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

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2007-03-26 06:57am

Resinence wrote:Looks like it's just increasing the size of the pagefile, you don't need regedit to do that...

I'm fairly sure that is setting the pagefile to the maxium size of 4gb or to system managed. Reg hacks looks more impressive for people who "tweak" than toggling a checkbox which clearly states what it does.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2007-03-26 08:37am

What's the deal with the weapon mods? How is this done? Are they attachable items or is there a guy somewhere who modifies weapons? I am only able to find already modded guns.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-26 08:53am

You need to find them in stashes etc.
I've found that the ones you can pull off weapons can't be put on different types of weapons.

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-03-26 09:12am

Xon wrote: I'm fairly sure that is setting the pagefile to the maxium size of 4gb or to system managed. Reg hacks looks more impressive for people who "tweak" than toggling a checkbox which clearly states what it does.

So the game thinks a 2gb page file isn't good enough, in other words?

(damn regedit posers ...)

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2007-03-26 12:00pm

Vympel wrote:So the game thinks a 2gb page file isn't good enough, in other words?

Just set the pagefile to system managed for 4gb max, and you'll never need to look at it again.

I've seen STALKER using 1.5gb of ram, never mind what the rest of the system is using. So yes, 2gb isnt enough.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2007-03-26 01:44pm

Sephirius wrote:
Pablo Sanchez wrote: On the other hand, the 20 round MAGAZINE is a handicap when you're used to 30.
fixed

Look, clearly you're not very smart, so I'll make it easy for you. Coming into a thread and making a one-word asshole nitpick that doesn't contribute anything at all to the topic is frowned upon 'round here. Try a little harder next time.

Resinence wrote:You can find it in the freedom base, the northwest most part of the northwest most barracks building near the destroyed train tunnel. It's just sitting on the ground inside waiting for you to grab it

I'll be on the lookout for that stuff. It seems like STALKER really rewards you for running around and finding all kinds of stuff; judging by your inventory I've missed all kinds of things. My anomalies, for example, are limited to a fireball for the radiation, the +600% health booster, and the +109 endurance. I've never even seen any of the anomalies you're carrying! Then again I've only played up to the part where I met the Doctor, maybe you've made it farther--or if not, maybe you're just plain better at the game.

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-03-26 04:21pm

The first dungeon is... hell, Doom can stuff it, so can every other so called "horror" game in existance. The scares in that place made me jump out of my seat, i've never been this terrified by a game or movie since watching The Thing when I was 7 years old.

That bloodsucker was awesome, I could see him coming at me, but when he jumped at me, it was just, DAAAAAMN. Then the Psi Mutant? He wasn't to shabby either, I didn't see his attack coming, so it surprised the crap out of me when he "grabbed me" from accross the hallway!

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2007-03-26 05:15pm

Well, the underground bases are pretty scary, but thats not even close to the storage level in System Shock 2...so, while creepy and unnerving, the prospect of having a GP37 with 900 bullets is a very comforting factor in all this.

The last bloodsucker...the poor sucker got wasted with a head shot from behind as it was walking down the room in one of the bases...

Oh, and the AI in this game is simply amazing. The other bloodsucker...well, he received half-a-clip to the chest and retreated...only to get over a small stair passage and come up on me from the side. All in a medium sized room. I wouldn't have executed such an attack better myself. Only claws and cthulhu-like thingies are no match for a good assault rifle.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-26 06:42pm

Resinence wrote:You need to find them in stashes etc.
I've found that the ones you can pull off weapons can't be put on different types of weapons.

Are the 'bought' addons more flexible mount-wise? For instance, if I buy an RPO-1, can I put it on an Obokan? I would have thought the restrictions would be independent of how you got it.

The storage level in SS2 wasn't scary - Thief was tense. Hiding under a table from chain-clanking ghosts is scary. Boxes of protocol droids, not so much.

I totally agree that the game becomes too 'comfortable' very quickly. It's not just guns - like Fallout, you quickly have asspiles of medical supplies, food and ammo. The 'survival' part of the game becomes massively easy - I can face anything with my 20+ medkits and 80+ bandages, and kill anything with hundreds of rounds. It shouldn't be like that. Frankly, since AI never seem to use bandages, they shouldn't carry them.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2007-03-26 07:17pm

Alright, I finished the game on the 'best ending'.

Overall, I give the game an 7/10. I subtract -1 for the bugs and another -1 for unfulfilled promises.

The gameplay is simply incredible, although the game becomes "small" too damn quick. When you get to know the locales, there is simply not enough replay value - no interesting side plot stories etc.

The game was an incredible blast until I stole the first batch of documents from Agroprom. Until that point I was struggling with small quantities of ammo, crappy guns and low supplies. And the odds were high - tons of bandits and any kind of help was greatly appreciated. After I got my first AK and ammo...it became a bit too easy. Towards the end of the game I found myself reloading games only because I made a stupid mistake (like rushing in front of a 5 man squad blazing at me), not because I was so damn outgunned and outmanouvred that the only option left was to die. And after having killed kazillions of stupid monsters rushing at me full speed it was a very refreshing experience when the AI tries actually to outsmart me. Very refreshing indeed.

The game needs all the polish that games like System Shock 2 have - side stories (even conveyed through found notes) - something that would involve you deeper into the world. Thats my biggest complaint about all the games that advertise "freedom in an open-ended world" - despite huge maps and tons of possibilities there is just not enough to immerse me in the world. Thats why I prefer to be taken on a closely scripted ride rather than being thrown into an "open ended" world that feels as alive as my CPU.

Oh well, enough with the rant. And towards the end of the game it feels as if the devs were running out of their own ideas and played Half Life to get their inspiration on what to do next.

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-03-26 09:28pm

Until that point I was struggling with small quantities of ammo, crappy guns and low supplies. And the odds were high - tons of bandits and any kind of help was greatly appreciated. After I got my first AK and ammo...it became a bit too easy.

Isn't that the problem with most RPG/Action games these days? The build up and initial stages provide the most challenge and most feeling of reward. As soon as you grab the mid level weapons and armor, the game becomes a spamfest of "who can unload their gun the fastest/who can swing their sword the hardest".

I can't forsee many fixes for this, other than Oblivion's retarded NPC leveling system.

Look on the brightside, in a few months STALKER is sure to start getting noticeable community support. The devs were kind of hinting from the start they'd like the community to accomplish anything they couldn't.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-26 09:43pm

There is already a DB extractor released. People already working on new side stories, missions, new guns, more NPCs... etc.

Now we just need a model exporter so we can get our models into the game, and a level editor. Which we are getting after the first patch.

Good things ahead for stalker.

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-03-26 10:08pm

A level editor? Awesome, my biggest problem with the game so far is that it is a hell of a lot smaller than I originally hoped for. Of course, Operation Flashpoint has spoiled me.

Can I have the link to the mod community website?

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2007-03-27 02:02am

I found that VSS sniper... my God, is it awesome. The vertical drop is a little extreme but easy to compensate for. I especially love the firing noise, which is a little sneeze followed by the target dropping minus its head. I killed probably 30 people busting through the checkpoint out of Army Warehouses, mostly with headshots.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-27 02:09am

New patch.
http://stalker.filefront.com/file/STALK ... Wide;77221

www.gsc-game.com is their official forums.

DBExtractor:

http://rapidshare.com/files/22583326/db ... 1.rar.html

Patch includes:

Armor now degrades correctly.
Numerous balance changes.
Everything is more expensive.
Proper trade system implemented.
Engine and AI improvements.
Numerous Performance tweaks.
Numerous mission fixes.

The patch notes just say "SP balance changes" though.

You will lose you're old savegames when you patch though. Some of the stuff they changed is saved into you're saves, so they no longer match the game.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-27 02:14am

HAHA! If armour degrades at a fair rate (ie, slower than regular FPSs but fast enough to require replacement, and rads etc ruin suits too) then the game might actually be hard now. I've stopped playing, because thousands of rounds and all the medicine in the world means I could march through the game with my eyes closed.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-03-27 02:38am

I'm hearing complaints from Vista users that the patch is actually making them crash more often now.

I was annoyed I had to start over, but after turning off visible crosshairs, I'm actually having a blast. The starting pistol, crap? Tell that to the five bandits in the farmstead I killed.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-27 02:51am

Are you sure you have to start over? You won't get the fixed missions in an existing game, but all the other changes should work fine.

LOL, or they could make them simply not work. I love you Ukraine!

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-03-27 03:03am

If the post talking about the patch changes isn't enough for you, how about the warning when you install the patch that tells you older saves are not compatible?

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-27 03:33am

Wow, this is way better.
Armour is hella expensive now, and degrades pretty fast, and you get less money for missions but more for artifacts. I'm poor all the time now with the patch =(

Actually a challenge to keep all of you're gear in working order now.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-27 03:34am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:If the post talking about the patch changes isn't enough for you, how about the warning when you install the patch that tells you older saves are not compatible?

Yeah, games never say 'don't use old saves' without forcing a version check right? Oh wait, you're just being an asshole! I have a 'cockhead' stamp here just for your forehead. Another content-free post please!

At least on the lower-end armour, the degradation is quite respectable. Hopefully now the game won't become ridiculously easy when you get decent armour, and it should soak up a lot more medical supplies too. On 'veteran' the game should be proper hard, and on 'master' it should be nigh-impossible, not the cakewalk it turned into later. Constant sniping to victory = fucking boring.

I've got a pretty serious performance hit, though - the tweaks must have been higher-end stuff. Missions are still a bit broken, too: people who get marked on the PDA still don't lose it (Nimble etc).

Res, I never did missions before, but it's now more than a dozen decent artefacts for any kind of passable armour. With the degradation as fast as it is, no more hundreds of thousands of dollars just lying around.

Why is the (good) merc armour 24k and the (shit) stalker suit 60k, though?

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-27 03:41am

The stalker armor has more rad-burn-chemical protection as well as a decent flak vest iirc.

I hacked in some high end stuff to test out the degradation a few min ago, all of the armour seems to wear out at the same rate. So they last the same amount of time, but better armour will protect you more as it wears out. So the exo-skeleton will go from 60% to 50% protection at ~70% durability, while the merc stuff drops down to like 15%.

I think this is going to make those +bullet +impact -rad artifacts MUCH more valuable to players.

edit: deprivation =/= degradation. Stupid Firefox.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-27 03:44am

I see - I'm not sure a multipurpose armour is worth 120% extra, though.

Have you tested if radiation damage causes degradation? If it does, than even with the highend stuff it might be worth carrying a disposable rad suit to save your armour.

Good point about the artefacts: I never used the bullet protection ones, but they won't wear out. Hopefully they'll put in NPC repairers too - I think toolkits would be too convienient, but guns being essentially disposable is a bit stupid.

Resinence · Post by **Resinence** » 2007-03-27 03:48am

Have you tested if radiation damage causes degradation? If it does, than even with the highend stuff it might be worth carrying a disposable rad suit to save your armour.

Yep, all damage wears out you're armour.
Infact, I had my SEVA go from 90% to 89% protection from rads pre-patch.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-03-27 03:54am

Heh. I'd stood in a white rad zone with a radsuit and anomalies and taken no damage over a few minutes. You must have been in there for AGES.

Are the degradation settings in external files? Things like armour and weapon degradation might get a bit excessive - like in System Shock 2, where a few mags can break a gun - and it'd be nice to be able to easily tweak it. Then again, I haven't noticed if weapon degradation works or not. It didn't seem to before.