TK 2.0 : Singularity Prolouge, General Notes & Installation
Prolouge
The dreams are coming faster now... everything is different but somehow the same. The Zone is inexplicably expanding as scientists struggle and fail to find explanations and answers. Most Stalkers think their worst nightmare is a well armed and armored human... if only they knew what you do.
Welcome to The Zone, Strelok.
1. General Notes
TK 2.0 : Singularity is a whole new gaming experience for veteran Stalker players. It is NOT meant to be easy. The aim for Singularity has always been to bring back much of what GSC promised without impacting the existing story. Singularity is far more than just a graphical overhaul, it includes countless bug fixes, optimisations, new armors, balancing, removed game aspects, everything. The best way to play this mod is to play Stalker like you have never played it before. Do not be afraid to experiment and explore, but be careful out there Stalker.
Some TK : Singularity highlights;
- Blowouts
Yeah, any good mod has these. As you progress through the game blowouts will become significantly more deadly on later levels.
- Helicopter attacks.
Sometimes they will attack at random, other times if you fire at them usually they will fire back.
- Advanced AI.
NPCs aren't stupid, they will hide, use cover, hunt, sleep, attempt silent kills, etc.
- Mutant food chain.
Sometimes you will see mutants fighting eachother and chowing down on their fallen foes - including YOU!
- "Rouge" Stalkers.
Some Stalkers just don't like you and are just waiting to put a bullet in your back. They could appear as your friend to start, be from the military, Duty, be loners, you just don't know. Deal with it.
- Texture optimisations, new textures, etc.
- New weapons
- New armors
- Traders have stock exclusive to them
- "Low power" flashlight.
Its very atmospheric, you'll love it.
- Bullet ballistics.
Each type of ammo has its own characteristics, if you are having trouble downing a enemy switch ammo types!
- Tough mutants.
Some mutants are extremely tough and conventional tactics will NOT work.
- Adjusted weapon scopes.
All rifle and sniper scopes have had their zoom values changed.
- NPCs can throw grenades and use medkits.
Does exactly what it says on the tin. If a NPC has a medkit and another NPC is wounded the guy with the medkit will go up and heal the other guy. Beware when NPCs throw grenades, they are deadly accurate and unless you are wearing all but the hardiest of armours expect to be severely wounded
by a nearby exploding grenade.. or killed.
- New weather system
Still a little bit of a WIP.
- Sleeping & dreaming
Go to sleep just to pass the time or to recover health, but beware of where you sleep!
- Deadly snipers.
Snipers are no longer blind they can see you from some way and if they do their not afraid to pull the trigger.
- Sound overhaul.
You can't miss this one ;) some of the finer touches you are bound to notice is how rain fades in and out depending on if you go under a tree, enter a building, etc. Some things you won't be able to notice but are in effect is I have gone through every single sound giving it its very own audiable distance properties for much more realistic reactions from the AI.
- Effective silencers.
Silencers really do work. Put one on and you will notice the noise made by your gun is reduced. Just like real life having a silencer attached also effects the firepower of your gun. On the plus side, enemies can't all come homing in on your position.
- Simulated stealth.
This is probably one of the biggest feats. While stealth is said to be impossible in Stalker I have come up with a unique approach which while I call it simulated stealth is a damn good impression of real stealth. NPCs vision has not been crippled in any way, shape or form. Come at a enemy from the
front or to the side (but enough so you could get seen from the corner of the NPCs vison) that NPC WILL see you. Blindside the NPC however or come at him from behind, he won't know what hit him. Darkness is also factored in. If you want to stealth kill at night you can do so and don't need to worry
about vision quite as much, but rather be concerned with how much light there is and how much noise you are making (this even includes your nightvision! When its in use it'll emit a slight hum potential victoms might hear.) Don't think the NPC won't see you if you are bungling around with your flashlight on. To enter stealth mode CROUCH and approach your victim. REMEMBER: Changing weapons and going through bushes MAKES NOISE, if you do either of those too close to the victim you are stalking he may hear you well and truely scuppering your chances at a stealth kill.
- United factions.
Some factions will co-operate with eachother and "lend a hand" in certain situations. For example; you may see the military guarding some Duty points and likewise you may see some Duty guarding military points. In addition to this Mercs co-operate with Bandits, Stalkers may help the scientists in Yantar and Freedom, being the anarchists they are, only have their own interests but you will likely see them fighting Monolith quite a bit.
- Added battery powered nightvision to Monolith armor
Theres no battery meter, I'm not sure how to add that so the nighvision will just turn off by itself.
- Radiation penalties
If you remain in radiated areas for too long your armor will gradually start to deteriorate. Remain in heavily radiated areas and just like in real life you will succumb to radiation and your armor will become severely damaged ("Radiated").
- Headshots mean headshots.. usually.
Ever been using a high calibur weapon and been certain your shot was a headshot yet your foe still lives? That won't happen anymore. The only exceptions to this rule are heavily armored enemies and most mutants. Zombiefied Stalkers will go down in one shot to the head. A small example; You have a Fort12 pistol, nothing spectacular but it gets the job done. NPCs with light head protection will go down in 1 shot, but try using that pistol on a NPC geared up in heavy armor or a Exoskeleton? You will need to get them in the head multiple times to breach their head protection.
- Tough "Icon" NPCs.
I've given some NPCs their very own protection paramaters so they won't die very easily. Some of these NPCs include Fox, Wolf, and Bes.
Theres so many more changes its impossible to list them all. Much love, care and attention to detail has gone into Singularity.
Known Bugs:
None.
Known Issues:
- At certain points in the game levels you might experience "pausing", despite my sincerest attempts I have not been able to eliminate them. The issue seems to be a combination of varying aspects to do with the X-Ray engine itself.
Minimum System Requirements:
Athlon 64 2.5GHz+ or Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz+
2GB RAM
X1950Pro 512MB or equivillent (1280*1024 max recommended res)
Latest graphics & sound drivers
Recommended System Requirements:
Phenom 2 X4 or Intel Core2 Quad
4GB RAM
GTX460 1GB or equivillent
Latest graphics & sound drivers
This mod has been developed & tested on:
Intel Core i5 2500k | Intel Q8400 | Intel E4400 | Athlon 64 | Phenom 2 X4 955BE
4GB PC12800 | 4GB PC9200 | 2GB PC8000
GTX460 1GB @ 900 / 4300 | HD4830 512MB @ 675 / 2000 | HD3870 512MB | X1950Pro 512MB
2. Installation
- About the XR_3DA patcher
This small app "converts" XR_3DA to 64bit allowing Stalker to address more than 2GB RAM. Only use this patcher if you are running a 64bit OS.
- About the user.ltx files
There are 2 files. One file is for less powerful systems and uses a less accurate form of Global Illumination, the other user.ltx is for more powerful systems and enables the "full fat" Global Illumination effect. User.ltx file is required to play TK with all of my graphical enhancements.
You will need to redo your controls once you launch Stalker. By default both of these files use a resolution of 1680*1050, if you have a different native resolution just open the user.ltx file you chose to use with notepad scroll to the very bottom and change vid_mode to the resolution you game at.
- About fsgame.ltx
This is for if you have any problems running the mod. Simply extract it to your Stalker - Shadow of Chernobyl directory.
Installation
To install TK simply extract the Gamedata folder to your Stalker - Shadow of Chernobyl directory. To install user.ltx just extract the file to your stalker-shoc folder. If you do not know where this folder is use Windows search feature to find it.
