Forums | MacLife

Bat · 2008-04-21 9:09 pm

user wrote:
I've played almost all of the FPSs that have made it to the Mac and that's what I compare against. I suppose it's possible that there are more fantastic graphics on the PC side, but I find it hard to believe that STALKER graphics are lame.

edit: I just looked at some screenshots for Oblivion.....I'm starting to question what world YOU live on.

You'll be liking this, tho with it comes the joy/pain of upgrading...

THE GOOD GERMANS over at PC Games Hardware have managed to snag some very cool screenshots and a video of the latest update to the improbably punctuated S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

The game, released last year, garnered good reviews from the press, a decent amount of sales, but was generally found to be overly buggy - although the graphics engine, in development for years, was nevertheless pretty stonking.

The new expansion, dubbed 'Clear Sky', is due for release in August and has an upgraded DX10 graphics path which adds better water effects, volumetric fire, nicer sunshine, and better water effects on surfaces. From the look of the hi-res screenshots, the uprated graphics look like they might just be a match for Crysis, which seems appropriate given that Crysis was about the only other game released last year that was optimised as badly.

The video shows a few of the new effects in detail, and we'd recommend downloading it, rather than watching the flash version which is compressed to within an inch of its life.
...

Stalker expansion gets DX10 update

To me it looks like you have to sign in to get the video. I had better luck at GamersHell.

(And of course, there's only one place/way to get DX10).

user · 2008-04-22 10:36 am

I'm hoping I'll at least be able to play Clear Sky on my iMac, even if I have to dial down the video. I've been running STALKER again with some of the mods that people have created.

Aftermath was a disapointment (the only faction fight occured in the first level, after that it pretty standard). Redux was great - I really enjoyed the more accurate weapon sounds (LOUD and blasting). Currently, I'm playing ABC Inferno, which brings back many of the mutant characters that were dropped from the shipped game. Some of them are ghost-like. The sky will get very dark, you hear a scream right behind your head and a damn zombie will spawn in behind you. And like a zombie, he gets right back up after you shoot him down.

VERY scary stuff.

Bat · 2008-08-20 2:20 am

We're here for you, guy.

GSC Game World has announced that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky has gone gold, and that the game will be hitting shelves a week later than originally planned:

Hermosa Beach, Calif. -- Aug 18, 2008 -- GSC Game World, computer games developer, its publishing subdivision GSC World Publishing and Deep Silver, the games label of Koch Media, a leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products, today announce that S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky has gone gold. The international release date of the game has been set to September 5th of 2008.

More information about the game is available on the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/stalkerofficial

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a survival FPS game for PC based on a 'what-if' scenario of the [..]

Official game site: www.stalker-game.com

http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsart … chid=20768

Maya · 2008-08-21 2:21 am

Actually if you look at the skin for the Barrett in COD4 it's M82. If you then look up the Mi-24 Hind Helo (the Russian helo), and look at the areas that are armored, you find that a .50 cal, while very good, it's squat against a "flying tank". So there's one thing that's actually futzed in the single player, but true to life in the multiplayer... as for actually being able to take out a helo, especially a combat helo like the Seahawk, Apache, Cobra, Hind, and others of it's ilk, you just about have one chance and it's a very slim one, and that's to shoot and damage the tail rotor gearbox (generally there's one or 2 depending on the helo ) or the cyclic (and it's hydraulic systems) that adjusts the tail rotor's pitch. Considering the size of the targets, you are in for very tough shot. Shooting the shaft that powers the tail rotor might work on some older helos, by knocking the shaft out of true and eventually tearing up the transmission, or the gearbox. All the other areas are generally armored to require a hail mary to do any damage. so my personal favorite gun when going against Helo's is the Bofor's 57mm, or the Oto Melara 76mm tied into a Mk92 Mod 6 Fire control and optional Lowlight/IR sights. It's a shame that it's not really man portable sad

Bat · 2008-08-31 10:05 pm

...and yet again...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky will be delayed "a few days" from its expected release on September 5. We've gotten indications about this and attempted to get a confirmation from GSC Game World, and while we received no reply, Shacknews confirmed the delay with publisher Deep Silver. What we can add is a report we got from a retailer who says the boxes were recalled from the distributer when it was discovered they did not contain CD keys.

http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board. … adid=90890

They're out to drive user crazy! eek

(Sillies don't realize they're wayyyyy too late... hmm )

Bat · 2008-09-02 1:27 am

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky review on Eurogamer.

Thanks Blues.

user · 2008-09-02 12:28 pm

I got an e-mail from Amazon about the delay and asking me to confirm that I still wanted it. I wasn't too concerned, I expected the date to slip at least once more although it's good to know that it was a packaging error rather than more coding to be done. Thanks, Bat. STALKER is a very ambitious game. The scope of the game reminds me of Deus Ex and I anticipate many updates and bug fixes.

I'm OK for now, I've been playing the AMK mod which includes "blowouts" (random catastrophic radiation storms that affect everyone) and other sprites looting the bodies of fallen comrades as well as your own stashes. This version also has an "Arsenal" addition that gives the game many more weapons such as the P90 and the SSH.

I'm also playing a complete make-over that is set a few years later where you play Lt. Priboi. You're searching for documents in the Zone for codes to unlock doors and the modders have made it quite difficult. It's really amazing what mods have been able to accomplish with the game.

Bat · 2008-09-07 2:51 am

Screenies.

...
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky on PCGH. DX9 vs. DX10.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky on PCGH. 3,360 x 2,100 resolution with 32-1 AF. AKA Photoshop mode.

user · 2008-09-08 12:14 pm

The highlights on the cracked pavement really show the subtle realistic possibilities. The game developers stand to make far more from licensing out the engine than they'll ever make from the game itself!

I'm not allowing myself to get too excited about this because it'll be enough if the game just runs on my system.

(I could already be playing the game by download from STEAM, but people have had trouble playing mods with the downloaded version of Shadow, and I KNOW I'll want to play the Clear Sky mods)

Last edited by user (2008-09-08 12:39 pm)

user · 2008-09-08 1:15 pm

I was just now looking out the window at the shop at something across the highway and wanted to zoom in with my binoculars.

Then I realized I only had those in the game.

Then I realized I was playing it WAY too much.

Bat · 2008-09-09 11:28 pm

user wrote:
I was just now looking out the window at the shop at something across the highway and wanted to zoom in with my binoculars.

Then I realized I only had those in the game.

Then I realized I was playing it WAY too much.

Is the STALKER community big enough to make some of those "You know you're playing too much [s]Halo[/s] [s]Marathon tongue [/s] S.T.A.L.K.E.R. when..." lists?

user · 2008-09-10 10:20 am

I think it's still much bigger in Europe. There are requests for the major mods to be translated into French and German. Also, witness that hardly anyone else is posting in this thread. We might as well be PMing (except I'm hoping that some lurkers will get interested in the game - I'd recommend it for anyone who was a big Deus Ex fan).

Here's an example of some of the stuff that can pop up in the game. I was playing it with the AMK mod and had just crossed over into another level when I noticed on my mini-map that a neutral stalker had followed behind me in the tunnel. That usually doesn't happen so I waited to see who it was. Out stepped a little guy:

Turns out his name is Napoleon:

And if you talk to him he tells you a joke:

Last edited by user (2008-09-10 10:23 am)

user · 2008-09-10 10:31 am

I've been modifying the mods quite a bit, myself. A lot of it are just text files you can edit in notepad. For example, the weapon I'm carrying in those screenshots is a Winchester shotgun that I've modified to load 30 rounds instead of the normal 6 (the icon in the lower left shows that I've got 28 rounds loaded out of 421 available in my backpack - I trick out my weight carrying limit, too).

I hate running out of rounds when I'm up against a big ugly bloodsucker. The only problem is that every other stalker carrying that weapon has the same advantage. Fortunately, that shotgun is fairly rare.

Last edited by user (2008-09-10 10:34 am)

Gurlugon · 2008-09-10 1:36 pm

Good hunting and GET OUT OF HERE, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Oblivion Lost is such a wonderful mod among mods. I liked vanilla S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but for all its fun there was a nagging amount of unpolished gameplay, IMO.

user · 2008-09-10 3:42 pm

I'm bouncing between OL and AMK right now. In the latest version of OL, he's reduced the blowouts to nearly none and I like the blowouts because they spawn mutants, change the anomalies and present opportunities to screw around with the enemies.

So I've managed to locate the blowout timer in the gamedata folder and lowered the numbers. I tried it out yesterday and had a blowout right away in Cordon. Now I need to restore the mini-gun to barkeep's inventory...

Bat · 2008-09-10 4:29 pm

That does sound like my kind of game. It's officially on The List.

Bat · 2008-09-11 2:47 am

user wrote:
Also, witness that hardly anyone else is posting in this thread. We might as well be PMing (except I'm hoping that some lurkers will get interested in the game - I'd recommend it for anyone who was a big Deus Ex fan).

Darn you! You hadda go and get all the lurkers interested... GoGamer had it for $9.90, but now they're out of stock! :shakefist:

They've also got Clear Sky on for $35...

user · 2008-09-11 9:17 am

I got it from Amazon for $12 this month (don't ask why I'm just now getting the disk).

Well, the shortened blowouts worked - too well - now I'm getting blowouts about every 10 minutes! I'm still trying to play it though because it gives the game some interesting and different characteristics. Enemy attacks are being interrupted by the blowouts, I'm having to plan ahead as to where I'm going to duck into for the next one and I'm finding myself taking shelter in places I never would have before.

One trick I've been doing early in the game is to entice the military to attack the rookie camp so I can sneak into the military base and grab a quest item early as well as a lot of other goodies. A blowout happened just as I stepped into the base and I had to wait it out in the barracks hoping that all of the soldiers wouldn't come running back in on me.

Turns out that all of the extra blowouts have been spawning massive numbers of mutants and the rookie camp, including all of the attacking military, were totally overwhelmed by them. They're all dead.

Last edited by user (2008-09-11 1:50 pm)

user · 2008-09-11 9:28 am

Bat, as much as you liked Halo, especially encountering odd stuff and playing around with the levels, you definitely would enjoy STALKER. It's also neat that it's not US oriented, like so many other games are.

And, http://stalker.filefront.com is one of the best sources for the mods (except maybe AMK and Priboi, they've got their own sites). I recommend playing it as "vanilla" first before trying to mod it.

Bat · 2008-09-11 12:41 pm

I can't believe it myself, but my last PC gaming to date was early Feb '06. I have a huge backlog; it wasn't exactly by choice. Don't ask either, but I'm dying to get back to Halo, A&D, Deus Ex, H2... on and on. When money improves I'll get Stalker etc. (I'll play it vanilla first).

(Gamers like me don't live by console alone. Sad that H3 will be 14 months old by the time the 360 gets proper 1680x1050 support, and any PC version will be at least that far off).

(Shane Kim et al can stuff it).

user · 2008-09-11 1:48 pm

Man, I can't believe you got THAT far behind! TBC oughta kick your butt...

Yeah, I jumped on Halo 2 for Xbox, but I think I'll give Halo 3 a pass until it comes out for Vista.

Bat · 2008-09-11 2:52 pm

No tree-sitty after all? I figure at least a year for H3 PC- not surprised if it comes out for 7/DX11, altho Vista will run it too. Another dumb OS selling tool, also tesselation be berry berry good for it.

(Mainly I put PC gaming aside with the last upgrade 'imminent,' only it wasn't. Then lightning literally struck, caused some data corruption, and I didn't think it wise to stress a recently-injured box. Things snowballed from there.

I've kicked my own butt enough, and PC gaming deprivation did the rest. sad I'm a shell of a man... gaming will revive me. Need *koff*... gaming <gasp>...)

ed sp

Last edited by Bat (2008-09-11 9:26 pm)

Bat · 2008-09-11 9:28 pm

Already?

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky Patches [September 11, 2008, 1:29 pm ET]
New patches are now available for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, updating GSC Game World's first-person shooter prequel to version 1.5.04. There is a 56 MB multi-language patch for the retail boxed edition of the game and another 57 MB multi-language patch for digital download editions. The patches can be found on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Website and the change log outlines the balance changes and numerous bug-fixes in the new version.

http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board. … adid=91282

user · 2008-09-12 10:17 am

I suppose it's better than a game company dragging it's feet about problems with the game.

Kent_Diego wrote:
Some games never get patched at all. They ship and everyone gets fired. Support is a good thing.

GSC was stung by the long development time for SHOC and they really pushed that sequel out quickly. Hasn't SHOC only been out for about a year? I got into it late after I finally got an Intel Mac, so I don't know.

change log wrote:
-fixed error which caused the Bandit faction trader to take money from the player for completing the “Take over the flea market together with the bandits” job, instead of giving him money.

Oh, smurf!

Last edited by user (2008-09-12 10:17 am)

user · 2008-09-12 10:22 am

Bat wrote:
No tree-sitty after all?

I'm installing electric heat in my home and ditching the old oil burner, so I'm spending the money on that (and some power tools) instead.

Forums | MacLife

#26 2008-04-21 9:09 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

user wrote:

#27 2008-04-22 10:36 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

#28 2008-08-20 2:20 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

#29 2008-08-21 2:21 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

#30 2008-08-31 10:05 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#31 2008-09-02 1:27 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

#32 2008-09-02 12:28 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#33 2008-09-07 2:51 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

#34 2008-09-08 12:14 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#35 2008-09-08 1:15 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#36 2008-09-09 11:28 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

user wrote:

#37 2008-09-10 10:20 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

#38 2008-09-10 10:31 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

#39 2008-09-10 1:36 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#40 2008-09-10 3:42 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#41 2008-09-10 4:29 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#42 2008-09-11 2:47 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

user wrote:

#43 2008-09-11 9:17 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

#44 2008-09-11 9:28 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

#45 2008-09-11 12:41 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#46 2008-09-11 1:48 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#47 2008-09-11 2:52 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#48 2008-09-11 9:28 pm

Re: I really like the Russian games

#49 2008-09-12 10:17 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

Kent_Diego wrote:

change log wrote:

#50 2008-09-12 10:22 am

Re: I really like the Russian games

Bat wrote:

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