Support NeoGAF

[Blizzard]

You may not LIKE the game if you didn't like it from the start (I hate the camera waggle which doesn't even seem realistic, but I plan to continue some time). But I assume you were asking "when does the creepy stuff happen", and as far as I know, the scary part is supposed to be an underground lab somewhere later in the game.

I thought the game was kinda creepy to begin with. *shrug*

 

[Labombadog]

Probably the most atmospheric game I have ever played.

 

[fallout]

From the minute you start the game. If you've played it for an hour and aren't enthralled the game isn't for you.

Yeah, I got pulled in really quickly. Maybe play until you get some better weapons? Might make things a little more entertaining.

You may not LIKE the game if you didn't like it from the start (I hate the camera waggle which doesn't even seem realistic, but I plan to continue some time).

I got over the shaky-cam pretty quickly (felt really weird when I played some L4D afterward, though). Always figured they put it in to make running-and-gunning nearly impossible.

 

[Ikuu]

Was going to make a new thread, which it probably deserves, but GSC have released an old build of STALKER (dated Oct 2004) for free. It's filled with stuff that THQ made them cut, downloading now.

http://files.gsc-game.com:3128/oldbuild/

 

[Daigoro]

well, thats awesome.

 

[Blizzard]

Was going to make a new thread, which it probably deserves, but GSC have released an old build of STALKER (dated Oct 2004) for free. It's filled with stuff that THQ made them cut, downloading now.

http://files.gsc-game.com:3128/oldbuild/

Whoa...I'll have to look up who GSC and THQ are. :lol But what sort of stuff got cut? (I'm only a little bit into the actual normal game)

 

[Ikuu]

More info, screens, and how to get it working: http://clanbase.ggl.com/news.php?nid=311993

And another mirror: http://www.gameru.net/download.html

 

[Joseph Merrick]

gooooood shit. I wish they'd release even earlier stuff aswell. where it looked almost like codename outbreak. with the pyramid, flying robot drone and minigun

could still make a separate thread for this. seems worth it

 

[bengraven]

Hell yeah, I just made a LTTP thread about this game yesterday. Nice to see THQ is still paying attention to it.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

can't put anything past the toys headquarters

 

[Ikuu]

Just got it download and played a few minutes, as you'd expect all of the dialogue is in Russian so I have no idea what's going on. From what I saw the first area looks very different, and in the little STALKER town there were only a few buildings and some zombies. Killed some soldier with an AK which sent his body flying halfway across the map, ran around and saw some dude glitched into a fence and his friend shot him, the game crashed.

Edit: Apart from the random crashes it's fun just to run around and see how things are different, instead of the set of houses where the first mission was it's like a factory type place. Picked up an L85A1 and some ammo to explore, unfortunately the game crashed. Shooting the trader causes the game to drop from 200FPS to like 30 for me :lol

Also to change the resolution open the console and type vid_mode 1280x1024 (highest supported res) and then vid_restart.

 

[tmaynard]

Just got it download and played a few minutes, as you'd expect all of the dialogue is in Russian so I have no idea what's going on. From what I saw the first area looks very different, and in the little STALKER town there were only a few buildings and some zombies. Killed some soldier with an AK which sent his body flying halfway across the map, ran around and saw some dude glitched into a fence and his friend shot him, the game crashed.

Aside from the game crashing, this sounds amazing. :lol

 

[Poimandres]

So, I've been playing this for the last few days on my new com...

Should I look into some mods? Is there anything that makes for a better experience, or should I wait until after my first play through?

Also, there really should be more discussion about the 2004 build... I'm seriously intrigued!

 

[Blizzard]

I saw Knowing today, and unless I'm mistaken, there was a reference to this game. The boy complains because his father won't let him watch the news OR play STALKER. XD

 

[SonOfABeep]

I just got a new laptop and I'm thinking about getting this on Steam. $20 is a pretty good price.

 

[Broseybrose]

Probably the most atmospheric game I have ever played.

yuuup. topped super metroid and bioshock, my previous top two most atmospheric games. i still think the original deus ex is my all time favorite game. but stalker soc takes the atmosphere award.

 

[Broseybrose]

So, I've been playing this for the last few days on my new com...

Should I look into some mods? Is there anything that makes for a better experience, or should I wait until after my first play through?

Also, there really should be more discussion about the 2004 build... I'm seriously intrigued!

google float32, download it and install it. makes the lighting better and engine run faster. best mod ive ever seen for a game. make sure you have full dynamic lighting enabled.

 

[SonOfABeep]

I'm having a terrible time getting this game to run smoothly on my new laptop. It's a core 2 duo at 2.2ghz or something and 4GB ram, and a 1GB Geforce 9600m GS video card - crysis runs okay on medium and I can't turn on ANY lighting in STALKER or the framerate goes to shit?

I installed the float32 and looked into some mods, but any suggestions? it's only really playable when I set it to simple lighting.

 

[Broseybrose]

oh, im sorry. i didnt realize you were trying to play it on a laptop. get the latest drivers for your card. and lower shadow quality before lighting.

 

[TheExodu5]

I always play with Static Lighting myself, even on my 8800GT. I prefer smooth framerates over the better visuals.

 

[bdouble]

I always play with Static Lighting myself, even on my 8800GT. I prefer smooth framerates over the better visuals.

really? you should be able to run it quite well on a n 8800 even with Dynamic lighting.

 

[TheExodu5]

really? you should be able to run it quite well on a n 8800 even with Dynamic lighting.

60fps or bust.

 

[Nikorasu]

I'm having a terrible time getting this game to run smoothly on my new laptop. It's a core 2 duo at 2.2ghz or something and 4GB ram, and a 1GB Geforce 9600m GS video card - crysis runs okay on medium and I can't turn on ANY lighting in STALKER or the framerate goes to shit?

I installed the float32 and looked into some mods, but any suggestions? it's only really playable when I set it to simple lighting.

It's because it uses deferred rendering while crysis uses simple forward rending and is very selective about what lights actually cast dynamic shadows. In stalker every single light source is dynamic and every piece of geometry in affected.

 

[L0st Id3ntity]

Started playing this game yesterday. I absolutely love the atmosphere of STALKER, the graphics are awesome, too. Too bad the animations are dated, and the presentation could have been much better. Overall I'm enjoying it.

I'm playing with everything set on max + full AA. I get a constant soild 30 fps. Pics.



http://i39.tinypic.com/2z6b3eo.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/2r2x8p0.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/2crau6p.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/29mrdr6.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/5a1gt2.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/2nichar.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/bi05ci.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/1425sw3.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/11gtx0w.jpg


If I stick to the story missions alone, how long should the game take to finish?

 

[dLMN8R]

Even just sticking to the story, the game can still easily take you 20-30 hours to complete. Lengthy game.

 

[Morbid Angel]

Did anyone post this?

New S.T.A.L.K.E.R. this fall

 

[Blizzard]

Did anyone post this?

New S.T.A.L.K.E.R. this fall

Nice, I hadn't heard about it. If I'm reading that thread right, it looks like this fall is another expansion (the Call of Priyapat?), and they're confirming that they plan to develop a STALKER 2?

 

[dLMN8R]

Hopefully this one is better than the original, not disappointing like Clear Sky :-/

 

[dorkimoe]

i finally got around to installing it, after seeing the sexy screenshots in one of the other threads


i only played for like 20 minutes, but i dont really like it. the shooting and killing seems so basic...like terrible animations or something

guess ill give it another go

 

[Erudite]

i finally got around to installing it, after seeing the sexy screenshots in one of the other threads


i only played for like 20 minutes, but i dont really like it. the shooting and killing seems so basic...like terrible animations or something

guess ill give it another go

It gets much better as you go on, stick with it. I felt the same way at first.

 

[fallout]

i finally got around to installing it, after seeing the sexy screenshots in one of the other threads


i only played for like 20 minutes, but i dont really like it. the shooting and killing seems so basic...like terrible animations or something

guess ill give it another go

Try to put in a couple hours at least. It gets a lot better.

... and don't be packrat. Take only what you need.

 

[ChoklitReign]

Avoid any sidemissions until you get to the garage. Soon after that you'll find much better weapons and you'll enjoy killing bandits a lot more

 

[SonOfABeep]

Yeah I finally got the game running well and it's so good. A nice consistent framerate on max settings. No AA, but that's okay.

 

[Aaron]

Don't give up until you get a decent assault rifle, though the game only really kicks in when the supernatural elements start up.

 

[SonOfABeep]

Getting a scoped weapon is the real difference. At that point the firefights become a lot more fair. You also get outnumbered more, but I really like the game's shooting, for some reason.

 

[poppabk]

Getting a scoped weapon is the real difference. At that point the firefights become a lot more fair. You also get outnumbered more, but I really like the game's shooting, for some reason.

The shooting feels more realistic than the average FPS, more like a tactical shooter. You can't just headshot people with a pistol from miles away, and a shotgun up close is really effective but further out it is useless.

 

[Fio]

I bought this game some time ago during a Steam weekend deal and now I'm thinking about playing it.

Is there any mod that I should look for before I start playing it?

 

[Blizzard]

I'm trying to play it vanilla (though I haven't gotten back to it in a while), partly because I've heard that the float32 mod is really dark at night, and partly because I've heard horror stories about save files becoming corrupted after lots of gameplay, probably due to mods. This is even though I hate the side-to-side bobbing. That doesn't even seem realistic to me. :/

I have a question, though. People say it gets a lot better after you get better weapons, but any sort of game with weapons that are unrepairable and eventually break terrifies me. For those who have played it, do you have to worry about getting good weapons too early because they'll break by the end?

The other thing I'm afraid I will hate is infinitely respawning enemies even if you clean out their camps (or was that in clear sky?). At least they could be a source for weapons, I guess.

 

[fallout]

Is there any mod that I should look for before I start playing it?

Lots of people will recommend various mods to stop the weapon degradation and increase the weight limit of what you carry. For me, I think this would have removed a certain level of charm and entertainment value from the game.

As for performance mods, I found that the updated Steam version ran just fine for me.

 

[bengraven]

Lots of people will recommend various mods to stop the weapon degradation and increase the weight limit of what you carry. For me, I think this would have removed a certain level of charm and entertainment value from the game.

As for performance mods, I found that the updated Steam version ran just fine for me.

I don't really want to continue with my game until I get some kind of mod to give me more weight limit. It's my own fault for playing this game Diablo-style and grabbing everything.

 

[Aaron]

I have a question, though. People say it gets a lot better after you get better weapons, but any sort of game with weapons that are unrepairable and eventually break terrifies me. For those who have played it, do you have to worry about getting good weapons too early because they'll break by the end?

You don't really hold onto a specific weapon long enough for it to break, but you can always add the repair mod to remove this. I had the mod when I played, but I never used it. Saves will only break if you change your mods when you have a game in progress. For the better mods, you'll need to start over when you install them.

 

[SonOfABeep]

The weight limit is a part of the game. Deciding what weapon you're going to keep and give away and making stashes is part of the game. Maybe not a good part, but I think it's okay.

Using the modified Desert Eagle that uses sniper rounds is so fun. Just blows dudes away.

But yeah using the pea shooter 9mm at the beginning was fun too, having to sneak up on people and really aim every shot. The double barrel shotgun had such a good feel to it.

Popping people in the head with the MP5 clone w/scope is cool too. I'm going with that, the pump shotgun, and the M4 variant right now. I'm at the underground lab where it just starts getting real creepy.

 

[Mr_Appleby]

just can't bring myself to mod this game. i like all the quirks as they are, from weight limit to ballistics to breaking weapons. there are caches everywhere to stash your stuff in, and later on there's

Spoiler

power armour that increases carrying capacity

weapon repair point could've been..interesting.. but it was not ever necessary

 

[epmode]

I'm trying to play it vanilla (though I haven't gotten back to it in a while), partly because I've heard that the float32 mod is really dark at night, and partly because I've heard horror stories about save files becoming corrupted after lots of gameplay, probably due to mods. This is even though I hate the side-to-side bobbing. That doesn't even seem realistic to me. :/

I'm pretty sure there's a mod (or an .ini edit) that can reduce the bobbing to almost nothing. I used it.

And yeah, Float32 made the nights unplayable for me. It's a great effect but considering that the nights are so long and that there's no way to fast-forward to daytime (short of an unreliable mod) I uninstalled right away.

 

[Ikuu]

Don't think this was posted yet, STALKER Complete 2009 (compilation of graphical mods):http://artistpavel.blogspot.com/2009/04/stalker-complete-2009.html

 

[Chinner]

Yeah Evillore informed me of this. Once I get a new comp I'll get a copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R and this mod and I'll see how it goes.

 

[TheExodu5]

I think the headbobbing might just be really bad in widescreen resolutions. I don't remember it seeming that unnatural in 4:3 when I had my CRT monitor. I think I remember the game not supporting widescreen resolutions officially to begin with.

 

[Daigoro]

wow, that looks great. wonder how performance is...

ive been playing the shit out of this game lately. im on my second vanilla playthrough (only using the float32 mod), on Veteran this time, and im having a blast. its so fun.

 

[rohlfinator]

wow, that looks great. wonder how performance is...

According to the site:

Specs:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minimum: 8800GT 512MB or equivalent.
Recommended: GTX 260 896MB or equivalent.

This mod will run smooth as long as you have a video card with large amount of memory to accommodate new textures, it still performs better than Clear Sky.

Also, does the Steam version support mods like this?

 

[Blizzard]

I'm pretty sure there's a mod (or an .ini edit) that can reduce the bobbing to almost nothing. I used it.

And yeah, Float32 made the nights unplayable for me. It's a great effect but considering that the nights are so long and that there's no way to fast-forward to daytime (short of an unreliable mod) I uninstalled right away.

Yeah, I heard about that mod/edit, but I'm also nearly certain that someone who used it mentioned that their save became corrupted because of it.