Vanilla or mod?

[ScubaSteve]

I am leaning towards playing vanilla (game is downloading as I type). I was extrememly tempted to download the "Complete" mod.

Yet, I keep reading positive and negative things. This one in particular.

This "review" specifically made me not want to bother with it.

However, is there a mod that just the improves graphics and sound?



"So I finally gave Complete a go for the first time recently and imho it ruins these games. Dumbed-down AI, altered ballistics (varied probability to hit has been completely removed lol), lollerskates sprinting (you can cross major areas in less than a minute without fatigue), ♥♥♥♥ed-up FOV, removed headbob, broken actor proportions, increased inventory limit and a whole host of other ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that isn't stated in the feature list, not to mention other stuff further in that I didn't see before uninstalling this heinous garbage.

I tried fiddling with the mods - changing ltx settings to 'my taste,' but they seem to be such that I don't think even artistpavel knows what he changed. Just compare the sprinting between the mod and vanilla, laugh out loud at the motorbike-speed sprinting and note how it isn't documented anywhere (at least not on moddb). Also TELEPORTING - WTF???

Vanilla Stalker (all three of them) is one of the best gameplay experiences you can have. I'd advise playing it unmodded (especially if you like hard shooters), since Complete makes the games a total roflstomp. I'd even go so far as to say Stalker never needed improved graphics, so this mod is pointless (I know the graphics aren't to everybody's taste, but jesus christ at least it doesn't look like every other ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game on the market).

If you want a decent crack at Stalker, play it vanilla with a bugfix bundle (e.g. the Sky Reclamation Project). Off the top of my head, the only other mod that might be worthwhile is iron sights for pistols in Clear Sky.

The Stalker Complete thing is snake oil. You don't need it, it breaks more than it fixes and the game is ♥♥♥♥ing perfect as it is."

[Twoflower]

STALKER is a charming game; what it offers that will make you fall in love with it is the story and the environments and the adventure of experiencing the world for the first time.

I really really enjoyed playing it vanilla, and when I came to mod it later, it gave the game a new lease of life for me to play more, which is great.

I suggest you play vanilla first, on maximum difficulty (it's not more difficult, it's actually better balanced than the other difficulty modes and combat is less frustrating with it).
Then, if you enjoyed the game, get a total conversion mod such as the one I am in love with: Oblivion Lost

[ScubaSteve]

Originally posted by Diseasel:

STALKER is a charming game; what it offers that will make you fall in love with it is the story and the environments and the adventure of experiencing the world for the first time.

I really really enjoyed playing it vanilla, and when I came to mod it later, it gave the game a new lease of life for me to play more, which is great.

I suggest you play vanilla first, on maximum difficulty (it's not more difficult, it's actually better balanced than the other difficulty modes and combat is less frustrating with it).
Then, if you enjoyed the game, get a total conversion mod such as the one I am in love with: Oblivion Lost

Hm, interesting note on the difficulty thing. Thanks!

[Tyrant (My Vision is Augmented)]

Personally, I think the complete mod takes a lot of the frustrating quirks out of Stalker and makes it more enjoyable. That said, I believe I am in the minority here. The review posted above is not accurate of the current complete mod as far as I'm aware... I still fatigue quite quickly, shot placement matters, and sprinting speed seems unchanged. However, the bug fixes, simple ability to carry a sleeping bag so you can sleep when you choose, and greater flexibility in modifying weapons with atachments go a long way for me in making the game feel less like a basement project made in Eastern Europe, and more like a polished title.

I should not however, this is only true of Shadow of Chernobyl. The other 2 are best experienced vanilla in my opinion. Far fewer bugs, less graphical issues and less frustrating inventory and game-play quips make CS and CoP much more enjoyable right out of the box.

just my 2 cents.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally posted by Tyrant (My Vision is Augmented):

Personally, I think the complete mod takes a lot of the frustrating quirks out of Stalker and makes it more enjoyable. That said, I believe I am in the minority here. The review posted above is not accurate of the current complete mod as far as I'm aware... I still fatigue quite quickly, shot placement matters, and sprinting speed seems unchanged. However, the bug fixes, simple ability to carry a sleeping bag so you can sleep when you choose, and greater flexibility in modifying weapons with atachments go a long way for me in making the game feel less like a basement project made in Eastern Europe, and more like a polished title.

I should not however, this is only true of Shadow of Chernobyl. The other 2 are best experienced vanilla in my opinion. Far fewer bugs, less graphical issues and less frustrating inventory and game-play quips make CS and CoP much more enjoyable right out of the box.

just my 2 cents.

Hm. Well. I've already started the vanilla game. Only 2 hours or so in.

I will say one thing I have noticed is the AI seems to have nightvision or something. Even when I am being sneaky in middle of night, borderline pitch black they manage to aim in on me like as if I was a giant target.

Amazing....

It seems like it is pretty divided wheter mod is good or not.

[Ayearepee]

"I will say one thing I have noticed is the AI seems to have nightvision or something. Even when I am being sneaky in middle of night, borderline pitch black they manage to aim in on me like as if I was a giant target."

I remember the first time I played the game - I tried to sneak up on the bandit farm at the beginning, like James Bond, and BAM BAM BAM died almost immediately. The stealth aspect of vanilla SoC basically works until the moment the baddies spot you, at which point they all know exactly where you are. It gets better in CoP.

SoC is frustrating in that no matter how much the mods improve the graphics and gameplay, there's simply too much missing for it to ever feel truly complete - the storyline is stripped down to a mixture of fetch quests, and the final couple of levels play as if the team finished the architecture and were then asked to stop working and ship what they had ASAP, so they put in some baddies and called it a day.

Which is basically what happened.

[v1ld]

You want to use the Zone Reclamation Project (ZRP) as a bugfix, tweak mod for a pure vanilla experience. It's a fantastic piece of work and is incorporated into many more complex mods. You seriously want to use this, it fixes a lot of the bugs in the vanilla game without changing any gameplay. It also optionally allows you to make convenience tweaks if you so like - run the modifier program inside gamedata to do that - for instance, you can change the "activation distance" of aLife, NPCs & creatures, to 1200 using this program. This will make every creature/NPC on the level active when you enter it, thus removing those annoying stutters you get while you walk across a level as the game activates creatures you just came in range of. Most modern CPUs can handle the additional load with no problem.

The other mods you can use while still staying vanilla are graphics upgrades. I'm using:
- Absolute Nature & Absolute Structures (texture packs that are upgrades of the original textures, not a new look) - http://absolute.crommcruac.com/shadow-of-chernobyl/
- Optimized Shaders - these speed up the vanilla game even if you don't use the new effects. https://sites.google.com/site/kingo64ssite/Home/optimised-game-shaders
- Stalker Weather Overhauled 3.1.1 (weather overhaul for more variety in atmosphere) - http://www.moddb.com/mods/clear-sky-faction-mod/downloads/stalker-weather-overhaul-311-by-trojanuch
- ZRP - if you install one thing, make it this - http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/

Look up "Stalker Starter Pack" which is essentially this combination of mods. There're videos covering the install.

Also play on Master difficulty to lessen the bullet-sponginess, makes the game more fun.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally posted by v1ld:

You want to use the Zone Reclamation Project (ZRP) as a bugfix, tweak mod for a pure vanilla experience. It's a fantastic piece of work and is incorporated into many more complex mods. You seriously want to use this, it fixes a lot of the bugs in the vanilla game without changing any gameplay. It also optionally allows you to make convenience tweaks if you so like - run the modifier program inside gamedata to do that - for instance, you can change the "activation distance" of aLife, NPCs & creatures, to 1200 using this program. This will make every creature/NPC on the level active when you enter it, thus removing those annoying stutters you get while you walk across a level as the game activates creatures you just came in range of. Most modern CPUs can handle the additional load with no problem.

The other mods you can use while still staying vanilla are graphics upgrades. I'm using:
- Absolute Nature & Absolute Structures (texture packs that are upgrades of the original textures, not a new look) - http://absolute.crommcruac.com/shadow-of-chernobyl/
- Optimized Shaders - these speed up the vanilla game even if you don't use the new effects. https://sites.google.com/site/kingo64ssite/Home/optimised-game-shaders
- Stalker Weather Overhauled 3.1.1 (weather overhaul for more variety in atmosphere) - http://www.moddb.com/mods/clear-sky-faction-mod/downloads/stalker-weather-overhaul-311-by-trojanuch
- ZRP - if you install one thing, make it this - http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/

Look up "Stalker Starter Pack" which is essentially this combination of mods. There're videos covering the install.

Also play on Master difficulty to lessen the bullet-sponginess, makes the game more fun.

Hey cool thanks.

The only thing I wanted to add to the vanilla game seem to figure out is companion mod. There is one out but I can't seem to install it correctly or how I guess.

[Barry White]

vanilla for the first playthrough. Not necessarily to completion but go into vanilla first.

You may end up prefering complete or another mod but all the mods change the game and vanilla is its own experience. Sure, it has some annoying quirks and bugs but virtually every mod changes the feel of the game in some way and, i find, often it loses some of its charm. This goes even for graphical mods.

Id also reccomend master difficulty, it makes the enemies less spongy, you too but that isnt as much of an issue.

After your first playthrough, go crazy with mods, do whatever. Some mods are great (some less so) and there are always new ones fortunately.