Call of Chernobyl is a free-play sandbox mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : Call of Pripyat created by TeamEPIC. It features 32 explorable maps, reworked level design and level fixes, new original level, Trucks Cemetery, Full AI and A-Life overhaul, engine and script enhancements, Repeatable task system which bases itself on A-Life events, Customizable weather environments for every map as well as surges and psi-storms from AF3, Character creation which includes name, portrait and faction selection; Several optional modes such as Ironman mode, story mode and zombie survival mode, New achievements, rankings and reputation system, PDA leaderboard and enhanced PDA statistics, Companion system with keyboard issued commands, many optional side-features and community-made addons . Call of Chernobyl was player's choice Mod of the Year 9th place in 2015 and 1st place in 2016!
I know we said there would be no tasks/quests but I was bored.
Here is a glimpse at a repeatable task using a modified task_manager. The quest is a daily dynamic task; the destination changes each time you do repeat the quest. The randomness of A-Life ensures that every time you do the task it will be a new experience. Sometimes it will be easy cash and other times you will have to struggle to keep your clients alive.
This video shows of the enhanced companion system in Call of Chernobyl. Companions can take simple orders, like whether to loot, ignore combat or keep low. They react to your enemies regardless of their own faction relation.
On the technical side I modified the task_manager to allow prerequisites and repeatability with a timeout. All my tasks so far use ZERO infoportions (With the exception of the companion feature itself), belive it or not, which makes them much easier to manage and light on RAM usage. Simple tasks are easily constructable now.
Higher Quality Video on Youtube:
Looks like neat feature :)
It would be good to see a bit more polishing such that the scientists can run with you and exit and enter maps faster.
We are going to open up the Csky base so that there is no longer a need for the transition. I have since tweaked the companion script to more reactive movement when following the player.
Looks awesome! I can't wait to do random runs with scientist, hopefully it's not always two orange scientist. Looking forward t more!
I planned to use different profiles but some of them were spawning military or mercs. I didn't want to create a new character description. :(
Ah apologies, this would happen to be my fault. Granted if you used the rookie ecologist you should get spawns of orange, blue, and white I believe!
I had to add the different meshes to sim_default_0 profiles. So it's okay now.
Yummy !
I like it, however if they actaully ran up to you and talked to you first that would feel more immersive, that may just be my opinion though.
Good suggestion. It is done. :D
The English isn't very good so the text would benefit from a rewrite but other than that it's Brilliant.
That hurts my feelings.
:( It wasn't meant to.
Honestly I think Stalker needs a lot more quests like this. In that I mean "repeatable" quests whose dynamic attributes come from the world itself. Stalker can become quite static, but I think it would be fantastic if factions, groups or even individuals could have a list of quests they need done (perhaps randomly cycled through).
Maybe stalkers need a simple "find this item for me" quest or a "raid this location" - maybe for Freedom and Duty simple quests like "assassinate the Freedom/Duty squad/squad leader" - perhaps traders could give simple tasks like "take this item to another trader (or special NPC)" type quests.
I'm just ranting.
I already implemented a contract killer task for Sidrovich, It's pretty simple and not something I really want. I would like to add mystery elements like CoP magpie quest but I don't want to spend that much time. Duty/Freedom variants wouldn't be a bad idea. I plan on adding a task to raid the Car Park which will be repeatedly available when the location is occupied by Bandits. Might even allow Fanatic or Wolf to join for the duration, but we'll see. Might even be a good idea to do this for Freedom/Duty where you have to assault a base.
I don't really want to add fetch quests. I want it to actually be a fun experience and not a grind. The quests I'm adding are examples to show future modders what is possible in CoC. More or less I'm adding task similar to what is found in all three games but in a much simpler format that allows them to be repeated.
Yeah I understand that. Fetch quests really need to have little stories attached to them, however, I do think that if there is lore surrounding "life in the Zone" that it would make sense for stalkers to undertake mundane tasks. Skyrim is a pretty good example of what NOT to do as it often sends players across the map to pick something up and send them back and there's often no compelling story to go with it beyond some NPc who lost it (and it raises the question of why a lowly store owner was in an ancient ruin with bears and trolls and somehow lost his family heirloom in the deepest reaches of the cave).
Wow, this is very very cool, great job! Can you go into more depth about how you can create missions like this (fairly complex) without infoportions?
Also, how do you manage the waypoints the scientists are using when they get to the site? Did you add them in the Level Editor, or through your scripting? Also, are you using a space restrictor to detect when they should begin the job?
Finally, the task updates regularly, why is that?
I'm intrigued mate!
The quest itself does not use waypoints, infoportions or space restrictors. Here is a quick run-down of how the quest works:
1.dialog gives actor task and spawns a squad using companion logic
2. A random anomaly is chosen from the db.anomaly_by_name table
3. In the logic for scientists, it checks for a certain distance less than equal. This switches logic to a new section where the companions will move to cover points or random vertex ids to play a scanning animation.
4. on_game_timer ticks away and triggers sound that they are done and switches them back to the normal section to follow actor.
The task is truly dynamic and theoretically can be used on any level with barely any setup. It's different every time and flexible enough not to break if the player does something unpredictable.
The updates were because I moved too far away from the scientists. The task updates to reveal their location instead of the anomaly.
Gosh, that's impressive work mate, consider me very interested!
This looks great. It fits really well with the atmosphere of the zone, too. Well done, man.
Do you know off the top of your head if similar companion logic exists in SoC?
Any updates?
needs soft water =D
**** me, i would pay a 100 bucks for an mmo stalker. Mind a real stalker like this, without the usual mmo ********