# Stalker: Clear Sky Thread



## EastCoasthandle (Sep 6, 2008)

If you have Stalker: Clear Sky post your frame rates and overall performance/IQ of the game.  

-Are you experiencing any hiccups? If so, what?
-Are you experiencing low frame rates?  If so, what hardware are you using and, what are your frame rates?
-Are you experiencing odd image quality?
-Etc


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## DrPepper (Sep 6, 2008)

Holy crap is the game out


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## EastCoasthandle (Sep 7, 2008)

DrPepper said:


> Holy crap is the game out


At newegg, yes...


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## DrPepper (Sep 7, 2008)

Shit need to buy that  thanks for that ECH.


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## ShadowFold (Sep 7, 2008)

EastCoasthandle said:


> At newegg, yes...



Not for me. I ordered it on Tuesday and have yet to even get a shipping number.


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## EastCoasthandle (Sep 7, 2008)

Hmm, I recall that it was out of stock earlier this week.  It's just recently back in stock.


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## Dozdaman (Sep 8, 2008)

My impressions:

I loved the first stalker, though I did come to that game a long time after release, and played through it with the mods etc. This one took me 4 hours of fiddling to even get it to run on my PC, and once I tempted it to start a new game, I was astounded at how badly optimized it is.. I was running it on 'high' settings, with enhanced dynamic lighting at 1920x1200, with no AA and 16xAF, which on crysis gives me a reasonably stable 30fps, but on CS i get between 10 and 40FPS, and given I've actually toned down a lot of the settings seems pretty poor to me.
However, i do concede that it looks FANTASTIC at those settings.

In terms of actual game stability, the first time i managed to get out of the stalker camp in which you begin, I got a CTD, and the second time i had a BSOD. Since then, for some reason the game doesn't want to load the textures (i've waited 4-5 minutes on the loading screen), so I haven't had a chance to play any more. I'm pretty disappointed, but I hope that once mods and patches come out it'll be fantastic.

My specs:
ASUS p5k-e
core2duo e8400@3.66ghz
Radeon HD4870x2
4gb ram
500gb samsung HDD


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 8, 2008)

Well i'm running a russian/english convert at the moment,heres my specs-

6750 at 3.6ghz
asus p5q-e
2gb ddr2 1066
4850 at 700core 1100mem with an arctic accelero s1 r2+120mm fan
2x250gb hdd's

it was running very jumpy though,the framerate was up and down like a gigalo's ass.I have dropped some of the settings down to try and make it run a little better.


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 8, 2008)

Is this with the patch applied or without?

Doz, it'd be a good idea to go to your User Control Panel and fill in your system specification there.


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## chaotic_uk (Sep 8, 2008)

had the game since friday , just finished it due to CTD's . is that it ? , back to stalker soc  . patched the game and it brings my 4870 to it's knee's @1680x1050 on high settings (never mind trying max settings) , it needs patching again me thinks


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## MilkyWay (Sep 8, 2008)

bad coding and un optimised? i know for a fact that if games like unreal tournament 3 can look so good yet run reasonable why cant most other games with worse or often similar graphics


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 8, 2008)

Mine seems to be running quite smoothly now,i played for 10 or 15mins,and it was not jumpy or anything.

I can post up my settings if anyone wants to see how i have it setup.


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## Dozdaman (Sep 8, 2008)

yes please!


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## qamulek (Sep 8, 2008)

*dynamic lighting is a killer*

If I remember right even the stalker-soc was very hard on hardware using dynamic lighting.  If you want dynamic lighting then lower the resolution, while if you must have that higher resolution go hardcore crossfire/sli with the best graphics cards[4850x2 performance/price gogogogooo] or just use static lighting.


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 8, 2008)

I can't wait to get this game, plus I asked this in another thread...

D'you have to have Vista to enable the DX10 features, or can you do so with XP and DX10 hardware?


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## Ben Clarke (Sep 8, 2008)

I STILL DON'T HAVE IT. Now I'm angry. Rawr.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 8, 2008)

I think you enable dx10 in the menu.

Here are some pics of my sttings,it still looks ok and runs lovely now.























I have'nt really tried tweaking,and i have'nt tried dx10 mode.

It does run really smooth now,which i would rather have than maxxed out and crappy fps


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 8, 2008)

That's understandable, I guess the DX10 feature set will only be available if you have Vista. Hopefully we'll be able to do what people did with Crysis and edit the config file(s).


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 8, 2008)

I think its just new and needs tweaking with patches.There is no way it is my setup making it crappy at higher settings,with my card at 700/1100 all my other games run maxxed out.Hope fully it will be better with more patching,i am gonna enjoy it as it runs now though till i can buy it.


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 8, 2008)

That's fair!

I've been looking at the DX9 v DX10 shots and fuggin' hell! I really hope I can find a compromise with performance and DX10 features (if they can be enabled). Just look at the first screenshot...










... how much more atmospheric is that with DX10 enabled?

Saying that, some of the other shots in that article aren't as good as that. They better put more effort into this game than they did with improving SHoC. What's it like on both cores?


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 8, 2008)

Does it use both cores?

Hang on i will run it and see.


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 8, 2008)

tigger69 said:


> Does it use both cores?
> 
> Hang on i will run it and see.



Well, I would have thought they'd have improved the multi-threaded aspect of the game, the 1.0004 for SHoC was meant to utilize both cores, but didn't do it as well as people we hoping.


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## johnnyfiive (Sep 8, 2008)

I need to buy this game.


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## Dozdaman (Sep 8, 2008)

oddly, enabling dx10 features has fixed all of my performance-related problems with the game.. I even get some free AA without any loss in performance! I'm still having to restrain myself with some of the sliders though


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 9, 2008)

Doz dude, fill out your system specification if you would please.


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## Dozdaman (Sep 9, 2008)

sorry about that, i now realise it was set to not show them..


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## Mussels (Sep 9, 2008)

ooh goody, a game that looks better AND runs better in DX10. i'll have to get hold of this game soon then.


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## EastCoasthandle (Sep 11, 2008)

here are some results here


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 11, 2008)

Instead of just copying and pasting, I'll drop a link.


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## kid41212003 (Sep 11, 2008)

I'm not going to buy this game, because this game does not support multi-cores.


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## gerrynicol (Sep 11, 2008)

kid41212003 said:


> I'm not going to buy this game, because this game does not support multi-cores.



I'm sure they will do a patch for it soon, but if they don't oh well your loss


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## Dozdaman (Sep 11, 2008)

it's been using both cores on mine..


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## AsRock (Sep 12, 2008)

Thought i'd let ya know that there's a patch out.
http://www.fileplanet.com/191404/190000/fileinfo/STALKER:-Clear-Sky---v1.01-Patch-(Retail)

Changes:

â€¢ MultiSample Anti Aliasing
â€¢ Added use of special cover during fights.
â€¢ Improved dynamic lighting.
â€¢ Changes to combat balance: some enemies are now stronger.
â€¢ Changes to economic balance.
â€¢ Added secondary objectives.
â€¢ Changed some animations in the multiplayer.
â€¢ Improved sorting of secondary objectives in the PDA.
â€¢ Added the ability to communicate with storyline characters, squad leaders and guides without holstering weapons.
â€¢ Added description of stash contents when purchasing information about the stash.
â€¢ Added additional information to pop-up tips in the PDA.
â€¢ Changed tradersâ€™ item stocks in certain areas.
â€¢ Changed life simulation balance (event intensity, mutant strength).
â€¢ Added the opportunity to get your items back after being mugged at the Garbage. Only part of your money is now taken when you enter/leave the Garbage.
â€¢ Added rewards for joining factions.
â€¢ Changed the PDA log message filtering system.
â€¢ Added flares in Limansk and the Red Forest.
â€¢ Increased reward for capturing enemy bases in the Faction War.
â€¢ Save/load file names can no longer contain brackets.
â€¢ Added use of localized strings in game console, chat etc.

Fixes:

â€¢ Game optimization (approximately 5% improvement).
â€¢ Overall game stability improved considerably.
â€¢ Fixed errors in saving the game, which caused consistent crashes during long games.
â€¢ Game loading speed increased by 10-15%.
â€¢ Fixed error with the emission.
â€¢ Fixed error which caused characters to run around with activated grenades in their hands.
â€¢ Fixed random enabling of music which had been disabled in settings.
â€¢ Fixed stash errors, including incorrect saving and accumulation (disappearance) of items in stashes.
â€¢ Fixed error with automatic failure of a number of objectives, which prevented them from failing.
â€¢ Fixed errors in some secondary quests.
â€¢ Fixed the guide algorithm. Guides can now take you to more locations.
â€¢ Fixed an error which caused the player to become an enemy of Clear Sky.
â€¢ Fixed the playerâ€™s starting position when entering areas.
â€¢ Fixed errors in the response of detectors to anomalies and artifacts. The detector no longer responds to artifacts it canâ€™t detect.
â€¢ Fixed reward at the Duty base.
â€¢ Fixed minor issues in the PDA interface and in the multiplayer main menu.
â€¢ Fixed errors which caused the game to crash when the player joined Duty.
â€¢ Fixed minor bugs in mutant behavior after death (vanishing corpses, continuing animations).
â€¢ Fixed appearance of items in crates owned by camps.
â€¢ Fixed tree penetrability, including the ability to be penetrated by machine gun fire.
â€¢ Improved visual presentation of some anomalous areas.
â€¢ Fixed appearance of some Freedom stalkers.
â€¢ Fixed some text errors.
â€¢ Fixed errors which made it impossible to upgrade some items.
â€¢ Fixed the error which made it impossible to use grenades in the playerâ€™s inventory.
â€¢ Characters no longer give out secondary objectives during camp attacks and defense.
â€¢ Some traders now sell upgraded weapons.
â€¢ Added places to hide from emissions in the Dark Valley.
â€¢ Fixed an error with detector activation from the inventory.
â€¢ Fixed FPS drop in the main menu.
â€¢ Fixed double super-sampling buffering.
â€¢ Fixed bug with night vision effect which remained after the suit which provided it was removed.
â€¢ Fixed font display in DX10.
â€¢ Fixed errors in key assignment in game options.
â€¢ Fixed team history in the console following log clearance.

Multiplayer

â€¢ Added the Repair Base map
â€¢ Changed multiplayer balance.
â€¢ Fixed health indicator bug caused by using medkits while invulnerable.
â€¢ Fixed inventory opening bug, which occurred when the player died in DM, TDM and AH modes.
â€¢ Fixed the bug which caused a pause after client connection.
â€¢ Buy menu improved.
â€¢ Fixed BattlEye support.
â€¢ Fixed patching system.
â€¢ Fixed incorrect error message.
â€¢ Fixed error with movement of items in the backpack.
â€¢ Fixed first bullet dispersion. 


And here which look like there higher versions.
http://www.gamershell.com/search/?q=clear+sky


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## pt (Sep 12, 2008)

kid41212003 said:


> I'm not going to buy this game, because this game does not support multi-cores.



who fkin cares about u? gtfo kid :shadedshu

im gonna get this game really soon, loved the 1st


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## twicksisted (Sep 12, 2008)

anyone know of a game demo link for this game?
Id like to try it out first before buying it


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## ShadowFold (Sep 12, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> anyone know of a game demo link for this game?
> Id like to try it out first before buying it



Its too open ended for a demo. I say buy it its really fun. Or if you can find the first for cheap.


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## twicksisted (Sep 12, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> Its too open ended for a demo. I say buy it its really fun. Or if you can find the first for cheap.



thanks... from a brief skim of this thread (as I'm at work now)... it seems like the performance isn't that good... would I be ok in high settings on my rig @ 1920X1200?
If i go anything lower on my 24" screen it looks crap... all fuzzy


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## ShadowFold (Sep 12, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> thanks... from a brief skim of this thread (as I'm at work now)... it seems like the performance isn't that good... would I be ok in high settings on my rig @ 1920X1200?
> If i go anything lower on my 24" screen it looks crap... all fuzzy



Not sure. I can run SHoC(the first) with everything max + 4xAA at 1920x1080 fine. Its just the DX10 thats killing everyone I'm pretty sure. It goes Full Dynamic Lighting, Enhanced Full Dynamic and DX10 Lighting or something like that, if you just do Full or Enhanced you will fine on Clear Sky


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## TUngsten (Sep 12, 2008)

gotta love the 'Egg! Ordered it 2 hours ago and it's already shipped! Too bad it's friday though, if I'd have done it yesterday I'd be playing right now...


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## ShadowFold (Sep 12, 2008)

Yea I should have it tonight, eb/babages had it on their shelves so my dad grabbed a couple copies


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## Ben Clarke (Sep 12, 2008)

Couple of tips:

1. First faction you come accross, do jobs for them. Then, join their faction. Free gun, armour and ammo! Later, leave, go join another one. Rinse and repeat. 2. Green boxes lying around usually have ammo in them. Raid em and sell it. 3. Upgrade your pistol first. Seriously, mine can snipe the balls of an ant at 50 yards.


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## ShadowFold (Sep 12, 2008)

Ben Clarke said:


> Couple of tips:
> 
> 1. First faction you come accross, do jobs for them. Then, join their faction. Free gun, armour and ammo! Later, leave, go join another one. Rinse and repeat. 2. Green boxes lying around usually have ammo in them. Raid em and sell it. 3. Upgrade your pistol first. Seriously, mine can snipe the balls of an ant at 50 yards.



lol nice. You can upgrade guns? And what about bandits wont they just steal my shit? If I upgrade and lose it then that would kinda pointless  and is repairing expensive?


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## kid41212003 (Sep 12, 2008)

pt said:


> who fkin cares about u? gtfo kid :shadedshu
> 
> im gonna get this game really soon, loved the 1st



You did, that's why you replied to my post. Gtfo PT.


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## Dozdaman (Sep 13, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> thanks... from a brief skim of this thread (as I'm at work now)... it seems like the performance isn't that good... would I be ok in high settings on my rig @ 1920X1200?
> If i go anything lower on my 24" screen it looks crap... all fuzzy



I would say probably not.. 1440x900 i'm fine at maximum settings with 8xAA, but if i pump up the resolution past that it gets to be pretty low fps..


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 13, 2008)

I upgraded the first machine gun i found to take pistol ammo and a 45 shot clip  i do have a browning pistol,but dont need to use it much now,as every body i come across has pistol ammo.


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## Ben Clarke (Sep 13, 2008)

I use my pistol more than my rifle... also, anyone know how to force an emission to take place?


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## TUngsten (Sep 13, 2008)

like...a nocturnal emission?


heh couldn't resist!


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## exo17 (Sep 13, 2008)

hey ben, how do you leave factions? i cant seem to find out. thanks


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## Ben Clarke (Sep 13, 2008)

Yeah, I just found that out... looks like the option to leave was removed in the latest patch. You could always try... killing someone in the faction, see if they kick you out, but then you have new enemies.


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## exo17 (Sep 13, 2008)

already tried that...wiped out the whole duty base with no avail .. if anyone has any answer to this please tell me ^.^


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## ShadowFold (Sep 13, 2008)

When I started I set everything to max and it ran fine but then I went into the swamps and the god rays were gone.. I cant see them anywhere no matter the time of day and I have full DX10 + god rays on high so idk whats going on.. And I have 3 in game days played and I haven't seen them since I started.


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## imperialreign (Sep 13, 2008)

gotta wait until Mon   

Oh, well, hopefully there will be another patch on the 15th, and the NA version can be considered "stable" right out of the box.


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## Ben Clarke (Sep 13, 2008)

AI is a little bugged... I went out for 30 mins after capping a point, and when I got back, it still said "Hold the point until help arrives" and no units were coming to help (you can tell who is, theyre a slightly different colour on the map)


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## ShadowFold (Sep 13, 2008)

imperialreign said:


> gotta wait until Mon
> 
> Oh, well, hopefully there will be another patch on the 15th, and the NA version can be considered "stable" right out of the box.



1.5 is pretty darn stable. No crashes and very few hiccups for me. Call your local gamestop/eb man they probably have it  all mine have it in!


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## imperialreign (Sep 13, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> 1.5 is pretty darn stable. No crashes and very few hiccups for me. Call your local gamestop/eb man they probably have it  all mine have it in!



already called around to a few Gamestops, even EB games - hell, I even called Best Buy (desperate, much?).

No one here will have a copy for sale prior to the 15th.  Asshats!


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## xmountainxlionx (Sep 13, 2008)

anyone else not able to start the game?  It just sits there with the splash screen.


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## Dozdaman (Sep 13, 2008)

xmountainxlionx said:


> anyone else not able to start the game?  It just sits there with the splash screen.



uninstall then reinstall your soundmax drivers. It happens to asus motherboards for some reason..


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## xmountainxlionx (Sep 13, 2008)

i uninstalled all my sound drivers that didnt say xfi, which where only 2 HD audio device. still didnt work.


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## Dozdaman (Sep 13, 2008)

xmountainxlionx said:


> i uninstalled all my sound drivers that didnt say xfi, which where only 2 HD audio device. still didnt work.



ah didnt see you had a sound blaster too - reinstall those as well. Did you reinstall the soundmax ones too?


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## xmountainxlionx (Sep 13, 2008)

yeah I reinstalled them, I need to uninstall/reinstall SB also?


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## Dozdaman (Sep 13, 2008)

xmountainxlionx said:


> yeah I reinstalled them, I need to uninstall/reinstall SB also?



yeah that worked for me. I read on the official forums that Stalker has a conflict with sound drivers


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## DrPepper (Sep 14, 2008)

holy shit  been playing clear sky and it is scary as shit at night lol. Is there anyway to sleep in the game i read ya could.


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## ShadowFold (Sep 14, 2008)

DrPepper said:


> holy shit  been playing clear sky and it is scary as shit at night lol. Is there anyway to sleep in the game i read ya could.



I need to know too cause I am kinda tired of sitting in a camp in the red forest because I'm to scared to go out


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## DrPepper (Sep 14, 2008)

I swear to god when its raining and lightning and there is mutants, wear old underwear.


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## ShadowFold (Sep 14, 2008)

Dammit you cant sleep.. I need a sleep mod for 1.5.4 now


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## chaotic_uk (Sep 14, 2008)

i just need a mod to make this game work , i am getting annoyed with all the ctd's (over 50 in total) . no matter what i try i get new errors each time , latest error below after a new install

Error Reason:
----------------------------------------
xrEngine.exe caused BREAKPOINT in module "C:\Program Files\Deep Silver\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky\bin\xrCore.dll" at 001B:0054B8A4, xrDebug::backend()+164 byte(s)

User Message:
----------------------------------------
Expression    : fatal error
Function      : CScriptEngine::lua_error
File          : E:\priquel\sources\engine\xrServerEntities\script_engine.cpp
Line          : 180
Description   : <no expression>
Arguments     : LUA error: ....e.r. - clear sky\gamedata\scripts\xr_effects.script:1607: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)



System Error:
----------------------------------------
0x00000012 - There are no more files.


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## ShadowFold (Sep 14, 2008)

Looks like you have a case of the AIDS. I would reinstall windows or try reinstalling the game with the latest 1.5.04 patch.


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## chaotic_uk (Sep 14, 2008)

i have the latest patch installed , my windows xp install is 3 weeks old . i might reinstall vista to try that


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## ShadowFold (Sep 14, 2008)

Yea it runs great on my dad and I's vista rigs.

Also does anyone know how to get motion blur working?


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## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 14, 2008)

I was playing for 3 hours tonight,fine,no crashes or anything.

I have an awesome weapon now,with underslung grenade launcher woot.


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## largon (Sep 14, 2008)

edit #n+1:
CS is a _huge_ let down... 
Some of my thoughts: 
- the game is butt-ugly atleast in XP (no DX10), minor improvent compared to unmodded SoC (= worse than modded SoC), 
- antialiasing is broken (as in SoC) 
- video memory leaks are common (as in SoC)
- textures are poor quality considering how the game hogs video memory 
- user interface is actually worse than in SoC (wth?!?) 
- quests are mindless (there's no need to actually pay attention to them) 
- maps are virtually identical to SoC, (ok, there are few new maps but some were also removed)
- ridiculous weapons (far, far from anything remotely realistic)
- weapon sound effects are utterly laughable - you can't tell if someone is shooting at you with a fixed heavy machine gun from 100 meters away, all you hear is "flap-plop-pop" when bullets start hitting around and at you (guns are supposed to make some _noise_ you know?)
- difficulty levels are nerfed to retardness (enemies gain shooting accuracy and deal more damage to you - while yours are decreased)
- feels like a half-assed expansion rather than a full priced sequel 
- owners of SoC are better off with kickass mods like Oblivion Lost


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## AsRock (Sep 14, 2008)

chaotic_uk said:


> i just need a mod to make this game work , i am getting annoyed with all the ctd's (over 50 in total) . no matter what i try i get new errors each time , latest error below after a new install
> 
> Error Reason:
> ----------------------------------------
> ...



Does this on me on the original stalker, but mines coursed by a mod and happens when you try to load a save when you were using the mod.


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## ShadowFold (Sep 14, 2008)

Anyone know how to get AA working with DX10?


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## Ben Clarke (Sep 14, 2008)

Barrel Rolls always work. 

Or force it through drivers.


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## ShadowFold (Sep 14, 2008)

Ben Clarke said:


> Barrel Rolls always work.
> 
> Or force it through drivers.



Ive tried both  I tried enabling it in the user.ltx but it looked like I was on acid


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## imperialreign (Sep 14, 2008)

y'know - i just dawned on me . . . we should be seeing new CAT drivers within the next week, and considering how long CS has been available now, I'm sure ATI users will see some sort of improvement in CS performance once the new drivers hit . . . which will probably be this week.


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## Ben Clarke (Sep 14, 2008)

Mine lags horribly for some reason now... strange.


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## ShadowFold (Sep 14, 2008)

imperialreign said:


> y'know - i just dawned on me . . . we should be seeing new CAT drivers within the next week, and considering how long CS has been available now, I'm sure ATI users will see some sort of improvement in CS performance once the new drivers hit . . . which will probably be this week.



If I get 60fps instead of 35 I will be happy  Already runs good for me with 8.8 but a little boost wouldn't hurt. I do hope they implement AA with it cause I cant get it to work at all with DX10 on(or any dynamic lighting).


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## DrPepper (Sep 14, 2008)

MUST KILL GSC, damn i'm so frustrated with the inaccuracy of the guns like in SoC. I'm standing like 2 yards away with a Spas shotgun and the dart rounds won't hit the zombie which despite being a zombie and according to the doctor dude have only animal instincts, they still retain pin point accuracy.


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 15, 2008)

DrPepper said:


> ... they still retain pin point accuracy.



That really grinds my gears. In SHoC (haven't seen this happen in CS yet) I would stand looking in another direction and still manage to aim and hit me. Made me laugh after a while.


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## TUngsten (Sep 16, 2008)

Got my copy today as expected, no issues yet, and DAMN I think it looks great. SoC took tons of tweaking to get looking really good, this looks great straight out of the box...only got to play for an hour though, more thoughts later.


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## ShiBDiB (Sep 16, 2008)

been playing for the past few hours... not really impressed. no major improvements over an otherwise average game


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 16, 2008)

I must admit, I was slightly disappointed as well, but since the 1.5.04 patch I'm really starting to get into the game. I love the update to the engine, ok, so it hasn't really brought much to the plate if you can't enable the DX10 feature set, but the little differences over the X-Ray really have impressed me. For example, the way enemies jump over things and take cover. Weapons are more accurate, and the enhanced texture quality (even with the slider in the middle) look pretty damn good.

I can see my initial thoughts of disappointments being completely pissed on once they've released another patch to fix some of the bugs - saying that, I've only ever crashed twice!



Guru3D have done a 3D Performance review - check it out!


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## MilkyWay (Sep 16, 2008)

the game shouldve been like this from the start, ill get it only when ive actually got into the orginal stalker

once they start to either patch or mod the game to get most of the bugs out and improve even more it could turn out nice


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 16, 2008)

For those of you that have completed Clear Sky already and are looking for a mod, I found this over at the GSC Game World forums - Solyanka 0.2

Doesn't exactly appeal to me, maybe once I've completed Clear Sky more than once and had a dick about with Oblivion Lost for SHoC etc. Might be a good thing to add to the first post/front page?


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## Deleted member 38767 (Sep 16, 2008)

Does the game runs stable with the latest patch on 8800 series video cards now? I'm thinking of trying it, but don't want to pay for unplayable game.


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## exo17 (Sep 16, 2008)

Well, I finished the game but I didn't understand shit about what happened at the end. It was a good game though and the atmosphere at night, for example, was amazing. 

Now I think ill play through it again, focusing more on the faction wars than the actual missions.


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## raptori (Sep 16, 2008)

InnocentCriminal said:


> I must admit, I was slightly disappointed as well, but since the 1.5.04 patch I'm really starting to get into the game. I love the update to the engine, ok, so it hasn't really brought much to the plate if you can't enable the DX10 feature set, but the little differences over the X-Ray really have impressed me. For example, the way enemies jump over things and take cover. Weapons are more accurate, and the enhanced texture quality (even with the slider in the middle) look pretty damn good.
> 
> I can see my initial thoughts of disappointments being completely pissed on once they've released another patch to fix some of the bugs - saying that, I've only ever crashed twice!
> 
> ...




did they fix the double click in order to move things into your inventory


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## Mussels (Sep 16, 2008)

raptori said:


> did they fix the double click in order to move things into your inventory



sure tehre isnt a keyboard shortcut for that? ctrl click, etc?


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## InnocentCriminal (Sep 16, 2008)

Nope, they fixed it! Plus they added the stamina bar to the HUD which was another one I wanted.


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## TUngsten (Sep 16, 2008)

I really love it, the quasi-RPG elements (missions/trader/factions) etc. combined with the atmosphere, great apocalyptic design, FPS action that truly scales with increased weapons, upgrades, and such.

I think it really hits home for me as a solo, non-MP style oldschool gamer.


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## imperialreign (Sep 16, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> If I get 60fps instead of 35 I will be happy  Already runs good for me with 8.8 but a little boost wouldn't hurt. I do hope they implement AA with it cause I cant get it to work at all with DX10 on(or any dynamic lighting).



I think it's time to upgrade to the RV770s 

Just installed CS last night, and gave it a whirl - everything maxed out for DX9 (extended FDL), at 1440x900 . . . averaging 30-35 FPS 

Turn off extended and go to standard FDL, and I'm running same frame rates as with SoC - 60+ in most areas.

Damn, Crysis didn't even put that much of a strain on this rig!

I'm thinking I might be in touch with a couple of 4870s this Friday


----------



## ShogoXT (Sep 16, 2008)

Steaming it naooo!!!!


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 17, 2008)

Anyone know where I can get a no CD patch for 1.5.04?


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 17, 2008)

Ygpm


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 17, 2008)

Thanks


----------



## pt (Sep 17, 2008)

tigger69 said:


> Ygpm



*WAVES*
me too


----------



## derkaderka (Sep 17, 2008)

I got this through Steam today and I get BSOD on launch. No clue which patch steam is using. Absolutely nothing wrong with my pc or drivers. I'm dx9 winXP, 2gig ddr2, 9800gtx, quadcore pentium.


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 17, 2008)

I'm pretty sure a ATi 9800GTX wont run the game


----------



## pt (Sep 17, 2008)

derkaderka said:


> *quadcore pentium*.



there is something wrong right there


----------



## derkaderka (Sep 17, 2008)

im pretty sure you're wrong. 9800gtx is better than 8800gt and uses the same shaders.


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 17, 2008)

derkaderka said:


> im pretty sure you're wrong. 9800gtx is better than 8800gt and uses the same shaders.



What are you talking about


----------



## derkaderka (Sep 17, 2008)

why are you trying to tell me my cpu and video card are not good enough for this game? my hardware can run every game on the market. quit wasting my time.


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 17, 2008)

Ok then..


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 17, 2008)

Steam is using 1.5.04,and going by the  he used i think he was *joking*


----------



## derkaderka (Sep 17, 2008)

its nvidia not ati, incase you were confused


----------



## Mussels (Sep 17, 2008)

derkaderka said:


> its nvidia not ati, incase you were confused



you made several mistakes in your specs, and listed hardware that does not exist. ATI do not make the 9800GTX, and there is no such thing as a quad core pentium.


----------



## ShiBDiB (Sep 17, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> I'm pretty sure a ATi 9800GTX wont run the game



gotta love fanboys lol...


i maxed this game easy with my 9800gtx


----------



## Mussels (Sep 17, 2008)

ShiBDiB said:


> gotta love fanboys lol...
> 
> 
> i maxed this game easy with my 9800gtx



oh come on, whats with people in this thread not paying attention. ATI DO NOT MAKE 9800 VIDEO CARDS.


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Sep 17, 2008)

ATi _did_ make a 9800.  Oooh... throwing sand in everyone's eyes now... or something like that.


----------



## Mussels (Sep 17, 2008)

lol, but they didnt make a GTX. it was an XT


----------



## lukankata (Sep 17, 2008)

Is anyone playing the english version patched to 1.5.03 under Vista 64bit?
I cannot start the game under this OS. It keeps repeating something's wrong with remote access or control...


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Sep 17, 2008)

Mussels said:


> lol, but they didnt make a GTX. it was an XT



MUHAHAHHAA! You knows it. 

*UPDATE:* TweakGuides have released their guide for Clear Sky - happy tweakin'!


----------



## TUngsten (Sep 17, 2008)

Ooh - how did you guys get past the military MG at the entrance to the Cordon? I'm playing on the highest difficulty and DAMN I can't get too far past the 1st tree without getting wasted LOL


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 17, 2008)

TUngsten said:


> Ooh - how did you guys get past the military MG at the entrance to the Cordon? I'm playing on the highest difficulty and DAMN I can't get too far past the 1st tree without getting wasted LOL



Honestly I had to lower the difficulty to get past that.. Literally no way to get over with out it on novice.


----------



## pt (Sep 17, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> Honestly I had to lower the difficulty to get past that.. Literally no way to get over with out it on novice.



easy, don't use that route, use the one at north to go to cordon, that's what i did


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 17, 2008)

pt said:


> easy, don't use that route, use the one at north to go to cordon, that's what i did



But the bandits will kill you..


----------



## pt (Sep 17, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> But the bandits will kill you..



not rly, i killed them all 1st easily (machine gun ftw)


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 17, 2008)

come out of the tunnel,keep left all the time and follow the fence.make sure you have enuff med kits and you can get past,i did.


----------



## xmountainxlionx (Sep 17, 2008)

**************************SPOLIER********************************



i just got done with the game.  But the end was wierd.  Strelok just stood on the ground and let me shoot him with the psy gun.  he didnt even move once.  took me like 2 min


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Sep 17, 2008)

xmountainxlionx said:


> i just got done with the game.  But the end was wierd.  Strelok just stood on the ground and let me shoot him with the psy gun.  he didnt even move once.  took me like 2 min



Don't ruin it for anyone will you? :shadedshu


----------



## r9 (Sep 17, 2008)

Mussels said:


> ooh goody, a game that looks better AND runs better in DX10. i'll have to get hold of this game soon then.



Like Microsoft NVIDIA and ATI said before Vista come out about DX10 that would not be very different from DX9 but that DX10 would be more efficient and because of that same DX9 effect will be used more, so the games will look better. But that was said about DX10.1 but because of NVIDIA DX10 is slower than DX9 and all the games are DX10 made not DX10.1 (only exception is Assasin which was downgradet to DX10 for DX10.1 tha game that was seeing the benefit from DX10.1). DX10.1 was to be DX10 but because NVIDIA weren`t DX10 all specs shifted down.


----------



## ShogoXT (Sep 17, 2008)

Guys im getting the same slowness issues in clear sky as i got in SOC. I think I know whats causing it though, when I alt tabed and checked task manager it says my ram usage was 1.8gb out of the 2gb i had. Maybe this is one of those games where 2gb isnt enough!


----------



## imperialreign (Sep 17, 2008)

tigger69 said:


> come out of the tunnel,keep left all the time and follow the fence.make sure you have enuff med kits and you can get past,i did.



agreed on that . . . it's a situation you have to think out some . . .


stick to the left, run fast, annnnddd . . .

you notice all those boulders, the fallen tree, the large tree, etc?  *use them for cover!*  Run up to one, crouch down, when the MG calms down, make a break for the next obstacle, etc . . .

once them militaries start comming for you, it's best to just run for the hills around the n00b camp - be ready to tap on your sprint key whenever you get hit.


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Sep 17, 2008)

I thought that MG bit was easy. Huh!


----------



## imperialreign (Sep 17, 2008)

InnocentCriminal said:


> I thought that MG bit was easy. Huh!



what difficulty were you on . . .

y'know . . . we can make it more difficult for ya


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 17, 2008)

Can anyone find a English no CD patch? I cant find one for the life of me.. I really need it too cause my DVD drive broke last night. It wont read anything now..


----------



## imperialreign (Sep 17, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> Can anyone find a English no CD patch? I cant find one for the life of me.. I really need it too cause my DVD drive broke last night. It wont read anything now..



haven't looked yet - been meaning too . . .

if there's one for the Russian release - it _might_ work, but I wouldn't bet money on it.


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 17, 2008)

imperialreign said:


> haven't looked yet - been meaning too . . .
> 
> if there's one for the Russian release - it _might_ work, but I wouldn't bet money on it.



I have tried the EGIGS and Russian versions and they don't work because they are programmed for Star Force and the US version uses that tages crap.


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Sep 17, 2008)

imperialreign said:


> what difficulty were you on . . .
> 
> y'know . . . we can make it more difficult for ya



Master.


----------



## TUngsten (Sep 18, 2008)

Yeah, it's weird - I tried the left/fence side first but it seems that the damn gunner gets a HS on me or something, as I get hit I stop sprinting and can barely even make it to the cover...oh well, I'll take a stab at it later on again


----------



## DrPepper (Sep 18, 2008)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Master.



and i thought i was good ....


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Sep 18, 2008)

This was before any of the patches, so I had loads of medi-kits both army and standard and I just ran like a motherhumper been chased by a angry husband! I think I had about 11 army medi-kits and 14 red and when I had got pasted the bastard MG I think I had about 5 army ones left or something like that. Medi-kits don't go far at all.

I've had to start again since I got the 1.5.04 patch, took me a little longer to do it this time around. :/


----------



## TUngsten (Sep 18, 2008)

Well, past it now. 
Where did you get the army med kits before getting to the military base? I didn't come across any until Cordon..


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Sep 18, 2008)

Basically i loot every body and sell all the guns i can find,even if it means 3 or more trips back and forth.

Does multiplayer work? i cant find a single server.


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Sep 18, 2008)

TUngsten said:


> Well, past it now.
> Where did you get the army med kits before getting to the military base? I didn't come across any until Cordon..



Well before they addressed the trunk/chest/storage issue, I'd find a shit load of ammo and medi-kits in basically any trunk I open. Was a nice lil bug, but I knew it had to go.


----------



## ShadowFold (Sep 18, 2008)

tigger said:


> Basically i loot every body and sell all the guns i can find,even if it means 3 or more trips back and forth.
> 
> Does multiplayer work? i cant find a single server.



I think the servers are down because I could see them when I got it but then a few days later they were gone.. idk about Europe but in America we got hells load of lag when trying to play.


----------



## jbunch07 (Sep 20, 2008)

I just picked up Clear sky, but I've never played stalker before so I thought buying clear sky first would make since because its a prequel and all. but I may need some help and advice from you guys that have played it before.


----------



## ShogoXT (Sep 20, 2008)

Well I put in more ram and it cleared the big problems, but I still cant get it to smooth with either Crysis or clear skys.


----------



## largon (Sep 20, 2008)

I play(ed) on Master and got past the machine-gun-by-the-tunnel by sprinting behind rocks and trees and the small hill on the left. Then after I got my AK-74 repaired I came back from the opposite side and _slaugtered the whole checkpoint_. 3 times in a row. Packed the loot in a corpse an dragged the pile in the camp and made itty-bitty profit by selling about _sixty_ AK-74s and AN-94s...


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Sep 20, 2008)

largon said:


> I play(ed) on Master and got past the machine-gun-by-the-tunnel by sprinting behind rocks and trees and the small hill on the left. Then after I got my AK-74 repaired I came back from the opposite side and _slaugtered the whole checkpoint_. 3 times in a row. Packed the loot in a corpse an dragged the pile in the camp and made itty-bitty profit by selling about _sixty_ AK-74s and AN-94s...



MUHAHAHAHAHAA!

That's how you do it!


----------



## Ben Clarke (Sep 20, 2008)

Also, if you look from where the machine gun fire is coming from in the tower, there's that super cool gun I use, but you can't seem to buy in the game. You can't pick it up though, you have to know where to look / how to get it.


----------



## MadClown (Sep 20, 2008)

I ran this on DX10 mode and it ran marginally better than full dynamic did on my old rig, so i set it back to full dynamic as the first stalker looked good enough, but i still get hiccups, mainly because of the grass density, and this game is realy fricken hard on novice.


----------



## Mussels (Sep 21, 2008)

i got warhead and clear skies yesterday, i'll let you know how i fare once i get around to playing it


----------



## imperialreign (Sep 21, 2008)

I've noticed a little skittering when turning and such - I thought at first it was low FPS, but no . . . then I realized I still had 60hz enabled under options, disabling it improved some, but still noticeable . . . 

only seems to happen during certain times of day . . . it's like vsync is stuck on, but you don't have the processing power to keep a steady frame rate.


----------



## imperialreign (Sep 22, 2008)

just to give this thread a little bump, a screenie I took earlier.  regular maxed-out FDL:








eFDL sucks too much raw-power from me at the moment, that should be fixed once I can install my second GPU later this week.


Still, for standard FDL, DX9.0c - that's pretty damn nice looking, IMO


----------



## TheMailMan78 (Sep 22, 2008)

Is this game any good? The first one was way to involving. I draw the line when I have to eat IN the game.


----------



## imperialreign (Sep 22, 2008)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Is this game any good? The first one was way to involving. I draw the line when I have to eat IN the game.



it's improved more in some ways, and in other ways it's a step back - depends on your tastes and your impression of SoC.

food is still in game - but there's no point in carrying it around, really.  You "get hungry" nowhere near as often as in SoC.  Once per gameday, maybe, you'll see the icon pop up, and it takes forever before it actually starts affecting you - it should've just been removed at that point.


bleeding takes a lot longer to go away on it's own - making bandages a necessity, as medkits don't heal severe bleeding (it seems).  radiation takes forever to disapate as well, meaning you've got to haul antirads or vodka around with you.


artifacts are rare, and only a few are really helpful.  You have to use detectors now to even find one - they're not all over the place like in SoC.


AI is improved, and factions are constantly fighting with each other.  You can join up with one of the 4(5) different factions, and help their cause, or you can stay out of it.  The factions constantly have stuff that needs to be done, but you're not forced to help, and if you don't only affects you negatively if joined with that faction.


IMO - it's worth the download to try out, first.  The game is definitely an aquired taste compared to other FPS.


----------



## daboggeyman (Sep 24, 2008)

New multiplayer map is now available for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

Here's the down load link

http://cs.stalker-game.com/en/?page=misc_downloads


----------



## EastCoasthandle (Sep 24, 2008)

How are people enjoying this game so far?  Has the patche(s) improved some of the problems?


----------



## bassmasta (Sep 24, 2008)

still alot of crash-causing bugs.  can't get mp to work.


----------



## imperialreign (Sep 24, 2008)

EastCoasthandle said:


> How are people enjoying this game so far?  Has the patche(s) improved some of the problems?



not sure - after I got it last week, I installed the 1.5.4 patch right off the back.

I had run into a couple of CTD when loading a saved game, log referenced some kind of camera angle, had to revert back to an earlier save.

the other day, ran into an in-game CTD with a log referencing what appared to be an invalid script variable.  I found a "mod" on filefront that "fixed" that issue (unofficial, y'know?).


TBH, I kinda expected a few hiccups here and there - but it's nothing extreme like v1.00 SoC was.

Easiest way to deal with issues - save often!


----------



## EastCoasthandle (Sep 24, 2008)

gotcha, thanks for the update.


----------



## imperialreign (Sep 24, 2008)

EastCoasthandle said:


> gotcha, thanks for the update.



no prob!

If you run into any CTD issues, check the mod database forums.  The ravenous STALKER modders are fixing problems before GSC can


----------



## Mussels (Sep 24, 2008)

i get the odd crash to desktop as well, but i quicksave constantly so i'm yet to lose anything important.

Its kinda fun with the factions, getting these "OH GOD HELP ME!" messages, not helping, and stealing all their loot to sell.... oh yeah, evil stalker ftw.


----------



## ShogoXT (Sep 24, 2008)

Thats an idea mussels. Instead of joining a faction just CLEAR EM ALL OUT OF THE ZONE!!! Teh zones r belong to us!!!


----------



## imperialreign (Sep 24, 2008)

Mussels said:


> i get the odd crash to desktop as well, but i quicksave constantly so i'm yet to lose anything important.
> 
> Its kinda fun with the factions, getting these "OH GOD HELP ME!" messages, not helping, and stealing all their loot to sell.... oh yeah, evil stalker ftw.





I really like how you're not obligated to help others out - if you go and help, they'll reward you; if not, oh well . . .

unlike the mandatory "help the f00ls at . . ." missions of SoC.


----------



## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Oct 2, 2008)

They say the game uses only 1 core?


----------



## Mussels (Oct 2, 2008)

Bjorn_Of_Iceland said:


> They say the game uses only 1 core?



yeah. supposedly it uses more, but there are many reports of that not working.


----------



## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Oct 2, 2008)

> yeah. supposedly it uses more, but there are many reports of that not working.


Yeah.. I noticed that too.. from the task manager. Not sure if this was already posted.. there is a trick to make it use more cores.. 



> This helps me in getting equal load on all 4 cores.
> 
> As you can see we have 100% load on 1st CPU core and 0-10% on 2nd and so on with multicores CPU used. Just want add some hint about this trouble:
> 
> ...


Source:http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=725684


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 2, 2008)

I've already asked this question in the STALKER club house thread, but as this is specifically Clear Sky I was hoping someone that plays C.S. in DX10 could do me the honour of maxing out their settings (if they don't play it on that already) and then, once they've re-launched the game after applying the settings, send me a copy of their user.ltx file.



I need to compare 2 DX10 user.ltx files to mine so I can see if any differences are there. DOM has kindly posted me his, but after having a brief look over it I can't really see any difference between his and my original DX9 one, nothing that stands out anyway.

So, if someone would be so kind as to do that for me, I'd be very grateful. I do hope C.S. is similar to Crysis in that I can enable (some of) the DX10 features in XP when a DX10 card is present.


----------



## ShadowFold (Oct 2, 2008)

If you don't get one, I will be home in like 6 hours. I will get mine for ya


----------



## deathvirus_me (Oct 2, 2008)

InnocentCriminal said:


> I've already asked this question in the STALKER club house thread, but as this is specifically Clear Sky I was hoping someone that plays C.S. in DX10 could do me the honour of maxing out their settings (if they don't play it on that already) and then, once they've re-launched the game after applying the settings, send me a copy of their user.ltx file.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Its pretty simple .. do u get Wet Surfaces and Volumetric Smoke in XP ?? If i'm not mistaken , dx10 effects are set by totally diff. variable than dx9 one's , r3_.. as compared to r2_.. of dx9.0c .. so unless it lets u could fool it to be running in dx10 , the effects should still be disabled .. Besides those two settings , dx10 only allows u to enable AA , otherwise it looks exactly the same as dx9.0c mode maxed out  ..

PS : Crysis uses the same variable , just diff. values under dx10  ..


----------



## CY:G (Oct 2, 2008)

Bjorn_Of_Iceland said:


> Yeah.. I noticed that too.. from the task manager. Not sure if this was already posted.. there is a trick to make it use more cores..
> 
> 
> Source:http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=725684



Is there a a tool similar to this for Dual Cores???


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 2, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> If you don't get one, I will be home in like 6 hours. I will get mine for ya



Thank you dude!



			
				deathvirus_me said:
			
		

> Its pretty simple .. do u get Wet Surfaces and Volumetric Smoke in XP ??



I haven't tested/played enough with my current "DX10" ltx file yet. Plus it hasn't pissing rained in game for a while and it's night time for me currently. I'm waiting to see if I have any God Ray's as I have all the r3 commands that I need (I think) present, and they do get loaded as my console states they are...



			
				deathvirus_me said:
			
		

> If i'm not mistaken , dx10 effects are set by totally diff. variable than dx9 one's , r3_.. as compared to r2_.. of dx9.0c .. so unless it lets u could fool it to be running in dx10 , the effects should still be disabled.



That is exactly what I'm trying to do. Seeing if the DX10 features will work on my DX10 GFX card even though I have XP. The reason why I want people with DX10 C.S. to upload the LTX file is so that I can see if any differences are present.



			
				deathvirus_me said:
			
		

> Besides those two settings , dx10 only allows u to enable AA , otherwise it looks exactly the same as dx9.0c mode maxed out  ..



I've already faked AA so I don't see why I shouldn't be able to enable the rest. 
Even if it's not possible, it's the fact I tried that counts.


----------



## deathvirus_me (Oct 2, 2008)

sun rays are not dx10 features , u can get sun rays on a dx9.0c card in Clear Sky for 24 hours 

Also , edge smoothing is nowhere as good as MSAA in dx10 mode  , i've tried it myself and it look damm good with normal MSAA , edge smoothing blurs the whole scene a bit ..

I play in dx9.0c mode myself  , coz i can live without volumetric smoke and wet surfaces , given that i get god rays 24x7 ingame and have the game maxed out at 1280*1024 ..



 



PS : using r2_aa will somewhat disable distant dependant dynamic DOF , so i don't use this edge smoothing method anymore  .. DOF look much better .. plus an avg. of 35+ fps is simply mouth watering with the game maxed out .. looks beautiful  .. the screenies are in dx9.0c mode , all maxed out  ...


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 4, 2008)

deathvirus_me said:
			
		

> sun rays are not dx10 features , u can get sun rays on a dx9.0c card in Clear Sky for 24 hours



Oh right, well I've never seen them or had them enabled. Maybe you get them because your running Vista even though you're in DX9 mode. I dunno. 

Again, another request if you'd all be so kind. Could you look in your \Program Files\Deep Silver\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Clear Sky\bin and see if you have a file called xrD3D10-Null.dll and/or take a print screen of the contents of that folder. I'm assuming it'll be the same as mine, but I'm still looking around figure stuff out.


----------



## deathvirus_me (Oct 4, 2008)

My friend uses my cfg on Win XP with SP3 , and gets the exact same iq as i get on Vista .. so sun rays are definitely not dx10 exclusive ..

also , i don't have xrD3D10-Null.dll file  ...


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 4, 2008)

I take back what I said about the Sun Rays, to a degree. I have got them enabled and set to high, however they still don't work in game. 

Thanks for looking for the xrD3D10-null file, I was guessing with that one.


----------



## deathvirus_me (Oct 4, 2008)

in default settings , san rays are only visible till 8 am in the morning after sunrise ... u could try the cfg. i'm using to enable sun rays all the time  .. the game simply looks amazing with that  ... check the attachment .. if u have any problem post it here , or pm me ...  and make sure u read the readme file first


----------



## ShadowFold (Oct 4, 2008)

I just dl'd that, I am starting to install everything  Will tell you how it is!


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 4, 2008)

Sun rays are really temperamental for me. One minute they work, then I turn around and they're _gone!_

More fiddling needed I expect.


----------



## ShadowFold (Oct 4, 2008)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Sun rays are really temperamental for me. One minute they work, then I turn around and they're _gone!_
> 
> More fiddling needed I expect.



To actually see them you need to be behind something other wise they will just blend in with the other lighting. Your mod makes the game really bright, I like that


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 4, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> To actually see them you need to be behind something other wise they will just blend in with the other lighting. Your mod makes the game really bright, I like that



LOL! Thanks for the information on that one dude.


----------



## imperialreign (Oct 4, 2008)

ShadowFold said:


> To actually see them you need to be behind something other wise they will just blend in with the other lighting. Your mod makes the game really bright, I like that



also, the game only renders sunshafts between a couple of hours in the morning and evening.

IIRC, it's 06:00AM to 08:00AM and 18:00PM to 20:00PM


----------



## deathvirus_me (Oct 5, 2008)

^^ try the attachment in my post earlier .. u'll get sun rays 24x7 in dx9/dx10 mode


----------



## ShadowFold (Oct 5, 2008)

Yea his mod is AWESOME. Just make sure you have the god rays on low, I tried high and the performance was pretty bad..


----------



## newconroer (Oct 11, 2008)

So far performance has been fine for me. DX10 with MSAA is ok, though I prefer a bit of blur from the DX9; and contrary to popular belief (so far), you can enable edgeblur in DX9 Enhanced dynamic mode without getting anomalies. It was thought before, that it only worked in 'Full Dynamic" mode or lower.


My main issue now is that there seems to be a filtering film of lines, that sits off on distance ground textures and objects. As I get closer, it goes away. There's also quite a bit of shimmering, though I imagine this might be 'lined' shimmering. My AF is enabled, I haven't adjusted any LOD variables and nothing in game (adjustable) seems to make a difference.

I've also noticed that shadows and lighting seems to draw on objects and buildings in a very fast speed, as if they are textures popping up, rather than shadows being drawn dynamically.

This happens on both XP and Vista:


(See the lines/rows on the sand beyond the wooden bridge?)


----------



## imperialreign (Oct 11, 2008)

newconroer said:


> So far performance has been fine for me. DX10 with MSAA is ok, though I prefer a bit of blur from the DX9; and contrary to popular belief (so far), you can enable edgeblur in DX9 Enhanced dynamic mode without getting anomalies. It was thought before, that it only worked in 'Full Dynamic" mode or lower.
> 
> 
> My main issue now is that there seems to be a filtering film of lines, that sits off on distance ground textures and objects. As I get closer, it goes away. There's also quite a bit of shimmering, though I imagine this might be 'lined' shimmering. My AF is enabled, I haven't adjusted any LOD variables and nothing in game (adjustable) seems to make a difference.
> ...





I haven't seen those effects myself, yet . . . are you running DX9 or DX10?  I've heard and seen screenies where different video cards have different visual "anomalies," but I doubt that's the case here.

almost looks like an AF flaw


----------



## newconroer (Oct 11, 2008)

That is the same result under DX9 and 10. I've tried moving down to "Full Dynamic" rendering and it still does it.

No driver adjustments work either.

It does seem filtering related; and possibly driver... 

I'm tempted to roll from Beta on to the official 8.10; but I don't see how that will help.


----------



## imperialreign (Oct 11, 2008)

newconroer said:


> That is the same result under DX9 and 10. I've tried moving down to "Full Dynamic" rendering and it still does it.
> 
> No driver adjustments work either.
> 
> ...



is 8.10 even out yet?

I'm still running 8.9 and haven't noticed anything like that, even with crossfire 4870s - which I would imagine should render damn near the same as a 4870x2 . . .

y'know, just a thought, you could try to run the terrain retxture pack and the terrain texture tweak - your SYS should defi be able to handle it.  It's possible the bump/mip maps for the vanilla textures just aren't being displayed properly for some reason . . .


----------



## newconroer (Oct 11, 2008)

Ya, 8.10 is available now.

I have used the texture packs you mentioned.

Here's a screen at nighttime. If you look just beyond the end of the tent I'm standing under, there's a clear contrasting line, where beyond it the ground is bright as if it were daytime.

That's about where the filter line kicks in.


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 11, 2008)

Are we talking about the Catalyst 8.10's here? I mean, I know of the Release Candidate.


----------



## newconroer (Oct 11, 2008)

No, not with CCC, just drivers.



Can anyone recommend a good realism mod? I've seen a few, but I have the suspicion all they do is make the enemies even more difficult to kill.

I find that the guns are unrealistic overall, and that rebels take way too many bullets on any difficulty level.


----------



## imperialreign (Oct 12, 2008)

newconroer said:


> Ya, 8.10 is available now.
> 
> I have used the texture packs you mentioned.
> 
> ...





what's that program you're running in the background . . . the one that shows you GPU monitoring?

It's quite possible it might be conflicting with the game rendering.  I've had some strange distance texture flickering before, and it turned out to be ATi Tray Tools running in the background . . . if it's a driver tweak program, you could try tweaking the drivers to see if you could eliminate it.

That image you posted defi looks like a filtering/shader/post process issue.  You might also want to consider giving it a shot with an official Catalyst release as well.


----------



## Machete (Oct 13, 2008)

STALKER CS RUNS REALL BAD!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So heres my set up

GPU: GeForce 7900GS KO 256MB
CPU: AMD Sempron 3000+ 1.8GHz (crap i know)
RAM: 2GBS DDR1
Motherboard: ASUS K8N4-E Deluxe
OS: Windows XP PRO SP 3

I could run Shadow of Chernobyl just fine on dynamic lighting and medium settings, but i cant run CS to save my life on directx 8!! Iv installed the latest patches and put everything as low as it can go apart from vision distance and its still pretty much unplayable (im guessing around 15 FPS).


----------



## Mussels (Oct 13, 2008)

well machete, unfortunately i hace to say you have a very outdated PC. You most likely need a faster CPU to get anywhere.


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## InnocentCriminal (Oct 13, 2008)

I'd put this down to your CPU tbh. You're not giving us anymore details such as what version of Clear Sky you're running at. If you haven't already updated to the latest patch, that'd be the first thing I'd do. I'm sure there is a link for it somewhere in this thread. 

What speed is your RAM? You've got a good amount, but if it's DDR 2700 (333MHz) that may also be crippling performance. How is your RAM set up? 2 x 1GB sticks, or 4 x 512MB? 

I'd disable any Anti-virus, Firewall and any other programs you have running in the background when you run. Clear Sky is freaking demanding on most modern systems so your rig may not cut the mustard I'm afraid. Maybe you could pick up a cheap Athlon instead of the Sempron.


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## ShadowFold (Oct 13, 2008)

Machete said:


> STALKER CS RUNS REALL BAD!!
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> ...



My friend has a X1650 AGP. 1.5gigs DDR1 and a 2.8ghz Athlon 939 single core and he runs it on Full Dynamic Fine. Reinstall windows see if that helps.


----------



## ShogoXT (Oct 13, 2008)

That CPU is the reason its running crap. Those Semprons are the bottom of the line. Might be able to upgrade.


----------



## Mussels (Oct 13, 2008)

shadow - a 2.8GHz athlon and a 2800+ (1.6GHz) sempron are in totally different classes.


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## Machete (Oct 13, 2008)

InnocentCriminal said:


> I'd put this down to your CPU tbh. You're not giving us anymore details such as what version of Clear Sky you're running at. If you haven't already updated to the latest patch, that'd be the first thing I'd do. I'm sure there is a link for it somewhere in this thread.
> 
> What speed is your RAM? You've got a good amount, but if it's DDR 2700 (333MHz) that may also be crippling performance. How is your RAM set up? 2 x 1GB sticks, or 4 x 512MB?
> 
> I'd disable any Anti-virus, Firewall and any other programs you have running in the background when you run. Clear Sky is freaking demanding on most modern systems so your rig may not cut the mustard I'm afraid. Maybe you could pick up a cheap Athlon instead of the Sempron.



Im running patch 1.5.05 my RAM is a 1GB stick and two 512GBs its DDR1 but not sure of the speed, im trying to get an athlon and hv been for a while now, might check out ebay..But why is it that shadow of chernobyl runs perfectly and i can barely run CS on static lighting


----------



## ShadowFold (Oct 13, 2008)

But hes got a significantly weaker card and less ram tho.. I don't think clear sky is very cpu intensive is it?


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## InnocentCriminal (Oct 13, 2008)

Machete said:


> Im running patch 1.5.05 my RAM is a 1GB stick and two 512GBs its DDR1 but not sure of the speed, im trying to get an athlon and hv been for a while now, might check out ebay..But why is it that shadow of chernobyl runs perfectly and i can barely run CS on static lighting



Clear Sky is an improved version of SHoC, however it's got a lot of new features and even with these disabled the game is still quite resource hungry. It could just be that your system is bloated and not in great shape, if you've tried everything I've suggested before hand. The only thing would be to back up all your important documents and then re-install Windows, whack on SP3, update your all of your drivers, especially your GFX and install Clear Sky before anything else. Then if it's still running like crap then you know that your rig isn't comfortable running it. I suggest you save your money for a new PC, prices on current Intel chips will dropping soon and with DDR3 showing it's face DDR2 is going to bottom out soon as well.


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## Machete (Oct 13, 2008)

Hmmm heres an athlon for real bloody cheap! WOuld this be better and would my sempron heatsink still be compatable?  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMD-ATHLON-32...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14


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## Mussels (Oct 13, 2008)

Machete said:


> Im running patch 1.5.05 my RAM is a 1GB stick and two 512GBs its DDR1 but not sure of the speed, im trying to get an athlon and hv been for a while now, might check out ebay..But why is it that shadow of chernobyl runs perfectly and i can barely run CS on static lighting



CS is newer. THey most definately updated the graphics, adding far more weather effects, new lighting and so on. Same engine or not, its a newer more demanding game.

From your hardware description have you have a slow single core CPU, single channel mismatched memory, and an 'outdated' (if not terribly so) video card. It should be no surprise that modern games, especially those as demanding as clear skies run poorly.

Rather than bother looking for an athlon, you should spend some money and update to AM2 or 775, and get a far, far faster system for your money.


edit: yes the athlon would be faster, but it wont solve the core problems of slow ram and a single core CPU. The readme for CS states a dual core is the best way to get better performance out of the game.


----------



## Machete (Oct 13, 2008)

Mussels said:


> CS is newer. THey most definately updated the graphics, adding far more weather effects, new lighting and so on. Same engine or not, its a newer more demanding game.
> 
> From your hardware description have you have a slow single core CPU, single channel mismatched memory, and an 'outdated' (if not terribly so) video card. It should be no surprise that modern games, especially those as demanding as clear skies run poorly.
> 
> ...



I understand what you are saying but if i am running the game in directx 8 these issues shouldnt matter right? Because all those keen effects would be disabled?


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 13, 2008)

I would have thought your cooler would fit as they use the same retention mechanism as all AMD heatsinks and compatible 3 party coolers. However, you'd want to invest in some decent thermal paste as as your updating your CPU make sure you're motherboards BIOS has support, which I presume it would but it's always worth checking. 

As for the 3200+ compared to your Sempron, yeah it's better. Without going into details about the Sempron as I don't have time, compare the amount of L2 cache, should be double or more. The frequency is 2.2GHz compared to 1.8GHz so that's good. At that price I wouldn't worry, it'll improve things.


----------



## FordGT90Concept (Oct 13, 2008)

newconroer said:


> I find that the guns are unrealistic overall, and that rebels take way too many bullets on any difficulty level.


I agree.  In the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R., gun play was unbarable until you found a scoped rifle.  The game is pretty fun once you have one.  Until then, the guns are so inaccurate, they can't hit the broad side of a barn from safe engagement distance.

I haven't played Clear Sky yet because I really don't like any creepy games. XD




Machete said:


> Hmmm heres an athlon for real bloody cheap! WOuld this be better and would my sempron heatsink still be compatable?  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMD-ATHLON-32...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14


I doubt a Sempron heatsink would be enough to cool it.  Regardless, I doubt a socket 754 could ever adequately run a new game like Clear Sky.  It's time to bite the bullet for a new system as previously suggested.




Machete said:


> I understand what you are saying but if i am running the game in directx 8 these issues shouldnt matter right? Because all those keen effects would be disabled?


CPU usage really isn't effected much by in-game settings so changing them I doubt would help in the amount that is needed to make it playable.  DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 features are handled mostly on the graphics card, not the processor.


----------



## Mussels (Oct 13, 2008)

oh on the heatsinks. all 754 heatsinks were the same. sempron or A64, they used the same coolers.


----------



## Machete (Oct 13, 2008)

Well, thnaks for all your help guys. But i think ur right im jst gonna upgrade my system and play games in peace without havin to fuk about with settings! 

Cheers, im out.


----------



## Mussels (Oct 13, 2008)

for <$300 (not sure in pounds) you should be able to get a core 2 based system up and running that blows your old PC away. Good luck with it!


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 13, 2008)

Unfortunately, 300AUD would be £116 and wouldn't be enough, unless he was keeping his old case, PSU etc. He _might_ just get away with it if he looks in the right places. I wouldn't bother skimping though.


----------



## Mussels (Oct 13, 2008)

Machete: feel free to start a new thread for advice, and drop a link in here. we'll help out.


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## Machete (Oct 13, 2008)

Well good il hv a look around and post my findings here then, cheers guys.


----------



## Mussels (Oct 13, 2008)

make a new thread and link us to it, we want to keep this one about clear skies.


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## Machete (Oct 13, 2008)

Yeh thats what i meant, sorry wasnt clear enough lol


----------



## ShogoXT (Oct 13, 2008)

Yea I cant find a good CPU only upgrade for a 754 socket. New mobo would be prefered.


----------



## FordGT90Concept (Oct 13, 2008)

The Athlon 64 3200+ is the best you'll find.


----------



## newconroer (Oct 13, 2008)

I'm still getting the unsightly and distracting shimmer on medium to long range textures in XP, no matter what I change.

In Vista, I don't get the shimmering, it's fine....but in Vista it has it's own problem. Whenever I stand still and look at say a tree(leaves), it's clean and clear, but if I move the mouse, the leaves get darker and almost thicker, as if they are 'filling in'. This darkened haze flickers whenever there's movement. If you watch it long enough, it looks like it's a film of sorts. This happens in Lord of the Rings Online, and some other games I've seen in the past in Vista, but not XP. 

I can't take screenshots of it, because everytime the shot is taken, it pauses the action, so the haze isn't visible in the shots.

I thought it might be adaptive AA or Edge Detect or etc. but nadda.


Annoyances like this are quite a shame. In XP I get my edge blur on the foliage, which I want, but the shimmering is unacceptable. In Vista, I compromise edge blur loss, for fixed textures, but then run into this.


Oi vey.


----------



## imperialreign (Oct 13, 2008)

one of the big reasons CS runs so hard, even with modern systems -

1, it's very CPU intensive.  SoC was as well, but only to an extent.  In CS, there are many more "interactive" objects; plus, the vast numbers of AI - the game engine switches them "on" once you reach a certain distance from them, which is why some areas seem more heavily taxed than others (agroprom/stalker base, CS base, etc).  With more AI being "active" compared to SoC, that's a lot more processing the CPU has to contend with.  Add in that the game engine is constantly updating some portions of AI info for regions you're nowhere near as well (other maps) . . . plus, every AI is carrying some amount of stuff, plus the vast numbers of stashes (which is all loaded up and switched "on" when the player is within a certain distance) . . . The CPU isn't as "free" to help out as it was with SoC.

2, graphically, it's more intensive than SoC was as well - remember, vanilla SoC didn't have parallax mapping, or msaa and effects enabled, even with FDL.  CS makes it almost standard for FDL and eFDL; plus, the game is also more shader, post-process heavy as well, which puts a major tax on any GPU.  Models (appear to) have more polygons than they did with SoC, at the very least the textures are more detailed.  Add in the vast draw distance, contending with light sources that cast insane shadow distances (i.e. the sun), and the GPU has it's work cut out as well.


You can use driver tweak programs, like ATi Tray Tools or Rivatuner to milk some graphical performance, by forcing some display techniques that might not be enabled (geometry instancing, tiling, other optimizations), but without a strong CPU to back it up, it will definitely stress a system.

CS, IMO, is the new Crysis. 





			
				newconroer said:
			
		

> I'm still getting the unsightly and distracting shimmer on medium to long range textures in XP, no matter what I change.
> 
> In Vista, I don't get the shimmering, it's fine....but in Vista it has it's own problem. Whenever I stand still and look at say a tree(leaves), it's clean and clear, but if I move the mouse, the leaves get darker and almost thicker, as if they are 'filling in'. This darkened haze flickers whenever there's movement. If you watch it long enough, it looks like it's a film of sorts. This happens in Lord of the Rings Online, and some other games I've seen in the past in Vista, but not XP.
> 
> ...



have you tried running ATI Tray Tools for the advanced display tweaks yet?


----------



## ShadowFold (Oct 13, 2008)

No I still cant max Crysis but I max Clear Sky easily. Clear Sky is defintely the new crysis.. Well atleast for me.


----------



## newconroer (Oct 13, 2008)

Imperial, I've had tray tools going since right after I got the card, meaning no CCC.

I have setup all the 'tweaks,' as they should be.


It runs better in Vista. In terms of GPU performance, I'd say 5-10% better, but CPU performance is at least 20-30% better. I don't know why.  Even when I get the 'affinity hack' to work in xp, the gain is only five frames, but in Vista I've caught upwards of 20+.

As I said before, performance is fine. Enhanced DX10 and average is usally 45-60, with night time shooting well over the 60mark and that's with 8xAA, 16AF, AND Edge Detect and Transparency AA on. Though I don't know if the latter two actually do anything. IQ and performance is identical with them on or off.


I'll stick with the Vista, and see if newer drivers adjust the tree film thingie. I'm just really glad that shimmering texture is gone.

Now if I could find a mod that stops enemies from seeing me in the pitch black, fifty yards out, BEHIND bushes and I don't have my flashlight on.


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## imperialreign (Oct 14, 2008)

newconroer said:


> Imperial, I've had tray tools going since right after I got the card, meaning no CCC.
> 
> I have setup all the 'tweaks,' as they should be.
> 
> ...





I feel your pain, man!


As to the graphic glitches, TBH, I think it might just be the driver version.  Hope for the best when 8.10 official is released!


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## ZenZimZaliben (Oct 14, 2008)

So what are you all doing to get fast cash in the game. I am in the Dark Valley now, and all I have found for a good revenue stream is keep killing mercs and looting them...rinse and repeat...Armor upgrades are getting expensive...$5K for first level upgrades.

IS there a way to get a better sell ratio with the merchants?


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## ShadowFold (Oct 14, 2008)

Go artifact hunting! A good place I found alot in was Yantar. I hear there quite a few in the swamps as well. Just look for anomalies and there are usually a few around them!


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## ZenZimZaliben (Oct 14, 2008)

Once you loot anomalies, do they refresh relics ever?


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## newconroer (Oct 14, 2008)

Make it easy on yourself, but with balance. Use a mod (or adjust it yourself) so that the drop rate is raised on humanoid bodies(renegards, bandits, military etc), sell what you don't want, keep what you need(instead of buying). In moderation I think it's fair, because there's things like pill packs, that you can't get enough of if you're running around exploring or trying to artifact hunt. Sometimes the slightest radiation can start depleting your health and it's annoying.

If you feel it's still too much like cheating, then use a mod to make the enemies more difficult, like a "horror" mod. 

Then it's balanced, you earned your loot :0


Ugh, I'm disliking CS in Vista during daytimes, because I can see all the aliasing on everything but the buildings/structures. I miss the egde blur.

I'll try the supposed 'final' 8.10 tomorrow.


----------



## ZenZimZaliben (Oct 15, 2008)

I do like mods, and have used them, especially oblivion, but usually only apply them after beating the game fair and square.


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## imperialreign (Oct 15, 2008)

my biggest bit of advice for making a lot of loot:  sell off artifacts - plain and simple.

most that you will run across give you such a mediocre boost to something, it's not worth the effort to keep them. 

The key, though, is selling them off where you will earn the most money for them.  Not all traders pay the same for items.  Sidorovich actually pays the best for artifacts, with Sahkarov and the CS trader coming in second.  The loner trader in Cordon pays well, too - but not nearly as well as the aforementioned.



Secondly, sell off good equipment - take as much as you can from corpses.  When selling goods - "bartenders" pay the best for food, vodka, and energy drinks.  They aslo pay decent for antirads and medkits.

Each individual trader pays better than others for certain equipment.  The loner trader in Cordon pays better for the early-game assault rifles (AK74, AC96, Viper5, etc), but not so well for shotguns.

Also - no one pays squat for ammo.  They'll charge you an arm and a leg for it, but won't give you a dime when you try and sell it to them.  You can either sell if outright, or just hoard ammo somewhere to keep you from having to purchase it later (which saves you a ton of loot later down the road).


----------



## Deleted member 38767 (Oct 16, 2008)

Ahh, I just need to share this with some one who will enjoy it as much as I did:
Zero Punctuation: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky review

And just because of the thread: I got 3 BSODs in 5 hours of gameplay on my first try of the game and on my second it was all good until I shut it down - all sounds of my PC just disappeared. After some time trying to fix the problem I finally get my Windows sounds back but had no luck with the game ones. Decided to wait for a month or so for some more patches to come out and give it third try. I loved SoC so it really hurts to see Clear Sky in that state.


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## Mussels (Oct 16, 2008)

i finished the game once, and now CANT play it. i get stuck waiting for reinforcements that never arrive, in clear skies swamp.


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## Machete (Oct 16, 2008)

Thanks for your help huys...but i found a solution! I just updated my motherboard drivers and now Clear Sky puuuurs along on medium settings. I dont know how this happened...must of overlooked my motherbaord when updating my drivers...


----------



## Mussels (Oct 16, 2008)

Machete said:


> Thanks for your help huys...but i found a solution! I just updated my motherboard drivers and now Clear Sky puuuurs along on medium settings. I dont know how this happened...must of overlooked my motherbaord when updating my drivers...



random... but hey, enjoy the game.


(Until you hit gamestopping bugs, of course)


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## Machete (Oct 16, 2008)

Lol yh the only bug iv seen so far is i was in the middle of the corden somewhere and i could here sidivorich(sp?) talking to me as if i was in his bunker thing it was quite random... oh and iv loading up my game and spawned dead for some reason.


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## ZenZimZaliben (Oct 16, 2008)

I just reached the part where you have to go under ground in the mutant tunnels. So rather then just go there I went to finish up some side quests, stock up on ammo and do a armor upgrade. 

IF I try to go to the Garbage it crashes from any of the entry points. I can go to any of the other places, dark valley, swamp...If I try to get into the garbage from one of those area's it crashes as well. xrgame.dll crash.

So I guess I cannot get back there until I complete the mutant tunnel quest.


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## ShadowFold (Oct 16, 2008)

If you played SHoC then it should look familiar  Do it first and try again.


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## ZenZimZaliben (Oct 16, 2008)

Oh I see. So when I get back from the quest there will be the big environment change.

It should say something then..."You must complete quest before leaving this area" or something to that effect.


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## newconroer (Oct 19, 2008)

New visuals anomalies solution page up if anyone needs.

It covers Black Box and Lines, as well as some shadow IQ increasing:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=74160


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## ChromeDome (Oct 21, 2008)

well i am loving this game now. just like the first. the atmosphere is very dense. 

i'm just at the beginning, about to undertake my first big "mission." clear out the farmhouse. i like how their are a couple of creatures about and renegades here and there. the swamp is eerie and i like the sounds and the look of the sun and shadows. the music is great

if this keeps up i will enjoy it a lot


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## ShadowFold (Oct 21, 2008)

ChromeDome said:


> well i am loving this game now. just like the first. the atmosphere is very dense.
> 
> i'm just at the beginning, about to undertake my first big "mission." clear out the farmhouse. i like how their are a couple of creatures about and renegades here and there. the swamp is eerie and i like the sounds and the look of the sun and shadows. the music is great
> 
> if this keeps up i will enjoy it a lot



It slows down a little after the swamps but the last few hours are pretty damn intense.


----------



## ChromeDome (Oct 23, 2008)

wow i'm in the swamp, just got done clearing the road, and its so DARK i can't see a thing. i almost thought something was wrong with the game until i turned on my flashlight

its really dark just like....um.....a swamp


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## FordGT90Concept (Oct 23, 2008)

Aw.  The game crashed yesterday and now everytime I load up a save, it crashes about a minute later.  Everytime it crashes it is traight to the desktop without any messages of any kind.  The audio makes a weird rattle sound as it closes though.

It crashed in both Garbage and the Dark Valley.  I am quite a ways into the game where I have to go meet up with the Stalkers that were stuck in a space loop.  It only started doing it recently.  I have the 1.5.0.4 patch installed.

It should be noted that my current save is about half way through an emission. :s


----------



## Mussels (Oct 23, 2008)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Aw.  The game crashed yesterday and now everytime I load up a save, it crashes about a minute later.  Everytime it crashes it is traight to the desktop without any messages of any kind.  The audio makes a weird rattle sound as it closes though.
> 
> It crashed in both Garbage and the Dark Valley.  I am quite a ways into the game where I have to go meet up with the Stalkers that were stuck in a space loop.  It only started doing it recently.  I have the 1.5.0.4 patch installed.
> 
> It should be noted that my current save is about half way through an emission. :s



i had that, there was a community patch i found on the forum that fixed it. I've since deleted the game due to its buggy nature, but that oughta get you in the right direction.


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## FordGT90Concept (Oct 23, 2008)

Community patch?  I'm working on downloading/installing 1.5.0.5.  Is that the one you are talking about or something else?


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## Mussels (Oct 23, 2008)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Community patch?  I'm working on downloading/installing 1.5.0.5.  Is that the one you are talking about or something else?



something else. it was made by the community!


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## FordGT90Concept (Oct 23, 2008)

Well, I've been playing for the last 15 minutes and it hasn't crashed on me yet.  1.5.0.5 apparently fixed it. 

I also found a way to get over the creepiness: take off the headphones!   The music is what makes it tense.  Take the music away and it is far less nerve racking.


----------



## ChromeDome (Oct 23, 2008)

game has crashed on me a couple of times, too

at the beginning. once when i pass the first tower on my way to the church. i would climb the tower and a wounded Stalker is up there. i try to talk to him, and crash. each and every time wjen i press the "talk / use" key

same thing happened once when i went to talk to the barkeep

i hate it when games crash. it ruins my immersion!


----------



## ZenZimZaliben (Oct 23, 2008)

Well I finished the game on hard. Excellent game. Horrible ending. I had to google "clear skies ending", just to be sure it was the actual ending...and in hopes of multipule endings and I just did the worst. Not the case...its the only ending. The only thing I got out of it is there will be a stalker 3...which is cool. That ending was pure garbage, imo. Such an awesome game and story except for the almost hurried ending. Oh well, just in time for Farcry 2.


----------



## FordGT90Concept (Oct 23, 2008)

I'm stuck on the NPP roof (where there's stairs going up in the corner with a teleporter on it and going through the teleporter puts you on the same roof). 

I got stuck in the exact same place on Shadow of Chernobyl.  I dunno what to do. 


Nevermind.  I just dropped down to the ground and went after him that way.  There was apparently a bug because he got stuck behind one of the buildings and didn't move at all when I shot him.


I really only have two things to say about it: 1) confusing and 2) not that great.  Clear Sky plays more like an expansion than a whole new game.  It's pretty sad how they reused a lot of stuff from Shadow of Chernobyl.  There wasn't much new content there except the guides and upgrades, which are a nice improvement...


----------



## ZenZimZaliben (Oct 23, 2008)

I will pm you...I don't want to be a spoiler.


----------



## Jaco175 (Oct 25, 2008)

deathvirus_me said:


> in default settings , san rays are only visible till 8 am in the morning after sunrise ... u could try the cfg. i'm using to enable sun rays all the time  .. the game simply looks amazing with that  ... check the attachment .. if u have any problem post it here , or pm me ...  and make sure u read the readme file first




Hello
I´ve used your mod and it does look amazing. However it´s too brigt for my taste. Could you please tell me waht line i need to edit on the config to have the 24/7 good rays and leave the bright option in default?

Also do i need to copy all the gamedata files or changing the user.ltx is enough?

Thank you and great mod!


----------



## EastCoasthandle (Oct 30, 2008)

DX10.1 support has been added for stalker clear sky.  Please report your before and after frame rate results.
source

Before DX9 or DX10
4x AA
everything else maxed

After DX10.1 
4xAA
everything else maxed
(for example)


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Oct 30, 2008)

Excellent! 

I've been taking a break from gaming now that my GF is down. As I'm away this weekend building a friends rig, he hasn't seen STALKER properly, so I'm going to install Clear Sky for him and see what thinks, having 1.5.0.6 from the outset should help matters.


----------



## jimmyme (Oct 30, 2008)

I'm seriously impressed!!!!!
No definitive benches here BUT im now running with 2xAA in Dx10.1 and its smoother and looking better than ever! Nice free AA care of that .1 I guess!
Excellent work, must have for any new ATi card owners!

PS patch update for me = not loading past splash so I had to fix openAL32.dll -that file is such s sh*t for me...STALKER ROCKS!


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## Jaco175 (Nov 5, 2008)

Graphics quality Mod with 24/7 god´s ray´s:

http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Jaco_CS_Graphics_Quality_Mod;95473x#1671732


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## bassmasta (Nov 5, 2008)

I was just wondering if anyone's done the missions with the hermit yet?   when I went to him I didn't get the location for the objective, he just told me to go to a house in the swamps in an anomaly, and that it would be easier to enter from the water.  I went to the swamps and found no such house near any of the ponds or rivers.  does anyone know how to do it?


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## imperialreign (Nov 5, 2008)

bassmasta said:


> I was just wondering if anyone's done the missions with the hermit yet?   when I went to him I didn't get the location for the objective, he just told me to go to a house in the swamps in an anomaly, and that it would be easier to enter from the water.  I went to the swamps and found no such house near any of the ponds or rivers.  does anyone know how to do it?





you got way sidetracked . . .


go back to Agroprom, and head towards the marsh-lake in the NW area of the map.  Towards the southernmost point, you'll see a hut (looks strikingly similar to the hut the crazy stalker had in SoC) - the PDA you need to retrieve is inside there.


be careful, though, there's a nasty sucker around that hut.


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## bassmasta (Nov 6, 2008)

lol I just got to it.  I went back, and got in the same way (stalkers aren't my friends this play through) and when I got down there he just started running away.  I guess the game forgot he was an enemy when he gave me the mission.  does he have any other missions worth doing?  my only friendly save involved me walking through red forest with a markarov


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## imperialreign (Nov 6, 2008)

bassmasta said:


> lol I just got to it.  I went back, and got in the same way (stalkers aren't my friends this play through) and when I got down there he just started running away.  I guess the game forgot he was an enemy when he gave me the mission.  does he have any other missions worth doing?  my only friendly save involved me walking through red forest with a markarov



he supposedly has one or two other tasks - one, I've heard, involves finding another PDA or flash drive that he'll reward you with a koyster grenade launcher for.


but in my current game, I haven't been able to get any other NPCs to fork over new missions.


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## EastCoasthandle (Nov 6, 2008)

zero punctuation did a review of this game.


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## jbunch07 (Nov 6, 2008)

EastCoasthandle said:


> zero punctuation did a review of this game.



I love their review!


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## ChromeDome (Nov 6, 2008)

guys i have to be honest...i have no idea wtf is going on in this game and need some guidance 

i cleared the farmhouse at the very beginning of the game and have returned to "Clear Sky"

now it wants me to go to "Cordan." or Gordan or some crap. but every time i meet the guide  (i really don't like the guide system) he asks where i want to go and its just a series of places i have no idea about. and its night so i can't see anything once i get nowhere 

is there something i'm missing on the map? something i need to do? i'm supposed to "clear the path" out of the swamps or something but the guide just keeps taking me to places i have no idea about

its like a game i can't seem to get started. literally! 

so what am i missing here?

thanks dudes


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## ChromeDome (Nov 8, 2008)

yeah so i got it worked out

go me


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## imperialreign (Nov 8, 2008)

ChromeDome said:


> guys i have to be honest...i have no idea wtf is going on in this game and need some guidance
> 
> i cleared the farmhouse at the very beginning of the game and have returned to "Clear Sky"
> 
> ...





the whole guide thing is really meant to make traveling easier, so you don't have to spend a lot of time moving from one area to the next.  Kinda like shortcuts.

to get out of the swamps, you have to help Clear Sky practically eliminate the Renegades, and clear out one of two of their main camps, usually the southern farmstead, before any guide will be willing to take you to Cordon.

One mod I seriously recommend is the PDA with point names

it adds in all the names of the individual points that are involved with the mini-tasks and faction-tasks . . . guides also use these location names for places they can take you as well.  It helps to remove a lot of the "well, WTF is that?" when they want you to go somewhere specific.


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## ChromeDome (Nov 9, 2008)

yeah thanks for that info. its all clear to me now and i'm well into the game

must say i am loving it so far. the atmosphere and character of the first game has definitely been preserved. and the music is great. i noticed that. the graphics are good, gameplay is the same. had a nice shootout earlier. it was fun

so, i'm on my way to Cordan at last. at least thats what i think its called. should be fun


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## FordGT90Concept (Nov 9, 2008)

Beware of machine gun nest. :X


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