STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl Mod Thread

[anus_pounder]

So is Misery the must-have mod for CoP? Any other good mods for CoP?

 

[skacky]

How does Lost Alpha compare to Misery in terms of difficulty, particularly resource scarcity?

Lost Alpha is piss easy, most notably because of the absolutely pants-on-head retarded AI and the lack of A-Life. It's similar to vanilla, but at least vanilla had a decent AI and a decent A-Life.

So is Misery the must-have mod for CoP? Any other good mods for CoP?

I wouldn't say must-have, but it's one of the best. Sigerous Mod (SGM) is another one worth checking out just for the sheer amount of content it adds.

 

[anus_pounder]

How does Lost Alpha compare to Misery in terms of difficulty, particularly resource scarcity?

Lost Alpha is piss easy, most notably because of the absolutely pants-on-head retarded AI and the lack of A-Life. It's similar to vanilla.

So is Misery the must-have mod for CoP? Any other good mods for CoP?

I wouldn't say must-have, but it's one of the best. Sigerous Mod (SGM) is another one worth checking out just for the sheer amount of content it adds.

How stable are misery and this SGM?

 

[Baron Dupek]

There is few groups of mods for CoP:
-based on Misery
-based on SGM
-based on Dezerter (which is SGM with some tweaks)
-modpacks

There is also Dead City.

How stable are misery and this SGM?

Well, you can play and beat them, crashes and similiar are really rare and mostly because mess with GameData directory or hardware problems.
Mods based on SGM or Misery is different story.
Like my latest try with SGM Geonezis - 100h with no problem but trying freeplay with new content and crashed in second quest.

 

[skacky]

Misery is relatively stable all things considered, but it can crash sometimes. SGM 2.1 has less content than 2.2 but it's way more stable, crashing very very rarely.

 

[Invictus]

Skacky you think that the AI can be patched in Lost Alpha or they actualy meant it to be that way?

 

[skacky]

I have no idea if they wanted it that way. Some of the missions in the game (like the Bandit Jacket mission) required them to 'deactivate' their AI or something, and if you decide to shoot them they don't react or if they do they're already long dead. Mutant AI is also really stupid. There are already some AI fixes around but I didn't try them. Alundaio (one of the guys who worked on MSO and who made Pripyat Reborn) made one.

 

[dnf]

Gangrape in Bar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShoOjLj_euQ

Go ahead, call that emergent gameplay

 

[Invictus]

Started lost alpha today and boy is it gorgeous
It still chugs in good ol Xengine fashion with middle range settings on my 660 GTX which had butter smooth FPS with almost all games at the highest setting but still very managable
The AI seems good enough for me with army soldiers on the borders reacting to my presence and gunning after me right at the start of the game, I gave them a well ainmed granade and now I have a pretty good machine gun, some bullets and some cash from selling their gear before the bandit warehouse mission :D

 

[Ivan]

Should I take the plunge and play the game now? Is it stable enough? Or what for the awesome mods and updates to come?

 

[Baron Dupek]

Should I take the plunge and play the game now? Is it stable enough? Or what for the awesome mods and updates to come?

Yes it's stable since 1.0005 patch. Few years. Good time to wake up.
Mods?
Shadow of Chernobyl - use ZRP (Zone Restoration Project)
Clear Sky - none
CoP - none.

Just avoid Complete mod series and you should be fine.

EDIT
Luckly, SGM2.0 & Misery1.0 for CoP was stable and I can play on the new maps in freeplay. Hooway.

Edit2 seems like there is mods series called Shocker, even for Clear Sky. Which turn game into more RPG elemets - XP, perks, leveluping. And guns work different. Should reinstall Cs.

 

[skacky]

Actually using SRP (Sky Reclamation Project) for Clear Sky is a good idea. Vanilla is a bugfest.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Thanks for reminding, always forgot that name for CS version of ZRP.

 

[Invictus]

Besides SRP are there any good mods for Clear Sky? It is clearly the ugly duckling in the Stalker series and its a shame
I read somewhere there was a mod that fixed the faction mechanics and reintroduced some features from pripyat too

 

[skacky]

There's The Faction Wars but it completely erases the storyline and is more or less a freeplay mod. It's pretty badass.

 

[DraQ]

There's The Faction Wars but it completely erases the storyline

Sounds like an improvement already.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Har har har....
[checking the mod database]
Let's see... Shocker mod, CS 2014, Zmeelov and OGSM.
For new adventures - R.e.b.o.r.n. and his sequel.
And there is Complete but nobody should bother with this shit

Despite having in progress a playthrough of SGM&Misery I decided to install Shocker mod for Clear Sky. Saw some videos and it looks promising. More RPG elements, different feeling while shooting, some AI tweaks etc.

Edit
So time to visit another lab - x18. Wonder what differences are...

And for some reason jumping in that location teleport you to the entrance.

 

[Invictus]

Clear Sky 2014 looks very promising but I think I will try SRP first; seems the main issue with CS for me (besides the design choices) is the bugfest. The graphics are fine so as long as I don't get the crashes and corrupted saves I am fine

 

[Darklife]

Seeing as my exams are nearly upon me I have the time to procrastinate and fired up Lost Alpha again. Last time I only got to Agroprom and was enjoying the game, so I thought that with the newest patch it would be even better. It seems my optimism was misplaced.

First of all, the damn thing crashes all the time now. Whereas previously it only happened with the Contacts tab, now it's everywhere. I think this occurs about 4-5 times an hour on average, makes for a great hate playthrough, not a very good normal one.
I liked the redesigned maps, but it seems they went overboard. Some of them just seem lifeless and underutilized, all of those pretty and interesting set pieces just go to waste. Oh and my God is there a shit ton of running around aimlessly. Some of the level transitions also make no sense whatsoever, especially in Bar. As do the level designs themselves. When I finally got out of that level I felt like I had just escaped from the Labirynth.

The story seems to be of a very minimalist nature, nobody really has that much to say about the Zone and big reveals like finding Streloks stash are now relegated to mere footnotes in the PDA. Also, it seems that Dezowave still thinks that pixel hunting and running through the same locations are great gameplay elements.
I've heard that it goes pants on retarded later on, with Illuminati and what not, but I've yet to get there.

The weather system is absolutely fucked. If I'm not being bombarded with sun shafts as if the very sun was exploding I'm bumbling around in pitch black darkness, even with a flashlight and night vision. The contrasts are also all messed up because of this. I live in the same geographic region as Chernobyl and I don't receall having to turn on my flashlight inside buildings, because its so sunny outside. Of course none of these visual problems affect the AI at all, who retain their sniper like accuracy even in total darkness, when they're the only ones running around with flashlights.

The new monsters are a very mixed bag. I actually like the rats as they have a certain surreal quality, but the rest of the cut content is terrible. Zombies serve no purpose whatsoever. The only thing they endanger is your arms budget.

Izloms - I can barely believe that GSC actually designed these things. It's hard to be terrified of fighting something that looks like a graphical glitch.
Karliks - I only saw one midget and the guy was handled pretty well. Some stalker said he saw one and it chased him out of his house. As I was exploring the area I chanced upon the same house and found that exact same midget. Neat.

Maybe all these additions wouldn't fit so out of place if they were given appropriate exposition or something, like the Karlik. The encyclopedia says that Izloms tell tales about the zone of you don't kill them. They must not have been very talkative when I saw them, as a whole horde of them just lunged at me, accompanied by a Chimera of all things.

This, coupled with the level design creates a kind of schizophrenic atmosphere in the game. On the one hand it encourages you to slowly explore these gigantic locations, look for clues and all that. On the other it makes them devoid of anything to do and simply fills them with monster freakshow galleries . This not only ruins any sense of atmosphere, but also marginalizes the mutants themselves as they become a mere tourist attraction to tick off the list.

It's obvious these guys meant well, but their lack of experience really shows. On a technical level everything is great, but there seems to be no sensibility behind it all, no overriding vision. Well, at least all Of GSCs once controversial choices seem a lot clearer now.

 

[DraQ]

The new monsters are a very mixed bag. I actually like the rata as they have a certain surreal quality, but the rest of the cut content is terrible. Zombies serve no purpose whatsoever. The only thing they endanger is your arms budget.

Izloms - I can barely believe that GSC actually designed these things. It's hard to be terrified of fighting something that looks like a graphical glitch.
Karliks - I only saw one midget and the guy was handled pretty well. Some stalker said he saw one and it chased him out of his house. As I was exploring the area I chanced upon the same house and found that exact same midget. Neat.

Maybe all these additions wouldn't fit so out of place if they were given appropriate exposition or something, like the Karlik. The encyclopedia says that Izloms tell tales about the zone of you don't kill them. They must not have been very talkative when I saw them, as a whole horde of them just lunged at me, accompanied by a Chimera of all things.

This, coupled with the level design creates a kind of schizophrenic atmosphere in the game. On the one hand it encourages you to slowly explore these gigantic locations, look for clues and all that. On the other it makes them devoid of anything to do and simply fills them with monster freakshow galleries . This not only ruins any sense of atmosphere, but also marginalizes the mutants themselves as they become a mere tourist attraction to tick off the list.

It's obvious these guys meant well, but their lack of experience really shows. On a technical level everything is great, but there seems to be no sensibility behind it all, no overriding vision. Well, at least all Of GSCs once controversial choices seem a lot clearer now.

ITZ like that thing DraQ was talking about.

 

[Zewp]

On another forum one of the developers bitched at me when I said the game is good, but the new zombies felt a bit out of place. He was also very annoyed because I called them modders, and not stand-alone game developers.

 

[Cazzeris]

On another forum one of the developers bitched at me when I said the game is good, but the new zombies felt a bit out of place. He was also very annoyed because I called them modders, and not stand-alone game developers.

Well, as far as I know; RPG Codex was created for cases like yours.

 

[skacky]

On another forum one of the developers bitched at me when I said the game is good, but the new zombies felt a bit out of place. He was also very annoyed because I called them modders, and not stand-alone game developers.

Let me guess, that guy was Vintar?

 

[Darklife]

These guys must have been delusional to think that they could release it as a stand alone game. Most of these issues are the result of design choices, not time pressure.

In Dark Valley now. It sure is a lot less terrifying when it feels like I'm at the beach.

One more example of sloppy plot structure. I was infilitrating the Freedom base for the documents and I saw the room with them filled to the brim with ammunition and weapons, obviously something was going to happen. When I picked up the documents, a message popped up out of the blue that the Army has come to liquidate the Monolith. No helicopter sounds, no loudspeaker messages nothing. Just a message and I assume a couple of soldiers spawning in the middle of the compound. Terrible.

 

[Zewp]

Let me guess, that guy was Vintar?

How did you know?