STALKER: Clear Sky

[Loki]

So, how is everyone's progression in Clear Sky? What are you impressions of it so far? What did you expect from the game that was delivered, not delivered, or was flawed in some respect? Did you like it as much as STALKER? If not, why not?

[Wackman3000]

Although it took some modding and a few restarts to get the game to be enjoyable, I am enjoying myself now. The dynamic weather and time progression is really fantastic in this game. It does everything it can to really make it seem like the zone is a real place and you are right smack dab in the middle of it.

I'm about to enter the Red Forest and I still haven't sided with any faction. I'm rolling with a Desert Eagle and a heavily modified AK-47 as well as a Vintorez Sniper rifle modded to shit.

[Wasson_]

I've had fun with it from the moment I started. It's different from the first game, the degree you get to interact with the NPC's is far greater in this game than before, it's more story driven.

I've gone through a lot of weaponry, but I like to keep my suped up MP5 handy at all times.

So far I think it's better than the first Stalker. It has more character and the combat feels tighter as well as several other small additions/ adjustments that are frankly just awesome.

However, I'll still look forward to an Arsenal MOD of this game greatly.

[Hotcod]

I need to finish the game before i make very deep comments on it but so far it's taken what stalker did and run with it while fixing up some of the problems. Given that stalker was an amamzing game there was no chance i wouldn't enjoy my self with this... which i am very very much. I had hoped to more new places in the zone, maybe even areas outside the zone and so on... as it is it dose feel a bit like you are replying updated bits from stalker... the story is so far so alike to stalker one that it feels a bit odd.

Still its just simply awesome, i'm at the moment trying to kill the duty base with my freedom brothers but its a damn pain in the ass. I would try and explain what i'm running with but i can't remember the names and it's 2 snipre rifles, 1 very cool ak type with scope, one very cool nato type with scope and the thunder or what ever you call it mnostly just for the nad laucher on it.

[aVaKus]

Although it took some modding and a few restarts to get the game to be enjoyable, I am enjoying myself now. The dynamic weather and time progression is really fantastic in this game. It does everything it can to really make it seem like the zone is a real place and you are right smack dab in the middle of it.

I'm about to enter the Red Forest and I still haven't sided with any faction. I'm rolling with a Desert Eagle and a heavily modified AK-47 as well as a Vintorez Sniper rifle modded to shit.

What mods did you use to get it playable? I tried starting it but the performance was so terrible even when dropping the settings.

[LiquidRain]

I'm still pretty much just starting myself, trying to get into the game and not really doing all that well at it. I'll post my impressions once I get a better grip on the game.

[Wackman3000]

While I was going to suggest this (http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Better_Lighting_Depth_of_Field_and_FPS;93997) mod they apparently just released a new patch yesterday:

http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Clear_Sky_Patch;94456

Says its compatible with the last patch and it's saves, so chances are most mods will work fine with it as well.

[Seika]

I haven't been able to play the game that much, you know with like 5 classes and all...

What I have played I have loved though, like the voice translations for example, there are some truly LOL moments in this game.

Love the great "He came! He saw! He sucked cock!" when bandits kill you after you get robbed. Or the ever great, "Just what the doctor recommended, A NADE TO THE FACE!!!", then seeing 4 grenade icons pop up around you. Can't forget the, "That'll teach him not to bring a gun to a knife fight". Or the classic "I wish I had died at birth..." when you're team is running through the red forest... ;)

Anyway, a question.
Anyone know how to kill the electric things (I won't say where they are, for those that haven't made it there yet) that throw objects at you?
I've tried everything, can't seem to survive longer that 5 sec in fight against them...

This part right here (you can see a gun flying for my head!):
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/483/xrengine200809290011225rg8.jpg

Maybe I just need a SEVA suit...

Also, this part rocks!
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5958/xrengine200809282333175jx0.jpg

...and this gun rocks!
That's all.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/695/xrengine200809290020028zb8.jpg

[jpublic]

I get a strong feeling I missed a lot of the game. I pretty much followed the main quest line, didn't join any factions. Was there a lot more that I missed?

[Hotcod]

well, not as such.... you have missed lots of stuff and some of the fun in the stalker games is exploring the different environments but the main quest line is the vast majority of the content. I mean i have been pooring hours in to taking the duty base but that beacuse it's got to the point that i put so much time in to doing it i can't give up on trying to finish it off heh

The factions and other things add a lot more flavour to the game and i would recommend doing them if you ever play it again but just going with the main storyline isn't gimping the game or anything... there's lot of stuff there to play with if you want to is all

[jpublic]

I'm not sure why, but in CS I was far less inclined to go wandering and joining factions. It *felt* a lot more directed, you know?

[CptTripps]

I am playing and love it to death. But... I picked up WAR and my limited game time has been going to that.

[Hotcod]

I think part of that will be that most place are place you've been before, they may be different but "oh whats different" is not the same as "oh whats this" if you get me.

Finished taking out the duty base... my stalker kills went up about 200 i think since i started to do it heh... the roads are littered with guns... was so not worth it really heh but moved back on to main story and its just damn fun

[Wackman3000]

I'm still without a faction and I think I am going to stay that way. Although if you choose between Duty and Freedom, be prepared for tough battles if you side with the latter. Duty has ALOT of NPC's around (especially if they start taking over bases) although Freedom gives you some solid weapons and armor if you side.

[JayK47]

I finally finished the game. I loved it until I realized I was at the end of the game. I liked the end areas better this time around right up until the very end. And wow, I died a lot and was staring at the load screen for the majority of the end:(

Again, the very end around the reactors is not that great in my opinion. And they pull basically the same stunt as the last game where the entire ending is heavily scripted and you really can't go back if you left good weapons behind. And they basically give you all the weapons you need to finish the game which felt tacked on and lame. Nothing is more annoying then guys teleporting right behind you and unloading on you for the inevitable death and restart.

[Chill]

Totally agree with the above. CS was great until the ending. I still like the original more, which seemed there was more to do and more freedom to have. CS has freedom in the earlier levels, but as you progress it gets more and more linear. The last few levels could be on a rail and no one would notice. To me, the game pretty much ended at Red Forest.

How could they take out Pripyat? Probably the greatest level in a game I've ever seen. Loved the attention to detail and scale.

[Schnoogs]

My progress is on hold...going through a breakup after a 6 year relationship and an engagement. Gaming just doesn't seem that important right now.

[KingGorilla]

I'm not sure why, but in CS I was far less inclined to go wandering and joining factions. It *felt* a lot more directed, you know?

I think the idea, much like Fallout, is that you see who allying yourself with different factions will effect the gameplay. I see a lot of parallels, Duty is a lot like the Brotherhood, as an example.

Sadly, I am going to hold off on getting Clear Sky, I think it will be the first game I play in DX 10.

[OrangePulp]

I tried this game out a bit, and... I don't like it. I want to like it, but there are too many things that irritate me. Randomly walking around, and all of a sudden I'm radiated, and I don't have any rad medicine left. Taking bleed damage after every single wound; even falling damage. Oh, and the fact that you can't sleep out the night: apparently I got an upgrade on my body armor that precludes night vision, so I can't see shit at night. Wouldn't be a problem, except that there's no way to fast forward through the night, as it were.

If the game had saves that loaded faster, it might be easier to take, but I think I'm done with it.

[Hotcod]

I tried this game out a bit, and... I don't like it. I want to like it, but there are too many things that irritate me. Randomly walking around, and all of a sudden I'm radiated, and I don't have any rad medicine left. Taking bleed damage after every single wound; even falling damage. Oh, and the fact that you can't sleep out the night: apparently I got an upgrade on my body armor that precludes night vision, so I can't see shit at night. Wouldn't be a problem, except that there's no way to fast forward through the night, as it were.

If the game had saves that loaded faster, it might be easier to take, but I think I'm done with it.

Well, while you may not like those things there is a point to most of them. You don't randomly walk around, your in the zone, the zone will kill you if your not careful. You have to be well stoked before you go out and the point of it is to leave you asking your self if its worth it to charge ahead if your running low or to head back and stock up. While i've not use the night vision i'd presume that it's something you have to switch on like the flash light but you really don't need it. Having to walk around at night is another really cool part of the game... if you could just skip it then there would be no point in having it in the game... but turning up in the red forest for the first time late at night and wondering around those dark woods is a wonderful gaming experience...

Game dose have some problems and i agree with you on a few point but ya if you don't like having to wonder around at night with the game then the game was really really not for you... which is a shame beacuse it has some wonderful moments...

i really should finish this game up... but... war... yup

[JayK47]

but turning up in the red forest for the first time late at night and wondering around those dark woods is a wonderful gaming experience...

Or scary and deadly. I had nothing but trouble with that place. I must have died there at least a dozen times. The critters swarm you. You really need to have decent gear to navigate that place, and I didn't. The group of stalkers didn't last very long there either, so I don't feel so bad;)

[H.Bogard]

DX10 rain :
http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/3543/sshbogard100508175555gaiy7.jpg

That is all.

[Hotcod]

Or scary and deadly. I had nothing but trouble with that place. I must have died there at least a dozen times. The critters swarm you. You really need to have decent gear to navigate that place, and I didn't. The group of stalkers didn't last very long there either, so I don't feel so bad;)

I did that whole thing at night and it's been one of the best bits of the game so far for me... the forest didn't kick my ass as such but it was scary as hell and the whole skalker firefight thingy mission there was just awesome in both look and feel... just wouldn't have nearly been as good during the day

[LiquidRain]

Yeah I think I'm done with Stalker, period. I got a ways through the first, gave up, picked up Clear Sky thinking it'd be better. I love the atmosphere but something about the game just doesn't grip me.

[Wasson_]

I have been playing it off / on between other stuff. and it has successfully pissed me off quite royally.

I had been playing a Mod of the first stalker where the powerplant would give off emissions on a daily basis. Sure that's fine, you would just hide in a decent building until it'd end. Super, great...dandy.

But no! not in Clear Sky...You have to go to one of the bases where your welcome in order to survive it. I neglected to look on my map when it alerted me of this, what I did see was "get to cover" so I waited around in a building....wasting all my time...and I had just zoned and the game had saved and I have absolutely no way of getting to proper cover.

fuck. I'll have to look up to see if there is a console command for invulnerability or some shit...

[JayK47]

Yeah, those emissions were kind of annoying. And I remember once in the garbage, I had to kill off the bandits in the warehouse for cover. Later on I realize there is another cover spot by the stalkers in the collapsed building. And that damn warehouse. There is a bug that prevents you from permanently taking the warehouse when you side with the stalkers like I did. So basically I joined the stalkers and was unable to complete their missions. Fun but needs some more patches and/or community mods. So sadly STALKER is a game that gets better with age like a fine wine;)

I still think Clear Sky is a better game than the original. I think they made improvements but didn't spend enough time on polish.

[Hotcod]

not a bug, any factions base will respawn at some point after you've taken it... it's meant to mean that you can go back and do it again if you want to... its annoying really

[Smoof]

This shit is really pissing me off

I'm playing on the hard difficulty...

enemies shoot with pinpoint accuracy from extremely long ranges and seem to have absolutely no bullet drop at all. Using the same weapons they use, I can't shoot nearly as straight. So using the pseudo-sniper rifle, Vintar, I have massive amounts of bullet drop and weak ass damage. I can take a few hits where they can take multiple clips.

[Hotcod]

i do really hate how there nades land exactly where you are even if you where running away when they threw them

[Loki]

Yea. They are fantastic grenade tossers. Wonder if there is a mod that limits it.

[H.Bogard]

Yea. They are fantastic grenade tossers. Wonder if there is a mod that limits it.

There is.

And I'm pretty sure you can mod the enemy accuracy, too.

[Dukefrukem]

I got back into gaming this weekend and I sunk 5 hours into Clear Sky... it's a beautiful game. Has the same atmosphere as the previous, I like how I recognize different parts of the maps from the previous game, I like most of the quests... but I'll be a son of a bitch if it's not just as frustrating... fix the saving issue please in the third installment!!!!!!!!!

[Secret Agent Dog]

Stalker clear sky suffers the same problems that the original did. One of main gripes is that so many of the semi-important NPC's are able to die. Situations such as the Yantar area where you can only access an NPC once all the enemies in the area area dead. Well, those enemies respawn in infinite numbers, but the NPC's guarding the important NPC do not, and they can die. So on every playthrough, in short order, the guards all die, and my only choice is to murder huge camps of respawned enemies that have taken up residence there. On the same vein I ran into problems with scripted story events/NPC's not occurring unless you were in the right place at the right time.

For anyone who wants an easier/better experience I would highly recommend using a map I found a while ago http://www.webalice.it/requena/game/stalkercs/stalkercs_map_zone.htm . This is an updated/modified version of what I originally found and is a little harder to read but shows the stash locations of all the upgrade flash drives as well as quest rewards and importantly locations of artifacts. This includes a vales detector and broken vintar BC in the starting swamps. Having carryweight, regen, radiation scrub, endurance, and antibleed artifacts makes the game a lot less frustrating, as well as a vales detector to pinpoint their location as they do move around and are almost always in highly lethal areas.

Once you earn some starting cash you can do things like obtain a fully upgraded SEVA suit from the bandits early to protect from radiation and such before you inadvertently piss them off to the point you cannot upgrade from them. In my "master" difficulty playthrough having all those goodies really lets you run wild in upgrades and armament making the gave much more enjoyable overall.

[Dukefrukem]

I haven't reached that NPC area yet... but I did get a quick mission to help some dude fight off 3 dogs... i ran over to him but by the time i got there he was already dead... mother f'er

[Dukefrukem]

Okay, i must have missed where it taught you how to pick up new anomalies to use. I just assumed they'd be hanging around like they were in the first game. What do i need to do to pick them up? I can detect them fine, and i can throw bolts at them... but what else?

[Libuke]

Okay, i must have missed where it taught you how to pick up new anomalies to use. I just assumed they'd be hanging around like they were in the first game. What do i need to do to pick them up? I can detect them fine, and i can throw bolts at them... but what else?

Patients, bravery and luck with the crap (and even with the better) detectors. The first one just beeps louder the closer you get you can get better ones that show direction and then direction and distance. In all cases once you get close enough the artefact will appear on the ground and you can then pick it up with your regular interact/pickup button.

Often it will require you to get highly irradiated or take some damage so make sure you have the supplies to deal with radiation/heal yourself before you attempt it, especially really on with low protection. I know some people will suggest just reloading if you take lots of damage but I think that takes away some of the thrill and danger of the world.

[Secret Agent Dog]

Often it will require you to get highly irradiated or take some damage so make sure you have the supplies to deal with radiation/heal yourself before you attempt it, especially really on with low protection. I know some people will suggest just reloading if you take lots of damage but I think that takes away some of the thrill and danger of the world.

I would suggest finding the vales detector in the swap that gives you a dot in relation to what direction and how far away the artifact is. Past the swamp, artifacts can get stupidly difficult to collect. I found most in later areas like the army base are so close to instant death traps a single tap forward is the difference between the artifact appearing and you collecting it, and you instantly dying. And because artifacts move around until you actually walk inches from them, some of the better artifacts spend 80%+ of their travel time literally inside killer traps. Even using a maxed environmental/psy SEVA suit, and 3 of the best anti-radiation artifacts, with 2 high regen artifacts, I found that anomalies in areas like the red forest will still kill you in seconds on radiation alone, not to mention aoe fire or suction traps that the artifact is circling. Thrill and danger are good when you have some breathing room to keep you scared but let you succeed, but when you reloaded for the 20th time that is mostly gone.

[Dukefrukem]

I think I have the second deteector right now. It shows me a few green bars in the direction of the artefact... but i still tried 3 or 4 times to get it and nothing is appearing.... what do the bolts do again? I NEVER used them in the first game.

[Hotcod]

bolts just set the anomalies... very useful in places, mostly your meant to throw them out in front of you and it will show you exactly where the anomalies are

[Dukefrukem]

So I throw a bolt... see the sphere thing... then what? stand there taking damage until it appears?

[Hotcod]

You can only get damaged by them if you are close enough to trigger them, the idea of the bolts is that you trigger them from a safe distance so you can see where they are exactly... it's like throwing stones in front of you when your stood in a mine filed except the mines can explode more than once. for the most part the beeps from you detector will get you self but some times you may have to be more careful... it's not something you have to do which is why you probably never used them but it is useful

So say you've got a read on an artefact and it's in a dense filed of anomalies, you can toss bolts around to see exactly where it's safe to step as you try and get to where the artefact will drop. Some times you'll have to get to close and be hurt to get the artefact which is part of the whole risk and reward thing

[Dukefrukem]

You can only get damaged by them if you are close enough to trigger them, the idea of the bolts is that you trigger them from a safe distance so you can see where they are exactly... it's like throwing stones in front of you when your stood in a mine filed except the mines can explode more than once. for the most part the beeps from you detector will get you self but some times you may have to be more careful... it's not something you have to do which is why you probably never used them but it is useful

I understand that but how do i pick them up? I just stand there, while my radiation level is through the roof and my health drops while my detector is beeping and i'm throwing bolts to see where this sphere thing is... what allows me to get the artifact?

[Hotcod]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNS32Ga-9sA

should make it more clear, when you get close enough with the detector out (as i remember it) the artefact should appear... if it's not then you've just not gotten close enough to where it is

[Dukefrukem]

so you just spam 'e' to get it to appear?

[Hotcod]

nope just have the detector out, once you are close enough it will pop up... you sure the beeps you are hearing are from the artefact detector and not just the anonaimly proximity sensors?

[Dukefrukem]

Well I have the same detector as in the video and I'm following the green bars. I'll try again tonight.

I AM attempting this on probably one of the harder artifacts.

[Smoof]

I'd been considering going back to clear sky for a while now, as i loved stalked and played through it so many times I've lost count. This thread encouraged me to click that little icon on steam and head back in. After some graphical tweaking to get it running well with dx10 I can safely say I'm enjoying myself. I got to the cordon, but havent gone any further, so we'll see, since i didnt start hating it until late in the game

[Dukefrukem]

now that ive figured out how to get artifacts, im tearing it up by trading them for suits and weapons. really enjoyin the game now.

[Smoof]

I suppose I should have figured this out by now, but what do I do with my data drives I've been collecting?

[Dukefrukem]

I suppose I should have figured this out by now, but what do I do with my data drives I've been collecting?

Those are for missions, you can't trade them and you can't use them yourself...


The upgrade guys have missions where they ask for that stuff. The crappy part is, sometimes you can only get the flash drives, by PAYING bartenders and "Important Characters" money for their stash or information on where they know a stash is. Sometimes you can ask them what's at the stash, but a lot of the time they'll say: "No idea" which means you have to pay them for the stash, get there, and there maybe a pile of crap there you don't need, or there maybe 3 or 4 flash drives.

I just finished the mission where you need to enter the underground and turn on the water pump. It's too bad that section wasn't NEARLY as scary as the first time you go underground in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

[Dukefrukem]

OKay now I'm getting annoyed. MOre of the same parts of the same area going through the same standard procedure as before.... im still chuggin through. just annoyed a bit

[Dukefrukem]

Wow I'm chasing Strelok right after you defend Lefty and his buddies from all the zombies. Strelok gets away, but the psi effects take forever to wear off.... I'm really low on ammo right now and my guns are in tough shape. This part is extremely hard.

[Dukefrukem]

been tearing this game UP lately. But I think I found a bug that's really disappointing because I spent so much time planning for this mission.

So I joined Duty, and as you know they are feuding with Freedom. One of the missions asks me to go into Freedom's base (i think) and recover a data stick to do some upgrades. I get to the where the yellow marker is on my map, but there's no data stick to be found. To top it off, when I'm inside Freedom's base, the game MAKES me put away my gun (I think it's bugged) because normally when you're NOT feuding with freedom you're not allowed to point guns in the Freedom base. So guys are shooting at me half the time and I Have no way to defend myself. I made a video. I'll try to upload it to youtube today.

[Dukefrukem]

Where are all the Clear Sky players???

[Dukefrukem]

So no one beat this game? I'm trying to get to this fuckin "Space Anomaly" but the gate to get there is locked! I can't find a way around this gate. Anyone remember this quest?

[CptTripps]

I never beat clear sky, somethig else distracted me. Blew right through pripyat though so maybe I should go back and finish it up.

[kyrieee]

No,
It's better if you don't

[Dukefrukem]

No,
It's better if you don't

You trying to say Clear Sky isn't worth playing?

[CptTripps]

I have played all the STALKERS and love them, they have issues but nothing that has ruined a game for me. First is still my fav, pripyat was the most stable/optimized. Clear sky is the only one I have not finished so... yeah I will do that. But tonight, it's BC2!!!

[Dukefrukem]

I give up. I'm so sick of the bugs. Apparently my play-through is impossible to finish.

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3701/sterlockbug2.jpg
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3689/sterlockbug22.jpg

[H.Bogard]

You can't say I didn't warn you. ;)

[kyrieee]

You trying to say Clear Sky isn't worth playing?

The midgame was neat but the linear path you get locked into towards the end is terrible and straight up broken. I'm not so sure they understood what made SoC great.

[Libuke]

The midgame was neat but the linear path you get locked into towards the end is terrible and straight up broken. I'm not so sure they understood what made SoC great.

The original STALKER was pretty linear so I don't understand this statement.

I enjoyed clear sky however, which appears to be not the norm, maybe not as much as the original but well enough.

[Dukefrukem]

The original STALKER was pretty linear so I don't understand this statement.

I enjoyed clear sky however, which appears to be not the norm, maybe not as much as the original but well enough.

Because at a certain point, it becomes the point of no return. And if you have things to sell, upgrade, buy, there's no warning that you can never return back to vendors to complete these tasks. And then of course there's the two screenshots that I posted, which are preventing me from finishing the game. The ending sequence is EXTREMELY difficult.

[Libuke]

Because at a certain point, it becomes the point of no return. And if you have things to sell, upgrade, buy, there's no warning that you can never return back to vendors to complete these tasks. And then of course there's the two screenshots that I posted, which are preventing me from finishing the game. The ending sequence is EXTREMELY difficult.

I suppose but it was really out of your way in SOC after the brain scorcher to go back and sell anything.

I will agree that the end sequence did suck and was very difficult in Clear Sky.

[Dukefrukem]

I suppose but it was really out of your way in SOC after the brain scorcher to go back and sell anything.

I will agree that the end sequence did suck and was very difficult in Clear Sky.

This is true, but at least you knew what you were getting yourself into when you were heading there. CS it's not clear at all. And at least I was able to finish SoC.

[jpublic]

I managed to finish CS, but only by being forewarned of the point-of-no-return, loading up a 'carry more' mod, and loading myself up with spare weapons, armor, and ammo.

[Dukefrukem]

Can you install mods and load saved games with the steam version? I may give that a try.

[jpublic]

Yup. You can. That's the version I run.

[Dukefrukem]

Link plz :)

[jpublic]

http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Stalker_CS_Weight_mod;93834

Allows you to carry 150kg freely, with a max limit of 180kg.

[Dukefrukem]

I suppose that really doesn't help me now if I'm already at the final power plant level. No way I want to venture through the last crap again.

[Wackman3000]

You can change the max weight limit in every Stalker game without any mods, you just have to open the player config files.

[Dukefrukem]

Tried that already. Game wouldn't start. X-Ray Engine crash.

[Wackman3000]

Then you did it wrong. I've done it in every iteration of the game. If I had one installed, I'd look through, but I don't remember off hand.

[Dukefrukem]

I changed the number next to "max_weight"

If I did it wrong then please tell me the correct way to do it.

[Wackman3000]

I believe you have to edit the actor.ltx and change max_walk_weight.

Then in system.ltx there is max_weight and some other one that needs to be changed as well.

I would make those changes in notepad, save then carry on with my game.

edit:

system.ltx
----------
max_weight = 150 (was 50)


Actors.ltx
----------
max_item_mass = 150 (was 50)
max_walk_weight = 200 (was 70)