S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Series Megathread: Maybe someday mods releasing edition - Games

1) I've balanced the weapons torwards realism, but I've also balanced stuff out torwards, well...balance. Silencers slightly decrease bullet speed (but NOWHERE near as bad as in any of the stalker games), and slightly reduce hit speed. Theres a slight penalty attached because otherwise why would you never not use silencers? But I also think the silencers in the stalker games are useless, so I've made silencers less bad overall. 2) Seems to be hard coded into the engine.

Its easy actually to balance silencers advantages. Most of silencers are made just for specific gun. In stalker we have one weird silencer that fit to any gun or 3-4 silencers made for specific calibre. Not to mention that not much guns actually can have silencers. You cant just stick it to eg. G36 or even most of AK models because they have fixed flame suppressor. Gun need to have threaded end barrel. So you can actually boost gun stats using it, but player would need to actually find suppressor for his specific gun AND go to mechanic to modify weapon if it support it. And because of those limitations you would not need to make 1000 silencers for guns, just like in real world you can limit availability for it to just few guns. That would actually also balance weapons in game even more because no mod use 1:1 realistic damage balance where bullet is a bullet, it kill no mater if its player or NPC. People always search for most powerful gun in game like it was quake/doom game(read: 90% always search for vintorez -_- ) When guns like sig550, l85 or abakan are probably more deadly and useful, but because of game configurations and damage/ammo balance they are pretty useless for most of time and its like shooting crappy AK-74u

Suppressors are usually per caliber and are categorized by how they attach. A .223 suppressor will fit any rifle with standard .223 threads, a 9mm suppressor will fit any 9mm pistol with a threaded barrel, etc. Most AKs have threaded muzzles and can accept any suppressor that matches those threads. The rifles weren't really designed to be suppressed so AK suppressors are generally less universal but it's not really to the extent that you're describing.

I would like you to try fitting one random 9mm suppressor to quote "any 9mm pistol with a threaded barrel" I can ensure you that most of them will not fit because: A. standard military issued guns are not the same as civilian fancy ones "ready to mod" and they dont have threaded barrel B. They have different thread like either a 1/2-28 thread or a metric left-hand 13.5mm(not to mention that big part of guns need totally new barrel and non-fixed barrels pistols need recoil booster for most of time). Pistols dont have standards like NATO Flash Suppressor standards that you can just use "clip systems/Quick Attach. Also just like AK, they use several different thread patterns/pitch, and most of military issued guns have fixed flash hider(we had those in my military service in my country). Of course there are standard suppressors for calibers(but if any of you actually used Quick Attach with taper mounts would know that they are crap and that discussion would be ONLY about proper direct thread type) but we talk here about guns in Stalker, in Stalker reality, its not US market where guns are imported in semi versions ready for fancy modifications.

15 different suppressors for 15 different guns is satisfying on some level, but for me enjoyment trumps realism ten times our of ten - and the more cluttery items you add, the less intuitive and more complicated you make a game/mod

I feel much the same. But i still think metro was pretty great. The mood and the tension of the environment, and the management of your resources, the feeling of the stealthy combat. Just little details like lighting a lighter over your clipboard to go over your objectives, cranking your dynamo-light. The good, tactile gunplay. I never spent as much time with it as i did Stalker, but i know that i most definitely would have if that game wasn't so fucking linear. Metro 2033 with a structure that lets you make your own decisions on how to navigate the world, which faction to lean on, or avoid factions entirely. Choose which route through the metro you want to take to your objective, studying the map closely. Whether you want to huddle your way through fascist territory, or circumvent it through the haunted rail-lines. Or just basically ignore the quest lines by scavenging, hunting and looting for your bullets, to spend on food, maintenance on your gear, and better gear. That'd be a fucking fantastic game. And it sounds like were getting a little bit of that with the new metro game, so i'm stoked.

And we'll see if the next game can somewhat capture SoC because I believe I read it will have open levels.

That's fair. Most handguns have special replacement barrels available with threads for suppressors, and I guess those probably aren't commonplace in Europe. I think the fixed flash hiders on AKs are pinned in place, though. A tech would just have to drill the pin out to remove the flash hider.

You only missed "pretty graphics". CS is the Windows Vista of the STALKER trilogy, imho.

remind me why clear sky is the most disliked stalker game? i'm completely new to all of this

Mostly because it's different. The atmosphere especially, as recently discussed (its less moodier than SoC or CoP, which I liked as well).

It does also have janky gunplay, invincible bloodsuckers, an anaemic protagonist, buggy faction wars, a disappointing ending, mutant squads marked on the PDA, and the abrupt theft of all your money... The new maps are very pretty, though.

Janky gunplay is not just limited to CS, CoP and SoC have plenty of peashooters, terrible gun mechanics, and terrible spread as well. I'd say all the Stalker games have pretty poor gunplay. But to be fair, CS probably did have more bullshit than either of the other two games. I too hated the need to bandage myself after falling 10 feet.

Playing through CS felt like a chore to me, personally - I pretty much played through it for the sake of completing the series. Whoever came up with the robbery mechanic must not have been hugged enough as a child.

You forgot to mention the daily grenade rain that happens

Did someone say C L E A R S K Y ? ? ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9huvIcYkh4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3XL1Rwr0Nw&feature=youtu.be

ironsight foley?

Precisely. Also making the "zoom in" motion smoother and less choppy. Adding lots of new and improved sound effects, even for smaller stuff. Leaning out/Leaning in, Aiming in/Aiming out, heavy armor bullet impacts, etc.

Dont forget that CS had HUGE plot holes that dont have any sense at all, starting from characters with amnesia that later dont recognize Strielok in SoC ending in characters and even maps that just dont fit to story told in SoC/CoP But most annoying in CS where bugs/crashes, annoying AI and squad system that was cool idea but for most of time it was pain in the ass. Misery had anemic character that could not hold even pistol steady and die from mosquito bite. Now we have Tourette syndrom All we need now is character with: amnesia. So he can randomly forgot his missions. Narcolepsy, so he can randomly pass out sleeping in the middle of gameplay. Sleepwalking, so we can rest in one place and wake up in random map.

Recommend me some shitpost mods, please. I've played some Reborn and that was a nice experience. When launching Reborn for the first time I didn't know that all of my keybinds were unbinded, I was forced to watch the Reborn's intro. https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/743/32ab53b8-08df-45e2-8fa1-30c6c40883bc/rebornthebestmod1.png

Undoubtedly the best in the series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLX2j-S87_g

IMO pistols are better balanced so that they barely if even zoom in when going ADS, to give better peripheral vision when fighting in close quarters.

I've changed the weapon positions around a bit after that, the gun is closer to your face but it zooms in less, making it better for close quarters. I also have pistols balanced to be effective at even medium range too, with much less RNG spread than vanilla stalker. It now depends more on whether you're moving, aiming, or crouching rather than RNG spread.

In my opinion pistols should not be treated like rifles where they are less accurate without aiming. With rifles normally you shoot from the hip or chest position and in zoom mode you fire from proper aiming position, so shoots are very precise With pistols you you always handle the gun in front of you in the line with eyes, so this normal position should be as accurate as possible giving you wide field of view. Zoom mode should be some sort of focus mode where you have clearer view on target/aiming sights, nothing more. It would actually help balancing game a bit by encouraging players to use pistols more often, because lets not lie to each other, in stalker 99% of any shooting is by using rifles, pistols are just useful at the beginning and later for smaller mutants when pistol power/bullets in close range are as much deadly as rifles but because of lack of proper configurations in game/mods they always feel tad useless and most of people rather find used mp5 or double barrel shotgun because in game is more powerful.

Exactly what I'm going for, with a few different approaches to encourage/strongly suggest players to use pistols early on. First of all, I have about 200 weapons. 100 of them are pistols. Secondly, I've been doing some serious LTX editing, and pistols tend to drop more ammo, be in better condition, have cheaper upgrades, consist more of sidegrades than full on upgrades, and early game NPCs practically ONLY have pistols, since I have such a variety. I have a few other things, but with all of this combined from what I've tested the player tends to use pistols for a lot longer, either as a sidearm or a primary weapon rather than just picking up the first rifle they see. However, I have made sure it isn't bullshit tier like Misery and practically force the player to use a pistol. It's just using a pistols have various advantages in the early game and even mid game. As for pistol accuracy, interestingly enough, Stalker has an amazing accuracy system where it can calculate spread based on the player's velocity, their stance (standing, crouching, walking, etc), and whether or not they're aiming. However, I've checked all the LTX files in all the games and they practically don't use any of these values that could possibly make gunplay way more interesting/realistic/fair. I have since gone through and figured out what each of the values were and balanced accordingly. Gunplay feels much better now.

Grenade throwing was made by SOC modders (Xstream), who were hired by GSC for Clear Sky lua scripting work. GSC removed their names from credits, did not pay them until today, and stupidly modified their code to have 100% homing grenades. Enjoy the AI of a commercial product.

Did that happen with any of the other 'new' features in CS?

cop is the best stalker.

I'm pretty sure the blowouts were the same thing, where GSC stole code from dezowave