STALKER: Clear Sky - review thread

tasos said:
Does float32 add motion blur ?
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No, but it does add ridiculously dark nights. Can't see more than 10 feet in front of you. Flashlights barely help. Even night vision isn't that great. I wouldn't mind if the nights weren't so ridiculously long.

(I'm talking about the 2.0 version here. I don't know if 1.7088b_rev_a is any better in this respect)
 
epmode said:
No, but it does add ridiculously dark nights. Can't see more than 10 feet in front of you. Flashlights barely help. Even night vision isn't that great. I wouldn't mind if the nights weren't so ridiculously long.
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:lol
Just re-installed STALKER , patched it to 1.0005 and i'm going to use the 1.7088b version.
I think someone told me there's a mod that adds motion blur to the guns , could be wrong though ...
 
Add -mblur to the end of the target of your launch icon, one space after the last character. Then when ingame, bring the console up, put in r2_mblur, then at the end add 1.000

And I would also use the "a" revision of 1.7 Float32.
 
Or you could use Sky4ce which has it's own motion blur, and I believe is just better than float32.
 
Played a few hours now and I'm enjoying it, only messed around with the better graphic settings tonight and while the additions are nice, I'll probably just go back to FDL. I'd have to agree about the lack of cash, or maybe I shouldn't of spent so much customizing my Viper 5. And finding artifacts with the first scanner you get just seems impossible, the thing just beeps and beeps and you wander around and around, not been looking too much but I haven't found one yet.

The ability to use the guides to essentially move around the world is very nice, though it seems after the swamp they start to charge you, though being in a faction might make this free.

While the nights are much darker than in SoC, compared to something like SWO or Oblivion Lost it ain't that extreme, though you will want to get night vision in your suit ASAP. Bandages just stop bleeding, and it seems to take two or so to stop most wounds I seem to be taking.

There are some annoying bugs, I was shooting at an NPC who was hiding behind a tree, yet even with a clear shot it was 'hitting' the tree and throwing leaves up, so I had to run up to the guy and knife him in the face. Not to mention I've seen NPCs getting stuck in a loop and repeating an action over and over.

I've not gotten to any underground sections so not sure if those are as good as the first.

The new PDA also shows far too much info if you ask me, which seems like a weird design choice considering how difficult the game is in general.

PDA - http://ikuu.net/images/screens/clearsky/pda.jpg
Night - http://ikuu.net/images/screens/clearsky/night.jpg
Cordon (ruined by Steam!) - http://ikuu.net/images/screens/clearsky/cordon.jpg
 
Yea, didn't play the game at all before it, so can't really say much about it. There was a Russian patch out yesterday, and so I'd expect that to be released for the EU/US version in a few days, no idea what it adds as I can't seem to find a changelog.
 
MaritalWheat said:
Arghh...couldn't resist the $35 price tag. Steam's too easy to buy things on.
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Seriously. :lol

I love Steam. Their promotion before Orange Box released of $5 off from the price when you pre-order plus 1 month into the TF2 beta pre-release (which was essentially the full thing) was simply great.

Anyone know how long that 10% off promotion for Clear Sky on Steam is lasting?
 
Agent Ironside said:
Add -mblur to the end of the target of your launch icon, one space after the last character. Then when ingame, bring the console up, put in r2_mblur, then at the end add 1.000

And I would also use the "a" revision of 1.7 Float32.
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Speaking of which, why doesn't clear sky have motion blur as an option? The game's got pretty much every graphical technique under the sun and the engine supports it, so why isn't it a standard menu option yet?
 
Gotta love the non-compatible game saves. I hated that about the first STALKER. I'd get so far, and I'd end up starting over. I mean, I didn't mind, but I didn't end up beating it until much later than everyone else. :lol
 
Been playing some more today, and like the original STALKER I end up just messing around with quick saves or just going for a wander around the place. I'm sure the game flat out lies to you at some points, telling you to go somewhere for an item or stash and nothing is there.

Also the AI seems a little too accurate, especially considering how often your shots just seem to go nowhere near where you were aiming. Not exactly something new to Clear Sky, but still, it's annoying.

Some of the reviews said finding artifacts was much harder this time, well, it's certainly true about the first scanner you get. However the second makes things much easier, http://ikuu.net/images/screens/clearsky/artifacthunting.mkv, though there is more of a risk in getting them (had to take a few anti-rad after getting that one). Personally I prefer it to just finding them all over the place.

Emission: http://ikuu.net/images/screens/clearsky/blowout.jpg
Upgrades (AK): http://ikuu.net/images/screens/clearsky/upgradeAK.jpg
And some dude on fire: http://ikuu.net/images/screens/clearsky/guyonfire.jpg

One 'new' thing I'm really liking are some of the stashes/chests around the place, usually at camps, that are full of ammo and medkits. Compared to SoC, I seem to have so much more ammo.
 
Jesus Ikuu just that screenshot of the upgrades window along gives me a boner for this game :lol

Glad to hear it's getting pretty heavily patched! And with a Steam version, hopefully they'll all be there on release.
 
The collector's edition exclusive to game.co.uk arrived today.. and its quite a disappointment.

The included 'soundtrack' is just a folder with unnamed .wav files, for example. The bonus dvd is basically just a bunch of files thrown together in different file formats. What a joke..

I'm waiting for the game to be patched a bit more, because I don't want the next patch to make previous save files unusable. That happens from time to time with the Stalker series..
 
Kuran said:
The collector's edition exclusive to game.co.uk arrived today.. and its quite a disappointment.

The included 'soundtrack' is just a folder with unnamed .wav files, for example. The bonus dvd is basically just a bunch of files thrown together in different file formats. What a joke..

I'm waiting for the game to be patched a bit more, because I don't want the next patch to make previous save files unusable. That happens from time to time with the Stalker series..
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Wait, it's out in the UK, isn't it? Shit, I need to go pick that up tonight! So stay clear of the Collectors Edition? But I have the original STALKER Collectors Edition!
 
randomwab said:
Wait, it's out in the UK, isn't it? Shit, I need to go pick that up tonight! So stay clear of the Collectors Edition? But I have the original STALKER Collectors Edition!
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I wouldn't say Stay Clear Sky, but don't think it'll be anything like that 'other' special edition with the zippo. In fact, its nothing like that.

It does come in a nice steel book case though..
 
awfully quick of you bastard. neogaf having the worst search engine in forum history may have something to do with it.
 
Druz said:
awfully quick of you bastard. neogaf having the worst search engine in forum history may have something to do with it.
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GAF's search is absolutely amazing compared to IGN's. Be thankful.
 
Zeliard said:
Seriously. :lol

I love Steam. Their promotion before Orange Box released of $5 off from the price when you pre-order plus 1 month into the TF2 beta pre-release (which was essentially the full thing) was simply great.

Anyone know how long that 10% off promotion for Clear Sky on Steam is lasting?
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It's a pre-order promotion, so it lasts until the day before the game is released. I preordered The Orange Box on Steam like 3 hours before it unlocked, to get the 10% discount :lol
 
I never played the first one so this is new to me but I do like it, I think. Hard to form an opinion when it crashes twice in an hour.. That's particularly annoying as there is no auto-save option.
 
When are the patches due? Tempted to grab the Euro disc version, but is there any point if these upcoming patches are going to kill my saves.
 
Slackbladder said:
I never played the first one so this is new to me but I do like it, I think. Hard to form an opinion when it crashes twice in an hour.. That's particularly annoying as there is no auto-save option.
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Just quick save (F5), autosaving isn't needed at all.
 
Well, after playing around with it for ten or so minutes, I have to say that the performance isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I'm running a Q6600 @ 3.0 GHZ with 4 gigs of DDR2, and an oc'd GTX 260. At 1360X768 with the game at maximum settings (AA at 2?), I'm getting anywhere from 28 fps with a lot of on screen action, to well over 70 with medium to light on screen action.

It's highly playable. And the ini tweaks are yet to come. What was with all that talk of having to turn off features?

Correction: My Asus OC Utility wasn't running, so my Q6600 was at stock speeds, which is even better news for some of you worrying about performance.
 
Chiggs said:
Well, after playing around with it for ten or so minutes, I have to say that the performance isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I'm running a Q6600 @ 3.0 GHZ with 4 gigs of DDR2, and an oc'd GTX 260. At 1360X768 with the game at maximum settings (AA at 2?), I'm getting anywhere from 28 fps with a lot of on screen action, to well over 70 with medium to light on screen action.

It's highly playable. And the ini tweaks are yet to come. What was with all that talk of having to turn off features?
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Some people don't think it runs well if they can't have max settings, AA&AF, AND absurd resolutions. :lol Good to hear it runs well for the rest of us though.
 
Vaporak said:
Some people don't think it runs well if they can't have max settings, AA&AF, AND absurd resolutions. :lol Good to hear it runs well for the rest of us though.
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The very first area is an excellent indicator of how well your machine will run the game since it's basically a stress test. Lots of buildings, grass, NPC's, water and crazy lighting effects. I was, at the lowest, hovering in the upper twenties, mid-thirties, and this was with close to ten NPC's visible. At the highest, I was well over 60fps.

Moving on to the swamp (which is creepy), my framerate shot up big-time, to well over 70.
 
The lack of discussion about this game is very odd. Did the game not get a wide release in NA today? I picked mine up at Gamestop. Is everyone going the Steam route?
 
I'm considering postponing my buy, September has a lot of shit being released that I want. Yakuza 2, Witcher, still haven't gotten Bangai-O....
 
Chiggs said:
The lack of discussion about this game is very odd. Did the game not get a wide release in NA today? I picked mine up at Gamestop. Is everyone going the Steam route?
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I am, and I'm jealously looking at your posts. Why is the Steam release being delayed again?!
 
Ikuu said:
I wouldn't play the game until the second patch is out to be honest.
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My version says 1.5 blah blah blah. Is that already patched? And, yes, I was the victim of the first Stalker patch. :lol
 
The current patch is 1.5.0.3 or something and the next is .4, supposed to be out soon, rumors are the Steam version is pre-patched.
 
MaritalWheat said:
I am, and I'm jealously looking at your posts. Why is the Steam release being delayed again?!
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Because retail would send the entire shipment back to the publisher if the digital release was early. They get in a hissy fit over lost sales from impatient gamers- don't expect this to change anytime soon.
 
Ikuu said:
The current patch is 1.5.0.3 or something and the next is .4, supposed to be out soon, rumors are the Steam version is pre-patched.
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I'm pretty surprised at the stability of the game so far. No crashes or shadow glitches or anything. Pretty solid. But holy hell, this game is a memory hog. Remember the Army Warehouses and surrounding area in the first game? Remember the insane amount of memory that would eat? I think we're in similar waters with Clear Sky.
 
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