STALKER Mega-Thread; Clear Skies are Coming!

[SiC-Disaster]

I think i saw the panicking effect once in vanilla too.
The Duty encampment to the right side of the first Stalker camp has a 3 man patrol. I sneaked up from tree to tree when they werent looking, then when i was close enough, i threw a grenade in front of them, cutting them off from their way back to their camp.
Then i took out my assault rifle, and popped one soldier in the head. After the grenade went off, and the soldier was killed, the remaining 2 soldiers made a huuuuge sprint back to their camp, so i was unable to get to them without getting raped by the entire Duty gang lol.

And ofcourse in dog AI too, panicking.

I'd like the mutants HP reduced, but that's just personal taste. I dont really want uber-monsters/people.
I like the mutated dogs etc because they are still easy to kill, not overly much ammo etc. They are just mutated, not suddenly grown uber-strong.
It's a 'realism' thingy.
IMO when you are mutated through radiation, i consider that a sickness, or weak condition, it doesnt grow you into an uberstrong tank-like creature.
So in that regard i find it annoying when some of the more 'advanced' mutants like Bloodsuckers take more ammo to kill then regular people, because i view them as just mutated people.

I cant remember all the possible AI options you described in my AI thread out of the top of my head, but they sounded pretty good to me i remember

 

[Jokerman]

I'd like the mutants HP reduced, but that's just personal taste. I dont really want uber-monsters/people.
I like the mutated dogs etc because they are still easy to kill, not overly much ammo etc. They are just mutated, not suddenly grown uber-strong.
It's a 'realism' thingy.

But it is realistic to have uber-mutants in an enviorment where there is no social welfare and no law but evolution- all the mutants who were in a disadvantage due to their transformation should have perished. Thats why I hate to see boars or dogs (and ppl too!) walk into anomalies- no one that stupid should have survied the zone.

Mutants dont wear armour- it seems reasnable to me that theyll have more hp- I still find them a lot easier to kill than soldiers and stalkers which, if I dont aim for the head, takes entire magazines to bring down.

 

[Grobut]

I reduced their FOV slightly, but not much, its a tricky thing to get right, give them too much and they spot you too easilly, give them too little and you could be dancing the Mexican hat dance right there next to them and they would never know
I'll work on it thoough.

And yes, guards are always in relaxed state unless you start trouble nearby, dont think i can change that.. but i can give snipers a some more view range, that would help.

I'll look into night vision (im guessing you want it reduced a bit?).

 

[Nimsky]

Is there any way to install multiple mods without them conflicting with each other? The game crashes before it even starts up.

This is annoying. I wish this game was a bit more mod friendly. Well, maybe it's mod friendly but many mods make use of the same files, and as a result you cannot use more than two or so mods at the same time. Gawd....

 

[Grobut]

Is there any way to install multiple mods without them conflicting with each other? The game crashes before it even starts up.

This is annoying. I wish this game was a bit more mod friendly. Well, maybe it's mod friendly but many mods make use of the same files, and as a result you cannot use more than two or so mods at the same time. Gawd....

It is definately possible assuming 2 things:

1) The mod is not compiled into Gamedata.db files, but comes as loose .ltx text files that only contains the code.

2) The two or more mods you are using are not both trying to replace or modify the same code, that creates a conflict.

Im actually using both the Trader mod, and a weapon mod of my own make along with my Stealth mod, that works just fine because none of thouse mods are using code from the other.


And here's an update, im making cruel an immoral experiments with the bandit code at the moment (Muahahahaha! ITS ALIVE!), and with very interesting results.. more to come..

 

[Grobut]

Well guys, i think im on to something!

As said i've been playing with the Bandit code, and im using the very first mission (get the flash drive from Nimble who's held captive at a bandit hideout yadda yadda..).

Here's what i've done:
I've reduced their field of view, they wont react quite as much to hearing gunfire (gunfire is normal in the zone, afterall), and they return to relaxed state faster after having been alerted.

Here's how it plays:
I decided to attack the base from the rear, so crouching i sneak past the room where two bandits are sitting at a camp fire, no sweat, they didn't notice.

Two bandits guard the entrance to the base, each standing in a sepperate room overlooking the entrance, i position myself so only one of them is in view, and decide to take him down with the silenced Makarov, i fire 3 times wounding him, and he is alerted, but only him! i decide to creep back into hiding.. he searches for a while, doesen't find me, and then gives up and returns to his post.

Hmmm.. perhabs gunfire is too silent now i think!? so i equip a normal Makarov, and sitting in my hidden spot, i empty the magazine into the air.
The whole camp now buzzes with activity, and the bandits run around searching for what made that sound.. i wait it out, and things calm down, the bandits return to their posts.

So again i equip the scilenced Makarov and train my sights on the bandit i wounded before, *pop pop* and he falls to the ground, nobody else heard it.. silent kill FTW!

Then i equip the normal Makarov again, and train my sights on the other guy at the entrance, i shoot at him a few times, wounding him a bit, and the camp again buzzes with activity, the guy i shot now spots me and returns fire, so i run off and hide, they search a bit again, and after a while give up and return to their posts.

I played this little cat and mouse game with the whole camp, and got them all either as silent kills, or hit and run assaults, very nice! but more testing is needed

 

[Jokerman]

Sounds excellent, if you need a tester- you know where to send it.

.. but i can give snipers a some more view range, that would help.

I'll look into night vision (im guessing you want it reduced a bit?).

Yes plz.
Good idea about the snipers- put them on alert as well and theyll be a little more challenging I believe.

 

[Shadrach]

Hey STALKERS,
after reading everyone rave about STALKER here and in the 'most atmospheric' thread I decided to buy it.

So far I *absolutely love it*, reminds me a lot of Fallout, only in 3D and MUCH creepier. My hair has stood on end several times already - just those damn blind dogs are enough to freak me out lol. I'm easily spooked

Just a question; have you guys turned off crosshairs or not? Because since playing RO i just find crosshairs bloody distracting, floating in the middle of the screen. But I guess it will be much harder to play with them turned off, in the later levels and so on..?

First thing I did was install the sleep mod, works like a charm. Any other mods recommended? Minor ones though, I don't want to completely change the game, that comes later

Also I wish I knew russian, so I could understand what those guys talk about at the campfire, sounds kinda relevant to the game. /me wishes he took russian in high school instead of that silly french.

cheers,
-s

 

[PNV]

I've turned off the crosshairs. At first I thought it'd be extremely hard in close quarters and such but you get used to it. And by the later levels you'll likely have a scope which improves your accuracy by alot.

 

[BlitzForce]

This game is quite hard even in Novice! The guns aren't every powerful.....

You can't sneak up on people!

Seems pretty linear so far...and I should ahve done all the side missions in the first section before moving on....

AI is pretty tricky

Typical Eastern European type game, good ideas, but lack polish

Whats up with the weather anyway? seems to be raining a lot, and night time isn't that dark, and daytime not that bright - a mod can fix this?

------

Runs surprisingly well at 1280x960 on my P4 2.8c at 4.3ghz with a Gainward 7800GS+ 512mb (7900GT on agp) with static lighting and everything maxed out and just 2xAA. Rock solid 40+ FPS with fraps
1280x960 looks very nice on my Sony G520 21 inch CRT

HDR looks poopy and slows it way down, good riddance

used the -noprefetch command line option on the game icon, loads much faster and no stutters

----

Fallout 3 should better this

 

[Jokerman]

Ive turned off crosshairs when I first started playing and never turned em on again. Just an RO education I think.... but really- nothing beats the feeling when you hip-kill a snork in mid air.

Grobut, seems like we nerfed them bots too much- on my way back to Cordon (meet Guide mission) I crossed the military outpost below the bridge, manned again. It was midnight and the guard didnt see me till I was 10 feet away from him. And he was looking straight at my direction and had his flashlight on (a wild guess- it means nothing to them- the flashlight, right?).


I tried the 1st mission and it does work well- its really nice to be able to take them one at a time, but again- it seems they are a little bit too nerfed. One guard on the roof couldnt see me when I was right down his nose- is there a different variable for vertical fov or is there only that one, representing a cone?

While I waited for them to relax I witnessed again their limited nature- after searching a while they stopped and stood huddled together- one was facing the ground, the other the sky, the third- south etc.... they looked like one of them group o soldiers statues.


I tried the Sidorvich steal-the-box mission (from that first army outpost) several times and they always acted the same:
There are 2 guards at the gate, I take one down with a silenced pistol- his mate will run into one of them houses, no matter if he "saw" the event or not, and than all the camp will be up in a turmoil. A bunch of them (who used to give me an incredibale hard time in vannila) will go out from the room they were chatting in and will be alert, but facing almost every direction but the right one. it could have been a nice touch if they were at any other camp but this one (which should expect unwelcomed visitors- to come from the north).

 

[fiftyone]

Steams got Stalker in its sack, whatever next !

 

[Grobut]

Ive turned off crosshairs when I first started playing and never turned em on again. Just an RO education I think.... but really- nothing beats the feeling when you hip-kill a snork in mid air.

Grobut, seems like we nerfed them bots too much- on my way back to Cordon (meet Guide mission) I crossed the military outpost below the bridge, manned again. It was midnight and the guard didnt see me till I was 10 feet away from him. And he was looking straight at my direction and had his flashlight on (a wild guess- it means nothing to them- the flashlight, right?).


I tried the 1st mission and it does work well- its really nice to be able to take them one at a time, but again- it seems they are a little bit too nerfed. One guard on the roof couldnt see me when I was right down his nose- is there a different variable for vertical fov or is there only that one, representing a cone?

While I waited for them to relax I witnessed again their limited nature- after searching a while they stopped and stood huddled together- one was facing the ground, the other the sky, the third- south etc.... they looked like one of them group o soldiers statues.


I tried the Sidorvich steal-the-box mission (from that first army outpost) several times and they always acted the same:
There are 2 guards at the gate, I take one down with a silenced pistol- his mate will run into one of them houses, no matter if he "saw" the event or not, and than all the camp will be up in a turmoil. A bunch of them (who used to give me an incredibale hard time in vannila) will go out from the room they were chatting in and will be alert, but facing almost every direction but the right one. it could have been a nice touch if they were at any other camp but this one (which should expect unwelcomed visitors- to come from the north).

Yeah, i think i overdid the nightblindness, they need to see a bit better in the dark, but atleast this has confirmed that it can be tweaked

And yes, the FOV is a cone, and thats what makes it so tricky to code.. they will only see what's in the FOV cone, but unfortunately, they see everything in that FOV cone perfectly! make it too narrow and they are blind as bats, make it too wide and they are omnipotent
I can try a FOV of 100 or 110 degrees, see if one of thouse is better than 90, but its fickle stuff.. as i said there will be tradeoffs between action and stealth, as there seems to be no way of configuring how they see things within their line of sight.

 

[Jokerman]

Whats up with the weather anyway? seems to be raining a lot, and night time isn't that dark, and daytime not that bright - a mod can fix this?

Google "darker nights stalker mod"- Im sure Ive seen a mod that does exeactley that.

 

[Nimsky]

I got back into S.T.A.L.K.E.R. again. I forgot how amazing the atmosphere was. I picked up my old mods and savegames again though (thank god they still work), because I really didn't like the Pro Realism mod. Great game.

This game is quite hard even in Novice! The guns aren't every powerful.....

You can't sneak up on people!

Seems pretty linear so far...and I should ahve done all the side missions in the first section before moving on....

AI is pretty tricky

Typical Eastern European type game, good ideas, but lack polish

Whats up with the weather anyway? seems to be raining a lot, and night time isn't that dark, and daytime not that bright - a mod can fix this?

It does lack polish here and there but in a way that even has its appeal. If you're willing to install a few mods, it's great.

To make the guns realistic:
http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Realism_Weapon_Mod;78162

^ I strongly suggest you play on the easiest difficulty when playing this mod, otherwise it becomes too hard. Hopefully you're not too far in the game yet.

Real gun names:
http://stalker.filefront.com/file/STALKER_Real_Gun_Names_Mod_English;77804


Weather overhaul:
http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Weather_Overhaul;78045


^ I can confirm that none of these mods have compatibility issues with each other.

 

[Grobut]

Well, i feel the mod is now in a very playable condition, so im making it open Beta, that way i should be able to get alot of feedback!

Here's the Readme file i stuffed in with the mod, i dont care to write all that junk again:

SneakerMod Version 1.4.
-----------------------

Overview:
--------

SneakerMod is a "Stealth + Semi-realism" mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R, the aim of the game is to but Stealth back in,
and raise realism a bit without making it a realism mod as such..
There are two components to SneakerMod, an AI mod, and a Weapon mod, here's what they do:

AI-Mod:
-------

The AI portion is contained within the "Creatures" folder.

1) Enemies have reduced FOV, aiding Stealth.

2) Enemies have reduced range of vision when in the relaxed state.

3) Weapons equiped with a Silencer now have an effect, making silent kills possible, unless another enemy is
quite clouse by, then he may hear the shot.

4) Enemies can be knifed if their back is turned.

5) Humans have reduced night sight.

6) Mutants that used to be human (like Snorks and Bloodsuckers) have less health than before, but still more than
a human (its evolution baby!).

7) After having been alerted to danger, enemies will calm down again faster if they do not hear or see more combat.

8) Humans have a slight chance of going into a panic when they spot danger.

9) Humans do not fire with as much accuracy, so it is playable with weapons mods that boost damage.

The AI-Mod has showed itself to be fully compatible with other mods that add enemies previously removed to the
game, but it will obviously conflict with mods that try to replace the same classes the mod is using.
No corruption of savegames has been noted, it should work with your saves, but thats not a 100% garuentee.


Gun-Mod:
--------

The weapon portion is made for thouse who feel S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is too easy and too unrealistic, but that the realism
mods out there currently make the game too hard (when you are one man against so many, dying from 1 or 2 shots is a
little too much of a good thing in my opinion).
This portion is ofcourse contained in the "Weapons" folder.

1) Guns do more damage, about twice that of Vanila S.T.A.L.K.E.R, but allmost half that of the Realism mods.

2) Gun damage is based on the caliber it fires, not how cool it looks or how rare it is.

3) Accuracy is boosted, but not to the point of pin-point accuracy.

4) "Aim-zoom" has been reduced, but not quite removed due to the fact that this causes clipping in the weapon models,
and that looks like rubbish. Pistols barely zoom at all, long arms zoom a little bit.


The Gun-Mod is obviously not compatible with other mods that replace the weapons, but it is fully compatible with the
real weapon names mod and the Trader mod.
No corruption of savegames has been noted, it too should work with your savegames, but again, i make no absolute
garuentee's.



Either mod can run without the other, if you dont like one of them, you are not forced to use them both.
I can also recomend installing a weather mod or darker nights mod, thease only add to the experiance, and no conflicts
have been found, it should work.


Install:
--------

Simply UnRAR to your Desktop, and drag the "GameData" folder into your main S.T.A.L.K.E.R. directory.


And do remember to have fun!

The mod is up for grabs here: http://files.filefront.com/Sneakermod+1+4rar/;8108436;;/fileinfo.html


Have fun, and do remember to add your two cents about whats working and what's not working, eh?

 

[Jokerman]

Ive tried this version with all the scenarios Ive described before and meanwhile Im absolutley loving it! Its a whole new ball game - youll have to skulk and stalk and try to locate your oponnents before planning a strategy. Surprise them and youll live- the other way around: no more ]]]]]]]]]]]] for you to save your sorry ***.

There are still some quirks and oddities, though, specially in their hearing department- 1. Sneaking upon a soldier at a stormy night I delibartley stopped being quiet, he heared me only when I was almost on top of him, one feet away. If its because the thunders and the rain muffled my footsteps than its really cool, if not- it needs to be checked. (speaking of storms- lightning does not aid them to spot you, shame- it could have been a neat touch a la CoJ)
2. I took a lone patroling soldier with a silenced shot, another one who was also on patrol started running (I only noticed him than, by his breathing), not in panic I think, but to search for me. Thing is, he ran and passed the house I was in, and went into a wrong house, where he relaxed again and continued in his patrol back towards me. He was close enough to hear the shot but failed miserabley in identifying where it was made.


Some thoughts about panic- a paniced soldier in a confined area (usually- undergrounds), which is not totally linear, makes for an exciting, unpredictable battle. He will run in amock pass you, you will miss your shots, youll lose him and wont know in which room he's at, he will calm down and the dance will begin all over again.

What coulda been really cool was if we had two kind of panic states- the current one and an agressive 1 in which the paniced man would violentley shoot uncontroled bursts from the hip while running at you.
Cant be done, I know. What can be done, though, is to make bandits, loners, scientists and maybe freedom as well, more prone to panic than the soldiers and the better disciplined sects.


All and all this mod beats vannila to a pulp and I highly recommend it. throw in darker nights and it's a helluva good stealth game.
Thanks a lot, Grobut, you're a prince.

 

[PNV]

Sounds really good; I've had STALKER on my desk for a couple of days in anticipation

 

[Grobut]

1. Sneaking upon a soldier at a stormy night I delibartley stopped being quiet, he heared me only when I was almost on top of him, one feet away.

I'll have a look at this, maybe a small tweak can make it better, i know one variable i can try tweaking, but if that doesen't do anything usefull, im not quite sure what causes this..
But hopefully its fixable, Stealth is only supposed to work when you are trying to be stealthy!

2. I took a lone patroling soldier with a silenced shot, another one who was also on patrol started running (I only noticed him than, by his breathing), not in panic I think, but to search for me. Thing is, he ran and passed the house I was in, and went into a wrong house, where he relaxed again and continued in his patrol back towards me. He was close enough to hear the shot but failed miserabley in identifying where it was made.

Silent pistols do seem to work that way (enemies can hear something is not right, but they cannot pinpoint where it came from), but silence a rifle or SMG and they are more aware.
Im not sure this can be tweaked without removing the silent weapons effects compleately, or even if it should be, i kinda like the confusion it creates.

But more opinions on this please.

What coulda been really cool was if we had two kind of panic states- the current one and an agressive 1 in which the paniced man would violentley shoot uncontroled bursts from the hip while running at you.
Cant be done, I know. What can be done, though, is to make bandits, loners, scientists and maybe freedom as well, more prone to panic than the soldiers and the better disciplined sects.

The thing about two panic modes is indeed not possible with the code i have access to.
The second part is not about to happen either, some missions require that you kill all of the dudes, especially some of the "kill the bandits" missions, if one runs off, finding him is not a big problem, but if more of them start doing it.. that could be bad.. so i dont think its a good idea to raise the panic level for any class, and since its allready so low, not much point lowering it either for the others.

All and all this mod beats vannila to a pulp and I highly recommend it. throw in darker nights and it's a helluva good stealth game.
Thanks a lot, Grobut, you're a prince.

Thank you, and i can warmly recomend that weather mod Nimsky linked to a few posts up, it has both dark nights and some cool weather effects, works very well with my mod! im certainly enjoying the combination

 

[Jokerman]

Grobut, some problems:- They are becoming relaxed in midst of battles initiated by them. e.g. the Monolith attacking Freedom's border,- they will lose you and face stupidly wrong directions. It is a bottleneck, they are the ones attacking- it simpley feels wrong. The only thing that zeroed them on the right direction was me shooting.
Were they scripted to attack in the right direction and the tweaking somehow messed it up? Funny thing is that the last wave was much more oriented.

Apart from that- in alert I think they should have better hearing and wider fov, they tend to lose you too much. A simple, elegant solution would be to have them scan the area (head movement) but I guess it cant be done (?).

I know its a complicated dance and everything is a tradeoff but though this spot feels very sweet at certain situations, maybe there's a sweeter one down the road.