S.T.A.L.K.E.R Graphics, Bugs, and AI OH MY!!!! (A Poll)

I finally got it running after a few headaches with securerom and my plextor drives.

 Its ok i guess. My only problem is i have a really hard time enjoying games under 60fps. With the computer i have i should easily get that on any setting and i dont ( no im not using vista). Its frustrating and makes it almost impossible to enjoy a game that otherwise feels like a good game. 

Ive opted to just not play it anymore untill they patch it a few times and take care of all the optimization problems.  Im sure i'll enjoy it more if i just wait for fixes.

I finally got it running after a few headaches with securerom and my plextor drives.

Its ok i guess. My only problem is i have a really hard time enjoying games under 60fps. With the computer i have i should easily get that on any setting and i dont ( no im not using vista). Its frustrating and makes it almost impossible to enjoy a game that otherwise feels like a good game.

Ive opted to just not play it anymore untill they patch it a few times and take care of all the optimization problems. Im sure i'll enjoy it more if i just wait for fixes.

Alter_Echo

Only loosers complain about out of date graphics. The game was suppose to come out several years ago so can you please stop biaching about the graphics.Iffy350

Personally I think the biggest issue with S.T.A.L.K.E.R is that it just seems like an outdated game. Even though the graphics shine in some areas, they falter in others (Indoors/Outdoors). Even though the AI is realistic, it does not make it fun when I pump a bunch of AMMO into one enemy only to ahve him turn around shoot me twice and then watch as 10 enemies hop around the corner and walk over my dead body. This makes me think even if I did take out that one enemy how was I going to take on 10 more?

Now those kinds of situations have turned into amazing gameplay experiences for me such as , I pop the one enemy in the head, and then STALK around the rest of the group since I moved so fast that they lost me and continually take them down one by one and with strategic grenade throws.

I have not encountered any bugs and the game seems to run fine for me at 1280x1024 at max settings with object dynamic lighting on, my rig is a AMD 64 3400+, 1 gig corsair pc3200+ 2-2-2-5, and a 7600GT AGP running on Windows XP Pro.

I would give S.T.A.L.K.E.R a 7.4/10 now and a 8.6/10 if it released when it was suppose to. the menus are outdated, and it just does not seem like a top tier gaming experience right now, though I do belive that if you like FPS on the PC then S.T.A.L.K.E.R is a game not to be missed.
acidBURN1942

Only loosers complain about out of date graphics. The game was suppose to come out several years ago so can you please stop biaching about the graphics.Iffy350

Thing is the graphics are pretty crud and the game still runs like crap. The AI is screwed as well. People are always seeing me through walls or trying to shoot me through them.

Most of these things can be fixed with patches. Although you'd think they would have time to put it out in working order. Nothing can be done about outdated graphics, but I am not really one to care about that ( I am currently playing a character through the original fallout for about the 12th time in my life). I can understand how some people could be turned off by it though.

I think that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is overall a great game, graphics and all. But I do have problems with the game crashing to desktop what is probably due to compatibility issues with Vista. But a patch or two should fix that.maniXsan

the biggest issue isn't even on the poll. the horrendous load time. Qixote

I finally got it running after a few headaches with securerom and my plextor drives.

Its ok i guess. My only problem is i have a really hard time enjoying games under 60fps. With the computer i have i should easily get that on any setting and i dont ( no im not using vista). Its frustrating and makes it almost impossible to enjoy a game that otherwise feels like a good game.

 

Ive opted to just not play it anymore untill they patch it a few times and take care of all the optimization problems. Im sure i'll enjoy it more if i just wait for fixes.

Alter_Echo

Or, you could quit moaning about frame rates and upgrade your hardware. I have E6600/2GB Corsair/eVGA 8800GTX & S.T.A.L.K.E.R. runs flawlessly.

If those of you who maon about graphics while running prehistoric hardware weren't so pathetic, I'd almost feel sympathetic.

 You thinking about posting back now "Alter_Echo" with: Blah blah I have 8800GTX SLI blah blah - don't bother, I know that if you're witnessing slow-downs (mr less than 60fps) you're not even close to being on the forefront of hardware tech because S.T.A.L.K.E.R. also runs very nicely on 7800GTX SLI.

 Yes, that AI has it bugs but if anyone can name a single game that also shows brillance* like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has done, I'll eat my own earwax.

*No-one who has played the game can claim that they went right through without seeing some very, very impressive AI. 

I see a lot of potential for this game, but as it is now it is still a very good game.  The AI is amazing, for one thing.  Example: I was at that train bridge where the army guys were guarding, and I said to myself "Hey, I want thier guns!"  So, I went up top and tried to ambush them from above.  Sadly, my pistol and sawed-off shotty were too innacurate at 50 yards so I had to hide.  Then the army guys ran up the hill at me, from both side (the bridge is on top of a hill, so there are slopes on both sides of the tracks) and tried to flank me.  Fortunately I got off two lucky bursts with my sawed-off at like 5 yards, so there were two dead guys, each with AK-74SUs and some ammo.  That made taking out the other three or four guys much easier.

The animal AI is quite interesting.  Dogs attack in packs, and if you shoot one they will run away.  Mutant Boars act aggressive, just like real life boars (anyone who has gone  boar hunting knows that a gunshot wont deter them from charging you) and dont run away when being shot.

And, perhaps greatest of all, is that all the battles are not "self-centered."  In other words, you can come across 4 human enemes attacking some dogs or boars and sneak by them, or you can wait out the battle and then kill the weakened enemy, or you can join in the battle and take out whatever enemy is the greatest threat while they are distracted.

Someone said before that bad graphics are one thing, while optimization is quite another.  I agree; this game has decent graphics, but for an engine that is years old I should expecty Halflife-2 quality graphics on a mid-range system, at the LEAST!  But, for now, I will just have to live with a slighlty lower resolution and enjoy the solid gameplay.

I am going to wait until the game is patched before I do my official player review.  At the moment, its a very good and challenging game (but its challenging for the wrong reasons).

Only loosers complain about out of date graphics. The game was suppose to come out several years ago so can you please stop biaching about the graphics.Iffy350

OK guys, a got my review:

"STALKER; well, its not as bad as Daikatana."

HAHAHAHAHHA :twisted:

OK guys, a got my review:

"STALKER; well, its not as bad as Daikatana."

HAHAHAHAHHA :twisted:

mrbojangles25

I got a feeling STALKER is gonna turn into a cult-classic of sorts, much like Deus Ex or the Vampire: The Masquerade game.  There is gonna be a die hard fanbase with tons of user-made patches and mods, and those of us faithful players will [eventually] be awared with one of the greatest games ever made.

As it is now, however, the game needs a lot of work and I sometimes ask myself what they did with those extra few years.  Im still gonna stick with it though.

But so few games have done things like Stalker that it seems pointless to compare it with other linear games.nutcrackr

I got a feeling STALKER is gonna turn into a cult-****c of sorts, much like Deus Ex or the Vampire: The Masquerade game. There is gonna be a die hard fanbase with tons of user-made patches and mods, and those of us faithful players will [eventually] be awared with one of the greatest games ever made.

As it is now, however, the game needs a lot of work and I sometimes ask myself what they did with those extra few years. Im still gonna stick with it though.

mrbojangles25

[QUOTE="Alter_Echo"]

I finally got it running after a few headaches with securerom and my plextor drives.

Its ok i guess. My only problem is i have a really hard time enjoying games under 60fps. With the computer i have i should easily get that on any setting and i dont ( no im not using vista). Its frustrating and makes it almost impossible to enjoy a game that otherwise feels like a good game.

 

Ive opted to just not play it anymore untill they patch it a few times and take care of all the optimization problems. Im sure i'll enjoy it more if i just wait for fixes.

HappyPeaceGuy

Or, you could quit moaning about frame rates and upgrade your hardware. I have E6600/2GB Corsair/eVGA 8800GTX & S.T.A.L.K.E.R. runs flawlessly.

If those of you who maon about graphics while running prehistoric hardware weren't so pathetic, I'd almost feel sympathetic.

You thinking about posting back now "Alter_Echo" with: Blah blah I have 8800GTX SLI blah blah - don't bother, I know that if you're witnessing slow-downs (mr less than 60fps) you're not even close to being on the forefront of hardware tech because S.T.A.L.K.E.R. also runs very nicely on 7800GTX SLI.

Yes, that AI has it bugs but if anyone can name a single game that also shows brillance* like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has done, I'll eat my own earwax.

*No-one who has played the game can claim that they went right through without seeing some very, very impressive AI.

 I giggled a little inside knowing i could probably drop a pelt in my chilled water loop  and swap to a higher flow gpu block and double you off in almost every bench. 

I bought STALKER hoping for a great game and I got it. Sadly, due to issues with my nvidia 7300 i cant play it without an extremely annoying graphical bug(the sky is completly colorless and trees, crows and shrubs leave outlines) I cant enjoy it on my machine. However i played it on my roomate's compy and I had loads of fun. If you have the right computer, stalker is a superb game.bobthehippo

So basicly pay for a game that has taken 6 years to develope and make and it still needs alot of work...

Sounds like a great game. :roll:

I'm running the game on medium quality on 6800 GS OC. Shadow slider maxxed, no sun shadows, no grass shadows Had 20-25 fps on 1024*860 with a bit of a stutter every now and then, switched to 800*600 - now I get about 30 fps steady. Surprisingly, 800*600 doesn't look bad at all. The specs do seem a bit too high for the quality, but I think that's just the x-ray engine being poorly optimized. This should have about the same requirements as half-life 2 episode one, which runs a lot better on my machine. Regardless, I don't really have a problem with graphics. Nor anything else for that matter, aside from the loading times and some side quests.

I do feel a bit... lonely and scared sometimes when I play.

p.s. I wish you guys understood the chatter. Like when the chopper passes overhead in the beginning and you hear the dudes talk through the speaker you really feel like you've come within an inch of death. It really helps with immersion. Serves as a comic relief, also, which I often seem to need.

p.p.s Oh yeah, and goof prize of the month goes to Xfire for plastering the profile page with Stalker ads and not detecting the game.

.........Even though the graphics shine in some areas, they falter in others (Indoors/Outdoors)...........
acidBURN1942

do you guys think i'll be able to run it, i have a Intel Core 2 Duo running at 1.67Ghz i got 2GB or Ram and a 256mb Nvidia GeForce 7600 the hard drive doesnt matter cus i got to runnin at 7200rpm im able to run F.E.A.R at the highest settings and half life 2 and far cry, what do you think, i want this game, but i dont want to buy a game tahts gonna be difficult to run ktkiller626

I got the same system almost (E6400, 2GB memory, 7600GT) and it runs fine.

I have XP. It ran fine for a few minutes, then I died and once I managed to get back to the same bit, it crashed.

Tried again from my save, bit longer, then crashed, again, still crashed. It just....freezes. I can tolerate slight jumps and things, cos they tend to lay up after a while, but freezing like that is obviously unaccceptable. It needs patching VERY VERY quickly!

do you guys think i'll be able to run it, i have a Intel Core 2 Duo running at 1.67Ghz i got 2GB or Ram and a 256mb Nvidia GeForce 7600 the hard drive doesnt matter cus i got to runnin at 7200rpm im able to run F.E.A.R at the highest settings and half life 2 and far cry, what do you think, i want this game, but i dont want to buy a game tahts gonna be difficult to run ktkiller626

[QUOTE="acidBURN1942"].........Even though the graphics shine in some areas, they falter in others (Indoors/Outdoors)...........
out0v0rder

Can anyone help with my problem? about the trees and sky and birds messing up, it works fine besides when i look up lol! and PS i have new driversdavid920

No bugs or crashes for me so far...runs almost perfect..

The game is awesome ( playing it now) , but it seriously need's a 100 % working patch.

Can someone please enlighten me on the MP aspect of the game since GS felt it uncessary to include it in their review for some reason. If I buy the game it will be based on how fun, how much replayability, and overall how the MP is.HuckinFilarious

I thought Gamespot said it was fairly average, and that the relic mode or whatever its called didnt really work out too well.

Or, you could quit moaning about frame rates and upgrade your hardware. I have E6600/2GB Corsair/eVGA 8800GTX & S.T.A.L.K.E.R. runs flawlessly.

If those of you who maon about graphics while running prehistoric hardware weren't so pathetic, I'd almost feel sympathetic.

You thinking about posting back now "Alter_Echo" with: Blah blah I have 8800GTX SLI blah blah - don't bother, I know that if you're witnessing slow-downs (mr less than 60fps) you're not even close to being on the forefront of hardware tech because S.T.A.L.K.E.R. also runs very nicely on 7800GTX SLI.

Yes, that AI has it bugs but if anyone can name a single game that also shows brillance* like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has done, I'll eat my own earwax.

*No-one who has played the game can claim that they went right through without seeing some very, very impressive AI.

HappyPeaceGuy

[QUOTE="ktkiller626"]do you guys think i'll be able to run it, i have a Intel Core 2 Duo running at 1.67Ghz i got 2GB or Ram and a 256mb Nvidia GeForce 7600 the hard drive doesnt matter cus i got to runnin at 7200rpm im able to run F.E.A.R at the highest settings and half life 2 and far cry, what do you think, i want this game, but i dont want to buy a game tahts gonna be difficult to run mrbojangles25

I got the same system almost (E6400, 2GB memory, 7600GT) and it runs fine.

hows the quality? like the settings