Essential mods and patches

[triple_agent]

Are there any essential mods for STALKER that best be employed right off the bat for the optimum first playthrough experience? Any good mods for the second possible playthrough? Any patches necessary?

But the primary question is about necessary improvements. What are the necessary ones?

[rresuggan]

just play vanilla first time through and enjoy the experience, you will then know what you want improved and i recommend you play on master, its a better game

[stanky.stalin]

imo for your first playthrough go with the vanilla game first, some might say go with the Stalker Complete Mod - http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-complete-2009 - which patches some bugs but honestly your hurting yourself not playing the game in vanilla. its not much of the orginal game because it overhuals it so much. so please do yourself a favor and play it vanilla ( with patches if you want ). you will regret not doing so if you jump straight into the mods ( overhauls ). somthing is very special about the base game, idk.

but, for your second play through play with the Autumn Aurora mod - http://www.moddb.com/mods/autumn-aurora-compilation-mod/downloads/autumn-aurora-21-by-autumnal-wanderers - really overhuals the game in a good way, one if not my favorite stalker mod of all time. ( just this mod, it includes patches )

and honestly i didnt notice any bugs that really hurt the game, just odd encounters that would make you go,"huh, neat."

but, if your really worried about bugs ( which you shouldn't ) try the zone reclamation project - http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/index.html - stomps out some loose ends with some bugs but i honesly dont think its needed.

sorry im kinda tired, can't sleep, ill gladly answer any questions tho!

[stanky.stalin]

Originally posted by rresuggan:

just play vanilla first time through and enjoy the experience, you will then know what you want improved and i recommend you play on master, its a better game

^ yes dont play on anything but master, it is what the game is supposed to be played on

[triple_agent]

Thanks guys. Typically I am used to playing on higher difficulty levels. First playthrough vanilla, such as you recommend. I was worried a bit about carshes and stuff but since you say it is fine, then okay. Seems like Aurora mod is dominant for the Shadow of Chernobyl, good that, too many options is always distraction, at least for where to begin. I will maybe check out the Complete mod, separately from Aurora, since you say each one of these is sufficient amount of changes itself.

[triple_agent]

What about this mod, though: "HUD weapons placement", is it comaptible with Autumn Aurora or Stalker Complete mods? I guess with the Autumn Aurora it should, because why not?

[stanky.stalin]

Hud weapons placement - http://www.moddb.com/mods/revised-weapon-hud-placement - i'm 100% would work with zone reclamation project - http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/index.html - for it was made for it. For Aurumn Aurora and the Complete mods I don't believe it will be compatible for those two mods overhaul all the weapons, such as new models. Therefore, you will not need HUD weapons placement with the overhuals. But, if you are are really interested in that mod, you should consider using it for your first playthrough, because it does not change anything in the game just the weapons.

I appreciate you looking a bit at my mod suggestions, I was in the same situation as you where before I started playing, but no one gave good reason for why they choose one mods over another, so I played vanilla, and will never forget it.

I hope I helped you out! Good luck out there in the Zone, stay Cheeki Breeki!

[triple_agent]

When I buy retro or almost retro titles, I am used to visiting MODdb first and doing my homework on what is the state of art in terms of how to run them, do they run at all on Windows10, are they still adequate and so on. I have learned mods are already somewhat like patches, some of them just make the experience far more convenient to nowadays players. Standards have changed throughout the time, some things are considered default by now that were still in experimentation back in the days. Though the risk with big overhauls is that we may get things we consider so-so justified, next to those we consider crucial. On the other hand, it is always good when a veteran recommends some best solutions, especially when the modding scene is crowded.

[stanky.stalin]

well said! and thanks, if you need anything else let me know ( some of these mods are a pain in the ass to install sometimes :/ )

[HunterKiller]

Originally posted by stanky.stalin:

Originally posted by rresuggan:

just play vanilla first time through and enjoy the experience, you will then know what you want improved and i recommend you play on master, its a better game

^ yes dont play on anything but master, it is what the game is supposed to be played on

[artjamesh]

what are good weapon mods i got soc last friday

[GriN\]

I've played through til near the end on the vanilla version so far. You certainly don't need mods to play. There's some quality of life improvements I've noticed along the way that are probably covered by existing mods e.g. waypointing on the map is often non-existant or broke and you can't apply your own points of interest.

[Shekelstein]

Play vanilla first, then play STALKER Complete. The mod overhauling "too much" like the first post claims is nonsense, it's about 95% graphics improvements, bug and logic fixes, and the 3 big features it offers (repair, faction change, teleport) are 100% optional.

[HerZie]

Originally posted by Shekelstein:

Play vanilla first, then play STALKER Complete. The mod overhauling "too much" like the first post claims is nonsense, it's about 95% graphics improvements, bug and logic fixes, and the 3 big features it offers (repair, faction change, teleport) are 100% optional.

Thing is Complete is about 15 years old at this point. There has been so much better looking stuff made in that time. There are several Mod packs on Moddb that are far superior. For instance, https://www.moddb.com/mods/absolute-hd-2023

[GHL]

If you really want a patch that is *mostly* bug fixes, use ZRP,. To make it vanilla, go to the gamedata folder, click on the Modifier.exe and change every setting to default so it's like vanilla.
And ignore those "master was the inteded way to play", play however you like