me nor did I at him. However, a few moments later he proceeds to toss a grenade at me. I mowed his ass down.
This is curious; we were more than in firearms range. If he was hostile, and since I was investigating him (holding fire till last minute, being as n00bish as I am), why did he choose to throw a grenade when he could have opened fire much earlier and with more effect? Interesting AI effects, here, it looks like. I gotta admit that I like them. It leaves you guessing.

In any case. I cleared out the outpost on the way to Garbage and am pretty damned excited-- I've got lots of ammo and rifles I picked up. In fact, I'm using a rifle (AN-something, forgive me; my knowledge ends with AK-101) that beats my old kalashnikov. It's condition is full, too. IIRC, I only got this rifle halfway through the game the first time I played STALKER (vanilla), which is the reason behind my excitement. That much I remember from my first playthrough of the vanilla game years ago. I think it may have been the same rifle model, too.

But those anomalies; those BLOODY anomalies. They've torn my ass asunder more than once, let me tell you.

Anyway. I wanted to ask you, bros:
is there any serious downside to alienating the Military faction? I mean, in all of my cases, they're the ones who had fired first. It doesn't help that I feel guilty for killing them because I could be killing our conscripted bro, skyway.

 

[villain of the story]

Have you bribed the guy by the bridge with the train wreck before going further?

 

[SerratedBiz]

Is there a recommended mod for CoP? Redux, Complete, Reloaded all seem like very worthy packs. They include graphical overhauls, bugfixes and AI / game mechanics tweaking, so I suppose it's possible to get away with applying only one of them.

I was about to download Complete but realized it doesn't seem to change the weapon mechanics which really bummed me out in my last playthrough. I then thought about getting Complete and applying only the realistic weapons part of Redux. So what's optimal?

 

[Tycn]

Might be worth checking out RCOMas well.

- Added weapon sway, different for each gun and different stances for each gun. Smaller weapons have less sway when moving than larger ones. Carbines and SMG's pull up the sights faster than Assualt Rifles, whereas Sniper Rifles pull up the sights slower than Assault Rifles. I also removed the sway animation when strafing.

- Improve gun accuracy, recoil, reliability & ballistics to something as similar as I could get with out shooting ALL their real life counterparts myself. I'm comfident that they feel very good since v.1.0.5 of RCOM.


- AI behave different according to faction and rank. Details below:

Bandits:
Bandits shoot like criminals with little weapons training. They will have no problems unloading bullets in your direction as often as they can, but are also less likley to line up a shot before shooting at you and will miss more often. They have no problems running from battle and leaving their fellow Bandits to die if it means them getting out alive.

Military/Duty:
The military are very diciplined and well trained. They will line up their shots before firing, and fire more consistantly paced, accurate shots. They fire in short bursts, which means they aren't as likely to need a reload prematurely, and if they are at distance they will use single shots. While the occasional rookie may panic and desert battle, the military usually will stick together as a unit.

Loners/Stalkers:
Their accuracy is in between military and bandits, as well as their firing techniques. They will flee battle less than bandits when things get hairy, but still lack the disipline of the military/duty to keep their composure in a battle.

But yeah, all the major mods for CoP seem pretty solid. I might try merging as well.

Edit: my attempts at combining mods have resulted in crashes. I'd suggest adding Absolute Nature 2 and Absolute Structures (texture packs) to your mod of choice as well as Atmosfear 2 if it is compatible. The former worked for me with no issues.