For some reason I am not very excited like Scottws. I think the many delays have hurt the excitement a bit. A year ago the same visuals would have been much nicer.I think the visuals being dated by "a year or two" are the LAST of my concerns, right now.
On the other hand I pray this game kicks ass. PCs need some excitement, especially in the shooter department.This is what I'm looking forward.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has always been an overly ambitious game, which is probably why it has arrived several years later than originally expected. The game's goal is to create a virtual world with an ecology all its own and then place you in the middle of it. That's something that's rarely been attempted, particularly in a first-person game. However, to the credit of THQ and Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an impressive accomplishment. This first-person survival game is at times amazing and engrossing and on par with such classics as Deus Ex and System Shock.
But seriously, I sort of expected that part to not work out very well from the beginning just because the devs are from Ukraine.
I just didn't picture a compelling story really being an integral part of the package.
and I find it worrisome that the storyline is hard to follow
Much of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s story is a bit hard to figure out, thanks to the fact that it's delivered mainly through short journal entries, cryptic cinematic cutscenes, and hard-to-understand Ukrainian and Russian accents.Oh, so it's basically like HL2 -- cryptic at times on the story, eh? hehe.
Slag Pile of Forking PathsThough, Oblivion also let you just roam the world and NOT click that location, if you don't want to click on that location. Fast travel was there, if you wanted to use it, which is great. Nobody's forcing you to use the damn feature.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. isn't quite The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. You can't pick a compass point and press on until you hit something interesting; invisible radiation prevents you from scouting a level's perimeter and looking out over the edges, and still S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s landscape is less movie set "Main Street" than Call of Duty's or Half-Life's or Ghost Recon's. However constant the tracks, the width of the course changes: Early on, an elevated railway impedes progress. Government men guard one road beneath a bridge and will let you through for a fee or a gunfight. A tunnel works, too & only it's stoppered with electromagnetic anomalies (the PDA file on a nearby dead man explains the environmental puzzle). And finally, a hole in the fence lets you through, if you look to find it. Even when the way isn't triplicate, it feels more natural than another FPS's unspooling script. You'll circle a building burglarlike, for example, before finding a point of entry (and perhaps meet a prisoner who -- calling from his cell window -- makes a mission offer as you pass).
Everything Bad is Good for You author Steve Johnson argues that "far more than books or movies or music, games force you to make decisions [&] all the intellectual benefits of gaming derive from this fundamental virtue, because learning how to think is ultimately about learning to make the right decisions: weighing evidence, analyzing situations, consulting your long-term goals, and then deciding." I'll add that choice-rich games are often not only more intellectually engaging, but also more entertaining. Too few single-player shooters force us to make decisions other than when to shoot and what to shoot it with.So true about shooters. They're often, too linear.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. complicates things by adding both "how to get there" and "whom to oppose/whom to help." One time -- and, like Oblivion, this is the variety of videogame that lends itself to stories that start with "one time" -- I encountered a gang of itinerant stalkers off the highway, and I wondered what was going on. "Buy a Gauss magnetic accelerator gun?" one asked. He wanted next to nothing for it. But once my money was in his hands, he told me to beat it. I happened to have a loaded underbarrel grenade launcher, but the decision to barter and then to fight back cost me more in scarce munitions than in coin.Ahhhh.....that's interesting. Cool.
Although RPG-like, the game won't let you click-port between key map points to cut out the hiking.Would've been a nice feature.
Similarly, a more RPG-derived economy might've solved another snafu (that also leads to the least satisfying of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s moralizing endings): lotsa money to spend and little to spend it on.A thought -- maybe there should be an extra in-game diffuculty that ramps up the cost of items to purchase or something?!?!? There's a thought.
In one regard I agree fast travel's a good idea and really handy to get stuff done, but it would be nice if the fast travel took on the form of some kind of public transportation much like Elder Scrolls 3. It helps keep your head in the game.I prefer the travel system in Oblivion, myself.
In one regard I agree fast travel's a good idea and really handy to get stuff done, but it would be nice if the fast travel took on the form of some kind of public transportation much like Elder Scrolls 3. It helps keep your head in the game.
What, are we psychic? That's an unanswerable question. My guess is no, but we aren't going to know until there are patches. The game's been out in the US for like... a day.
Anyone know why the images are showing up as 1024 x 640 when I editing it to 1680x1050??Yeah, because max image size on the board is set to 1024 x 768.
okay this is weird.
so i installed the game and started playing. you start off underground talking to some dude and everything seemed okay. The framerate was decent until the second I hit the outdoors. Then it dropped like a rock and now its unplayable. Basically, I am not able to do anything outdoors because of the framerate lagging so hard. I have no idea whats wrong.
Yeah, because max image size on the board is set to 1024 x 768.
As far as the rawness, is it as raw as say Operation Flashpoint? That game's engine felt as though it was hanging by a thread.
What, are we psychic? That's an unanswerable question. My guess is no, but we aren't going to know until there are patches. The game's been out in the US for like... a day.
Oh, which brings up another point -- the entire landscape doesn't stream. It's divided into huge levels, so you'll get loading times when you go between these sections. But they're logical sections, and again, they're huge. There's lots to poke around in in any given level, and you can go back and forth at will, so it really isn't a problem. Load times between them aren't bad at all. So not perfectly seamless, but everything is big enough that you rarely feel totally taken out of the moment.That's a shame. I thought one of the main selling points was that Xray would just be a perfectly seamless streaming engine. I guess not. Well, it's good to know that at least loading points are infrequent.
Reading it again, it seems I sort of worded it wrong. I think the levels actually do stream when you're in them, it's just that the entire game map isn't one huge map (like, say, Oblivion). You've just got really big main sections of land. The divisions between them are generally roads or choke points. I think there's only like 7 or 8 maps or something. Within them I've gotten one or two really tiny hitches indicating to me that it's loading stuff as it goes, it's just that the entire map isn't one whole map. It's like comparing a photo, a 10-piece jigsaw puzzle, and a 1K-piece jigsaw puzzle to one another, if they were all the same overall size. Oblivion is the photo - a single piece. STALKER is the 10-piece puzzle - big, but still a few divisions. HL2 would be the 1K set - plenty to play, but prepare to load every five minutes.
Actually, I'm wondering if the divisions might be more about keeping track of the AI and the virtual stuff more than just because it can't handle such a big map. That wouldn't seem unlikely to me given how chaotic things can get.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Patch Release Notes
-*Important Installation information*-
There are different versions of the patch for the different SKU's released worldwide and for the Digital Distribution version.
After installing the patch, you will still be able to play multiplayer games across the different SKUs, but it is very important that you install the correct patch for your SKU.
If you live in the USA please download and install
stk-US-10001.exe
If you live in the rest of the world please download and install
stk-WW-10001.exe
If you purchased your copy through the Direct Download service, please download and install
stk-DD-10001.exe
Saved Games
Please note that Saved games from previous versions will NOT work with the patch.
After installing this patch, please go to "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\STALKER-SHOC\savedgames" and make sure any saves that were created prior to installing the patch are deleted.
You will need to make sure that hidden folders are visible on the view tab of the folder options menu.
Connectivity
After installing the patch, please note the version number that has been added to the bottom left corner of the Main Menu screen.
You will only be able to connect to servers hosted on that same version.
The patch fixes the following bugs:
1. Buttons remain "pressed" and value changes on its own in Options
2. Players can kill teammates with the knife when friendly fire is set to 0
3. Game crashed when client player types a server command in console
4. Game crashes when entering a MP game after dying in SP
5. Multiplayer map names will appear in debug text format when voting to change a multiplayer map during gameplay.
6. The game crashes while attempting to purchase an item, after pressing Buy button multiple times from the Buy Menu.
7. The game crashes when the user triggers an anomaly after the anomaly time is set to 0.
8. Purchased affordable weapons fail to be in the inventory when one item purchased exceeds the user's monetary amount.
9. The player will lose the weapon he has stored in his inventory as well as the equipped weapon when the equipped weapon is dropped in MP.
10. The host is able to pause the game during an MP game.
11. Players are able to duplicate other player names by using the "name" command in the console.
12. The user is unable to view a fly-by cutscene if their PDA is open while triggering the cutscene.
13. The user can speed up time with the * key on the numpad in SP
14. Players can damage and kill other teammates while friendly fire is set to 0.0
15. The starting weather in-game does not accurately reflect the starting weather set by the server host in multiplayer match
16. The corpse created by a user switching teams remains in the game when playing multiplayer team deathmatch or artifact hunt.
17. Options "show weapon" and "NPC identification" fail to function
18. The up and down function for the look feature are inverted through out the game.
19. The server will crash when the players vote to change maps, but don't select a map to change to.
20. Players will take no fall damage when friendly fire is set to 0 on the server
21. The player dies when trying to exit out of the skin menu back into gameplay
22. Death by an anomaly is not recorded as a negative frag when playing Team Deathmatch.
23. Game Crash when opening buy menu from certain spot in Artifact Hunt mode
24. The prompt for the buy menu and entry via pressing the spacebar appears when in spectator mode during any network game.
25. Professor Kruglov sometimes can't open the door to the mobile science lab
26. When player stands close to a wall and shoots grenade launcher, the grenade falls out of the map without damaging anyone.
27. Possibility of killing enemies through the roofs and walls
28. When killing Wolf before completing any of additional quests given from him, these quests doesn't change status from "Active Tasks" to "Failed Tasks" in PDA.
29. Problem with quest: "Kill gang leader" when piece of text in PDA is directing user to kill leader in Dark Valley. Quest is completed after kill this bandit on Garbage level.
30. Disappearing piece of scroll belt in Main Menu when the player changes resolution to 800x600
31. Anomalies were not appearing when turned on in server options menu.
32. Game crashed when creating a Team Deathmatch server with spectator on.
33. Problems with ‘Slug’ artifact.
34. Possibility to take the decoder through the Wall
35. Issue with cash in inventory on MP build
36. NPC called Seriy has 3 different names: Seriy, Gray and Grey.
37. Problem with price of weapon in inventory
38. Game crashed when vote for kicking a player ended
39. Rare game crash during multiplayer match, after players choose a team.
40. Exploit with update rate command
41. Wood in barrels is flickering, although there's no fire there.
42. Player can jump between 2 stalkers and table inside the bar and become stuck.
43. Two side quests from Sakharov have wrong description.
44. After playing in multiplayer mode and then starting single player game, Sidorovich has one of multiplayer nicks instead of his name.
45. Game crashed when player fight with pseudodogs on red forest.
46. The game crashes to a non-responsive state (task manager) when attempting to host multiplayer game a second time with an invalid CD-key.
47. On Win 2000 PCs, the Windows Desktop cursor has no functionality when minimizing the game (Alt+Tab).
48. The game will result in a soft crash when a player dies from radioactive poisoning, then immediately falls into the tunnel well that leads out of the Agroprom Underground level.
49. The arrow buttons remain depressed when clicked and dragged off the boxes, thus making the value increase or decrease indefinitely in the options menu of network games.
50. Game crashed during map rotation. This issue occurs several times while playing with maps (Vehicle station, Desolated Village and Deserted Factory)
51. Game crashes when entering an MP game after dying in SP
52. The Host will crash and all Clients will either return to the main menu, crash to the desktop, or the program will shut itself down and return the user to the desktop, when attempting to drop a player while users are In-Game
53. Users are able to pick up an opponent's grenade after it has been thrown and then use it themselves.
54. The players name switches to a random player's name with a _1 after it in multiplayer if no name is entered in the network games menu.
55. Players fail to be kicked, after unanimously voting to remove them, during network gameplay.
56. Player is unable to ban other player, everybody vote for, line "voting succeed" appears and nothing happens. Player that was supposed to be banned still can play and do whatever he wants on the server.
57. The starting weather in-game does not accurately reflect the starting weather set by the server host in multiplayer match
58. Saved game are over written when attempting a second save uses the first saved game's name followed by a "space" and any other word or number during single player campaign.
59. The artifact is unaffected by gravity when dropped during an artifact hunt game.
60. Players take no explosion damage when the friendly fire damage option is set to 0 in the server options of a team deathmatch game.
61. The game will crash, halting progression when transferring from Station to the Sarcophagus.
62. When player wants to reload a weapon, and start fast shooting, he can't do that because weapon continues reloading.
63. The game crashes when a player is killed immediately after they are re-spawned into the game.
64. The weapons fail to scroll when using the mouse wheel after all the grenades have been used during single player gameplay.
65. Minor text bugs.
66. Various balance issues in Singleplayer and Multiplayer.
67. Various known exploits/cheats.
68. Various other issues.
Just thought I'd make clear that the patch will kill all your saved games.
I think I'm gonna start over anyway. I mean this game really needs a patch.
Yeah I played for quite a bit today and while its graphics do look a bit dated and there is a horrible glitching when it's raining, it's quite a deep game.Sweet @ the bolded.
The firefights are frustrating yet satisfying at the same time. It's just unforgiving. You make a mistake or do something dumb and you're dead. It's almost like you have to use real tactics. Use the element of surprise. Use cover. Set up traps.If this does apply....
I also realized just how big the game really is. I am still in Garbage after several hours of play and I checked out the map and the Chernobyl power plant is really fucking far away.Sweet.
The game isn't the most tightly-coded piece of work (but it's miles beyond Operation Flashpoint), but you can definitely tell there was a lot of love put into this game.I want to play this thing, hehe.
Ok yeah it's official. I really, really like this game.
And yes, D, you can select the difficulty at the beginning. I chose stalker, which is 2/4. The higher levels must be really hard.
Half-Life 2, Doom 3 Assets in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? [05:54 pm]
86 Comments - Chris Remo
This week, threads have started showing up on various forums containing what appears to be evidence that GSC Game World's recently released shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl makes use of a number of graphical assets taken directly from commercially released games such as Valve's Half-Life 2 and id Software's Doom 3. Many forum posters are speculating that the assets were used without authorization.
One of the first threads to be made regarding the matter was posted to the MapCore forums (http://www.mapcore.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8034); the thread creator, user michi.be, posted screen captures allegedly comparing the light image folders from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (http://www.shacknews.com/screens.x/stalker_assets/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.+Asset+Incident/1/thumbs/070408_stalkerassets_lights_stalker_01.jpg) to those of Doom 3 (http://www.shacknews.com/screens.x/stalker_assets/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.+Asset+Incident/1/thumbs/070408_stalkerassets_lights_doom_01.jpg) (all screen captures locally mirrored). Tellingly, though some of the images had been modified in various ways, such as having hue or saturation adjustments, the original filenames from the Doom 3 folders remained the same--for example, a file with the Doom-esque name "lights_impflash.dds," referring to one of the game's enemies, was visually modified in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. folder but retained the filename.
Later in the same thread, user Johnny posted an image allegedly comparing a water texture from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to a water texture (http://www.shacknews.com/screens.x/stalker_assets/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.+Asset+Incident/1/thumbs/070408_stalkerassets_water_hl2_01.jpg) from Half-Life 2. As in the Doom 3 case, the images were nearly identical and the filename was unchanged with the exception of its extension.
Responding to inquiries made by Shacknews, id Software CEO Todd Hollshead stated:
I've seen a post on a web forum that claims DOOM3 assets are used in another game, but we've been working hard on Enemy Territory: Quake Wars as well as our own internal project and have not had the time to fully investigate or otherwise verify that the claim is true. Only from what I've seen on the Web, it's concerning. However, it may turn out to be nothing. Nevertheless, it would be improper to make any decision about a course of action until we find out whether the claim is true, and what assets from DOOM3, if any, have potentially been used.
Hollenshead's reply suggests that if S.T.A.L.K.E.R. developer GSC Game World did in fact make use of id Software assets, it was not done with id's consent. Shacknews has also contacted Valve and GSC on the matter, but neither party had responded at the time this story was published.
I hope it isn't true, though. If any of the other parties decided to take legal action, you can guarantee that GSC is completely fucked from here on out forever, probably including support for the game.Yeah, and I bet that publishers would think twice before publishing a GSC game, if they're still around as a company and all. And all of the members of GSC might have a hard time landing a job in another game company. Probably would make it harder for them to land a publisher, if they still make Indie games and want their game published, too.
Damn that sucks. You know if there is a file called "lights_impflash.dds" and it's the same texture that they for sure stole assets.I wonder if it was due to poor project management (a lazy texture artist using other games' assets without the project managers being aware) or if it was a conscious decision by the company.
That does suck because it seemed like GSC Gameworld deserved to have the game succeed and make future awesome games. Doesn't look like that will happen now.
How it the world did they think they would get away with something like this?That's what I'm trying to figure out...
As for my impressions so far, I'm not impressed.. Graphically the game looks fine, but the gameplay, interface, and most of the game mechanics are crummy. For a game that's had about 5 years of development the least they could have done was refine those aspects (the important ones). While the graphics aren't ground-breaking, they're decent; the game looks alright among its peers.See I disagree. The interace could use some work I guess, but other than that I absolutely love the game.
Wow, that's pretty out there. Have we ever seen something like this before? I mean at the scale of a game studio (I know we've seen similar situations among the modding communities).Only thing I can think that may come somewhat close is when Crytek was making Far Cry, it was rumored by a disgruntled ex-employee stated that Crytek had pirated copies of 3D Max Studio throughout all the computers there -- and then their studio was investigated by their Gov't. Gov't found nothing, though...
See I disagree. The interace could use some work I guess, but other than that I absolutely love the game.
But yeah, I'm not sure about the vehicles. I mean there are plenty around but it doesn't seem like you can interact with them. I talked to someone who said they found some sort of working vehicle but some guy stole it and parked it by a gate. Well I went there and there were a bunch of cars and trucks, but none that I could do anything with.
I think they took the feature out.
They took the vehicles out. Actually they sacrificed a huge chunk of the cool stuff to finally release the game. I guess they needed a bigger staff.
By the way the whole borrowing stuff from other engines thing isn't actually very rare from what I understand. What is rare is getting caught.Maybe they could find another location and have some other incident???
Let's see how this affects any potential S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.
Though to be honest I think they will just move on to greener pastures. How can they script another S.T.A.L.K.E.R? There was yet another accident?
Maybe they could find another location and have some other incident???
Maybe continue where the last game left off???
Who knows.
They created the games, so they could invent something....
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shader Mod [April 25, 2007, 10:18 am ET] - Viewing Comments
A post on the Ars forums offers the release of the Float32 modification (http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/39309975/m/860003693831?r=946005164831#946005164831) for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, which beefs up the already impressive graphics in GSC Game World's first-person shooter (thanks Doormat). Word is: "Full reflection vector calculations, better bump mapping, real specular effects! All this detail improvement costs nothing in framerate and you will get 20% better framerate than before if not more! Shadows are soft and no longer jagged and the overall graphical quality has been vastly improved. I am not posting screenies as it does no justice. Download it and see for yourself!"
This is the new patch for the US version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl and includes a large number of bug and crash fixes, improves Windows Vista compatibility, and implements various game tweaks.
V1.0003 changelist:
AI
- Added avoiding dynamic obstacles for NPCs.
- Added enemy priority function
- fixes incorrect NPC reaction on player’s attack.
- Changed the second part of the enemy search algorithm
- having lost the player, the NPCs will no longer be baffled.
- Added correct reaction on shots and loud sounds coming from the player (only) on close distances.
Render Performance
- Dual core optimization.
- 10-15% FPS increase.
Gameplay
- Added new game mode: freeplay; activated after the end of the game.
- Added the possibility for any character will be able to go to any smart-terrain.
- Fixed the ultra-intense vibration of the grass.
- All monsters drag now the corpses correctly.
Physics
- Fixed the situations when the physics get stuck in the floor or in the thin walls.
- Fixed the situations when the dead bodies disappear.
Network
- Reduced the traffic and lags.
General
- Fixed problems with OS Vista 64.
- Added saved games converter.
- Added MOD Tools support.
GSC is currently working on what it calls a "big update" for S.T.A.L.K.E.R., the developer has informed CVG.
In an interview which we'll be publishing shortly, Anton Bolshakov, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. project lead, explained, "We're preparing a big update with a new game mode - Freeplay, with no story tasks, including only the A-life driven ones, where the goal is to gain ranks, climb up in rankings, so as to become the best S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in the Zone."
When we're to expect to update wasn't revealed, but speaking about the future of the game Bolshakov did mention too that, now the multiplayer SDK for the game has been released, the developer's working on getting the single-player SDK out the door. So take note, mod creators.
GSC of course recently let slip that it's to make some S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-related announcements at this year's E3. But it's keeping lips firmly sealed on what's to be unveiled.
Bolshakov would only say that "We will be happy to share all the interesting details during the E3 in July."
I really wish I had the money for this. I was greatly enjoying it when I got to play it for a while. And I love developers who also add new stuff in patches.The game is already awesome, as is, w/ patch 1.0003 installed and all.
These guys seem really awesome the way they're supporting the game. Reminds me of how awesome Shiny was when they patched Sacrifice, and how awesome Egosoft was updating X2.And w/ X3: Reunion, in a patch, Egosoft removed the need of the Starforce protected CD for booting up the game AND added a free expansion w/ it -- The Bala Gi Expansion Pack. Yeah, Egosoft rules when it comes to support. :)
I would if I owned it. I wanted the CE from GoGamer or whoever was selling it, but man, I'm broke.
Most of the soundtrack is just ambient stuff. There are only a few actual songs at the end, though these are sort of surprising. I wasn't expecting them. They aren't half bad.
I don't know why, but I just can't get into this game. I played a few hours of it, and it just didn't draw me in at all. Instead I found it tedious and repetitive, with a lot of monotonous gameplay and frustratingly long distances to run.Don't carry over 50 pounds, then you can run quite fast good a good time period -- hehe. ;)
I respect the artwork though. The game looks decent, especially with the lighting effects turned on.Yeah, the graphics are good technically, but they look even better artistically.
Kill "Vampire" Mission(click to show/hide)
Are you trying to speak gangster D, becuase that sounded bizzare, "I shot his friends all up" and "I plugged him". Sounded a lot like... yeah (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328099/), I think you'll see my point :P
I really hope STALKER pulls it off. I think having open-ended worlds in a shooter could be a great thing. Boiling Point was too buggy for anyone to really care. But if STALKER gets it right, it could lead to great things in the futureOooooh, open-ended zombie survival FPS sounds good!!!
(come on open-ended zombie survival FPS!)
The Making of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., part oneAnd after everything, I'm glad GSC actually pulled it all off!!
16-Jun-2007 Interview: GSC's ambitious PC project is here, but it was a rocky road to release. We look back with the developer.
Back in late 2001 we got our first look at an impressive game called Oblivion Lost, then a squad-based action game from GSC Game World. In 2007 the title that we now know as S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl finally released, plunging players into a survival-FPS-RPG hybrid and the post-apocalyptic wasteland surrounding the Chernobyl power plant after its meltdown.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was surrounded by plenty of anticipation, but what the with the lengthy development time and word leaking that certain parts of GSC's original vision for the game were being cut, concern that it wouldn't live up to hopes and expectations began to mount. However, the game turned out to be nowhere near as bad as some feared and was generally well received when it finally materialised.
With the release dust now settled, we picked up the phone and got in touch with Anton Bolshakov, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. project lead. Part one of a two-part interview is below...
CVG: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - why exactly did it take so long?
Anton Bolshakov: Firstly, it was a big-scale project, the biggest we've done. Secondly, a lot in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was innovative (combining a shooter with RPG, open-ended world, no corridor limits etc.) and a few things were truly groundbreaking (such as A-life) - and thus tough to implement.
A mere merging of that bunch of elements and making it all work within one game was a challenge too. There was a lot of trial and error in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but the experience gained is immense too.
CVG: So what was your reaction to S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s reception by press and the gaming public when it finally released?I'm definitely glad this game turned out great, after it was finally completed.
Anton Bolshakov: As there's been so much expectation out there, we were a bit anxious as to how the players and press would ultimately react to the game after so many years of wait.
However, once we got the first game reviews and letters from the happy players, we understood the game was going to be a success. And there's hardly any reward for a developer better than the words of praise from the players. The game's success gave the team a big boost to continue working on the ideas invested in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
CVG: What would you say is your greatest achievement with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and why?And yes, these are major achievements for an FPS.
Anton Bolshakov: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is about a unique Chernobyl man-made accident atmosphere, the blend of FPS and RPG gameplay, freedom of movement and action in a shooter game.
A captivating story with seven endings which depend on the type of playthrough, a living-and-breathing world controlled by the A-life system, a variety of secondary quests and high replayability, the unique non-scripted AI, realistic guns, powerful DX9 engine and realistic graphics.
Anton: There are a few ideas introduced in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. we feel have great potential for further exciting developments, such as A-life, independent NPCs and developed groupings etc.Maybe in STALKER Expansion? STALKER 2? Some other new game they got planned?
CVG: Imagine you were just starting work on the game now - how would your approach differ from the one you originally took?Hmmmm....I wonder what tech they would use, next time around...
Anton Bolshakov: I think we would plan more realistic targets to achieve, would avoid many error experiments which we had to spend loads of time on. And, most likely, we would use someone else's ready-made technology, without having to waste time on creating our proprietary one, whilst having the game developed concomitantly.
CVG: There were features originally envisaged that got cut. In hindsight, would you say your original vision for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was just too ambitious?Makes sense.....
Anton Bolshakov: Yes, sure, the project turned out to be extremely ambitious. It appears that some features may sound good and look good on paper, while in reality they turn out either complex, uninteresting or vague from the gameplay standpoint.
Anton: For instance, the idea of a fully A-life driven game which has no story and all happens on the random basis turned out inapplicable to the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R.Makes sense.
De facto, such concept is an MMORPG, but without online, based in single-player, which only helps to make the already complex development of such a game even more complicated. Such a concept should be approached step-by-step, through several projects, so that in the long run the proper balance of interest and difficulty is found.
CVG: What's the one thing you would have like to have included but that didn't make it in?Makes sense.
Anton Bolshakov: The dynamic obstacle outskirting by AI; NPCs throwing grenades; a more developed system of relations with groupings, community; more developed groupings as they are and their actions in the Zone; the possibility to play for the groupings.
CVG: Did you ever reach a point where you wanted to throw the towel in?I'm glad GSC didn't throw in the total. The FPS genre world really needed to be spun on its head like this, if you ask me.
Anton Bolshakov: We, the developers, never had such an idea in mind. It is quite probable, though, that it popped up in the mind of our investor and the publisher. Eventually, we all had enough morale to go against all odds and finish the project.
CVG: There have been some heated reactions to the game over bugs and rough edges. What's your reaction to that, and were you pushed into hitting a deadline when you would have liked a little more time to polish the game?I can't wait until their next patch, adding that new "Free Game" Mode and all.
Anton Bolshakov: A developer is a creative person and he could be developing his game for his entire life. So, keeping to certain deadlines is necessary. It should be noted, we did not leave any bugs in the release intentionally.
The fact that many players have suffered the technical issues is a side effect to the hugely extensive PC market in the world, and the too many of various hardware possessed by the players.
Over 60 professional testers had been working on bug testing the game for many months, the game was released with no A-class bug we were aware of.
I also would like to stress that we worked intensely on fixing the existing problems and bugs, none of us had gone on vacation. As of today, we've released three patches already. We will keep doing the fixes until there's no single major problem remaining. We are fully prepared to support the community to the top of our ability - the players mean all to us.
CVG: Check back Monday morning for the second and concluding part of our interview with GSC.I'll be lookin' forward to the 2nd half of the Interview.
Music collection for s.t.a.l.k.e.r.s.
26 June 2007
From today on the life of stalkers in the Zone gets more cheerful: our portal is expanded with collection of musical creations by stalker musicians.
Stalkers of all ranks, your immediate attention to location Soundtrack, section Fan-Music required.
The liked musical artifacts can be marked by your votes. Get going!
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Patch Nears [July 04, 2007, 3:18 pm ET] - Viewing Comments
Oblivion-Lost.de reports that the version 1.0004 patch for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is imminent, quoting GSC Game World's Anton Bolshakov as saying that the patch has been undergoing approval for some time now at THQ, and that since they have not received any programming bug reports, they expect the patch to be available within "a matter of days." Thanks Bill.
= 1.0004 =-
Saved games.
Saved games from 1.0003 version will work with 1.0004 version.
Connectivity.
Connecting to the server will be possible only if the host's version of the game is the same as yours.
Patch 1.0004 changes and fixes:
Optimization:
1. Calculating detailed objects was moved to the second CPU stream.
2. Engine optimization, which resulted in FPS 10-15% gain.
3. Shaders optimization.
MP features:
1. Implemented the standalone dedicated server.
2. Retail version now works correctly with the standalone dedicated server.
3. Added remote control for the dedicated server.
4. Max ping disconnect option implemented.
5. Self-correcting network packets wrapper was implemented. This resulted in better ping values and traffic reduction by 50-100%.
6. Artifacts counter is not shown in the statistics.
7. Checking available maps without disconnecting the current game is now possible.
8. The list of the players is not dropped to the beginning upon the attempt to scroll it. Now it became easier to put the players on ban voting.
9. Fixed some bugs with defining the cause of death.
10. The exploded grenade does not continue lying on the ground after the detonation.
11. Fixed the artifact activation and the spawned anomalous zone functioning algorithm.
MP crash fix:
Fixed all known crashes.
SP fixes:
1. Fixed the bug with shooting from the grenade launcher. The grenade is fired with the first shot now.
2. Fixed the disappearing weapons when crouching for a long time.
3. Fixed the game crash on Pripyat location, when the player approached any of the monolithians' camps.
4. Fixed Voronin's tasks to eliminate the bandit Poker.
5. Fixed the random quests at the Wild Territory.
6. Fixed the random task to destroy the bandits' camp at the Cordon.
7. Fixed the random Barkeep's task to clear the snorks lair at the Dark Valley.
8. Fixed the bug with the automatic task to defend the camp when switching location or saving/loading the game.
9. Fixed the random quest to destroy the mutants lair when pseudo dogs are nearby.
10. Fixed the task to destroy the mutants lair.
11. Fixed the random tasks with the raids of characters' camps.
12. Fixed the choice of goods at Barkeep and Petrenko after completing the random tasks.
13. The wounded do not run away from the grenade now.
14. The zombies at Yantar do not run from the grenade now.
15. Fixed the crash caused by the patrol route at Yantar.
16. Fixed the crash caused by the patrol route at Agroprom Research Institute.
17. Fixed the task with getting rid of the Duty group in the village at the Military Warehouses level.
18. Fixed the bug with repeating the scene of the Duty group ambush at the beginning of the Military Warehouses level.
19. Fixed the bug with camera fly-through on the stadium at Pripyat.
20. Fixed the bug with Bes character, when the latter couldn't be healed.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. For Consoles?
Nov 26, 2007 at 6:31 AM - Andrew Burnes - 13 Comments
The well known role-playing game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, could be receiving a console release because GSC Game World today became a certified Xbox 360 developer:
GSC Game World is glad to announce it is now officially certified by Microsoft as an Xbox 360 developer. As part of the program, GSC Game World obtained all the necessary development tools, so as support from Microsoft to get down to development of projects on Xbox 360.
Sergiy Grygorovych, the CEO of GSC Game World, said:
"We are happy to say the big efforts of our company aimed to obtain the official Xbox 360 developer status now ended with success. Obtaining such a status for an independent developer based in ex-USSR means a lot - it took us over 2 years to get. We are very thankful to Microsoft for the assistance and high esteem of our team's professionalism.
From now on, our old ambition to create multiplatform projects has become a reality. Such a policy is also fully compliant with the current game industry tendencies.
Creating games for PC, we achieved practically everything, and now are prepared to garner the top spots in sales charts and gamers' recognition in the world of console games too. This said, we will continue paying maximum attention to the PC platform."
I really need to pick up a copy of this from the not magical underworld store. It really was a great game, and I imagine the patches have helped it in numerous areas now.
Like one... but this was all around when it was released, and I bought it the day it came out, so its a been through quite a few patches since then.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: 2.000.000 copies sold
3 September 2008
GSC Game World announces its S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has sold 1 million copies worldwide and 1 million licensed copies in ex-USSR countries.
"We are very pleased that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. became so popular among players from all over the world, - said GSC Game World CEO Sergiy Grygorovych. – S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is more than just a game now. Financial success will allow us to develop S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in different directions as a brand."
Most impressive of all is that it's now also possible to play Shadow of Chernobyl with an entirely overhauled texture set, which can be found online. (http://artistpavel.blogspot.com/2009/04/stalker-complete-2009.html) As mods go this is one of the most subtle imaginable. It does not attempt to change the atmosphere or effect of the game world, but simple to enhance it. 900 new textures, an improved sky and weather system, and the introduction of expanded graphics options make this one of the most exquisitely beautiful experiences ever to grace a gaming system. It also includes the sleep and hunger systems, along with a mass of small tweaks. I would argue that this is, finally, the finished and complete version of Stalker - as good as it could possibly have been on release.