Mahzra's Package v2 addon

Mahzra's Package is a complete overhaul for Call of The Zone that improves the mod in almost every way. It contains many addons, most if not all of which were tweaked to improve integration into the package as a whole. It offers new artifacts, new items, new weapons, new NPCs, new missions, new everything. Combat is intense and visceral, artifact hunting is satisfying and unpredictable, and thorough exploration may yield significant rewards.

The addon list is at the bottom of the page.

A summary of this overhaul's features:

• THE ACTOR
  • Faster movement speed
  • Higher jump
  • Improved climbing
  • Improved weapon handling
  • Item use animations for medkits and bandages
  • Improved consumables
• COMBAT
  • Bullet time (middle-click by default)
  • Integrated AO3 weapons and attachments
  • Improved weapon sound, feedback, accuracy and rate of fire
  • Weapon upgrades are more noticeable
  • NPCs become active further away
  • NPCs move faster and more often
  • NPCs have weapon jams, use medkits and bandages
  • Feedback on actor and NPCs when hit depending on armor worn and hit location
  • Modified spawn settings
• LOOT
  • Integrated Items Overhaul
  • 10% stashes filled on game start
  • Removed high level items from random stashes
  • Reduced chances of finding food and meds in breakable containers
  • Reduced chances of getting high level missions
• ARTIFACTS
  • Integrated Dante's More Artifacts
  • Recalculated artifact values and rebalanced some artifacts (because they turned out to have negative values based on their properties :D)
  • Redistributed artifacts to detectors and mission rewards based on value
  • Modified availability of detectors based on goodwill
• CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
  • Modified starting faction relations
  • Economy scales with accumulated goodwill
  • Traders expand their inventories based on accumulated goodwill
• MISSIONS AND NPCs
  • Accelerated main quest progress (reduced Meet missions)
  • Integrated Rhons' quest and NPC addons
  • Increased number and type of squads for certain missions

Requirements: Community Update

Installation:

1. Extract the database folder in the archive into your CoTZ folder.
2. Download the hotfix here
3. Extract the gamedata folder in the hotfix into your CoTZ folder
4. Create a shortcut to Stalker-CoTZ.exe
5. Add -dbg -no_staging to the Target: line in the shortcut's properties
6. Always use this shortcut to launch the game

I recommend play on DX9 at 50% texture quality for lower-end systems and graphics cards with up to 2GB of VRAM. Should run smooth and loads really fast. You may get the occasional out of memory crash though.

Recommended addons:

• Call of Chernobyl Relay Chat
• The Zone Next Door
• TRX Sounds
• BollywoodFX

Absolutely incompatible addons: (as in these addons need to be merged to prevent crashes / loss of functionality)

• anything related to items
• anything related to NPCs
• anything related to spawns
• anything related to traders
• anything related to mutants
• anything related to artifacts
• anything related to the actor
• anything related to missions
• anything related to the HUD or GUI

Purely cosmetic addons are fine though, like the HD Mutants addon or weather addons. The HD NPC Models addon is NOT compatible. I may make a compatibility patch for it, I may not. If someone else wants to do it, they have my full permission, encouragement and blessing. Go hog wild.

You can also install faction relations addons if you don't like my default.

If you're not sure if an addon will work, check the comments and ask if it's not mentioned there.

Bullet Time is mapped to middle-click. To change it, install the Bullet Time addon and read its description.

I set my preferred settings as default, but made one boo boo: AI is set to not die in anomalies. That should definitely be ENABLED.

This package is balanced for play on LOCK 'N LOAD or STAY FROSTY playstyle settings. I don't call these modes difficulties, because the game allows to save and load whenever you want. Pick the mode that suits your playstyle. I don't think you need to worry about the game not being challenging enough.

I tweaked the initial spawns to be random, so no two games will progress exactly the same. I also changed the NPC population settings to have more predictable spawn results: 0.5 will result in a NPC population of around 500, 0.25 will spawn about 250 NPCs and so on. I don't recommend spawning more than 750.

Some options only get added to the Options menu after the game has loaded.

Let me know what you think, and have fun!

In no particular order, this package consists of the addons, tweaks and custom settings below.

• custom actor.ltx (faster sprint speed, slightly higher jump, slightly easier to climb)
• custom weapon stats (makes all weapons feel lighter and easier to handle, more accurate, responsive and lethal)
• custom alife.ltx (makes NPCs and mutants come online at longer range)
• custom trader settings
• custom squad descriptions and spawn settings
• tweaks, custom settings and merges for everything listed below (trader inventories, item trade profiles, quest items and rewards, NPC loadouts, loot lists, blacklists, item distribution etc etc. The glue. The duct tape and clown jizz CEMENT.)
• eatmedkitscheme makes NPCs use medkits
• Action AI makes NPCs run unless specifically scripted to walk; they change positions faster and more often
• Wepl's hit effects provide improved feedback on the actor and NPCs getting hit (hits on the actor move the camera depending on where you got hit how hard, NPCs stagger leaving them open for another shot, specific hit sounds depending on hit location and armor)
• Enemy Gun Jam makes NPCs reload more often
• Death Animations for variety in the art of death
• Smurth LILGabe Hybrid for item animations, bleeding eyeballs and silly masks
• Outfit Marauder to strip corpses naked you sick bastard you
• Black Bevels GUI because it's the best GUI
• Srsly Minimalist HUD because it's the best HUD
• Knife animations and pretty knife because yes
• Bullet Time because fuck yeah bullet time
• Footsteps, weapon sounds, inventory sounds and aim rattle from Modern Warfare (I have never even touched a CoD, I hear they're fun and I hear they're awful)
• Shush (silent NPC deaths and Shao Khan player death)
• Hitmarkers because >+< marks the spot
• Arsenal Overhaul 3 (+ sprint animations, centered and aligned, BaS scope textures)
• THAP for Arsenal Overhaul 3
• Rhons' Medic Expansion (I think? :D I forget if they're included in the NPC expansion)
• Rhons' NPC Variant Expansion (includes unique NPCs, outfit expansion and zombified Stalkers)
• Rhons' Repeatable Quests Expansion
• Item Overhaul
• Dante's Need More Artifacts
• Enhanced Vision Tweaks (identifying binoculars, green / blue / grey nightvision, all tier 3)
• Dead Air Sky and Fx (for skies and weather settings)
• CoC More Fast Travel Locations because I prefer it over Immersive Fast Travel
• Mark Recall Artifact (teleports the player to a previously Marked location)
• Dead Air Spatial Sound and Reverb (included by accident. enabling EAX may impact performance significantly, but without DASSR enabling EAX is kind of pointless anyway.)
• Season of Catastrophes: Aggression (Сезон Катастроф: Агрессия) listing what I took from this would be a spoiler. If you really want to know, click here for an entertaining video that showcases the mod pretty damn well. Enjoy.

Shout outs: Russy25, HelloKolla, Krashnikov, Rus, Cpu, Rhons, kanashimih, strelok1111 and a bunch of names I can't think of right now for beta testing, inspiring me and / or just being good peeps.

Nice things players have said about my package:

The definitive way to play Call of The Zone.

This economy is hellish.

It's like I'm playing an online game!

The Sarcophagus is doing horrible things to my tender little butthole.

This version 2 Mehzra is good, balanced almost like the vanilla COTZ + extra stuffs; Probably the best addon out there

Getting into X8 was unfiltered agony.

Within the first 15 minutes I ran into the bloodsucker village to get tools while under a Monolith squad's fire and afterwards killed a pseudogiant with the power of friendship and a Colt M1911.
10/10 would feed Oleg to the pseudogiant again

HOT videos of people playing with my package: