[Misery 2.1] in54n3's tweaks Thread - MISERY mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

I've spent a considerable amount of time playing misery 1 as well as 2.1 and I thank everyone contributing for the mod, it's contents and the time that was spent to create the mod as it is now.

While doing a new playthrough there were some aspects of the game that I would've liked to alter so here goes the stuff I did for my personal copy of misery and which I think might be useful for somebody else.

If you do any of this - ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA. Gone is gone - the zone claims it all.

[ Atmosfear Psy Storms and Fallout ]

( This may or may not work with Les Miserables )

Taking a look at the scripts and why my altered config files for Atmosfear didn't work I figured that Misery contains valid configurations for Atmosphere.

The parameters though seem to be saved within a savegame so altering the config file will only affect new games.

There is a UI to change all the Atmosphere settings to whatever you prefer, the button logic is already implemented but the button itself has been removed.

In order to add it again do this:

Go to your Misery folder and locate

/gamedata/configs/ui/ui_mm_main.xml

/gamedata/configs/ui/ui_mm_main_16.xml

In these two files ( open with texteditor or w/e ) search for :

<btn name="btn_save"		caption="ui_mm_save_game" />

and ADD

<btn name="btn_af_options"		caption="st_cap_af_options" />

after it.

Save the files and you're done - when you loaded a save "Atmosphere settings" should be selectable in your Main Menu.

[Additional - CTD when loading an active psy storm ]

Idk wether this is misery or Atmosfear introduced bug but this got me a CTD today.

The psi storm manager AND the fallout manager are not initialized at the time the actor is ready. This can cause a CTD if you load a save while a psy storm ( fallout also ? ) is active.

Go to your Misery folder and locate

/gamedata/scripts/atmosfear.script

FIND:

se_actor.psi_storm_manager = psi_storm_manager and psi_storm_manager.get_psi_storm_manager()

ADD after it:

	if(se_actor.fallout_manager) then
		if(se_actor.f_fallout_manager_loaded ~= true) then
			se_actor.fallout_manager:__init()
			se_actor.f_fallout_manager_loaded = true
		end
		se_actor.fallout_manager:update()
	end

	if(se_actor.psi_storm_manager) then
		if(se_actor.f_psi_storm_manager_loaded ~= true) then
			se_actor.psi_storm_manager:initialize()
			se_actor.f_psi_storm_manager_loaded = true
		end
		se_actor.psi_storm_manager:update()
	end	

Adding this code i was able to load a corrupt save that initially crashed because of the storm.

[ Looting Ghosts ]

What disturbed me most is that I enter firefights in the night and it goes on for ages because really no one likes getting a headshot so you might want to be covered.

However having a firefight that exceeds one hour ingame ( for whatever reasons - Ghillie? ) results in the most weapons being looted by your enemies on companions or bodies that just poofed. Searching for a corpse that has been deleted by the game has driven me nuts.

[PART 1] Editing the the time the zones flushes corpses down the loo:

Go to your Misery folder and locate

gamedata/configs/creatures/monsers.ltx

Find this:

[monsters_common]
corpse_remove_game_time_interval	= 1 ; in hours
stay_after_death_time_interval		= 1 ; in hours

I guess this is self explanatory - change the "1" to whatever you prefer.

My setting is 6 hours. !GREATER VALUES DO NEGATIVELY AFFECT THE PERFORMANCE!

( 1 hour more = 10 FPS less in general - depending on your alife/graphics and also blowout settings [ If bodies are destroyed on blowout = less game corpses ] )

[PART 2] Changing the amount of weapons the npcs keep ( other items are destroyed on loot? )

Go to your Misery folder and locate

gamedata/configs/misc/death_loot_settings.ltx

[multiple_weapons_survival]
level_0				= 2, 0.05
level_1				= 2, 0.05
level_2				= 2, 0.05
level_3				= 2, 0.05

Here you can set how much weapons the npc will keep when looting a body (2) and the chance that more than (2) weapons are kept ( 0.05 = 5% ).

I guess the level is refering to the npc rank but I'm not really sure about that. I set it to 4, 0.05 and it's not gamebreaking but less unforgiving for not wasting the entire enemy squad like a blowout.

If you have any issues feel free to post.

A quick info about myself:

I'm a german game programming student and got some experience with c++ and game mods.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise has always been one of the games I enjoyed most - especially since misery has been released.

Edited by: in54n3

One of the great things about xray is you can tweak so many things to your own preferences. I'm fairly certain the mod is already largeaddressaware, but i could be wrong.

I did quite a bit of experimentation before we settled on 2 hour body remove time for next release. Most systems will experience only a small performance hit at 2 hours, but every additional hour will cost around 10 FPS. The maps quickly become clogged up with corpses and you have to remember which ones you looted 2 hours ago or risk getting raped by a bloodsucker checking them all again ;D It is something you can briefly bump up if you really love taking 3-4 hours to eliminate the mercs or bandits in Jupiter. Otherwise I recommend 2 hours, 1 if your system struggles already.

There is another factor you can change which makes NPC's ignore weapons on the ground unless they get closer than you set it. There are two benefits: less weapons get scooped up as they pass by a corpse (without having to boost the number found on their bodies) and the compulsion to run out and loot a body is diminished making them harder to just lay in wait and pick off.

I saw the variable for the scan radius in the forum earlier, indeed that'd improve things.

My pc is a couple of years old ( 5? ) bought an R9 graphics card just recently and misers runs smooth on DX10 while it's a catastrophy at any other setting.

From what I see from the installer the game .exe files are not patched in the 2.1.1 version, but I read about the new version containing it.

One thing about ammo:

Currently there is a setting to disable unlimited npc ammo - would it be possible to script a ammo manager for npcs?

I think making npcs trade and buy stuff for their needs may be waste of cpu time but what about a script that restocks npc ammo after x Seconds of leaving combat state - is any such feature planned or is it even possible using the scripting pipeline?

I'm no coder, just addicted to trying little things, mostly to tweak performance. See my performance white papers in the comments of my profile for info on setting up your GPU for best performance. You might do better at DX11 and HDAO on low. It makes the GPU do more work and frees up CPU for other math. I had one then 2 R9 290's before I switched to GTX 980Ti mostly to keep my room cooler.

I always leave them as much ammo as they want, it keeps it more challenging. I rarely run low on ammo if I choose my fights prudently, so I figure they shouldn't either.

I really have no idea if what you suggest is possible. You can program the loadouts (what they initially have on them) and if you leave them unlimited ammo they basically keep that much on them until the death manager reduces/degrades stuff at moment of death to reduce windfall and keep economy from being too easy. IMHO it would be too boring if they constantly ran out of ammo and got down on their knees. I always shoot them anyway

Thanks very much for your reply

While I'm really for much realism as possible I can say that it's a pain in the s to balance reality.

If misery would be 100% realism you could just follow a troop of Stalkers, give them some quick shots from behind loot everything they have and their goes your end equip.

But on the other side having ulimited ammo seems too much, If they had like 5 to 10 clips ( depending on the rank weapon etc ) for a fight that would refill upon leaving combat - faction fights would have one more ability to be balanced.

What I really dislike about my own idea is that some people might just sit around and wait until their enemies have no ammo left since the AI still tries to shoot you through cover sometimes.

Eitherway I'm really looking forward to 2.2

Edited by: in54n3

That's really the crux of the matter. Given the engine limitations it's a very fine line to find a balance between realism and maintaining some level of difficulty. Since the engine AI won't let NPC's conserve their ammo, they do stupid things like firing into the outside of a building or cave because they can sense what they can't see like a snork inside the cave. They would just be left empty holstered because they can't resist shooting and then the first thing that happened upon them would make worm food of them. IRL you would try to overpower an NPC to get his armor, weapon,etc. right off the start, but being able to significantly improve your lot in life with one grenade toss wouldn't be much fun. I must confess, I have put a mine outside the door to the stalker ship and harvested some quick loot when they all pour out after an emission, once. NPC's also do not avoid mutants, rather they are compelled to attack any they see. Even though it is not cost effective to just blast away at every minor hazard, they all do it. I almost never leave with less than 250-300 rounds of combined ammo which is more than any soldier would ever have on them. If you try playing without buying from traders, ammo conservation becomes a way of life. When 2.2 is finalized I think that will become my preferred style of play. I have done it through the end game to prove it was possible. It takes too long to finish the story while beta testing but it sure was fun Anyone who likes Misery already will love 2.2. I can only imagine what this team could do if we were all in the same place with a couple weeks of real life being on hold ....

Whenever a light bulb goes off and you have a great idea, don't hesitate to contribute here Moddb.com I consolidate and elaborate on the gems some players come up with for consideration in the future.

Installer itself does not need to be large adress aware. It just unpack and copy files on proper place, there is no special need to be large adress aware.
On the other hand, game is already patched to be large adress aware, xrEngine.exe is most important one to be x64 bit and dlls that it use.

Oh. Then I've been mistaken. I had an old copy of cop with misery mod 2.x and then recently found it and updated to 2.1.1.

I saw there's no replacement for the exe files so I figured it was not enabled. I should've known it was already in my copy x)

I found this :

When we were just implementing GOAP, it was very interesting to watch two hostile unarmed characters that knew were to get weapons and ammo: they first run to the weapons, find that they have no ammo, then run to the ammo, the first one to get there causes the other to panic if he is still far away from weapons and ammo, the panickier gets wounded and falls, the other approaches to finish him (this did not make it into the original game, since all characters received unlimited ammo, and such situations could not take place).

It was very interesting to watch a fight of several dogs and one stalker — it was breathtaking to see this sight, as he flees the dogs, switching covers. Sometimes he died quickly, sometimes managed to take down 4-5 dogs, and sometimes all 6.

Even if it is not present in the game anymore I'd love to get a hands on any source or compiled version of this.

Source: Aigamedev.com

Edited by: in54n3

Are the AF3 settings supposed to only be available in the in-game pause menu? As that's how it is for me at the moment and I can't seem to edit anything there without it crashing the second I hit apply.