[Cerberus_e]

Yes, the game looks better on your PC Damien On my PC it's not very atmospheric... then again I haven't explored a lot yet, and it hasn't been night yet. And I'm still in the introduction phase of the game.

Micki!, on Apr 1 2007, 04:46 PM, said:

The fact that i can't sprint while strafing isn't that bad...feels more realistic actually, which fits to the game... Being able to sprint in full speed in any direction, as in Doom, would seem kinda strange in a game like Stalker... (well, maybe not ANY direction, but sprinting forward only still fits very well imo)

Yes but you also need compensation for not being able to turn your head like in real life.
In real life you can't sprint while strafing, no, but you can look left while sprinting forward. So in the game they eliminated strafing & sprinting at the same time, but now I can't look left while running forward. In other games I can just sprint while strafing to the right so my view is turned left (so it comes down to the same as running forward while looking sideways).
So in fact NOT disabling sprint strafing makes it more realistic I hope you know what I mean.

Micki!, on Apr 1 2007, 04:46 PM, said:

i reckon that it doesn't work on every objctive though, i think... i'm not really sure actually, i forgot

It works with objectives which have a special "go to" button so the mini-map goes to that point.

Micki!, on Apr 1 2007, 04:46 PM, said:

- That's normal... after time, "reinforcements" appear, so that the place will never get empty of stalkers...

So they actually spawn at the border of the zone? So in theory if you're lucky to stand on the right place at the border and kept waiting there you'd see them entering? It's not like they respawn in the factory itself or so?

Micki!, on Apr 1 2007, 04:46 PM, said:

Do you like the game..? do you use artifacts at all..?

Seeing as I only found one, and if I apply that artifact it gives me +5 radiation so the radiation meter goes up while my health goes down, I don't use it, no I'd rather sell that one

But I'm not far because I haven't had much time to start playing. Also, it's hard to play this game seriously as I'm contantly hesitating whether I should wait for another patch until more bugs are fixed. is the quicksave/noise bug fixed? I don't hear a noise when quickloading, but I haven't tried it near an enemy... I should.

Micki!, on Apr 1 2007, 04:46 PM, said:

What is your style of playing atm..? (killing everyone, helping all, joining some faction..? neutral or being an evil traitor to all etc)

Helping all, I want to complete as much objectives as possible I probably won't be able to complete them all since I'd have to find them all first.
But since I'm not far I haven't even had the choice to join a faction.
Would you be able to join the bandits? They're auytomatically marked red (enemies) since the beginning.

[Micki!]

Radiation is only an issue with some artifacts, not all...
Some even gives you resistance against radiation, so when you got a cool artifact, which unfortunately gives alot of radiation, it's cool to use it together with another artifact that gives resistance against it...

My favorite artifact is "Soul"... it has (literally) kept me alive for a long time..!

You should know, that sometimes NPC's can go into accidents, and get killed in combat (mutants, enemies, etc) which means you won't be able to accomplish any of the missions which this particular NPC had for you..!

BTW
If you find a scope, or a grenade launcher (attachable on rifles), keep them... you never know when you'd want to upgrade your weapon with these things...

I kept some, and now i have a modified weapon with both scope, and grenade launcher... Great addition to the game i think... feels good with this weapon being so powerfull now

Saying all this shouldn't really spoil anything, it's just basic knowledge that you'd know sooner or later anyways...

About enemies spawning...
From what i've seen, new enemies appear form the border of somewhere both the ones you can enter, and the ones that you can't (invisible walls)...

They appear from a distance though... form a distance of which is beyond of where you can reach... so you won't see them appearing out of thin air... they'll be wlaking around the corner as if they came from "somewhere" instead of "nowhere"... So no big immersion breaker here

PS
Don't know how it is with graphic effects on your card... hard to judge with screenshots... but i can say, form my PC, Thunderstorms are awesome... I hope you get much out of it too... would be a shame if you missed the coolness of this weather effect (and some others too)

[Cerberus_e]

I really like this game now I played an hour or two in a more serious way... I love how you can feel the game is dynamic. Other STALKERS walking around, doing their thing (shooting mutants or attacking the military or so). And it's fun how mutants don't necessarily attack you... it's tense to walk between a few dogs but none of them attacking (though it can happen any moment).
I also needed to get to a person, but when I arrived, his body was lying there Probably eaten by a dog. It was right in front of the tunnel next to the fallen bridge, with all the electro anomalies... I assume he isn't always supposed to be dead, Well I'll see because I'll start the game over now I know how it works and play it seriously Now I only experimented a bit.
I wonder if he'd have given me info on the electro anomalies... since I don't know how to avoid them in the tunnel. Don't tell me how, though!!! I am supposed to find that out myself (if it's even possible)

I probably miss out on a lot of graphivs though... look at the lightning effect:



Ignore the fact the rain is missing on the second screenshot, that's because I took 2 screenshots in a row.

[Damien_Azreal]

Cerb, are you still running the same rig you were a few years ago? Specifically, the same 6600 card?

If so your probably running with static lighting which means your missing all the big effects from the lightning storms. Here are a few screens I've taken during storms...



I have a few more I can upload if you want to see.

I'm thinking about making a video of STALKER... might do that tomorrow after work and upload it so you guys can see.

This was one of the games I built a new rig for... and I'm glad I did. I've got this running maxed... and on my old PC it surely would've been shit.

[Micki!]

The dead guy at the bridge, was actually still alive when i met him...

I saw him die it was the dogs... i could have helped, but i though "me-pistol = 100% Guy-submachine gun 200%" so why doubt this well armed guy couldn't handle some dogs...

Anyways, he fell like a sack of potatoes, and i snagged the machinegun...
Guess i should have helped, but at least i got a nice weapon for watching

Oh well, weapon got replaced later..! i have something MUUUCH better now

[Cerberus_e]

Yes, Damien, I thought of asking for a video of STALKER.
Those screenshots look good... sometimes it's hard to enjoy the game, because I feel like I miss a LOT (graphics can enhance the atmosphere a lot). I appreciate the atmosphere but it's not really overwhelming (like for example in Call of Cthulhu ). It's also annoying how the game hangs for a second every once in a while. Especially annoying in combat but also while exploring since it kills the immersion... does that also happen for you? It does even for Micki! and his supercomputer (when compared to mine... yes, I still have the same computer, and don't plan on upgrading... it's weird a 6600GT can't run DX9 mode well though, especially after all those reviews claiming the graphics are a bit outdated. I don't agree though if I look at screenshots taken on good computers ).

I tried to record a video of the basic gameplay elements for Laffer, but it just can't be done... 1) the framerate is very low when I record videos in this game (compared to other games) and 2) not always what I want happens... when I want to show how mutants don't always attack, they attack me, and when I want to show other STALKERS fighting bandits/military/mutants, I can't find a fight.

PS: Maybe you could record the video at the beginning? Camp/farm/fallen bridge for example. I'm most familiar with those areas so I can really see the difference then.

[Damien_Azreal]

I can walk back to the first area anytime, so yeah I can return there and record some stuff. I'll also try and get some stuff from a few other places. Nothing spoiler wise... I won't record while doing actual missions... just when running around.

Does it hang? Only when i first enter an area. After the area first loads if I try and run anywhere right off it can hang for a second. But after that it plays fine.
I consider myself pretty lucky, I've read from other people with similar PCs that they can't run Dynamic lighting or at high resolutions. I'm getting away with full dynamic lighting, full graphic settings and 1280*960 res.
Getting this kind of performance has really built up my opinions about my ability to build a PC again.

Sorry... babbling. But yeah, I'll get some ingame footage for ya tomorrow Cerb. And for reference my PC specs....

AMD Athlon 64 x2 4600+
2gb Corsair DDR2 800mhz
Nvidia GeForce 7950 GT 512mb

[Cerberus_e]

So you bought a new PC eh? Yes, consider yourself very lucky with full dynamic lighting, this is how the game looks at night for me:



As you can see, it's the exact same as when it's noon, with the only difference being the sun in the sky is gone I guess the difference between day and night looks a bit more beautiful on your PC

[Damien_Azreal]

Yeah, I built myself a new rig about a little over a month ago. Gave my old PC to Bon. I needed something that would be able to play BioShock and Crysis.

[Cerberus_e]

Well I'll probably have to miss out on those games I'll see what the demo gives, I heard a demo will be released before the final version (Crysis). I probably will be able to run those games, but if it's on lowest quality then it looks uglier than games of the previous generation on high quality... (especially low resolution is ugly with those jaggy lines, and with all that detail there will be a lot of those ugly lines). That is the same as "missing out on a game" then in my opinion

Do you have a screenshot of some places in daylight? Your screenshots are all at night so far. I'd like to see the difference... I wonder if you can "feel" if it's morning (blue/white-ish tinted environment), noon (very bright), evening (red-ish tinted environment) or night (dark) in the game, without looking at the time on your PDA? (I don't know if morning is blue/white-ish and evening red-ish in the game, but that's the impression I get in real life )

Also, does the environment change for the four seasons?

PS: Looks like a nice PC if I look at the specs (not that I'm specialist in hardware, but the numbers are high so it's good )... it was costly I assume?
I don't know when I will get a new PC... it probably will take a while.

I can't wait to see your video... on my computer I don't even have shadows in buildings and on the outside... every surface has the same brightness, it looks like Wolfenstein 3D

[Damien_Azreal]

Yeah, I have screenshots during the day... I'm having issues with imageshack right now though. Give me a bit and I'll post some.

I'm loving my new PC, it cost about 1550 dollars. Not bad considering I bought new mouse, keyboard, speakers and monitor. I love my new case... it's so pretty and Bon said it fits my personality perfectly.

I just got home from work, so let me take a shower and then I'll record some footage and edit it together for ya.

[Cerberus_e]

Thanks.

Low costprice BTW for such a killer machine... we paid 1500 euros back then (November 2003) for the PC I have (back then with 512 MB RAM and Geforce FX 5200). That's more expensive than your PC since an euro is 1.34 dollars.
I haven't built it myself though so that's also why it's a bit more expensive. (And we bought a very expensive monitor)

[Damien_Azreal]

Imageshack is still being a pain in my ass. Can't get anything to come up... oh well. Some time it will.
I've got the video done, edited and uploaded... youtube is updating and finishing everything up. So once it's done there I'll post a link for ya.

It's only about 4 to 5 minutes, I got the first area including the traders little underground area, the camp right there. The bandits little base right there as well.
And the second half is a from an area later in the game called "The Dark Valley". No missions where going on, just me running around.
One stalker conned me out of some money... so that explains my actions towards the end of the video.
Managed to get a lightning storm in the second half as well, so it shows off the dynamic lighting and such pretty well. May appear a little dark because of damn video compression.

[Damien_Azreal]

Damn double posting... oh well. Here it is, four+ minutes of STALKER on my PC.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Qqow9OcbUjY

Ran at 1280*960, full dynamic lighting, full graphics and AA. Due to the size and compression it's not as clear as usual but you still can see the different lighting effects.
There is a moment there where it pauses after I leave a tunnel and walk up a hill. It was the first time I ran FRAPs and it slowed it down for a bit, but after that it was smooth as silk.
If you want to see anymore let me know... I like killing time this way.

[avatar_58]

I hear the new 8600 line will have an AGP version. I might bite the bullet and buy myself one of those babies, that way I can get some better performance out of my aging PC. My 6800GT has worked damn well and lasted pretty long, but it would be nice to squeeze as much out of this PC as possible.

I'll have to wait and see what it would cost me. I'm not in the mood to spend more than $300 CAD.

[Cerberus_e]

Are you also running the game is static lighting mode Avatar with that card?

Cool video D_A... looks so much better on your PC Now it's waiting until Imageshack works for you, I'd like to see some day/night comparisions. I know how it looks at night, but not really at day since the quality of your video is so low.

[avatar_58]

No I'm running it Full Dynamic, but with texture_lod 3. I lose some detail, but the amount of atmosphere gained from the lighting is well worth it.








Still looks pretty good to me

[Damien_Azreal]

I don't know why I'm having issues with Imageshack... it still won't come up. I'm starting to get a little pissed by it.

I just watched the video again myself, I noticed I got my favorite part from today in the video. Towards the end I throw a grenade, and it explodes behind the enemy stalker.
Just sends him up in the air and into that wall. I still laugh at that.

@ avatar, didn't you also edit your bloom settings? I thought I remembered reading a post of yours about that at 3DR.

[avatar_58]

Imageshack has been pretty screwed for me lately too. It refuses to load the full images occasionally. Mine seem to work for me at the moment.

[Damien_Azreal]

Hell, I can't even bring up my image page. I clicked on an old image at the transfusion forum and it took a while to load but finally did.

Somedays I love imageshack... and others I really hate it.

[avatar_58]

You know what would be orgasmic? A co-op Stalker mod. That way two or more could help each other out on missions, or split up and complete separate ones.

I think it wouldn't be that hard to do, considering the whole map is basically open to play with. You don't have to worry about scripting breaking or anything. Though you'd probably have to have the other player dragged into the next area if someone attempted to leave, for compatibility reasons.

Still I think it would be cool.

[Cerberus_e]

They work but I needed to refresh for one of them, it just showed me the URL in text on that page with nothing else

I found a huge bug... when I read my PDA on the journal tab, I can read some diary things (like who am I?, Meeting Fox, etc....) but when I go out of the PDA and then activate the PDA again, it all appears green (= unread) again... very frustrating because I can't see what's new then, and occasionally the PDA icon shows up on my HUD while there is nothing new (because the diary is unread again so the game thinks those are new items to read)

[avatar_58]

Yea I basically never bother to check it unless I have to, since that bug makes it impossible to know what is new. I've found quite a few bugs that make me wish these guys spent another 6 months in testing and polishing. I hope future patches fix them all.

[Cerberus_e]

I'm seriously considering not playing this game (yet). I'll wait until a few more patches are released, I'm sure the gameplay will be changed a lot throughout future patches (better balancing, etc...).
I'd like to wait until I can run the game with dynamic lighting but I fear that will take too long It'd be nice though, as the experience would still be fresh then compared to if I finish the game once before with static lighting.

[avatar_58]

I wish I could play with full detail. I'm hoping a future patch will solve some performance problems, because the requirements for this game are rather ridiculous when you consider the detail. Yes it looks great from an artistic point of view, but what is so technically advanced compared to Oblivion or FEAR? I don't see it.

Also - how come texture_lod doesn't slow down Static Lighting at all, but it murders Dynamic Lighting? What sense does that make? Surely texture detail has no effect what so ever on lighting performance?

Apparently this game also makes very little use of ram, which ought to be solved.

[Damien_Azreal]

I noticed that, it doesn't really use your system memory, but instead loads the textures into your video memory and takes extensive use of your video cards memory.

Future patches should help performance and overall stability. I've read a lot of people got improved performance from the first patch. But I know a lot didn't.
I have yet to install the first patch.

[Cerberus_e]

What does an artifact with +200% health do, concretely? I don't notice much difference when playing Yes, I activated the artifact.

[Damien_Azreal]

The Meat Chunk?

I slowly (very slowly) restores your health. So if you manage to get two or three, put them all on your belt. If you have a good suit and some other artifacts to balance it out you'll be set for a good fight.

[Micki!]

Recomended, is the Soul artifact...
gives 600% health, and you WILL notice a difference...

i never really worried about my health ever since i found it... and with other artifacts combined, it almost does nothing negative to me...

A good place to find the Soul Artifacts:

In the Garbage level, when you get there, you probably remember the camp where a bunch of scrapped cars, busses, and even a helicopter is located... beyond this camp (go straight through, and don't turn in any other direction) you'll find a place filled with Whirlygig's anomalies... It's STUFFFILLEd with them, but if you're quick, you can manage to grab one of the few Soul artifacts around them...

It's worth the trouble i tell you..!

[Cerberus_e]

I'm not reading where to find one of them of course, the goal of the game is to find that yourself
I found another strange bug... in your inventory, when items are grouped together (for example with x2), you can right click and press "unload all". Then both items are dropped. However, you see only one on the ground. Pick it up and you also have only one. Where is the other one? Vanished
It's strange items can group so much together though... that doesn't make sense at all since you cold group thousands together without it taking more place in your backpack (ignoring weight in this example ). System Shock 2 is like that too.
Also, on the map in the PDA, you can use the mousewheel to zoom. However, if you scroll down with the mousewheel it's supposed to zoom out. Sometimes it does but sometimes it zooms in instead. If you switch you scrolling up it may zoom out instead, but it may also continue zooming in. Something isn't right with that.