S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Series Megathread: "A Typical Day In The Zone" - Games

I was out fixing crashes yesterday as I had no internet most of the day, and I took this pretty screenshot! [t]http://puu.sh/fn3Md/0669db8b6f.png[/t]

Can someone help me with a shader issue? I'm trying to make the wet surfaces feature work properly in CS. To this end, I've copied over the [B]rain_patch_normal.ps[/B] file from CoP's [I]shaders\r3\[/I] directory and made various tweaks to it. Here is the file as I currently have it set up: [url]http://pastebin.com/gNYqHMmZ[/url] And here are my relevant user.ltx settings: r2_gloss_factor 1. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_far 100. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_near 70. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_sm_res 64 With the modified CoP file and settings above, the wet surfaces look perfect in some areas -- the water pour effect works as it's supposed to, character models look wet, etc. -- but in most interior areas, there is very harsh texture noise present, presumably caused by a jitter filter. See the screenshot for an example: [t]http://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2015/02/02/jitter.jpg[/t] Does anyone here know how I can get rid of the jitter filter or how I might otherwise get rid of the texture noise? If not, could anybody point me to someone who does know?

Hey Beac, Have you thought about introducing backpacks or inventories that force to organize their items? It's kinda sily to have that...bottomless inventory. Something along the lines of Resident Evil 4 or Jagged Alliance 1.13 mod where you have different types of backpacks and webbings to carry magazines and misc items.

[QUOTE=Decane;47060705]Can someone help me with a shader issue? I'm trying to make the wet surfaces feature work properly in CS. To this end, I've copied over the [B]rain_patch_normal.ps[/B] file from CoP's [I]shaders\r3\[/I] directory and made various tweaks to it. Here is the file as I currently have it set up: [url]http://pastebin.com/gNYqHMmZ[/url] And here are my relevant user.ltx settings: r2_gloss_factor 1. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_far 100. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_near 70. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_sm_res 64 With the modified CoP file and settings above, the wet surfaces look perfect in some areas -- the water pour effect works as it's supposed to, character models look wet, etc. -- but in most interior areas, there is very harsh texture noise present, presumably caused by a jitter filter. See the screenshot for an example: [t]http://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2015/02/02/jitter.jpg[/t] Does anyone here know how I can get rid of the jitter filter or how I might otherwise get rid of the texture noise? If not, could anybody point me to someone who does know?[/QUOTE] You know, I remember seeing a rain_patch_normal.ps modified by Sky4CE that fixed the jitter issue...I need to find it again.

[QUOTE=Cutthecrap;47061611]Hey Beac, Have you thought about introducing backpacks or inventories that force to organize their items? It's kinda sily to have that...bottomless inventory. Something along the lines of Resident Evil 4 or Jagged Alliance 1.13 mod where you have different types of backpacks and webbings to carry magazines and misc items.[/QUOTE] Like one where items take up physical space and you have to spend a bunch of time rearranging everything? No, we already have a weight limit, no need to make inventory management more of a thing. A sorted backpack sounds nice, though, to clean things up when you've been looting.

[QUOTE=Lyokanthrope;47061655]You know, I remember seeing a rain_patch_normal.ps modified by Sky4CE that fixed the jitter issue...I need to find it again.[/QUOTE] Thanks, but I figured out a workaround for the issue. Turns out I can lower the problematic setting that introduces the ugly grain effect and compensate for the loss of its [I]positive[/I] contribution to image quality by configuring a few other variables differently. Based on my preliminary tests, this fixes the issue. It could still prove helpful if you could find Sky4CE's file, though, since the way I've done it now is just a dirty hack and might prove unfeasible as I test more.

[QUOTE=Cutthecrap;47061611]Hey Beac, Have you thought about introducing backpacks or inventories that force to organize their items? It's kinda sily to have that...bottomless inventory. Something along the lines of Resident Evil 4 or Jagged Alliance 1.13 mod where you have different types of backpacks and webbings to carry magazines and misc items.[/QUOTE] please don't AMK 1.4.1 tried that and it [B]pissed me off[/B] [editline]2nd February 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Decane;47061827]Thanks, but I figured out a workaround for the issue. Turns out I can lower the problematic setting that introduces the ugly grain effect and compensate for the loss of its [I]positive[/I] contribution to image quality by configuring a few other variables differently. Based on my preliminary tests, this fixes the issue. It could still prove helpful if you could find Sky4CE's file, though, since the way I've done it now is just a dirty hack and might prove unfeasible as I test more.[/QUOTE] Looking into it more, I may have been mistaken - the only rain_patch_normal.ps files I've been able to find are from various patches of CS and CoP. I'm doing some experiments right now though...Since the rain effect uses shadows, is it possible to just use the "Ultra" shadow mapping instead of jittering? Might come with a performance hit, but it'll look far better. [editline]2nd February 2015[/editline] Okay nevermind, replacing the jittering with regular shadowmaps isn't the greatest idea :v: [editline]2nd February 2015[/editline] my edit button is broken, goddamn but yeah, it looks fine when you're not moving, but the moment you start to do actual combat and the like, the FoV changes cause the shadows to flicker and it looks awful. [editline]2nd February 2015[/editline] oh fuck me it does it with the default shader anyway

I have had some thoughts about how the story between ShoC and CS could have been more logical, consistant and believable. I'll explain in chronological order. First of all Scar's motivation to hunt Strelok. Him surviving Emissions and his immune system gradually getting weaker is bullshit, as in game we basicly just die in them. Why not just make Clear Sky hire a mercenary to kill Strelok? It would have been simpler to explain, would have made more sense and wouldn't have conflicted with emissions. Next is the endlevel chase, which I think is shit, because it is under time pressure and Strelok survives quite a few shots from the Gauss. Rather than that, make Strelok hide in the NPP and the player hunt him while killing Monolith in CQC. Your Gauss rifle only has one shot, and shooting it will have such a blast, that you will be knocked out by it. On missing the shot, Strelok kills you and proceeds to the center of the zone (bad ending). When you successfully knock out his psyblocker, he will still shoot and kill you, but this time he will wonder why he is not dead yet, even though he has been shot (He doesn't know it is an EMP). He decides to pick up and check Scar's PDA from his corpse, which contains the main task "Kill Strelok". This is where the emission strikes and wipes Streloks memory. He is being returned to the Cordon to begin his Quest to kill himself. ShoC pretty much stays the way it is, but with a difference: The doctor will not at any point tell you who you are. Instead you will make your way towards the wishgranter, and wish to complete the task which has been given to you since the beginning of the game: to kill Strelok. The marked one immedieately chokes and painfully dies in a very dramatically made cutscene. The reason for this to happen is not further explained, as it has to be revealed in CS. You could technically end the story here, but let me try to integrate CoP into all this. Your mission starts out with finding the helicopters and meeting the military in pripyat. Strelok can't tell us why the choppers went down, since he died in ShoC by now. Instead Degtyarev will find documents in X8, mentioning an anomalymap and the C-Consciousness, which is only very roughly described. The anomalymap will bring out the soldiers (or not if they all die), the documents about C-Consciousness will introduce the next (and maybe last) STALKER game, in which the Zone either gets destroyed, or consumes the whole world ([sp]the 5th game would be about aliens finding a fucked up earth thousands of years later, when evolution has spawned even more fucked up mutants and a big earth-jungle, while the monolith is still standing in Chernobyl NPP, right next to Streloks SEVA-Suit.[/sp]). I also just realized that the story has a metamophosis-esque continuity. Scar's mission results in Streloks amnesia. In the path of the Marked One, the Brain Scorcher is disabled, which causes Operation Fairway to commmence and Degtyarev to investigate the crashlandings. Him finding documents about C-Consciousness would trigger events for a 4th game, in which the Zone would ultimately swallow the earth, for extraterrestrials to explore thousands or even millions of years later.

[QUOTE=Lyokanthrope;47061840]oh fuck me it does it with the default shader anyway[/QUOTE] It's okay, I figured out a fix: [url]http://dfiles.eu/files/syb4026o1[/url] Should be used with the following commands: r2_gloss_factor 1. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_far 100. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_near 10. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_sm_res 256 No more grain.

[QUOTE=Decane;47062700]It's okay, I figured out a fix: [url]http://dfiles.eu/files/syb4026o1[/url] Should be used with the following commands: r2_gloss_factor 1. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_far 100. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_near 10. r3_dynamic_wet_surfaces_sm_res 256 No more grain.[/QUOTE] I would turn down the gloss in rain_apply_gloss rather than force players to reduce r2_gloss_factor because all of the game's materials were made with r2_gloss_factor 4 in mind...

[QUOTE=Cutthecrap;47061611]Hey Beac, Have you thought about introducing backpacks or inventories that force to organize their items? It's kinda sily to have that...bottomless inventory. Something along the lines of Resident Evil 4 or Jagged Alliance 1.13 mod where you have different types of backpacks and webbings to carry magazines and misc items.[/QUOTE] we're fiddling with the source right now and we have the option to make every item take up its own inventory space (e.g. no stacking) it's a possibility, an unlikely one that would only be done if it was super intuitive and easy to use

Will wormwood have tree sway like in LA? Jket got it working in UWR :) Looks pretty good, especially in combination with a blowout

Any way to turn off the forced v-sync in Shadow of Chernobyl guys?

[QUOTE=ManRod;47064001]Any way to turn off the forced v-sync in Shadow of Chernobyl guys?[/QUOTE] Forcing it off via nvidia's or amd's controlpanel should work.

[QUOTE=LoNer1;47063785]Will wormwood have tree sway like in LA? Jket got it working in UWR :) Looks pretty good, especially in combination with a blowout[/QUOTE] If he fancies giving me some configs for it in use with AtmosFear 3, for sure!

[QUOTE=LoNer1;47063785]Will wormwood have tree sway like in LA? Jket got it working in UWR :) Looks pretty good, especially in combination with a blowout[/QUOTE] I love that, although I've noticed that some of the trees that are chopped/fallen down are also swaying side to side, so you feel like you're on an acid trip

Alright so, I made a bunch of good tweaks (thanks to alundaio-senpai for one) to that Metro HUD for CoP. [thumb]http://a.pomf.se/ckpwht.jpg[/thumb] [thumb]http://a.pomf.se/apdwlh.jpg[/thumb] As you can see, the interface has been fattened a bit, white lines at some annoying spots were removed, the unusable artifact slots have been blended out, and it also occurs when you wear a SEVA/Exo. All I have to do now is get rid of the scrollbar/make a better one and remove the item grid.

[QUOTE=kimr120;47065660]Forcing it off via nvidia's or amd's controlpanel should work.[/QUOTE] I don't have CCC installed so I guess i'm screwed with the constant vsync on? Is there any console commands to disable it?

[QUOTE=ManRod;47066989]I don't have CCC installed so I guess i'm screwed with the constant vsync on? Is there any console commands to disable it?[/QUOTE] Why didn't you install the CCC?

Haha, it's supposedly 'dumb' not to have CCC installed. Facepunch never ceases to amaze me. I don't have it installed because I just want the display driver installed and do everything though MSi Afterburner. Reading up on the vsync in SHoC, they apparently put it in after people were getting coil whine on the main menu. Is there any way to disable it via commands?

[QUOTE=ManRod;47067599]Haha, it's supposedly 'dumb' not to have CCC installed. Facepunch never ceases to amaze me. I don't have it installed because I just want the display driver installed and do everything though MSi Afterburner. Reading up on the vsync in SHoC, they apparently put it in after people were getting coil whine on the main menu. Is there any way to disable it via commands?[/QUOTE] No, there isn't. Enforced it

So I've been replaying the series and have patched Clear Sky, but I need a reminder on something. Are the Loners going to forever be wiped out at the Agroprom Factory or is flooding the tunnels meant to stop it? Because after doing that all I've seen is bloodsuckers apparently spawning IN the factory, and that group is not doing so good.

[B]God. Damnit. Kotaku.[/B] [url]http://kotaku.com/most-survival-games-have-problems-that-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-s-1683484728[/url] Using 'Complete 1996' to advertise S.T.A.L.K.E.R, we, the modding community, thank you very [I]fucking[/I] much. :suicide:

[QUOTE=LoNer1;47069864][B]God. Damnit. Kotaku.[/B] [url]http://kotaku.com/most-survival-games-have-problems-that-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-s-1683484728[/url] Using 'Complete 1996' to advertise S.T.A.L.K.E.R, we, the modding community, thank you very [I]fucking[/I] much. :suicide:[/QUOTE] Don't worry, nobody really consults Slowtaku for anything these days, their articles are a joke; at least that one is actually about video games.

It's like kotaku is [I]trying[/I] to be irrelevant

[QUOTE=LoNer1;47069864][B]God. Damnit. Kotaku.[/B] [url]http://kotaku.com/most-survival-games-have-problems-that-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-s-1683484728[/url] Using 'Complete 1996' to advertise S.T.A.L.K.E.R, we, the modding community, thank you very [I]fucking[/I] much. :suicide:[/QUOTE] Honestly aside from the screens here, the article is surprisingly a decent read. The writer doesn't even mention complete in the article or recommend you play through first with it or anything like that, and brings up some decent points as to why I prefer STALKER to other MP survival games (IMO at least)

[QUOTE=LoNer1;47069864][B]God. Damnit. Kotaku.[/B] [url]http://kotaku.com/most-survival-games-have-problems-that-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-s-1683484728[/url] Using 'Complete 1996' to advertise S.T.A.L.K.E.R, we, the modding community, thank you very [I]fucking[/I] much. :suicide:[/QUOTE] But he doesn't even mention complete. The only talk about mods is him saying that he uses a combination of different mods with AMK.

A Kotaku article about STALKER? No bashing the fact that it's a sausagefest? Well, I believe we have an intruder in the journo midst.

[QUOTE=croguy;47070065]A Kotaku article about STALKER? No bashing the fact that it's a sausagefest? Well, I believe we have an intruder in the journo midst.[/QUOTE] Calling Stalker a sausagefest would be a waste of breath. The dev is eastern - they don't fuck around with being overly P.C. and it's fanbase is very tight.

[QUOTE=proch;47070120]Calling Stalker a sausagefest would be a waste of breath. The dev is eastern - they don't fuck around with being overly P.C. and it's fanbase is very tight.[/QUOTE] wouldn't they call it peer pressure then