S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Shadow of Chernobyl

I found a graphics tweak on another forum. It seems to be suited for people with a bit older 'mid-end' rigs to get good FPS with the dynamic lighting turned on. I didn't think it would work, but it actually did, and the game looks and runs decent.
Though I believe some of the more lighting heavy areas will still kinda butcher my FPS. I might try the 'Object dynamic lighting' as well.

Go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\STALKER-SHOC (folder seems to differ a bit depending on what language version of the game you're running) and open the file called 'user.alx' with Notepad.

Find these values (starting with ph_frequency and ending with rs_vis_distance) and just replace them with the entries I'm posting here:

ph_frequency 75.00000
ph_iterations 24
r1_dlights on
r1_dlights_clip 10.
r1_glows_per_frame 16
r1_lmodel_lerp 0.1
r1_pps_u -1.
r1_pps_v 0.
r1_ssa_lod_a 64.
r1_ssa_lod_b 48.
r1_tf_mipbias 0.
r2_aa off
r2_aa_break 0.800000,0.500000,0.000000
r2_aa_kernel 0.5
r2_aa_weight 0.250000,0.250000,0.000000
r2_allow_r1_lights off
r2_gi off
r2_gi_clip 0.001
r2_gi_depth 1
r2_gi_photons 16
r2_gi_refl 0.9
r2_gloss_factor 1.4
r2_ls_bloom_fast off
r2_ls_bloom_kernel_b 0.7
r2_ls_bloom_kernel_g 3.
r2_ls_bloom_kernel_scale 0.7
r2_ls_bloom_speed 100.
r2_ls_bloom_threshold 0.001
r2_ls_depth_bias -0.0003
r2_ls_depth_scale 1.00001
r2_ls_dsm_kernel 0.7
r2_ls_psm_kernel 0.7
r2_ls_squality 0.5
r2_ls_ssm_kernel 0.7
r2_mblur 0.
r2_parallax_h 0.04
r2_slight_fade 0.05
r2_ssa_lod_a 96.
r2_ssa_lod_b 64.
r2_sun on
r2_sun_depth_far_bias -0.00001
r2_sun_depth_far_scale 1.
r2_sun_depth_near_bias 0.00001
r2_sun_depth_near_scale 1.
r2_sun_details off
r2_sun_focus on
r2_sun_lumscale 1.
r2_sun_lumscale_amb 0.5
r2_sun_lumscale_hemi 1.
r2_sun_near 12.
r2_sun_near_border 0.75
r2_sun_tsm on
r2_sun_tsm_bias -0.01
r2_sun_tsm_proj 0.3
r2_tf_mipbias -3.
r2_tonemap on
r2_tonemap_adaptation 1.
r2_tonemap_amount 0.7
r2_tonemap_lowlum 0.0001
r2_tonemap_middlegray 0.6
r2_wait_sleep 0
r2_zfill off
r2_zfill_depth 0.5
r2em 2.
r__detail_density 0.44
r__geometry_lod 1.2
r__supersample 4
r__tf_aniso 12
renderer renderer_r2
rs_c_brightness 1.
rs_c_contrast 1.
rs_c_gamma 1.2
rs_fullscreen on
rs_refresh_60hz off
rs_stats off
rs_v_sync off
rs_vis_distance 1.

And close to the bottom of the list:
texture_lod 2

Make sure to backup your original file first in case you don't like the changes or whatever. Most of these things are tweakable in the graphics menu of the game, but there seems to be some entry(ies) that are not in there that heavily affects the performance
 
[possible spoiler]







does anyone know where & when to use that electronic lockpick thing in the last levels of STALKER? specifically in which map, because i cant find a door in the reactor thing to use.
(i skipped it because i was doing a speed contest with a friend. i finished Stalker in 1 day flat ;) but i'd still like to know where to use the lockpick thing & change the ending)

[/spoiler]
 
Stalker is a fucking great game, might not be the best when it comes to graphics and performance, but generally, the game is soooo damn fun. Only things I kinda miss are more cities, but I guess there aren't any.

And fucking zombies aim better than most other guys, that's kinda sick.
 
Not really. Also, they just stand there and go "ghhhnnnhhh" in Ukranian, so it's pretty easy to headshot them.
 
My copy shipped today. I can't wait to finally play it.
And I really don't know what's up everyones bum about the graphics, it looks freaking awesome to me.
 
A patch for the Russian version of the game was released today. Hopefully it won't take long before it's released for English versions as well.

Also, does anyone if they ever confirmed that they would release a construction set for the game?
 
Wooz said:
Not really. Also, they just stand there and go "ghhhnnnhhh" in Ukranian, so it's pretty easy to headshot them.
Click to expand...
The ones in the lab close to Yokrov (?) are good aimers, and they aren't just a few, it's tons of them so you can't go and headshot everyone of them, unless you got the SVD and lots of ammo.
 
Oblivion Lost has some details, not to mention some hope that it will released soon for other languages.
Oblivion Lost said:
GSC Game World has developed the first patch for S.T.A.L.K.E.R., unfortunately only for the russian version at first. They have also released the patch-notes with 61 entries, but also in russian speech. Nevertheless we translated some entries using a translator:

Problems solved:

25. Professor Kruglov sometimes wasn't able to open the door to the laboratory-bunker.
27. It was possible to shoot enemies through walls and rooftops.
46. On computers with Windows 2000 the mouse-cursor became not functional after the game has been minimized (ALT+TAB).
61. Removed some text-errors. Several improvements are applied on the game-performance.

Because our knowledge in russian-language is very limited, we cannot guarantee the correctness of our translation.

From internal sources we heard that the patch-release for the other languages will occur in a few days, even "perhaps" in some hours.
Click to expand...

Edit: Over the RPGCodex, it was mentioned that the Russian patch isn't compatible with old save games. Since I just received my copy today, I think I will wait a few days to see if the English patch comes out.
 
Okay, I finally got my hands on a copy. Although there are quite some minor issues with the game balance (as it was already mentioned in this thread), I can still say that the game is simply awesome. I've just gotten to the underground area of Agroprom Research and I can't recall when did I last see something so claustrophobic. To hell with Doom 3 and FEAR, this game doesn't need invisible imps and ghost girls to make you shit your pants.
 
The patch also took out the time compression, apparently.

Not really. Also, they just stand there and go "ghhhnnnhhh" in Ukranian, so it's pretty easy to headshot them.
Click to expand...

I find it easier to just dash up and knife them before they can react.

[spoil]
Anybody who's played to the end of the game should probably know by now that it's pretty lame. I was really looking forward to taking in Pripyat and Chernobyl and didn't appreciate being forced through them.
 
Would be cool if it came out for the 360 so I wouldn't have to buy a gaming rig. I love the game.
 
Now that is interesting, after playing around with game settings for about two hours I have discovered I can play the game on full settings with static lighting, or with minimal settings for object dynamic lighting. It looks like I will have to go with the static lighting, unfortunately.

Perhaps the next time I buy a gaming computer (God knows when that will be), I'll try S.T.A.L.K.E.R. again to see it in it's full glory.
 
The tweak works fine after the patch as well.

Here's an updated one. Again, found it on another forum, and have no idea what was changed. But after this new updated one, I got even smoother gameplay than before.

ph_frequency 85.00000
ph_iterations 16
r1_dlights on
r1_dlights_clip 35.
r1_glows_per_frame 8
r1_lmodel_lerp 0.1
r1_pps_u -1.
r1_pps_v 0.
r1_ssa_lod_a 64.
r1_ssa_lod_b 48.
r1_tf_mipbias 0.
r2_aa off
r2_aa_break 0.800000,0.500000,0.000000
r2_aa_kernel 0.5
r2_aa_weight 0.250000,0.250000,0.000000
r2_allow_r1_lights off
r2_gi off
r2_gi_clip 0.001
r2_gi_depth 1
r2_gi_photons 16
r2_gi_refl 0.9
r2_gloss_factor 1.
r2_ls_bloom_fast off
r2_ls_bloom_kernel_b 0.7
r2_ls_bloom_kernel_g 4.
r2_ls_bloom_kernel_scale 0.63
r2_ls_bloom_speed 75.
r2_ls_bloom_threshold 0.08
r2_ls_depth_bias -0.0003
r2_ls_depth_scale 1.00001
r2_ls_dsm_kernel 0.7
r2_ls_psm_kernel 0.7
r2_ls_squality 0.5
r2_ls_ssm_kernel 0.7
r2_mblur 1.
r2_parallax_h 0.04
r2_slight_fade 0.1
r2_ssa_lod_a 48.
r2_ssa_lod_b 32.
r2_sun off
r2_sun_depth_far_bias -0.00001
r2_sun_depth_far_scale 1.
r2_sun_depth_near_bias 0.00001
r2_sun_depth_near_scale 1.
r2_sun_details off
r2_sun_focus on
r2_sun_lumscale 1.
r2_sun_lumscale_amb 0.3
r2_sun_lumscale_hemi 1.1
r2_sun_near 12.
r2_sun_near_border 0.75
r2_sun_tsm on
r2_sun_tsm_bias -0.01
r2_sun_tsm_proj 0.3
r2_tf_mipbias 0.
r2_tonemap on
r2_tonemap_adaptation 1.
r2_tonemap_amount 0.7
r2_tonemap_lowlum 0.0001
r2_tonemap_middlegray 0.6
r2_wait_sleep 0
r2_zfill off
r2_zfill_depth 0.5
r2em 0.
r__detail_density 0.44
r__geometry_lod 1.
r__supersample 4
r__tf_aniso 4
renderer renderer_r2
rs_c_brightness 1.
rs_c_contrast 1.
rs_c_gamma 1.2
rs_fullscreen on
rs_refresh_60hz off
rs_stats off
rs_v_sync off
rs_vis_distance 1.5

And near the bottom:
texture_lod 3

The guy mentioned something about how badly the game manages textures. I think he even managed to increase the drawdistance, while still squeesing out more performance.
The one thing he did say is that he can't tweak the big FPS drop when sun shadows is on.

EDIT: Also, it seems that quite a lot of people have gotten into some light 'modding' already. If you check the forums on www.oblivion-lost.de, you can find quite a few smaller tweaks. In fact, it doesn't seem to be terribly hard to adjust things like respawning enemies (just altering values in a file).
I guess mods will show up on the official forums as well once they release a construction set. Anyways, those forums have been down for maintenance for over a day now, no idea what they're doing.

There is a thread on oblivion-lost where people seem to try to develop a small utility that people could use to alter the game the way they want it to be. Changing respawn rates, altering weight capacity, trading, hunger etc. Hopefully someone will finish, it could be very useful for us who want to explore the zone at a more leisurely pace.
 
thanks Starwars those tweaks really help it used to chug sometimes when sudden events occured but now its smoother :D

- about the game - i'm quite into it , restarted a couple of times now playing with the patch and its awesome on higher difficulty levels... too bad they didnt get to finnish what they started .. its obviously rushed out with empty boxes and scenery that was left out of plots ... bed rolls are all around obviously for a sleep system .. with a little mod love and the great mechanics in place (the game even has a decent dialogue system for gods sake - take that oblivion) this could be even better.

ps. does anyone know if you can use the silencer piece .. i found one in agroprom and it says you can hook it up to any firearm but i dont seem to see how.?
 
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