S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

[adddeed]

I love how spoiled people have become. My photorealistic game im playing at 4K resolution and ray tracing only runs at 100fps lmao
20 years ago we were happy to get 20fps at 800x600 for new releases.

 

[motherfucker]

 

[PanteraNera]

I am just 3 hours in but haven't encountered any major bugs or performance issues. A lot of the video's and reviews I watched made the game look way worse. But maybe you really need a high end system to have no issues, my GPU is always at 40-50% load and my CPU on 25%. I am still in the beginner region so maybe it starts falling apart when I get into other regions. But yeah, I am surprised as I expected a Cyberpunk 2077 fiasco regarding bugs and performance.

 

[duke nukem]

Oh, had my first crash in the game. Not bad. Game runs actually surprisingly well overall, except when going into the town area, then framerates really start to drop painfully low. But long as i dont have to do shooting in those graphically intense locations, it should not matter. Besides that, i havent seen other bugs yet. So i would say solid launch so far. Seen much worse launches.


I like the game so far. i have seen some random squad in the remote area, but i could not barter with the leader, i hope it would be possible later.

I also almost killed myself when knifing random wooden crates and one of them had grenades so i actually detonated one of them by hitting it. So that is a nice surprise that you could detonate them that way. I wonder if we could detonate multiple grenades by shooting one of them and causing chain reaction? Need to test it at some point, would be cool to explode chimera in one go.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

It is exactly like SotC

No, it's called Stalker 2.

 

[Crispy]

Anyone who is still struggling with micro-stuttering in the game, assuming it's not caused from lack of hardware or running your details too high for your rig, check this out:

I've discovered that, despite achieving 120+ fps consistently at the Epic preset, I was still noticing p. bad stuttering, but only specifically when using the mouse to look around. Even just a tiny movement would result in what I can only describe as a stair-step style movement of the camera. It's almost like the internal mouse polling of the game is all messed up. I have no idea whether or not this is related to or typical of the UE5 engine.

My fix, so far, is to simply reduce the game's mouse sensitivity AND aim sensitivity settings both to zero. That's right, set them to zero. Next, unfortunately, for the game to still be playable, you're going to have to compensate by raising your mouse's internal DPI to something much higher than normal. My Logitech has a button right on it to adjust DPI on the fly, so it's not particularly inconvenient to set it while in-game, then just click back to normal once I exit to Windows.

It doesn't make it perfect, but it's a huge improvement. I hope this helps someone.

Update: I've actually settled on both sensitivity values being set at 1% each for what I think is the smoothest experience. I also added the following to the game's GameUserSettings.ini file (which is rather hidden in the Game Pass version) per this guy's guide on Steam:

[/Script/Engine.Engine]
bSmoothFrameRate=False

Not sure whether or not this has made any additional improvement, but it's not hurting.

 

[ferratilis]

Anyone who is still struggling with micro-stuttering in the game, assuming it's not caused from lack of hardware or running your details too high for your rig, check this out:

I've discovered that, despite achieving 120+ fps consistently at the Epic preset, I was still noticing p. bad stuttering, but only specifically when using the mouse to look around. Even just a tiny movement would result in what I can only describe as a stair-step style movement of the camera. It's almost like the internal mouse polling of the game is all messed up. I have no idea whether or not this is related to or typical of the UE5 engine.

My fix, so far, is to simply reduce the game's mouse sensitivity AND aim sensitivity settings both to zero. That's right, set them to zero. Next, unfortunately, for the game to still be playable, you're going to have to compensate by raising your mouse's internal DPI to something much higher than normal. My Logitech has a button right on it to adjust DPI on the fly, so it's not particularly inconvenient to set it while in-game, then just click back to normal once I exit to Windows.

It doesn't make it perfect, but it's a huge improvement. I hope this helps someone.

That's interesting. Have you tried changing the polling rate between lowest, usually 125hz, and highest, something around 1000hz? It would be funny if that alleviated stutters even more.

 

[Crispy]

I have a sweet spot for my mouse that isn't the highest (I believe the highest is 1Khz) but one notch below. I may experiment more with raising the game's mouse sensitivity very slightly to give me a little more "snap" in the view.

Edit: To answer your question more specifically, yes, with the game's setting at zero and my mouse polling rate at its lowest, camera movement is smooth as silk. Raising the mouse polling rate doesn't introduce any noticeable amount of stutter on its own.

 

[randir14]

I am just 3 hours in but haven't encountered any major bugs or performance issues. A lot of the video's and reviews I watched made the game look way worse. But maybe you really need a high end system to have no issues, my GPU is always at 40-50% load and my CPU on 25%. I am still in the beginner region so maybe it starts falling apart when I get into other regions. But yeah, I am surprised as I expected a Cyberpunk 2077 fiasco regarding bugs and performance.

You will notice performance issues when you get to the first town, Digital Foundry mentioned it in their video today and even a 7800x3D has issues because the towns are insanely CPU limited. Apparently it's so bad on Xbox that it'll freeze for a few seconds when entering the town instead of just stuttering.

 

[Zlaja]

Like for some reason every part of the Zone you've cleared should just stay dead forever? What kind of reasoning is that?

The problem with respawns in SoC is that in certain places enemies would just keep respawning on the spot while you're still standing in the same area. That vehicle area in Garbage comes to mind where within minutes after you help take down the bandit squad, another one just shows up and you have to help save them again. Same with that hangar area in the middle of Garbage. That shit was obnoxious.

In my opinion, it's more like an improved version of CoP

Unfortunately, CoP isn't as atmospheric and memorable as SoC.

 

[Losus4]

So sick of the virtue signalling behind this game... justifying all the bugs because "they're at war" ..

L

Unfortunately, CoP isn't as atmospheric and memorable as SoC.

Disagree... SoC was a shooter with too little quiet moments in which the atmosphere shines. Every ruin you entered always had swarms of enemies. Ruins which were just empty ruins were rare, whereas in CoP they are plentiful. The balance of occupied/unnocupied locations was much better in CoP. CoP is the peak of the OG games, while Anomaly iis better still and is the definitive Stalker experience.

 

[duke nukem]

Ok, i cant progress the main quest anymore. The in-game cutscene in the bar always crashes, i even tried the "skip" button, but doesnt help. I guess its time to wait for a patch.

 

[Dark Souls II]

So it's been like 5 pages of this thread since the game released and you niggers played it for hours, and for 5 pages I haven't seen a single word about the combat, the systems, story, writing, RPG mechanics, gunplay, atmosphere, anything really. For 5 pages you all just talk about the performance, the bugs, and what your FPS counter displays.

Is it safe for me to assume that this game, For Croy 2: Chornobol, is in fact dogshit?

 

[Zlaja]

SoC was a shooter with too little quiet moments in which the atmosphere shines

SoC oozes of atmosphere in many places, while large parts of CoP are just bland, empty and boring. Also, CoP doesn't have enough large heart pumping gun fights. Stalker is supposed to be a shooter, first and foremost, after all.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

Like for some reason every part of the Zone you've cleared should just stay dead forever? What kind of reasoning is that?

The problem with respawns in SoC is that in certain places enemies would just keep respawning on the spot while you're still standing in the same area. That vehicle area in Garbage comes to mind where within minutes after you help take down the bandit squad, another one just shows up and you have to help save them again. Same with that hangar area in the middle of Garbage. That shit was obnoxious.

Isn't the excessive enemy spawn rate in vanilla SHOC considered a bug? Combination of erroneously low respawn times and not saving the spawn state on saving/loading IIRC.

 

[Ivan]

 

[mondblut]

SHoC is full of real a-life. Every time you leave areas and come back there are enemies respawned, but they aren't the same ones. Things change over time, new guys show up, and they absolutely loot bodies and engage in non-scripted conflicts with other NPCs, based on where they wander and who they encounter. That is what a-life is. The fact that zones repopulate with new guys when you leave doesn't make it "not a-life."

It warms my heart to know that a-life is as old as Wizardry. I mean, they didn't engage and loot each other, that's prolly too advanced for 1981, but the most important part - respawn - is already there.

 

[Pathfinder: WoTR]

So is it good? Or, let me rephrase, is it "worth the possession of extremist material charges"-good?

 

[Baron Dupek]

already some mods
https://www.nexusmods.com/stalker2heartofchornobyl/mods/?BH=0
Grok - the Gamma creator - is already pumping mods. Wonder if there's some pressure from people waiting for Gamma in Stalker2.
for some reason some mods only works with Steam version

 

[d1r]

That was also a bug in Cyberpunk 2077. Seriously, how hard is it to code fucking NPCs pissing?

 

[AlwaysBrotoMen]

 

[randir14]

Some criticisms after playing all day yesterday and today.

-It's hard to tell who's attacking me and why. I've seen bandits who don't attack me, and bandits who attack on site. I've even been attacked by a random Duty patrol, but when I later went to their base they were friendly. The large armor and clothing variety means factions don't really have a distinct look anymore, I can only recognize Ward and Duty by sight. Also when you loot enemies it doesn't tell you their faction like it did in the older games, which just makes it harder to figure out who it was that attacked me.

-Binoculars and night vision seem to have been cut from the game. Unless the night vision is a late game upgrade.

-Enemy encounters are sometimes weird, I'm still only in Garbage but I've been encountering lots of poltergeists and bloodsuckers. I even found a building that had five snorks in a single room. I also noticed enemies will run away and hide if you jump on an object to get out of their melee range. I guess it's to prevent players from cheesing things, but it looks ridiculous when dogs and rats run away to hide and wait for you to come down as if they have some kind of higher intelligence.

 

[jebsmoker]

Some criticisms after playing all day yesterday and today.

-It's hard to tell who's attacking me and why. I've seen bandits who don't attack me, and bandits who attack on site. I've even been attacked by a random Duty patrol, but when I later went to their base they were friendly. The large armor and clothing variety means factions don't really have a distinct look anymore, I can only recognize Ward and Duty by sight. Also when you loot enemies it doesn't tell you their faction like it did in the older games, which just makes it harder to figure out who it was that attacked me.

-Binoculars and night vision seem to have been cut from the game. Unless the night vision is a late game upgrade.

-Enemy encounters are sometimes weird, I'm still only in Garbage but I've been encountering lots of poltergeists and bloodsuckers. I even found a building that had five snorks in a single room. I also noticed enemies will run away and hide if you jump on an object to get out of their melee range. I guess it's to prevent players from cheesing things, but it looks ridiculous when dogs and rats run away to hide and wait for you to come down as if they have some kind of higher intelligence.

the art design for the uniforms in STALKER 2 is an actual downgrade because the uniforms in the original games had better design language - you *know* what faction someone belongs to from a casual glance. everyone in STALKER 2 seems to be wearing surplus gear that's marginally different in terms of aesthetics lmao

 

[Gerrard]

Someone who is actually playing this tell me, there are puddles in the game, and it seems to be raining all the time, do they actually disappear when it doesn't rain for a time, or are they just part of the textures (and they don't have unique footsteps either lol)?
Because dynamic puddles have been a thing in S1 mods for years. Most of the things I've seen of STALKER 2 so far is an anti-advertisment for Unreal Engine 5.

 

[Mercatroid]

Like for some reason every part of the Zone you've cleared should just stay dead forever? What kind of reasoning is that?

The problem with respawns in SoC is that in certain places enemies would just keep respawning on the spot while you're still standing in the same area. That vehicle area in Garbage comes to mind where within minutes after you help take down the bandit squad, another one just shows up and you have to help save them again. Same with that hangar area in the middle of Garbage. That shit was obnoxious.

Isn't the excessive enemy spawn rate in vanilla SHOC considered a bug? Combination of erroneously low respawn times and not saving the spawn state on saving/loading IIRC.

Yeah, vanilla SHoC is buggy for sure. My point wasn't that its a-life was perfection, but rather that it did have a real a-life system which was quite impressive at the time. I remember in 2007 talking to a friend of mine on IRC and telling him how you could go far into the zone and get strong guns, then come back to the rookie camp and drop them on the ground next to the newbie stalkers there, and if you came back later you'd find they had picked them up and were using them. Then you could go pick a fight with the military checkpoint in the south and have the newbie stalkers blow them away with those guns. My friend was really impressed by this, and so was I. Few if any 3D games or shooters had done things like this at the time, with such a high degree of NPC interaction with the player and other NPCs and with loot in the world. So although SHoC was a big buggy mess, and the system was unrefined, it was very refined in later mods and fixes like ZRP and AA, which just took the code structure that was already there and cleaned it up and refined it, and did things like adding custom spawns. Stalker 2 doesn't even have a system like this. It has no real a-life. Apparently it will just spawn groups of NPCs randomly in the world close to you, often doing so right behind your back. Instead of each area you enter being a living world full of NPCs who are already there and who follow set rules, instead the game will just spawn a group of bandits right behind your fucking back, like in an open area you just cleared.

Some Steam users talking about it: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1643320/discussions/0/4626980689722551912/

"First the mutants and npc fights are each scripted with elements from the script directory in the games root folder so it is by no definition an dynamic event."

"The lack of A-Life and the radial spawn system becomes super apparent when you can't take 3 minutes to sort your inventory without hearing stuff spawn a short distance away and growl/yell at you before all hell breaks loose, then go on to see vast swaths of land empty of life until the next nearby spawn (usually, conveniently, at your back).

Can't even take a breather without worrying that you might get merked by a murder squad spawning in, any second. (Because people hadn't complained enough about that very same thing with Alpha Squads in SGM mod almost a decade ago)

If you're quick enough you can physically see them spawn in and transition from T-Posing to animated models. It's disgusting really and kills off any sense of immersion the amazing scenery provides."

Gay. The question is whether GSC had a genuine a-life system in the game, but shat their pants and removed it right before launch because it made the game too unstable--especially on Little Timmy's Xbox--and replaced that real system with this scripted spawn garbage. I think this is probably the case. So maybe they will re-add their genuine a-life to the game once it's patched enough to be stable.

Personally, I'm not really feeling the vibe of the game. As randir14 just pointed out here, you can't even tell what faction the NPCs are part of. Even at the start of the game, when you get attacked by a Military squad, I was like "what the fuck, these guys are Military?" They just look like Loners. Why are they not wearing uniforms?? Nothing at all in their appearance tells you that they're military, and it's little things like this that really create the sense of a world with factions. Why would GSC remove the distinct faction styles in this way? I think it's because they suck now. The game is pretty and I'm sure the world has a lot of interesting things in it, but it distinctly doesn't feel like a real Stalker game, and the ways in which it doesn't feel that way are ways which would have been very easy for the designers to remedy. It just feels to me like these developers who work for GSC didn't fully understand the soul of the original games--which most of the fanmade mods have understood well and even improved upon--and did not care to attempt to recreate that soul in a way which honors it more than they honor their semi-woke Ukie selves.