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 What is STALKER? Stalker is a series of FPS games created by GSC Game World, a Ukrainian-based developer, set in a fictional incarnation of the Zone of Exclusion, a 35km area around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant that has become warped by a series of events following the original 1986 disaster. They are characterized by their deep level of roleplaying, immersive world, excellent combat and the unique AI. The games are primarily about sitting around a campfire, sharing stories about how you nearly got killed, the rare treasures you found, and your personal tales of rejection by Duty. You can buy them on Steam or retail. So without further ado, let us get to the meat of the series. =================================================  ================================================= Welcome, fellow stalker, to the Zone. She is a beautiful, scary, cruel mistress but we love her so. What is the Zone? The Zone is your best friend or worst enemy. She is the sole provider for any number of Stalkers that walk upon her surface. Many have tried to uncover all of her secrets, but she constantly surprises even the most experienced Stalkers, and will destroy you if you underestimate her. The Zone consists of a 35km area around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant that has become out of touch with reality as we know it. Destructive anomalies litter the zone, their locations shifting with each deadly emission from the heart of the Zone. Many a careless stalker has met their untimely demise at the hands of them, assuming the mutants do not get to them first...  A brief, incomplete timeline of the major events of the Zone 1981 - A scientific research bunker is created in what would become known as the Dark Valley 1986 - There is a meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Workers living in the surrounding area are evacuated. A 30km Zone of Exclusion is set up around the site, in the interest of public safety. 1991 - The Soviet Union collapses. All major funding into the effects of the Zone are publicly stopped. Several projects are continued, out of sight of the public eye. 1999 - The Ukrainian government is concerned about illegal experiments being performed in the Zone and sends a special unit to investigate. Reports are inconclusive, but the memos of O. O. Dobrynini cause considerable disturbance among those who read them. 2001 - Public interest in the Zone is rekindled when rumours spread of the Zone acting strangely. In an area 10km from the Power Plant strange creatures and phenomena have been recorded. When a group of tourists mysteriously vanish, the Zone is locked down by the government. 2005 - Reports of strange sightings continue and seem to be occurring further away from the center of the Zone. Weather disturbances aswell as strange localized tremors are reported. 2006 - On March 6th, Blinding light appears above the Chernobyl Power Plant. Observers note that it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.. No conclusive explanation has been found. On April 12th, another bright light was recorded. This was followed by severe energy disturbances and an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale. On June 10th, in what would become known as the "Second Disaster", the first known emission occurred. Vast amounts of power erupted from the center of the Zone, increasing its size by 5km. This is largely considered the birth of the modern Zone, where the very laws of science are turned on their head. Most of the military garrisoned in the Zone perish and villages close by are evacuated 2009 - A group of Kiev scientists discover a means of detecting anomalous activity up to a radius of 10 meters. In a winter expedition, they safely manage to explore the first 1km of the Zone. 2010 - Further expeditions are made deeper into the zone. The first traces of illegal stalker activity are discovered, along with mysterious artifacts that appear to be borne of the Zone. 2011 - The golden age of Stalking begins. Embiggened by reports of people surviving in the Zone, brave fortune seekers begin to explore the Zone in hopes of making a name for themselves. Later on in the year, the second major emission occurs. During the aftermath of this, several factions begin to struggle for influence in the Zone. Thus begins the events of Clear Sky 2012 - On May 1st, the Marked One appears mysteriously in a bunker just inside the Cordon. This starts of the events of Shadow of Chernobyl. August 1st, Major Degtyarev is sent into the Zone to investigate the failure of Operation Fairway. This starts the events of Call of Pripyat  One of the defining aspects of the Zone are the numerous anomalies that you will encounter, parts of the Zone that seem to defy the normal rules of science and logic. Out of these are borne artifacts, strange constructs that give owners incredible power, usually at some expense. Some of the more common ones include: Springboards/Mosquito Balds  One of the first known anomalies, these are the most basic but do not underestimate them. They are characterized by what appears to be a heat haze surrounding the area of effect. A careless stalker walking into one will be subjected to an intense gravitational effect which can do severe damage. They can be detected using bolts or other small objects. They spawn several common artifacts. Electro  A very deadly anomaly, as it name suggests it is primarily electric. Easily spotted during the day by the blue coloured sparks that emit from it. It is much more difficult to spot during the night, so caution is advised. Fruit Punch  At first this could be mistaken for radioactive waste, but if only it were that simple. Anyone coming in contact with these will be subjected to severe chemical burns. They are usually found underground and are quite easy to spot. Avoiding them proves slightly more tricky. There are many more anomalies out there, all with different effects. Half the fun is discovering them, the other half is surviving them.  If the anomalies don't get you, the mutants surely will. The Zone has a number of mutants within it. Some of the most common are: Blind Dogs  Heavily mutated remnants of the canine population of Chernobyl. These dogs have become blind, but have prospered in the Zone by utilizing their enhanced sense of smell and hearing. They often attack in packs and are quite cowardly on their own. Fleshes  Mutated pigs. These animals probably underwent the most dramatic changes. Becoming more insect-like in nature, they have a hardened carapace and heavily mutated external features. They are mostly peaceful and will leave you alone if you leave them alone, but can become aggressive if threatened. Snorks  These are believed to be what remains of the military that were caught in the blast of the first emission. Heavily mutated, they are mere shadows of what they once were. They move around on all fours, unable to support their weight standing upright. They are characterized by very strong tendons in their legs that allow them to jump great distances. Often travel in packs, a very deadly mutant. Many more mutants have been reported, but not by credible sources. =================================================  ================================================= As the Zone increased its allure to the general populace as a place to find fame and fortune, various factions sprung up who share common interests and beliefs. Clear Sky (defunct)  One of the first groups to penetrate the Zone, they were primarily concerned with investigating the zone and its effects. Unlike Ecologists, they were not hesitant to use force where necessary and often contracted PMCs to help them with their inquiries. Ecologists  One of the most persistent groups in the Zone, these groups of scientists believe the Zone to be a great gift to humanity and wish to study and conserve the Zone wherever possible. They believe the secrets the Zone contains have untold benefits for humanity. Loners  The so-called Free Stalkers of the Zone. These are stalkers not particularly affiliated with any group. They tend to look out for each other and try not to get involved in the petty squabbles of other factions. Bandits  The antithesis of the Loners, these are a loosely organized group that believe in every man for themselves. If there's money or good times to be had, they will be there. They also have kickin' rad taste in music. Mercenaries  Private soldiers often hired to do the bidding of other people. They have a mysterious presence in the Zone, hinting at a larger conspiracy at work. Whether it be private citizens or foreign governments, if they have the money they will get the job done. Freedom  Anarchists and revolutionaries, Freedom believe that the Zone should be open to all, for both technological and scientific advancement and for every man to prosper from its bounty. This ideology has brought them into direct conflict with... Duty  Mainly composed of former-military, and other people who have seen the horrors the Zone can inflict, Duty firmly believes that the Zone is a blight upon the Earth and wish for it and everything it spawns to be destroyed. Often considered to be fascists, they believe that force is the only language the Zone understands. Monolith  A very secretive group of religious fanatics. Not much is known about them or their beliefs, but they seem to be operating from the heart of the Zone and are unusually well equipped. =================================================  ================================================= Q: I hear these games are buggy pieces of crap and run terribly A: While this may have been true at one point, thanks to the vast amounts of community support and mods the games have risen from their humble beginnings to become (reasonably) polished works of art in their own right. The X-Ray engine is a relentless arbiter of system performance. Any bottlenecks your computer has will be found and mercilessly attacked until it brings it to its knees. In (general) order of importance the most important things you will need are: 1. A good CPU - the higher clock speed the better. Dual/Quad Cores are very under utilized. The brunt of most of the work will be done on one core, with a second core being used for background tasks. 2. A good I/O speed. Solid State Drives are obviously the best, but a fast hard drive will also increase your performance. The game pulls data from the hard drive constantly, so the faster the better. 3. RAM - the more the better. Left to its own devices it will eat all the RAM it can get hold of. 3. A graphics card. Stalker games are usually not the most graphically intense. If you have a semi-decent card you will be fine as far as GPU power goes. 4. A sense of patience... the X-Ray engine can be a finicky, frustrating thing to work with, but thankfully there are many people out there to help you with whatever issues you have and most are fairly easily sorted out. Some general performance tips: HUGE loving DEAL RIGHT HERE! DOWNLOAD THESE SHADERS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! Shadow of Chernobyl The Marked One is incredibly short. Your default eyeline is, for some reason, lower than every other human by default. You can change this by setting the "camera_height_factor" value in the actor.ltx file from 0.85 to 0.94 - enjoy your normal sized Marked One! Clear Sky/Call of Pripyat OH MY GOD DOWNLOAD THIS IMMEDIATELY!! Swartz posted:Just thought I'd post a cool new thing Bangalore did that does the following: For Clear Sky/Call of Pripyat, if you're using Full (enhanced) dynamic lighting, turn SSAO, Sun Quality and Sun Rays down to LOW. The quality hit is barely noticeable, but you will get a significant boost in FPS. You can also lower vision/lighting distance. Setting these to about 50% will not make a huge visual difference (but this is a matter of preference) Q: Help me I keep dying and I can't shoot straight, what the gently caress is wrong with this game? A: Calm down. You're experiencing culture shock. While you may be used to games where you can take a faceful of lead and keep on trucking, the Stalker games do not operate in that manner. Take your time, find some decent cover, and try your best not to be flanked. Bullets are generally lethal in these games, and if you take too many hits you will die a horrible death. Aiming is a bit finicky (but there are mods for that), but the Stalker games utilize actual ballistic models for their weapons. Weapons are affected by travel time, drop, the phases of the moon, and whatever voodoo curse Sidorovich has placed on them. Q: I can't find the basement and/or the rifle, where are they? A: Chances are pretty drat good you're looking in completely the wrong place or for the completely wrong thing. The Stalker games, when they got translated to English, came with a few relics of the original language that never really got adequately translated. Thus "attic" became "basement" and "shotgun" became "rifle". As with most things in this game, there are simple, quick fixes to remedy those problems. Q: Prefetching? What's that? A: GSC, with the best intentions of the world, decided to do people a solid when they made their games. To improve performance, they decided to make the games preload all the data you will need in order to play the game smoothly. Well, that's the theory. In practice this often didn't work out the way they intended. Multiple people have issues with prefetching, as it's usually very unselective about what it loads, and if not properly configured (usually by mods) it will load every single file in the game into memory. As you can imagine, this is a bit burdensome and can reduce overall performance. Thankfully there's an easy solution for two of the games. Simply add -noprefetch to the launch options of Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Sky and all your prefetching blues will vanish. Call of Pripyat involves a bit more work, but that will be covered later on. Q: In which order should I play the games? A: Most people would suggest you start with Shadow of Chernobyl. Out of all three of the games, this is probably the most story driven and atmospheric of the three. From there you can either go straight to Clear Sky or skip it, if you're not feeling particular daring, and go straight to Call of Pripyat. The relative merits/pitfalls of each game will be discussed later on. Q: These games are too easy/I want the full experience A: For the most part, the Stalker games have difficulty settings that actually make sense and are fair. Some mods may change this (most don't), but in general you will always want to be playing on Master difficulty. This removes the artificial restrictions that other Stalkers have, like having only a 40% chance to hit you, it increases the damage done by all weapons considerably (this is for both you and other stalkers - they can kill you quicker, but they will drop like flies too) and generally makes the AI slightly better. If you're an extra masochist, turn the crosshair off and rely on your iron sights. Q: Tell me where to get the cool mods. As with most niche games, most of the really innovative mods come from the russian side of the border. To date, there have been about 20+ really fun, really creative new mods that have been released... unfortunately in Russian only. Some people have been really good about translating them. Some good resources AP Productions Possibly the key site in Russian modding. If it's new, chances are good it will end up here. Home of the popular mod, DMX (which Stalkersoup is based upon) and countless others. Going through their forums, or checking out their reviews with Google chrome's translate is highly recommended. GSC Game World Mainly useful for the forums. A few people here undertake translation tasks for some of the more popular Russian mods, or new and experimental ones in general. If you can't find a translation, ask around for one - someone might be able to help. AMK Forums Sort of the Russian equivalent of the GSC forums. Contains many new mods, discussion and various other small things. Not as active as it once was, but still worth a look. David.me's Blog Contains a whole bunch of cool mods, most repacked with english versions in a convenient place! =================================================  ================================================= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmp2gchZEao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6ffYNIwfqc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tGvj4B9_00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Hqqh3CwXU More cool stuff to be added at a later date Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Oct 28, 2013 |
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Sep 30, 2013 14:40
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================================================= =================================================     The one that started it all. Set in the year 2011, a mysterious unidentified man is found in an abandoned truck on the outskirts of the Zone. He is later revived and knows little of his past. His PDA has only one entry: Kill Strelok Playing through the eyes of the Marked One, the goal of Shadow of Chernobyl is to find and kill Strelok, whoever he may be. Being the first of the three games, it is often considered to be the most basic gameplay wise (although thanks to modders this has become far from the case). Make no mistake, though, this game is not your average run of the mill FPS. Out of the box it has an amazing amount of complexity and intrigue to keep you interested. It is also considered the most atmospheric and scary of all three games. The Zone is truly a mystery in this game. =================================================  ================================================= Q: I hear I need mods to play this for the first time? A: Not quite. While Shadow of Chernobyl falls short in a lot of regards when it comes to polish, it's definitely playable out of the box, fully patched, and for hardcore purists this may be the best option (with a few caveats) That being said, many people consider a certain mod to be "essential" for a first playthrough. More on that later. Q: People keep dying! Help! A: That's not a question. The Zone is a very unforgiving place, and many of the "plot essential" NPCs can meet untimely demises through roaming bandits, mutants, or just plain bad luck. Fortunately, you play a rather cold-hearted bastard and it's not these NPCs you need, but information they have. If they do die, you can get this information from their lifeless corpse (along with everything else) Q: I want to party with Duty but they won't let me. Why? A: Ignore that rear end in a top hat in the hangar. He's a bit of a douche. Q: How do I join a faction? A: Unfortunately for all practical purposes you cannot. You can, however, be an influential figure in the ongoing conflict between Duty and Freedom. Q: I need some help starting out. Any advice? A: There is quite a useful item in the starting village. Stalker rewards exploration, and by keeping your eyes open you can find numerous items that will help you survive easier. If you want relatively easy money, once you get to the Bar and the surrounding areas you will have the opportunity to put the S in to S.T.A.L.K.E.R and loot some nice stuff. Sidorovich is a bit of a ripoff merchant and has a huge markup on his goods. You can usually trade with other stalkers for items you need at much cheaper prices. =================================================  ================================================= These are what give Stalker their infinite replayability. Some of the more popular include:  The Zone Reclamation Project This is THE mod to use on your first playthrough. Made by the extremely talented NatVac, with contributions from all over, this is the grand daddy of all first-play through mods. Forget Complete, this is the new hotness. Virtually every aspect of the game has been fixed. The mod is entirely modular. You can play as close to vanilla as you wish, or completely tailor the game to your own experience. By far the most stable, bug-free and "Complete" first-time mod out there. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Unlike Complete, this is regularly updated and has been in development a lot longer, with far more fixes, gameplay enhancements and god only knows what else. You want a comparison? Complete is built on a very, very early version of the ZRP. ZRP has moved on leaps and bounds since then. Stalker Complete (Obsolete) Part of the Complete family of mods, the goals of these are to make Stalker into the polished game they feel it should be. This includes bug fixes, updated textures, new shaders, and a bunch of other neat stuff. If for some crazy reason you don't want to use the ZRP, this is the mod for you. AMK Considered the Grandfather of all Stalker mods, this is a bit of a beast. Rather complicated to install, it adds a lot of new features to the game. Blowouts now occur, cut mutants are added to the game (along with new ones), the a-life system is restored, and firefights are now incredibly lethal. You may think you're hardcore, but this will put it to the test. Based on AMK is the rather excellent Zone of Alienation, which is designed for hard-core players who want an incredibly detailed simulation. Zone of Alienation Oblivion Lost Largely based on AMK, this aims to turn Stalker into a more horror-centric game. More polished than AMK, but with a few questionable features. Narodnaya Soljanka/Stalkersoup The biggest Shadow of Chernobyl mod to date, this thing is truly insane. Based off the popular Russian mod Narodnaya Soljanka (People's Soup), this aims to be the everything-including-the-kitchen-sink mod. I have not, to date, managed to play and beat this mod to completion. Installing this is almost as much fun as playing it. When you've truly gotten bored of Shadow of Chernobyl, this is the mod for you. Priboi Story The first mod from the creators of the much-anticipated Lost Alpha mod, Proboi story is a total conversion that adds an entirely new story to Shadow of Chernobyl. Well worth a playthrough. Old Good Stalker Evolution Yet another Russian megamod, this time translated inhouse by their own team! Extensive feature list, far too great to list here. Check it out! L.U.R.K. Some what in development hell, LURK is an overhaul of Shadow of Chernobyl that focuses on enhancing the base game while retaining the feel and atmosphere of the original game. Stalker: O.F.F.L.I.F.E. (Russian) A large "Freeplay" oriented mod. Designed to create a dynamic, vibrant world with no limits on what you can do. Comes in two flavours: Despair (Misery styled) or Oblivion Lost (alpha/beta style) Discussion and possible translation here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOBsSoLcdWk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b69VcFiNA7k Dream Reader: The Leper Area (Russian) Another quirky russian mod. Adds a lot of new features, and has a new plot. Built on the back of AMK style mods, this offers a lot of new features and new levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5PjvxsZV54 Dead Autumn 2: Another Reality (Russian) A rather ambitious mod that hopes to link Clear Sky and Shadow of Chernobyl together. Instead of starting out at the Death Truck, you instead play through the moments leading up to your first trip to the Cordon. Throughout the game you're pursued by a mysterious figure, always out of sight but always watching. Discussion and translation here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1858vaiywhk Nature Winter 2.3: Black Edition (Russian) A total conversion of Shadow of Chernobyl. The Zone has been thrown into a deep freeze. Not only do you have to contend with the horrors the zone unleashes, but also the ever persistent threat nature itself has: hypothermia, starvation and god only knows what else. A cross between Stalker and the Thing. Worth checking out. =================================================  =================================================     The red-headed stepchild of the Stalker series, Clear Sky is a rather strange transitional game. Lacking the later polish of Call of Pripyat (and even some from Shadow of Chernobyl), it introduces many new ideas and concepts, many of which were later incorporated into Call of Pripyat officially, and some later added on by various mods. While most people skip Clear Sky, it's still a very good game and once you can look past the faults it's a very enjoyable experience. A prequel to Shadow of Chernobyl, you play as the mercenary Scar. While escorting a group of scientists through the Zone, you are caught in the middle of one of the most powerful emissions to ever hit the Zone. Somehow you manage to survive this, and find yourself at the camp of the mysterious Clear Sky faction. These are a group of people operating secretly in the Zone to observe and study its effects. After being hit by a second emission (you are the unluckiest man in the Zone), you find out that you have been in some way marked by the Zone, and now have a more natural affinity to it. This has enhanced your physical prowess but comes at the expense of linking your life to the Zone. The more emissions that occur, the shorter your life will be. It is believed that something or someone is causing the increase emission activity. It is your job to find out what it is. Your life depends on it. ================================================= ================================================= Q: Help this game runs like poo poo? What's wrong? A: Unfortunately, Clear Sky uses a very experimental version of the X-ray engine that hasn't been completely optimized. Shaders are poorly optimized, and the game has fundamental problems with its engine that make it far more system intensive than the other games. Fortunately there are slight cures, but it may not work for you. As a general rule, if you can get a decent framerate in the Swamps/Clear Sky base, then you will get a good framerate anywhere as these are the two worst optimized areas in the game. The biggest killers of frame rate are SSAO, and sun effects (detail, god rays etc.) Q: Which faction should I join? A: Pick whichever one interests you the most! As a general rule, certain factions are harder than others. Bandits, while having the best taste in music, are not as well equipped as Duty or the others. Ultimately it's all preference and the game will mostly play out the same, with a few minor differences. Q: Grenades?!? A: Install Clear Sky Complete, never look back Q: I keep getting slaughtered by the machine gun? What can I do? A: The most obvious thing to do would be to get out of there, stalker, and find another route. ================================================= ================================================= Unfortunately, due to the nature of Clear Sky and its somewhat lesser status of Stalker games, not many mods were released and I'm not really up to date on most of them. Clear Sky Complete Pretty much essential for this game, even more so than with Shadow of Chernobyl. Fixes a lot of bugs, polishes the game slightly, and sends the Ukrainian Olympic Shotput Team back where they belong. STALKER Shaders MAX A bit of a gamble, these are updated shaders that for some people increase frame rate, and for others half it. Worth trying if you've exhausted all options. You may be one of the lucky ones. Clear Skies (formerly Faction Fronts) (alt link to original http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Faction_Fronts_Clear_Sky;116793) Widely considered to be one of the most popular Clear Sky mods. If you've finished Complete and want more Clear Sky this is a good choice for your second playthrough. Pseudodoggles Mod The most essential Clear Sky mod =================================================  =================================================     The third game in the series, it is widely considered to be the most polished. All of the ideas from Clear Sky that worked are incorporated, along with a host of other features and neat stuff. The "definitive" stalker game, if there is such a thing. Operation Fairway was a classified military operation in the Zone that had the lofty goal to infiltrate and secure the city of Pripyat and the Chernobyl NPP. Due to reasons unknown this mission failed spectacularly. You play as Major Degtyarev, who has been sent undercover into the Zone in order to investigate the failure in the most unsubtle ways possible. ================================================= ================================================= Q: Do I need mods to play this game? A: Absolutely not! Infact for the first run it's highly recommended you use none, or just a select few. Unlike the other games, Call of Pripyat cribbed a lot from community feedback and fixes and changes from the other games and as such is the most "ready to play" out of the box of all the games. Q: I ran into a cave and now I'm dead. I should have listened to that strange voice. A: As soon as you start out you should be near some stalkers. Talk to them. They can point you in the direction of a safe zone. Q: The Doctor has gone, what's going on? A: Keep playing. Q: This crazy man in a boat is shooting at me. A: This is his way of saying hello. Don't be frightened, he's (mostly) harmless. ================================================= ================================================= Fortunately you do not need much to play Call of Pripyat. Fortunately, if you ever get bored there's plenty of neat mods to keep you occupied. First Playthrough friendly FOV Fixer Changes Call of Pripyat's rather narrow default FOV into something higher. Call of Pripyat Complete Largely considered unessential for Call of Pripyat, this mod has quite a few nice additions you may be interested in. AtmosFEAR An entire visual/weather overhaul. Makes the Zone look pretty, beautiful and terrifying (in roughly that order). Call of Pripyat Sound Overhaul Improves all the vanilla weapon sounds and a bunch of other neat stuff. Makes guns sound a lot more powerful. Be sure to download the latest version! Improved Svarog Display Makes one of the detectors far easier to use and actually useful. Everything Else Swartz Mod Highly goon recommended. Basically Call of Pripyat Vanilla+ - makes radiation a persistent and deadly threat, adds a bunch of new weapons, and a whole host of other neat features. Check out the page! Sigerous Mod (SGM) Call of Pripyat's answer to Stalkersoup. A huge mod that adds a ton of stuff to the game. Various versions of the game can be found. For the older (more stable, arguably better) version you can find 1.7 here If you want to try out 2.1 there's a video tutorial here to install it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-qJhRH4YLk Misery Is Call of Pripyat too smiley and happy for you? Then give Misery a shot. A highly recommended mod, it is an almost total rehaul of Call of Pripyat to make everything more dingy, depressing and just plain miserable. Features excellent sound design and a well-thought out system that allows you to play as one of three "classes". Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Oct 24, 2013 |
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Sep 30, 2013 14:42
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Reserved for whatever If anyone sees any broken links in the posts, point them out to me and I'll fix them. I don't have access to imgur at the moment so I'm not sure if there's any working images (library blocks the site). I'll be updating the OPs with new interesting mods in the next few days. e: I'm an idiot aswell, if any mods can change the thread tag I'll be very grateful. e2: The reason I couldn't post in the last thread is that for some reason the library pinpointed that one thread out of all on the SA forums as "Pornographic". I blame those sexy snorks. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Sep 30, 2013 |
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Sep 30, 2013 14:55
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The 2.0.2 patch with the quick fix solves a lot of issues. It's still very rough around the edges, though. I'm compiling a little fix pack that I'll have up in the next few days that irons out a lot of the problems, like dodgy weapons, broken scripts and general loving weirdness. Think of it as Misery Unfucked 2.0
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Sep 30, 2013 18:29
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I've compiled a fix patch for Misery 2.0.2 QF https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5847454/Misery%20Hotfix.7z Contains a huge amount of crash fixes, balancing issues, immersion improvements and general smoothing over of rough edges. Check the readme for more details. e: Here's a pastebin of the readme: http://pastebin.com/pce0Vgb7 Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Oct 1, 2013 |
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Oct 1, 2013 11:30
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Klayboxx posted:Yup, same. It also says to replace the actor_effects_data.scripts but even doing that doesn't avoid the crashing. Ok, I think I've figured out the problem. It's more to do with Misery's weird class system than anything else. To install: Make sure you're properly patched up to 2.0.2 QF. This is the 2.0.2 patch with the quick fix applied ontop of it, not just one or the other. Then copy the folders from the "base" folder in the hotfix into the misery gamedata folder. Overwrite everything. Then start up the game, and change your class at least once using the ingame system. If it's installed properly, it should have "rev 2" somewhere in the version on the main menu. This is a pain in the rear end, but I blame MDT. If you still get any crashes, tell me what the error log says and I'll try my best to fix them. e: I'm incorporating the Unofficial CoP patch with the hotfix aswell, which is a patch that should be the standard for any CoP mod. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 13:34 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 13:31
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sobkas posted:You mean rev. B? Yes, I'm including all the various different fixes I've found (including the weapon addon). I might post this on the MDT forums on moddb later so they can see my handiwork. I've updated the fix. Install instructions should hopefully be more clear this time. New readme. http://pastebin.com/YhfD0E2h New patch: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5847454/Misery%20Hotfix.7z Incorporated the unofficial CoP patch, Yasti's colour tweaks, a few minor tweaks like changing the Pripyat smart terrains etc. This is probably going to be the final version of this, unless anyone finds any problems that I haven't tried to fix and are within my abilities. The changes are rather subtle, so you might not immediately see any difference, but hopefully it makes for a better experience. If you select Recon and his helmet isn't messed up when you start the game, you know it's working. I'm particularly proud of the new radio logic. A simple tweak but makes things more atmospheric. I'm also working on updating the OP with new mods, a guide to modding and a few other various things. I'll be including all the turret fixing patches and other stuff in a short while. e: Woah, poo poo. No sooner than I post this, turns out there's a few more fixes. Will be adding those later. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Oct 10, 2013 |
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Oct 10, 2013 14:54
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Ok, possibly the final version of the Misery Hotfix. Have updated the save game corruption fix to the ephiphany edition, added in Phoenix's artifact tweak and have created an optional Battery Tweak that some people might like. Batteries are now not "swapped out" (which can lead to weird behaviour, like military battery packs morphing into AA batteries just by being in the UPD too long). They are plugged into the UPD, completely drained, and any excess power is wasted so you need to judge your UPD's power level and be careful not to use a large battery when it's nearly fully charged. This is optional, but I think it works slightly better than the default and seems to be more in line with what they originally planned (what with the UPD even having a "power storage" function) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5847454/Misery%20Hotfix.7z http://pastebin.com/ZwyJ08cY e: Also posted this on the Misery forums so hopefully more people will get some use out of it. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Oct 12, 2013 |
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Oct 12, 2013 16:25
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Yes, perfectly normal. SoC has a lot of random anomalies all around the place.
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Oct 15, 2013 10:27
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Look out for an updated version of the Misery Hotfix later on tonight. By the way, it just goes to show the Misery team are a bunch of humourless bastards. I wrote a few stories for the Dialog Manager texts (the 'What's new in the Zone?' things) and this is one that was rejected by their 'language master': "The Zone's hard going, you know? It changes things. Take a friend of mine... one time he raided a stash and found a pair of boots. Pretty lucky, right? His old ones were worn away and riddled with holes. They let the rain and boar poo poo and everything get through. He was overjoyed. Decided to go back to the Skadovsk and celebrate his good fortunes. Had a couple of drinks.. far too many, to be honest, and got blind drunk. When he woke up he was safely at his camp... pretty surprising. He could barely string a sentence together, let alone get home. Turns out this happened a lot.. whenever he was drunk, he would always wake up back at camp. He thought it was pretty suspicious, so asked a few people to keep a look out for him the next time. He got pass-out drunk, and miraculously started walking back to camp. Turns out the boots... they had been touched by the Zone. They could always find a safe path. He blessed his good fortunes, and thought nothing of it. His luck changed pretty sharply though, when one time after getting drunk he woke up and found he was halfway through the Circus anomaly. He was making GBS threads himself, as you can imagine. He managed to get back safely, anyway, and decided to get rid of the shoes. Turns out they had a mind of their own and were getting bored going the one way trip to his camp.. they wanted to explore the Zone. It was a futile effort. Whenever he sold them, they would always walk their way back. He tried locking them away, but they eventually broke down every container they were put in. He was distraught... he could just not get rid of these loving boots. He eventually got into a heated argument with them - pretty one sided, as you can imagine - and told them how much he hated them, and how he wished he never found them, and that they should gently caress off and never bother him again. Turns out they took this pretty badly... walked straight into a Burner. Vaporized instantly. Now, my buddy's always been a bit of a sentimental guy, I guess. He was really shook up about this. Other stalkers used to laugh at him, behind his back and openly to his face, about how he was in love with a pair of shoes. He was really eaten up, thinking about the problem... could the shoes actually have some sort of consciousness? How terrible it is, he thought, that the shoes could have taken their own life because of him. Did they even have a life? He didn't know... He eventually came across an old priest, wandering the Zone and giving guidance and counsel to those who wished it. My friend talked to the priest and told him the entire story. He expected the priest to laugh at him, like all others did, but he just listened solemnly. Eventually, after the story was told, the priest took my friend by the shoulder and said that it was OK. The boots, he said, were happy. They had finally gone to heaven, or whatever the equivalent is. My friend was relieved... this was a huge burden off his shoulders and his spirit. God is merciful, the priest says, and cares for all his creation, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to us. You see, it turns out shoes have soles. Something to think about, stalker." This wasn't considered appropriate  Maybe next time I'll throw in a Better Nate than Lever variant.
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Oct 18, 2013 12:49
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Missing Name posted:Oh christ, that was beautiful. Do you have any more rejects? The unofficial patch I've made contains quite a few similar stories. You can either find them ingame, or just open the st_dialogs_manager.xml file to find them. What kind of gets to me is that most of the Misery dialog manager stuff is rather poorly written. The ideas and the concepts are ok, but it just seems kind of clinical and not the way people actually talk. You hear someone tell a story and most of the time it contains useless information, figures of speech, vernacular etc, whereas in Misery it's like the stalkers, when they tell you these "stories", are just reading off a script they've got prepared. I've tried to make my additions seem more naturalistic, like some guy actually telling you a story, and for some reason they decided only "17" of the 50+ stories (not sure the exact number, but I wrote a fair few) made the cut. Some were even pretty grimdark like they like. A few were blatant jokes, or stalkers just telling you useless poo poo, which I imagine would happen in a place where death is pretty much around the corner all the time. Gallows humour and the like springs up a lot in such situations. Anyway, I've included all unedited versions in the unofficial patch. I gather they've incorporated a few into the future 2.0.3 patch, so you'll be able to see their versions of them then. This is the latest version of the unofficial patch: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5847454/Misery%20Hotfix.7z Contains a few new features, some even people with killer rigs will like like more advanced graphics options (including functioning, ingame MXAA!). I've included a few screenshots of the MXAA in action. Check the non-ugly powerlines. http://pastebin.com/hDjBnULx Also included is a new "Intimidation Mod", which replaces the standard, clinical "Give me your stuff, please" surrender dialogs with actual threats. It always struck me as kind of stupid that guys try to kill you, and when they surrender you're just so... nice with them.
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Oct 18, 2013 16:36
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except it was a stalker. Anyone have this saved?
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As far as I can remember, the reclamation project doesn't do huge amounts of changes to the shaders. I believe it doesn't really touch them. Install the reclamation project and then install the shaders.
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Oct 19, 2013 15:38
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I still think someone should do a Billy Ray Cyrus mashup. "Don't break my heart, my Cheeki Breeki heart".
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Oct 19, 2013 16:09
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Did you install the 2.0.2 and Quick Fix patch to Misery first? If you give me the crash log I can probably help you out. You also need to switch classes at least once ingame if you haven't already. MDT likes to do things weirdly.
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Oct 21, 2013 09:45
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Ah gently caress, that looks like a script logic error. I'll take a quick look tonight. I have a new smartphone so I can be on call 24/7 to fix poo poo now. Right now I've made a few extra tweaks so I'll do a clean install of misery then try my patch and fix it. Sorry about that  Right now I've made a new optional mutant looting system which makes a bit more sense. You need a knife equipped to loot mutants and your knife will be damaged when you do. Different mutants damage your knife more so a crow will do next to nothing but a pseudogiant will severely dull your knife. Snipers have less wear and tear on their knife thanks to the survival expert perk, as he presumably cuts through the joints and not the bones. I've also added a new feature that was originally in the post process mod: a new drug. It's "Mezaton", which are eye drops that dilate your pupils which gives you a slight visibility increase in dark areas but can make you near useless in direct sunlight. Has been properly incorporated with a description, icon etc. Snipers start with one bottle now, replacing one of their sleeping pills. It seems like the kind of thing a sniper would use. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Oct 21, 2013 |
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Oct 21, 2013 16:58
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This is the first I've heard of the headlamp bug. I've done a bit of work on the axr_battery.script (which controls that stuff) so I might be able to fix something that needs to be fixed. e: A screenshot of the new Mezaton drug.  Slightly tweaked it since I took this screenshot. Now decreases sleepiness rather than the "increased blood pressure" thing, which doesn't actually exist. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Oct 22, 2013 |
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Oct 22, 2013 00:49
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Acquire Currency! posted:Wow hahah, I feel like a massive idiot. Time to get Ddraig's fix installed! A bit of a warning: Someone's already said that using it resulted in a crash. It's currently 4am here and I've been playing Duke Nukem for the past couple of hours so I haven't really had a chance to look at it yet, so use at your own risk for the moment. MadBimber posted:I was really hoping you were adding high blood pressure into Misery. That coupled with diabetes and high cholesterol could really improve the realism of game play. I wish I were making this up but the postprocess-mod that Misery cribbed a lot from actually has a "Toxic Shock" mechanic where if you take too many medicines you could end up having a stroke and dying. I'm slightly surprised they didn't add in a little daily pill planner so you could really get that "I'm on the short road to death" aspect. Oh hey, it looks like someone's finished Lost Alpha before the Lost Alpha guys have. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D_P8MHrWCw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh-vzeRt_Tw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1T7wR88-9g http://ap-pro.ru/forum/35-8912-1 Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Oct 22, 2013 |
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Oct 22, 2013 04:06
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I'm not sure. One thing I've noticed, trawling Russian modding sites, is that it seems like almost everyone playing Stalker over there uses really weirdly low settings. Plus the idea of the mod is to "recreate" the old builds, which were designed for static lighting etc. e: For Comparison, here's actual video footage of Build 1935 (Oblivion Lost) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAhVjTsYq2Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU3BRnLfPP0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSIkw9xr23U Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Oct 23, 2013 |
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Oct 23, 2013 02:33
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Ok, so I've done a completely clean install of Call of Pripyat, Misery 2.0, all the patches and my hotfix and I can't recreate the crash that was talked about. I really don't know what the hell is up. My phone's 3G connection is kind of making GBS threads the bed at the moment, so I can't upload it yet, but I've done another revision: Changes this time include the new drug (Mezaton), a reworking of the post-process mod scripts to accommodate this new drug and overall add more depth to the system (including more exhaustion effects) and an entirely new mutant looting system that's an optional install.
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Oct 23, 2013 19:20
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I love that the modding community still does stuff like this. This is going into the OP right away.
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Oct 28, 2013 03:32
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It's a DLL change. Most mods only change the XrRender/XrGame dlls, so this should work with all mods.
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Oct 28, 2013 03:34
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New Unofficial Misery Patch: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5847454/Misery%20Hotfix.7z Readme: http://pastebin.com/vG4dr49q
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Oct 28, 2013 07:04
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Yes, the radio freak outs during emissions are my idea. They cut out during emissions. During psi-storms (different from emissions), they switch to an "unknown broadcast" that's mostly comprised of various screams/radio noise and Russian Number Stations. Most of them come from UVB-76 (The Buzzer), although the recordings are quite poor quality as I got them off youtube. Incidentially, if you ever wonder what the deal with the mentions of "Woodpeckers" is all about in the loading screen text, it's a reference to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Woodpecker As far as I'm aware, this isn't actually in Misery 2.0 anywhere, just a reference to it. I quite like the idea of all these weird radio broadcasts somehow being linked to the original creators of the Zone, though. GruntyThrst posted:Where do I stick these improved shaders for CoP? If you're talking about the DLL that Swartz posted a link to, it goes into your bin folder. Make sure to back up the original, just incase. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Oct 30, 2013 |
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Oct 29, 2013 23:56
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A bit more of a plug for my unofficial Misery patch: I've re-enabled some cut-out graphics options that you can find if you dig deep into the user.ltx The most notable of them are DX10.1 and MXAA (Called 'Smooth A-Test Objects' in the game files, or something similar) The MXAA actually works, and makes things look much better. The most notable change is that power lines no longer look like weird broken lines at any distance beyond close range. They now look like actual power lines etc. Compare this:  With this:  You can also see it on the trees etc. It can have a pretty big performance hit, especially with Misery, as the implementation pretty much uses AA on everything, including the excessive amount of grass. So you can imagine that might be a bit of a strain. Might be worth it if you have a powerful rig, though. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Oct 30, 2013 |
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Oct 30, 2013 02:39
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Acquire Currency! posted:What's the difference between a Pysi-Storm and an Emission? Psi-storms are slightly weaker than emissions, I guess. Psi-storms don't have the huge "Hell is going on outside" thing going on. They don't have waves like Emissions do (where you see fire sweeping across everything) Psi-storms are basically random discharges of psi-energy. If you're walking outside during one, you can see blue "discharges" that will fry everything that's caught in them. They're entirely random, so you could presumably walk through a psi-storm with no protection and provided you luck out and don't get hit by a blast you would be fine. Certain suits, in theory, also help you survive but in Misery I'd doubt it. They were included in Atmosfear 3, along with Fallout, but Misery 2.0 base doesn't actually use them. e: This is a psi-storm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy32SSErVc4 Misery slightly tweaks the skybox textures, but you get the idea.
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Oct 30, 2013 02:46
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Something like the Duga 3 was originally planned for the story of SoC. There's a bunch of "cut documents" that were supposed to be ingame, that are only in Russian, about various experiments made with the different labs. X16 in particular was supposed to be in competition with whoever made the Brain Scorcher in order to create the "ideal" psy-field. X16 went down the route they did with the biological base, and the Brain Scorcher used something like Duga 3 that would send out a specific frequency etc.
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Oct 30, 2013 05:05
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I managed to get it really, really cheap so I bought Chernobyl Underground. It looks.. interesting. I haven't mustered up the courage to play it yet, but the gameplay makes it look like something else, man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX0Gtn1SK2M e: God, this is terrible. I regret paying £2 for this. New revision of the Unofficial Misery Patch coming up. I've updated the psi-storm radio files to be better quality. I've taken a few recordings of Russian Numbers Stations from the Conet Project. Also updated the UP to 0.3 which includes a few minor fixes (mainly to do with dialog). Two of the "major" changes include being able to sell Sokolov's note to Owl, and the gaping hole in the Ark being boarded up so it doesn't look so ridiculous when you hide in there during an emission. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 11:06 on Oct 31, 2013 |
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Oct 31, 2013 07:15
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One of the Duty missions is essentially "Destroy the Freedom base". You can play both sides if you're clever. Freedom don't really have any overtly aggressive missions towards Duty, they just mainly focus on the Barrier. One of the things I love about RMA is that the scene with Kruglov is much, much better written. It's now an actual hostage situation. In the pre-release builds, Wolfhound was originally part of a very militant squad of Freedom called "The Dogs". They shoot down Kruglov's helicopter and extort the information out of him. You either have the choice of siding with Wolfhound, siding with Kruglov, or trying to be a negotiator between the two. You can play either Kruglov or Freedom, but if you piss off Freedom by tricking them or just outright attacking them in order to defend Kruglov, they will become openly hostile to you. It's also on a bit of a time limit, as eventually Wolfhound will decide to go in guns blazing. It also slightly expands the "Defend the Barrier" mission, where if you agree to help them, but bail out they'll be pissed off at you. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Nov 2, 2013 |
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Nov 2, 2013 05:17
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If I remember rightly, you need to talk to the Barkeep and he'll say that he put in a word with Duty and they'll let you through. Not entirely sure when that happens, though.
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Nov 3, 2013 03:23
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I think Voronin gives you the same mission eventually, but you can do it with Skull aswell.
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Nov 3, 2013 05:53
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That's rather weird. I'll check out that particular dialog, as I don't think there should be anything in there that would cause such a crash.
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Nov 4, 2013 04:06
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I think my favorite Crab bug is when he levitated through the skadvosk on his back before flying back into bed. He's a weird one.
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Nov 4, 2013 04:23
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gggiiimmmppp posted:I'm getting a crash whenever I try to talk to Garry about going back to Pripyat. As soon as I choose the pripyat dialog the game crashes with an access violation in the lua dll. I was using the optimized one, but I rolled it back and it makes no difference. Any suggestions? I suspect it has something to do with the dialogs_jupiter.script I'm really sorry about these crashes, guys My intent was to make it a smoother experience but the crashes annoy me. Maybe I'm too sensitive. Ok, think I've figured this crash out. Open up dialogs_jupiter.script Search for this section: code:So it should look something like this: code:Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 08:22 on Nov 5, 2013 |
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Nov 5, 2013 08:14
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NihilCredo posted:I discovered ZRP is only a ~6MB file. I trust the OP when it says that it's the better and more updated mod, but what should I do if I'd still like to have Complete 2009's graphical enhancements (or their equivalent), which apparently didn't make it into ZRP? You can pretty much copy and paste the textures from complete. Or use the photo realistic textures. I wouldn't recommend the absolute texture packs for SoC, they look really odd and ugly. Too sharp.
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Nov 5, 2013 14:57
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NihilCredo posted:Thanks. What about the fancy FX (parallax, depth of field, motion blur, dynamic lighting)? Complete actually uses older shaders than the ones in the OP. I would recommend either those or Meltac's Dynamic Shaders from moddb.
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Nov 5, 2013 15:24
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Argus' photorealistic textures seem to have vanished without trace. That's a link to the project based on the original. Complete pretty much uses argus textures though so it would probably be best to use those. e: poo poo, I didn't realize the PRT2 was released. I really, really need to update the OP. I've been putting it off for a while due to real life commitments, but stalker is my true calling so I need to spend some time with her eventually. Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Nov 5, 2013 |
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Nov 5, 2013 15:46
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The DirectX 10/11 crashes are down to a Microsoft update Uninstall Microsoft update kb2670838 and you'll be able to use DX10/11 with no problems. A lot of people dislike this update
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Nov 6, 2013 11:31
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New version of the Misery Unofficial Patch: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5847454/Misery%20Hotfix.7z Main change is updating the Unofficial Call of Pripyat patch to version 0.3 This contains quite a few new dialog pieces, scripted logic changes and even modifies a few of the starting spawns (mainly dead npcs) It should work with existing save games, provided you don't talk to certain characters (Noah is the big one) but I'd recommend starting a new game. Also updates the psi-surge radio distortion to use slightly higher quality sounds. http://pastebin.com/MQmpH63n There's a few undocumented fixes. Mainly a few tweaks to dialogs to prevent crashes. I haven't managed to isolate the cause of the crash that comes from talking to the scientists about the mercs yet, so that might still be present.
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Nov 8, 2013 17:46
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Wow, really loving stupid mistake I made with the logical black road thing. If you're using the logical black road extra, put this xr_effects.script in your scripts folder: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5847454/xr_effects.script I've updated the main archive to include this aswell. Also, about the crash when talking to beard, have you installed the intimidation mod in the past? That changes the dialogs.script file, which means if you install a later version of the patch the dialogs.script may be out of date. If you have installed it in the past, reinstall the dialogs.script from it and it should fix the crash. If it doesn't, I'll have a look at things and see what's causing it. Sorry for these fuckups, guys. A few of these are due to really, really stupid oversights (like me forgetting to put the UP functions in xr_effects for the black road mod  )
Rush Limbo fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Nov 11, 2013 |
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Nov 11, 2013 08:38
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Where is Helicopter 5 located? I'll look into it.
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Nov 13, 2013 09:00
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