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STALKER: Clear Sky - review thread

D

dLMN8R

Member
So I found a good performance balance for my:

Opteron 165
2GB PC3200
8800GT


Settings are set to:

-Enhanced dynamic lighting (*NOT* DX10)
-Turn grass distance down a bit
-Turn shadow quality down a bit
-Everything else to default settings ("high" maybe?)
-1680x1050 resolution, no AA

Gives me FPS fluctuating between 20-60 depending on the situation, remains playable
 
M

MaritalWheat

Member
dLMN8R said:
So I found a good performance balance for my:

Opteron 165
2GB PC3200
8800GT


Settings are set to:

-Enhanced dynamic lighting (*NOT* DX10)
-Turn grass distance down a bit
-Turn shadow quality down a bit
-Everything else to default settings ("high" maybe?)
-1680x1050 resolution, no AA

Gives me FPS fluctuating between 20-60 depending on the situation, remains playable
Click to expand...
Its wierd, but other than the super awesome lighting, I think I liked SoC's graphics better. The beginning shotgun and pistol look really fugly to me in Clear Sky (thats about as far as I'm at), I oughta mess with some settings I guess.
Edit: Also, LOL at the ghetto scout at the Clear Sky base, and Scar's response to whatever he said that I don't remember: "Aight"
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
MaritalWheat said:
Its wierd, but other than the super awesome lighting, I think I liked SoC's graphics better. The beginning shotgun and pistol look really fugly to me in Clear Sky
Click to expand...

I think it's the exact same model(s).
 
V

Vaporak

Member
I'm hoping to get a little play time in with this tonight, but Steam has been giving me really low speeds tonight dling Clear Sky. :( Oh well, I should be studying for my Bio test tomarrow anyways.
 
B

Big-E

Member
I thought I wasn't going to be able to play this with full everything and dx10 with my 8800 GTS but its giving me good performance right now though I haven't played around with it that much and got in any intense firefights.
 
T

tmaynard

Member
Just picked up the game. Haven't made much progress because I've been tinkering with the graphics.

At default, I was getting really crummy performance on my machine. Q6600, 2gb Ram, and 8800GT. I knocked some things down and started adding them back on one by one. I turned off the enhanced dynamic lighting, and now when I turn it back on the graphics don't seem to reflect it. It just doesn't look the same as it did when I first ran it. Odd.
 
Druz

Druz

Member
tmaynard said:
Just picked up the game. Haven't made much progress because I've been tinkering with the graphics.

At default, I was getting really crummy performance on my machine. Q6600, 2gb Ram, and 8800GT. I knocked some things down and started adding them back on one by one. I turned off the enhanced dynamic lighting, and now when I turn it back on the graphics don't seem to reflect it. It just doesn't look the same as it did when I first ran it. Odd.
Click to expand...

something is wrong with your system. The game runs great with those specs
 
eXistor

eXistor

Member
tmaynard said:
Just picked up the game. Haven't made much progress because I've been tinkering with the graphics.

At default, I was getting really crummy performance on my machine. Q6600, 2gb Ram, and 8800GT. I knocked some things down and started adding them back on one by one. I turned off the enhanced dynamic lighting, and now when I turn it back on the graphics don't seem to reflect it. It just doesn't look the same as it did when I first ran it. Odd.
Click to expand...
Also be sure to actually get out into the swamp. The beginning area had some crappy framerates for me as well, but when I got to the actual swamp it was smooth as butter and still is.
 
eXistor

eXistor

Member
Okay, after playing it some more today I will now admit that I was wrong. Clear Sky is awesome.

I still feel they rehashed a bit too much location-wise and I still don't like that they made the game more combat-centric. That said I love hunting for artifacts, it works way better than in SoC and it provides me with my much needed exploration-fix. I'm finally getting some decent cash (from artifacts and selling weapons) and combat isn't so bad with decent armor (though I still don't like it).
 
T

tmaynard

Member
Truant said:
You have to restart the game for the changes to take effect.

Like the game tells you to.
Click to expand...

I sense a hint of "You're a Moron" in that response. Easy man! I'm not that dumb or stubborn. :lol

Do you honestly think I would not restart after the game explicitly tells me to do so?

When I first ran the game, I had beams of light shining through the doors in the Swamps.
Those don't seem to show up anymore, there are also shadows that seem to be missing that were showing up before. Basically just lighting things that seem to be oddly missing even after changing settings and several restarts.
 
M

MaritalWheat

Member
Chiggs said:
I think it's the exact same model(s).
Click to expand...
Fine, be that way.
Anyways, I'm really digging the swamp area--stumbling upon these neat little structures, seeing your buds about to open fire on them, and then quickly taking the back route in is so much fun--I'm enjoying the above ground combat much more than in the original with my Clear Sky dawgs watching my back. Good stuff so far.
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
MaritalWheat said:
I'm enjoying the above ground combat much more than in the original with my Clear Sky dawgs watching my back. Good stuff so far.
Click to expand...


The gangster talk is especially cringe-worthy, and why didn't we hear it in SoC? Did C-Consciousness make a ruling against it or something? If so, are they really the bad guys?
 
T

Truant

Member
tmaynard said:
I sense a hint of "You're a Moron" in that response. Easy man! I'm not that dumb or stubborn. :lol

Do you honestly think I would not restart after the game explicitly tells me to do so?

When I first ran the game, I had beams of light shining through the doors in the Swamps.
Those don't seem to show up anymore, there are also shadows that seem to be missing that were showing up before. Basically just lighting things that seem to be oddly missing even after changing settings and several restarts.
Click to expand...

Haha, no problem, man. I was just kidding. As far as the sunrays, I had the same problem. I think they only appear during sunrise.
 
T

Truant

Member
Ah, ok.

I only notice performance drops during sunrise, though. From roughly 6:00 to 8:00, although it looks just as good during the rest of the day.
 
T

tmaynard

Member
Truant said:
Haha, no problem, man. I was just kidding. As far as the sunrays, I had the same problem. I think they only appear during sunrise.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess that during my time spent testing the sun moved just enough to where it wasn't "sunrise" anymore so the rays stopped even though it looked the same. There were light rays coming off of a lamp later on throughout my play, so as far as I know it's working correctly.
 
T

Truant

Member
I have some serious problems completing a side-quest. No story-related spoilers, here.

It's the one you get in Cordon, where you have to find the PDA of the guy killed near the traintrack tunnel. Every time I try to enter the tunnel, I get teleported back outside. I'm betting it's one of the new space anomalies. Any way around this?
 
T

tmaynard

Member
Truant said:
I have some serious problems completing a side-quest. No story-related spoilers, here.

It's the one you get in Cordon, where you have to find the PDA of the guy killed near the traintrack tunnel. Every time I try to enter the tunnel, I get teleported back outside. I'm betting it's one of the new space anomalies. Any way around this?
Click to expand...

There should be another "space anomalie" near by that will teleport you there. If you are talking about the broken train track in Cordon, look straight above your head as you pass under the train track bridge. You'll find a big orb in the air. Just climb the bridge and jump into it. If we're talking about the same thing, it'll take you right there!


After playing several hours now, I don't think I've ever disagreed more with a review for a game. Everything that has been complained about is just nonsense. Everything I loved about Shadow of Chernobyl is back and better than before. If you liked SoC, then dammit buy this game immediately. Don't trust any negative reviews.
 
V

Vaporak

Member
It's unfortunate that this game isn't get that much interest around here, as I recall SoC had a pretty good sized thread. :( I've only played for about an hour, but so far I'm loving it.
 
N

Nikorasu

Member
Vaporak said:
It's unfortunate that this game isn't get that much interest around here, as I recall SoC had a pretty good sized thread. :( I've only played for about an hour, but so far I'm loving it.
Click to expand...

I'm still waiting for it to pop up in retail around here. (I have an aversion to buying non-valve/indie games over steam).
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
tmaynard said:
After playing several hours now, I don't think I've ever disagreed more with a review for a game. Everything that has been complained about is just nonsense. Everything I loved about Shadow of Chernobyl is back and better than before. If you liked SoC, then dammit buy this game immediately. Don't trust any negative reviews.
Click to expand...


Yep, the reviews, for the most part, have been crappy. 1UP got it right, though.
 
G

gifife

Member
I lost all my armor and weapon upgrades for some reason for when i stored it in a stash in town to save some weight. Anyone else run into this?
 
eXistor

eXistor

Member
Yeah I've read some reviews today (didn't before) and though some raise a few good points, most really seem to miss what STALKER is about. The game is a flawed diamond imo, there are definitely rough patches, but when it's good it's soooo good.
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
I'll be talking about this game more after I finish Warhead and finish my PC upgrade. Warhead's the far shorter game so I'd rather play that first, and I'd love to experience Clear Sky in its full glory :D
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
I have everything except anti-aliasing at its maximum value and it runs at 30+ FPS, and this is at the beginning when those gorgeous god rays are streaming down and sucking up FPS. The lighting is simply beautiful, and that and the post-processing effects also helps to cover up the jaggies if you don't have any AA on.

I think there is an issue with the AA setting in the game, though. I had turned it up to halfway on the meter and went into the game, and it killed my FPS (as I expected). So I turned it all the way back down to 0 to see how much difference it would make, and to my surprise it was exactly the same, and it looked like AA was still on. It wasn't until I rebooted my entire PC that the new AA setting adjusted correctly.

I'm also not too far in, but I don't really get the complaints having to do with how different it is from the first game. Given that it's a prequel and it shows what happened before the big explosion, it's only natural that the towns and entire game would be populated by a lot more people, but many reviews criticized that aspect of it for messing with the "atmosphere". I personally think it's a bit eerie to see all those people when you basically know what's gonna happen.
 
B

Big-E

Member
Just finished it now and I was quite impressed. Kind of upset though because I ended up not getting any good armor and beat the whole game just use the armor that is a little bit better than the starting out armor. In the first STALKER I spent the whole last part of the game as pretty much a walking battle tank but this time I had to hide and hide like never before.
 
T

tmaynard

Member
I seemed to have picked up some of the game killing crashes that many people are experiencing. Right in the middle of an awesome gunfight, so upsetting!

There seems to be some drama going on over at the GSC forums. They aren't replying much, if at all, to the English forums. Supposedly, one mod lost his cool from all the posts and said that if you aren't Russian then they are not going to help you. :lol I'm sure it's just harder for them to reply to English users due to the language barrier. Maybe not enough English speaking mods?

Anyway, here's to hoping for another patch soon!

EDIT: Looks like a new patch is scheduled for this upcoming Friday the 26th.
 
eXistor

eXistor

Member
I finished the game a few minutes ago. I don't know the official story, but it seems to me that everything from Limansk on was really tacked on. Very linear and short. The endgame really sucked too, just very lazy. I still like the game and personally CS ran way better for me than SoC ever did (almost no crashes or huge bugs). I hold SoC in higher regard but seen as a stand-alone expansion, CS was just fine. I do hope if STALKER 2 is ever released that they take their sweet time to ensure the game is properly balanced etc. and look at what made SoC in particular so worthwhile (hint: it's not the combat).
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
eXistor said:
I finished the game a few minutes ago. I don't know the official story, but it seems to me that everything from Limansk on was really tacked on. Very linear and short.
Click to expand...

Agreed, and very similar to SoC in that regard. I will say this, though: The battle in
the abandoned hospital
was pretty cool, especially if you did it at night. Oh, and speaking of lazy (though you did say you don't know the official story) why weren't
Ghost and Fang(?) with Strelok at the end?
I mean, why would he go by himself?
 
Z

Zyzyxxz

Member
hey guys I've ran into a bug.

Only read if you've already done the missions for Freedom after the Garbage and went back to the Garbage.

So after those bandits ambush me and steal all my crap I am only left with a pistol

Now after the radio convo from the Clear Sky leader ends my game freezes and thats is.

It's really annoying and I can't figure out why its like that.
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
Someone please help me find good settings to play at! I'm on:

2.83GHz Q9550
4GB DDR2
8800GT


No matter how I seem to tweak the settings, I can't get a stable 30+ FPS when I'm using enhanced dynamic lighting (DX9 or DX10). It often drops to 20-25fps when there are a lot of characters on-screen.

This is at 1680x1050 by the way - do you think I might need to bump that down a bit if I want to use enhanced dynamic lighting?
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
dLMN8R said:
This is at 1680x1050 by the way - do you think I might need to bump that down a bit if I want to use enhanced dynamic lighting?
Click to expand...


Sure, or you can tone down some of the sun rays and SSAO.
 
S

Somnia

Member
So I just bought this and am loving it so far. Really really good game. My computer stats:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4ghz
4gb ram
geforce gtx 260
vista (only 32bit...will be ugprading soon hopefully...dont ask why I didnt start with it lol)


I was running with most of it maxed out and was getting some fps hits...I turned to enhanced lighting without dx10 and now it runs smooth as butter.
 
T

tHoMNZ

Member
got the game the other day. Running it on full dx9 @ 40-60 fps on my 4850. Tbh it looks better than crysis because it looks far more interesting. The sun rays are amazing, and the shadows :eek: wow. Tbh the reviews are written by bitter (tears) noobs will absolutely no clue about what makes a good game, aww too hard for randoms bl. The game plays better than SOC, the guns feel better, the upgrade system is awesome and is useful. The faction system makes sense of the conflicts. Best survival FPS/"RPG" game out.
 
B

big_z

Member
Somnia said:
So I just bought this and am loving it so far. Really really good game. My computer stats:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4ghz
4gb ram
geforce gtx 260
vista (only 32bit...will be ugprading soon hopefully...dont ask why I didnt start with it lol)


I was running with most of it maxed out and was getting some fps hits...I turned to enhanced lighting without dx10 and now it runs smooth as butter.
Click to expand...


use dx10 but turn the god rays down a notch. as far as i can tell it there is no difference visually and it runs much better.
 
D

DubloSeven

Member
I'm playing through the game for a 2nd time, but this time around I've installed a lot of mods. Accuracy mod, texture mods, trader mods, etc etc. The shooting is so much better. The game also looks so much nicer.
 
I

Ikuu

Had his dog run over by Blizzard's CEO
DubloSeven said:
I'm playing through the game for a 2nd time, but this time around I've installed a lot of mods. Accuracy mod, texture mods, trader mods, etc etc. The shooting is so much better. The game also looks so much nicer.
Click to expand...
Can you post the accuracy mod? I realise the weapons are supposed to be old and shit, but it's a pain in the ass trying to kill something and seeing the bullets fly miles off target.
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
So I realized that I still didn't install Vista SP1 after my format. Thought it was pre-installed, thought wrong. No doubt that's part of my performance problem :lol
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
I finally started playing Clear Sky for reals, and I have a couple questions.

1) In the first game, the minimap in the upper-left showed your distance to the currently selected objective. In this game, all I see is the arrow, no distance. Is there an option or mod to get that back?

2) In the first game, your PDA showed a listing of all nearby stalkers, and if they were friendly, neutral, or enemies. In this game, I see the number of nearby stalkers on the minimap, but I don't see a list - is there a way to get that? It's kinda annoying seeing 10 nearby stalkers and needing to count on the tiny minimap to see if you have 10 green dots on the map or just 9 with one of them being some guy waiting to shoot you in the face.



One more thing - does the game calm down a bit after you get out of the swamps? It's cool seeing missions pop up and go away on their own, completing a couple but not others, but I'd imagine it would get quite old if the game stays like that throughout the entire thing.
 
D

DubloSeven

Member
C

chespace

It's not actually trolling if you don't admit it
Somnia said:
So I just bought this and am loving it so far. Really really good game. My computer stats:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4ghz
4gb ram
geforce gtx 260
vista (only 32bit...will be ugprading soon hopefully...dont ask why I didnt start with it lol)


I was running with most of it maxed out and was getting some fps hits...I turned to enhanced lighting without dx10 and now it runs smooth as butter.
Click to expand...

Jesus christ, your system with a GTX 260 couldn't handle this game maxed out? :p

It better look pretty damn amazing. sigh.
 
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