Gold: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

[NightRhyme]

Originally Posted by SpeedDMN

The game itself seems to be more RPG then FPS which to me is a little disappointing. I don't want to talk to any elves and such I just want to destroy! Oh well I will give it more chance.

I second that

[zapionics<alt>]

I thought that way earlier on in the game but as I progressed further into it the FPS side of it dominates. The handling is very good too, it feels like an FPS and the controls are responsive.

[polonyc2]

just started playing tonight...early impressions: definitely plays more like an RPG early on...graphics are nothing to get excited about and definitely not in the league of Half Life 2...I'm playing at 1360 x 1024, with all eye candy on...still learning the controls/story/PDA funtionality...the game did not grab me in right away but I'm willing to give it some time

bugs: there are definitely some weird bugs...the most noticeable one for me is that characters dialogue do not always work...one minute I can hear them talking and then all of a sudden no sound but I can still see the characters dialogue text in my PDA

here are some early screenshots...

[Wingit]

For those of you playing in widescreen, it would appear that Stalker chooses to implement widescreen by trimming screen to size rather than expanding FOV. A solution has been posted at Widescreen Gaming Forum here:
Widescreen Gaming Forum :: View topic - Solution: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. [3rd]

As with any file on the net, use at your own disgression, photos of before and after hack below....

[traveler]

Thanks for the link to WSG. Interesting site. Descent in wide screen??!!??



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[SpeedDMN]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

I thought that way earlier on in the game but as I progressed further into it the FPS side of it dominates. The handling is very good too, it feels like an FPS and the controls are responsive.

That's good to know thanks. I definately want to play it more, but I have been busy tinkering with the new monitor. It is pretty interesting to play HL2 on a 40" but S.T.A.L.K.E.R. would be a bit much for my lappy I think.

Wingit, I will look into that as I was playing it on a 24" widescreen thanks.

[polonyc2]

took me about an hour to finally feel comfortable with the controls/gameplay and now that I have I'm really enjoying the game...the dark, atmosphere/surroundings are really nice...I also decided to bump up the resolution to 1600 x 1200...the game runs very smooth...have not experienced any crashes or bugs as of yet (the sound bug I reported earlier was apparently not a bug...you don't get to hear all the dialogue from the characters, you need to read the PDA)

the anomolies are pretty cool...along with the mutated dogs, boars etc that I have run across...the graphics are nice but it still feels a bit dated (the S.T.A.L.K.E.R engine is 2 years old)

the game is open ended but not like Oblivion...I've deleted all my saved games and started over again as I want to start from the beginning again and play it at the new resolution and comfort level with the GUI

[zapionics<alt>]

I'm now running full dynamic lighting at 1024x768 and its very nice!

After a bit of trial and error I set the following for best performance:

• Vision distance is at about 80% based on slider position,
• Grass density 80%,
• AA is at the first position (2x?),
• Grass shadow is off,
• Lighting distance is 50%

(Apart from AA and vision distance I dont know how much the other settings impact performance so I might try more tweaking of these.)

Now I have maximum texture detail, shadow quality, aniso, object detail, sun shadows, NPC flashlights, etc, and how did I achieve this remarkable improvement? Well, I added another 1GB of DDR. Now running 4x512 modules.

They're all Corsair DDR400, (a couple of XMS low latency modules and a couple of XMS C2 modules). I lost PAT and had to loosen the timings a little but the improvement in performance is fantastic. (Oblivion is also a lot smoother with all settings maxed out in that game).

In outdoor areas my frame rate is varying between mid 30's to high 60's depending on whats happening, which is acceptable to me.

(Use "rs_stats 1" and "rs_stats 0" in the console to view your fps in game.)

The lighting does improve the atmosphere and gives a more realistic affect. I like how shadows are thrown by trees and birds overhead.

[Wingit]

New Version of Widescreen FOV hack/tool (version 1.1 - changes hotkey assignments for activation and calibration from keys that were used by game to unassigned keys)...same link as prior post. Same caveat as well, although I have been using it with no ill effects thus far.

[shaihulud]

Well, I am in Chernobyl (Chernobyl is some of the best mapping I have ever seen). I think I am close to finishing, but still have a ways to go. It is not a bad game and I have to say that I do give it the honors of being close to one of my all time favorites, System Shock.

There are some things I must say I wish they would fix, or make it better. But even System Shock had its flaws.

[zapionics<alt>]

I'm cooling my heals in the bar, trying my luck in the Arena and doing a few odd jobs and getting as much information about Strelock as I can. Going back to Garbage now to finish off those bandits and to see how it looks with dynamic lighting on. Taking my time in the game world and checking it all out.

btw, has anyone found anything really useful in a stash? I just keep finding mostly junk, like a bottle of Vodka, medkit or something.

[polonyc2]

is everyone completing all the side quests or just following the main story?...I love exploring so I'm doing all the side quests as well (and there sure seems to be a lot of them, at least early in the game)...I'm kinda disappointed in the remards I've been getting after completing the side quests, mostly small artifacts...

a lot of things seems to show up on my map (besides the Main and side quests) including locations of hidden stash etc...so I also try to retrieve any stash I see on the map as well....all these side distractions are taking away from completing the main story but I'm having fun

[zapionics<alt>]

Originally Posted by polonyc2

...all these side distractions are taking away from completing the main story but I'm having fun

Yeah, I agree its fun and also this game is an FPS, and some of these side missions have some great fire fights and stealth missions! Not doing them is like choosing not to play most of the game !

The rewards so far have not been very interesting. I was hoping for special weapons or powerful artifacts or something.

[polonyc2]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

Not doing them is like choosing not to play most of the game !

I agree...by just doing the main Quest it seems like a lot of the game experience would be lost...the game also might be over fairly quickly...I like to lengthen all my games

I'm not "loving" the game so far...but it's definitely worth playing

Ive been noticing some bugs as well...once after I completed a mission and the Trader was giving me a new one, the game just crashed (without saving!!)...so I had to replay a whole section to get back to that point...now I save more frequently

also the Quicksave (F6) is kinda quirky...sometimes when I try to Launch a Quicksave it doesn't work and I have to launch another one of my saved games, quit that game and go back and start up the quicksave again...and I'm not experiencing nearly as many bugs as a lot of other players are (according to other forums)

afer all the repeated delays and years of development there really is no excuse for them releasing such a buggy game

[traveler]

How many different versions of STALKER are available for sale?



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