STALKER V1.1 Patch beta leak (+free-play)

[Fez]

Sounds good, skyway. What one was that? The bandit armies can get annoying at times. Garbage area is the worst for it.

Did anyone else notice that the release date for CS on Steam has just changed to May? Surprise surprise. The slippage has started.

 

[Annonchinil]

Did the Steam release date change or the retail release too? Although it is good that they are delaying the game, hopefully it will turn out to be better on release. Anyways I just tried to Nuclear Snow mod and I don't particullay like the changes it makes to the graphics, atleast for the Cordon in the daylight everything just looks more grey and not the black&white style world that I was expecting. As for 2007 this looked like an amazing year for gaming and although some great titles came out it merely feels like an average one.

P.S. no way MotB or the Witcher are game of the year, it belongs to Mario Galaxy.

 

[MetalCraze]

goddamn you GSC

note how some locations are now smaller in the final release, some are simply not there at all or some have stuff cut out.

@Fez: I don't remember the name of the mod as I was playing with it almost year ago and it seems I don't have it now. I just remember that it came out on the next day (or 2) after Stalkers release, was changing a single script with "spawn" in it. basically if you will find out what script that is you may edit it yourself - it's not encoded - just plain understandable english text.

p.s. also is it just me or do those old dx8 screenshots look more cold and atmospheric than this new hdr fluff?

 

[Fez]

Ah, thanks. I might have a go at that then. I already changed some of the files so that the weapon mods work as they should and to insert the missing weapons into the trader's inventories. I'll investigate this spawn fix and hopefully that will remove one more annoyance.

 

[Fez]

An interesting interview with the man behind the A-Life system: http://aigamedev.com/interviews/stalker-alife

 

[MetalCraze]

goddamn this thread
it makes me want to replay stalker again. actually just to run around in that setting again.

is there any mod that will like... almost remove all soldiers from pripyat?

 

[Kingston]

The problem with STALKER was that it indeed did feel far too small. I wanted to run through huge fields, find empty constructions, feel that the place was truly desolate. Instead it covers a very small size, has loading zones (ugh) and there's a battle every two minutes.

Clear Sky looks good though.

 

[Starwars]

One of my main disappointments was that the areas were seperated by loading screens. I can't remember if it was actually claimed to be largely without loading screens in the world (like the TES games) or if it was just something I dreamt up.
I think there must be some good reason for it though, each zone is really very detailed and you've got the A-life thing going on.
And say what you will, but things do happen dynamically at times even in vanilla STALKER (one particular session was crazy for me, with the Military gaining control of most of Cordon, and Duty expanding all over the Garbage and all kinds of stuff going on). I would guess that it's fairly taxing on systems for being "just that", AI.

I have no idea though as I'm not a programmer by any means. But yeah, a completely free-roaming version of the Zone around Chernobyl would kick ass. Not gonna happen in a *loooooooong* time though I would guess.

 

[MetalCraze]

hmm those Clear Sky screens look somewhat empty and less detailed than it's "dirty" predecessor.

probably because most of stalker's level designers left GSC not long before the game release. mostly those guys who did the indoor areas.
they also sued GSC for poor working conditions and low payments.
they have their own studio now, A4 games or something - making Metro 2033. it's indoor areas indeed look exactly the same design way as stalker ones.

as for the seamless world - GSC's PR guys fed us with that hype for long 6 years.
and only 1-2 months before the game release they confessed that they lied all this time.
though not all people heard this - and imagine the surprise of average gamer who thought that stalker will let him explore this mysterious zone - when he ran into 30cm fence you can't jump over.

 

[Starwars]

Thanks for that info skyway, I didn't know about that. That doesn't bode well for some of Clear Sky's environs, that's for sure. Hope that whoever new is on the team now is also talented. The indoor areas of Shadow of Chernobyl are simply amazing, some of the most atmospheric stuff I've ever seen.

I checked out that developer, here is the website. http://www.4a-games.com/
You can definetely see the STALKER influence there to say the least. Hopefully it'll be good, gonna check out the 2007 trailer now. Just an immediate reaction, I like STALKERs setup more with the Zone and all. But this could definetely be good.

 

[Kingston]

I love the look of the outdoor areas in Clear Sky. Desolate, as it should be. Trudging through that swamp with a bloodsucker on your trail ought to be awesome.

 

[Starwars]

Well, I checked the trailer out, and I have to say that I'm not particularly impressed sadly. Of course, it's way to early to tell. The mutant design is not very good I think (though it was nothing special in STALKER either admittedly), but what I suppose the main thing I don't like is that it *seems* to be humans vs mutants.
Hopefully there will be other factions of humans as well, I generally don't like just fighting monsters all the time.

Worth watching for the lulz voiceover though, heh.

Seriously, I'm sure it can be a great game. Hopefully they'll come through on it.

 

[Kingston]

You're talking 'bout Metro2033, right?

 

[Starwars]

Yeah, sorry about the confusion.

What's been released for Clear Sky looks pretty good, but I believe it's basically only been combat vids. The AI seems to know a little more which is nice.
I really wanna see more general "Stalkering" though, creeping around the place and seeing the kickass environment.

 

[MetalCraze]

yep it looks like it will be something like humans vs. mutants sadly (read marines vs. aliens type game). though 4A games don't want to talk about the story-line much.

also about CS: I would've preferred abandoned, half-destructed streets of a big city over swamps...
I mean - how many such cities do we have in games and how many swamps/deserts/other wide empty areas?

usually a place with lots of buildings portrayed as a shelter in games. it was a really wild feeling to have that factory train station as a place infested by mutants. it felt so incorrect and out of place, but it felt good. especially for me, as a guy who get used to that in rpgs city/factory/train station is a safe place, while all bad shit is going on in wilderness.

 

[Fez]

This is true. It could be nice to have the old towns or cities as the dangerous areas and the people forced out into the countryside. At least seeing more places of habitation being reused and possibly altered by their new inhabitants like the few parts in STALKER.

 

[Starwars]

I was checking around on the SA forums a while back, and found a pic+video Let's Play of STALKER with the dude talking over the videos. I didn't like him at all first, but after I got used to his rambling style I actually found it to be pretty damn funny.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showth ... id=2756589

He just posted one of the last updates of the Power Plant area and one of the endings, and he's gonna do one more update to show a few more endings I think.
It's pretty fun to watch I think. Also, I had completely forgotten how incredible it was to see those last few areas of the Power Plant, just before you get to the Wish Granter. It's pretty fuckin' amazing level design right there..

 

[MetalCraze]

or if you go for the "true" endings - there will be meaningless running around the powerplant roofs in the end - and the most idiotically used location in the game. mostly because it's the same as with the entering location of NPP - you will be able to see only 50% of it.
well at least it got hole in the sky through which things can fly.

 

[Wyrmlord]

as for the seamless world - GSC's PR guys fed us with that hype for long 6 years.
and only 1-2 months before the game release they confessed that they lied all this time.
though not all people heard this - and imagine the surprise of average gamer who thought that stalker will let him explore this mysterious zone - when he ran into 30cm fence you can't jump over.

Eh, hype is a self-defeating prophecy. And when it comes to shooters, hype is the main thing which makes them sell. So the simple solution is not fall for it.

Besides, the non-linearity stuff is such a common hype-drive when it comes to shooters, that I don't take it very seriously. 2K said Bioshock would be a totally non-linear, but I didn't fall for that, which is why I was able to enjoy Bioshock for what it was, a fun linear shooter.

I think STALKER is a good game, and I don't find it any less fun simply because it doesn't fit the grand image that was given to it prerelease.

 

[Starwars]

Well, this game just gave me a great scare, though I think it was likely due to alive mod.

Was gonna head for the Freedom base, and I just entered the Army Warehouses area at night. Can't see shit basically.
Ran around the little Duty checkpoint, where Skull and his dudes are plotting to strike against Freedom. Noticed there were fewer Duty around than usual for some reason (still no idea what happened to them). So I check out the houses nearby since I know there is a piece of armor in there, and I head back to the Duty camp. Turning away from the light and looking over in the direction of the Bloodsucker village, I suddenly notice 3 pairs of eyes fast approaching from the darkness, and fuck, it scared me so bad haha.
I've never encountered any mutants in that area, and definetely not 3 bloodsuckers.

The bloodsuckers made mincemeat out of a few of the Duty soldiers, including Skull, before we killed them. Now there are only 3 Duty at the checkpoint left.
At least I got a good weapon upgrade out of it.

 

[Fez]

Those moments can be very fun indeed. I had a few surprises like that so far. I'm blaming the alive mod for it too.

The bloodsuckers are great enemies when they are implemented properly.

 

[MetalCraze]

I'm currently on the 128 MB vcard so I can't play stalker - it dies at any settings. especially in pripyat - with everything set to minimal too.

I found the site btw from where I got the respawn mod. I can't find it there right now, but I used two other mods from that site as well.

the first mod is a fixed sun - if you remember stalker is such a dirty alpha version that sun appears from the west - reaches the top of the sky and goes to the west again.
the mod also makes the nights darker so you can use it instead a simple darker nights mod - if you have a bug with the sun (gsc didn't fix it even in 1.0005)

the second mod is a much higher weapon damage. beware - it will damage your enemies like 3 times more - but they will be able to damage you with the same rate as well. I'm actually finding it to be a good thing. hardcore. and more realistic.

I uploaded them to mediafire if you will need them

http://www.mediafire.com/?qjhbz4ymthv

http://www.mediafire.com/?le9fy1dgvgo

if and when I'll find that spawn controlling script separately - I'll post it.

if some of you understand russian and want to do the search yourself - www.stalker-portal.ru

 

[The Ticktockman]

So, reading over this thread has gotten me interested in playing STALKER again. I've decided to go with the aliVe mod, and also the weaponaddonfix (for attachable weapon mods). But I also want to use a mod that fixes the way NPC's detect you at night while you are sneaking. If I remember correctly, it is almost impossible to sneak up on enemies effectively and kill them, even at night. Also, silenced weapons, and especially the knife, seem useless, as they make too much noise when used. Can anyone point me towards mods that fix these problems, and any other minimalist mods out there?

 

[Rulion]

I'm seeing a lot of mod features being rementioned.

Really, look into the Oblivion Lost overhaul + Nuclear Snow for graphics.

Oblivion Lost adds a lot of monsters that were cut out, integrates the better skies mod, the sleeping bag mod, random blowouts, realistic damage and weapon physics, and a lot more.

 

[MetalCraze]

unfortunately there are no normal overhaul mods for stalker. because moddies always think that if they are to return the cut content to the game - they just -have- to add something from themselves to it. and what they add is usually a horrible shit.