Blogs - ConspiraG

Basically, I am fed up with GSC and the Stalker Franchise kicking out incomplete buggy games, and I think the software released is capable of being finished. I want to form a team to finish it, in my creative direction. Nothing I want to do is too complicated, and I am willing to pay people for their work.
If anyone is interested contact me a maxxandrewrkl@live.com.

Now, first of all, if you haven't read my previous blog entries, you should do that now. They example why Stalker is a great game and the entire concept is even greater. I am not sure if I want to get back into modding it, but as I keep having these great single player un-modded experiences, the more and more I want from this game. I kinda exit the game every time thinking, "how will anyone top that?"
I have many ideas about what should be modded in clear sky. I am looking to contact one of the developers because I figure they could do it best. Faction Commander though. Now I have had some great experiences with that. One thing I want to create is a script that tells a certain ammount of characters to form a polygon (square, diamond, circle) around the player, and follow his movements whether they are in front of or behind him. This would be wonderfull if we could also control their tactics at the same time. Maybe when you are just walking, they just walk. When you crouch they take cover behind whatever objects are nearest to them or just crouch aswell if nothing is close enough. Using the artificial intel that they have to hide behind objects could make this feel really epic when wandering the zone or clearing a building.
Another idea that was inspired by one of my game play stories. So after I barely managed to kill all the military at the vehical station on Master difficulty. I was so tensed up from that, that I grabbed all their items and put it into one of the military guys backpacks and dragged him all the way back to the stalker camp and dropped his corpse right infront of his imprisoned commander. This made me think, it'd be nice if all these stalkers would run to this body on command and take the items upgrading their equipment. Thats a simple one really but I am more concerned about the command situation.
The greatest thing we could do really, as a modding community is to create a mmo style game that incorporates mods. It would be for a select audience though, with similar computer specs, also, we may have to rework or all out remove some of the third person animations cause they can be horrible. At least fix the damn headlamp. Imagine a group of us setting up our own homes in the stalker camp. In a zone filled with mutants, enemies, and loot. Or maybe just a couple of us can basically run certain areas. I call the Cordon. This whole mmo style has been done for Chernobyl but not clear sky. Camping it up in a tunnel while a blow out happens, then being swarmed by retreating bandits and boars.
I have many ideas and I am a capable modder, but with the annoucement of Stalker C2P. I don't know what I will do. I may continue the game unmodded.
One other thing, if anyone has any optomization techniques please share them with GSC and the community.

I have the following events recorded (with Fraps[fps drop]) on Master Stalker Difficulty.

Experience One.

Taking on three military guys at the vehicle station in the Cordon (on master stalker difficulty.) I start off in the attic with them all coming up the stairs. I have no bandages or med kits, an upgraded hunting rifle, and a pistol. Clear Sky, pistol stopping, Armor with no helmet. I have to jump off the roof onto another building because they must have heard me and somehow became confused as to where I was cause they would shoot one or 2 shots through the attic and then pause. They shot at me as I ran off. I managed to bring down one of them as I am running out the gate, but I get shot somewhere other than my head. As I stumble I see a guy trying to snipe me from the attic.

I am now bleeding.

I run, dodge the sniper, peak around a corner, and have to headshot a guy with my pistol walking right towards me.

I am virtually dead from bleeding. I check two bodies the Stalkers managed to take out. They have nothing I need.

I have to walk out, breathing heavily and moving slowly, into the middle of the location and search the body of the guy I recently killed. I make it there, and to tell you how much time I had, well, I had to use the "take all" button just so I could close it quick enough to hit the bandage button, and luckly... it actually stopped the bleeding. I have the smallest incriment of health left that you can possibly have in the game. I'm still breathing heavy and head into a corner of the garage. I wait. My health regained a little, about a third.

Only one guy left. I decide to head for the building with the same attic, that building is the tallest in the area and has plenty of exits. The guy is up stairs, looking out the window. Everyonce in a while aiming his gun.

I climb into the attic quietly, drop down directly behind him with my knife, and swing three times to finally kill him. I complete the mission.

Experience Two.

Here, I find myself collecting the loot the military stole from the stalkers. Once I sneak into the building and grab the box and I start recording. The four or five bandits know I'm in this two floor house. I pause, then decide to shoot at them from a hole in the roof. I take one down.
Next thing I know, the bandits are under attact from a pack of wild dogs. I don't look. Now I wait. Then, I hear boars attack them. I decide to leave. Drop down a hole in the ceiling and head for the exit. I see dogs, and boars surrounding a bandit and hes trying to shoot them off. I shoot him as I'm sidestepping out the door. The dogs chase me. I escape, I take the long walk back Sidrovich to return his loot. (PS. in regards to my graphical settings see the end of this document marked ***.)

Experience Three.

It's night, I cannot see, and I'm chasing the military guy you find under the bridge. I gave him my pistol. I had hoped he would do something other than try to shoot me with it. He tries to shoot me but I manage to dodge him and run out of the tunnel. I head into the tunnel to get my pistol back and I can't find him. I don't see him on my pda map. Then I hear gunfire. I start running and looking, now I can see flashes of the gunshots. He ran into a pack of boars. I start running to rescue him long enough so that I could kill him. I find the boars before I find him. I start recording just after I kill one with my mp5. I shoot another one a couple of times as I am dodging its charge. I finish it off with my knife. I stop recording. I end up finding the guy again and chasing him, no more than 15 feet behind him at all times all the way back to the military base where I decide to let him go. He was running, must have been out of ammo.

Experience Four.

Picking up a stash in the middle of an anomoly field. Nuff said.

Other Footages.

Some stuff with the dx10 features.

*** Well most of the stuff was recording with fraps with maxed out settings, but eventually I reduced the settings because of a fraps's fps drop. I lowered them to everything but the dx10 settings.

S.t.a.l.k.e.r: Clear Sky - Dangerous and Beautiful
I have no idea if it is true or not, but It sure is pretty up in the zone. Now, to answer the question we need people to share their experiences with the zone and Stalker. I will start.
Basically, I'm a guy that has spent more than enough time in the zone to know that the game can seem unbeatable. Staying focused on the main quest is a challenge when there are dangerous animal
"hunts," extreme graphics, and compelling level design. Combat can feel really rough due to many positives and negative factors. Currently, I am trying to get through the game on Master Stalker Difficulty with only ONE GRAPHICAL MOD installed(not counting official patch), and that is a sun shafts mod that makes some of the special effects within the game appear at all times instead of just 6am to 8am. I also edited other purely visual elements of the game to increase fps (frames per second) without losing and if not gaining image quality. The Modding scene for the game is as tempting and as painful as the game itself is. It is easy to tweak, but most tweaking will have negative effects.
The games detail in every aspect is what scares me. Even regarding bugs. The story line speaks of a truly mystical place in a very scientific way. The "anomaly" you find with the Zone, or Chernobyl, are compelling and terrifying. (Depending on what you consider an anomaly) They have achieved this by toying with realistic physics processing of objects and the environment. Gravity exists in the game and it is realistic. Sure, you can find people who would argue how a grenade rolls when its dropped into a crate, an "Anomaly" will make you one of them. These objects can kill you by touch, telepoty you, or even crash your game(debatable). These anomolys are intregal to the gameplay and story.
The Zone is a place rooted in history as Chernobyl, where a nuclear disaster or meltdown occurred. This is where the game takes place. When it comes to realism, you'll find your self debating what is realistic a great deal. Weapons have many functions, ammo types, firing modes, but on a high difficulty or for an inexperienced player, you really feel that you have to use everything to survive. Don't expect this game to be easy and realistic at the same time. So with that being said. The game has parts that will seem unfairly hard, especially without the use of modding or altering gameplay. The developers know this, showing a level of seriousness and detail. The zone apparently is a warzone that grants wishes. This provides a reason to play, and the long loading times make you fear dying. If you can live long enough in the zone to see it say "autosave" in the middle of gameplay, you know. The story talks of survival and coexistence with the Zone and the search to achive that balance.
If you ever find yourself lost and in the middle of a gravity defying mindfield after being attacked by and barely escaping a pack of wild dogs in a very dark night you know you're in the Zone. this software makes you ask, "why and how did they make this game" You will find yourself getting to know the game so well simply because of its flaws and uniqueness that you will know all the coding properties, the item weights, what places make good stashes, seriously questioning what the enemy will do next, and why it isn't working. The storyline speaks of anomolies in physiscs, as does the software speak of glitches in complex math.
When you spend enough time in the zone, you learn to think like a game developer, if not a vetran, and this game engine is close to rocket science. There is many many variables the engine manages and for a single person to find "equilibrium" with this zone you will have to look into modding. The things it will make you question in a true attempt at simulation are things like accuracy, damage, bleeding, radiation, firing speeds, range, and location because you simply cannot afford to waste more time on loading screens than gameplay. Still, sometimes, you'll find yourself alive in the zone, and compelled by one of many good features in the game to push on.
My game settings are really dark in the dead of night, I can only see about 10 feet in front of me sometimes at night, unless there is some light in the sky, then I can make out silhouette of trees 40 to 50 feet(guess). I have sun shafts at all times. The sunlight will create beams and rays coming in between every distinguishable twig on a tree, to the size of what feels like a quarter. High noon, the sun can be blinding, it will really look like its hot and your eyes almost cannot take it(debatable).
If any of this seems strange to you I think it should. This game is dangerous for so many reasons. Wether you are modding the game or not. Visually, this game can cause seizures, but its detail and intelligence is so compelling you almost can't resist. Also, when it comes to a realistic combat simulation, there have been moments where I literally play five minutes, have an awesome battle, and then have to take 20 minutes thinking about what happened in near shock from the intensity of the engagement emotionally.
I have tweaked my depth of field and "focusing" graphics within the game a great deal for possibly performance boost, a better sense of distance, and personal pleasure. It creates a generalized anti aliasing effect on distant textures which may be appealing to some. It's verylow though, not low enough to see a blur in the sky.
The game's booklet warns of seizures and rightfully so. I have never looked at a game untill now and said "Wow, that's a science."
Let me try to put it simple for everyone interested in anything about this game. This game will fuck with you. Bugs and crashes will become your greatest fear, and the zone, your greatest risk. You will feel you are learning something with this game. That may be battle tactics, inventory management skills, how to appreciate a good sunset, game design, or what its like to walk a barren road in Chernobyl. Everything is done that well. Theres room for much argument and improvement with this game, but there is also the fact that it feels far more thought about than anything else out there. From a tactical perspective, clearing a room with 3 guys and one entrance when your lucky if you survive a single bullet that hits you anywhere, is real enough for me.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. might go down in history in a very unique way. It could be infamous, and it could be legendary.