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

[killercow]

I thought as a new member I'd forward on a game I personally think will be a superb release. Its only downside is ITS NOT MULTIPLAYER! Though, tbh, I think it won't take too much innovation to make it a multiplayer game so they may add it in later.

Anyhoo take a look here: http://www.stalker-game.com/index_eng.html

Enjoy!

P.S. Take a look at the vids to see it in action, but then again if you're stuck behind the shite limited internet supplied by halls you may not be able to, so you may be stuck with screenys. :(

[YegaDoyai]

STALKER not multiplayer? Since when?

[DAve]

I've been waiting on this one coming out since it was announced. I even bought the book it was supposed to be loosly based on (wierd book it was as well). I hoped it owuld be out before now, but thee have been problems with AI apparently. Grumble. As long as it;'s a good game when it (eventually) comes out, I'll be more than happy.

[YegaDoyai]

Think operation flashpoint more than DNF when you think of the delays in the game. OF was a huge game from an unknown company and when codemasters bought the rights they spent over a year tweaking it so it was good on release. IMHO OF is excellent and codemasters did themselves proud. I don't know who bought STALKER but they are going through the same process right now. I doubt it will be shelved but it may be more 'arcady' by the time it comes out.

[Strings]

Are you sure its not multiplayer? Ive been following this release like I have Oblivion.. I could have sworn there was multiplayer. ::Cries::

[YegaDoyai]

i know, me and pixie were lokking forward to coop stalking.

[Exuus]

Except this time, it's online

[killercow]

Are you sure its not multiplayer? Ive been following this release like I have Oblivion.. I could have sworn there was multiplayer. ::Cries::

According to one of their vids, they said the game would not be multiplayer. It really came as a blow to me, because I was well looking forward to some good online stalking. And it really does look multiplayer, but apparently its just AI for now. :'(

[YegaDoyai]

*sobs*

[Bluepixie]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! :evil:

[DAve]

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! (http://www.khaaan.com/)

[DAve]

STALKER not multiplayer? Since when?
I've been having a dig on the community forums there, and it seems like the multiplayer element has been axed from a long time ago (~18 months ago maybe).

As you say, it will probably come down to a hard-core mod community to code a multiplayer mod onto the game.

[DAve]

Stalker update (http://www.gsc-game.com/index.php?t=community&s=forums&s_game_type=xr&thm_page=1&thm_id=3522&sec_id=1&offset=-120).

Summary: the game is now more scripted, some vehicles have been taken out. Also, eating is still in and sleeping has been axed.

I think the game is out next year sometime, I'm really looking forward to this.

Also, the STALKER wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:_Shadow_of_Chernobyl) page seems to think there is multiplayer back in?

[Strings]

STALKER-Forever

[Bluepixie]

Man, that sounds very promising. I also wonder what the deal will be with Vista, maybe an exclusive title?

Lets hope that it's not another Daikatana.

It won't be, but you know......

[YegaDoyai]

has a release date apparently, Q1 '07. Look forward to it being a Vista only title. <Sigh>

[Bluepixie]

Interesting comparision gallery. (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=71492)

[DAve]

release date is March 2007 (http://www.gsc-game.com/main.php?t=community&s=forums&s_game_type=xr&thm_page=1&thm_id=3649&sec_id=1). The head developer said he would give his car if it's delayed any longer than that. Presumably to Duke Nukem.

Amazon has it on the 20th of March. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/S-T-A-L-K-E-R-Shadow-of-Chernobyl-PC/dp/B0000DG2T3/)

Also, the forums have nothing to suggest it's a vista only title. They would be shooting themselves in the foot most severely to do that so early on in Vista's release schedule.

[YegaDoyai]

no, i was joking about vista only

[Octavion]

Sweet, the release date is my birthday. I know what will be on my wish list.

[YegaDoyai]

only on your wish list, frankly it should be on your 'If you don't want to be disowned, buy me this game' list.

[Bluepixie]

I swear I didn't pee my pants! You've got nothing on me!

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/028/540331_20071029_screen005.jpg

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/028/540331_20071029_screen004.jpg

[DAve]

I literally went "squee" with joy.
You really can't get enough Cthuloid entities in a game these days.

Release date of March, if I remember right.

[DAve]

They're giving out multiplayer beta keys. You have to win some sort of competition (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=72619), but it's worth a shot. Right?

[Fyndir]

It's a trap!

Be careful with which country you choose. =O

[DAve]

It's a trap!

Be careful with which country you choose. =O
In Communist Russia, competition enters you

[Fyndir]

In Communist Russia, competition enters you


That sounds potentially quite painful. =O

[Sideshow]

I thought that was in Soviet Russia? </pedantry>

[DAve]

I thought that was in Soviet Russia? </pedantry>
Erm, it might be.
There is a slight difference between Soviet & Comunist Russia, but only to the pedants ;)

Feel free to substitute one for the other, it still makes the joke as funny.

[Sideshow]

It's about the turn of the phrase. Soviet is a cooler sounding word. :) (http://www.glarkware.com/securestore/c181845p16544331.2.html)

[Fyndir]

Welcome to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl multiplayer beta!

=D

[Strings]

That's been on Usenet for about a week now. Gonna download it if you've got it to try with me, what's the format of MP? Can you make your own server or whatski?

[Fyndir]

That's been on Usenet for about a week now. Gonna download it if you've got it, what's the format of MP? Can you make your own server or whatski?

Really don't know, I'm still downloading currently.

Just seemed worth bumping the thread with it.

[Strings]

Multiplayer (at least in that beta version) was horrendous.

It's an unholy mix of iron sight aiming and CS style weapon buying.

All weapons feel like pea shooters, on those particular maps... find a high spot, buy a sniper rifle and you can't really lose.

Garbage.

Will look forward to the singleplayer version.

[Fyndir]

I was finding that with a bit of sneaking I could pistol most other players, even the snipers in high places.

It wasn't GREAT, but it wasn't terrible either.

[Strings]

I'm not saying it's fundamentally flawed. But there's nothing new or exciting or interesting or innovative or ANYTHING that would make me want to play it again.

There are just other deathmatch games or games with deathmatch which do the job A+ style.

[DAve]

=D
:-0

/me is very jealous.

[Fyndir]

:-0

/me is very jealous.

Well you could have a look at the LAN....OH WAIT I WON'T BE THERE. >=D

*insert evil laughter*

[Bluepixie]

I'd prefer not to look. There was a beta of the multiplayer kicking about awhile ago now, and it sounds exactly the same as this. Presumably with less bugs. :P

Single player is were it's going to be at. :D

[Uuurrahh]

Achtung:
http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?comments=45955&13944348

Gone gold.

[DAve]

I am literally excited. Been waiting for Stalker since I read the book in 2003. It might be a reason to upgrade to the next gen cards too, as I only have a 6800Le (well, ish) on board. It's AGP too.

Is it worth waiting until the next gen AGP slots come out, indeed, are there going to be any faster AGP cards than the X1950 Pro (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=521950)?

[Strings]

Definitely looking forward to Singleplayer (on someone elses uber graphical PC). But I stand by my opinion that MP is gonna be shit.

[YegaDoyai]

Yes there is a version of the 8800 coming out for agp, the 8600, it will be fully DX10 compliant.

[DAve]

Yes there is a version of the 8800 coming out for agp, the 8600
Sweet, cheers. I'll look out for that when it lands. Hopefully I'll have a job by then too ;)

[Fil2eFly]

well il be geting staker when it comes out if its anything like the blubrs and shit have been saying it should be good , im not suprised that the mp is shit, although, i was sort of expecting someting half decent, dont think il bother d/ling it im jst gona wait for the full game comes out

[Uuurrahh]

I've not actually been fapping over or following stalker so it'll be interesting to see what it actually plays like.

[Fil2eFly]

sounds fun, adventure fps, freedom to run around a wasteland n hump all the trees you wish :)

[Bluepixie]

Can't wait to be running around dark corridors, finding these little guys. :D Bring it!

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/059/540331_20070301_screen006.jpg

[Uuurrahh]

Stalker = obtainable for j00 [on my machine now]. Expect mini review soon ;)

[Bluepixie]

I have my copy enroute. Gamespot (http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/stalker/review.html?sid=6167650&tag=topslot;title;1)have a review for those that are interested.

In spite of its small quirks and bugs, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is definitely a game that deserves to be played. For first-person shooter fans looking for the next big thing in the genre, it's difficult not to be impressed by the game's unique and evolving world. Meanwhile, fans of role-playing games will appreciate the open-ended nature of the gameplay and being able to explore different paths through the zone. This is a bleak game, but in a good way, as it captures its postapocalyptic setting perfectly. It's also an excellent combination of combat, horror, and exploration.

This first-person survival game is at times amazing and engrossing and on par with such classics as Deus Ex and System Shock. - Jason Ocampo, GameSpot


I'm just a little excited. Just a little bit.

[Viper001]

my copy arrived from play today.. so far, really enjoying it

[Fil2eFly]

well my copy is makeing its way onto my harddrive right now ;) cant wait to play it!

[Uuurrahh]

'Flawed but enjoyable'. I think. There are a few bugs that can grate, but they don't detract from the game too much. I'm having a ball myself :)

[LastChanceHotel]

Installing right now.

Greasel_Burger (my brother) described it as "Not as buggy as I thought it'd be". Let's see how it goes!

[Fil2eFly]

well iv jst spend a few hours playing it , and first thoughts: well i recon its good fun its gota bit of free roam there what is nice the only thing i dont like atm is the acuracy of the weapons or lack of it, ok most of the time but imposible to snipe,, well with the weapons i have at the moment

[Uuurrahh]

The accuracy is horrible. 50m> can't hit shit.

I was REALLY pissed off when I tried to flank some guys I didn't want to go through I ran into some rads and and invisible fucking wall.

[Greasel_burger]

Accuracy becomes far less of an issue once you get to the proper assault rifles, the 5.56mm ones are REALLY accurate!
Before that, the AK-74 is ok, but burst it for a bit, the Mp5 is nice too. Pistols cant hit anything, same goes for the shotgun (you will get instant killed a few times by the shotgun)
So far ive managed to find myself an L85A1, like the Bf2 version...almost exactly! AKA, single shot only :P
There is some sort of AR-15 rifle which is accurate too.

The game really shines when you get into the urban areas, lots of cover!

Leaning is a must tho and you have to save often, although i havent come across any random deaths (other than radiation but thats my own fault)

Some quests are broken however, (DO NOT ACCEPT THE FIND A FAMILY RIFLE ONE!!!)

the game is a RAM whore, but it runs maxed out perfectly well on my PC (mid range but lots of RAM) Little flickyness after a good 5 hours of it tho.

Alt tabs fine too.

When it gets dark... it is damnned scary! Like really really really bloody scary! (especialy when you get halfway to the reactor)

[LastChanceHotel]

Fucking Stalker! God damn it, I don't want to hate you...

9 crashes in one hour. The longest period of continuous gameplay I've had is 19 minutes. Fuck you, GSC!

1GB of RAM is definitely not enough. Every 10 bloody feet it'll freeze and do a bunch of fucking with my disk, only to return with another 100fps burst, before it goes into slideshow mode. LAME!

Right now I'm very pissed off with stalker, it's hurting me inside and I hate it so very much, but I like it. :(

[YegaDoyai]

Are you running it in native XP?

Are you killing EVERYTHING before playing?

Have you turned down settings like draw distance or AI distance (the type of AI that it uses works on a macro/micro scale) you should be able to tweak the micro distance, if you can't then you may need to wait for a patch so that you can.

Did you buy it? If not, STFU.

[Fil2eFly]

hum weerd it runs fine on my pc, and my comp is not gr8

amd64 3200+
1GB ram
7600 GS 512mb Gfxcard

dosent run well on uber settings but fine on medium

and my game is a h4xd 1 :roll:

[Uuurrahh]

Runs fine and yes, accuracy does improve. But I'd expect better for the stuff like the AK.

Played to the end with, I think, the Ts 301? With SUSAT & M203. Accurate as a motherfuck. The Dragunov is amazing too. The 'Bulldog' is immense too.

Playing maxed out, veeery minimal crashes. Some occasionall hiccuping.

[Greasel_burger]

scored myself a G36 in a random firefight, its damnned great (lacks grenade launcher tho)

Just trying to get through the total war around the reactor now... mmm...hinds...

so far ive been sucked into the same vortex 3 TIMES! while dodging lasersnipers

[Octavion]

Some quests are broken however, (DO NOT ACCEPT THE FIND A FAMILY RIFLE ONE!!!)

Huh, why not? I did it, it was easy.

I get a bit of stutter when I'm sprinting through new areas but apart from that no problems.

The FN FNC equivalent is the fucking daddy when you strap an ACOG to it. Headshots at up to 200m.

[Fil2eFly]

:O sounds good, im getting a little pissed off atm with my shity weapons that coundent hit a barn door from 5m away :P

[Uuurrahh]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/Schmeisser/buinov.jpg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rAHrHd2lcw)
Alexander Buinov says:

The STALKER patch is out.

http://www.stalker-game.com/en/

Comments: http://forum.v5g.de/showthread.php?t=8540

[Fil2eFly]

bye bye mr game save!!1 *waves*

[GingerPrinz]

We do tech support for this, sounds buggy as hell. Gimmie an update on how the patch works out for you guys.

[Bluepixie]

I stalked a party of bandits at night, and picked them off one by one with my knife.

Not seen any bugs yet. :D

[Greasel_burger]

took on a squad of SPETNAZ... and lost...

Hid behind some concrete pipes and they flanked me from both sides... STALKER is the only game where ive seen the AI flank me so many times!

[Fil2eFly]

yeah there bastards for that, jst stated again, and i was shooting at the bandits from a gantry thing in a hanger, i ducked to reload, and in that time a guy snuck in, i continued shooting, the cunt came up beind me and unloaded his gun im my back, n he was like; "lol z0mgz n00b li3k, i pwnt u hard!111one" ;)

[DAve]

I've ordered my copy, should be here before the week is out.

das vidanya, Komrade.

[Hex]

Sooooo....I've just skimmed through this whole thread, and I've got a few questions...

1. Is the multiplayer any good?
2. How big is the game? Kinda sick of buying games for £30 and playing through them in a day

Does look like a neat idea, and they've managed to avoid DNF style vapourware :D

[Bluepixie]

1. Is the multiplayer any good?

Don't know yet, will find out at the LAN. :p

2. How big is the game? Kinda sick of buying games for £30 and playing through them in a day

It's huge.

[Hex]

hmmm.....i'll have to get a shot at this on someone's PC at the LAN, decide if its worth the outlay

[YegaDoyai]

Hex, it is worth the outlay, I've played it NONSTOP since yesterday morning and have barely started the game. If you want to role play it and properly stalk you victims, avoiding fights where you can and nicking loot you can do that, or if you want to to go gun crazy and just kill every last muther fucker then you can do that too, or any happy middle ground. Just started getting rifles now so I'm now looking for some decent bullet pfroof armour so I don't get killed quite so easily.

I expact this to be a 50 hours + kinda game if you do the majority of quests, which you will cos they are fun. Alternatively you can fanny about accumulating cash by doing sub quests which could push the game time up massively.

[Fyndir]

Hex, it is worth the outlay, I've played it NONSTOP since yesterday morning and have ignored poor Fyndir who even hoovered his flat in expectation of my visit.

I fixed your sentence. =P

[YegaDoyai]

Eeek, sorry man.

[Fyndir]

Eeek, sorry man.

Don't worry, I still love you.

[Bluepixie]

I found Freeman!

http://www.pausegaming.com/galleryimages/stalker/freeman01.jpg

http://www.pausegaming.com/galleryimages/stalker/freeman02.jpg

[Greasel_burger]

where was he?

Also there is a "Gordon" somewhere with a PDA talking about black mesa

[Uuurrahh]

Same guy, greasel. He's in the city off The Bar in one of the underground tunnels.

[Bluepixie]

If you do the "Family Rifle" quest, you'll find him. :)

[Uuurrahh]

Stalker h4x!! Apparently using files from Doom 3 and HL2


http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/46449

This week, threads have started showing up on various forums containing what appears to be evidence that GSC Game World's recently released shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl makes use of a number of graphical assets taken directly from commercially released games such as Valve's Half-Life 2 and id Software's Doom 3. Many forum posters are speculating that the assets were used without authorization.

One of the first threads to be made regarding the matter was posted to the MapCore forums; the thread creator, user michi.be, posted screen captures allegedly comparing the light image folders from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to those of Doom 3 (all screen captures locally mirrored). Tellingly, though some of the images had been modified in various ways, such as having hue or saturation adjustments, the original filenames from the Doom 3 folders remained the same--for example, a file with the Doom-esque name "lights_impflash.dds," referring to one of the game's enemies, was visually modified in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. folder but retained the filename.

Later in the same thread, user Johnny posted an image allegedly comparing a water texture from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to a water texture from Half-Life 2. As in the Doom 3 case, the images were nearly identical and the filename was unchanged with the exception of its extension.

http://www.shacknews.com/screens.x/stalker_assets/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.+Asset+Incident/1/thumbs/070408_stalkerassets_water_hl2_01.jpg

Doom 3 Textures and names:
http://www.shacknews.com/screens.x/stalker_assets/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.+Asset+Incident/1/thumbs/070408_stalkerassets_lights_doom_01.jpg

STALKER textures and names:
http://www.shacknews.com/screens.x/stalker_assets/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.+Asset+Incident/1/thumbs/070408_stalkerassets_lights_stalker_01.jpg

[CaNNoN_FoDDa]

Better get a copy now then, before it gets taken out of circulation.

[Bluepixie]

they can't do that!

Stalker > Doom 3 + HL2

Guess that won't stand in court though......

[Sideshow]

Hmm, my math is a little rusty but:

Stalker > Doom 3 + HL2

Proof:

Lemma 1:

Doom 3 = 0

Stalker > 0 + HL2

Stalker > HL2

is lemma 1 true?

Lemma 2:

Stalker = (Stalker Beginning + Stalker Middle + Stalker End)

Stalker = Game

HL2 = (HL2 Beginning + HL2 Middle)
HL2 = Game * 2/3

Stalker > HL2

Therefor:

Stalker > Doom 3 + HL2

[LastChanceHotel]

Hmm, my math is a little rusty but: [snip]


Prove your second predicate using the rules of inference ;)

[Sideshow]

X**n + Y**n = Z**n where n>2 ::: NO SOLUTIONS!

[YcMing]

i think is true if and only if your assumptions doom3 = 0.

Since is no way u can actually prove that :P

[Octavion]

Surly Doom 3 = -1.

[Hex]

Lol nice maths there fellas ^^

Bit shocking if these allegations are true - I mean christ they were developing the game for like 5 years and they still needed to steal shit from elsewhere to get it finished?

[Hex]

Well fella's, I noticed these allegations about stolen textures weren't up on Slashdot, so I posted the story here (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/10/1623250) (My slashdot id is segafreak). Most people seem pretty sceptical, some interesting comments though.

[DAve]

good job, chaps. That's some good coverage of the story there.

I've found a thread on the official stalker forum (http://www.gsc-game.com/index.php?t=community&s=forums&s_game_type=xr&thm_page=1&thm_id=6224&page=all&sort=ASC&sec_id=1) that deals with this. The Stalker crew are saying nothing so far (as expected), we'll just have to wait and see, I think.

As far as I remember, Russian copyright law works differently to other laws in the western world, I think it's more 'relaxed' for russian companies and heavily in favour of 'borrowing' from others if imports are not specifically translated into Russian.

I'll tag this "wait and see", but the truth should be out in a few weeks.

[Uuurrahh]

@DAve - What Russian copyright laws...?

:D

[Hex]

@DAve - What Russian copyright laws...?

:D

True dat, I mean look at the whole allofmp3.com scandal (http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/01/2215257).

[Uuurrahh]

I use gomusic.ru myself :P

[Fil2eFly]

orly, well i jst nick my music xD, jst like a nicked stalker, and now i feel better that i did as they nicked other peoples work to finish there game :)

[Sid]

Do you call it Stalker or S.T.A.L.K.E.R, just out of interest?

[YegaDoyai]

Yea, when I'm talking I pronounce the full stops.

[DAve]

Do you call it Stalker or S.T.A.L.K.E.R, just out of interest?
I really can't be arsed with typing the full stops and caps. Stalker it is.

[LastChanceHotel]

Who the hell decided on the full stop overload anyway? The same person who couldn't figure out where the space key was on Nokia phones when typing a text, who used full stops instead?

edit: periods, not full stops

[Hex]

Well I can think of two possible reasons for the "full stop overload" off hand:

1) The name "Stalker" is under some sort of copyright/trademark held by a different company

2) It gives them an excuse to capitalize the name, drawing attention to it in text.

I'd suspect its a marketing gimmick along the lines of reason 2 tbh.

[neogramps]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an acronym - stands for Scoundrels Thiefs Arsebandits Loners Killers Em Rimming

Well I made up a few of them (and couldn't find the interview when they revealed the "true meaning"), but most of them are right. Pretty lame.

edit - found it Scavengers, Trespassers, Adventurers, Loners, Killers, Explorers, and Robbers. - source - http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/772/772286p1.html

[Hex]

edit - found it Scavengers, Trespassers, Adventurers, Loners, Killers, Explorers, and Robbers. - source - http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/772/772286p1.html

What a bunch of crap....I mean they're kinda taking the "Cops and Robbers" style title a bit far there

[Bluepixie]

I wonder, is it a link to the book? I'm putting my money on not, but you know.

[Fil2eFly]

dont you people say it :

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

:D

[Uuurrahh]

http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38945

:D

[Hex]

Lol so as suspected this was all bs. Kinda harsh that the game has already received so much bad PR!

[neogramps]

good to see that cleared up; such a huge controversy born out of ignorance - to think the guy who found it originally went to sad lengths to trawl textures of all 3 games and find similarities - what a loser. definitelty had to have had an agenda

[LastChanceHotel]

http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38945

:D

Sheer brilliance. I bet that got trolls spamming forums faster than a noob saying slanderous things gets a whipping on forums.somethingawful.com !

[Fyndir]

I have further proof that the makers of STALKER stole graphics to finish the game faster. >=(

They stole the .ico file from Fallout, then they turned it so it was flat and made it slightly darker.

Those dirty thieving bastards! >=(

[Uuurrahh]

rofl ^ :D

[saladin]

I have further proof that the makers of STALKER stole graphics to finish the game faster. >=(

They stole the .ico file from Fallout, then they turned it so it was flat and made it slightly darker.

Those dirty thieving bastards! >=(

That's brilliant :D

[Bluepixie]

ah lovely man. :D LOL!

[neogramps]

fyndir you n00b - both icons are from an icon pack - "l33t rad symbols". duh!

[DAve]

More stealing- the MS window has a "close" button that's clearly a rip-off of the red cross.
http://www.redcross.org.uk/images/top/BRC_Logo.gif

[Fyndir]

In further news, this game has made me giggle with delight, have mild heart attacks with fear, widdle my seat in panic and cry like a little girl in terror.

I.

Hate.

That.

Fucking.

Lab.


I've just been informed that most of the suits have night vision.

Why couldn't I have worked this out BEFORE going into the scary lab? =(

[Captain_Caveman]

Yes a lot of the suits have NV but for lots of them it is a horrible green unviewable thing with a horrible high pitched whine.

[Fyndir]

Yes a lot of the suits have NV but for lots of them it is a horrible green unviewable thing with a horrible high pitched whine.

Which would probably have been better than crying in a dark corner because the torch is tiny and useless. =P

[saladin]

I haven't managed to get that far yet to be honest. I got totally pissed off by the respawning of full-health, unlimited ammo sharpshooter bandits every time I turned around. Pain in the ass.

[Fyndir]

I haven't managed to get that far yet to be honest. I got totally pissed off by the respawning of full-health, unlimited ammo sharpshooter bandits every time I turned around. Pain in the ass.

eh? 0_o

I can't say I've had anything like that happening, occasionally some new bandits or whatever turn up but there's usually less of them around and in worse positions to defend from if you're coming through a second time (kind of like they're a scout squad sent to check up on the guys you raped before).

Usually as long as I'm being sneaky I can either pop some heads off or just bypass them entirely, but bypassing them is rarer in some areas because of big choke points. =P


One problem I'm having currently is deciding which gun to keep, I have both the SGI 5k and the TRs 301, the 5k has better damage but slightly lower accuracy, slightly lower rate of fire and much lower handling scores. The 301 has less damage but more accuracy, higher rate of fire and a much higher handling score...the difficulty being I've tried both out at medium-long range (silly bandits, you can't kill me) and they felt much the same, so I can't work out what difference the very changed handling score is making. =(

Any advice?

[Octavion]

accuracy >>> damage

One head shot wins.

[Fyndir]

accuracy >>> damage

One head shot wins.

yeah but the difference in accuracy is pretty tiny.

I'm determined to work out what difference the handling score makes. =/

In other news, I found out that with AA maxed and almost all the other things maxed out (a few things like lighting distance and view distance are only about half) I can run the game at a fairly solid 20+ FPS, until I hit a multi-person fire-fight, at which point it drops quite harshly.

Still, it looks pretty nice for screenshots.

[neogramps]

*poss spoilers* i found the respawning guys annoying on my first run through the game; but this time round I don;t mind - especially if you have the Stalker suit you can find at the start.

[Captain_Caveman]

handling is how fast you can change aim, so spinning round to shoot someone behind you is slow as hell with a shit handling gun but fast with a pistol. Try spinning with a pistol and a dragonov and you will quickly see the difference.

[Uuurrahh]

The 301 with m203 and SUSAT is lovely. Keep it.

[saladin]

I can't say I've had anything like that happening, occasionally some new bandits or whatever turn up but there's usually less of them around and in worse positions to defend from if you're coming through a second time (kind of like they're a scout squad sent to check up on the guys you raped before).

Usually as long as I'm being sneaky I can either pop some heads off or just bypass them entirely, but bypassing them is rarer in some areas because of big choke points. =P

Well, I was attempting to follow the storyline mission where you have to get to some guy called Mole. I walked out the back of a building where I'd just had a chat with Wolf's brother or something, and had to fight my way out of a terrible chokepoint at an ajar metal door into an area with a derelict train and fifteen bandits. After killing the lot of them, using up all my med kits in the process, I went around searching bodies for ammo and new kits. Having walked from one side of the area to the other, I turned around and five more enemies had spawned right behind me, between me and the objective.

It was so irritating, I turned it off in digust and played Dawn of War instead.

[YegaDoyai]

I had similar issue, in that they kept spawning, but seriously, just learn to shoot better, none of them are good shots and even on master difficulty you should only be using 1 medkit per 5 bandits (less after garbage, but considerably more for the military/mercs)

[saladin]

I had similar issue, in that they kept spawning, but seriously, just learn to shoot better, none of them are good shots and even on master difficulty you should only be using 1 medkit per 5 bandits (less after garbage, but considerably more for the military/mercs)

In my defence, the pistol is very inaccurate, and at the time I had very little ammunition for my automatic. I had to dive between the limited cover with my sawn-off shotgun and pick them off one by one.

Is it worth going back to the first trader to upgrade weapons? I've just been relying on what I've found on corpses.

[Fyndir]

Is it worth going back to the first trader to upgrade weapons? I've just been relying on what I've found on corpses.

I just ambushed three military guys who were patrolling, got their rifles. =P

It was awesome.

[YegaDoyai]

As fyndir says, if you see some weapons you like, have a 'chat' with the guys using them. You might need to talk hard. :)

Pistol should be used at the same range as shotgun, rush them when they are reloading and don't stop firing while not in cover.

Btw, where you are you should have at least the Viper 5 and about 300 rounds for it.

[Fyndir]

As fyndir says, if you see some weapons you like, have a 'chat' with the guys using them. You might need to talk hard. :)

Although I suggest leaving other Stalkers alone, as you can sometimes piss off just about every Stalker in the game if you're not careful. =P

The three man military patrols are great targets if you have some grenades and a shotgun, nice and easy. =D

I just found a GP37 in the middle of nowhere.

My worry about which gun to keep is now null and void, it has the same accuracy as the 301, better handling, better rate of fire and more damage, it also seems to have a built-in scope (no remove option).

I think I'm in love, now to go find someone who's face I don't like so that I can forcibly remove it from their body.

[neogramps]

yeah i kept a gp37 for ages - till it broke down.

saladin - that bit was hard, until i realised I was being an idiot - you can approach that group of bandits from any direction - coming out the gate is really bad cos once you're out there's no cover at all - try going back out the compund (past the guys you saved), and go at the bandits on a wide pass of the building - much easier.

oh and when the bandits respawn on your way back - just sprint away!

sprinting is now (in 1.01) a better option than fighting bandits - they have no decent items, and pretty much will just replace whatever ammo/bandages you use, and they damage your precious armour!

[Bluepixie]

Anybody tried out the Realism Mod (http://www.gameborder.com/game/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.%20Shadow%20of%20Chernobyl%20Realism %20Mod/) yet?

[Hex]

Anybody tried out the Realism Mod (http://www.gameborder.com/game/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.%20Shadow%20of%20Chernobyl%20Realism %20Mod/) yet?

This seems like a slightly confusing concept to me, I don't think the game is really supposed to be realistic....plus I wanna see more mods that do something a bit original with a game rather than tweaking the physics settings

[Fyndir]

Most Original Urinal Cake Award goes to....STALKER!

Also this suit has pretty BLUE nightvision, it's not as strong as the green ones but it's quite useful for mid-long range head-shotting. =D

[YegaDoyai]

blue night vision > green night vision

[YegaDoyai]

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/39309975/m/860003693831?r=946005164831#946005164831

Should be included in the next patch but just in case it is not, shader improvements across the board and performance increase in some scenarios.

[DAve]

next patch - worldwide version (the other versions are direct download and US only)

http://www.stalker-zone.com/index.php?name=Downloads&file=details&id=80

Saved games.
Saved games from 1.0001 version will work with 1.0003 version.

Connectivity.
Connecting to the server will be possible only if the host's version of the game is the same as yours.

The patch addresses the following changes:

* Added some textures of certain objects (for technical purposes).
* Added console command 'sv_listmaps' to view the list of maps queue.
* Added the support for additional mouse buttons (now they can be bound to certain actions).
* Fixed bugs with player's character health bar in Multi-player.
* Fixed the crash upon making the screenshot to a saved game.
* Fixed the bug with standing dead bodies upon connecting to the game.
* Fixed inventory items placing system (Free for all and Team play modes).
* Fixed the enumeration of the game's version.
* Fixed the crash with using Numpad in some localizations.
* Fixed the crash on the level "Military warehouse".
* Fixed the crash while idling on the pause menu
* Fixed the crash in dialog with Professor Sakharov on the Yantar level.
* Fixed the storyline task "Meet with the Guide", now you can get it by searching Ghost's corpse.
* Fixed the bug with NPCs spawning in front of the player.
* Fixed the A-life reaction time. Now A-life spawns new NPCs more seldom. Also NPC movement speed is decreased when NPC are on different level then the player.
* Binary files are now compiled with large address aware flag that supports up to 3GB address space (relevant for Windows VistaT users).
* Added the possibility to record/play the camera fly-around ('demo_record'/'demo_play' commands). Now Stalker is ready for benchmarks.
* Fixed aspect ratio 16/9. Now the owners of the widescreen displays will have the benefit from greater viewing radius.
* Fixed various crashes with dedicated server.
* The network packets have been merged. This will make the ping reduce twice or more.
* The correctness of map name is now verified when changing the map using the console.
* Fixed the dragging of dead bodies by monsters.
* Now dumps will be saved upon the game crashes.
* Fixed the in-game patching system for all localizations.
* Fixed the problem with the exceedingly long players' names.
* Fixed textual problems for 16/9 video format.
* Fixed game freezing upon trying to connect to a different version.
* Fixed binocular Spectator crash.
* Fixed non-existent grenade launcher firing.
* Fixed players turning invisible when reduced to a minimal amount of health.
* Fixed pre-selected skin not allowing for player spawn.

[Bluepixie]

yay!

[DAve]

make sure you backup your saved games files before patching:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\STALKER-SHOC

There's also rumours of the chap who wrote the Float32 patch (the one that upped the frame rate of stalker by 25%) releasing another version this weekend.

[Bluepixie]

make sure you backup your saved games files before patching:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\STALKER-SHOC

There's also rumours of the chap who wrote the Float32 patch (the one that upped the frame rate of stalker by 25%) releasing another version this weekend.

ohnos! I just patched it! :( Hope they're still intact.

I'll be able to play it with a clear conscious this weekend! W00t! :D

[YegaDoyai]

Nice one Mr Pixie.

[Bluepixie]

New S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Products To Be Announced At E3 (http://www.2404.org/news/2173/New-S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-Products-To-Be-Announced-At-E3)

Oooooooooooooooooooo! :)

[DAve]

At E3
I thought E3 was dead. Well, limited anyway.

a quick look at the wikipedia page for E3 says it's invite only, with the public catered for in the "Entertainment for all" expo-like event.

[Hex]

I thought E3 was dead. Well, limited anyway.

a quick look at the wikipedia page for E3 says it's invite only, with the public catered for in the "Entertainment for all" expo-like event.

E3 has never catered for the public, it's always been a press/industry only event. The difference between now and previous years is that many of the big companies, console manufacturers in particular, have said that E3 is a waste of their cash, and have decided to hold their own PR events instead. Hence E3 will be a smaller event, but it's never been open to the public

[DAve]

There's also rumours of the chap who wrote the Float32 patch (the one that upped the frame rate of stalker by 25%) releasing another version this weekend.
He's late, but the patch for stalker updated frame rates is out now. - check the download section (http://www.thefloatingpoint.org/main/download.php?view.11) of this website (http://www.thefloatingpoint.org/main/news.php).

Oh, the current patch is NVidia only, the ATI patch will be a little longer. Some problem with shadows.

[Octavion]

Good news folks. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=165811)

[saladin]

Good news folks. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=165811)

Brilliant. That's exactly what the game needed.:)

[Fyndir]

Brilliant. That's exactly what the game needed.:)

I thought it needed a fetishist group who want to have lots of..err.."fun" with the mutants.

[CaNNoN_FoDDa]

Didn't realise this was based on a movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079944/). Anyone seen it?

[DAve]

Didn't realise this was based on a movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079944/). Anyone seen it?
no, I've read the book though. I've got the video sitting on my shelf for a time I have a few spare hours. It's in Russian with subtitles.

[CaNNoN_FoDDa]

I thought that, as it appears to be a Russian 70s arthouse sci-fi. Could be amusing. On the other hand...

It seems to be on a deal at virgin just now (so presumably everywhere else aswell), perhaps because of the game.

[neogramps]

more stalker goodliness in the works - http://www.oblivion-lost.de/index.php?zone=design2&lang=en

"there's also a release date: 1st quarter of 2008." - i have doubts about that, but i could be pleasantly surprised

http://stalker-game.com/clearsky/index_en.html

[Bluepixie]

I thought that, as it appears to be a Russian 70s arthouse sci-fi. Could be amusing. On the other hand...

It seems to be on a deal at virgin just now (so presumably everywhere else aswell), perhaps because of the game.

Me and Yega sat down to watch it once, it's very good. Just make sure you're in the mood for something different and slowly paced! We didn't actually finish it because we were knackered so I shall reserve a review until I've seen it all.

The screenshots of the prequel look a bit like a bit in the film actually. I'm really looking forward to getting back into Stalker, only 6 months.......meh.....

[neogramps]

patch 1.004 has been released - http://www.oblivion-lost.de/index.php?zone=design2&lang=en&page=news&action=news_detail&newsid=2563

in russian only :(

months of waiting cos all but the chinese version is incomplete, then they go ahead and release only the russian version. bah - it'll be out soon - freeroam mode here I come

edit - 1.004 worldwide is now out - fixes a bunch of quest bugs, but no free-roam - this has been quietly moved to v1.1 which may be released as a mod (to avoid having to follow publisher's strict policy on official patches)

[YegaDoyai]

Available on Steam!

[Thanatos]

Stalker? for under £10 delivered? Yes Please! (http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/3324704/S-T-A-L-K-E-R-Shadow-of-Chernobyl/Product.html)

[neogramps]

that deserves a spot in the bargain thread

[Hex]

that deserves a spot in the bargain thread

Indeed it does. Go forth and post!

[YegaDoyai]

for that price everyone should have it by the LAN, anyone for STALKER DM?

[neogramps]

i've still not touched the stalker mp - it any good?

[YegaDoyai]

no idea, back on original release the consensus was NO! But subsequent patches might have fixed things?

[Bluepixie]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. v1.0005 Patch (http://www.gamershell.com/news/43353.html) Not sure what it does other than fix multiplayer issues.

[neogramps]

I uninstalled stalker for the time being - the "freeplay" mode seems to have been forgotten after they completely lied about releasing it months ago. GSC have stopped updating fansite oblivion-lost.de with weekly news as well. seems like they're focusing on clear sky, rather than making good on stalker.

[Greasel_burger]

stalker : mod the hell out of it.

Although stability suffers (One of the mods allowing random blowouts killed it) its alot more fun when all the "extra" things have been added.

Oh and you WILL become attached to your AK-74, its the only game which i did not drop it for some NATO fancyness for a long while. (get the fast firing one and dance) oh and its grenade launcher is usefull (the M203 is almost impossible to find and ammo is scarce)

oh and the VINTER sniper is... just total overkill... fully auto sniper rifle...

[Greasel_burger]

sorry for the double post but i downloaded STALKER again just to play it...

Best mod for it ever is the "flim Noir" mod, which makes everything more black and white (except blood) and ABC mod which introduces alot of new features enemys and best of all, ups the wildlife count to the extent that you are going to have to be smart to survivie.

For example, the factory you have to clear of bandits at the start, i approched the compound carefully, then i heard heavy breathing... turning i see the glowing eyes of 5 bloodsuckers and several zombies charging towards me. Had to run PAST the bandits (who by now where trying to kill the mutents) and hid in the attic until the shooting stopped. (silenced pistol was my savor here, headshotting a couple bandits from where i hid)
Five mins later, i came down, found the bandit corpses and no dead mutents... they ran off after murdering everything...
so for 3 shots of pistol ammo i got:
3 shotguns
4 pistols
lots of ammo and medkits

And the mutants even left the guy i was to rescue alive :-D

[YegaDoyai]

By dl you of course mean in steam or some other reputable paid for service.

[GingerPrinz]

so for 3 shots of pistol ammo i got:
3 shotguns
4 pistols
lots of ammo and medkits

And the mutants even left the guy i was to rescue alive :-D

Sounds like bad AI and balance tbh. Exploits are fun and all, but when they plain just don't make sense...

[YegaDoyai]

Have you played stalker? Random encounters like that MAKE the game, because they tend not to be random. An example, done without the mods:

Bandit camp has patrols, bandits ignore wild boars to the north, boars ignore them. I run over and stick the knife in a couple of boars till they are chasing me, I get close enough to the bandit camp and hide the boars are still on the rampage and kill everyone in the bandit camp, including a couple of allies (again fortunately not the key guy). Brilliant and funny.

[GigaFuzz]

I need to make an effort to get on with S.T.A.L.A.K.E.R., I've only made it a little way into the game (only just got to the Bar, after stealing those documents). I keep getting distracted by new games.

[Bluepixie]

GSC Game World now have a 360 licence to thrill. (http://uk.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=26066149&sid=6183338&tag=latestnews;title;4)

Hopefully a good thing.

[neogramps]

more to distact them from patching the main game :(

[Bluepixie]

In fact, Grygorovych goes out of his way to emphasize that "we will continue paying maximum attention to the PC platform."

Admittedly, that's only words but still. I agree, it's not like Stalker is perfect and I'm sure that when Clear Sky comes out it still won't be fully patched up. I have some faith in them sticking with the project for awhile though, they did work on it for like 6 years. By the way, how does it play these days with the latest patch? Thing is, I never found too many problems when I was playing it after the first patch. Is it just the MIA "Free-Roam play" that you're miffed about?

[neogramps]

yeah kinda; i still have a disappointed feeling with the game in general - the lack of actual free roaming in an oblivion-like sense pissed me off when the game came out, and it still kinda does, even though from a gameplay sense sectioning the game into zones made more sense.

[neogramps]

reinstalled STALKER for testing my 8800GT - stalker now looks amazing at max details - planning on modding the crap out of it like greasel(?) suggested. my second playthrough is already more fun with a higher weight limit - whilst I understood that a low weight limit forced difficult choices and strategy, i felt like by the end of the game I'd missed out on some cool guns, so being able to carry everything makes the game a lot more fun.

[Fyndir]

Best mod I ever did was simply making the sawn off shotgun a pistol class weapon, it's already small enough to fit in the box quite happily and it was epic fun switching from a rifle to a shotgun at close range. =D

[neogramps]

i lost some of my mods when I uninstalled - i'd made one of the special sig's into a pwn-stick - fired at 25000 feet p/s and did huge damage. so annoyed.

[neogramps]

OMG - i can play stalker on my PC at work! and it runs fine and looks alright.

it's got integrated intel Q965/Q963 graphics, C2D 6300 and a gig of RAM.

i'd only installed it so I could extract the db files and do some modding, i never thought it would actually let me play it!

http://grampsart.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ss.jpg

[Fil2eFly]

iv still not play much of staker , infact iv not tryed it on my new pc :0

[Bluepixie]

iv still not play much of staker , infact iv not tryed it on my new pc :0

Do it! Do it now!

[Sideshow]

What kind of fucktard binds F6 to quicksave and F7 to quickload???

[Greasel_burger]

crippled genuis?

seems like stalker was that...:frown:

[GigaFuzz]

What kind of fucktard binds F6 to quicksave and F7 to quickload???

Unlucky. How much progress did you lose? I hate it when that happens, almost as much as I hate it when a game saves a second before your instant death.

[Bluepixie]

Plenty of games do that combo, agreed, it's a pain in the ass.

[GigaFuzz]

Plenty of games do that combo, agreed, it's a pain in the ass.

F5 and F8/F9 are pretty common. Much less chance of accidentally hitting the wrong one.

[Sideshow]

Plenty? Care to name some?

[Bluepixie]

Plenty? Care to name some?

oh crap. I know I have, I'll just have to go look.........*legs it*

[Sideshow]

I remember one I think, but I can't recally what it was. Either a post doom 2 shooter, or some space flight shooter thingy (Terra Nova maybe?). But yeah, just the one. It's hard to actively take something someone has already established works, and then disregard it and use your own shitty system.

[Bluepixie]

The Oblivion Lost mod has final got to a stage were it sounds really awesome and worth trying out. I'm going to try it ASAP. Has anybody tried the earlier versions?

This mod aims to bring Shadow of Chernobyl back to its original "Oblivion Lost" roots and adds in some of the gameplay features we STALKER fans have longed for, like FREEPLAY (explore the zone after the final NPP mission), improved A-Life, and so much more!!!

Get it:

Oblivion Lost v1.3 (http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Oblivion_Lost;86329)
Patch for 1.3 released today (http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Oblivion_Lost_Patch;86538#Download)

I want more time! Need to try this!

edit: Link to the official forum thread (http://board.oblivion-lost.de/showthread.php?t=12134) mainly for checking development history.

[Octavion]

Something I noticed the other day.

From the liner notes of The Dull Flame of Desire from Björk's Volta:
"...lyrics taken from a translation of a poem by Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-1873) as it appears in the film Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky..."

Lyrics:

I love your eyes, my dear
Their splendid sparkling fire

When suddenly you raise them so
To cast a swift embracing glance

Like lightning flashing in the sky
But there's a charm that is greater still

When my love's eyes are lowered
When all is fired by passion's kiss

And through the downcast lashes
I see the dull flame of desire

[Bluepixie]

Nice! Good find! Excellent album too. :)

[Bluepixie]

Stalker: mobile (http://www.qplaze.com/en/n66_Stalkermobile_en.html)

What?

[neogramps]

WTF

[GigaFuzz]

I didn't think mobiles could render anywhere near those levels of graphics. The whole thing seems very ambitious, but hey, if it works, it should be great.

[To0]

Static geometry, the badguys come at you from predetermined places, much like the light gun days of old. I got a '3D' shooter for my N73 and it is well done and the cutscenes are quite neat (done in engine but I imagine with heavy precomputation). The scene with the flashlight is done with precomputed static scenery and shadowmaps. The best '3D' game I've played is the Orcs and Elves game from iD. It uses wolf3D/original space hulk generation technology with a couple of tweaks and is turnbased because you get your ass kicked if you try and control a full spiny rotaty(TM) engine using the shitty joysticks that mobiles have. (orthogonal walls, 90degree turns, 1 block movement per turn.)

There are mobiles out there that have hardware acceleration and AMD and Nvidia are pushing just what is going to be available (I seem to remember that they are sampling a 2 shader pipe version of the X700/800 core miniturised like you would not belive). Sounds crap but considering the average phone has less than VGA resolution it should be fast enough to render pretty decent effects at a per pixel level.

[neogramps]

ok, so the mp sucks donkey balls. graphics look poo, animations are poo, weapons are poo.

[Bluepixie]

ok, so the mp sucks donkey balls. graphics look poo, animations are poo, weapons are poo.

That bad?!? Should we remove it from the game list?

Also,

Clear Sky is to be released on the 29th of August (http://www.2404.org/news/4160/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:-Clear-Sky-Dated). I'll believe that when I see it, but if it's complete unlike the original on release, I'll be happy. :)

[neogramps]

give it a go yourself for ten minutes and you'll see what i mean. oh and the money/buying system is CSS-like, but respawning is deathmatch style, so die a couple of times and you're left with no medkits/ammo/guns - which means you need to wait till someone dies and find a weapon, by which point the person who killed you has saved up for a gauss rifle. It just doesn't balance well - the best few players keep getting more and more of an advantage, and everyone else ends up fighting with crappy pistols

[To0]

E2160 + X3870 HD = 40FPS with everything on.

oblivio lost is immense. If you played and liked stalker, install and enjoy it even more. If you didn't enjoy it, try the mod.

It is like Alien3 and the Uber Alien3 versions. They are totaly different.

I'm off to scare myself shitless @ 1920*1200 :D

[Fyndir]

You're a liar.

That mod is scary and evil and wrong.

WARNING, SPOILERS (and ranting):

I ended up having to run and jump past literally HUNDREDS of enemies coming out of X18 because after activating a droplet to create a burner to kill the invincible dwarf I couldn't get to the documents without being set on fire.

The descriptions made it sound like the burner I made was only temporary and would disappear over time, so I used my sleeping bag to sleep for about 30 hours, during which time snorks and dwarfs and whatever else KEPT ON SPAWNING.

The burner never did disappear, I ended up managing to run and jump over/through a banister to get past it...but then had the horde of evil things clogging up the exit tunnels. I literally ended up jumping on their heads and sprinting away in that manner.

Also I hate the fucking psi emission scientist guy because he kept blowing himself up with shittily thrown grenades so I couldn't get the fully tuned psi protection. >=(

Also I hate everything about the game after a certain point because I'm getting so frustrated with this fucking "Protect/Follow the Stalkers to the reactor", they keep being retards and generally sucking at life.

I'll go back and try it more in a week or so, because at the moment I cannot face trying to fight my way past controllers and dwarfs and whatever else is running around Pripyat being annoying and cuntish.

[Bluepixie]

Christ! What version were you running??!?

[Fyndir]

The one I got at the LAN, on the second easiest difficulty. =P

[Bluepixie]

Oh, ok. :) Very strange, I've not had any trouble like that but not played nearly that far yet either. A quick look over Kanyhalos (the main creator) Oblivion Lost forum (http://board.oblivion-lost.de/showthread.php?t=12134&page=64) shows that other people have been having trouble specifically with controllers and blowouts . He says hes already addressing these issues for the next version! Yay! Didn't say anything about some of the other stuff, have to check or ask.

[To0]

This mod is both horrifically tense/scary and funny. Why is it funny? I just watched a pack of about 15 dogs chase down a psuedopig thing, the pig ran into the bandit camp, they all get wiped out, I pick off the remaining dogs (hunting rifle for the motherfucking win!) and take all the credit.

As I jog down to the military camp, I get attacked by boars, I get the attention of the army chaps with a couple of well placed rounds and then hide, boars meet military, military meet boars. Once again I pick off the remaining military and away go. On my way back to the garbage I notice 3-4 boars on a hillside surrounded by a pack of about 15-20 dogs. A wild cat is pacing the outskirts of the pack when a zombie comes out of nowhere, th cat fights the zombie and the dogs hear the commotion and gather together and attack the poor cat. I sneak past all th while thinking of a way to get them to attack the military checkpoint.

I've got soe screenshots of me picking off guys by lightning light, this mod is properly excellent. Play it on hell for the best reward.

[To0]

STALKER, oh STALKER why are you so broken? I spent a wonderfull weekend playing Oblivion lost, with save game names such as, "stalking in the dark", "chatty chatty, stabby stabby" and my favourite "Fucking Fuck Fuck". The new enemies, fixed plot lines, added back story, improved AI, graphics the list goes on and on as to why it is better. But there is one thing plainly ruining my time in this game. I'm still having to remember to not do things that are likely to break it. Don't heal an injured person twice, sometimes they don't get up immediately, resist the urge to give them another med kit. In actual fact, you are better off just ignoring anyone that is dying, just in case. One person fell through the ground and sent their gun flying in my direction knocking my car over! Hilarious to be sure, but annoying. Also, there are points in the game where you have a transition, I'm not going to spoil it for anyone but this mod changes the transitions so that bad guys (typically monsters) spawn right next to you and kill you BEFORE you've even faded in (back from the cutscene). Fortunately the game does let you control the character in this blackout period so it is possible, provided you memorise your layout and plan your escape before you black out, to escape immediate death but this is simply prolonging the inevitable.

TL;DR;

It ain't fixed yet, but it is still pretty damn good.

[neogramps]

i played through OL for about 6 hours last night - it is so much better than vanilla - the pitch black nights are creepy, getting pwned by random new monsters is awesome, and my silenced, scoped, gl'd akaban is awesome. everything about the game is better - trading, random blowouts, random monsters, weapon balance, textures etc - I think I can forgive a few insta-death sections more than i did the bug-filled initial release.

question - where is safe in a blowout? it seems a bit random - like the train building in garbage is safe, but the big buildings in dark valley isn't? is it just hit and miss?

[Fyndir]

Real spoilers. =O

So based on this playthrough I seem to be able to get two endings. "I want to be rich" and joining the c-conciousness. There might be another ending somewhere, but if I refuse to join the c-conciousness it just dumps me in the back garden of the plant and there's some sort of weird maze thing with teleporty white glowy things and lots of bad men shooting at me. I killed all of them (as far as I know) and got to the end of the teleport chain (as far as I can see) and it just dumps me in a random bit of ground that I could have WALKED to from the back door.

At that point I have no idea where to go or what to do, and the only thing I can think of is that I could try heading back towards the bar to see if anything special or new happens there.

[Captain_Caveman]

Response to the troll

If you enter Pripyat after the Brain Scorcher mission, you meet the loner stalkers.
You must follow them to the underground car park. After this you must go to the stadium. You must enter the stadium in its main gate to reach this quest: "Find entrance to the Sarcophagus". If you won't complete this quest the game will CTD when you return to Pripyat from the NPP, so first time don't use the small side gates to reach the power plant!
So I say it again you must use the main gate first time:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3...05l11prbw5.jpg
The last portal in the NPP Stancia2 teleports the actor to the court where you can meet the main boss enemy.

[Sideshow]

Nice cut&paste there aaron

[Fyndir]

Perhaps my game got confused because I went out the back door without talking to the c-conciousness guys the first time...I just made an alternate save so I could come back to the room with the blue things that you shoot and then wandered out and went through the teleport maze area.

Maybe if I shot the blue things, refused to join and THEN did the maze area I would get that boss you mentioned?

[Captain_Caveman]

That would probably work troll. Thanks Iain, I cut and pasted it ma self :D

I just remembered reading something similar in a forum and the answer being pointed to in on the download page so copy and paste away. :)

[To0]

Yes Troll you fucked up, doing as you suggested should work. Unfortunately I can't confirm this as my game has glitched and I now have permanent controller 'o' vision. Which makes shooting kinda hard...

I found the Night Star artifact for the first time this time I played the game, in fact I think I have found all the top end artifacts, I even have two Mamas Beads (would have had 3 but a surprise 'raining pack of dogs' killed me in Pyriprat (pretty sure they were not supposed to be suspended 30ft off the ground...

[Fyndir]

I just have one beads for wearing and a couple of droplets that I carry for using.

P.S. Best way to complete "Kill the lone stalker" type missions where you find him sitting around a campfire? Activate a droplet at his back. Hilarity ensues.

I went back to my save from just before the last teleporty thing and this time when I went through there was a controller who seemed resistant to my many grenades. I ended up killing him by using a thingy to make the weird green chemical spill thing. Haven't gotten round to re-doing that entire bit after talking to the guy yet though.

I'm kind of tempted to make a ridiculously long run back to the bar to get my good armour repaired and get more supplies, since I have all of one medkit, 1000 bullets and very few grenades left. The bullets aren't a problem, but the lack of medical supplies and grenades makes me wary of any large end boss confrontation. Thoughts?

[To0]

I'm not sure how you play the game troll but I'm sitting with the the two best armours (one for radiation/psi one for explosion/bullet) The enhanced rifle found in the merc camp next to the freedom dudes, silenced MP5, Gauss rifle, shitload of grenades and ammo. Total load is about 74kg. When I went into NPP I also had the RPG and 15 rounds. I can't see how you don't have medikits as every 6th-7th human drops one even on hell difficulty. I think I've got about 7 yellow and 2 red packs currently.

I've not played with artifact killing much, the game is broken when killing folk and I don't see it ever getting fixed which is a shame. Now I just kill everyone I see after 'accidentally' killing a duty guy next to the bar and 'accidentally' killing all the Freedom guys (I have no friends).

Also, vortex in the camp fire is good fun too. Or take a stack of bodies (fairly easy to accumulate) lob a vortex in, lulz.

[Fyndir]

I had one set of armour (the P something Universal. It has nice blue nightvision.), an FN2000 with silencer with about 1000 ap and 1000 normal ammo, 10 of each grenade, 30 for the launcher on the rifle, 30 bandages, 20 or so anti-rad and I think I had something like 10 red 5 blue 6 yellow last time I left the bar.

However since then I've done most of Pripyat and all of the NPP/Monolith stuff. This has eaten up a big chunk of my medical supplies and grenades, and the monolith guys don't seem to drop medkits as often as everyone elsewhere in the zone did. I also ended up with an exoskeleton that I found because my universal whatever was at less than 40% of it's maximum.

To be fair, I probably should have gone back to the bar to restock and repair after I cleared out the rest of Pripyat, but I just couldn't be bothered with the long run through the city and then the road and then the warehouse area and then the bar and then all the way back again.

[To0]

Tips:

Use cover
Head shots
Silenced rounds only

Loadouts

Default
Rifle, silenced, detachable scope, possible grenade launcher
300 rounds rifle ammo (even if you are mixing ammo), 10 bandages, 10 Rad Hypos, 2 Bread, 2 Sausage, 1 Tourists Delight, 5 F1 Grenades, upto 10 normal grenades, 10 rifle grenades (more if you don't have the normal grenades), 100 Rounds secondary ammo. 10 Medkits (any), fill your artifact slots with useful artifacts but don't carry more (you can always find them when you need them).

Hunting
Hunting rifle 100 Rounds mixed ammo, armour focused toward physical rather than environmental damage. 5 red med kits, 10 bandages, 1 bread, 1 sausage, 4 energy drinks, 30 rounds of secondary ammo if pistol, 100 if silenced MP5. Bias artifacts to rupture and impact damage.

Mission (For labs)
Rifle + 300 ammo, scope not required, silenced
Silenced MP5 + 100-150 Rounds (of good ammo)
10 normal grenades, ignore the F1s as they are too dangerous in enclosed spaces, default rest of loadout, latter missions bias med kits toward yellow.

Cordon(only to be used in the cordon area)
No armour/artifacts
Bandages, no med kits
Pistol (any) 20 rounds
No rifle

Additional
Before you get out the first area collect and sell everything (that you can't use). After Cordon only sell what is good weight/cost wise. Always collect medkits/rad hypos, artifacts. Only collect guns as you need or if you are light when heading back to a trader. Collect all suits, don't sell enhanced items, keep them in your stash, most are for seperate missions. OL allows you to buy back the enhanced rifles so don't worry about losing kit you like. Before heading out on a trader mission always check and repair your gear, never go without repairing your armour. Sub missions for an area are best done between main missions, try and do missions in parallel if possible but don't take on too many at a time or you won't have enough time.

When you start a new area try and find a place that you can make a stash early on. Always be on the lookout for a secure location that you can easily get access to and that has a secure box for your stash. My stashes early on contain food, ammo and med kits plus all the guns I've found. Later stashes tend to only have the kit I _might_ want like a couple of each of the better rifles + ammo. I always drop extra kit before heading into labs as you always find enough in a lab to fill your inventory. Before heading to NPP go back and go to EVERY stash you have made and every location on your map. Some are really good. In the original, selling your artifacts to the scientist was the best way to make money. Don't do that if you intend on doing freeplay. Instead go monster hunting and collect body parts, stalking at night is much more fun now and with the sheer number of monsters on some maps you can collect 4-5 dog tails, 2-3 bloodsucker tentacles + other things quite quickly. Don't collect ammo you don't use, it's worthless and heavy.

I only have one stash per area in general and will use it as a drop box for artifacts, remember they are generated by blowouts now so camping in the field is worthwhile as they are much easier to find at night. I don't know if it is possible to be killed in your sleep, certainly it has not happened to me but I always slept in roughly secure locations.

[neogramps]

fucking hell pripyat is insane.

Ok, so i got to pripyat and was going down the street with the group of stalkers you meet. As i moved up the street a few weird visual distortions started to happen. Then, just as the leader says to turn right, a dwarf appears and starts ruining all 4 of the stalkers - fortunately it wasn't an invincible dwarf so it died after a few clips. But, in the time he took to die a swarm of transparent zombies had appeared from all directions, and as I tried to kill them, two of the pulls-your-mind-into-his-face guys appeared and totally raped me to death whilst the remaining zombies clawed at me.

Total awesome randomness! I'm just glad I bought the gauss rifle and as much ammo as i could carry cos im gonna need it.

[neogramps]

the end?


ok, so when you go through the last teleporter (the one where 8 monolith ppl spawn just as you get to it), you end up on the ground and all there seemed to be was some zombies and a controller (who seemed to take ages to die - was he the boss? the legendary controller? or am i missing something?

[To0]

Dunno, that was what I got too, killed em with a vortex and then drove the car around killing random zombies (pics to follow). Glad I'm not the only one stuck...

[neogramps]

i remembered his name - Koshei - a quick google:

Hang on, i have just thought, does Koshei appear as a Controller/Mutant??

When leaving the last portal, i was set upon by a controller that didn't seem to want to die. I eventually killed him with a gravi artifact....

If Koshei is a controller then that was probably him, but the papers i found led me to believe he would appear as a human not a controller, in addition when my crosshairs fell upon the mutant it does not display a name as i would expect Koshei to do so i'm still unsure as to whether this controller was Koshei or just a tough controller...

that would be koshei. the koshei skin uses a controller base, but has more cosmetic modifications, the most obvious one being that hes more red than most controllers.

so yeah. i reckon you nailed him.

So yeah, that controller was Koshei the boss. But for me, he wasn't "invincible" - he didn't even get a chance to use his headfuck powers on me, i just volleyed a dozen grenades at him and then shot him a lot, then eventually ran up to him and stabbed him to death? Cool, now i'm off to rule all with the exoskeleton and load of loot! Awesome mod, tempted to do it all again now that v2 is out?

[To0]

Why no game over thread then? There is little point in running the maze as there are at least 2 opportunities before that to get to the same position.

[neogramps]

well part of the point of the mod is there is no game over - it's free play - you can get to a game over if you go to the monolith, but i think that's the the only way to end the game.

[Fyndir]

Unless you want to be Neo.

[To0]

But there is no way out of the NPP? I can't get back to the zone so what's the point?

[neogramps]

oh but there is! it's just complex - you need to head back to where you started going through the portals (to the far left of the map near the sarcophagus), if you look around through the walls barriers that head around the sarcophagus itself you will find a gap, look around a little more and you will find a hole in the sarcophagus that you can pass into and travel back via the c-concious room into the NPP, go back through the NPP and find the door where you entered, pass through this door and you will arrive at the front of the NPP

[To0]

coolio and the gang, the question then is

does anything change now that the 'uber' controller is dead?

[neogramps]

I don't think so. Just lets you continue to play and explore more - which although anti-climatic, I kinda like - i always found the last few hours of stalker to be too FPS'esy and not enough of the exploring, surviving etc - so going back and exploring the plant and Pripyat will be fun.

[To0]

Agreed entirely but there needs to be more a transitory event after the maze, just something to let you know that you have 'completed' your task. I'll be off to the garbage to set some nasty vortex traps just for shits and giggles.

[neogramps]

yeah, the thread where I got the info was all feedback to the mod creator - most people didn't even notice they'd killed Koshei - my fav idea was for him to have a horde of zombies under his control who were invincible until he was dead - more challenging and cool.

[Octavion]

Cosplaying ain't lame when it's S.T.A.L.K.E.R cosplay. (http://www.webpark.ru/comments.php?id=35729)

[GigaFuzz]

Cosplaying ain't lame when it's S.T.A.L.K.E.R cosplay. (http://www.webpark.ru/comments.php?id=35729)


"Get out of here cosplayer!"

[Greasel_burger]

heh, Not as bad as milsimming it for 48 hours with permadeath...

[Bluepixie]

DX10 Q&A video of Clear Sky

Stalker: Clear Sky: More than 10 minutes video footage (http://www.pcghx.com/aid,646425/News/Stalker_Clear_Sky_More_than_10_minutes_video_foota ge/)

:D

[neogramps]

Clear Sky Gold (http://www.actiontrip.com/rei/comments_news.phtml?id=081808_6)

OK, so it might turn out to be chocolate wrapped in gold foil, and we have to supply the rest of the gold ourselves, but I'm looking forward to this one!

[To0]

I'll be buying it, playing it, then waiting for it to be patched so it works.

[neogramps]

Don't bother with Clear Sky for now.

Fucking amatuer devs have released one patch to fix a mountain of bugs, and the patch breaks your save games - sound familiar?

And the next patch is scheduled to do the same - so it's either play the buggy pos or restart, or not play at all until they figure out how to patch without breaking saves.

[To0]

I'll be buying it, playing it, then waiting for it to be patched so it works.

We knew this before it was released

[neogramps]

yeah, but i expected them to learn their lesson from last time, that save-breaking patches are fucking gay

[Bluepixie]

It's monstrous, I suspect that they're on the receiving end of THQ's red hot poker, or they've lost the plot. I'm voting the later. It's ok. At least we know that after a few months it will be playable if the post-development of Stalker is anything to go by. It's just a total shame that they couldn't release it finished. :(

[neogramps]

THQ didn't publish this - it's done by deep silver?

Example of stupid bug in vanilla - no stamina bar in the hud - like who didn't notice that in QC?

[To0]

The big issue I have is that if we don't buy it now the retard execs will stop us getting another version as it will not be worth thier time supporting a dead game. But of course we all know it is thier fault it was released early. Fucking retarded and annoying, I'll be getting my copy on monday, tell me when I can play it please.

[neogramps]

meh it's pretty playable to be honest - just that shit thing where you have to make a choice - to play through vanilla and put up with bugs and poor performance (as i did with the original), or restart the game 2 or 3 times to get the bug fixes

[To0]

What neo failed to mention is just how gobsmackingly, jaw droppingly fantastic this game looks. My humble 3870 + E2180 is just below playable @ 1600*1200 with all the shineyness on max (which is ALOT of shineyness). I cannot wait to see this on Sallys pute. Also, from what I've played it is stalker++ so if you liked stalker go buy it now. Also Niall, and anyone else that loves pretty boxes, get the special edition becuase it is almost as pretty as the game.

[neogramps]

Yes, it does look awesome - and I had fun fiddling with the depth of field, getting the focus just right! I did have it just about maxed out on DX10, but had to revert to dx9 cos i was getting strange artifacts when moving (which didn't happen until the patch).

After playing through the first area again with patch 1.01, I'm enjoying the game even more than the first time. But I think I'll wait till the second patch until I go for a serious playthrough.

Some reviewers had put me off before I got the game, but they were just total retards:

One guy said that it was impossible to find artifacts - not so - they are harder to find, but I have found 4 or 5 in the first area alone without looking too hard; and once you get a better detector, they're easy to find.

Another reviewer (and plenty of forum whingers), complain about being "unavoidably" mugged at one point early in the game. You have guns you retard! Or you can run away if that's too difficult for you. To be fair, pre-patch you couldn't get your items back if you did let yourself get mugged, but still it's an FPS, what's the solution to most problems?

The faction war thing can be a bit buggy - in the garbage I took a point at night, and had 3 guys to help me. We took the first point fine, but then all nearby enemies decided to come and contest it, include three waves of snorks who are impossible to see in the dark, and another 3 waves of heavily armed bandits. Eventually, I left the area as another 2 waves were on their way and all 3 NPC's had died. Whilst that was a bit harsh (and similar to how the garbage played early in the original), overall the faction wars look like they might keep the game lively even after you have cleared out areas. It also provides a bit of variety between playthroughs as places can dynamically change hands without you, so what was a friendly outpost one time, could be a bandit base the next.

Which brings me on to nighttime - it looks awesome! As dusk approaches the whole landscape changes and everything gets creepy. Late night is almost pitch black, so it's really tense running about and suddenly running into a pack of boars coming charging out of the bushes. What is still a bit broken is stealth - it seems that enemies sometimes have uber-vision (i.e. I was standing waiting to ambush a group with my lights off, hiding behind a bush, and they saw me a mile off). But at other times I've managed to creep around with a silencer and take out a whole base without raising the alarm. Hopefully that'll be fixed cos the stealth is awesome when it works. Several reviews I saw said nightime was too dark and too dangerous - I thought that was totally intentional, especially since there are fewer creepy underground areas.

Oh I forgot about grenades - people are whining about enemies using them - even tho just as many whined about enemies not being able to use them before. They are not hard to dodge - not only do you get a COD4-style inidicator to tell you where it is, but usually before they throw one, the enemies will shout "Have a grenade, cocksucker!", or something equally ridiculous.

So far I've only fully explored the Swamp and fannied about in the Cordon and Garbage, so there's plenty more game to see - but things do look very promising once the bugs are ironed out.

[To0]

Actually having to hunt for the artifacts is fun, before you just wait till night and they practicly fall on you.

Yeah, they've taken what was good in stalker, made it prettier and then tweaked some of the problems. It's not perfect but it is worthwhile.

[Captain_Caveman]

From the description you are giving Noegramps sounds like they implimented in the addon a lot of the stuff that was put into the mod that was released for the original called Oblivion Lost which was EXCELLENT.

[To0]

There was some kind of glitch yesterday when playing this, I was moving to an enemy position and it started chugging, REALLY badly. When I killed the few outlying guards I found out why. In the middle, round a camp fire the old "NPC body pile" that amused me so much in the original was back. 8 bandits in embedded in the fire, I touched one and they all start to quiver and shake. Quite unsettling. After janking them out the fire one by one and looting them (looting is still pointless). The epic chuggary seemed to abate, then it starts up again as EVERY MOTHER FUCKING ANIMAL EVER comes running to attack the outpost. Completely hilarious but annoying too because I died.

[Bluepixie]

That sounds like it was pretty funny, que next patch. :)

I've just reinstalled Stalker and Oblivion Lost 2.2 (http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Oblivion_Lost_22_for_1005;93039)
Even puts in faction wars now. :)

[neogramps]

oh and the second english patch is out now with a tonne of bugfixes.

as an amendment to the above, there is a second time where you are mugged, and it's part of a cutscene, so it has to happen, but you can ditch all your gear beforehand so it's not too bad.

as for animals - I was being stalker by a Snork in the garbage and nearly crapped it when it jumped arounf 100 metres from the top a hill over my head and into some scrubs - wish I'd been faster on the F12!