Welcome dear viewer, to the October release of STALKER NEWS!
Big thanks for getting the last article to almost 2,000 views, that really means a lot!
As always, sources will be linked alongside the news.
Big thanks to Lelop, Rammaken and others for translating and\or publishing these news in our Discord!
Check it out over here if you're looking for a stalker community or to catch glimpse of news before they're published on these kinds of articles: Discord.gg
True Stalker
True Stalker' authors announced what they've been working so hard on lately: an adaptation of the well-known weapons project - Gunslinger. All 40 weapons and animations, as well as their respective upgrades and functionality are now present in the game. For a brief introduction into the newly-added weapons pack, the developers released a small teaser where some of the more attentive bunch will also be able to notice some other new details. The project is still in the works as of now. (Source)
New Project
New Project developers intend to fully utilize all VA lines from the original trilogy in their mod, which now has implemented new character voiceover schemes. NPCs will now react when the player holsters and draws their weapons and make comments on trades, which will also accompany an appropriate animation. All in all they will react much more often to the presence of a player nearby. Check out the following video linked down below to see how this looks like! (Source)
Old Concept
A month ago Old Concept posted the following on their VK page with a video:
Hello everyone!
Today we decided to share with you a video that demonstrates our volumetric cloud technology.
During the development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in 2011, the developers already tried to implement this technology, but their tests were buried somewhere on old hard drives or were simply just permanently lost. So we decided to rewrite, from scratch, the component responsible for the implementation of volumetric clouds in the game.
We promise to share more information and videos with you, thank you for your support! (Source)
And on October 12th they posted sort of a changelog for changes in the X-Ray 2.0 engine. What's being added in particular are missing components and technologies:
Added engine features:
- Cook-Torrance BRDF (with anisotropy support) for directional lighting.
- Split-sum specular IBL
- Diffuse IBL
- Screen space sun shafts
- RTAO (for powerful PCs)
- SSAO (for weak PCs)
- Atmospheric scattering (model based on Nishita[93])
- Volumetric clouds
- 2D clouds (with Volumetric lighting, also known as "God rays")
- AO filtering (inspired by a'trous wavelet filter)
- PBR camera (based on "Moving Frostbite to pbr" document)
- SSS shader optimization
- Fog
- Tonemapping (ACES fitted curve from Stephen Hill)
- Gamma / HDR fixes (2.2 linear, etc.)
- Some fixes for xr2 issues (alpha testing, etc.)
- A number of engine optimizations.
Now, some of these terms may be unknown to you, but just know that they are now present in the project and have already been tested and refined.
The following features presented are in the process of development:
- Volumetric sun shafts (raymarched)
- HBAO (typical nvidia hbao didn't work.)
- Screen space reflection (Only one screenshot, not much to show)
- G-Buffer optimizations (better packing of normals and more).
Two demonstrative screenshots were included as well. (Source)
OP-2.2
New screenshots from the OP-2.2 closed beta test. Along with that is the news that OP-2.2 is currently in the development stage where testers look for bugs and stable crashes for the developers to fix. The developers also released a couple of new screenshots with some of the recently updated npc models in-game.
AlternativA
Apparently, the developer of the AlternitavA mod is developing a new version of his project. At least that's what we can conclude from the recent release of two new videos on his YouTube channel. One shows new creatures, and the second video shows the Moscow map from the game Metro: Last Light. (Source)
The Journey
As promised by the author, The Journey was finally released in late September. Check it out here and say what you think about it to the author! (Moddb page)
StalkerSpanish Online
The new 1.5 update for SS-Online was recently released, here's the changelog and a screenshot:
Additions
+ New redesigned interface
+ New gunplay completely redesigned
+ New restructured rank system
+ Completely revamped and functional Free-for-all Mode
+ New map: School
+ Updated map: Oil Platform (ONLY WORKS IN DYNAMIC LIGHTNING)
+ New weapon: Mosin-Nagant
+ New weapon: Gauss Pistol
+ New weapon: AKS-74U
+ New weapon: SIG-550
+ New weapon: SVD Dragunov
+ New weapon: VSS Vintorez
Fixes
* General code optimization
* Fixed bug of players traversing the ground
* Fixed lack of maps in Steam version.
* Balanced shotguns
Removed
- Removed armors (They don't work, will be fixed as soon as possible)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl
It seems S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will have stealth mechanics, as hinted by one of the community managers over at the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. discord:
- Will S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 have more in depth stealth (mechanics)?
- It will be possible to achieve your goal in different ways, and not always by a straight breakthrough. Stealth is important in the Zone, because she doesn't like noise.
(Source)
Forgotten Squad
Ever wanted for mods to come out faster? Well, there we go! Forgotten Squad - a mod announced less than 2 months ago - was just released and is available for download! Although it's still in open beta testing and only has one chapter present at the moment.
Based on the feedback the author got from the open beta test, he will continue finalizing and reworking the story, and of course, continue to develop the full version of the mod as well.
The mod is distributed in two different versions - one is the regular standalone version; the other is with a modded weapon pack, improved engine, and a graphical mod. Full playthrough of the first chapter is around 1.5 - 2 hours. (.rus)
(Source | Download link)
Another Side
A large selection of screenshots from the "Silent Creek" location - Another Side project. Please note these were taken with the first, not yet final compiled map. The creators stated they created the map independently and mentioned its size is twice as big as Zaton's. Once it's finalized, the developers promise to make the alpha version of the mod available to the public. (Source)
Seeker
Our member and moderator, lelop, recently translated a short story mod for Call of Pripyat called "Seeker". It has some neat dialogues + 2 separate endings enhanced by a nice voice over. It's only around 30mbs zipped up and 100mbs extracted. Check it out if you're looking for something short to play. Enjoy! (Moddb page)
GSC Game World
GSC Game World will make an appearance at Gamescom Asia 2021! The exhibition will take place from the 14th - 17th of October in Singapore. As reported on the official resources of the event, the developers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl will become members of the business zone (B2B). The company is likely to be actively developing contacts in the Asian market. The studio recently attended the Tokyo Game Show, where they held several business meetings. Whether they will show something new from the game is unknown for now. (Source)
S.C.O.P.E.
New information about the S.C.O.P.E. project for Call of Pripyat has been released.
The author of the mod decided to replace the game's soundtrack, using audio from The Witcher 3 as a replacement. A different atmosphere has been promised for each location. This is still being worked on, but for now you can listen to the sounds of the night. (Source)
Dark Times
A new mod called "Dark Times" was announced!
The project is being developed by the developer of last August's D.E.V.I.L.R.Y. The events of this new mod will take place in the autumn of 2013 after the Third Emission. The protagonist of the mod is hiding from persecution in the Exclusion Zone, and tries to start a new life there. The developer of the mod promises a lengthy story, in which the events of the original trilogy and his previous project are to be taken into account. Fans of fetch quests should definitely enjoy the mod - there will be enough of them all over the game world, and in the process of adventuring around the world, the player will be able to get into some interesting situations.
As of now, the mod's been ~30% finished, and the release is set for February 2022. (Source)
Priboi Story - Eternal
Priboi Story, known to be one of the earliest mods for Shadow of Chernobyl, has received an unofficial port to OGSR Engine! Although no changes were made to the mod's plot and story, many additions and changes were made to the other base parts of the mod, those being: an HD models pack, new UI, melee weapons pack, new weather, and a number of other cosmetic changes. The mod is currently in an open beta, where players can try it out and give feedback to the author. (.rus)
(Source | Download link)
Nice, thank you.
Fixed the broken images, by the way.)
Niceeee!!
Perfect))
Awesome :)
Wooooooooooooooooooo
That video with the Metro: Last Light easter-egg map...
Oh man, a Metro 2033 game with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. gameplay mechanics or a Metro 2033 mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. would be the most badass thing ever.
Just imagine traveling through different tunnels or areas on the surface like you travel normaly in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Or joining the Red Line, Hansa, Reich or Polis. I can already see the independent stations being the equivalent to the Loners.
Nice job.
THX.
man I wish someone would make new maps for something popular like anomaly, seems like most projects with new maps are pretty obscure and often don´t really make it to a polished state. though the silent creek screenshots look amazing.
New maps are rare and exclusive because it requires hand placement of static and dynamic objects and you need talented people to not look cluttered and respect the game ambient and lore.
yeah, that´s why I think it´s a bit sad when they only get used for short, linear mods or maybe mods where the rest of the gameplay is quite outdated. in a sandbox mod like anomaly you would have tens of thousands of people running through the map dozens of times each playthrough. though I know it´s not just making the map, also have to add it to map, alife, compile it...