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[madmook]

Okay, I think I might have a problem. I just started the game recently, and have been doing quests at the starting stalker camp area. Anyway, I somehow pissed off a patrol of military dudes going down the road (are these guys initially hostile to you or something?) anyway, I ran from them, and like 5 mins later they caught up to me at the stalker camp. A giant fire fight followed (was like 8 military dudes) and now everyone in the stalker camp is dead except for myself and the dude below ground that you get missions from. Is the game ****ed at this point or can I keep going fine?

ROFL!

The first time I encountered them, it was just the 3 patrolling point guards. I only had the starter pistol at the time and I was able to cap one of them with a lucky shot. The other guys then split up and took off in different directions to take cover. I rushed the body, jacked the AK, and got the hell outta there, heh. The rest of the dudes didn't bother coming after me, though I guess in your case it was personal. :lol

 

[Confidence Man]

Here's a mod that lets the traders repair weapons and armor. Perfect for those unique weapons.

http://www.gsc-game.com/index.php?t=community&s=forums

 

[IJoel]

I've been trying to play this, but non-static lighting KILLS my PC. Some data:

System: Athlon 64 3200+ / 2GB RAM / 7800GS

Static Lighting: 55-75 FPS (exteriors), 100+ FPS (interiors)
Object Lighting: 8-15 FPS (exteriors / heavy stuttering with sudden movements), 25-30 FPS (interiors)

Any suggestions?

 

[Chiggs]

I've been trying to play this, but non-static lighting KILLS my PC. Some data:

System: Athlon 64 3200+ / 2GB RAM / 7800GS

Static Lighting: 55-75 FPS (exteriors), 100+ FPS (interiors)
Object Lighting: 8-15 FPS (exteriors / heavy stuttering with sudden movements), 25-30 FPS (interiors)

Any suggestions?

Drop the grass setting. Try the -noprefetch command in your shortcut's target, grab the patch, update your drivers.

You can also read the TweakGuide article or wait for the next patch (due very soon).

Okay, I think I might have a problem. I just started the game recently, and have been doing quests at the starting stalker camp area. Anyway, I somehow pissed off a patrol of military dudes going down the road (are these guys initially hostile to you or something?) anyway, I ran from them, and like 5 mins later they caught up to me at the stalker camp. A giant fire fight followed (was like 8 military dudes) and now everyone in the stalker camp is dead except for myself and the dude below ground that you get missions from. Is the game ****ed at this point or can I keep going fine?

:lol :lol :lol

 

[IJoel]

Drop the grass setting. Try the -noprefetch command in your shortcut's target, grab the patch, update your drivers.

You can also read the TweakGuide article or wait for the next patch (due very soon).

I updated my drivers last night (91.73, or is it 93.71?), downloaded the 1.001 patch, and I'm already using the -noprefetch command. I haven't tried dropping the grass setting, though I wouldn't think it makes any difference as no shadows are generated from it.

BTW, those static lighting stats are with 4xAA, max AF, and maxed out settings. This is the first game I own that's basically unplayable with proper lighting.

I'll try playing around with the grass setting later.

 

[KTallguy]

I updated my drivers last night (91.73, or is it 93.71?), downloaded the 1.001 patch, and I'm already using the -noprefetch command. I haven't tried dropping the grass setting, though I wouldn't think it makes any difference as no shadows are generated from it.

BTW, those static lighting stats are with 4xAA, max AF, and maxed out settings. This is the first game I own that's basically unplayable with proper lighting.

I'll try playing around with the grass setting later.

I'm having essentially the same problems as you, with almost the same specs. The dynamic lighting is just too good to turn off though...

 

[Chiggs]

I'll try playing around with the grass setting later.

You'll definitely want to. It made a huge difference for me.

 

[VibratingDonkey]

If you don't feel like extracting the entire game and modifying the script yourself to unleash A-Life, here's a mod that is supposed to do that for you.
Now I'm off to see if it works.

 

[Amzin]

You guys should try this link Chiggs posted way back:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/stalker/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-34287187&pid=540331

Your specs are better than mine in every way, but I can run those settings with Dynamic Lighting on full with no problem. I had to turn Sun Shadows off because of a memory leak I kept getting, though.

 

[tegdf]

You guys should try this link Chiggs posted way back:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/stalker/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-34287187&pid=540331

Your specs are better than mine in every way, but I can run those settings with Dynamic Lighting on full with no problem. I had to turn Sun Shadows off because of a memory leak I kept getting, though.

im gonna try that, hopefully it works

 

[tegdf]

alright I did that fix, and damn it actually works and dynamic lighting looks awesome

 

[IJoel]

It worked for me too. It's a good visual quality trade off. That said, the situation I'm getting is strange. I'm still getting 17+ FPS on the exteriors, but now I don't get the horrible stuttering. I'm essentially going from there and tweaking the settings to see if I can improve the frame rate, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Same seems to happen if I ramp up the visual effects, to an extent.

 

[Victrix]

Damn, I just put together my new computer this week, and had the pleasure of trying out Stalker on full detail, 1600x1200 - it looks amazing

I was already enjoying myself, now its a visual feast on top of the gameplay. Great stuff.

 

[MisterTHQ]

This whopper of a thread certainly makes interesting reading. Definitely enjoying the anecdotal gameplay moments... more of those please!

And for any UK Gaffers who have managed to read all the way to this point of the thread, your reward is the link to a little THQ competition... with a few official game guides to give away. Not big deal, but thought you might like to know...

(We've got a separate comp with copies of the game itself too)

http://www.thq-games.com/uk/competitions/index/1

 

[Victrix]

Hmm, has anyone else experienced odd visual corruption during rain/thunder storms? It happens on both of my computers, so its either an nvidia driver bug, or something in stalker

I'll try to grab some screens of it, but it manifests as a weird looking multicolored texture glitch, looks like multicolored lightning that flickers randomly on the screen. Very annoying during rain storms, and it also happens every time lightning strikes.

Other computer has a 7800GS AGP in it, this machine has an 8800 GTX, both with latest drivers.

 

[[Nintex]]

Hmm, has anyone else experienced odd visual corruption during rain/thunder storms? It happens on both of my computers, so its either an nvidia driver bug, or something in stalker

I'll try to grab some screens of it, but it manifests as a weird looking multicolored texture glitch, looks like multicolored lightning that flickers randomly on the screen. Very annoying during rain storms, and it also happens every time lightning strikes.

Other computer has a 7800GS AGP in it, this machine has an 8800 GTX, both with latest drivers.

Same problem here with a 6800GS, the static lightning setting did the trick but isn't doing the game much justice. I guess its yet (another) nvdia driver bug(however I'm running on fairly old ones, and the flickering was worse in the beta)

 

[Amzin]

Hmm, has anyone else experienced odd visual corruption during rain/thunder storms? It happens on both of my computers, so its either an nvidia driver bug, or something in stalker

I'll try to grab some screens of it, but it manifests as a weird looking multicolored texture glitch, looks like multicolored lightning that flickers randomly on the screen. Very annoying during rain storms, and it also happens every time lightning strikes.

Other computer has a 7800GS AGP in it, this machine has an 8800 GTX, both with latest drivers.

I've seen it, but only after I minimized the game and went back to it. I'm using a 6800 with the latest drivers and full dynamic lighting.

 

[Sinatar]

Never saw that on my ATI card, could be a nVidia specific thing.

 

[neuroticphil]

Hmm, has anyone else experienced odd visual corruption during rain/thunder storms? It happens on both of my computers, so its either an nvidia driver bug, or something in stalker

I'll try to grab some screens of it, but it manifests as a weird looking multicolored texture glitch, looks like multicolored lightning that flickers randomly on the screen. Very annoying during rain storms, and it also happens every time lightning strikes.

Other computer has a 7800GS AGP in it, this machine has an 8800 GTX, both with latest drivers.

I've gotten those before. It stopped when I started running a modified driver. NGO 93.81. Game runs a bit better, and I haven't seen those glitches since. I have a 6800 gt.

 

[NinjaFromTheFuture]

Hmm, has anyone else experienced odd visual corruption during rain/thunder storms?

I get it. Only seems to happen if I mess around with the graphics settings though.

 

[Goldrusher]

These poltergeists you're all talking about, are those the invisible things that "kidnap" your vision and make it look straight at them...then zooming in really fast towards them, while a blurry, see-through skull appears ?
I met one after the junk yard zone, at the military complex, somewhere in a tunnel. Scary stuff.

Also, to those worrying about the system specs...it plays GREAT on my three year old system at 1280x1024 with nearly everything on high. (3GHz P4, 1gig RAM and a mighty Hercules 9800XT)
Just disable the dynamic lighting and AA.

 

[Amzin]

These poltergeists you're all talking about, are those the invisible things that "kidnap" your vision and make it look straight at them...then zooming in really fast towards them, while a blurry, see-through skull appears ?
I met one after the junk yard zone, at the military complex, somewhere in a tunnel. Scary stuff.

Also, to those worrying about the system specs...it plays GREAT on my three year old system at 1280x1024 with nearly everything on high. (3GHz P4, 1gig RAM and a mighty Hercules 9800XT)
Just disable the dynamic lighting and AA.

No, Poltergeists are the invisible things that throw barrels and boxes and other things at you. The thing that does the zoom-blurry-vision attack isn't invisible. I forget what the name of it is, it didn't update in my encyclopedia until right before the end and after I'd fought all of them.

 

[Sinatar]

No, Poltergeists are the invisible things that throw barrels and boxes and other things at you. The thing that does the zoom-blurry-vision attack isn't invisible. I forget what the name of it is, it didn't update in my encyclopedia until right before the end and after I'd fought all of them.

They're called Controllers.

 

[Solo]

Oh man. So I am finally at Cherynobyl NPP, and I am getting smacked down hardcore. Im at the part where you have the 6 minute timer, only I have no clue exactly where to go. I just progress towards the plant as fast as I can, but without fail, I either get killed by the barrage of enemies if I run too fast, or I get killed by the meltdown if I progress methodically. Any tips for this area?

 

[EviLore]

Oh man. So I am finally at Cherynobyl NPP, and I am getting smacked down hardcore. Im at the part where you have the 6 minute timer, only I have no clue exactly where to go. I just progress towards the plant as fast as I can, but without fail, I either get killed by the barrage of enemies if I run too fast, or I get killed by the meltdown if I progress methodically. Any tips for this area?

Just gotta be efficient about it. Run from cover to cover, shoot a couple guys, then keep going. I had most of the timer remaining when I made it, so it's very doable.

 

[Solo]

Gah! Is there a god-mode cheat for this game? Normally I am totally against such things, but without one in this particular spot, I can't beat the game. The situation is this: I have only one save game going. That save has me just outside the sarcophagus with 15 seconds left on the timer. Its IMPOSSIBLE for me to make it to the ladder in that time. If I just run as fast as I can towards it, I get gunned down by the 6 guards in the hangar. If I kill some/all of them, my time was run out, game over. So by my own stupidity of not keeping multiple saves, I cant progress inside the powerplant without an invincibility cheat of some sort. And as much as I love the game, Im not starting over again just to do this final segment. Help me, GAF!

 

[Prime crotch]

I had a similar problem as well, but I was at 5 mins, there is no god mode as far as I know but I think there is a always run cheat g_run = 1 or something like that. Other than that my advice is to load the auto-save at the begining of the area.

 

[Zenith]

Gah! Is there a god-mode cheat for this game? Normally I am totally against such things, but without one in this particular spot, I can't beat the game. The situation is this: I have only one save game going. That save has me just outside the sarcophagus with 15 seconds left on the timer. Its IMPOSSIBLE for me to make it to the ladder in that time. If I just run as fast as I can towards it, I get gunned down by the 6 guards in the hangar. If I kill some/all of them, my time was run out, game over. So by my own stupidity of not keeping multiple saves, I cant progress inside the powerplant without an invincibility cheat of some sort. And as much as I love the game, Im not starting over again just to do this final segment. Help me, GAF!

try a trainer from megagames.com

also do you still have your autosave? that'll take you back to the beginning of the power plant level.

 

[AIRic]

Just finished the game for the second time on Veteran difficulty. It's weird, I found It easier than on Stalker difficulty. Anyway, I played the game to have the most terrible reputation, with nearly 2000 kills, and was filthy rich. I got the

Spoiler

The world need to be controlled, and I was alone in the dark!?

WTF @ ending.

The first time I got the

Spoiler

I wish the zone never existed, and I got blind.

I was playing safe, going straight to Chernobyl PP.

Anybody know how the game chooses the ending you get?

I'm currently playing at Master difficulty and I will do all the Strelok missions this time. Man, this is one of the most satisfying FPS I've ever played. It just never get old.

 

[Victrix]

Could anyone else who has an 8800 card please try the latest beta drivers (posted today) and let me know if they cleared up the weird corruption/flickering issues during rain/thunderstorms?

 

[MrPing1000]

Just finished the game for the second time on Veteran difficulty. It's weird, I found It easier than on Stalker difficulty. Anyway, I played the game to have the most terrible reputation, with nearly 2000 kills, and was filthy rich. I got the

Spoiler

The world need to be controlled, and I was alone in the dark!?

WTF @ ending.

The first time I got the

Spoiler

I wish the zone never existed, and I got blind.

I was playing safe, going straight to Chernobyl PP.

Anybody know how the game chooses the ending you get?

I'm currently playing at Master difficulty and I will do all the Strelok missions this time. Man, this is one of the most satisfying FPS I've ever played. It just never get old.

You do know u don't even have to go to the monolith ever if u don't want too. There is another ending route.

 

[Victrix]

New drivers fixed the rain/lightning issue - doesn't help my older 7800 in the other machine... no new drivers since last year :/

Finished the game - completely awesome.

If you're on the fence about this one, BUY BUY

The last areas are just totally awesome

Game also looks incredible later on if you have a fairly recent machine.

 

[nesmar]

this game seems like the kinda game that would own all with a strong modding community.

im about to get a new comp and this game, but im worried about how this will run on vista.

any word on that? (could be somewhere in this thread but its huge)

 

[ToyMachine228]

I'm a little late to the party but I'm looking for a weekend fix and there's two games that come to my mind for some reason...I'm kind of bored of WoW and looking at what's available I'm considering buying S.T.A.L.K.E.R or Diablo II. Any tips as to which one? I really want to play Hellgate London and Shadowrun all of the sudden but since neither of them are out...Here are my choices. Help me decide GAF!

 

[AIRic]

Finished that game for the third time. Got the best ending this time! I can't believe I've played through this three times back-to-back. My favorite FPS experience of this decade. A bit too easy, but still very satisfying. I would give this game a 9.5/10.

 

[madmook]

I'm considering buying S.T.A.L.K.E.R or Diablo II.

Totally different genres... get whatever genre you enjoy more: FPS or action-RPG. And how can anyone NOT have played Diablo 2 by now?!?

 

[ToyMachine228]

I picked up S.T.A.L.K.E.R. last night been my tower is like shutting off when the game almost finishes installing. Anyone have any ideas as to what's wrong? Computer's like 6 months old.

 

[pilonv1]

Is it just me or do I have no crosshair while using a gun?

 

[John Dunbar]

I liked STALKER at first, but my interest totally died around the time I got to

Spoiler

some research bunker after an escort mission that had some mutants in the backyard

. Haven't played since.

 

[Labombadog]

I picked up S.T.A.L.K.E.R. last night been my tower is like shutting off when the game almost finishes installing. Anyone have any ideas as to what's wrong? Computer's like 6 months old.

What are your specs?

 

[EviLore]

Is it just me or do I have no crosshair while using a gun?

Try enabling it in the options screen.

 

[pilonv1]

Try enabling it in the options screen.

I did, that's what was annoying. I tried turning it off and back on and got nothing. I've got the crosshairs when I don't have a weapon out, but as soon as I get the pistol out it disappears. Makes the start of the game nigh on impossible

The good news is my laptop (T7200, 2gb RAM, 512mb 7700 go) gets ~30+fps outdoors with static lighting and full details. Going to try the tweak posted in this thread to see if I can get some dynamic lighting go.

 

[Sinatar]

I did, that's what was annoying. I tried turning it off and back on and got nothing. I've got the crosshairs when I don't have a weapon out, but as soon as I get the pistol out it disappears. Makes the start of the game nigh on impossible

If you're trying to fight using the on screen crosshairs, you've already lost. Use the ironsights or get used to hitting the quickload key constantly.

 

[pilonv1]

I got the hang of the ironsight by the end, but it was just annoying me that I had crosshairs when I wasn't using a weapon but no crosshair when I was.

Saw this on the Nvidia forums though.

STALKER / antialias / crosshair is another problem. It's antialias is some blurring effect, and you must set it OFF to see crosshair. I've tested 7900GT/8800GTS, 3 different resolutions, same thing happens. also 100.65 driver

 

[Victrix]

For the gun nerds in the audience

http://stalker.filefront.com/file/;77804

 

[ToyMachine228]

What are your specs?

I got it figured out. Used the Recovery Disk and my computer's in top-shape again. Anyway, I'm enjoying the game for the most part but it definitely has it's ups and downs. I do like it more so than Half-Life 2 so far though.

 

[pilonv1]

Turned off in game AA, crosshairs are back.

 

[Warm Machine]

Has this been asked...does this run well under Vista?

 

[Sinatar]

1.0.0.3 patch just came out

* Added some textures of certain objects (for technical purposes).
* Added console command 'sv_listmaps' to view the list of maps queue.
* Added the support for additional mouse buttons (now they can be bound to certain actions).
* Fixed bugs with player's character health bar in Multi-player.
* Fixed the crash upon making the screenshot to a saved game.
* Fixed the bug with standing dead bodies upon connecting to the game.
* Fixed inventory items placing system (Free for all and Team play modes).
* Fixed the enumeration of the game's version.
* Fixed the crash with using Numpad in some localizations.
* Fixed the crash on the level "Military warehouse".
* Fixed the crash while idling on the pause menu
* Fixed the crash in dialog with Professor Sakharov on the Yantar level.
* Fixed the storyline task "Meet with the Guide", now you can get it by searching Ghost's corpse.
* Fixed the bug with NPCs spawning in front of the player.
* Fixed the A-life reaction time. Now A-life spawns new NPCs more seldom. Also NPC movement speed is decreased when NPC are on different level then the player.
* Binary files are now compiled with large address aware flag that supports up to 3GB address space (relevant for Windows VistaT users).
* Added the possibility to record/play the camera fly-around ('demo_record'/'demo_play' commands). Now Stalker is ready for benchmarks.
* Fixed aspect ratio 16/9. Now the owners of the widescreen displays will have the benefit from greater viewing radius.
* Fixed various crashes with dedicated server.
* The network packets have been merged. This will make the ping reduce twice or more.
* The correctness of map name is now verified when changing the map using the console.
* Fixed the dragging of dead bodies by monsters.
* Now dumps will be saved upon the game crashes.
* Fixed the in-game patching system for all localizations.
* Fixed the problem with the exceedingly long players' names.
* Fixed textual problems for 16/9 video format.
* Fixed game freezing upon trying to connect to a different version.
* Fixed binocular Spectator crash.
* Fixed non-existent grenade launcher firing.
* Fixed players turning invisible when reduced to a minimal amount of health.
* Fixed pre-selected skin not allowing for player spawn

Available at your favorite Downloadium. Also for a nice change, is available for D2D guys day 1.

 

[Leonsito]

1.0.0.3 patch just came out

* Added some textures of certain objects (for technical purposes).
* Added console command 'sv_listmaps' to view the list of maps queue.
* Added the support for additional mouse buttons (now they can be bound to certain actions).
* Fixed bugs with player's character health bar in Multi-player.
* Fixed the crash upon making the screenshot to a saved game.
* Fixed the bug with standing dead bodies upon connecting to the game.
* Fixed inventory items placing system (Free for all and Team play modes).
* Fixed the enumeration of the game's version.
* Fixed the crash with using Numpad in some localizations.
* Fixed the crash on the level "Military warehouse".
* Fixed the crash while idling on the pause menu
* Fixed the crash in dialog with Professor Sakharov on the Yantar level.
* Fixed the storyline task "Meet with the Guide", now you can get it by searching Ghost's corpse.
* Fixed the bug with NPCs spawning in front of the player.
* Fixed the A-life reaction time. Now A-life spawns new NPCs more seldom. Also NPC movement speed is decreased when NPC are on different level then the player.
* Binary files are now compiled with large address aware flag that supports up to 3GB address space (relevant for Windows VistaT users).
* Added the possibility to record/play the camera fly-around ('demo_record'/'demo_play' commands). Now Stalker is ready for benchmarks.
* Fixed aspect ratio 16/9. Now the owners of the widescreen displays will have the benefit from greater viewing radius.
* Fixed various crashes with dedicated server.
* The network packets have been merged. This will make the ping reduce twice or more.
* The correctness of map name is now verified when changing the map using the console.
* Fixed the dragging of dead bodies by monsters.
* Now dumps will be saved upon the game crashes.
* Fixed the in-game patching system for all localizations.
* Fixed the problem with the exceedingly long players' names.
* Fixed textual problems for 16/9 video format.
* Fixed game freezing upon trying to connect to a different version.
* Fixed binocular Spectator crash.
* Fixed non-existent grenade launcher firing.
* Fixed players turning invisible when reduced to a minimal amount of health.
* Fixed pre-selected skin not allowing for player spawn

Available at your favorite Downloadium. Also for a nice change, is available for D2D guys day 1.

Yes, Yes, Yes.

And the 1.0001 saves work with this version too.

Two screens with the update, I'm at the beginning of the game, if anyone can make screenshots of the same place for comparisons would be great: