printf("Studying Game Development (C/C++ & OpenGL), S.T.A.L.K.E.R. CoP/CoC modder/fan, Interest in modern Japanese culture\n");

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Quick notes to self

Kahvana Blog

Grass density & radius
r__detail_density 0.25
r__detail_radius 60

Custom structures texture pack
merge the following:
- Stalker Two-K
- structures redux

Mods to use from CoC in CoP
- S.W.T.C. skyboxes v1.12
- ESFX v1.12b
- Gore mod v1.2 (modify system.ltx)
- TRX - Sounds Revamp v7.5 (modify config & script files)
- SmallHUD (modify texutre & config files, tweak to my own liking)

STCoP 2.9 Lite
- remove all vanilla weapons
- replace some special weapons with others
- FN 2000 with FN SCAR-H (conversion kit)
- March with FN 57
- frasier with UMP-45

Almost 1 year already?

Kahvana Blog

Hello fellow S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s,

It has been a long time since I wrote my blog post. It's time for me to admit that life is full of surprises.

I started with my internship after the summer vacation. I finally finished it, and now I'm retaking the aptitude test. It has been a long year without time to wander aimlessly in the zone, but as luck would have it, I got the most wonderful girlfriend during one of the shittiest periods of the year. I could write a whole blog post about her, but I'll keep it at her sharing the love of the zone with me.

As for the mods I've been working on, I sadly wasn't able to make any progress. However, it looks like that I'll have time soon to work on them during my free days and weekends. My test version of STCoP 2.9 Lite was an success in my opinion, and will now start to work on an proper release. It is only for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, and no other mod. If I find myself having enough time, I might make a version for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Chernobyl.

One thing I would really like to try is to get the main menu from CoC in CoP. I can see some cool use-cases for it. Porting mods from CoC has been a fun experience, and it's doable as long as it doesn't require scripts from CoC (I'm looking at you, arx_keybind.script).

A small list of mods from CoC that I've been experimenting with:
- Autumnal Winds, Absolute Nature Redux, Structures Redux can be done in a day or two
- AF3 S.W.T.C. skyboxes and ESFX are plug-n-play
- Advanced S.W.T.C. works with minor tweaks
- TRX - Sounds Revamp (2.0) works like a charm with some editing
- Gore mod (1.2) was easy to port
- smallHUD required minor tweaks

I recently checked out the old gsc stalker cop mods forum, and damn it has some cool mods and resources there. If you're a modder and need some good smaller mods, make sure to check out that place! It's like a small gold mine.

At last, I'm slowly getting back to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. modding scene by updating all my addons.

That should do it for now. More will follow later.
Stay safe in the zone.

Update

Kahvana Blog

Hello fellow S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s,

I've been busy for a while now, mostly with my study (game programming) and thinking about my future. I've finally got an internship at a company specialized in both offline and online rendering, CGI and other stuff. I hope that I can put the knowledge I obtain there to use in the merge mod I am currently making.

So far progress as been slow but steady. I've been modifying the STCoP 2.9 weapon pack since it was released, trying to strip it down to only contain the vanilla weapon variants and ammo. Think of it as OWR 3 but then with more scopes and the requirement for a special silencers. With slimming down, I don't just mean remove them from the code, but also removing unused textures, sounds and models. Dependencies are a pain in the ass.

It's not the only thing I am working on. I've still been working on editing Alundaio's awesome APP (Ai Plugin Pack) used with MSO 1.1 to contain small new features / changes from AI Tweaks 2.1 and removing the MSO specific stuff (basically what MSO made a pain to merge with any other mod). The random loadout tool is really a lifesaver, and try to edit it a bit more to make it easier to change specific stuff.

I show interest in porting work from the CoC addons to my own merge mod, such as texture packs and game tweaks (I really hope to get the SWTC for CoC's AF3 and campfire feature to work with CoP). I really hope that the HD Models mod will also contain CoP story specific models.

Heh, I think I've spend more time modding the game than actually playing it xD. A friend of mine (Kladdos) helps me out with playtesting the game (he could finish all main + side quests within 5 hours o.o), When he tests a particular mod or merge, I work on another part on it so that no time is wasted.

At last, I've been writing short stories about my earlier S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat / Chernobyl playthroughs. So far I've only released one online. Give it a try:
Reddit.com

Oh, before I forget: I got myself and a friend a physical copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat. We are both really happy with it!. I didn't expect the local game store to still have retail copies of the game :P. She sold me the last ones they had.

That's it for today. Feel free to respond or share your opinion!.

Random thoughts about STALKER (CoP & CoC) modding & merging #4

Kahvana Blog

Hello guys, I am not dead yet.

I've mostly been doing research on several AI mods, how to fix the firing mode issue from original weapon renewal 2.1 lite, and some other stuff.

OWR 2.1 abakan (gamedata/configs/weapons/w_abakan) has an issue where you can only fire semi-automatic or 2-round burst.
to fix this, change

fire_modes = 1, 2

to

fire_modes = 1, 2, -1

the -1 stands for full automatic. So if you want a pistol or any other weapon (besides the knife, grenades, etc) to be able to fire fully automatic, there you go.

My interest at the moment are trying to slim-down STCoP to only have the default weapons, but also change the special variants to those I like (FN SCAR-H, FN FNX silenced). However, I would like to keep the additional equipment options (silencers, scopes, attachable grenade launchers).
So, it would essencially be an owr but using STCoP weapons with additional equipment for the guns.

As for my modified version of MSO:
It is too much of a bother to edit it, so I went with APP (ai plugin pack) and modified that. I am now trying to port over the spawn locations from MSO to it. I will release the work I've done so far on my modified MSO, so others can experiment with it.

Btw, today I found some excelent tutorials about modding stalker's all.spawn:
Moddb.com
Sdk.stalker-game.com

They are really informative and relative easy to follow, but sadly the ACDC tool had some errors with the newest redist version that prevented it from decompiling all.spawn. Thus, I opend visual studio and fixed it.

Here is the link to the updated ACDC tool (with active perl redist):
Drive.google.com

At last, I created a google drive folder where I'll upload my and other mods. I'll structure the folders so it will be easy to merge them. I try to split them into modules, so you can personalize it to your own preferences.

As for the link to it, here ya go:
Drive.google.com

Stay safe in the zone, S.T.Al.K.E.R.

[EDIT]
Here is the link to the enhanced MSO:
Drive.google.com

Random thoughts about STALKER (CoP & CoC) modding & merging #3

Kahvana Blog

Today I've been able to merge together a nice collection of mods. I am not sure whenever I'll upload it or not, but so far it's kinda sweet if you ask me. More about that in another post.

But for now, I'll talk about something else.

Simple mistakes

Something that happens to me all too often while merging mods for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat. One fo those occurred to me while I was merging OWR 2.1 lite with MSO 1.01. In MSO, the mod has a really nice feature: NPC's shoot AP ammo. And yes, you're damned when one of those bullets go trough your armor. However, to let NPC's use special AP ammo, they need a special gun variant in their w_<weapon>.ltx . For example, this variant has the ability to shoot special ammo, and spawns with an ap ammo clip inside it:

[wpn_ak74u_ap]:wpn_ak74u
ammo_class = ammo_5.45x39_ap, ammo_5.45x39_fmj,

But when you forget to include one of those, your game will crash, the crash report is luckily clear enough to let you know that the missing weapon was the error, you fix it, wait three minutes (I am using an intel PRO SSD, mind you ;P ), and repeat. Also, don't forget that these special kind of weapon variants need to be added to mp_ranks, inventory_upgrades and stalker_upgrade_info.

It might be annoying at first to make those simple mistakes and to not know how to fix them, but eventually they get more fun to deal with. Getting angry at that your game crashes because of a bug won't get you anywhere.

Most of the bugs I've got to fix when merging are within ltx or xml files. It's not much fun to go trough 9132 lines of code to find a goddamn error (I am looking at you, character_desc_general). So, CTRL + F and sleepless nights will quickly become your best friends.

I think I'll tonight try to merge the newest AI Tweaks I could find (version 2.1) with MSO 1.01 and hostile_relations (from APP 1.00), and see if it will resolve some internal bugs, enhance the experience within the game even more (smarter AI). At last, I'll try to activate the whole AI smart terrain (a switch_distance of 1500 in alife.ltx should be high enough).

I'll let you know if something interesting comes up.
Stay safe in the zone, S.T.Al.K.E.R.

Yes, the CoC HD Models mod does work in CoP

Kahvana Blog

link to mod: Moddb.com

Variation mod is not required for this, but many less models will be used. And don't worry, as long as "prefetch_single.ltx" in "gamedata/configs/prefetch" does not have the models that are not used in vanilla included, the models that are not available in vanilla CoP should not take any additional RAM / VRAM.

Just copy the models & textures folder and paste it inside the gamedata folder. Also, to use the outfit_novice config, you'll need to merge it with the one from CoP. The fastest way to see if it works, is to go to the Merc base and give 'em hell.

2 screenshots with HD models and my enhanced M.S.O. 1.01 for testing purposes:

img 0

img 1

Random thoughts about STALKER (CoP & CoC) modding & merging #2

Kahvana Blog

Hello everyone, survived the vacation or your usual week?. My laptop didn't had any energy left and forgot my adaptor at a friend's place, so ended up writing code in my textbooks using paper and pencils. So, there you have it. My week wasn't as great as I wished it would've been. Oh well, at least I had enough time to think out some stuff for this new blog entry.

Let's start with something I am a little proud of myself: I was finally able to merge OWR 2.1 Lite with Atmosfear 3 and my custom version (which I might release) of MSO 1.01.

MSO 1.01 is a very interesting mod, which as most of you know, enhance the AI from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat. It is a great mod, but it is filled with bugs (mostly smart-terrain related, so delete everything from "gamedata/configs/scripts" except "axr_companion_logic" and "beh_companion" to get the mod to run, but the custom spawns won't be present in the mod when you do).

The thing that bothered me the most was that it included some stuff it doesn't need, such as the suits being mixed up (monolith using loner scientific suits, a trader file (???), inventory & item upgrades (why?!), a custom mesh for a green and a red scientific suit, and audio I am pretty sure that they are just duplicates.

So, I started removing the stuff I didn't need (audio, inventory & item upgrades, prefetch, the audio files, the model (and it's related files), the weapon files and edited the config file to remove the special models.

If I weren't including a weapon mod, I would've removed the special ammo variant guns from the description files in gameplay. But since I'll use OWR 2.1 Lite and don't need to bother the naming, I just left them be and included the special ammo variant in the weapon config files. I also merged the mp_ranks with the one from OWR 2.1.

A side note, for those who don't know it yet: the AI from CoP don't use their ammo. Another side note: I prefer OWR 2.1 Lite over 3 or any other weapon pack as it is highly mergable, contains my favorite weapon (HK G36C with EOTECH reflex sight & M203 grenade launcher) and keeps the vanilla looks and makes the special variants feel exotic (like if it is a really special weapon in the game). The balancing is also really nice.

I've yet to look at the smart terrain files, which will sure be a b*tch as I've yet a lot to learn about them. For now, just removing them allowed the game to run without much of a problem, which is great!. I should also write a new patch for Atmosfear 3 and use that one just to be sure it works with the newest Atmosfear 3.

Another update on the CoC SWTC and CoC enhanced sunsets & sunrises: they both work in CoP (if Atmosfear 3 is installed) and they really should be used together!. if you use enhanced sunsets & sunrises alone, the sun will look really large and unrealistic. But with the SWTC skyboxes, it suddenly behaves correctly. Other good news: HD models for Call of Chernobyl also work with CoP. Just remove the config file and drop the folders inside the gamedata folder.

At last, I haven't yet got the chance to use the reshade from REDUX 2 Beta, but it looks really promising!. Hopefully it will look as good in my custom merge as his.

Stay safe in the zone, S.T.Al.K.E.R.

Random thoughts about STALKER (CoP & CoC) modding & merging #1

Kahvana Blog

Today I was (again) checking the moddb addon page for CoC (a really good mod I recommend to everyone, even if they didn't play any other S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game), and I had some random thoughts about modding & merging mods.

brainscorcher is a really good modder (he provides high-quality graphical addons for CoC) and made me wonder if some of his work (and from others as well) could be ported over to CoP as well.

Thanks to his work with the S.W.T.C. skybox replacer mod for CoC, It would be easy to port it over to be used with CoP as atmosfear 3's texture naming do not differ (too much) from CoC. Some of his fixes and/or additions to the Absolute Structures could be ported over as well (hopefully the train bumpmap fix as well). W.A.R.F.I.G.H.T.E.R. is as well portable with relative ease.

It would be awesome to see DRX Dynamic Faction mod and the ability to change from faction in freeplay mode in CoP.

The High-Res models from @Ninja_Nub[NOR] can also work with relative ease with CoP, While I dislike the Variation mod (requires alot of time with merging to get it to work with various addons, and my laptop is not much better than a russian potato), removing unnecessary files would prevent OOM's.

IF I ever would have the time (summer vacations!), however, I would love to merge Variation with STCoP and Loot Armor (with it being damaged when looted, ofc) for CoP. I would also love to try to get LootMoney to work with CoP.

I cannot help but to dream about how awesome CoP will be with the following addons:

LootMoney, Modified Detectors, W.A.R.F.I.G.H.T.E.R., STCoP, Open Scopes for STCoP, enhanced sunsets and sunrises, S.W.T.C., Absolute Nature (4) + REDUX fixes, Absolute Structures + REDUX fixes & additions (also those lovely detector textures!) + ST Additions (see comments from Structure REDUX), Atmosfear 3, Variation mod + HD Models (when complete, otherwise only HD models if only the core models are presented), Loot Armor (customized to drop armor with max 69% to 20%), LED flashlight (weaker flashlight), AITweaks + MSO light (+spawn locations from MSO 1.1), Tremor replacement after he dies, Drag bodies, Better bullet piercing + radiated water + water drag (water as in cs), Remove quest items from inventory, Radio music in Skadovsk. And optionally a reshade to add some fancy shaders.

...I think it would look really awesome. Anyways, that's it for today!. I might do another write-up about my thoughts or progress to realize it, but I won't promise anything.

Stay safe in the zone, S.T.Al.K.E.R.