The Official HL2.net S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Thread

[Tagaziel]

Somebody needed to start it, and the subject I'd like to share with you guys is way different from the Clear Sky DRM debacle as of late. The subject is, STALKER pre-alpha leaks.

We all know that a few leaks of pre-SHOC STALKER happened, of the Oblivion Lost builds. I did some digging (GSC Computing doesn't really mind - the leaks are freely discussed on their community forums from what I've seen), and played them for a bit. Interestingly, there are rumours that GSC purposefully leaked the build to stir up some havoc.

The shocking realization is that the graphics we loved in 2007 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and 2008 Clear Sky are actually graphics nearly five, six years old! The stalker suit model for instance, hasn't changed from the 1114 build, as did the LR300 and Browning HPSA models.

The build also contains a prototype of the Cordon (esc) level, which is significantly larger and doesn't have either a village or Sidorovich's bunker, only a large pumping station overlooking the valley, the Cordon train bridge (uncollapsed) and two military checkpoints.

It's quite amazing and shows just how far a road STALKER had to travel.

 

[unozero]

chimps could program better then GSC.

 

[Tagaziel]

Not in the AI department at any rate. A shame NPCs didn't use grenades back in SoC.

 

[unozero]

ok a.i was pretty good but jeez they suck at coding scripted events etc.

 

[Tagaziel]

Heh, Duty assault on Freedom comes to mind.

 

[Tyguy]

im always just about to buy stalker then i change my mind...one of these days

 

[Kula Meenur]

Just finished clear sky.

Pic very related

 

[Lobster]

I kinda wish they would steer away from adding a restrictive main quest into the game, and just making it totally free play, have smaller questlines to unlock each area, and have everything on a randomly generated respawn, also have certain underground areas or building that require heavy protection to get inside, so you have to work towards them.

The faction wars were a good idea, but they tend to bug out every chance they get, if one squad gets stuck somwhere (like the sewer pipe access between cordon/garbage) then the entire faction goes to sleep, I do have faith however that over time a couple of addon mods could sort some of that stuff out.

 

[Kula Meenur]

Indeed, hopefully we won't have to wait too long for some good ones to pop their heads up

 

[Warbie]

It's a shame that the combat in Stalker was so painfully goddamn ****ing awful. So, so bad. The rest looked pretty good.

 

[KagePrototype]

It's a shame that the combat in Stalker was so painfully goddamn ****ing awful. So, so bad. The rest looked pretty good.

The combat has its moments, it can be really tense and unpredictable stuff. You really have to take cover and lot and conserve your ammo.

Too bad everything else about the game is broken as ****; story, user interface, side-quests, even the AI. It's really atmospheric and has an (almost) great open-ended structure, but there's too much crap to put up with to enjoy it.

Oh well, Far Cry 2 is out in a month.

 

[Warbie]

The combat has its moments, it can be really tense and unpredictable stuff. You really have to take cover and lot and conserve your ammo.

I kinda take things like taking cover and watching ammo as standards in fps these days Point and click in rpg clothes is still point and click, and having to hide in a bush didn't make it more exciting for me!

I hope Far Cry does as promised too

 

[Tagaziel]

I disagree Kage, the storyline in STALKER:SHOC is great.

 

[Kadayi]

I disagree Kage, the storyline in STALKER:SHOC is great.

Agreed. It's not a perfect game but it has such a completely different style of combat from most FPS it's very refreshing. In half life 2 I never really feel like I'm vulnerable, but in Stalker it's always the case. Distance is a big factor in staying alive as well and the fact that you have to really think about what you take, and what you leave behind is strangely compelling.

I remember making the mistake of coming back from the science outpost to Vostok at night with very little ammo, stumbling across a massive pack of dogs, and having to hightail it up onto some scaffolding and wait until dawn until some wandering stalkers turned and saved my bacon. Half an hour of sitting there just twiddling my thumbs, but it was incredibly tense stuff

 

[Kula Meenur]

Any mods out yet? Havin' a gander for em atm...

 

[unozero]

guys I still don't understand how to mod a artifact
do I just drop the mentioned artifact in a anomaly and let it sit there?





edit:I guess transmute is the word I should use.


plz guys Im really desperate about this

 

[Kula Meenur]

Ya mate, you let it sit in the anomalie for the alotted time.


If the scripture says five hours (game time mind you), wait five hours and then check.

 

[Kyorisu]

It's a shame that the combat in Stalker was so painfully goddamn ****ing awful. So, so bad. The rest looked pretty good.

Up until you get a semi decent gun and then it's all boom headshot. Really it isn't that bad. Take cover, fire a few pot shots, take cover, etc. Standard procedure. Meanwhile the CTD bugs are pissing me off. The bandits took back the garbage HQ at some stage so I decided to go back and teach them a lesson. However if I or anyone else i.e. Duty troops engage the bandits around that area the game crashes. I can sit on a hill and watch them for ages but as soon as I start shooting the game will crash a few seconds later.

 

[ríomhaire]

Started playing with Oblivion Lost mod on Hell. Oh dear God. I took so long getting to the bandit hideout (first mission) that everyone had lost patience with me and attacked already and died. I got attacked by a military patrol (which got me an AR) the first time I tried to leave the village and then when I went near two dead Stalkers I got chased back to village by mutant cats (I didn't find the starting 5 medics due to stupidity straight away so I was scared shitless of getting killed).

I then took on the mission if finding the "perfect" suit and was almost killed by the ghost pseudodogs (or whatever they are). Once they were dealt with I tried to get to the suit, but was mysteriously taken to the Dark Valley, which I then discovered I couldn't return to Cordon from and I hadn't quicksaved.

I had to get through the damn Dark Valley and the Garbage, fighting lots of bandits and some cats, before I could get back to the trader and get the next mission from him.

I've already found Strelok's hidding place (and got one hit killed by a controller) and gotten the documents, and after sneaking out of the military base (I jumped out a window on the 1st floor and found a hole in the wall without having to fight any more soldiers) I was making my way back to the Garbage. When I left the game I had just entered the Garbage from the West and was in a horrible sandwich of mutants behind me and bandits in front of me.

This mod is like STALKER on steroids.

 

[Kyorisu]

(and got one hit killed by a controller)

Quality gameplay right there.

 

[Sedako]

The bugs in the game are quite numerous, as are the AI hiccups. For example: I was given a mission to clear the bandits out of the warehouse/hanger in the center of the garbage, and upon walking through the rear gate, the game holstered my weapon in the same way it does when you enter a main town. Needless to say, I was unable draw any weapons to fight with until I exited through the gate again. The AI also cheats horribly (being able to see me in complete night when they aren't even looking in my direction. Other than the bugs, I am enjoying it.

 

[unozero]

soc rocks withe 4chan mod pack I downloaded ^^
I think its ol+amk and some graphic mods



edit:thanks koola will try that later tonight.

 

[thenerdguy]

WOOT! I found a crack that works with my legit bought off steam copy. Now im back to the swamps!

 

[highlander]

I finished clear sky a few days ago, I didn't get what happened , apart from the obvious things >.> what...what happened to you? hmm?

 

[Tagaziel]

Spoiler

You took down Strelok's psionic shielding, and the C-Conciousness unleashed a blowout to take out Strelok, you and Clear Sky. Survivours were put in their brainwasher, and later onto death trucks heading into the Zone.

In short, you're Monolith now.

 

[kineaesth]

Messed up your tags, Mikael. Good thing I'm not gonna play STALKER.

 

[ríomhaire]

I'm having some pretty horrible glitches with this mod. It actually started when my friend was trying to game. There was no one at the farm for the first mission. No allies and no bandits. Nimble was there but he wouldn't move until you killed the bandits, which weren't there, so he had to kill Nimble to get the flash drive.

I've been having similar problems. The first indication was the complete lack of military at the collapsed railway bridge. Later on, when I went to the bar the usual first Duty checkpoint was there (with the guy who gives you the mission to clear out the dogs) but there was no one else in the entire area. No Duty, no Barkeep, no Stalkers, no one in the Arena.

I decided to just move on to the industrial area to the West (don't remember the name), which contained a total of one merc. Looking for more people, I went towards the crashed helicopter. After looking around a bit the scientists and mercs suddenly spawned around me and I was killed straight away. On reloading the level, it worked normally.

I'm currently in Yantar, where the doctor will not talk to me (he's just standing next to the window, staring at the wall). The first time I entered the prof that you save (don't remember his name) is there, but when I reloaded the game (after dying on checking the inside of the lab) he had been replaced by an assistant.

An unrelated but crazy-assed glitch: I was passing through the bandit farm (again, the one from the first mission) in Cordon when a blowout started (I was rather unimpressed. Could have used more noise, but then again, I was in shelter and in the area furthest from the centre, so they're probably worse later on). I was in the room where you find Nimble, hiding with another Stalker, when suddenly 5 to 10 bandits spawned inside the fire and a few more ran in from outside. It was rather strange to see flaming bandits running at Olympic sprint pace into the same hiding place as me. The other Stalker got killed, but I got away without getting shot.

 

[Tagaziel]

Quality right there.

 

[CR0M]

Even with the bugs, especially with the bugs, it's more entertaining than Radiant AI ever will be that's for sure.
Watching one of my comrades throw a grenade against a wall right in front of him before stealing the superior gun from his corpse was quality right there.

 

[highlander]

Spoiler

You took down Strelok's psionic shielding, and the C-Conciousness unleashed a blowout to take out Strelok, you and Clear Sky. Survivours were put in their brainwasher, and later onto death trucks heading into the Zone.

In short, you're Monolith now.

oh right, that makes sense...so CS is no more? or?

 

[Tagaziel]

Spoiler

Yup. This is why we don't find any trace of them in SHOC - they fell prey to the C-Conciousness.

 

[Lucid]

Anyways, I'm going out in a few hours to pick up the game.

Advice on starting procedures?

edit : Bought the game, it seems that games are going to start coming in the regular DVD cases now, instead of those huge cases.

 

[Lobster]

Spoiler

Yup. This is why we don't find any trace of them in SHOC - they fell prey to the C-Conciousness.

Spoiler

Pehaps you can explain to me, how Strelok encounters people like the yantar scientist and others, but in the future when you play Strelok, no one knows who you are.

 

[thenerdguy]

Well this really sucks.
NOw that I am able to play ive updated to the latest patch and I can not leave cordon. When i get the message to enter a new area I click ok and it turns me around and will not let me leave. Garbage has been unlocked and ive got missions that I can not complete.

 

[Tagaziel]

Spoiler

Pehaps you can explain to me, how Strelok encounters people like the yantar scientist and others, but in the future when you play Strelok, no one knows who you are.

Spoiler

It's a small plot hole, but none too hard to explain - Strelok possibly obscured his face while talking to people. Or Sakharov suffers from amnesia

 

[Kyorisu]

Spoiler

It's a small plot hole, but none too hard to explain - Strelok possibly obscured his face while talking to people. Or Sakharov suffers from amnesia

Spoiler

Small plot hole? Sounds like the writers have no idea what they're doing. Unless something ****ed up his larynx I doubt people would fail to recognize the guy, no matter how disfigured he is/was.

 

[Tagaziel]

Spoiler

Small plot hole? Sounds like the writers have no idea what they're doing. Unless something ****ed up his larynx I doubt people would fail to recognize the guy, no matter how disfigured he is/was.

Spoiler

Sidorovich manipulated Strelok in order to further his own ends, the Barman never met him in person, Sakharov was the only one who met him, and it's possible that all stalkers look alike to him. Or he never saw Strelok's face.

A more interesting question is where did Fang actually die? There's Fang's grave in Pripyat (with an exoskeleton no less), Ghost claiming that Fang was shot with a Vintorez by a scarred stalker and Fang's corpse near a pseudo dog in Red Forest...

 

[Lucid]

This game is wonky as ****.

Extremely long load times, disappearing NPCs in the intro forcing me to restart the game and start a new one, and it crashed once during the opening cutscene.

Not looking too great so far. D:

 

[Kyorisu]

Spoiler

Sidorovich manipulated Strelok in order to further his own ends, the Barman never met him in person, Sakharov was the only one who met him, and it's possible that all stalkers look alike to him. Or he never saw Strelok's face.

A more interesting question is where did Fang actually die? There's Fang's grave in Pripyat (with an exoskeleton no less), Ghost claiming that Fang was shot with a Vintorez by a scarred stalker and Fang's corpse near a pseudo dog in Red Forest...

Ah fair enough. You'll have to forgive me but it's crashing like a cow on my end.

 

[highlander]

Spoiler

Sidorovich manipulated Strelok in order to further his own ends, the Barman never met him in person, Sakharov was the only one who met him, and it's possible that all stalkers look alike to him. Or he never saw Strelok's face.

A more interesting question is where did Fang actually die? There's Fang's grave in Pripyat (with an exoskeleton no less), Ghost claiming that Fang was shot with a Vintorez by a scarred stalker and Fang's corpse near a pseudo dog in Red Forest...

Spoiler

so...you killed Fang? or whatever, also how come in Chernobyl there were no other stalkers of streloks group, only strelok?