MAJOR EDIT 11/01/2009: I've cleaned up my first few posts to be much easier to follow. This post is about installing SoC vanilla without a major mod, the second post is about installing the Stalker Complete 2009 1.41 mod, the third post is about installing the Oblivion Lost 2.2 mod, and the fourth post is about installing Priboi Story 1.1.3.
Assumptions: I wrote all of these posts while running WinXP; file locations for Vista and Win7 will be different. I installed the game from the DVD; installations from direct2drive.com and Steam may have different file locations. I only played the single-player campaign; I know nothing about multiplayer.
BASIC INSTALL WITH BUGFIXES ONLY
The original game, even with the most recent official patch applied, still has many seriously annoying bugs including crash bugs, quest bugs, graphics bugs and NPCs dying when they aren't supposed to bugs, so purely vanilla is not recommended. To install the game with as many bugfixes as possible without using a major mod, here is what you should do:
1. Install the English version of Stalker, and apply the official 1.0005 patch. If you have the DVD or Steam version of the game, there are updaters for the US version and the worldwide version; if you're not sure which one you have, the updater will detect which version you have, and install if it's the right one and tell you if it's not the right one. If you have the direct2drive.com version of the game, it requires its own special patch, which is also on the official patch page. Version 1.0006 only updated multiplayer code and then was recalled due to problems it caused, so you should only use the 1.0006 patch if you are going to play multiplayer because almost all active servers run 1.0006; unfortunately, the Steam version of Stalker cannot be updated to 1.0006.
2. Enable modding by going to the main game folder "C:\Program Files\THQ\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl\", opening fsgame.ltx and changing "$game_data$ = false" to "$game_data$ = true"; when finished, the second line must look like this (except with more spaces, because this forum condenses multiple spaces into one):
$game_data$ = true| true| $fs_root$| gamedata\
The location of fsgame.ltx may be different for Vista/Win7 and Steam/direct2drive installations.
3. Install the ZRP Community Bug-Fix to fix crash bugs, quest bugs, misleading spelling errors, and other annoyances like NPCs dying in campfires. The best current version on the Downloads page at this writing is the "Zone Reclamation Project 1.05 Test R10".
4. Fix the shadow glitches. This is a very distracting effect that you will see everywhere on the edges of your screen, especially if you have a 16:10 or 16:9 monitor. This is most easily observed at the very beginning of the game, when you talk to Wolf in the first village. Look at the roof of the building behind him, and back away from Wolf until you are out in in the street beyond the firepit, and turn so that roof is on the left edge of your screen. If it is sunny and the chimney has a shadow, you will see the chimney's shadow go all crazy in a very noticeable way as you turn. To fix this, go to the user.ltx file ("C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\stalker-shoc\user.ltx" for XP, "C:\Users\Public\Documents\stalker-shoc\user.ltx" for Vista/Win 7) and make these changes:
r2_sun_near 20
r2_sun_near_border 1
If that doesn't solve all of the shadow glitches, slowly increase r2_sun_near_border to 1.1, 1.2 etc until the glitches are gone; I presume the wider your resolution is, the larger the number needs to be.
If you have installed the Steam version of Stalker, you may need to start the game to the main menu (and possibly change the resolution) in order for the user.ltx file to be created.
5. The flashlight is much too bright, and sears your eyeballs out if you shine it at a wall close to you. To fix this, install the Fallout Flashlight 1.1 mod, and from the main game folder, go to the gamedata\config\models\objects\ folder, open the light_night.ltx file, and make these changes (leaving the other values the same):
range = 30
range_r2 = 30
color = 0.4,0.4,0.4,0.2
color_r2 = 0.4,0.4,0.4,0.2
omni_range = 5
omni_range_r2 = 0.75
omni_color = 0.0,0.4,0.4,0.1
omni_color_r2= 0.4,0.4,0.4,0.1
6. Use the -nointro and -noprefetch flags on the shortcut that you launch SoC from. SoC's prefetch seems to be set much too aggressively for most systems and aggravates hitching.
7. The Float32 mod was intended to improve performance if you have an 8800GT/4830 or slower video card. If your video card is faster, you don't need or want Float32! Float32 is incompatible with the -noprefetch flag.
8. The AA slider in the graphics options does nothing. If you have an nVidia card with recent drivers, you can force true AA by using these settings in the nVidia control panel's profile for Stalker:
Antialiasing - Gamma correction: Off
Antialiasing - Mode: Override any application setting
Antialiasing - Setting: 2x or 4x
Antialiasing - Transparency: Off
This worked for me with nVidia drivers WinXP 32-bit 190.62, but due to an odd quirk with the nVidia Control Panel, each time I restarted Windows, I found that the Stalker profile had Override 2x turned off, and I had to turn it on again. I have not tested this with other versions of the nVidia drivers.
This is apparently supersampling AA, because the performance hit is HUGE; my GTX 275 was only able to handle 2xAA at 1680x1050.
I do not know how to do this for ATI cards, if it is even possible.
9. After all installation is done, you MUST start a new game. If you do not, the game will either crash at the beginning or cause problems later with constant crashing, because the game engine reads all mod changes from the all.spawn file one time only during the start of a new game.
WALKTHROUGH
For an amazingly complete walkthrough with locations, maps and pictures of every item and stash in the game, as well as details about every quest and NPC, see the Zone Survival Guide.
Edit: Finally found a mirror of this walkthrough (the original site went down awhile ago) here!
For really useful info in the game that I've never seen listed anywhere else, see "What You Know That Ain't So" and "Quirks In The Game".
"Crashes Still In The Game" can help diagnose game crashes.
Two tips for beginning Stalkers I wished I'd found out a lot sooner: always use the sights of a gun (by using right-click), because shooting from the hip is about 50 times more inaccurate than aiming; silencers reduce damage but not accuracy, and are so useful that the reduced damage output is worth it.
CHEATS
To increase the weight limit, go to gamedata\config\system.ltx and change this value to however high you want to go:
max_weight = 60
then go to gamedata\config\creatures\actor.ltx and change this value to the same as max_weight:
max_item_mass = 60
and this value to be more than the other two values:
max_walk_weight = 70
Values over 1000 are not recommended, because you may be killed by short jumps. The system.ltx and actor.ltx files won't be there unless you are using a mod that creates those files.
To become invulnerable to all forms of damage, go to the gamedata\config\creatures\actor.ltx file. The actor.ltx file won't be there unless you are using a mod that creates that file. There you will find four sections titled [actor_immunities_gd_novice], [actor_immunities_gd_stalker], [actor_immunities_gd_veteran], and [actor_immunities_gd_master]; these four sections include entries like burn_immunity, explosion_immunity, and so forth. These are the immunity levels you will get when playing at novice, stalker, veteran and master difficulties. To give yourself total immunity to all damage for a difficulty setting, reduce all the immunity values for that difficulty setting to zero. If you are playing at master difficulty and reduce all the novice immunity values to zero, you will only get complete immunity to all damage if you switch to playing novice difficulty.
CREDIT
Many thanks to artistpavel, the author of the Stalker Complete 2009 mod; much of the information in these posts are derived from its readme files.
Assumptions: I wrote all of these posts while running WinXP; file locations for Vista and Win7 will be different. I installed the game from the DVD; installations from direct2drive.com and Steam may have different file locations. I only played the single-player campaign; I know nothing about multiplayer.
BASIC INSTALL WITH BUGFIXES ONLY
The original game, even with the most recent official patch applied, still has many seriously annoying bugs including crash bugs, quest bugs, graphics bugs and NPCs dying when they aren't supposed to bugs, so purely vanilla is not recommended. To install the game with as many bugfixes as possible without using a major mod, here is what you should do:
1. Install the English version of Stalker, and apply the official 1.0005 patch. If you have the DVD or Steam version of the game, there are updaters for the US version and the worldwide version; if you're not sure which one you have, the updater will detect which version you have, and install if it's the right one and tell you if it's not the right one. If you have the direct2drive.com version of the game, it requires its own special patch, which is also on the official patch page. Version 1.0006 only updated multiplayer code and then was recalled due to problems it caused, so you should only use the 1.0006 patch if you are going to play multiplayer because almost all active servers run 1.0006; unfortunately, the Steam version of Stalker cannot be updated to 1.0006.
2. Enable modding by going to the main game folder "C:\Program Files\THQ\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl\", opening fsgame.ltx and changing "$game_data$ = false" to "$game_data$ = true"; when finished, the second line must look like this (except with more spaces, because this forum condenses multiple spaces into one):
$game_data$ = true| true| $fs_root$| gamedata\
The location of fsgame.ltx may be different for Vista/Win7 and Steam/direct2drive installations.
3. Install the ZRP Community Bug-Fix to fix crash bugs, quest bugs, misleading spelling errors, and other annoyances like NPCs dying in campfires. The best current version on the Downloads page at this writing is the "Zone Reclamation Project 1.05 Test R10".
4. Fix the shadow glitches. This is a very distracting effect that you will see everywhere on the edges of your screen, especially if you have a 16:10 or 16:9 monitor. This is most easily observed at the very beginning of the game, when you talk to Wolf in the first village. Look at the roof of the building behind him, and back away from Wolf until you are out in in the street beyond the firepit, and turn so that roof is on the left edge of your screen. If it is sunny and the chimney has a shadow, you will see the chimney's shadow go all crazy in a very noticeable way as you turn. To fix this, go to the user.ltx file ("C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\stalker-shoc\user.ltx" for XP, "C:\Users\Public\Documents\stalker-shoc\user.ltx" for Vista/Win 7) and make these changes:
r2_sun_near 20
r2_sun_near_border 1
If that doesn't solve all of the shadow glitches, slowly increase r2_sun_near_border to 1.1, 1.2 etc until the glitches are gone; I presume the wider your resolution is, the larger the number needs to be.
If you have installed the Steam version of Stalker, you may need to start the game to the main menu (and possibly change the resolution) in order for the user.ltx file to be created.
5. The flashlight is much too bright, and sears your eyeballs out if you shine it at a wall close to you. To fix this, install the Fallout Flashlight 1.1 mod, and from the main game folder, go to the gamedata\config\models\objects\ folder, open the light_night.ltx file, and make these changes (leaving the other values the same):
range = 30
range_r2 = 30
color = 0.4,0.4,0.4,0.2
color_r2 = 0.4,0.4,0.4,0.2
omni_range = 5
omni_range_r2 = 0.75
omni_color = 0.0,0.4,0.4,0.1
omni_color_r2= 0.4,0.4,0.4,0.1
6. Use the -nointro and -noprefetch flags on the shortcut that you launch SoC from. SoC's prefetch seems to be set much too aggressively for most systems and aggravates hitching.
7. The Float32 mod was intended to improve performance if you have an 8800GT/4830 or slower video card. If your video card is faster, you don't need or want Float32! Float32 is incompatible with the -noprefetch flag.
8. The AA slider in the graphics options does nothing. If you have an nVidia card with recent drivers, you can force true AA by using these settings in the nVidia control panel's profile for Stalker:
Antialiasing - Gamma correction: Off
Antialiasing - Mode: Override any application setting
Antialiasing - Setting: 2x or 4x
Antialiasing - Transparency: Off
This worked for me with nVidia drivers WinXP 32-bit 190.62, but due to an odd quirk with the nVidia Control Panel, each time I restarted Windows, I found that the Stalker profile had Override 2x turned off, and I had to turn it on again. I have not tested this with other versions of the nVidia drivers.
This is apparently supersampling AA, because the performance hit is HUGE; my GTX 275 was only able to handle 2xAA at 1680x1050.
I do not know how to do this for ATI cards, if it is even possible.
9. After all installation is done, you MUST start a new game. If you do not, the game will either crash at the beginning or cause problems later with constant crashing, because the game engine reads all mod changes from the all.spawn file one time only during the start of a new game.
WALKTHROUGH
For an amazingly complete walkthrough with locations, maps and pictures of every item and stash in the game, as well as details about every quest and NPC, see the Zone Survival Guide.
Edit: Finally found a mirror of this walkthrough (the original site went down awhile ago) here!
For really useful info in the game that I've never seen listed anywhere else, see "What You Know That Ain't So" and "Quirks In The Game".
"Crashes Still In The Game" can help diagnose game crashes.
Two tips for beginning Stalkers I wished I'd found out a lot sooner: always use the sights of a gun (by using right-click), because shooting from the hip is about 50 times more inaccurate than aiming; silencers reduce damage but not accuracy, and are so useful that the reduced damage output is worth it.
CHEATS
To increase the weight limit, go to gamedata\config\system.ltx and change this value to however high you want to go:
max_weight = 60
then go to gamedata\config\creatures\actor.ltx and change this value to the same as max_weight:
max_item_mass = 60
and this value to be more than the other two values:
max_walk_weight = 70
Values over 1000 are not recommended, because you may be killed by short jumps. The system.ltx and actor.ltx files won't be there unless you are using a mod that creates those files.
To become invulnerable to all forms of damage, go to the gamedata\config\creatures\actor.ltx file. The actor.ltx file won't be there unless you are using a mod that creates that file. There you will find four sections titled [actor_immunities_gd_novice], [actor_immunities_gd_stalker], [actor_immunities_gd_veteran], and [actor_immunities_gd_master]; these four sections include entries like burn_immunity, explosion_immunity, and so forth. These are the immunity levels you will get when playing at novice, stalker, veteran and master difficulties. To give yourself total immunity to all damage for a difficulty setting, reduce all the immunity values for that difficulty setting to zero. If you are playing at master difficulty and reduce all the novice immunity values to zero, you will only get complete immunity to all damage if you switch to playing novice difficulty.
CREDIT
Many thanks to artistpavel, the author of the Stalker Complete 2009 mod; much of the information in these posts are derived from its readme files.
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