S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky New DX10 Video Released

[malware]

GSC Game, developer of the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, released a new video of the next S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game dubbed Clear Sky. Posted on PC Games Hardware, this DirectX 10 video shows lots of new effects like god rays, soft water, volumetric fire, dynamic and volumetric fog, dynamic wet surfaces, shadow textures for a special rain effect, water drops and physically correct water effects on surfaces. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky will arrive worldwide on August 29th in both retail and online stores like Steam. Here's a link to the original post in German as well as the new exclusive DX10 in-game video.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[DanishDevil]

That video looks sweet! I wonder what kind(s) of card(s) will be able to run that at a decent resolution with all those features?

And it's released a day before my birthday!

 

[X-TeNDeR]

OMFG!

This game is the only thing actually making me feel bad i don't have a DX10 capable GFX card

..And yes, even if i had one, it would probably be too slow for this kind of DX10 eye-candy.

DanishDevil, you got your present alright

 

[ShadowFold]

Wow, its now on my must have wish list! I loved the original and I hope this fixes all the problems.. This looks better than Crysis seriously.

 

[lemonadesoda]

While the new graphics look "good", they are, unfortunately, overdone. In such a way that it looks like a Turner painting. HDR is overdone, fog overdone, sun-streaks, water reflections over... such that it cant be water anymore but more like oil spill, etc. It no longer looks real.

TBH, I preferred the original STALKER graphics. They were much more authentic to what the weather/land actually looks like in Eastern Europe.

If however the new STALKER engine can render better graphics on a normal CPU/GPU then I'll all for that... since dynamic lighting on STALKER has to be turned off by most people due to the FPS kill.

So if they manage to use shaders to create a similar effect, then OK. But let's focus on realism, not "over-realism".

 

[X-TeNDeR]

^ i think the overall "dark" and "spooky" look, and maybe a bit unrealistic atmosphere the game has, is very suitable in the general context of this game. you are a lone soldier in the dreaded radiated area of the Chernobyl NPP.. its not exactly Disneyland.

So the developers made it a bit more "colored" to give it the right effect on the player, who should be deeply immersed by the game's atmosphere. its OK in this case, imo. the original game got me so immersed.. it was wonderful

I think that with the new DX10 graphics it would be even better.

 

[graphicsHorse]

I donno if things were overdone specifically for tech demo purposes but it surely is overdone. Especially the tree, where they are showing softshadows has a very dark-sharp shadow. It looks unreal cause such shadows only occur in direct sunlight.

 

[Triprift]

Looks brilliant to me the only prob is i wont be able to run it for now oh well the vid looks great.

 

[Exavier]

hmm...more reason to change plans from a g92 GTS to the 9800GTX..
baww, I just don't know anymore..

 

[jbunch07]

im so gettin this game!
it looks so good... thanks for the video link!

 

[jbdub1771]

We need all game engines to strat using these DX10 options because DX10 could look so much better than DX9

This even makes the crysis look old graphic effects wise

 

[jbunch07]

i hope it scales better then crysis!

 

[imperialreign]

Ummm - for all those being critical of this little vid . . .


what friggin video resolution are you looking at?! C'mon, it's a small, streaming video, and going full screen about all you see is pixelation. Unless you have a magnifying glass over your monitor, I don't see how anyone can legitimately pick apart aspect of a graphics demonstration like that.


TBH, the way it looks to me - I get the impression that Clear Sky will be able to compete with, if not surpass, the graphics of Crysis, which I think we be phenomenal. We need more titles with such beautiful graphics - and hopefully Clear Sky won't be so demanding of our systems as Crysis was.

 

[lemonadesoda]

SERIOUS ERROR with perspective management and infinity point. Shadows or sun light rays would never converge/diverge like this. For all calculation purposes the distance to the sun is infinity, not a point on the TFT screen.

Back to skool boyz!

PS. @IR...criticisms are of screenshots only, not vid. Just as a reminder to my original comments. The screenshot look GREAT. Just NOT realistic. Video is a poor thing to judge a game engine by. Why? Well just think about all the in-game video sequences in the original STALKER... They were, graphically, nothing like the game engine at all, and were pre-rendered and packaged as a video sequence, probably done on a completely different platform.

 

[ShadowFold]

Who cares it looks freaking pretty tho I do agree with that but it makes it look really good and its not suppose to look and feel crazy real like that its supost to look better

 

[imperialreign]

SERIOUS ERROR with perspective management and infinity point. Shadows or sun light rays would never converge/diverge like this. For all calculation purposes the distance to the sun is infinity, not a point on the TFT screen.

Back to skool boyz!

PS. @IR...criticisms are of screenshots only, not vid. Vid is a poor thing to judge. Just think about all the in-game video sequences in STALKER... they are, graphically, nothing like the game engine at all, and were done on a completely different platform. Video sequences rendered and packaged cannot be compared to in game screenshots.

true - s'all good, I thought everyone was critisizing of the vids. = myself.

Although, I thought the vid of the modded (if I understood correctly) freedom base with DX10 looked nice - but, I don't think that's what we'll see in game, based upon the sun vanishing point issue you pointed out. It wouldn't surprise me if they only did that for demonstration purposes (remember, the first pics we saw of DX10 Clear Sky were from that same area), and are still in the process of tweaking the game engine properly.

Either way, I truly think this will be able to compete on the graphic level of Crysis. It looks very promising.

 

[ShadowFold]

This is a whole new level from Crysis imo. Plus this will probly be playable on max with a 3870/8800 card hopefully! First good looking DX10 game imo.

 

[lemonadesoda]

You know, there is one thing about the original STALKER that I really liked... and that was... the lighting, the landscape, and the architecture (buildings). They got it just right. If you've ever been to Central or Eastern Europe you'd know. It was really odd when I played. I ACTUALLY FELT LIKE I WAS BACK IN EASTERN EUROPE. Now THAT is pretty good realism in my books.

The problem with the current screenshots is that is looks like some kind of renaissance painting but with a modern setting. No. We want RAW. And we want those BIG SKIES of Eastern Europe. And we want that odd, boulevarded, blocked, Russian architecture.

With that over-the-top renaissance artistic style, I keep getting the feeling that the Pope and all his angels is going walk down the train tracks.

 

[imperialreign]

You know, there is one thing about the original STALKER that I really liked... and that was... the lighting, the landscape, and the architecture (buildings). They got it just right. If you've ever been to Central or Eastern Europe you'd know. It was really odd when I played. I ACTUALLY FELT LIKE I WAS BACK IN EASTERN EUROPE. Now THAT is pretty good realism in my books.

The problem with the current screenshots is that is looks like some kind of renaissance painting but with a modern setting. No. We want RAW. And we want those BIG SKIES of Eastern Europe. And we want that odd, boulevarded, blocked, Russian architecture.

With that over-the-top renaissance artistic style, I keep getting the feeling that the Pope and all his angels is going walk down the train tracks.

I loved the "background" of SoC as well - granted, the NPC and object art might not have been the greatest, and at times the graphics seemed a bit cartoonish, but the lighting and shading was amazing. Coupled with the gameplay, any downsides to the game were so easily forgotten about. The freedom, replayability and immersiveness were the likes of which I haven't seen since the start of the Thief series, and that so totally pwns.


As to that quip about the pope and angels - I figure like this; if the daylight looks that "heavenly," how sinister and eerie could we expect nighttime to be? Hell, as if it was bad enough you didn't want to go trapsing about after dark unless you had to, if they could factor in some eerire moonlight and the use of fog for Clear Sky . . .

 

[lemonadesoda]

You mean scarey like this? LOL

 

[imperialreign]

You mean scarey like this? LOL

 

[InnocentCriminal]

All that aside, I think it looks freakin' sick!

I've been planning on buying it since I heard of it's conception so this is just an added bonus. The flaws lemonadesoda has mentioned are not enough to annoy me like the bugs in the first one.

 

[happita]

Definitely excited about this game. Im playing the original STALKER for the first time, and I gotta say, I'm so addicted to it hahaha. It's such an intuitive game, I can't wait till Clear Sky comes out, that video sure made the scenes look nice.

 

[Edito]

I don't know why to talk sou much about this game, don't get me wrong but this game didn't impress me at all...maybe the STALKER CLEAR WORLD no just the sky...don't get me wrong...

 

[imperialreign]

Since I started playing the first one, I've been solely focusing on it - I haven't had this kind of addiction to a game since Thief: The Dark Project was released back in 1998.

Sure, the first one has some flaws, and enough bugs to drive even the most resolute WIN users batty, but the whole concept and implimentation are old-school, IMO, and that is something we really haven't seen in a long while.

I hope, though, the visual flaws that ls pointed out are just due to early visiual demonstrations, and not what we'll actually see in game.