Okay, planning of foing a full playthrough of the STALKER series to prepare for this popamole (hope it isnt but dont want to be disappointed when it is), so any recommended mods for each of the three games? I dont care about graphics mods because I like Stalker art style, dont care about new guns or shit that might unbalance the gameplay. Are there modern mods for bug fixing, Ai improving and that fix the worst bullshit? I want more of a vanilla+ experience, I'm not against mods that make the game harder but I dont want total overalls.
use
zrp for shadow of chernobyl,
srp for clear sky, and there's the
pripyat reclamation patch for call of pripyat but i haven't actually used it so i can't exactly vouch for it, bugs are the least of vanilla cop's issues
This is good advice, but I'd refine it a bit further. I recommend tweaking ZRP and SRP as follows.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
Zone Reclamation Project 1.07: essential bugfix patch with configurator for further tweaks. Requires manual install
http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/index.html
Recommended tweaks in the ZRP Modifier.exe configurator application:
_ZRP Mod Stuff: ENABLE Anomaly Evasion
Head Bobbing – Part 1: ENABLE Reduced Head Bobbing
Inventory Grid Size: DISABLE ZRP Grid Cell Size (non-Widescreen and Widescreen)
Knife: ENABLE Quieter Knife
Night Music: ENABLE Include night music
Weapon Stats: ENABLE Show initial-shot accuracy
Weapon Tossing: ENABLE Store Weapons in Backpack
Zombifieds: ENABLE Treat zombified like normal enemies
Additionally, I HIGHLY recommend installing the minimod to remove the awful time_to_aim mechanic
described here
With it present, you don’t get bonus 5x headshot damage unless you wait 1-3 seconds between shots (varies by weapon), and in fact your damage in this interval is greatly reduced. This is the primary source of complaints about “bullet sponges” as well as the many myths about the game’s ballistics and difficulty settings (it also makes rapid-fire weapons and firing modes pointless)
Download:
http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/gamedata.dbb_fps.zip
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky
Sky Reclamation Project: essential bugfix patch. Requires manual install
https://www.moddb.com/mods/srp
Recommended SRP tweaks:
*Feasible Stealth
*Float32 SSAO Performance Patch
*No Enemy Map Spots
*Reasonable Machine Gun Nest Lethality
*Reduced Grenade Spam
*Restored Pistol Ironsights Aiming
*User Configuration Patch
SRP recommends smaller crosshair and inventory grid squares but I don’t prefer it (test for yourself).
I strongly recommend against installing the Alternative Ballistics tweak, as it is far too focused on realism when Clear Skies’ weapon parameters are actually rather well-tuned for its combat and upgrade systems. Instead, go to gamedata\config\weapons\ and search all the w_[weapclass].ltx files for time_to_aim and set it 0 for each one (I commented out the old values with a
; this tremendously improves combat in the same manner as the equivalent tweak for SoC, while also ensuring that rate of fire mods are not obsolete
Call of Pripyat is good to go vanilla in terms of stability, and it doesn't have awful headbob or the horrible time_to_aim mechanic. However you may find its spread of content a bit underwhelming, on top of the fact that it's rather easy and the economy is a complete joke (even moreso than vanilla SoC). I recommend just playing them all in order and forming your opinion that way.