Why do you guys like STALKER so much??

[NYHoustonman]

I'm glad I came back to this thread, these mods sound awesome... I have a bunch of games still to play through but I'll definitely be giving at least Oblivion Lost/SIMBION a try. Thanks guys .

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Originally posted by: fallenangel99
Heh, I tried this game a few days ago (no mods, patch 1.005). A few things in the game annoyed me so I decided to uninstall it and try out Bioshock in a few days. I didnt like the fact that there was no key to grab all inventory from a body (I'm getting shot at and the inventory screen is open). The map system confused me; the radiation spots around the map irked me a few times! I wish there was a way to tell which spots were bad. The mission system got a bit using too.

Anyway, ill try out the mods soon and maybe I'll change my mind.. but one thing I like about the game is that its open-ended and I can be on diff. missions at once.

Give it some time to grow on you. Most people say this...it can be annoying and difficult at the beginning but it gets better. I personally tried out the Oblivion Lost mod first and enjoyed having all the weapons available, but I quit halfway through to experience the game as the developers intended, with no mods (except floating point of course), and it has been worthwhile, IMO.

As far as knowing where radiation is...the Geiger counter wasn't good enough? I like it that way, more realistic...its not all mapped out where the radiation is, except in the Garbage level, so the only way to find out is with that handy little pocket-radiation-meter.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: tHa ShIzNiT

Originally posted by: fallenangel99
Heh, I tried this game a few days ago (no mods, patch 1.005). A few things in the game annoyed me so I decided to uninstall it and try out Bioshock in a few days. I didnt like the fact that there was no key to grab all inventory from a body (I'm getting shot at and the inventory screen is open). The map system confused me; the radiation spots around the map irked me a few times! I wish there was a way to tell which spots were bad. The mission system got a bit using too.

Anyway, ill try out the mods soon and maybe I'll change my mind.. but one thing I like about the game is that its open-ended and I can be on diff. missions at once.

Give it some time to grow on you. Most people say this...it can be annoying and difficult at the beginning but it gets better. I personally tried out the Oblivion Lost mod first and enjoyed having all the weapons available, but I quit halfway through to experience the game as the developers intended, with no mods (except floating point of course), and it has been worthwhile, IMO.

As far as knowing where radiation is...the Geiger counter wasn't good enough? I like it that way, more realistic...its not all mapped out where the radiation is, except in the Garbage level, so the only way to find out is with that handy little pocket-radiation-meter.

About the Geiger counter, I've found it pretty useless. To check out radiation spots, I primarily focus on vision changes. Once it gets blurry, I start to worry. Only if I'm desperate to precisely bypass a dangerous location do I listen to the Geiger counter.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Imp

Originally posted by: tHa ShIzNiT

Originally posted by: fallenangel99
Heh, I tried this game a few days ago (no mods, patch 1.005). A few things in the game annoyed me so I decided to uninstall it and try out Bioshock in a few days. I didnt like the fact that there was no key to grab all inventory from a body (I'm getting shot at and the inventory screen is open). The map system confused me; the radiation spots around the map irked me a few times! I wish there was a way to tell which spots were bad. The mission system got a bit using too.

Anyway, ill try out the mods soon and maybe I'll change my mind.. but one thing I like about the game is that its open-ended and I can be on diff. missions at once.

Give it some time to grow on you. Most people say this...it can be annoying and difficult at the beginning but it gets better. I personally tried out the Oblivion Lost mod first and enjoyed having all the weapons available, but I quit halfway through to experience the game as the developers intended, with no mods (except floating point of course), and it has been worthwhile, IMO.

As far as knowing where radiation is...the Geiger counter wasn't good enough? I like it that way, more realistic...its not all mapped out where the radiation is, except in the Garbage level, so the only way to find out is with that handy little pocket-radiation-meter.

About the Geiger counter, I've found it pretty useless. To check out radiation spots, I primarily focus on vision changes. Once it gets blurry, I start to worry. Only if I'm desperate to precisely bypass a dangerous location do I listen to the Geiger counter.

Before having any Rad Protection the Geiger counter is very important. Afterwards you are correct, the visual cues are vital.

 

[leeland]

Originally posted by: Zenoth

Originally posted by: Capitalizt
Ok I've decided to get this game. Can someone point me in the right direction for all of the latest patches, mods, extra levels, etc?

Any help greatly appreciated.

If you want to use modifications (which is highly recommended for this game) then you should install patch 1.0004, because more recent patches are not compatible with the majority of mods out there (and the more recent patches, for example patch 1.0005 or 1.0006 don't fix anything in single-player which would be worth it, it's more about multi-player fixes than anything else really, so you don't miss anything important believe me, and playing with a good mod actually fixes way more than any patches have done so far). There's plenty places to get patch 1.0004 (or any others if you don't want to use modifications), such as Fileplanet, Filefront, Fileshack... and so on, just Google it it's very easy.

As for modifications there are four "major" (or well known) ones out there which are:

1) Oblivion-Lost: http://www.gsc-game.com/index....thm_id=12422&sec_id=16

2) Priboi Story: http://www.gsc-game.com/index....thm_id=11630&sec_id=16

3) ABC Inferno: http://board.oblivion-lost.de/showthread.php?t=10391

4) SIMBION: http://www.gsc-game.com/index....thm_id=12334&sec_id=16

There are other mods out there, and good ones too, but this group of mods is known to be the "must haves" or "must tries" (and the fourth one in the list, SIMBION, is a combination of four mods plus exclusive changes by itself, I believe that so far SIMBION is the most complex of them all, totaling about 300MB of data once uncompressed).

Also I would like to add a link to a thread over at TweakGuides.com which was started back in 2005 and still persists today. In that thread you will find all of the information you could possibly want to get, believe me, just take the time to read the latest pages especially (let's say about 20 to 30 pages starting from the last one), here's the link: http://forums.tweakguides.com/showthread.php?t=279

And then, of course, the quintessential S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Tweak Guide itself, from the same web-site above: http://www.tweakguides.com/STALKER_1.html

Thanks for the links man...

 

[pontifex]

in the oblivion lost mod, how the hell do you survive the blowouts? every time one happens i'm in like the middle of nowhere.

last night one happened while i was in that army base near the garbage. i went inside the building but it still got me.

 

[ZzZGuy]

So far i've only found 3 places that you can properly shelter from the blow out.

-The traders bunker in the first level.
-The old factory in the second level (garbage?) where the stalkers have a fire set up and face constant bandit attacks.
-The bar.

However i hardly find the radiation from blowouts to be a problem after i advanced a bit in the game. 5 of those red artifacts that reduce radiation by -20 will make you immune to the radiation of the blowout, and you only need 1 or 2 radiation meds to survive with minimal artifact help. It's the mutants in later levels that the blowout spawns that worries me.

If you can't handle the blow outs, do a quick save then reload and there will be no blowout (unless you're unlucky and a new one starts), no lost progress.

 

[tvdang7]

its pretty cool i used to hate it. but games like this dont come out everyday. let you explore do what you need to get guns. lighting every other second wind blowing the grass thats cool man. cant believe i used to talk bad about it.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Originally posted by: ZzZGuy
So far i've only found 3 places that you can properly shelter from the blow out.

-The traders bunker in the first level.
-The old factory in the second level (garbage?) where the stalkers have a fire set up and face constant bandit attacks.
-The bar.

However i hardly find the radiation from blowouts to be a problem after i advanced a bit in the game. 5 of those red artifacts that reduce radiation by -20 will make you immune to the radiation of the blowout, and you only need 1 or 2 radiation meds to survive with minimal artifact help. It's the mutants in later levels that the blowout spawns that worries me.

If you can't handle the blow outs, do a quick save then reload and there will be no blowout (unless you're unlucky and a new one starts), no lost progress.

Yeah the mutant spawns from blowouts got out of control when I was playing through with Oblivion Lost. I pretty much dealt with every blowout by saving constantly and reloading whenever one would occur. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that in my current playthrough, using no mods. However there are many positive things that mod brings to the table that I miss.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: tHa ShIzNiT

Yeah the mutant spawns from blowouts got out of control when I was playing through with Oblivion Lost. I pretty much dealt with every blowout by saving constantly and reloading whenever one would occur. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that in my current playthrough, using no mods. However there are many positive things that mod brings to the table that I miss.

being able to repair weapons and armor is :heart:

 

[ZzZGuy]

I already played through the vanilla once. The second time around i want things to be... interesting. I like the challenge of playing on hell difficulty and not knowing where the next blood sucker will spring up in my face and rip it off.

But repairing armor is getting rather expensive, 10k to fix a small notch off my military armors durability. Though selling artifacts at full price to the science lab pays for this (not sure if this was the case in vanilla).

 

[PingSpike]

I've only been playing for a little while, but so far I enjoy this game. I just saved some doctor at a downed helicopter from a bunch of mercs.

The good:
1) I like the ballistics system and the enemy AI. They seem to use plausible tactics, make good use of cover and are more willing to "wait me out" then some games.
2) The game atmosphere, of course. Very cool. So bleak feeling. Characters all look kind of beat down by the zone.
3) I like being forced to make hard choices about weapons and equipment due to the carry limit. Its kind of a handful to juggle the different kinds of ammo though.
4) Hasn't been to buggy for me honestly. No crashes or slowdowns, a few culling graphic glitches has been about it.
5) I like fighting alongside other guys and the different factions.
6) Radiation and anomolies are neat hazards. Kind of wish there was potential for player action here though, they just feel like static booby traps.

The bad:
1) The interface has kind of a long learning curve, and can be a bit cumbersome.
2) Quest/PDA system feels off. I might just have to get more used to it. I had sort of the same problem with Oblivion though at first.
3) Story so far seems almost totally incoherent.
4) The AI is to static. Why aren't the other stalkers looting and grabbing artifacts...traveling. Feels more like morrowind AI then say Oblivion AI. (Minus morrowind AI's terrible pathfinding and pathetic combat skills) I understand there is at least one mod that fixes this.
5) Allies push me out of cover like jackasses.

 

[Molondo]

Originally posted by: PingSpike


The bad:
1) The interface has kind of a long learning curve, and can be a bit cumbersome.
2) Quest/PDA system feels off. I might just have to get more used to it. I had sort of the same problem with Oblivion though at first.
3) Story so far seems almost totally incoherent.
4) The AI is to static. Why aren't the other stalkers looting and grabbing artifacts...traveling. Feels more like morrowind AI then say Oblivion AI. (Minus morrowind AI's terrible pathfinding and pathetic combat skills) I understand there is at least one mod that fixes this.
5) Allies push me out of cover like jackasses.

I feel the same way about the PDA, its so... rough.

 

[vanvock]

What wore me out was the long hikes from one end to the other with nothing going on. I finally got stuck coming back out of a dead end from a radioactive area into the previously un radioactive area & couldn't get out before dying. I liked it when there was action & I'll probably give it another go later on.

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
I've only been playing for a little while, but so far I enjoy this game. I just saved some doctor at a downed helicopter from a bunch of mercs.

The good:
1) I like the ballistics system and the enemy AI. They seem to use plausible tactics, make good use of cover and are more willing to "wait me out" then some games.
2) The game atmosphere, of course. Very cool. So bleak feeling. Characters all look kind of beat down by the zone.
3) I like being forced to make hard choices about weapons and equipment due to the carry limit. Its kind of a handful to juggle the different kinds of ammo though.
4) Hasn't been to buggy for me honestly. No crashes or slowdowns, a few culling graphic glitches has been about it.
5) I like fighting alongside other guys and the different factions.
6) Radiation and anomolies are neat hazards. Kind of wish there was potential for player action here though, they just feel like static booby traps.

The bad:
1) The interface has kind of a long learning curve, and can be a bit cumbersome.
2) Quest/PDA system feels off. I might just have to get more used to it. I had sort of the same problem with Oblivion though at first.
3) Story so far seems almost totally incoherent.
4) The AI is to static. Why aren't the other stalkers looting and grabbing artifacts...traveling. Feels more like morrowind AI then say Oblivion AI. (Minus morrowind AI's terrible pathfinding and pathetic combat skills) I understand there is at least one mod that fixes this.
5) Allies push me out of cover like jackasses.

About the A.I, indeed, a number of modifications out there fixes that negative point you mention.

Right now I am playing a mod called SIMBION, like I said in a post earlier in this thread. The A.I in that mod is more focused on chasing you (not "running" at you, just trying to follow you if they spot you once, they usually analyze the terrain, trying to go where they last saw you, and so on, and eventually stop searching if they really lost you). They can and very often do loot the dead Stalker's bodies, and not only that, but they loot the mutant carcases around, and even better, they can literally take certain types of artifacts. And what's better? It's the fact that those items they pick up are kept in memory and are stored in their inventory so that you can trade for everything they've found. And all that was originally planned by the developers years ago, but was inexplicably cut out of the final version and still hasn't made its way into the vanilla version after the numerous patches. Even the next "big" patch won't make such A.I features official at all. As for anomalies and artifacts, SIMBION made them spawn at random locations each time you start up a game, and not only that but after each blow outs they will change places, and will change types, for instance in my current game there's an electrical anomaly that spawned just two meters or so away from the entrance of Sidorovich's bunker in Cordon after the first blow out.

For this game I believe that modifications are necessary. I love this game, but it would bore me to death if I was stuck with the vanilla version, in fact I would try to sell it on eBay or something like that. The vanilla version is VERY predictable, is VERY scripted (even the mutants are, limited in their movement outside of their initial "lair" radius, always going back to that area if they get too far from it, part of the restricted "smart terrain" system of the A-Life A.I mechanism of the game). Things are very static too, "secret" stashes are always the same, hidden items in crates always in the same crates, artifacts always at the same location and are always of the same types... and so on, and so on. I would dare saying that the vanilla version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is absolutely not worth it at all. I did beat it back then, once (although there's seven endings and I never actually saw the "good" one, as surprising as it may seem), under those limited conditions, but after playing with modifications there's no feasible way for me to ever go back.

 

[imported_oralpain]

My sentements are similar to PingSpike's, with a few differences.

I especially liked the little details, and the relative plausibility, when it came to the ballistics. STALKER is one of the only games I know of that has significant bullet travel time, noticeable bullet drop, and functional ricochets (I have skipped bullets off pavement or pipes to harm foes that had almost complete cover).

I found the story to be slightly confusing, at first, but I did not have that much trouble following it. As long as you read everything and pay close attention, things should fall into place just fine. It is rather apparent that it was not originally written in english in some places. The translation is quite good, but there are still some things that are a touch off.

I haven't even used any mods besides Float32 at this point and I've found the game to be excellent. After I've finshed my second complete run through (I've seen the good ending, and a few of the crappy [wish granter] ones in my first run), then I will start playing with mods.

 

[blckgrffn]

Quick question -

I want to play with cranked up graphics and the Float32 mod. Is my 7900GTO going to cut it? Resolution is fairly flexible as I am running old school 20" trinitron goodness - but higher is better (1600*1200 would be fantastic).

Thanks,
Nat

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Quick question -

I want to play with cranked up graphics and the Float32 mod. Is my 7900GTO going to cut it? Resolution is fairly flexible as I am running old school 20" trinitron goodness - but higher is better (1600*1200 would be fantastic).

Thanks,
Nat

doubtful

i can't remember if i have everything maxed, but its mostly maxed, and my 8800gts 320 runs it at about 30-40 fps

 

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Quick question -

I want to play with cranked up graphics and the Float32 mod. Is my 7900GTO going to cut it? Resolution is fairly flexible as I am running old school 20" trinitron goodness - but higher is better (1600*1200 would be fantastic).

Thanks,
Nat

doubtful

i can't remember if i have everything maxed, but its mostly maxed, and my 8800gts 320 runs it at about 30-40 fps

Sigh. Thanks. And I wasn't trying to be snippy with the sims2 thing, I just neglected to use a smiley face

I told the wife that I was going to buy Stalker, now I need to convince I new a new video card

What resolution are you running?

Thanks again.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Originally posted by: blckgrffn

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: blckgrffn
Quick question -

I want to play with cranked up graphics and the Float32 mod. Is my 7900GTO going to cut it? Resolution is fairly flexible as I am running old school 20" trinitron goodness - but higher is better (1600*1200 would be fantastic).

Thanks,
Nat

doubtful

i can't remember if i have everything maxed, but its mostly maxed, and my 8800gts 320 runs it at about 30-40 fps

Sigh. Thanks. And I wasn't trying to be snippy with the sims2 thing, I just neglected to use a smiley face

I told the wife that I was going to buy Stalker, now I need to convince I new a new video card

What resolution are you running?

Thanks again.

I'm running 1680x1050 with maxed graphics on a q6600 and 8800gts 512. The view distance might be turned down a hair. Seems to run great.

 

[ZzZGuy]

-edit- nm, found my answer-edit-

 

[Damn Dirty Ape]

really cool. I recently played it on a rainy stormy evening.. very immersive environment, it also helps that it is very close to the real landscape there.

that and COD4...

 

[schizoid77]

I bought it, and loved the first 1-2 hours, and now I am starting to get really annoyed with it.

The limitation on the inventory is the primary thing I hate.

 

[NoWhereM]

Originally posted by: schizoid77
I bought it, and loved the first 1-2 hours, and now I am starting to get really annoyed with it.

The limitation on the inventory is the primary thing I hate.

I didn't like that either, so I used a trainer to remove the weight limit restrictions. There is also a mod that will just raise the weight limit, but I prefer to be able to carry everything around with me rather than finding a place to store things for later use.

 

[schizoid77]

Yep, and now I'm at a part where there is this invisible dog or creature constantly attacking me, but the worst are these stupid canisters flying around killing me, and I haven't figured out a way to stop them....the boxes you could at least destroy, these flying canisters are pissing me off like no one's business.