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[EviLore]

Yeah, Vista. And FlyinJ, that error your friend found sounds really. . .amateurish. You think something like that would've been tested for. It's a simple fix, but the fact it made it into the final game is ehhhhhh.

How far into the game is that heli scene, Evilore? I will do the same tests when I get there.

Like 5 or 6 hours in for me, though I'd imagine it could be significantly less or more for other players, given the nature of the game. It's in the area directly west of the bar.

 

[Durante]

Looks like the game is almost entirely GPU bound on your system at that res. (Not terribly surprising on a Core 2 Duo)

What I'd like to know is if dynamic lighting is playable with a 8800 GTS.

 

[Chiggs]

What I'd like to know is if dynamic lighting is playable with a 8800 GTS.

Yeah, it definitely is, but there are times when even it struggles. The best advice I can give anyone at this point is to slap a Fatal1ty sticker on your computer case. That's a really easy way to gain 20fps.

 

[Defcon]

Welp, I'm ready for C&C3 next week. I'm just not feeling Stalker at all. Can't even be bothered to give myself all the weapons and god mode to see the ending.

 

[EviLore]

Narrated Chernobyl photo essay. Note: real life horrors, not for the faint of heart, etc.
http://todayspictures.slate.com/inmotion/essay_chernobyl/


Seems appropriate to post (link c/o KristianV at QT3). Might be easy to forget about the lasting effects of Chernobyl, but there you have it.

 

[darkressurection]

I really like the game but I am having the problem described on the GFW podcast where it will play for a while then freeze. Anyone else getting this?

 

[White Man]

Looks like the game is almost entirely GPU bound on your system at that res. (Not terribly surprising on a Core 2 Duo)

What I'd like to know is if dynamic lighting is playable with a 8800 GTS.

I don't know if my experience is par for the course, but my dynamic lighting framerate was 20-30fps, with hitches knocking it down to the teens. Static on and I was well above 70 at all times (usually somewhere between 80-130 depending on how much view distance I was looking at. I am just keeping it locked at 60 for now. That's all I need).

 

[FlyinJ]

Welp, I'm ready for C&C3 next week. I'm just not feeling Stalker at all. Can't even be bothered to give myself all the weapons and god mode to see the ending.

Wow. Personally, it's one of the best games I've played all year. And I'm about 10 hours in.

 

[Defcon]

Wow. Personally, it's one of the best games I've played all year. And I'm about 10 hours in.

I played for about 5-6 hours. I really don't want to list all the reasons why I dislike it because I could go on forever.

Main thing is the lack of any real narrative and how unpolished it is. The side quests are an absolute joke and there is no reason to do any of them. You can tell they got several years into development and found out they couldn't implement half of their ideas from the design docs and just threw together what they could.

It's completely half baked. The RPG elements have all been stripped down to nothing but inventory management and the shooting aspect is far too clunky for my liking. They did a good job with the atmosphere and it's interesting to explore the zones, but I need more than that to drive me on in a single player game.

 

[EviLore]

okay, again--are people using an in-game framecounter, or what?

I just use fraps.

 

[Sjoerd]

I wish there were more games like Stalker instead of the fully scripted games these days. It might not be perfect but that's the nature of semi open ended games. And I believe the game can be compared to FPS/RPG combos like Deus Ex and System Shock 2. The only difference IMHO is that you don't level up in Stalker which was never what the gameplay in these games was all about anyway.

But go ahead, enjoy C&C3. I know I will enjoy it but it won't come near the experiences I've had with Stalker so far.

 

[pn18]

stalker is fun, but it's hard as hell :/

 

[tegdf]

got the game today at walmart, played for little over an hour so far, I like it and haven't had any problems yet

my specs are: P4 2.8, 1 GB RAM, X800 Pro, settings on high, static lighting at 1024 x 768 (i play all my PC games on this setting) and I only get some stutters here and there but nothing major

 

[Chiggs]

stalker is fun, but it's hard as hell :/

Yeah, I got rocked fairly quickly. Headshots are soooo important.

 

[FlyinJ]

Yeah, I got rocked fairly quickly. Headshots are soooo important.

Using the secondary crouch is super important as well. It greatly increases accuracy.

I mapped normal crouch to toggle off and on with CTRL. Then I kept "deep crouch" on shift. It makes going into secondary "deep" crouch much easier than having to hold down both keys.

 

[Fallout-NL]

Narrated Chernobyl photo essay. Note: real life horrors, not for the faint of heart, etc.
http://todayspictures.slate.com/inmotion/essay_chernobyl/


Seems appropriate to post (link c/o KristianV at QT3). Might be easy to forget about the lasting effects of Chernobyl, but there you have it.

Same goes for all WWII/Vietnam games though. So yeah...

Using the secondary crouch is super important as well. It greatly increases accuracy.

I mapped normal crouch to toggle off and on with CTRL. Then I kept "deep crouch" on shift. It makes going into secondary "deep" crouch much easier than having to hold down both keys.

Did the same thing, needless to say, a prone button would have been bliss.

 

[Acosta]

I just use fraps.

Same here.

 

[EviLore]

Same goes for all WWII/Vietnam games though. So yeah...

Ehh, every westerner has seen plenty about ww2 and vietnam, but at least over here chernobyl gets pretty well ignored. And how many games out there deal with chernobyl? Specious argument ;b

 

[Fallout-NL]

Ehh, every westerner has seen plenty about ww2 and vietnam, but at least over here chernobyl gets pretty well ignored. And how many games out there deal with chernobyl? Specious argument ;b

Hmm not in Europe, plenty of documentaries here. But I thought you meant how it might be somewhat wrong to be enjoying ourselves with something that is a very real and horrible fact for people on the other side of the globe. So that's why I said the same thing was true for WWII games.

 

[Acosta]

I don´t understand some of the performance problem described here.

My PC is an AMD Athlon 64 3200 2,10 Ghz, 2Gb RAM and GeForce 7800GTX with 256Mb. I run the game with maxed settings using 1280X768 (I have a 26" Bravia as screen, so no ultra-high resolution for me).

The performance I am getting with DL activated is 30-45 FPS and my PC spec is far from being awesome. I don´t get it.

 

[FlyinJ]

I don´t understand some of the performances problem described here.

My PC is an AMD Athlon 64 3200 2,10 Ghz, 2Gb RAM and GeForce 7800GTX with 256Mb RAM. I run the game with maxed settings using 1280X768 (I have a 26" Bravia as screen, so no ultra-high resolution for me).

The performance I am getting with DL activated is 30-45 FPS and my PC spec is far from being awesome. I don´t get it.

It's the card. 7800GTX and above is what this game really wants.

 

[plagiarize]

I don´t understand some of the performances problem described here.

My PC is an AMD Athlon 64 3200 2,10 Ghz, 2Gb RAM and GeForce 7800GTX with 256Mb RAM. I run the game with maxed settings using 1280X768 (I have a 26" Bravia as screen, so no ultra-high resolution for me).

The performance I am getting with DL activated is 30-45 FPS and my PC spec is far from being awesome. I don´t get it.

are you the only person running with 2gigs of ram so far? i don't remember seeing anyone else that was. maybe it's really ram hungry to run with DL?

 

[Defcon]

are you the only person running with 2gigs of ram so far? i don't remember seeing anyone else that was. maybe it's really ram hungry to run with DL?

I'm using 2 gigs of ram as well. E6600 w/ 7900GS and I still only get 15-20 fps with DL on. I think it may be a problem with Vista.

 

[EviLore]

. But I thought you meant how it might be somewhat wrong to be enjoying ourselves with something that is a very real and horrible fact for people on the other side of the globe.

Oh no, not at all, I don't think the game should be burdened by its choice of setting. As a design decision I think it has worked out very well, and regardless it's pretty detached from reality; set in the future, fantastical elements, stylized overall etc.

Just a link for those interested. I know I haven't really been exposed to that level of detail about the aftermath of chernobyl. Basically I had just heard the numbers.

 

[Acosta]

I'm using 2 gigs of ram as well. E6600 w/ 7900GS and I still only get 15-20 fps with DL on. I think it may be a problem with Vista.

Yours is a problem of Vista for sure, that is why I asked you before.

 

[White Man]

are you the only person running with 2gigs of ram so far? i don't remember seeing anyone else that was. maybe it's really ram hungry to run with DL?

I have 4 gigs of RAM and a 1950 with 512 megs of RAM.

On my system, the RAM footprint is not that sizable. I'm in Vista, and with Stalker running 1680x1050 on one monitor, and IE and IRC on the other, my total RAM usage (not counting GPU), was 1.2 gigs. Similarly, Stalker drove none of my cores above 33%.

It's not a resource hog, it's just poorly coded, and the GPU is a bottleneck for the lighting, I'm guessing, although I should theoretically have no problems with dynamic. I'm falling back on the game being poorly coded.

 

[TemplaerDude]

well i'm gonna go pick this up later but i have suspicions that i won't run too well on vista.

 

[White Man]

well i'm gonna go pick this up later but i have suspicions that i won't run too well on vista.

It runs fine. . .with static lighting on. At least for me. It appears the game wasn't tested on a wide range of hardware configurations, which would explain the bizarre performance a bit.

 

[Chiggs]

well i'm gonna go pick this up later but i have suspicions that i won't run too well on vista.

Depends what you're definition of "well" is. Runs fairly well for me (30fps)

 

[Fallout-NL]

Oh no, not at all, I don't think the game should be burdened by its choice of setting. As a design decision I think it has worked out very well, and regardless it's pretty detached from reality; set in the future, fantastical elements, stylized overall etc.

Hehe, then we agree.

Just a link for those interested. I know I haven't really been exposed to that level of detail about the aftermath of chernobyl. Basically I had just heard the numbers.

That explains the misunderstanding. Which might also be because Ive always been fascinated with the post-apocalyptic. Must've seen dozens of documentaries on Hiroshima and Chernobyl.

 

[Regret Truth]

Damn it all. I never should have turned on Dynamic lighting. I started the game without it and it ran smooth as silk. I switched on DL and it pains me to go back now . My machine is pretty dated AMD 3000(1.8ghz) 1 gig ram ATI 800xl 256meg .


Only played for about 2 hours but omg does the pistol suck ass lol. I cant aim for sh!t. I really dont think you play this one like Half Life 2.:lol Its very satisfying when you get those lucky head shots. Ill be back with more in depth impressions. Oh this game just BLEEDS with atmosphere. Its very immersive.

 

[Fallout-NL]

Damn it all. I never should have turned on Dynamic lighting. I started the game without it and it ran smooth as silk. I switched on DL and it pains me to go back now . My machine is pretty dated AMD 3000(1.8ghz) 1 gig ram ATI 800xl 256meg .


Only played for about 2 hours but omg does the pistol suck ass lol. I cant aim for sh!t. I really dont think you play this one like Half Life 2.:lol Its very satisfying when you get those lucky head shots. Ill be back with more in depth impressions. Oh this game just BLEEDS with atmosphere. Its very immersive.

Yeah the pistol is absolutely useless. At least, the one Im carrying now.

 

[White Man]

I'll agree with you completely there. the lighting model is fantastic, but there isn't enough here to properly bring a modern system to its knees. hopefully, with some patches and refinement, they'll be able to get the performance up to snuff.

Dynamic lighting has to be busted or something. There's just no way it should be making our framerates 1/3rd to 1/5th of what they are with it off. I'm hoping there's a decent perf patch. I love the game and all, but it darn tootin looks much better with dynamic on.

 

[FlyinJ]

Dynamic lighting has to be busted or something. There's just no way it should be making our framerates 1/3rd to 1/5th of what they are with it off. I'm hoping there's a decent perf patch. I love the game and all, but it darn tootin looks much better with dynamic on.

I'm really starting to think that the DL issue is most apparent on Vista. Are you running Vista?

Also, let's get a sticky on this badboy! A PC game with a sticky on GAF! Woo!

 

[Defcon]

For those running in widescreen....

 

[FlyinJ]

For those running in widescreen....
ouch.jpg

Wow, that *really* sucks. Silent Hunter 4 does the exact same thing. Damn eastern european developers.

 

[White Man]

I'm really starting to think that the DL issue is most apparent on Vista. Are you running Vista?

Also, let's get a sticky on this badboy! A PC game with a sticky on GAF! Woo!

Hmmmmm, I have a 256 meg 7600 machine with 2 gigs of RAM in the next room. No OS on it right now. Want me to toss XP on it and see how it goes on that? Proc is an AMD 64x2 4400+.

Let me dig up one of my like 10 legit copies of XP Pro.

 

[Drek]

Man, was really looking forward to this game and my PC runs it fine without dynamic lighting, but I get this crazy bleeding effect for the sky. All the trees rendered just bleed across the sky or I'll get small patches of grey sky with black wormlike things crawling as the birds bleed like the trees do. Totally ruins playability even though I have a solid frame rate and nice effects w/o dynamic lighting.

Any known solution to this? I found a few other boards with members mentioning it, only known fix was playing the game windowed.

Got a Core 2 Duo E6400, 1GB ram, Geforce 7300 LE (I know, card sucks).

 

[Fallout-NL]

For those running in widescreen....

Goddamnit.

 

[bee]

veteran difficulty setting finally pissed me off for the last time ive had to put it back down to stalker it was just annoyingly hard, my f6 key is almost broke now i think.

 

[teepo]

i have a good feeling this could possibly be my goty if i actually had a pc that can run it

too risky to see if it'll run good on my amd64 3000+, 1gig and 6800gs.

 

[Fallout-NL]

i have a good feeling this could possibly be my goty if i actually had a pc that can run it

too risky to see if it'll run good on my amd64 3000+, 1gig and 6800gs.

Im running it on:

AMD 2200+ (1800)
1 gig
Radeon 9800 Pro

Static lighting (cant seem to even pick dynamic), but it runs fine.

 

[White Man]

You know, as much as I'd like to compare performance on my other, pretty powerful computer, I don't really want to go through the trouble of installing XP.

Also, stickied.

 

[Mrbob]

Widescreen is cropped?

Damn it.

Native widescreen support should be required by now. :/

 

[Sjoerd]

i have a good feeling this could possibly be my goty if i actually had a pc that can run it

too risky to see if it'll run good on my amd64 3000+, 1gig and 6800gs.

Come on people are running the game just fine on machines much lower than that...

 

[MirageDwarf]

I bought this game today. And I just saw widescreen problem.

 

[White Man]

The game is now on direct2drive for those of you that would like to legally download it.

 

[Chiggs]

It's very early on in the game, and there's some evil lightning tunnel that just ****ed me up. It's been awhile since I've played a game this unforgiving.

 

[1-D_FTW]

Im running it on:

AMD 2200+ (1800)
1 gig
Radeon 9800 Pro

Static lighting (cant seem to even pick dynamic), but it runs fine.

I can beat that a little (processor). How far are you turning the settings down? All these horror stories kinda had me thinking I should hold off until I upgrade.

 

[GashPrex]

It's very early on in the game, and there's some evil lightning tunnel that just ****ed me up. It's been awhile since I've played a game this unforgiving.

wait till you accidently walk into a radiation zone without some vodka or shots ... that sucks...you figure out quickly that you have to listen very carefully to what is going on...

use the quicksave F6 a lot