S.T.A.L.K.E.R Released

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-28 02:28am

I'm sure it's fun to own 50 people in seconds by hosing down the entire area with PAB6 rounds...for about 30seconds. Cheating is boring.

Oh yeah, I found a silencer if anyone wants a location just ask.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-28 02:32am

Really? I've never found a separate or removable silencer.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-28 02:35am

The northwest part of the "wrecked cars" area in the garbage where you protect the stalkers, in the canvas truck. You get into the truck and run to the front of the cargo area then turn around, it's under a ramp thing in one of those white metal boxes you can break open.

That's the only one I have found in the entire game.

Edit, I have also heard that there is one in a stash in the agroprom area, but never found it.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-28 02:36am

What does it fit on? It's pretty early on too - does it weaken the damage on the gun you mount it on?

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-28 02:48am

Fits on anything, it slightly lowers the bullets exit velocity before the numbers go into the ballistics calc, so it slightly lowers range, penetration, damage and accuracy. I recommend only using it when you are sniping and to remove it if you are going to be getting into a rambo style fight.

Or just put it on you're pistol and do stuff Snake style.

edit: when I say slightly, it is actually a VERY small change. But at ranges ofr 250 meters plus it can effect you.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2007-03-28 03:09am

Not to sound like I'm shilling the triple damage patch, but the problems of lots of ammo and medicine making the game too easy are solved when you can be killed in 1-3 hits, and don't have a chance to use the bandages.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-28 03:21am

I don't use that patch, but I tweaked the protection value of "kevlar" to be much lower.

A rifle bullet at point blank now = hole on the other side of you.

As it should.

The outfits.ltx file has the armor values in it. In my opinion, tweaking the actual armor which is too high at default is less game fuxxoring than "omg all guns do 4312654319513563151239 damage!". If you go the damage route you fuck up the ballistics system that GSC have put so much effort into making.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-28 03:40am

I've noticed that overpenetrating rounds don't seem to leave bulletholes on the 'outside' of the surface they penetrate. I've often been shot through a wooden corner or wall, and the only bulletholes are in me. No visual feedback = bad.

Res, it sounds like you're really poking around in there - hopefully you crazy mod people will turn out some great stuff.

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-03-28 06:53am

I knew the devs were disappointed with what they accomplished, they released STALKER at this point basically to proove it wasn't vaporware.

Based on what Res has found, the fact that a lot of the necessary code was left in the X-Ray Engine by the devs could indicate how much faith they have in the community to carry out what they couldn't.

So cleaning kits and field stripping were originally going to be in the game? Funny, I don't ever recall hearing about it. Then again, I didn't hear or research anything about STALKER for upwards of 2 years until its release. They would be a VERY good idea, since weapon interaction is one of my favorite aspects about the game.

Vehicles? Eh, I don't think they would work so well on the current map setup. Unless a "free roam" mod is created, or the game maps just get A LOT bigger, it doesn't seem like a good idea.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2007-03-28 07:07am

Vehicles which can be used to store stuff in them would be rather nice.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-28 08:17am

Vehicles? Eh, I don't think they would work so well on the current map setup. Unless a "free roam" mod is created, or the game maps just get A LOT bigger, it doesn't seem like a good idea.

I was thinking the exact same thing, so now...like hundreds of other modders... I'm waiting for a map editor.

Yes, field strips were in the game, so was hand radio's (as in scanners) and vehicles. The map was originally free roam too, what you see now is just what they had finished so far minus the half finished and empty parts of the maps. If you look at the west part there is a whole TOWN there you can't get to. The fun part: the textures/models for alot of that is there too, as well as half finished parts to the east....but we need a map editor.... The entire NPP is actually modeled but has wreckage and shit added to lock you into the storyline. There is very very small parts of what looks like being able to sew metal plates and crap into you're armor as well. They were going to have flyable helicopters, alot of A-Life seems to be disabled because there simply isnt the amount of land needed for it to work properly.

It looks like they really wanted to do SO MUCH MORE with Xray, but got pushed into releasing it early. I mean, I'm glad to have stalker finally, but some of this stuff would have just plain rocked. Hopefully they will give us some decent modding tools (and im sure they will).

I saw somewhere that GSC said they will be adding stuff in major patches later on... I'll have to find a link when their forums are working again.

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-03-28 10:29am

I was thinking the exact same thing, so now...like hundreds of other modders... I'm waiting for a map editor.

As for one question, can the game actually handle a huge Operation Flashpoint style free roam arena?

I suppose it could, given the developer's original intents, it looks like the only reason they didn't get around was because they couldn't finish building the whole of the Zone.

The whole other town on the map is obviously Chernobyl itself. In a PC Gamer article back in 2002, the devs stated openly they intended to have both Pripyat and Chernobyl in the game.

They were going to have flyable helicopters, alot of A-Life seems to be disabled because there simply isnt the amount of land needed for it to work properly.

Disabled as in, simply turned off right? The ALife engine is just being HELD BACK I hope.

The devs did want to do a lot, Oleg talked a lot about the game's development, and if you go to Gametrailers.com, you can see in the plethera of tech videos that show clearly what they were aiming for. The problem was, they announced the game far too early. Had they announced it two years ago instead of 6, they would have much more time to work with. But by constantly creating false release dates they alienated their audience and made THQ impatient. Their choice was either to release the game and proove it wasn't the next DNF, or lose their fanbase entirely and have THQ pull the plug.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-28 10:35am

Disabled as in, simply turned off right? The ALife engine is just being HELD BACK I hope.

All of ALife is there, by disabled I mean "not being used", stuff like animal migrations and "new stalkers entering the zone and then working their way deeper".

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2007-03-28 10:47am

It sounds like my gaming experience is greatly enhanced by not having followed any STALKER hype over the last couple of years. Allows me to appreciate the game for what it is, and forget about what it's not.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2007-03-28 10:52am

Can I see in-game screencaps? Preferably from people who aren't using supercomputers, so I can get a realistic assessment whether or not I ought to buy something that may or may not end up looking like ass.

C&C3 broke my heart. Substandard EA shite.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-28 10:56am

I think it comes down to whether or not you can use dynamic lighting. My 6600GT turns the game into postcards if I turn even object dynamic lighting on - even if I turn everything WAY down - but it looks like the sex. With static lighting, it looks a bit naff really: you lose all the bump mapping, stippling, fully-lit awesome.

EDIT - I found the silencer in the garbage, and it mounts to all kinds of things... but not an AK-74. It mounts on all the pistols and short rifles and SMGs I've found so far, but not the AK-74 (or the shotgun obviously). Is anyone else experiencing this?

lazerus · Post by **lazerus** » 2007-03-28 11:15am

Son of a bitch!

I accidentally saved over all my saves before the sarcophogas! Can anyone send me a pyrpat save?

JLTucker · Post by **JLTucker** » 2007-03-28 12:46pm

Ace Pace wrote:
JLTucker wrote:
Tolya wrote:Overall, I give the game an 7/10. I subtract -1 for the bugs and another -1 for unfulfilled promises..
What are these unfulfilled promises?
Total uncontrolled gameplay, where there are other, AI stalkers who are also trying to finsh the game like you. Also, total lack of levels, having the entire map available at once. Just to name two.

The latter would have been nice.

Did anyone else have problems with the flashlight? I had to use the console to get the thing to work.

loomer · Post by **loomer** » 2007-03-28 01:00pm

Stark wrote: EDIT - I found the silencer in the garbage, and it mounts to all kinds of things... but not an AK-74. It mounts on all the pistols and short rifles and SMGs I've found so far, but not the AK-74 (or the shotgun obviously). Is anyone else experiencing this?

Won't mount on my AK-47 either, or the Walther pistol.

JLTucker · Post by **JLTucker** » 2007-03-28 02:26pm

Ok. This is pissing me off. After uninstalling Vista and installing XP, the game's display fucks up. I have the correct video card drivers, the same settings that I used on Vista are being used now, and it still fucks up.

Pics:
Pic 1
Pic 2

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » 2007-03-28 03:19pm

JLTucker wrote:Ok. This is pissing me off. After uninstalling Vista and installing XP, the game's display fucks up. I have the correct video card drivers, the same settings that I used on Vista are being used now, and it still fucks up.

Pics:
Pic 1
Pic 2

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Visual tearing. is your vidcard overclocked/overheating? STALKER is really tough on the hardware.

Also try the visual tweaks here: It fixed the weird rain and poor framerates for me.

[/img]http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmes ... 87&page=12

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2007-03-28 03:25pm

I think it comes down to whether or not you can use dynamic lighting. My 6600GT turns the game into postcards

It's pretty strange Stark. Cos I got a 7600 GS, which is basically a bumped up version of 6600 and everything runs great on object dynamic lightning and medium/high details.

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2007-03-28 03:34pm

3x damage doesn't interest me at all, what I really want is a god damn accuracy mod. It infuriates me when a bullet comes out of the gun at a 15 degree angle.

JLTucker · Post by **JLTucker** » 2007-03-28 03:40pm

Darwin wrote:
JLTucker wrote:Ok. This is pissing me off. After uninstalling Vista and installing XP, the game's display fucks up. I have the correct video card drivers, the same settings that I used on Vista are being used now, and it still fucks up.

Pics:
Pic 1
Pic 2

Does anyone know how to fix this?
Visual tearing.

Why would there be visual tearing? It did not do this when I ran the game on vista. Also, I do not use dynamic lighting. I use static lighting. I have a 128mb video card and it ran well when I was playing on Vista.

Edit: Ok. I fixed the problem. I needed the latest drivers.

I thought I had them, but I didn't. That should have been the first thing to do. Now I can head to the Red Forest.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-28 08:29pm

Anarchist Bunny wrote:3x damage doesn't interest me at all, what I really want is a god damn accuracy mod. It infuriates me when a bullet comes out of the gun at a 15 degree angle.

I bet you hate it in all those other shooters too. Inaccurate ARs? Never seen that before LOL! Fixing the accuracy would make the game far too hard for most people - unless you want YOUR gun to shoot straight but all the NPCs to somehow miss.

Tolya, I'm not sure why it doesn't work properly. It's better with the patch on object dynamic lighting, but even indoor areas (or the underground levels) run so badly it's unplayable - even with everything else turned way down.