STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl Mod Thread

[jebsmoker]

Why does OGSE/OGSR still run like shit, even on a 10-core @ 5GHz cpu? Seriously, even the 64-bit versions have hideous, horrible microstutter. Looking forward to Stalker 2 because even if all is lost and it turns out to be pure popamole puke, it will run smoothly, at least smoothly compared to OGSE. Or am I missing a video setting that causes those microstutters in OGSE/OGSR? I play at Maximum detail settings but even at the lowest possible graphics options, I still get those microstutters, sometimes just turning with a bush in front of me causes a burp. I have a dream: that we someday get a true updated engine for Stalker instead of a 64-bit hack, and it has toolsets and is moddable, and people take all these mods and redo and make them great again. But you know what happened to the last guy who said "I have a dream..." so... there ya go.

playing ogse/r with maxed out grass is a terrible idea, and don't enable grass shadows

 

[Tacgnol]

Why does OGSE/OGSR still run like shit, even on a 10-core @ 5GHz cpu? Seriously, even the 64-bit versions have hideous, horrible microstutter. Looking forward to Stalker 2 because even if all is lost and it turns out to be pure popamole puke, it will run smoothly, at least smoothly compared to OGSE. Or am I missing a video setting that causes those microstutters in OGSE/OGSR? I play at Maximum detail settings but even at the lowest possible graphics options, I still get those microstutters, sometimes just turning with a bush in front of me causes a burp. I have a dream: that we someday get a true updated engine for Stalker instead of a 64-bit hack, and it has toolsets and is moddable, and people take all these mods and redo and make them great again. But you know what happened to the last guy who said "I have a dream..." so... there ya go.

If you've got a good machine, sometimes you can cut stuttering by increasing the switch_distance in the alife.ltx file.

I think OGSE/R defaults to 150, you could try setting it to 300.

It'll probably cut stutter but increase CPU load though, so be warned.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

So what's the definitive open world meme way to play STALKER right now? I've done CoC and Anomalmeme a few times, but it's been awhile since I've played.

Road To The North sucks less, apparently.

It has a beautiful animated menu screen with the clouds and the sky, I noticed. Among the best I've ever seen from modders, with an actually correct widescreen aspect ratio instead of stretched and designed for ancient 4:3 potato displays. I played a few minutes this morning and it started me off in Clear Sky's starting area which meant, of course, that it ran like vomit through a crazy straw, at least with DX11. I'm intrigued by the idea that it's a more streamlined, no-nonsense variation on Anomaly so hope to play it someday. I'll keep it in my game archives until then.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Why does OGSE/OGSR still run like shit, even on a 10-core @ 5GHz cpu? Seriously, even the 64-bit versions have hideous, horrible microstutter. Looking forward to Stalker 2 because even if all is lost and it turns out to be pure popamole puke, it will run smoothly, at least smoothly compared to OGSE. Or am I missing a video setting that causes those microstutters in OGSE/OGSR? I play at Maximum detail settings but even at the lowest possible graphics options, I still get those microstutters, sometimes just turning with a bush in front of me causes a burp. I have a dream: that we someday get a true updated engine for Stalker instead of a 64-bit hack, and it has toolsets and is moddable, and people take all these mods and redo and make them great again. But you know what happened to the last guy who said "I have a dream..." so... there ya go.

If you've got a good machine, sometimes you can cut stuttering by increasing the switch_distance in the alife.ltx file.

I think OGSE/R defaults to 150, you could try setting it to 300.

It'll probably cut stutter but increase CPU load though, so be warned.

Thanks, boys (you and fedsmoker). I'll try that. Been obsessed lately with trying to get several different 64-bit builds of this to run smooth on my new rig but no joy. Microstutter is worse than normal bottleneck stutter to me because bottleneck stutter can at least be fixed. Microstutter is frequently an engine problem not supporting a modder's grandiose vision. I get this feeling that OGSE (the worst offender, I've found... Memories of the Zone has some microstutter but still feels fairly smooth and playable) would play like ass even on a liquid nitrogen-cooled CPU running at 10 GHz with an SLI array of four 3090 gpus.

 

[Tacgnol]

Why does OGSE/OGSR still run like shit, even on a 10-core @ 5GHz cpu? Seriously, even the 64-bit versions have hideous, horrible microstutter. Looking forward to Stalker 2 because even if all is lost and it turns out to be pure popamole puke, it will run smoothly, at least smoothly compared to OGSE. Or am I missing a video setting that causes those microstutters in OGSE/OGSR? I play at Maximum detail settings but even at the lowest possible graphics options, I still get those microstutters, sometimes just turning with a bush in front of me causes a burp. I have a dream: that we someday get a true updated engine for Stalker instead of a 64-bit hack, and it has toolsets and is moddable, and people take all these mods and redo and make them great again. But you know what happened to the last guy who said "I have a dream..." so... there ya go.

If you've got a good machine, sometimes you can cut stuttering by increasing the switch_distance in the alife.ltx file.

I think OGSE/R defaults to 150, you could try setting it to 300.

It'll probably cut stutter but increase CPU load though, so be warned.

Thanks, boys (you and fedsmoker). I'll try that. Been obsessed lately with trying to get several different 64-bit builds of this to run smooth on my new rig but no joy. Microstutter is worse than normal bottleneck stutter to me because bottleneck stutter can at least be fixed. Microstutter is frequently an engine problem not supporting a modder's grandiose vision. I get this feeling that OGSE (the worst offender, I've found... Memories of the Zone has some microstutter but still feels fairly smooth and playable) would play like ass even on a liquid nitrogen-cooled CPU running at 10 GHz with an SLI array of four 3090 gpus.

No worries, give it a go. Conventional wisdom back in the day was always to reduce the switch_distance to improve fps, but as hardware has got better a lot of people have found it reduces stuttering to increase it with bigger mods.

It causes AI to be active over a larger radius, which reduces AI activation as you move across the map at the cost of more AI being active at a time (increasing CPU load).

The other setting some people have some success with is to reduce objects_per_update, but I'd see if increasing switch_distance has any impact first.

 

[Stavrophore]

Do you have amd gpu?

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Do you have amd gpu?

No, Nvida GTX 1070.

 

[Tweed]

Does Road to the North have any additional mods or addons or forks is it done as it sits?

 

[jebsmoker]

Does Road to the North have any additional mods or addons or forks is it done as it sits?

road to the north is just coc with sprinkles on top. play a custom story mod like fotograf or secret trails 2 if you want something different

 

[Baron Dupek]

Does Road to the North have any additional mods or addons or forks is it done as it sits?

It have The Armed Zone weapon pack, before that it was exclusive for Misery 2.1+
Quite decent set tbh, and have some nice hand canon revolvers, one of them was ported from Metro series.

 

[Tweed]

road to the north is just coc with sprinkles on top. play a custom story mod like fotograf or secret trails 2 if you want something different

Actually I'm more interested in open world, but with lots and lots of suffering. Loads of gun porn and stuff on top would be an added plus.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Why does OGSE/OGSR still run like shit, even on a 10-core @ 5GHz cpu? Seriously, even the 64-bit versions have hideous, horrible microstutter. Looking forward to Stalker 2 because even if all is lost and it turns out to be pure popamole puke, it will run smoothly, at least smoothly compared to OGSE. Or am I missing a video setting that causes those microstutters in OGSE/OGSR? I play at Maximum detail settings but even at the lowest possible graphics options, I still get those microstutters, sometimes just turning with a bush in front of me causes a burp. I have a dream: that we someday get a true updated engine for Stalker instead of a 64-bit hack, and it has toolsets and is moddable, and people take all these mods and redo and make them great again. But you know what happened to the last guy who said "I have a dream..." so... there ya go.

If you've got a good machine, sometimes you can cut stuttering by increasing the switch_distance in the alife.ltx file.

I think OGSE/R defaults to 150, you could try setting it to 300.

It'll probably cut stutter but increase CPU load though, so be warned.

Thanks, boys (you and fedsmoker). I'll try that. Been obsessed lately with trying to get several different 64-bit builds of this to run smooth on my new rig but no joy. Microstutter is worse than normal bottleneck stutter to me because bottleneck stutter can at least be fixed. Microstutter is frequently an engine problem not supporting a modder's grandiose vision. I get this feeling that OGSE (the worst offender, I've found... Memories of the Zone has some microstutter but still feels fairly smooth and playable) would play like ass even on a liquid nitrogen-cooled CPU running at 10 GHz with an SLI array of four 3090 gpus.

No worries, give it a go. Conventional wisdom back in the day was always to reduce the switch_distance to improve fps, but as hardware has got better a lot of people have found it reduces stuttering to increase it with bigger mods.

It causes AI to be active over a larger radius, which reduces AI activation as you move across the map at the cost of more AI being active at a time (increasing CPU load).

The other setting some people have some success with is to reduce objects_per_update, but I'd see if increasing switch_distance has any impact first.

Oddly enough, my build of OGSR (the 64-bit version that came out after boredgunner's) doesn't have an alife.ltx file, but I did notice that RTTN not only had an alife.ltx file but its switch_distance was already at 300 (actually 350) and the engine still runs like shit with more microstutters than you can shake a stick dipped in shit at. I think I just have to deprogram myself if I want to play big Stalker mods and accept that this is likely more or less an engine limitation cracking under heavy modding where if even the most insignificant of A-life so much as farts 3 maps over, there's a micro-hitch in framerates (I noticed that when there's a flash of lightning in OGSR there's a tiny stutter; most players probably wouldn't bat an eyelash but it's enough to drive me absolutely cray cray when you add it all up because I seem to be more hypersensitive to microstutters than other kinds of stutter)..

 

[Taim]

I remember having a pretty smooth time on OGSR on my GTX 1060 a while back.

Someone mentioned it above - not sure if you've looked into it - but definitely do not just blindly shove all the sliders to the right.

Grass shadows and grass draw distance in particular stay at low to mid ranges or performance TANKS - for example.

As cool as the OGSR engine is, it's still a modder's effort - which means weird shit like having sliders where your MAXIMUM preset only goes up to like 20% to the right, and the remaining 80% of the settings is nigh unplayable.

My settings for those values were:

Grass density: 0.20
Grass distance: 165
Grass shadows: Off

Hope you get it to work. While I question almost everything else about Boredgunner/Joker - playing with his version of OGSR was one of the best experiences I've had with the game.

Which reminds me - someone else came around and repacked it and (supposedly) kept it much more true to the OGSE/OGSR mods original balance.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/ogsr-mod-repack-from-serega-lus-with-english-patch

I've heard the original balance is terrible - with a broken economy and pretty bad bullet sponge syndrome. Has anyone actually tried this yet?

 

[Tweed]

I tried out that one new CoC compilation some anon did on /sg/ and it was great right up until I went to the bar where it crashed. A lot of these mods always seem to crash at the bar and this is runnong on old x32 so that might be part of it.
Really, what I think I'm looking for in an open world-maymay full of suffering where the game plays like Hideous Destructor and as many extra guns, armors, artifacts, and whatever I can cram into it to keep my occupied. Fun quests and story is entirely optional, I want to start rock bottom and rise to the top.
Anyone know a good base to start with and mods to add on top?

 

[Fenix]

 

[Tweed]

I gave up and installed Provak's Anomaly because it has tons and tons of shit in it and I'm too lazy to sort through weeks worth mods and guides to find exactly what I want. So far it's pretty good.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I remember having a pretty smooth time on OGSR on my GTX 1060 a while back.

Someone mentioned it above - not sure if you've looked into it - but definitely do not just blindly shove all the sliders to the right.

Grass shadows and grass draw distance in particular stay at low to mid ranges or performance TANKS - for example.

As cool as the OGSR engine is, it's still a modder's effort - which means weird shit like having sliders where your MAXIMUM preset only goes up to like 20% to the right, and the remaining 80% of the settings is nigh unplayable.

My settings for those values were:

Grass density: 0.20
Grass distance: 165
Grass shadows: Off

Hope you get it to work. While I question almost everything else about Boredgunner/Joker - playing with his version of OGSR was one of the best experiences I've had with the game.

Which reminds me - someone else came around and repacked it and (supposedly) kept it much more true to the OGSE/OGSR mods original balance.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/ogsr-mod-repack-from-serega-lus-with-english-patch

I've heard the original balance is terrible - with a broken economy and pretty bad bullet sponge syndrome. Has anyone actually tried this yet?

There's also the possibility that it's an nvidia driver issue. I'm using the latest driver (or within 3 builds of the latest) so I might have just lost the OGSE/R lottery there because I don't remember it being as bad in the microstutter dept either when I initially tested OGSE when I first got my GTX 1070 about 5 years ago. Oh, sure, cpu-intensive Stalker mods never ran completely smooth like the Metro games but I don't remember it being this bad. However, I don't want to be like those Guru3D goons who change drivers as often as they change skivvies so they can hope to benchmark 3-4 FPS higher but I'll certainly keep it in mind next time I play Stalker mods after updating drivers.

 

[Tweed]

I guess a lot of people don't like Provak's Modpack mostly because he tried to monetize it somehow. Frankly I don't give a dead moose's last shit about that, I just wanted gun porn and some improvements. So far it's still good, though some weapon models look like ass compared to others, but I'm not surprised.

 

[Utgard-Loki]

install anomaly
play for 20 minutes
15 of which are hovering over items in inventory
uninstall anomaly

does anyone actually enjoy this? sifting through 50 different ammo types, books and edibles to find out what's worth taking?

 

[randir14]

install anomaly
play for 20 minutes
15 of which are hovering over items in inventory
uninstall anomaly

does anyone actually enjoy this? sifting through 50 different ammo types, books and edibles to find out what's worth taking?

A lot of people like to play Stalker as a survival sim. If you think Anomaly is bad you should've seen Misery.

 

[Taim]

install anomaly
play for 20 minutes
15 of which are hovering over items in inventory
uninstall anomaly

does anyone actually enjoy this? sifting through 50 different ammo types, books and edibles to find out what's worth taking?

It's really a shame that this is where the English modding scene has rallied around.

Doubly so because it's an incredibly well-polished mod with a great engine and good weapons/animations.

It seems it's really only the Russian modders who want to do anything other than murder-hobo gun-porn simulator.

I would kill for something in the anomaly engine that actually has a decent story, good progression, and actually encourages/rewards exploring all the amazing maps.

I remember playing anomaly on survivalist mode and finding nothing but soiled underwear in every box I opened - if i found anything at all. I understand the concept of scarcity but that is not the right way to go about it.


I remember playing misery back in the day and while it had a ton of problems at least it was based on a game with an actual plot. It also had hand-placed stashes everywhere so it was fun to explore (because you often NEEDED those resources).

I probably actually enjoyed misery more than Anomaly tbh - and this is the 2.0+ version that everyone hates.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Wasn't Anomaly made by Russians though? Pretty sure it was a Russian team who made Misery and later anomaly.
Yeah Anomaly on survivalist is pretty silly. Especially when it comes to ammo. There are missions where they basically throw you into a gauntlet of enemies and they drop something like a bullet each, so you run out of ammo.
Crafting makes no sense. Why does it take 2 broken flashlights to make a headlamp? Shouldn't I be repairing broken headlamps?

 

[Tweed]

Anomalmeme is one of the few open world games with "set your own goals hurr" that I actually enjoy, the other being Kenshi. With Anomaly you need to go in and tweak the settings to get the right balance of suffering that isn't a retarded grindfest.
And yeah, crafting is retarded.

 

[Tacgnol]

Anomaly can be fun in small doses. If you put more than a few hours into a single playthrough it starts to get really tedious.

I wish someone would make a proper story mod on the Anomaly base, rather than the generic storylines in the base mod.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Anomaly can be fun in small doses. If you put more than a few hours into a single playthrough it starts to get really tedious.

I wish someone would make a proper story mod on the Anomaly base, rather than the generic storylines in the base mod.

They did though. They added Road to the North to it, as well as questlines introducing Sin and the UNISG.