Stalker S.O.C & Clear Sky

[RedRaven]

 Just posted a 7z file in the downloads - other games and stuff, its a slight character improvement for Stalker S.O.C.
Will have the Clear Sky tweaks up asap (currently having problems unpacking the database files).

[RedRaven]

Here is the link for a sleeping bag mod, I find it essential as travelling around the zone at night gets VERY VERY scary!!!

http://stalker.filefront.com/file/ABC_Sleeping_Bag_Mod;82029

  And here is the Clear sky version -

http://stalker.filefront.com/file/AMK_Sleeping_Bag_for_CS_1504;94080

  Sleep tight, dont let the pseudodogs bite (hahahahahaha)

[Art Blade]

thanks, mate :)

[RedRaven]

Here is a couple of quick pics from my journeys into the zone. First off my Rifle of choice - the Storming Obokan (AN-94 Abakan in the real world). The 'storming' version comes equipped with the GP-23 grenade launcher  ;D . I also usually equip it with a PSO-1 scope for basic sniper shots.

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And as usual its Raining, may be the rain just likes me alot? seems to follow me from game to game.

Here is my hotel room in the Cordon, not much to look at and no room service. But its free and above ground level so no sneak attacks from evil dogs and roaming Bandits (Stalkers equivalent to Mercs)

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Well, time for a meal, stale bread and old sausage washed down with a bottle of cheap vodka tonight.Heading north into the Garbage at first light.

[JRD]

Hey Red... can you sleep as in FC2?

[RedRaven]

Yes, but only with the sleeping bag mods ( links are a couple of posts before this).The dreams you get are pretty f***** up too. adds to the back ground story in little ways. But I recommend that you eat before sleeping, and to do it in 3 hour stints, hunger and 9 hours sleep can almost kill you!!!

[Art Blade]

in vanilla Stalker Clear Sky, you need to seek shelter every once and then when some sort of psy/radioactive thunderstorm breaks loose or you die. Else, you walk around day and night :) And nights are darn black, I might add  ;D

[Art Blade]

And as usual its Raining, may be the rain just likes me alot? seems to follow me from game to game.

LOL, I remember your rainy days from FC2!  ;D

[RedRaven]

Yes, but only with the sleeping bag mods ( links are a couple of posts before this). Its not like in FC2 where you find a safe house with a bed in it, the mod puts a sleeping bag in your inventory. Double click on it brings up mini menu with options to sleep for 1,3 and 9 hours. The 'Hotel' is just a random building with a mattress in it (and me trying to be funny  ). The dreams you get are pretty f***** up too. adds to the back ground story in little ways. But I recommend that you eat before sleeping, and to do it in 3 hour stints, hunger and 9 hours sleep can almost kill you!!!

Oh and never EVER sleep out in the open or ground floor of a building as you may never wake up.Once I cleared a large area of bandits and creatures, went to sleep and got woke up by 2 bandits with double-barrelled shotgun shaped alarm clocks!  The A-life AI system is devious and NPC's often move from one area to another just as you can. The way they and the creatures act is very impressive, and in some ways it surpasses that of FC2! Some mods will even get them looting bodies, dragging them away etc. Its very clever. Reckon a merging of FC2 and the Stalker series would make the best game ever.In Clear sky they introduced faction wars, where you can join the factions to further their goals, but you can also get this with the Oblivion lost mod for SOC. The Clear sky element may of even been influenced by it ?

Just like FC2 there are 2 main factions (Duty & Freedom), but there is also the Military, Monolith faction, Scientists, Bandits and other Stalkers like your Character.
Having not played Stalker for over a year I had almost forgot how good it really is. It has alot of the same level of realism as FC2, but then adds a very dark hint of science fiction. And I kid you not when I say that at several points of the game it has well and truely scared the hell out of me!

I recommend SOC to any one who likes games with almost endless re-playability. Even the basic 'vanilla' (un-modded) version has 7 possible endings that are determined by how you have played the game. I have finished it 4 times and only ever got 3 of them.

Thats enough rambling for now   ::)

[RedRaven]

in vanilla Stalker Clear Sky, you need to seek shelter every once and then when some sort of psy/radioactive thunderstorm breaks loose or you die. Else, you walk around day and night :) And nights are darn black, I might add  ;D

Indeed its dark, thats why I use the sleep mod (too scary :-\ ).
Those psy/radioactive waves are mostly, if not totally removed from vanilla SOC, but some mods put them back in, and they are worse - ie they can spawn zombies & other nasties not to mention damage you alot.
Done again ( for now at least ;D )

[Art Blade]

It is indeed the game that made me jump for the first time (Clear Sky) when I was out at night, near Garbage, and it was raining. Pitch black, rain, the surrounding only lit up briefly by lightning, and then a set of glowing eyes stared at me, only like two yards away... Man what a start it gave me!  ;D

[deadman1]

It is indeed the game that made me jump for the first time (Clear Sky) when I was out at night, near Garbage, and it was raining. Pitch black, rain, the surrounding only lit up briefly by lightning, and then a set of glowing eyes stared at me, only like two yards away... Man what a start it gave me!  ;D

That reminds me of Doom 3. I´m enter an abandoned restroom and check all the stalls, they´re empty, Whem I turn around I just happen to look in one of the mirrors and there´s a huge monster standing right behind me. I almost plastered myself on the roof above my desk at that moment, I jumped up so hard  :-[ ;D. I was ofcourse plying the game in a dark room with the only light coming fom the screen.

[Art Blade]

Nice ;D ;D Same here, PC room just has to be dark.  :)

[RedRaven]

I almost plastered myself on the roof above my desk at that moment, I jumped up so hard  :-[ ;D . I was ofcourse plying the game in a dark room with the only light coming fom the screen.

I hear that, good way of describing it too deadman :-X

[JRD]

You guys are right about SoC... the atmosphere is really creepy!
I only played a few missions at Cordon (early beginning) and to wander through the zone is really dreadfull... sound effects are great and the zone is anything but deserted... on the contrary, its boiling with creatures and humans, and none of them seems to like you apart a bunch of unfriendly faces at Cordon!
It is really a great addition to my games and Call of Pripyat will sure be awesome!
RedRaven is right... a merge between FC2, with all its freedom and open world-ness, and Stalker, with its scary plot, would make a blockbuster... wait and see what they do in the next installment!!

Oh, btw... where do I sleep then? Cordon? Or any building as long as not at ground level?  :-[

[Art Blade]

@JRD,
no sleep if you play vanilla.

@all,
I've just remembered a specific situation of Clear Sky. When you leave Cordon (by the way, loading screens, if I remember correctly) you are close to a military base. I once cleared the place and started looting the bodies, carrying loads of weapons and stuff with me until I was cumbered too heavily. Max carryweight 50kg limit reached... what should I do? Leave all the good stuff and, on my return, after storing those weapons collected, return and engage in yet another lethal fight, starting all over?

No. So I did what the Jackal described on one of the tapes, "smuggling" :) I stuffed one body with all remaining weapons and stuff, he had no problem with encumbrance. I bet his body wheighed like 250kg when I was finished stuffing it. Then I dragged the body backwards (easier to grab) towards my destination, quite a distance, and yes, I took all the loot home in one go, safely ;D

[RedRaven]

@JRD - If your going to use the sleeping bag mod then there are a few safe spots in each zone to use it.In the cordon there is inside the traders place or in either of the underground shelters to the left of where Wolf stands, or up the ladder behind Wolf and into the attic. They are the safest as there is always a group of fellow Stalkers around the camp fire. If you kill all the Military under the railway (they do not come back) then there are a couple of train cars / containers on the bridge that are safe. The pic I posted is from just a little further north of the bridge, where you meet Fox, you can get to the 1st floor of the bigger building.

Safe spots near Wolf (the blue icon & cursor)

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Safe spot near Fox (where the cursor is)

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Safe spots near Railway (where the purple stash icons are)

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@Art - Thats exactly what I used to do until was able to change it ( now i play with limit of 100 kg, could make it anything, even as silly as 10,000 kg but that would spoil it. 50 is too little but 100 is more sensible I think). Also because you can drag the bodies and they often stay in-game for a while I drag them all into a pile after dealing with that group. That way its easier to keep track of who has been searched and not.

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I may be a killer but at least I tidy up after myself ;D

[Art Blade]

that last pic is hilarious, Red  ;D :-X

[deadman1]

You know what they say Red "cleanliness (spelling!) is next to godliness"  ;D

[Art Blade]

what's the opposite of godliness, again?

[deadman1]

what's the opposite of godliness, again?

Devilness?

[RedRaven]

 ;D .
God can keep the Devil, I've got enough problems with Bandits and Mercs!

[Art Blade]

 ;D

[RedRaven]

Finally got the bench mark fly through up on Youtube, so adding it here too.
Quality is not that good due to compression etc. But it gives a good idea as to the size and level of detail.
It is just one of the 3 main areas that will be in Stalker Call of Pripyat.

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[Art Blade]

thanks for the vid, Red  :-X

At first I was reminded of CoD4, the Pripyat sniper mission... then I remembered Chernobyl and all that... Man, I still remember the warnings of the real Fallout caused by the reactor 4 explosion, radioactive plumes spreading across Europe after April 26, 1986... We were warned not to eat mushrooms etc, everything that could pick up and store radioactive materials (rainwater...) and I had to reconsider and finally cancel a trip to Prague, Czechoslovakia, because it was closer to the catastrophe... In a game it is totally different. I don't have a problem with that, but:

If you are interested in the story around Chernobyl, I think this vid here is "nice." Make sure you're in a mood to cope with harsh visual impacts if you click the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjUfhy1rQEY