S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky!

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Imp

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein

Originally posted by: geoffry

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
Where do you buy the Sev suit?

The trader at the STALKER base has it.

Hmm, I don't see it in the swamps or cordon at any trader.

I either got mine from the Stalker base in Cordon or THE Trader (other Stalker base in Cordon). It's random. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Stop by often. It might be based on where you are in the main story though. I didn't see it until I was ready/allowed to go to the Garbage.

is that the next best suit after the black merc suit or whtever it is called? I think I got mine at Sidorovich (the trader in cordon).

i'll also comment that the grenades are ridiculous. seems like every battle they throw at least 3 grenades and they appear to be able to throw them 2-3 times as far as i can.

I think we're talking about the suit with base 37 resistances to radiation, toxicity and 15 bulletproof; the one with the biosuit/bulb helmet look.

As for grenades, range and accurracy is retarded. Later in the game, I just started shooting and scooting to try to get out of grenade range. It didn't work well.

 

[geoffry]

Originally posted by: TheSnowman

Originally posted by: geoffry

Originally posted by: TheSnowman

Originally posted by: duragezic
Does DX10 actually offer any advantages in this game? have a legit copy of Vista but no real reason to use it unless a DX10 game actually warrants it!

Yeah, at least on my 8800gt, Vista DX10 runs better DX9 enhanced in XP with the same settings, and the wet surfaces and volumetric smoke are bonuses.

Also the sun rays or "god rays" are only in the DX10 EHDR mode.

Nah, those work in the DX9 enhanced mode too, everything does but the two options I mentioned. Well those, and triple buffering.

I don't see any of the god rays in DX9 EHDR mode, only when I switch it to DX10.

What are your sun quality / ray quality settings at?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Imp

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Imp

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein

Originally posted by: geoffry

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
Where do you buy the Sev suit?

The trader at the STALKER base has it.

Hmm, I don't see it in the swamps or cordon at any trader.

I either got mine from the Stalker base in Cordon or THE Trader (other Stalker base in Cordon). It's random. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. Stop by often. It might be based on where you are in the main story though. I didn't see it until I was ready/allowed to go to the Garbage.

is that the next best suit after the black merc suit or whtever it is called? I think I got mine at Sidorovich (the trader in cordon).

i'll also comment that the grenades are ridiculous. seems like every battle they throw at least 3 grenades and they appear to be able to throw them 2-3 times as far as i can.

I think we're talking about the suit with base 37 resistances to radiation, toxicity and 15 bulletproof; the one with the biosuit/bulb helmet look.

As for grenades, range and accurracy is retarded. Later in the game, I just started shooting and scooting to try to get out of grenade range. It didn't work well.

yah, i had a different suit because i just got the seva tonight at the stalker base.

also, need help with the lucky detector quest. i got exactly where the map shows, there is an anomaly, but there is no detector to be found. anythng special needed here?

 

[Mogadon]

Originally posted by: geoffry

Originally posted by: TheSnowman

Originally posted by: geoffry

Originally posted by: TheSnowman

Originally posted by: duragezic
Does DX10 actually offer any advantages in this game? have a legit copy of Vista but no real reason to use it unless a DX10 game actually warrants it!

Yeah, at least on my 8800gt, Vista DX10 runs better DX9 enhanced in XP with the same settings, and the wet surfaces and volumetric smoke are bonuses.

Also the sun rays or "god rays" are only in the DX10 EHDR mode.

Nah, those work in the DX9 enhanced mode too, everything does but the two options I mentioned. Well those, and triple buffering.

I don't see any of the god rays in DX9 EHDR mode, only when I switch it to DX10.

What are your sun quality / ray quality settings at?

You should see them even when the quality for the three "god ray" settings is on low (can't remember the three specific names. When you turn them up they can really kill performance but with them at low you get decent performance and still get the benefits of having them on.

Any graphical options that aren't available due to you selecting DX9, DX9 EHDR, DX10 etc will not be selectable, hence if you can select them in the graphics menu they're working.

DX10 kills it for me but I have a second 4870 on the way so i'll let y'all know how crossfire works out with Clear Sky.

 

[Redox]

Enjoying the game a lot so far. A couple of questions though ...

1. I'm having a heck of a time finding artifacts - I get close to the anomaly with the detector beeping away and just get zapped by it ending in a quick death and reload. Not sure what I'm doing wrong ... any suggestions?

2. There is a small icon in the lower right bottom, just to the left of the health & armour bars. It appears quite often and pulses. The icon looks like a floppy disk or something. Could anyone tell me what it's for?

Thanks for any help.

 

[coloumb]

Originally posted by: pontifex
also, need help with the lucky detector quest. i got exactly where the map shows, there is an anomaly, but there is no detector to be found. anythng special needed here?

Try saving the game, quitting to windows, restart the game, and load the last save.

 

[geoffry]

Originally posted by: Mogadon

Originally posted by: geoffry

Originally posted by: TheSnowman

Originally posted by: geoffry

Originally posted by: TheSnowman

Originally posted by: duragezic
Does DX10 actually offer any advantages in this game? have a legit copy of Vista but no real reason to use it unless a DX10 game actually warrants it!

Yeah, at least on my 8800gt, Vista DX10 runs better DX9 enhanced in XP with the same settings, and the wet surfaces and volumetric smoke are bonuses.

Also the sun rays or "god rays" are only in the DX10 EHDR mode.

Nah, those work in the DX9 enhanced mode too, everything does but the two options I mentioned. Well those, and triple buffering.

I don't see any of the god rays in DX9 EHDR mode, only when I switch it to DX10.

What are your sun quality / ray quality settings at?

You should see them even when the quality for the three "god ray" settings is on low (can't remember the three specific names. When you turn them up they can really kill performance but with them at low you get decent performance and still get the benefits of having them on.

Any graphical options that aren't available due to you selecting DX9, DX9 EHDR, DX10 etc will not be selectable, hence if you can select them in the graphics menu they're working.

DX10 kills it for me but I have a second 4870 on the way so i'll let y'all know how crossfire works out with Clear Sky.

Ya, I left them on low cause they don't change the look, only performance...but I don;t get the true god rays DX10 mode has, only a shimmer in my eye.

 

[ja1484]

Are you looking at the right time of day? God rays only occur between 6 and 8 AM on sunny days in the game

And they definitely work in DX9.

 

[geoffry]

Originally posted by: ja1484
Are you looking at the right time of day? God rays only occur between 6 and 8 AM on sunny days in the game

And they definitely work in DX9.

Yep, 6-8.

Can you post a screeny of yours?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: ja1484
Are you looking at the right time of day? God rays only occur between 6 and 8 AM on sunny days in the game

And they definitely work in DX9.

yeah, i'm pretty sure i'm using DX9 and i get the rays also.

 

[kylebisme]

If you want to make sure, just make sure you have a good save of your current game and start a new one. Right after the intro there are god rays all over. They look the same in DX9 as they do in DX10.

Redox, that is a flopppy disk, it just shows when the game is streaming new data in.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Redox
Enjoying the game a lot so far. A couple of questions though ...

1. I'm having a heck of a time finding artifacts - I get close to the anomaly with the detector beeping away and just get zapped by it ending in a quick death and reload. Not sure what I'm doing wrong ... any suggestions?

If you get zapped, you've gone too close. I'm assuming you're using your bolts (key/weapon #6). Keep throwing them and creep forward until the artifact is visible; don't run straight to it once you see it. Also, it looks like you need the detector to see the artifact, even if you're ontop of it. Otherwise, do what I've resorted to occasionally: get close, jump into anomalie, locate artifact, reload and work your way to where it appeared.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

anyone having trouble w/ capturing the farm place in the swamps? It tells me to hold the position till back up arrives and it never does.

 

[geoffry]

Originally posted by: xSkyDrAx
anyone having trouble w/ capturing the farm place in the swamps? It tells me to hold the position till back up arrives and it never does.

It can sometimes take a VERY long time for backup...when I was capturing stuff for the stalkers I would just walk away from the machine and do something else for 5-10 minutes and hopefully my guys came.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

it's been at least 2 days game time. The night I captured it, i waited from like midnight to daylight in game time. It should've arrived in that time frame no?

 

[Dorkenstein]

When I took over the motor depot for Father Valerian, I noticed some stalkers on a hill nearby just waiting. I read in a guide that they are supposed to back you up when you storm the motor depot. I took the damn thing myself, they never showed up. I just kept my guns blazing and used medical kits when I had to. Later on those guys were gone.

 

[geoffry]

Originally posted by: xSkyDrAx
it's been at least 2 days game time. The night I captured it, i waited from like midnight to daylight in game time. It should've arrived in that time frame no?

I would think so, try going into another area (cordon perhaps) then going back to the swamps, that might give your people a brain.

 

[geoffry]

And I finally seen the DX9 god rays, they are alot less pronounced than DX10, hard to notice.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: pontifex
man, i've died twice now and i have no clue how for either time. there was no indication that I was even being hurt. the first was on the first mission outside the base. i was walking to the outpost and all of a sudden my health started falling and it wouldn't stop. 2nd time i was at the hamlet, i think. I was helping fight off some bandits. I was inside a house shooting at a bandit and all of a sudden i died. i wasn't paying attention to my health but there was not indication that i was being hit.

can't run on all full settings. i'm getting about 30 fps on my current settings and it still feels choppy. seems pretty cool so far though, more stalker goodness!

First time you died was most likely radiation. If you get radiation poisoning, it goes away very, very slowly, and as long as you have some, your health bleeds away. You need to take a radkit to completely get rid of the poisoning. It's best just to avoid dangerous areas altogether until you have better equipment although I have been known to run through a few areas to grab goodies, downing double radkits on the way out.

The second death was most likely bleeding. Something that shot you caused you to bleed, and despite being relatively safe inside the house, you were still bleeding to death and died. The only decent indication of this is your heart beat that goes off as you get low, but I wouldn't rely on that, it's better to constantly glance down at your health at all times. Especially after every time you get shot.

Just a note for anyone, repairing items at the upgrade shop is affordable and I'd suggest it. Don't let low condition items get tossed, if they are good, bring them back and get them repaired.

Oh and to those complaining about dying - Good. One of the things I loved about STALKER is it would always challenge my normal approach to a situation. Clear Sky continues this. One thing I will admit... that is relatively cheap... is that if you wait, sometimes you can get a group of guards to attack instead of defend. And if you draw them out into the open while you retreat to cover they will not have anywhere to hide, so they will just stand around shooting you from the open while you take all their heads off. I'm sure the guards in hiding will become infinitely easier as you upgrade guns, just gotta deal with a pistol for the time being.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Imp
Bandages, I think, are less abundant this time around. This is made worse by the fact that you actually have to control bleeding now or die. Unfortunately, they no longer heal your health (compensated by the addition of regeneration). Medkits I'd say are fairly abundant. I've never run out and have a huge supply in 2 of my caches. You could try conserving by using food to increase health or just let it be and let ir regen on its own.

You can control bandages and medkits with some careful work. If you know you are low on bandages but have plenty of medkits, use medkits during fire fights while only using a single bandage at the end (continually bleed throughout the battle and just heal up lost health). This will quickly deplete your medkits while keeping your bandages high.

 

[Darklife]

As for the radiation you can just drink some vodka if you don't have any antirads.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Really though, the best way to deal with both is artifacts. Even a single Mama's bead will make bandages non-vital, and anti-rad artifacts are something you really should have anyway. Still need anti-rad meds though, even with good artifacts.

 

[imported_Imp]

I didn't use Mama's Beads much because of my addiction to picking up everything on the ground to sell (had to equip +Weight artifacts). However, once I got the better health regeneration artifact, I pretty much stopped using bandages. At the end of a fight, I'd just equip Mama's Beads or its better version to stop bleeding. When the fighting got really hard, I finally gave up my weight artifacts.

 

[coloumb]

So - I think I'm near the end [at Chernobyl]. So far, Clear Sky seems to be more linear - you can't really explore like you did in the other STALKER.

Hopefully these aren't spoilers:

- When you find a sniper rifle - stock up on the ammo and keep both close by [inventory or a box] until you have to use it [you will know - you'll be ordered to kill some snipers]
- If you join DUTY [you get some nice armor and other stuff] and aren't really interested in Faction Wars - join another clan that isn't at war with FREEDOM as I'm pretty sure you need to talk to a FREEDOM commander later on.
- If you notice the npcs/mobs are on your map but not visible - F5 [quick save], then F9 [quick load] should fix it.
- Due to the sheer # of bugs still present in the game, either quick save or save often [some of the scripted events fail to work properly].

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Keep the sniper close by? Sheesh, I fully upgraded a vintar, and that was pretty much my weapon for the rest of the game. It really needs the upgrades though, or the bullet drop kills it.