Comments - DrBlizzard

The good news is, the L85 isn't a jam-o-matic anymore. It will still not be as reliable as some of the other weapons, but it doesn't feel totally useless now, either.

To allay any suspicions, we aren't "dead". This mod has, thanks to a number of personal catastrophes, been stretched over a few years.

That in turn has caused "more than a few" of our original development team members to pursue other projects as we lost contact.

Anyone interested in contributing to the project is encouraged to private message me.

I have been play-testing this week and the previous week and things are looking well.

Of the things that remain, few may be truly "fixable" (i.e., large loading "spikes" when transitioning into densely populated areas, assumed to be caused by the introduction of a large amount of new content on top of the existing vanilla content).

Ultimately, I feel we are drawing closer to a release as we weed out and correct some of the last annoyances.

It continues to be my fondest wish that your wait was not in vain and that your expectations will be met wherever possible.

Until next time, happy stalking, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s.

Good news, folks. I shot some video after some initial difficulty on Tuesday, 2014/05/20.

The video turned out pretty good, all things considered. It will be in the Garbage, but will showcase some "general" activity that we're all used to. Searching corpses, shooting down mutants (which can be very, very profitable if you sell the mutant parts to the right vendors), and harassing the bandits as much as they harass us.

It's a little bit of "classic" STALKER done in a way that says, "Guess Who's Modding Again".

Look for this new video to be posted sometime in the next week or two, depending on editing time. I need to set up my editor again, but I don't foresee any great difficulty.

Until then, happy stalking!

You guys are all terrific! Thanks for taking the time to read and follow along. We're far from done, but we're not stopping until we cross that gilded finish line!

Thanks for writing, zin90.

Development had stalled for a bit again, following some ugly personal turmoil that I will spare the rest of you.

The good news is, that's done with, and I am back to my old, happy, modding self.

As for a release date, I don't think I'm ready to commit to a date just yet. I know a lot of modders do this, and still more say, "It's done when it's done". I too, understand why they would do this.

However - and for reasons outlined in the latest news article - I think I may try to frame a timeframe for this project so that I can, at the very least, be a little more transparent with all of you as to how this project is progressing.

I need to take a long, hard look at what we already have, and that will give me a better idea of where we "should" be. I think that once we have that "destination", then we can give you guys some updates timeframes, or at least ball-park estimates.

The good news is, I'm still alive. And just like promised, "Dead" comments become - "dead" themselves.

I ran into some technical issues during the last play test, and will be addressing these as time permits. Fortunately, I don't anticipate any major problems.

To the fans still watching the pages, I give you my thanks and my continuing commitment to give you something worthy of your time.

Best wishes,
"Doc"

Good news, everyone.

I've moved - settled in - and best of all, I took some time over this weekend to shoot some footage of the mod in-progress to see if it all plays out as smoothly as I remember it.

The truly good news is that it remains as exciting today as it was when I had more time to work on it.

I will try to have something posted here (footage) a little later in the week so that everyone can have a "refresher". From there, there's no telling where we will go, but I know it will be an exciting road.

Thanks for walking it with me, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s!

I'm alive folks - had to move (again). The good news is now I can get back to work.

FYI - posts asking about if the mod is "dead" or directly asking for release dates will be deleted - since the answers to those posts can be found with a little reading.

Best wishes,
"Doc"

Thanks Cowlick; I hope yours was merry, too!

Things seem to be lightening up and that's only good news.

Sincerely appreciated, Seeker_of_Strelok.

I feel like we could all use some STALKER love, especially when the sequel went belly-up in the cataclysm of GSC Games demise.

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement, Resev. Looking forward to finding some time to get this out to you guys.

To friends and patrons around the world,

It saddens me greatly to announce that extenuating circumstances in my life will prevent me from working on this mod, at least for the next several months.

There are very serious situations that I am forced to deal with at the present time, and I will not have the necessary time to continue development of the mod.

I would like to emphasize, however, that this mod is *NOT* being discontinued. While these dire situations are being worked through, I will be halting all development until they can be resolved. Once these situations have been worked through, it is my intention to resume development thereafter.

Unfortunately, given the nature of these issues, it is not possible to give an accurate date as to when progress will resume. If fortune smiles on me, it may be as soon as the beginning of 2013.

I realize this must come as a shock to many of you, and I apologize to each of you for the delayed progress on this mod. I still have every intention of delivering this to the community in due time.

I appreciate your patience, understanding, and cooperation while I work through this extremely difficult time in my life.

Sincerely,

DrBlizzard

Now, now, never you should worry. You can always buy the Barrett and come back later. :)

Ultra-brief update; I had to move during the "silent" time inbetween posts here.

I am now settled back in, and can hopefully spin out some media for you folks to feast on while I start hammering on this again.

Once again, thank you for being patient - your patience will NOT go unrewarded, I can promise you that.

It is entirely possible, however, the overall goal of M.I.N.E. departs significantly with most other mods in that we discard absolute realism in favor of more accessible gameplay; for example, increasing the weight limit to an unrealistic 80kg so you can carry more weapons since we've added well over 60 new weapons to the vanilla Clear Sky experience.

I have never, and likely will never, incorporate functions that provide more realism (and a corresponding jump in difficulty), in favor of additions that enhance the core mechanics of the mod; graphics, gunplay, and enhancement of the player in the world (new music, sound effects, etc.)

I apologize to everyone for the lack of updates here. I have had some serious issues in RL which have had far-reaching repercussions on my free time.

M.I.N.E. remains in development, albeit at this point development is stalled until these issues are sorted. I anticipate continuing to produce previews and screenshots for the gang here who have been following us, as well as progress updates as I am able to find the time.

I apologize to everyone for the lax in development lately and ask for your consideration and understanding.

Thanks.

Hello,

Please see the enclosed PDF document in the zip file. It will go into detail as to how to install the mod. There are instructions for installing both the Steam version of the game, as well as the non-Steam version.

Thanks for downloading the add-on.

To everyone who is continuing their support for this mod, I would like to give you our warmest "Thanks".

Currently, we are still working on solidifying the current build, removing bugs, and testing the mod to ensure there are no breaking points or easily identifiable "Crash To Desktop" (CTD) errors.

Presently, we have a smooth build and I am in the Dark Valley working with Freedom. There are NO issues so far!

I expect to be pushing forward into Agroprom and then Lake Yantar, where I will try to produce a video showing the current build and the features that are all working together.

A complete play-test in this build means we have accomplished a complete merger of all major components, and represents a significant milestone in our development process.

Look for an updated news article covering this progress, and additional video to keep everyone up-to-date in the future.

To everyone exercising patience, I want to say "Thank You" personally, as it means a lot to us to be given the time and focus that we need to make a quality mod that is both fun and as error-free as it can be.

Until next time, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s!

I am seriously debating keeping both in-game. I think the newer-looking one here has a hard-coded single-shot reload animation which we can't change; we don't have any animators who can redo it. That means this single-shot variant (shown) will likely end up with a lower price tag, slower firing rates, and characteristics more like an un-scoped sniper rifle.

The second model Fluffy refers to is a stripper-clip fed model, and I BELIEVE I had it working at one point here. I will have to toy around with it, but I just loved the wood furniture on the first model - and that is why you see it already implemented. The second model will likely be slightly more expensive, but may have a higher rate of fire to offset it's quicker reload and higher price tag.

Options, options, options!

As much as I would love to use it, it's simply not possible with gratuitous re-engineering, as Fluffy said. Sadly, that is not something I am in to.

Keeping the engine stable while injecting 3+GB of new content is bad enough already without rewiring the fragile framework allowing it all to run. :D

The view is one LOVELY feature of this height.

However, if you have a PSG-1, L115, SV98, SVD, SVU, or any of around a dozen sniper rifles we have (yes, .338 lapua magnum is in-game) then it's even better for killing people from a thousand meters away.

Boar harvesting, anyone?

I'm incredibly happy with the sense of hopelessness and emptiness this place is providing now. It really does feel - along with Sclera's new soundtrack - that you're on the very edge of reality, let alone the Zone proper.

Thanks! :D

I am ceaselessly amazed by the random beauty this game throws at me. I am simply dumbstruck when I am casually walking along, and the screen elements come together in such a way that it literally makes me stop and admire the scene.

Hopefully, it does the same thing to you guys when I release it.

Assistant Pastor Scar had a UNIQUE way of keeping the congregation in order.

Buyer beware; I got this off of a STALKER selling it out of his inventory. It was a 60%+ price hike, but I didn't mind - selling boar hooves more than paid me for what I needed.

Also... put some hearing protection on the first time you fire it. Shotguns will never be viewed the same way twice in this mod.

For those curious, YES, we ARE trying to work on getting a stripper-clip variant of the SKS in-game.

Whether or not it works or not is an entirely different matter altogether. :)

One of the nice things is that I got both a UMP 45 and a USP 45 Compact from a dead Clear Sky STALKER in the Swamps. Groovy!

Lonely...
I'm so lonely...
I have nobody...
To call my own...
Oooo~hhh!

The icons you see are from our Mumble (voice chat) conversation overlay. Jonny & I were discussing the mod over voice chat as I was going through it.

Oddly enough, the weapon texture and the background are all I attempt to capture in these screenshots. It's eye candy.

Indeed, new weapons WILL be available in stashes throughout the Zone - and not just in the Swamps. So you will be able to find many of our new guns in stashes, and some in the shops - but only if a certain faction is doing well - and finally others too rare to be galavanting around the Zone in broad daylight will be found at one EXCLUSIVE trader. I'm sure many of you know who I'm referring to.