# S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky DirectX 10 Screenshots



## malware (Mar 13, 2008)

DirectX 10 games have never looked so good. PCGH posted today a story showing the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky DirectX 10 screenshots, and an exclusive 4:31 minutes long in-game footage from CeBIT 2008. The game is running on Windows Vista and video cards from NVIDIA's 9 series, probably GeForce 9800 GX2. If you ask me, this game puts Crysis to shame, and most important it runs smooth!



 

 

 



*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## Ben Clarke (Mar 13, 2008)

Is there a release date yet?


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## phanbuey (Mar 13, 2008)

wwwooooowwww... purty.  Definitely puts crysis to shame, and STALKER DX9 scales so well with multi-gpus, that this game will b a must buy (this really looks just like the movie that the original game was based off).


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## malware (Mar 13, 2008)

Ben Clarke said:


> Is there a release date yet?


It's slated for this summer, sometime in April if I'm not mistaken?


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## AphexDreamer (Mar 13, 2008)

I personaly still thnink Crysis has better graphics, but no dought believe this game will run a lot smoother.


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## ShadowFold (Mar 13, 2008)

Holy lemons.. I gotta get Vista when Clear Sky comes out o.o


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## EviLZeD (Mar 13, 2008)

cant wait for this game its gonna be awesome


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## choppy (Mar 13, 2008)

would a 9600gt be capable of displaying them graphics in dx10?


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## Corrosion (Mar 13, 2008)

It might be a little "choppy" get it? choppy?  i think you will be fine running it.


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## lemonadesoda (Mar 13, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> Holy lemons.. I gotta get Vista when Clear Sky comes out o.o


Isnt there a DX10 hack for XP/2003? I've never tried it mayself... but understand you get (nearly) all features. Of course, u need a DX10 GPU.


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## nicolais86 (Mar 13, 2008)

well, it looks nice, but to put crysis in shame? mmm no, at least no with that screenshots, you cant say that.
And about the crack for dx10 on XP, i never heard of that, what i know are the mods to some games, to look almost exactly that will do with vista; the most familiar example, are Crysis obviuosly.


Y wonder if crysis will run smooth with a 9800GT X2


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## FR@NK (Mar 13, 2008)

imo the graphics were fine on the first one....I think they need to focus more on the unique gameplay if they want "clear sky" to stand out from any of the other fps games out there.


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## devilhood (Mar 13, 2008)

I don't see how a few extra post processing effects puts Crysis to shame, but yeah, it certainly looks nice.
Mind you, if you take a screenshot of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with the Float32 mod and motion blur enabled, you can make it look exactly like this.


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## cdawall (Mar 13, 2008)

i want to see how it works on server 08 vs vista


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## DarkMatter (Mar 13, 2008)

phanbuey said:


> wwwooooowwww... purty.  Definitely puts crysis to shame, and STALKER DX9 scales so well with multi-gpus, that this game will b a must buy (this really looks just like the movie that the original game was based off).



Looks good, but better than Crysis? Did you take drugs again? 

Also STALKER didn't run smoothly to begin with, so I don't think this one will fare better. Anyway, STALKER is one of my favourites games, but not exactly because its graphics, so I don't care.


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## ShadowFold (Mar 13, 2008)

lemonadesoda said:


> Isnt there a DX10 hack for XP/2003? I've never tried it mayself... but understand you get (nearly) all features. Of course, u need a DX10 GPU.



Ive never seen that. I would kill to get dx10 in xp tho...


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## Grings (Mar 13, 2008)

cdawall said:


> i want to see how it works on server 08 vs vista



The same, it may be a little faster as server is less of a resource hog, but i doubt there will be any differences, server uses vista 64 bit drivers (well, i do anyway)


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## Morgoth (Mar 13, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> Ive never seen that. I would kill to get dx10 in xp tho...



PM ben clack he got the dx10 xp hack


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## Ben Clarke (Mar 13, 2008)

It's spelt Clarke! Not Clack! Lol. Yeah, PM me, I'll give you a link to the file (some foreign language installer, but hey, it works).


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## MilkyWay (Mar 13, 2008)

Thats so stupid xp cannot run any driect x 10 apps, direct x 10 is built into Vista.

The direct x 10 hack for crysis on windows xp dosnt make it direct x 10 it just adds missing featires that directx 9 can use which are the same as some driect x 10 features.

So in effect you think it is directx 10 but its really 9 with some added features.

THIS GAME BETTER PLAY GOOD ON MY 8800gt


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Mar 13, 2008)

lemonadesoda said:


> Isnt there a DX10 hack for XP/2003? I've never tried it mayself... but understand you get (nearly) all features. Of course, u need a DX10 GPU.



Last I heard the Alky project fell through and said it couldnt be done because of something that Vista has that XP lacks. I dont know exact details. I saw someone post it on here not long ago.


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## Ben Clarke (Mar 13, 2008)

Yeah, this isn't for Crysis. It's for Windows. As you can see, I run XP. And DX10 is detected.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Mar 13, 2008)

> It is with great sadness that I announce the closing of Falling Leaf Systems, LLC. We set out over a year ago to provide users of both "old and unsupported" as well as "alternative" Operating Systems the ability to run the latest games for the PC. Unfortunately, Falling Leaf Systems was unable to achieve that goal.
> 
> *However, every ending tends to open another door for opportunity and though we are saddened to announce our departure, we are almost as excited to announce the immediate availability of ALL source code for the Alky Project! It is licensed under the LGPL and includes both the orginal Alky Converter source used to convert the popular Prey Demo to run on OSX and Linux, as well as the alpha release of the Alky Compatibility Libraries which attempted to provide a DirectX10 compatible runtime for Windows XP.*
> 
> ...



http://alkyproject.blogspot.com/


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Mar 13, 2008)

I cannot wait for this...  I loved the original.


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## Edito (Mar 13, 2008)

The screenshots didn't impress me at all and this game can't be compared to Crysis according to the screenshots because if we compare according to screenshots STALKER desapear "crysis is the game of the future" IMO...


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## panchoman (Mar 13, 2008)

its a real shame that ketxxx wont be doing any mods for this


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## X-TeNDeR (Mar 13, 2008)

Oh boy oh boy.. i'm right in the middle of the original game, and i'm already addicted! this game is so immersing 

Clear Sky looks great, and DX10 support is even better news. i can't wait!
I only hope they implement dropped features from the original game, like sleeping and drivable cars.


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## PrudentPrincess (Mar 13, 2008)

As for the release date go to Gamespot and click next until April you'll get a pretty specific release date.


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## AsRock (Mar 13, 2008)

Crysis is nice but i do like the old rusty  dark creepy feeling that Stalker has more.


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## bretts31344 (Mar 14, 2008)

This reminds me that I need to go finish the first one (I quit it because I was playing on an X800 GTO...).


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## SiCk (Mar 14, 2008)

Yes, I hope that GSC had learned from mods like AMK, Priboi, etc. I think that without THC they can make STALKER like they want...


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## MopeyMartian (Mar 14, 2008)

Mmmmmm...     Not good when a few screenies make me want to spend $300 to upgrade to Vista and get a better gfx card. (Ew, vista)

I just have to be patient and prices will go down. 

Did anyone else see that Amazon have a 8800gt for $160?


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## hacker111 (Mar 14, 2008)

the screenshots look sweet but when is it coming out?


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## Widjaja (Mar 14, 2008)

Ben Clarke said:


> Yeah, this isn't for Crysis. It's for Windows. As you can see, I run XP. And DX10 is detected.



STALKER Clear sky better have good fps in DX10.
I don't want another graphics showcase and I hope the plot is alot more solid than Shadow of Chernobyl.

Do you know if DX10 performs better on XP than Vista with this hack?

And also does this mean you don't have DX9 on XP anymore?


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## AphexDreamer (Mar 14, 2008)

These are the guys behind the DX10 for WinXP

http://alkyproject.blogspot.com/2007/04/finally-making-use-of-this-blog-i.html


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## Widjaja (Mar 14, 2008)

AphexDreamer said:


> These are the guys behind the DX10 for WinXP
> 
> http://alkyproject.blogspot.com/2007/04/finally-making-use-of-this-blog-i.html



Whoa a 19 probably 20 year old now is behind this hack.
That dude will be raking in the money pretty soon.


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## tkpenalty (Mar 14, 2008)

Widjaja said:


> Whoa a 19 probably 20 year old now is behind this hack.
> That dude will be raking in the money pretty soon.



Err have a read... they are defunct


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## Mussels (Mar 14, 2008)

lemonadesoda said:


> Isnt there a DX10 hack for XP/2003? I've never tried it mayself... but understand you get (nearly) all features. Of course, u need a DX10 GPU.



that was just a misleading thing from crysis.
Crysis disabled some effects (ultra high mode) in DX9, but you could force them on - people wrongly called it enabling DX10, when the crytek team merely turned it off figuring DX9 rigs wouldnt have the power to use it anyway.


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## lemonadesoda (Mar 14, 2008)

bretts31344 said:


> This reminds me that I need to go finish the first one (I quit it because I was playing on an X800 GTO...).


STALKER will run fine on a X800GTO if you let it select its own default graphics settings.  I'm am running it on a Q6600 and X800SE with no probs at all. Very smooth. Only, DO NOT turn on dynamic lighting. But otherwise, other graphics settings, e.g. textures etc. can be turned up, to "high".

I think a lower GPU is OK if you match it with a high end proc, like the Q6600. Perhaps you were runing an X800GTO with a weak single-threaded CPU?


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## 1c3d0g (Mar 14, 2008)

Far Cry 2 will blow this thing out of the water. It's got no chance against the masters of massive outdoor gameplay, trust me on this one.


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## Widjaja (Mar 14, 2008)

tkpenalty said:


> Err have a read... they are defunct



I know, I was talking about his age and what he was able to figure out.
The dude must have some skills = money


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## DarkMatter (Mar 14, 2008)

Mussels said:


> that was just a misleading thing from crysis.
> Crysis disabled some effects (ultra high mode) in DX9, but you could force them on - people wrongly called it enabling DX10, when the crytek team merely turned it off figuring DX9 rigs wouldnt have the power to use it anyway.



Yeah right, but there must be something obscure there. They already know that we can run it since they did the hack for the beta. They should know it before that anyway. Since then Crysis SP demo, retail, v1.1 and v1.2 have been released and the option is still unavailable.


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## Dangle (Mar 14, 2008)

This game looks Half-Life like. Not bad though... it looks half life-like.


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## MilkyWay (Mar 14, 2008)

Mussels said:


> that was just a misleading thing from crysis.
> Crysis disabled some effects (ultra high mode) in DX9, but you could force them on - people wrongly called it enabling DX10, when the crytek team merely turned it off figuring DX9 rigs wouldnt have the power to use it anyway.



Well im so glad someone agrees, well that was what i was sayin you know crysis had some extra features for directx 9 that were similar to directx 10 features.

ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET DIRECTX 10 ON WINDOWS XP!

Anyway it does kinda look like half life but thats nice i liked half life, now half life with destructible environments and cod 4 style effects like shooting through materials would be great.


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## X-TeNDeR (Mar 14, 2008)

About the pics: anybody else noticed its the Army Warehouses (Freedom's base) from the original game? as i'm familiar with this scene ingame these pics does look alot better than the original.


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## bretts31344 (Mar 14, 2008)

lemonadesoda said:


> STALKER will run fine on a X800GTO if you let it select its own default graphics settings.  I'm am running it on a Q6600 and X800SE with no probs at all. Very smooth. Only, DO NOT turn on dynamic lighting. But otherwise, other graphics settings, e.g. textures etc. can be turned up, to "high".
> 
> I think a lower GPU is OK if you match it with a high end proc, like the Q6600. Perhaps you were runing an X800GTO with a weak single-threaded CPU?



Yes, a P4... it was my old rig.


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## Morgoth (Mar 14, 2008)

kieran_fletch said:


> Well im so glad someone agrees, well that was what i was sayin you know crysis had some extra features for directx 9 that were similar to directx 10 features.
> 
> ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET DIRECTX 10 ON WINDOWS XP!
> 
> Anyway it does kinda look like half life but thats nice i liked half life, now half life with destructible environments and cod 4 style effects like shooting through materials would be great.


its not IMPOSSIBLE ben did it! and he is proof!


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## EviLZeD (Mar 14, 2008)

X-TeNDeR said:


> About the pics: anybody else noticed its the Army Warehouses (Freedom's base) from the original game? as i'm familiar with this scene ingame these pics does look alot better than the original.



yea it does look like their base but i dont remember the tracks the towers i remember lighting looks better


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## cdawall (Mar 14, 2008)

Morgoth said:


> its not IMPOSSIBLE ben did it! and he is proof!



i have it and will install it as soon as my 8600GTS shows up (should be today )


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## newconroer (Mar 14, 2008)

While screenshots can be misleading, in both a positive and negative way, I don't see anything too impressive here.

It's just more polished photo imaging. We've seen good lighting and shading for quite a while now. What we haven't seen, is flora, grass, leaves etc that have a natural high quality to them. They may be textured in high resolution, but they're majorily 2d, often high in aliasing and noticeably '2d,' as their clipping levels are still seemingly archaeic.

Since the 'shader' trend has begun, we've seen more developers attempting to use shaders to mask the low quality of the 2d objects, rather than use a higher quality object natively.

A good example is Crysis. The videos and screenshots we saw that boasted Crysis' 'amazing' graphics, were testbed situations, where the hardware was able to manage the shader level required to make these inadequate 2d texture ends (and some 3d) to seem better than they are. However, the Crysis that was released to consumers, is obviously different. Crytek has stated that a 'patch' of sorts to give players the same level of visual quality will be made available in the future, WHEN GPUs are able to manage the workload needed to render these shaders.

Personally, while I support the advancements in lighting and shading, as it has made leaps and bounds for the visual quality of 3d applications (DOOM III comes to mind..bump mapping was a new world wonder!), it seems it's becoming overkill. 

Maybe they fear that in order to provide good quality and interactive flora, grass, leaves etc, that they need to use more texture RAM, something that also began to spiral out of control, with GPUs needing up to 1gig of dedicated on board RAM.

Now we have two issues facing developers.


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## Mussels (Mar 15, 2008)

DarkMatter said:


> Yeah right, but there must be something obscure there. They already know that we can run it since they did the hack for the beta. They should know it before that anyway. Since then Crysis SP demo, retail, v1.1 and v1.2 have been released and the option is still unavailable.



they wanted to advertise DX10. oh noes. Its just like how multiplayer only has physics if its DX10 only (no DX9 players AT ALL) - someone at crytek made stupid decisions. Doesnt change the fact that you cant get DX10 in XP, like some claim.



Morgoth said:


> its not IMPOSSIBLE ben did it! and he is proof!



yes, yes it is impossible. you can copy dll files, you can hack crysis all you want - neither lets you run DX10 programs in DX10 mode under XP.


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## daboggeyman (Mar 16, 2008)

Think this is were it's all coming from,the dx10 on XP thing been thinking of trying it butttttt well you know, here the link;Download DirectX 10 for Windows XP


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## Mussels (Mar 16, 2008)

daboggeyman said:


> Think this is were it's all coming from,the dx10 on XP thing been thinking of trying it butttttt well you know, here the link;Download DirectX 10 for Windows XP



those people talked a lot... but it never worked.


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