View Full Version : S.T.A.L.K.E.R. preview
http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/stalker-shadow-of-chernobyl/767079p1.html
I. W.O.U.L.D. B.E. V.E.R.Y. I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.E.D. I.N. P.L.A.Y.I.N.G. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. F.I.N.A.L.L.Y.
HeadRusch
02-24-07, 10:13 PM
Looks good....very Half Life 2-ish in the way its textures and architecture appear.
Of course, so far all we're seeing are high-rez shots that are the size of postcards on our screen :) I'd like to see how those textures stand up when viewed up close (like how HL2's textures turn to ass when you get close).
Unfortunately, having them show you smooth framerates at 1920x1200...with an 8800GTX in the system is like saying "Hey, we can go very fast in this Ferarri!" Duh.
I hope they release some benchmarks soon...looks like I might be buying my first new PC game in years pretty soon.
yeah looks good. I think I'm going to buy it release week.
DrCrawn
02-25-07, 06:58 PM
I have high expectations of THQ games, so I am excited. If Red Faction 2 had been released a few years later with full online support, we would be like what's Halo? Bring on STALKER!
HeadRusch
02-26-07, 10:40 AM
Wasn't Red Faction really a Volition game?
RF2 was one of lifes great disappointments. It was fun,f or what it was, but considering how great the original Red Faction was....the second parter was definately a bit of a letdown. NOt bad, just not great...and really short as I recall.
DrCrawn
02-26-07, 02:44 PM
Wasn't Red Faction really a Volition game?
RF2 was one of lifes great disappointments. It was fun,f or what it was, but considering how great the original Red Faction was....the second parter was definately a bit of a letdown. NOt bad, just not great...and really short as I recall.
Yes, good memory. Volition did both games, THQ was the publisher I believe.
Honestly, I did not even play the campaign of RF2. I was only interested in the multiplayer with my friends. The MP of Red Faction was cool, but the MP of RF2 was simply insane. BTW, I played these games on the PS2, not the PC. Red Faction was a true gem (both campaign and MP). Fully destructable environments FTW! Shooting people through walls with the rail gun! Forget about it! :p
HeadRusch
02-26-07, 03:42 PM
I was about to say, RF2 didn't have multiplayer on the PC! :D It had a cool botmatch but the levels sucked, they were very much like old Quake 1 style maps....just very rudimentary.
That game also had fantastic, fantastic weapons.....the chaingun, the dual hand pistols or machine guns, lots of variety, lots of "satisfying bullet-spraying goodness". I wonder how STALKER is going to run on "average" hardware.....not just the high end dual core stuff.
I'm pretty sure I'm CPU limited at 1920x1080 at this point in time....I dont get much speedup by dropping resolutions on my card. Boo-Hoo. :(
hehe I'm remembet RF too. I didn't play RF2, but RF1 I played MP a lot with my roomie. I also only played the PS2 version.
DrCrawn
03-19-07, 07:30 PM
This game ships tomorrow. Please please be all that and a bowl of gritz. :D
IGN (http://pc.ign.com/articles/773/773803p1.html) review is up.
chris5977
03-20-07, 10:16 AM
Gamespot has a video review:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/stalker/review.html?sid=6167650
They like it! Can you buy this game via online download?
HeadRusch
03-20-07, 10:56 AM
What are they saying about performance.
No, I dont care how it runs on a 8800GTX SLI setup :D I hate when 15 year old reviewers assume everyone out there has a $4000 game rig and say "IT RUNS GREAT, BUY IT!"..and then you find out its crippling on anything but $1000+ videcards :P
From the IGN review
So what kind of hardware power are you going to need to run this thing? It may not show off all the latest graphical effects, but this game is rather demanding. While it's by no means a top of the line rig, our Pentium 4 3.4 GHz, 2 GB RAM, and 512 MB Radeon X1900 system had problems at maximum settings. The game also tended to stutter quite often, sometimes pausing for three or four seconds at regular intervals, which occurred on two different Windows XP rigs at maximum visual quality. Though that isn't the best of news, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does support widescreen resolutions, which should please many.
Quote:
So what kind of hardware power are you going to need to run this thing? It may not show off all the latest graphical effects, but this game is rather demanding. While it's by no means a top of the line rig, our Pentium 4 3.4 GHz, 2 GB RAM, and 512 MB Radeon X1900 system had problems at maximum settings. The game also tended to stutter quite often, sometimes pausing for three or four seconds at regular intervals, which occurred on two different Windows XP rigs at maximum visual quality. Though that isn't the best of news, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does support widescreen resolutions, which should please many.
People have to learn that you can't always run the latest games at maximum settings at a high framerates with their mid-level systems. My son gets my hand-me-down hardware so we always dial back the settings a bit on his machine and most of these games still look decent. I've gotten some replayability from some games because I wanted to experience them with an upgraded system with all the graphical bells and whistles. Not always a bad thing to have a new game that stresses mid-level hardware.
I'll try to get the game tomorrow. I'm waiting for my b-Enspirer, it's suppose to be delivered tomorrow.
I have a X2-4200+, 2 GM of RAM, and a.... 6800GS. The good thing is I'm going to play in a Vizio LCD of 32'', resolution of 1366x768. So that shouldn't require that much power, I think so, what do you think?
HeadRusch
03-20-07, 03:32 PM
The reason I asked is because I have to drive 1080p, its the native rez on my flatpanel. Even at lower detail levels if I can't get a decent framerate out of the game it'll be a lame experience for me.
Hence I'll probably wait for HardOCP or Firingsquad to do a STALKER shootout with current video technologies to get an idea of what to expect.
Firingsquad is theonly review site that actually uses 1920x1200 as a review resolution for all of their games (assuming they support widescreen). Most other webites hit 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 and thats it :P
SpeedyHTPC
03-20-07, 06:12 PM
HeadRusch, I have this game. It runs fine on my 8800GTS640 with E6600 at 1920x1200 with full eye candy :P
However I dont really like the game. Are you guys serious? While yes the ambience of the game is fantastic - I really felt like I was in a post nuclear environment - the engine feels really old. Did they intend it that way? It feels like the game was developed using a doom engine rather than unreal or something modern. It took a long time to develop the game, so perhaps it was based on an older engine?
I'll give it another shot but it def feels out of place after playing R6Vegas/GRAW.
HeadRusch
03-20-07, 07:08 PM
You mean because of the visuals? Like HDR Lighting and crap like that? The texture work seemed really good....
Jiffylush
03-20-07, 08:58 PM
HeadRusch, I have this game. It runs fine on my 8800GTS640 with E6600 at 1920x1200 with full eye candy :P
However I dont really like the game. Are you guys serious? While yes the ambience of the game is fantastic - I really felt like I was in a post nuclear environment - the engine feels really old. Did they intend it that way? It feels like the game was developed using a doom engine rather than unreal or something modern. It took a long time to develop the game, so perhaps it was based on an older engine?
I'll give it another shot but it def feels out of place after playing R6Vegas/GRAW.
This game was in development for a very very very long time, I never thought it would actually be released.
I would expect it to be less advanced than HL2, it should have come out long before HL2 did.
SpeedyHTPC
03-21-07, 03:31 PM
You mean because of the visuals? Like HDR Lighting and crap like that? The texture work seemed really good....
Nah. In all the games, turn off HDR and "crap like that" and it still look better than Stalker. I definitely see that Oblivion looks better with "HDR and crap like that" off.
SpeedyHTPC
03-21-07, 03:32 PM
This game was in development for a very very very long time, I never thought it would actually be released.
I doubt that it was actually in development for a very very very long time. Its more like it was on the backburner for a very very very long time before it was picked up again.
HeadRusch
03-21-07, 03:34 PM
Nah. In all the games, turn off HDR and "crap like that" and it still look better than Stalker. I definitely see that Oblivion looks better with "HDR and crap like that" off.
Ok so......what makes it look bad? "Still looks better than STALKER". How?
Bad textures? Simple Polys? Simple textures? flat landscapes, not alot of filler in the scenes (ie: empty rooms not alot of destructible or non-destructible junk to have fun with in a level)...??
Do Tell....
chris5977
03-21-07, 04:04 PM
I doubt that it was actually in development for a very very very long time. Its more like it was on the backburner for a very very very long time before it was picked up again.
Work started on the game in 2001 and it missed the 2003 release date by four years. I've never heard that they stopped working on it, but I suppose that's possible.
It would be nice if somebody that has it would get a decent review...
SpeedyHTPC
03-21-07, 04:22 PM
Ok so......what makes it look bad? "Still looks better than STALKER". How?
Bad textures? Simple Polys? Simple textures? flat landscapes, not alot of filler in the scenes (ie: empty rooms not alot of destructible or non-destructible junk to have fun with in a level)...??
Do Tell....
Yes I'd say the texture quality is sub-par. If you look at some of the screenshots on gamespot - for example the cell block, outdoor shots - the quality that you see here is what I see with everything turned on and resolution at 1920x1200.
Its my thought that in Oblivion, even with HDR turned off the texture is quite good and smooth, well polished. Again I am not sure if the developers of Stalker intended the game to look this way or is it because development started long ago or what but it certainly does not look as polished as I thought it could.
I'll have to go see how it looks at lower settings and see if its worse or not. Those screenshots are pretty much what I see in highest settings.
And yes to simple polys as well but only some objects. Dogs dont look like dogs, not like a wolf in Oblivion. I didnt know that it was a herd of animals until "Wolf" said go kill those animals. The humans look ok.
Again I'm just saying it looks rough but the game play seems to be good. This paragraph from gamespot's review sums up the look of the game.
"Though already dated by a few years, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. still looks good, and its visuals are on par with Half-Life 2. What the game lacks in modern-day graphical pizzazz, it makes up for with intricate detail and immersive atmosphere. There's something to be said for the game's environments, which are infused with a ton of character and detail. It feels like the postapocalyptic landscape it's supposed to be. The countryside of the zone feels rugged and wild, with abandoned towns and compounds littering the landscape. Each locale has its own particular feel to it, so you never feel like the world was made with cookie-cutter building templates. The sense of exploration is marvelous, and it's the little details that make the difference. While you won't need a high-end system to play the game, the sheer size and scope of the world are such that it really helps the frame rate if you do."
I think Half-Life 2's graphics are better actually.
jasonstiller
03-21-07, 07:33 PM
The premise of the game looks great. I just wish it was coming out for consoles. Mabye ill just have to hook the PC up to a switchbox to run it on my TV (Yea the wife will love that ha ha)
kylebisme
03-22-07, 03:08 PM
Heh, I'm playing it from the couch using a wireless 360 controller though Pinnacle Game Profiler. Perhaps you can just hide your PC in a corner and pretend to your wife that you are playing it on one of your consoles. :p
HeadRusch
03-22-07, 05:35 PM
I think HL2's graphics still look next gen, I guess I'm behind the times.
jasonstiller
03-22-07, 06:59 PM
Does stalker work with a controller?? That would be great
kylebisme
03-23-07, 12:24 AM
You can play pretty much any PC game with a controller if you use Pinnicle Game Profler (http://www.pinnaclegameprofiler.com/). I made a profile for Stalker which you can download here (http://www.pinnaclegameprofiler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1624&start=15).
Just tried STALKER. It looks OK to me. I have everthing max out except AA with the advance vid settings in the game. Dont really need AA beyound default since I am running the game at 2560x1600. With a C2D E6600@2.9ghz, 2gb mem and 8800GTS SLI'd, I average about 40-45FPS. Not bad at that rez, Also it make use of the dual core. See them loaded at about 20-30% on each core. Just started the game and played a little. Man you start off with only a Knife (when you get into cambat) and binoculars ... and the ability to throw stones. Atmosphere in the game is thick (not just the weather) and looks real and good. Esp the light changes and the weather, littles things in the game like the chatter in Russian (?) of the NPC was neat. Also blew my mind when I heard music and then notice one of the NPC was playing a acoustic guitar by a bon fire with his bud's. Only thing missing is a BBQ and case of beer. Just wish I had more time to try some more of the game but had to do a server build and transfer a few TB of HD movies.
kylebisme
03-23-07, 03:08 AM
I'll bet can go ahead and turn the "AA" up all the way. It isn't real AA but rather shader based selective bluring that helps edges a little. And yeah, the game takes place in Russia and was made by Russians as well, so a lot of the NPC chatter is in Russian and the gutair mussic is Russian as well.
Oh, and a little graphics tweak. In console, enter these two lines:
r2_ls_bloom_fast on
r2_ls_bloom_threshold 0.200
Default threshold is 0.001 but that is far too bright. 0.200 looks good.
SpeedyHTPC
03-24-07, 02:53 AM
The game gets more interesting when you get to the 4th level or scene where you have to go into the labs. It gets very scary there..those weird creatures.
At these levels the graphics look nicer. It actually looks better under the flashlight. I guess the graphics is there. The beginning was intentionally made to look worn.
Back to the Garbage..
Scotty L
03-24-07, 03:26 AM
is this game worth $50 in y'alls opinion?
kylebisme
03-24-07, 02:19 PM
is this game worth $50 in y'alls opinion?
Yeah, I would have easily paid $50 and been quite happy to have done so.
It would be silly to acutally do that though as the MSRP is $39.99. ;)
Scotty L
03-24-07, 06:51 PM
hahah, $40 games are always good news ;)
squidboy
03-24-07, 07:14 PM
Plus it is on sale next week for $30 at Circuit City. I'm thinking of picking it up when I go get C&C3 (also $10 off next week).
Although, I'm not really a fan of scary games, so I'm not sure yet.
chris5977
03-25-07, 04:37 AM
Plus it is on sale next week for $30 at Circuit City. I'm thinking of picking it up when I go get C&C3 (also $10 off next week).
Although, I'm not really a fan of scary games, so I'm not sure yet.
Before I go way out of my way to go to Curcuit City, how do you know that it will be on sale?
jasonstiller
03-25-07, 11:12 AM
The sale just started today. I just bought mine online for instore pickup. This is way too good a deal to pass up. I just hope my athalon 64 3400 and radeon x800xl can run the beast
chris5977
03-25-07, 12:47 PM
The sale just started today. I just bought mine online for instore pickup. This is way too good a deal to pass up. I just hope my athalon 64 3400 and radeon x800xl can run the beast
Thanks. Free shipping online, too!
Had to drop rez from 2560x1600 to 1920x1200. Not sure if the game is using SLI. The two 8800GTS doesnt seem to run any better then the one 8800GTX (1920x1080), pain if it doesnt have native support for SLI in the game since it looks like Nvidia isnt working on drivers for XP.
BTW paid $35cdn for the game at FS.
jasonstiller
03-25-07, 03:08 PM
Yea, i just picked mine up and it dont work >:(
jasonstiller
03-25-07, 06:44 PM
Ok i fixed it and the game is fantastic! Ive only played the 1st traders mission and it already feels very imersive.
squidboy
03-25-07, 07:30 PM
Before I go way out of my way to go to Curcuit City, how do you know that it will be on sale?
It is in the circular. The deals from circulars are usually posted on the various bargain hunter websites a few days before the sale starts.
SpeedyHTPC
03-25-07, 08:44 PM
The "run n charge" style of shooting works better on this game. The "camping" method doesnt work as the others start to gang up on you.
Does anyone know how to not be a loner? How do you join other groups?
I have experienced my first bug. If you get into the Arena at the Bar and start to fight, make sure you do a full save of the game before doing each round.
I came out after 5-6 fights and I had a new outfit that I was wearing found in the first lab quest. I was horrified that by the time I got back to the train wreck bridge that I was NAKED. My outfit disappeared. I think its a quick save bug.
Luckily the Bar tender sells a STALKER outfit. Its the original one but not as good as the one found in the lab.
SpeedyHTPC
03-25-07, 08:57 PM
I always check paddy the wak to see what he's doing and he's also playing STALKER. Check out the widescreen look for this game.
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9663
kylebisme
03-25-07, 09:22 PM
I have experienced my first bug. If you get into the Arena at the Bar and start to fight, make sure you do a full save of the game before doing each round.
I came out after 5-6 fights and I had a new outfit that I was wearing found in the first lab quest. I was horrified that by the time I got back to the train wreck bridge that I was NAKED. My outfit disappeared. I think its a quick save bug.
That isn't a bug, all your stuff is in the chest by the door where you return from the arena.
DrCrawn
03-26-07, 03:15 PM
Had to drop rez from 2560x1600 to 1920x1200. Not sure if the game is using SLI. The two 8800GTS doesnt seem to run any better then the one 8800GTX (1920x1080), pain if it doesnt have native support for SLI in the game since it looks like Nvidia isnt working on drivers for XP.
BTW paid $35cdn for the game at FS.
I know you have an uber rig, but CPU limitation is a real possibility. I'm sure the game supports SLI unless there is a 8800gts driver issue.
SpeedyHTPC
03-26-07, 04:00 PM
That isn't a bug, all your stuff is in the chest by the door where you return from the arena.
Well yes that is quite obvious as the box is much brighter. I checked there first. Its not there but the rest of my stuff is.
SpeedyHTPC
03-26-07, 04:05 PM
Another question.. what are you supposed to do with enemies that are shot down but not dead? You can't help them to make them your friend. The only option is to shoot them to death?
kylebisme
03-26-07, 05:07 PM
Well yes that is quite obvious as the box is much brighter. I checked there first. Its not there but the rest of my stuff is.
Fair enough, I'd seen others compaining about loosing all their stuff so I figured you had missed it too. As downed enemies, best I can tell the only options are to kill them or let them suffer.
Anyway, I adjusted the scoped views so they are round in widescreen rather than stretched into ovals, both 16:9 and 16:10 versions. Simply unzip the aproprate version into your game directory and let it overwrite the fsgame.ltx, there is a copy of the orignal file included incase you care to revert to defaults:
http://www.sunflower.com/~kyleb/Stalker16x9scopes.zip
http://www.sunflower.com/~kyleb/Stalker16x10scopes.zip
Well the AI is a mix. At times its very smart and others ....well lets just say that a stone may be smarter. AI will advance on your last know position and many time from the flank or rear. But at times are dumb as rocks. You can shoot at them all day and they will not react until they are hit. But they zero in on gun flashes real well. But still not in the same AI as the FAR CRY grunts. One of the best weapons I found was the silence pistol. As long as you have a lot of ammo (which is not hard to find), you can almost take out an army, esp at night. I was able to "snipe" 16 Military Types with a silence pistol in one section fought at night. I just went from roof top to roof top shooting a lot a rounds at the targets until they drop. The AI will follow you into buildings but on the rare occasion may climb ladders. So far had two crashes. One when autosave was loaded, it went screwy and had one hard lock when loading another save point. Occasion crashes when loading game but a reboot, the game loads fine, so far a fun game. The hardest enemy I fought so far is one of the mutated humans with the "mind blast" power. Boy talk about a headache and nauseated feeling until you get back your senses.
BTW: I am running two games. One on a 60" 1080i (Stalker) for casual playing and the other on my Dell 30" (vetern) for serous gaming... :D
I know you have an uber rig, but CPU limitation is a real possibility. I'm sure the game supports SLI unless there is a 8800gts driver issue.
CPU's are in the 30% range max'd.... :D
DrCrawn
03-26-07, 10:15 PM
CPU's are in the 30% range max'd.... :D
Yeah, I feel dumb and realized that what I said didnt work shortly after posting...
And this is what the embarrassment smily is for. :o
hehehehehehe.... found a large stash of vodka :D :D :D . Couldnt carry it all so drank many bottles and got plastered :rolleyes: ...took like almost 2-3min to stop the woozy feeling. Still had to drop many bottle so I can move :( .
SpeedyHTPC
03-27-07, 01:19 AM
With the better suit, you can't carry much of anything besides food, some stones for powerups, bullets and another gun.
I have found 5 meats. Each gives you 400% health. I had 3 of them plus a -20 on radiation. I can sit there and try to kill each one while being shot at.
Anyway, agree on the AI, Tinker. I found some just standing there facing the wall or crouched down waiting for someone.
Flashlights. Must have missed them. Kill'd many NPCs with flashlights but still dont have one. Its not there in their inventory or around the bodys. What am I missing????? :confused:
Hate the inventory menu. What a pain to get in and out of, been killed many times while in the inventory trying to get out of the menu quick. They should have made the pick up and inventory the same menu. Would have been a lot easier to navigate.
Scotty L
03-27-07, 03:03 PM
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Command-Conquer-3-Tiberium-Wars-Kane-Edition-PC/sem/rpsm/oid/175657/catOid/-16501/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
Kane Edition Bonus Features: (+$10)
• Exclusive gameplay content includes five multiplayer maps and three in-game unit skins.
• Strategy videos from the game developers, deleted scenes, a blooper reel, and the “Behind the Lines” making-of video.
• Exclusive art and desktop wallpapers.
Great, the downloadable content idea of the consoles is rubbing off onto PC publishers. I hope these "extras" will be available for download on fan sites in the form of mods.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Command-Conquer-3-Tiberium-Wars-Kane-Edition-PC/sem/rpsm/oid/175657/catOid/-16501/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
Kane Edition Bonus Features: (+$10)
• Exclusive gameplay content includes five multiplayer maps and three in-game unit skins.
• Strategy videos from the game developers, deleted scenes, a blooper reel, and the “Behind the Lines” making-of video.
• Exclusive art and desktop wallpapers.
Great, the downloadable content idea of the consoles is rubbing off onto PC publishers. I hope these "extras" will be available for download on fan sites in the form of mods.
C and C 3 not STALKER.... ;) .
STALKER patch 1.0001. Be warned, all old save games will not work with new patch'd game.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
http://www.gamershell.com/news/37369.html
DrCrawn
03-27-07, 04:26 PM
So for those that have played a few days now, bottom line is this a must have? Sounds like you guys are getting into it.
So for those that have played a few days now, bottom line is this a must have? Sounds like you guys are getting into it.
Beside the sometimes real dumb AI, the game is a lot of fun....full of atmosphere and add some real scary mutants in the various tunnels, I say its a must for those into likes of FEAR (which I never really got into or like for some reason) and fallout. And at the bargain price it was a no brainer for me. But be warned , it really demands a hi end systems to turn up all the eye candy, but the game does scale well.
jasonstiller
03-27-07, 05:09 PM
I just got into the 1st udergroujnd tunnel and it freaked me out so i stopped playing. Will play again when the wife is around in daylight ha ha. Game is fantastic!
RTFM... :rolleyes: .I should have done that :o . Had the flashlight and nightvision and didnt even know it :eek: ....LOL Also the quick bandage and med kit short cuts ;) .
krimson
03-28-07, 09:41 AM
Okay. I only got about 30/60 minutes of play time last night to try this game out. Is there somewhere I can buy more ammo? I started the game, talked to wolf to get my mission & gear, then did a side mission and wandered around a bit and now I have next to no ammo to do the attack-the-farm thing. Should I just start over or does someone sell ammo?
Okay. I only got about 30/60 minutes of play time last night to try this game out. Is there somewhere I can buy more ammo? I started the game, talked to wolf to get my mission & gear, then did a side mission and wandered around a bit and now I have next to no ammo to do the attack-the-farm thing. Should I just start over or does someone sell ammo?
The various traders can sell you ammo if they have it or just loot the dead. Just wait for some of your team to get kill or after they kill some of the badies and then loot the bodies. Just search every body you come across will get you various supplies.
SpeedyHTPC
03-29-07, 01:53 PM
Guns can be unloaded to yield the shells in them. Do that before you drop them.
[ = med kit
] = bandaid for bleeding.
L = flashlight
I = inventory
Well finish the game :D . It was worth the $35, played at the vetern level for most of the game except the end game where I switched to STALKER since it was just insane at one part. The AI is quite diff between Vetern and STALKER (NO spoiler so u will have to find out ur self ;) ). Hate to see what they are like at the hardest setting :eek: .
EDIT: Enjoy STALKER a lot more then RB6: Vegas (the latter, what a let down)
kylebisme
03-29-07, 05:44 PM
Heh, I started on the stalker difficulty setting as normal is ussally about right for me when playing PC games with a controller, but I quickly swtiched to novice after getting completely worked by the AI. Since then I finished the game and tried starting my second playthough on stalker difficulty again but still couldn't hang, I suppose I may have to bust out the keyboard and mouse to see what the higher settings are like.
Troubleshooter
03-31-07, 11:42 AM
I hadn't played PC games in a few months due to lack of interesting titles so I got excited to see Stalker and picked it up. Got it running acceptably with some tweaks and dove in. I see a fair bit of artifacting on occasion. a vid_reset generally clears it up but some things are just constantly whacked (like trees and poles that go up into the sky forever). I find it INCREDIBLY annoying to try to go back to older quests that you have only half finished but have received a new quest. I just can't figure out how the heck you make that 'old' quest the one that you're working on. The map arrow still points to the latest one. I've failed some due to time limits because I've thought I was on course to finish them but was actually on a new quest (hard to explain this, I'm not doing it justice). The game isn't as good as I had hoped but it's ok. I think the people claiming that it's better than HL2 are insane. I'm playing at stalker level but find that it flips to master level on its own every once in a while and slaps me down like a schoolgirl. I also agree that the AI can be very good or very bad dependant on the situation. I am finding it a challenge even on the stalker level but damn that master level is HARD!
-Trouble
I hadn't played PC games in a few months due to lack of interesting titles so I got excited to see Stalker and picked it up. Got it running acceptably with some tweaks and dove in. I see a fair bit of artifacting on occasion. a vid_reset generally clears it up but some things are just constantly whacked (like trees and poles that go up into the sky forever). I find it INCREDIBLY annoying to try to go back to older quests that you have only half finished but have received a new quest. I just can't figure out how the heck you make that 'old' quest the one that you're working on. The map arrow still points to the latest one. I've failed some due to time limits because I've thought I was on course to finish them but was actually on a new quest (hard to explain this, I'm not doing it justice). The game isn't as good as I had hoped but it's ok. I think the people claiming that it's better than HL2 are insane. I'm playing at stalker level but find that it flips to master level on its own every once in a while and slaps me down like a schoolgirl. I also agree that the AI can be very good or very bad dependant on the situation. I am finding it a challenge even on the stalker level but damn that master level is HARD!
-Trouble
The graphics glitches, got to be something in your setup. I have no problems other then the two lock ups when I tried to load an autosave and the occasional start up lock. The game never reset any difficulty levels during play for me.
To select a quest, go to PDA and under tasks. Just click on the quest you want and the arrow should now be set for the selected quest. All the side quest are just for fun and most don't have anything to do with the main game. They get you some money and make you use up your resources. The quest to kill the person you are looking for (forgot name but starts with "S"), I didn't even complete it and still finished/ended the game.
A complaint I have with the game is that the NPC should be affected with radioactive stuff as you are, but they are not. Many times I killed a NPC and went to loot only to find that they were residing in a VERY radioactive spot.
Also the end game. You get locked in and there is no way to backtrack once you started it. I only set to STALKER once at the beginning of the end game and switched back to Vetern right after that insane TIMED part.
Concerning comparisons to HL2. Well HL2 has better looking graphics for certain things but STALKER to me was more real with its atmosheric setting, but I found HL2 to be very sterile in that playing thru as Freeman was like most PFS, fun but still a game feeling. It didn't have that personal gritty connection I had with Mark One. The last main character I connected with was in Far Cry. Kind of humorous type. Freeman was just dry and stiff for me. Mark One is brooding and serious ( a little insane?) and the cut screens added a lot to the character of Mark One for me.
Troubleshooter
03-31-07, 02:41 PM
I played a bit more today and did get more into it in the lab. Still having some sort of issue with stability/glitches though. I took my machine apart and cleaned it out, temps on the vid card were a bit high but all seems ok there now. Now I'm not having so many artifacts but I am dumping to desktop fairly often. Like I said, I hadn't even booted my XP partition since like Christmas so I do agree that there certainly may be something up with the machine there.
Replaying it again at Master setting. Funny in the veteran setting I didn't even start with a pistol, just a knife but on the master setting, I actually got a gun. Its not much diff between master and veteran settings so far since I am at the early stages. But after playing it thru once you can predict a lot of the action, doesn't mean you will not die any less or sooner tho. Well I learn that you'll get killed most of the time if you don't pay attention to the enemy threat/proximity counter. Also you can leave the bodies and come back later to loot them if the situation gets too hot. The method of accessing the inventory sucks. Like I said it should have been integrated with the pickup menu, I don't rem how many times I got killed when trying to hit the right key to get out of either the inventory or pickup menu. You kind of panic when you have a menu up and you start getting hit and knowing it don't take much to get kill. The let down for me after the 1st go thru...where are/more HUMAN mutants. Just had a few thru the whole 1st play thru. Just stupid mutant dogs and pigs...I want the HUMAN touch. Now replaying, I am going to do more of the side quests for just the fun.
Little things that I like are like when I was having a hard time with some military types and was just getting hammer by them. Back off to a safe hiding place to lick my wounds and then some bandits arrive and had a firefight with the military. Just went in after and picked off the few survivors and looted. Also mutant dogs/pigs attacking NPC's and killing leaving the loot. Easy money. Little things like these and others is what really make me like STALKER.
I played a bit more today and did get more into it in the lab. Still having some sort of issue with stability/glitches though. I took my machine apart and cleaned it out, temps on the vid card were a bit high but all seems ok there now. Now I'm not having so many artifacts but I am dumping to desktop fairly often. Like I said, I hadn't even booted my XP partition since like Christmas so I do agree that there certainly may be something up with the machine there.
Try installing latest beta drivers if you have NVida 7XXX card. This helped me.
Randall Morton
04-02-07, 06:01 PM
My computer didn't have any trouble with Oblivion or Fear, but it has a lot of glitches with STALKER. I get frequent freezing of the screen and graphic glitches, but the game does not stay locked or crash. I'm running 7800GTs in SLI.
yzkbug,
Exactly which drivers are you using? Thanks
I swithed to 91.47 and they are working great. The game not only runs better, but looks a lot better.
My computer didn't have any trouble with Oblivion or Fear, but it has a lot of glitches with STALKER. I get frequent freezing of the screen and graphic glitches, but the game does not stay locked or crash. I'm running 7800GTs in SLI.
yzkbug,
Exactly which drivers are you using? Thanks
I installed 93.81 Beta available at http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_32bit_93.81.html
Before, I had the latest WHQL certified 93.71 and had a lot visual glitches.
I have 7950GT.
Randall Morton
04-03-07, 12:41 PM
I had already tried the 93.71 & 81 and was having the problems with both. Must be my older video cards or the SLI.
Troubleshooter
04-05-07, 12:07 PM
I also started with the 93.71s and went to the 93.81's. The newer one was better but not perfect and now I'm at a spot where it crashes EVERY time. Trying to get out of the mission to turn off the brain scrambler thing (with the next objective being to get into the power plant) crashes EVERY time after the 'proceed to next level' load. I get past the load screen and head out the tunnel/train car and wham. Done. I've tried just about everything I can think of: static lighting, lower rez, turn off eax, drop hw accel on sound....Doesn't seem to matter and it's not consistent as to when or where it happens but within a few moments of moving after the load is finished, crash city. If I just stand still, it's fine. If I load my previous game from before the load, that's fine, can spend all day there but as soon as I pass, it's over. I've never actually had a game with this many problems!
I also started with the 93.71s and went to the 93.81's. The newer one was better but not perfect and now I'm at a spot where it crashes EVERY time. Trying to get out of the mission to turn off the brain scrambler thing (with the next objective being to get into the power plant) crashes EVERY time after the 'proceed to next level' load. I get past the load screen and head out the tunnel/train car and wham. Done. I've tried just about everything I can think of: static lighting, lower rez, turn off eax, drop hw accel on sound....Doesn't seem to matter and it's not consistent as to when or where it happens but within a few moments of moving after the load is finished, crash city. If I just stand still, it's fine. If I load my previous game from before the load, that's fine, can spend all day there but as soon as I pass, it's over. I've never actually had a game with this many problems!
Try doing a save before you move right after the autosave and load the save game instead of the autosave one, Might help, since the only crashes I had were with the autosave loads.
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