A quick STALKER question

[opium fiend]

There is a humongous thread on STALKER, but reading is teh hard so I'll ask it here. Basically what mods and patches are essential to improve the experience and resolve some balance issues like spawning? I'm also interested in a good stealth mod. Also, would you recommend that mod that turns the graphics into black and white for someone who didn't finish the game in normal mode?


edited to add that I installed 1.0006 patch if that is relevant to any mods

 

[Satori (original)]

For the overhaul mods use either Oblivion Lost - http://forums.filefront.com/s-t-l-k-e-r ... halos.html

Or AMK - http://board.oblivion-lost.de/showthread.php?t=12558

And for the black and white mod (http://stalker.filefront.com/file/NUCLEAR_SNOW;80146 this?) I would give it a miss since STALKER's beauty is in the atmosphere, you need the dull greens, rust etc for the full experience. Also I recommend for the first time just play it vanilla then pick a OL or AMK on the second run-through.

 

[DraQ]

After patching, the spawn issue is reduced and the game is playable on it's own, so I guess that it'd be bast to play it without mods first. Also, stealth does work, it's just bloody difficult to pull off.

Also, would you recommend that mod that turns the graphics into black and white for someone who didn't finish the game in normal mode?

Of course not. But you can run around with old type NV active all the time if colors scare you.

 

[Gragt]

If you play it vanilla, do not do like this poor soul and try to complete side-quests ad nauseam thinking you will end the list from the npc.

 

[opium fiend]

Alright, I'll go with the vanilla 1.0006 then. Is the stealth more valid approach than in 1.0?

 

[DraQ]

Alright, I'll go with the vanilla 1.0006 then. Is the stealth more valid approach than in 1.0?

I never played 1.0 much - the hordes of enemies respawning every few seconds killed it for me, so I can't tell. I managed to infiltrate Agroprom without being noticed, but I alerted the military on my way out, if it's any indicator.

Killing people stealthily is hard to pull off - you need supressed, precise weapon, ability to kill them before they fire at you or alert others and location where the death of the victim, or their corpse won't be seen, so don't count on it when infiltrating military outposts (you can kill the loudspeakers with supressed fire to cripple the alarm system, though).

Still, silenced weapons are useful even if you plan ordinary attack by surprise, as the enemy will have problems determining where you're shooting from.

 

[Fez]

The stealth killing aspect is partly broken or buggy unless you install one of the mods that correct it. Things like the knife being noisy enough for people to hear at a distance was annoying in vanilla.

 

[opium fiend]

Can you recommend a good stealth mod? I hear some of them can bring their own bugs to the game and fuck up who knows what. Also, it would be great, if wouldn't have to start over after installing the mod.

I think with stealth the game would be perfect.

 

[Fez]

The mods with stealth that I can think of are part of a package of many other changes, but you may be able to find something. I'd suggest using one of the mod managers as that makes things a little less difficult to add and remove mods. You can even use it to blend them too.

 

[keppj0nes]

I spent a lot of time playing unmodded STALKER 1.0005. I carefully added in a weightmod and armor-decay mod everything worked fine until I made 10 hours of major progress in the game and now the game is completely unplayable with weird LUA errors...No I have to start back from my oldest save-game. No solutions to the errors found on stalker boards either.

 

[ghostdog]

@Fez:

I' also interested in a good stealth mod. I've tried Camo_ninja's stealth mod , but it doesn't seem compatible with 10006 patch. What bigger mods that include stealth tweaks would you suggest?

 

[opium fiend]

There is a thing called smart mod manager, I'll give it a try. Here's to hope it format my hard drive or something. Now, only to find a stand alone stealth mod.

On a side note: is it possible to join Freedom? I think in 1.0 only Duty was an option. But that was supposed to be changed.

 

[Ivy Mike]

@opium fiend
Yes, you should be able to in vanilla if it's patched up.

 

[hiver]

Just make extra sure to get a sound fix mod that stops some NPCs repeating their one or two lines forever every time you are near, changes that awful Lion roar of those snorkel zombies (whatever!) and a few other minor fixes which are all better then the official version.

Thats the most essential mod for stalker.

 

[Lord Rocket]

OK, let's say I'd like a weapons mod that does nothing to the game other than making guns that much more lethal. Oh and maybe a mod that makes stealth a little more viable (I haven't played 1.0, but sneaking still seems a little clunky in what I've played of 1.0005).

Oblivion Lost and AMK look OK but I don't really want all that extra content or AI enhancements, just a version of the vanilla game with combat in a style more to my liking.

If nothing else, can someone direct me to a good, comprehensive site for STALKER mods? I'm not even really sure where to start looking.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

I hated Oblivion Lost, but that's probably because I installed it before playing STALKER. Either way, I don't see how anyone could find slowly bleeding to death while looking for medkits fun.

 

[Ashery]

I'd recommend to play through it vanilla for the first run through...or at least close. By close I mean mods that don't do a complete overhaul, eg OL.

In an ideal first run through I'd recommend something like the following:

Weapon rebalancing/realism (Especially the earlier weapons).
Slight carrying capacity increase (50kg is overly restrictive, 70kg would be an ideal balance).
Decrease the amount you get for selling and increase merchant prices (On my partial 1.0 play, I was running around with 200k+ and hadn't even gotten into the second lab yet).

Other smaller mods can also add a bit of flavor...stealth, the reworked bleeding/medkit/bandages from OL (I prefered that system to vanilla).

Main reason I recommend against OL is that, despite it's strengths, it has many flaws. The AI during blowouts is horrid (Hello mobs that stay still while I stab them repeatedly during a blowout that occured in one of the labs), the immersion factor isnt quite as good as it is in vanilla (Mind, I had played 1.0 partially before starting OL, so that may factor in), and some of the set encounters got screwed over by the OL mod. The first fight with a bloodsucker was removed completely as the military units had already spawned and the bloodsucker attacked them; and the wave of mutants that you help fight off in order to get free entry into the Duty base was broken (The wave already happened before I even got there).

Note that I havent even finished the game (either vanilla or with OL), so that list is definitely incomplete. In both 1.0 and OL I've played right up to the second lab entrance (I just picked up the game recently ;p)...Actually considering taking off OL and installing a few of the minor mods to tweak the vanilla form to my play style.