S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

[Gerrard]

Someone who is actually playing this tell me, there are puddles in the game, and it seems to be raining all the time, do they actually disappear when it doesn't rain for a time, or are they just part of the textures (and they don't have unique footsteps either lol)?
Because dynamic puddles have been a thing in S1 mods for years. Most of the things I've seen of STALKER 2 so far is an anti-advertisment for Unreal Engine 5.

 

[Mercatroid]

Like for some reason every part of the Zone you've cleared should just stay dead forever? What kind of reasoning is that?

The problem with respawns in SoC is that in certain places enemies would just keep respawning on the spot while you're still standing in the same area. That vehicle area in Garbage comes to mind where within minutes after you help take down the bandit squad, another one just shows up and you have to help save them again. Same with that hangar area in the middle of Garbage. That shit was obnoxious.

Isn't the excessive enemy spawn rate in vanilla SHOC considered a bug? Combination of erroneously low respawn times and not saving the spawn state on saving/loading IIRC.

Yeah, vanilla SHoC is buggy for sure. My point wasn't that its a-life was perfection, but rather that it did have a real a-life system which was quite impressive at the time. I remember in 2007 talking to a friend of mine on IRC and telling him how you could go far into the zone and get strong guns, then come back to the rookie camp and drop them on the ground next to the newbie stalkers there, and if you came back later you'd find they had picked them up and were using them. Then you could go pick a fight with the military checkpoint in the south and have the newbie stalkers blow them away with those guns. My friend was really impressed by this, and so was I. Few if any 3D games or shooters had done things like this at the time, with such a high degree of NPC interaction with the player and other NPCs and with loot in the world. So although SHoC was a big buggy mess, and the system was unrefined, it was very refined in later mods and fixes like ZRP and AA, which just took the code structure that was already there and cleaned it up and refined it, and did things like adding custom spawns. Stalker 2 doesn't even have a system like this. It has no real a-life. Apparently it will just spawn groups of NPCs randomly in the world close to you, often doing so right behind your back. Instead of each area you enter being a living world full of NPCs who are already there and who follow set rules, instead the game will just spawn a group of bandits right behind your fucking back, like in an open area you just cleared.

Some Steam users talking about it: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1643320/discussions/0/4626980689722551912/

"First the mutants and npc fights are each scripted with elements from the script directory in the games root folder so it is by no definition an dynamic event."

"The lack of A-Life and the radial spawn system becomes super apparent when you can't take 3 minutes to sort your inventory without hearing stuff spawn a short distance away and growl/yell at you before all hell breaks loose, then go on to see vast swaths of land empty of life until the next nearby spawn (usually, conveniently, at your back).

Can't even take a breather without worrying that you might get merked by a murder squad spawning in, any second. (Because people hadn't complained enough about that very same thing with Alpha Squads in SGM mod almost a decade ago)

If you're quick enough you can physically see them spawn in and transition from T-Posing to animated models. It's disgusting really and kills off any sense of immersion the amazing scenery provides."

Gay. The question is whether GSC had a genuine a-life system in the game, but shat their pants and removed it right before launch because it made the game too unstable--especially on Little Timmy's Xbox--and replaced that real system with this scripted spawn garbage. I think this is probably the case. So maybe they will re-add their genuine a-life to the game once it's patched enough to be stable.

Personally, I'm not really feeling the vibe of the game. As randir14 just pointed out here, you can't even tell what faction the NPCs are part of. Even at the start of the game, when you get attacked by a Military squad, I was like "what the fuck, these guys are Military?" They just look like Loners. Why are they not wearing uniforms?? Nothing at all in their appearance tells you that they're military, and it's little things like this that really create the sense of a world with factions. Why would GSC remove the distinct faction styles in this way? I think it's because they suck now. The game is pretty and I'm sure the world has a lot of interesting things in it, but it distinctly doesn't feel like a real Stalker game, and the ways in which it doesn't feel that way are ways which would have been very easy for the designers to remedy. It just feels to me like these developers who work for GSC didn't fully understand the soul of the original games--which most of the fanmade mods have understood well and even improved upon--and did not care to attempt to recreate that soul in a way which honors it more than they honor their semi-woke Ukie selves.

 

[Gerrard]

First the mutants and npc fights are each scripted with elements from the script directory in the games root folder so it is by no definition an dynamic event."

What a retarded take. You think the """ALife""" in the original games wasn't made out of fucking scripts? Do you think it was a neural network or something?

 

[Mercatroid]

First the mutants and npc fights are each scripted with elements from the script directory in the games root folder so it is by no definition an dynamic event."

What a retarded take. You think the """ALife""" in the original games wasn't made out of fucking scripts? Do you think it was a neural network or something?

You must be kidding. The only scripted fights in SHoC are the ones that happen as part of the storyline, like when you first enter the Garbage and talk to Bes or when the military attacks when you leave the labs. All other conflicts in the game are emergent events that play out based on interactions between individual NPC AI. But Stalker 2 literally loads entire scripted fights between different groups into the world at random, rather than allowing the bots to act independently. Keep seething and spitting all over yourself and typing curse words, though. "Neural network," LOL.

 

[Brickfrog]

lmfao this guy

 

[Crispy]

God help him if he ever updates his graphics drivers.

 

[Gerrard]

First the mutants and npc fights are each scripted with elements from the script directory in the games root folder so it is by no definition an dynamic event."

What a retarded take. You think the """ALife""" in the original games wasn't made out of fucking scripts? Do you think it was a neural network or something?

You must be kidding. The only scripted fights in SHoC are the ones that happen as part of the storyline, like when you first enter the Garbage and talk to Bes or when the military attacks when you leave the labs. All other conflicts in the game are emergent events that play out based on interactions between individual NPC AI. But Stalker 2 literally loads entire scripted fights between different groups into the world at random, rather than allowing the bots to act independently. Keep seething and spitting all over yourself and typing curse words, though. "Neural network," LOL.

Literal 80IQ specimen right here.

 

[AlwaysBrotoMen]

Hmm i thought i can kill any person in stalker 2. But seems I cannot do such things. So much for C&C in this game.

 

[Jenkem]

 

[AlwaysBrotoMen]

The game is irritating - Talk to our Boss Talk to our BOSS But your fucking boss is located in some garbage shit

 

[Crispy]

I'm reading more and more reports that the Steam version is running flawlessly while the Game Pass version suffers from these stuttering issues.

I'm tempted to try the Steam version and just refund it if it's bullshit.

 

[AlwaysBrotoMen]

Fix :
If you are having problems with stutters and quick lag & fps drop, I highly recommend using my solution. It will make your game smooth with ~stable fps, it worked for me. No stutters, no fps drops, smooth gameplay.

1. Find S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl shortcut (usually on the desktop)
2. Click Mouse right button to open shortcut properties
3. In shortcut properties we see shortcut section with game icon, now you should find "Target" with "game location path"
4. You need to add this command after the "game location path" by pressing the space bar
5. It should look like this "game location path" -xgeshadercompile -nothreadtimeout -NoVerifyGC" (You can also add -dx11, is make the game more stable, but it will disable Nvidia FrameGen and DLSS, but will remain FSR)
6. Click "Apply", and close. Enjoy game without Stutter & FPS drops

FIX Stutter & Lag - Second Method
If the previous method did not help you, use this one. For the Steam version: %localappdata%\Stalker2\Saved\Config\Windows

1) Open Engine.ini
2) Backup original (Clone original Engine.ini to desktop)
3) Open Engine.ini, and paste this:

[SystemSettings]
r.Streaming.PoolSize=12288 ; Only for 16GB VRAM. For 12GB use 9216, for 8GB use 6144, for 6GB use 4608, for 4GB use 3072
niagara.CreateShadersOnLoad=1
r.OneFrameThreadLag=0
r.TemporalAACurrentFrameWeight=0.15
r.TemporalAASamples=8
r.TemporalAASharpness=0.9
r.Tonemapper.Sharpen=0.8
r.RHICmdBypass=0
r.GPUCrashDebugging=0
r.AllowMultiThreadedShaderCreation=1
r.TextureStreaming.MinTextureResidentMipCount=7
r.Streaming.HLODStrategy=2
r.Streaming.LimitPoolSizeToVRAM=1
r.Streaming.MipBias=0
r.RenderTargetPoolMin=400
r.GTSyncType=1
r.EarlyZPass=2
r.AllowOcclusionQueries=1
r.GBufferFormats=3
r.AsyncCompute=1
r.UseAsyncShaderPrecompilation=1
r.Streaming.DefragDynamicBounds=1
r.Streaming.UseAllMips=1
D3D12.MaximumFrameLatency=3
D3D12.AsyncDeferredDeletion=1
D3D12.AFRUseFramePacing=1
D3D11.MaximumFrameLatency=3
D3D11.AsyncDeferredDeletion=1
D3D11.AFRUseFramePacing=1
FX.AllowAsyncTick=1
FX.BatchAsync=1
FX.BatchAsyncBatchSize=8
FX.EarlyScheduleAsync=1
AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdates=1

[ShaderCompiler]
bAllowAsynchronousShaderCompiling=True
bAllowCompilingThroughWorkerThreads=True
NumUnusedShaderCompilingThreads=1
bAsyncShaderCompileWorkerThreads=True
bEnableOptimizedShaderCompilation=True
MaxShaderJobBatchSize=50
MaxShaderJobs=500

Delete Film Grain and Chromatic Aberration

For the Steam version: %localappdata%\Stalker2\Saved\Config\Windows

1) Open Engine.ini
2) Backup original (Clone original Engine.ini to desktop)
3) Open Engine.ini, and paste this:

[SystemSettings]
r.Tonemapper.GrainQuantization=0
r.FilmGrain=0
r.NT.Lens.ChromaticAberration.Intensity=0
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0


Disabled Ray Tracing and its other components for more FPS

For the Steam version: %localappdata%\Stalker2\Saved\Config\Windows

1) Open Engine.ini
2) Backup original (Clone original Engine.ini to desktop)
3) Open Engine.ini, and paste this:

[SystemSettings]
r.RayTracing=False
r.RayTracing.Shadows=False
r.RayTracing.Reflections=False
r.RayTracing.AmbientOcclusion=False
r.RayTracing.GlobalIllumination=False
r.RayTracing.Lighting=False
r.RayTracing.Translucency=False
r.RayTracing.SkyLight=False
r.Lumen.Reflections=False
r.Lumen.Reflections.HardwareRayTracing=False
r.Lumen.Reflections.ScreenTraces=False
r.Lumen.GlobalIllumination=False
r.Lumen.ScreenProbeGather=False
r.BloomQuality=0

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1643320/discussions/0/4626980689722518820/

 

[ArchAngel]

Someone who is actually playing this tell me, there are puddles in the game, and it seems to be raining all the time, do they actually disappear when it doesn't rain for a time, or are they just part of the textures (and they don't have unique footsteps either lol)?
Because dynamic puddles have been a thing in S1 mods for years. Most of the things I've seen of STALKER 2 so far is an anti-advertisment for Unreal Engine 5.

It seems to rain almost every day so puddles would not disappear.

 

[PanteraNera]

I'm reading more and more reports that the Steam version is running flawlessly while the Game Pass version suffers from these stuttering issues.

I'm tempted to try the Steam version and just refund it if it's bullshit.

I am running the GoG version, it ran flawless but now 6 hours in where I got to get into shelter because of a emission the game started performing really really bad. Like FPS go down to 4 fps, stutters, freezes. I just closed the game and going to restart my system to see if it changes anything.

Before that it ran flawlessly also I have not encountered any frame drops, stutters, freezes, crashes in situations where other people experienced them/what you could see in previews.

I'll let you know after my system restart.

*edit* restarting the system actually fixed it.

 

[kangaxx]

He mentioned the console aesthetics as well then.

Sounds like this will be good in a year or two.

 

[Konjad]

 

[Konjad]

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I gave it a quick shot and haven't encountered any major bugs, but I'll probably upgrade my rig and restart on high difficulty since the performance was in the "smooth but not smooth enough to be comfortable" territory on ~mid settings.

One thing I noticed is the music in the game feels much better compared to trailers -- the early teasers/trailers felt like they took random music from a stock trailer music pack, but here it at least tries to sound like STALKER.

Also, the combat seems pretty lethal even on mid difficulty, which is good.

 

[TheDarkUrge]

The game's gun fights are as fun and gritty as ever, so that's awesome. Very confused why they removed looting mutants though. There's like zero fun in killing them now I'd rather just run away.

 

[ArchAngel]

I followed the main quest to find Squid and got into some hole with the invisible fucker but I got worse gear now than at start of the game (prologue). How are you supposed to kill those fuckers? They move superfast, are invisible, get around you and do way too much damage to tank. And they stand in your face so it is hard to target them. I tried cut off shotgun and starting pistol, put a lot of bullets into their body and fucker would still not die.

Are you supposed to use armor piercing bullets or normal ones vs them?

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I followed the main quest to find Squid and got into some hole with the invisible fucker but I got worse gear now than at start of the game (prologue). How are you supposed to kill those fuckers? They move superfast, are invisible, get around you and do way too much damage to tank. And they stand in your face so it is hard to target them. I tried cut off shotgun and starting pistol, put a lot of bullets into their body and fucker would still not die.

Are you supposed to use armor piercing bullets or normal ones vs them?

You mean the bloodsucker? I found that backing into a narrow area or corner to prevent him from attacking from the side helped. As for shooting him, I watched the ripples on the screen and shot there.

 

[Alienman]

KeighnMcDeath What do you think of the rat hunting technique?

 

[Lyre Mors]

I've played about 8 hours since launch and have honestly had a blast in that time. Sadly there are a few things that are going to make me put it on hold until a little patching has been done.

1. World simulation (A-Life 2.0) and enemy AI does certainly seem to be bugged, at least in some instances. Sometimes everything seems natural and the zone appears to be its normal breathing, living, grotesque, beautiful self. At other times, things kind of seem to just show up. It's just not quite right, whatever is going on. It was enough to keep me satisfied for the time I played, but you can tell something is off the further in you get. AI, likewise, sometimes coordinates well, flanks, and traps you. Human enemies take cover and make interesting maneuvers - about half the time. The other half they seem extremely confused about the world they inhabit. Again, just a bit too off for my liking.

2. Faction gameplay seems haphazardly pasted together at this point. There's no place to check your standing with certain factions, and half the time you're fighting people you come across who really shouldn't have a reason to be attacking you. Bandits are cool with you, then you walk across some military people who open fire. Maybe there's a rhyme and reason I just don't get yet, but it all seems so random, and you have very little to go off of to identify these factions and your relationship to them.

That's about all I can report at the moment. I have a few other minor nitpicks here and there, but ultimately I'm sad that the major two points above are stopping my playthrough right now, because again, I was having a ton of fun through my binge session yesterday. I just feel like if I keep going I'll end up robbing myself of what could be a truly amazing return to the zone, and a magnificent gaming experience all around. I really hope these things get addressed quickly and that I can continue my playthrough soon

 

[ArchAngel]

I followed the main quest to find Squid and got into some hole with the invisible fucker but I got worse gear now than at start of the game (prologue). How are you supposed to kill those fuckers? They move superfast, are invisible, get around you and do way too much damage to tank. And they stand in your face so it is hard to target them. I tried cut off shotgun and starting pistol, put a lot of bullets into their body and fucker would still not die.

Are you supposed to use armor piercing bullets or normal ones vs them?

You mean the bloodsucker? I found that backing into a narrow area or corner to prevent him from attacking from the side helped. As for shooting him, I watched the ripples on the screen and shot there.

I tried that, then he just stands next to me and kills me in two hits. And ripples in air are hard to see when underground in badly lighted area. Also he moves super fast.
I do not have a problem hitting him, but he seems to be able to survive a lot and I do not have access to good weapons. I got sawed off shotgun, starting pistol , viper smg (but not a lot of bullets) and that rifle with scope you find on top of the tower when doing the sidequest.

Also it is irritating how best loot your find from killed enemies are damaged weapons and you cannot sell them and you cannot fix them without paying more for it than what you would get for selling them.
There should be a way to do something with them, strip them for useful parts or something.

 

[Dedicated_Dark]

I have tested "A-Life 2.0" for 10 hours straight, 3 different starts, lots of saves/reloads and experimenting with open world​

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2


I want to state that A-Life as we know of does not exist in this game.
Let me start by saying, this is not a doompost. I am not trying to discourage people to stop playing. If you are enjoying your time with the game, that is great. Hope you keep having a great time with it. I also really like some aspects of it like the map and design.

I am however, not really happy with the state of the game. As I have written to this subreddit before, I am okay with shitty performance or bugs. Sadly, this has become the industry standard, and probably won't be changing anytime soon. I am also okay with them because I have a good rig and also bugs/performance get fixed some time later by official patches or some mods.

What boggles my mind is, a fundamental feature which created so many unforgetable experiences for us, does not work, or in this case, it does not exist as we we were expecting it to be.

What is the true Stalker experience? Mods? OGs? S2? For me, the real Stalker experience is the zone. No matter which game/mod you are playing, SoC, CS, CoP, Misery, Anomaly, GAMMA... etc., the zone gives you a feeling that you are inside a world which is bigger than you and does not revolve around you...

https://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/1gx1sds/i_have_tested_alife_20_for_10_hours_straight_3/