A stable, fast-paced, think on your feet gameplay overhaul for Call of the Zone balanced around Arsenal Overhaul 3.
v1.2.2 Update
Download here. Install op top of main file.
Changes:
- Adds more options for population settings. 0.1 for mutants and 0.1 for stalkers makes for an eerily quiet zone, right up to the moment you get jumped.
- Corrects the CZ52 and AS Val firing sounds. Let me know if you identify any others. I think there's at least one more, but I haven't been able to determine which.
Don't worry, there's only ever going to be the one update file to download.
--
v1.2 Update released.
Not a whole lot has changed, this is mostly a bug-fix and glitch-fix release. There have been some little additions as well, but nothing I'd call ground-breaking or anything. Some things worth mentioning: knife fov fix, kindasortanotreally-fix for the RG6, MW soundpack and small tweaks to some items.
This is however the final release of this build of my package. For the next release, which will be Mahzra's Pack v2.0, I'm using another CoTZ modpack as a base for mine.
Final release does not mean final update. :D If you notice something's done broke, do let me know.
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Your characters may not always be newcomers to the Zone. Some may have sponsors. They may have different backgrounds. They might not choose to come to the most hazardous place on the planet armed to the teeth with just a PM and a combat knife, wearing nothing for protection but a sturdy leather jacket and pure starry-eyed optimism. They may have different priorities.
But they're all badasses. (These videos are outdated. They're so slooooow. Link me your best. I need new ones.)
Thanks, Doc.
Main features:
- STABILITY
- Minimal HUD
- Lean, mean and fast black GUI
- Wide variety of character creation options
- Corrected, customized and integrated Arsenal Overhaul 3 implementation
- Loot and NPC loadouts rebalanced around AO3
- Simple but versatile item repair system
- Interesting NPC behavior (NPCs run, sprint, use items, have weapon malfunctions and die well)
- Tweaked first person item use animations (medkits are health injector cartridges)
- Improved meds and drugs (medkits heal more health faster, drugs have additional long-term effects)
- Some quality of life improvements and CoTZ v1.2 bug fixes (better nightvision, better binoculars, colored map icons, proper vodka stacking, competition-grade crosshairs)
- SICK COMBAT (fast player movement speed, improved weapon handling, meaty impact sounds and effects on player character and NPCs)
- A twitchy-eyed skull cursor
A word on difficulty. I tried really hard to balance this for different styles of play and I think I got pretty damn close. They're not necessarily difficulties but playstyle modes. Make sure to set your NPC population settings in the Options / Game menu before you start a new game. Generally, set mutant population to 1.5.
- OOH A SHINY: (NPC and mutant population setting: 0.1): for exploration and collecting. I'm working on an Easter-egg hunt type of preset for AO3 CI.
- LOCK 'N LOAD: (NPC population setting: 0.5/1): for casual play. Run and gun is a perfectly viable (and fun!) strategy in this mode. Get stupid. Take risks. Make sure you're recording. This is action movie stuff.
- STAY FROSTY: (NPC population setting: 0.5): for serious play. This is challenging, but not frustratingly so. Think on your feet, prioritize long-term investments over short-term returns. Roll with the punches. You can get through this.
- GOTTA RELOAD: (NPC population setting: 0.1): for masochism. This is for players who enjoy slowly making progress one quick-save at a time. I don't know if Story Mode can be completed by a human being in this mode. I say it can't.
Rule of thumb: if you find yourself stocking a ton of meds and never dying, you may not be playing the mode that's right for you. Same goes for if you're constantly out of meds and having to reload your last save, unless you enjoy that kind of thing. I personally play story mode on STAY FROSTY and just have freeplay fun on LOCK 'N LOAD. Occasionally I'll play Ironman on GOTTA RELOAD without crosshairs, when I feel my butthole needs the exercise.
Installation instructions:
- Install Call of The Zone and its update.
- Run it once and quit.
- Unpack my archive into a new folder. Move the content of that folder into your CotZ folder. Overwrite all.
- Create a shortcut to Stalker-CoTZ.exe. Click properties on that shortcut. Add "-no_staging" without the quotes at the end of the "Target" line. Click Ok. Always run the game from this shortcut.
- Run the game. Set your preferences and quit.
- Start a new game.
To ensure stability, the -no_staging command line option is required.
Check your Windows virtual RAM settings; make sure you have about 8GB virtual RAM.
Always make a backup of your gamedata folder before you add or change addons!
Various fixes (EFT, disappearing rain sound fix, Mangun fix, Bandits fix)
Small adaptations pack
Immersive Fast Travel
Old Barkeep
Eatmedkitscheme
Arsenal Overhaul 3
The Hands / Arms Project for AO3
Wepl's Hit Effects
Action AI for Call of the Zone
Death Animations
more dynamic anomaly
Enemy Gun Jam
No More Airlock for CotZ
SmurthLilGABE Hybrid
Modern Warfare 2019 Sound Pack
No tools to detach sights in Arsenal Overhaul
AO3 Centered and Aligned
Enhanced Vision Tweaks
CotZ Population Control
Srsly Minimalist HUD
Black Bevels GUI
Crosshair Presets
Balance Tweak - Repair Toolkits
Better Vanilla Headlamp
Outfit Marauder
AO3 Character Creation Store
Dead Air Sky and Fx
Dead Air Spatial Sound and Reverb
Skullsor animated skull cursor
AO3 Content Integrator
The components that I made for this package are listed under Addons on my Profile page. Many of them have optional presets you can use to further customize your experience. For most of them you can freely swap presets whichever way you like and no new game is required. Contact me if you have questions.
I noticed some of you clever puppies already worked this out:
If you don't like any of the options I chose, such as zoomed ironsights, the dot crosshair, or the srsly more minimal minimalist HUD, you can install other options on top of the package to overwrite them.
Keep in mind that if you install a different version of AO3 Centered and Aligned, you will have to reinstall the Enhanced Vision Tweak addon to get the enhanced binoculars back. The AO3 CaA package only contains the default AO3 binoculars. You know, for purists.
Here's a tip you may enjoy if you own a more than potato PC:
In appdata\user.ltx, find and change the following value to have bloodsplatters stick around for 3x as long. I like my fights messy and Dead Air's blood looks great.
r__wallmark_ttl 120.
Um, help? The mod keeps on crashing when I launch a new game for some weird reason. The pack looks promising, and I wanna try it out myself.
That is weird. Could you post the error in your log? It's in appdata\logs.
Have you installed it on top of vanilla Call of The Zone v1.2?
Do you have any addons installed other than the pack?
Have you tried other renderers? Have you tried no_staging?
Do let me know, you're my favorite font! I love comic sans!
--
god i hate comic sans to what depths have i sunk
sorry customer services representative survivor
I just updated the pack. Could you try the new version? Let me know if it crashes again.
I just downloaded and installed. COTZ 1.2 and your pack, nothing else. Finish character creation, and crash on starting game. Error:
FATAL ERROR
[error]Expression : wave&&wave;->length()
[error]Function : CSoundRender_Source::LoadWave
[error]File : SoundRender_Source_loader.cpp
[error]Line : 65
[error]Description : Can't open wave file:
[error]Arguments : c:\stalker\call of the zone\zlatko\call of the zone 1.2 full vanilla game unpacked - mahzras\gamedata\sounds\wpn_abakan_snd_shoot.ogg
stack trace:
0023:00BE46A3 xrCore.dll, xrDebug::fail()
0023:00B513F2 xrSound.dll, CSound_source::CSound_source()
0023:00BD3600 xrCore.dll, FS_Path::_update()
0023:00BCE528 xrCore.dll, CLocatorAPI::update_path()
0023:00B44FA2 xrSound.dll, CSound_manager_interface::_destroy()
0023:60FCBCBB MSVCR120.dll, Concurrency::details::_SpinWait<1>::_NumberOfSpins()
I was able to reproduce this error by removing the addons folder inside the database folder. Please make sure you copy all three items inside the Mahzra's Package v1.1 folder in the archive: the database folder, the gamedata folder and the batch file. All three go into your CotZ folder, where the Stalker-CoTZ.exe lives.
Thanks Mahzra. I did miss copying the batch batch file, but I did copy in the addons folder (13 files) in the database folder, as well as the gamedata folder. I recopied and still have same game crash on starting, but different sound file:
FATAL ERROR
[error]Expression : wave&&wave;->length()
[error]Function : CSoundRender_Source::LoadWave
[error]File : SoundRender_Source_loader.cpp
[error]Line : 65
[error]Description : Can't open wave file:
[error]Arguments : c:\stalker\call of the zone\zlatko\call of the zone 1.2 full vanilla game unpacked - mahzras\gamedata\sounds\wpn_abakan_snd_shoot.ogg
Did you copy the .db files from the addons folder into your database folder, by chance?
They need to be in the addons folder in your database folder. That folder may not exist yet.
So those 13 files need to be in COTZFOLDER\database\addons\ and then you should be golden.
EDIT:
Actually, let's start over clean. Rule one when troubleshooting.
FOLLOW THESE STEPS OR PERISH
---------------------------- PHASE ONE
1. Unpack Call of the Zone and its update.
2. Create a C:\stalker\COTZ folder.
3. Move the Call of the Zone 1.2 files to c:\stalker\COTZ
4. C:\stalker\COTZ should now contain the vanilla 1.2 COTZ installation
- so bin and database folders, Doc's pdf files, an ltx file and the .exe
---------------------------- PHASE TWO
5. Extract my package into an empty folder. It should now contain that Mahzra's Package v1.1 folder (that I really should get rid of with the next update.)
6. Enter that folder and select all three items, move them to C:\stalker\COTZ
7. C:\stalker\COTZ should now contain the gamedata folder and the batch file.
8. Check that C:\stalker\COTZ\database contains an addons folder that contains those 13 files. I'm getting paranoid! You see, that's where it gets the gun sounds from.
That should do it.
Yes, that is where they are. I just deleted the entire install and redid it with the same issue. Only other thing I can offer is that all the source game files are unpacked before I copy your files into the structure.
I also did NOT install A breath of Dead Air if that makes a difference
Also tried turning off the Character Creation Store with same result
Time to get a closer look at this, I suppose. I apologize for the hassle, and I really want to find out what's going wrong here. The whole point of this package is to have an easy install for myself, and it always works!
Please follow the steps below to the letter. Use the officially released vanilla Call of the Zone archive and the 1.2 update archive. Don't run the game until I tell you to.
There's a difference between our installs and I'm going to find it if it kills me.
Download this archive: Mediafire.com
Extract it into an empty folder. You will have four files there. cotz12.bat creates a text file named cotz12.txt and cotz12mp.bat creates cotz12mp.txt. Don't run them yet. There are also two text files there. These are the output of the same commands run on my system.
Delete c:\stalker\COTZ again.
Create c:\stalker\COTZ again.
Unpack Doc's DRXCoTZ1.0.zip into an empty folder. Go down that folder structure until you're at the root CotZ folder where Stalker-CoTZ.exe is.
Select all and move them into c:\stalker\COTZ.
Unpack Doc's DRXCoTZUpdate1.2.zip into an empty folder. Move the database folder into c:\stalker\COTZ.
Run cotz12.bat. It will create cotz12.txt. That cotz12.txt should be identical to mine, aside from things like serial numbers and space free and such. Just to make sure our starting point is identical.
Unpack my Mahzra's Package v1.1.7z into an empty folder. Go down my folder until you're at the two folders and the one batch file.
Select all and move them into c:\stalker\COTZ.
Run cotz12mp.bat. It will create cotz12mp.txt. This will tell us where our ending point is different.
Now run the game and try to create a new character. If it doesn't work, please zip up the text files you created and get them to me.
If it does work, also let me know, and please, for the love of everything, let me know if it was worth all the hassle! :D
Well, there is some anomalous behavior here, and it needs to be detected. I'll let you know what I find.
Don't forget your bolts.
I went through the process and identified the problem, which was on my side. It was left over files from another weapon mod I had tested months ago, and thought they were gone. Apparently not. I did a fresh download of everything and started over with the whole process, and it now works. I was able to find the issue by comparing the weapon selector in the character setup process in the fresh install and my original install.
I'll unpack the source files again and create another install to verify your addon has no issues when being installed on an unpacked folder structure.
But first, since it now runs, well... I need to try it out! :)
I'm glad you worked out what the problem was. Now go kick some ***. :D
In some preliminary testing, the Dead Air skies are absolutely gorgeous. I spent way too much time in the swamps just watching the clouds and weather. Did run into an issue with the outfit repair kit. I attempted to repair a looted helmet and soldier uniform (31% and 28% condition). Cancel does not cancel repair. If I hit ESC without repairing, game just crashes. Tested multiple times.
Yeah, I do the same thing with the skies. You wouldn't believe how many screenshots I have of just dumb skies. :D
Thanks for the report on the repair kit. I don't think I've ever canceled a repair, so I haven't run into this. I'll see if I can fix that for the Repair Toolkit Tweaks addon, but it may actually be a vanilla issue.
EDIT:
It totally makes sense that the pack wouldn't work on an unpacked install of CotZ, by the way. It hit me last night, one of those oh duh moments.
Your unpacked vanilla files are overriding the database\addons AO3 .db files. If you'd extract those before you installed them, so they overwrite the vanilla files, it should work fine. I should just unpack them and merge my addons into AO3 to prevent this issue from happening at all.
Out of curiosity, since I haven't done this myself: what's the benefit of unpacking the database files? Does it have any performance or stability benefits, or do you just do it for easy access to vanilla files like I do? I keep the unpacked files in a modders resource type place though, I don't run the game off them.
("No Mahzra, I just love to burn SSD space.")
Lol, SSD has gotten so cheap and fast, I don't care much about the space. Any performance difference that may be there is so small that I don't notice it. I primarily run it unpacked for ease of tweaking settings, and it has allowed me to get a better idea over time of how things are laid out as I see them more often. So yeah....
I like to mod the faction start locations for more early-game variety, and I usually start with no weapon (except for knife) and minimum supplies. I also change it so every stash contains loot, not just half. I added a new starting location south of the army checkpoint in Cordon. Want an adrenaline rush? Start there as Monolith with no guns, one knife, two bandages, one medkit, and one sausage, and find your way to Pripyat to report in.
Your comment on the unpacked files makes total sense. I didn't think of it either.
You did a really good job merging all these mods. I haven't noticed any major issues yet. But that's not saying a lot, as last night I climbed a tree in the swamps to get a better view of the sunset skies and totally didn't notice the helicopter that came by and shredded me in a microsecond, so my powers of observation may be overrated....
I want those tweaks of yours. For research purposes, you understand. Totally not going to steal them.
Nope.
I like your commitment to tourist photography in the most hazardous place on the planet.
As for a hard start, I like to do pretty much the same thing, but I start in the north and work my way down to the gate you start at. :D If this were multiplayer we could meet up halfway and have a beer on a job well done!
Thanks for the kind words. The game will crash on you occasionally, but as far as I can tell those are engine-related crashes. Most commonly memory related crashes and virtual file-system (so, just memory, game. don't try to hide your flaws. it's fine. we love you.) errors.
Sometimes the game will crash if you replace one specific gun in your secondary slot with another specific weapon. Only the Zone knows why.
Yeah, I switch off with North and South starts too. Bandit or Military start Jupiter, Merc in Zaton, any faction in Apartment in Outskirts. Always start with no guns. I usually play story mode too, but rarely finish as by the time I'm fully upgunned and Exo-armored I get bored and just start a new toon.
Happy to share my twaks. They work fine with your addon
Here's a fun challenge: start with and stick with the G36. Not the G36C, the plain one. You'll soon see why it's a challenge, not just physically, but mentally as well.
Ok, I'm up to a challenge and will try it. Only thing I won't do again is start without a knife...
Plus your mod makes the knife deadlier...
Haha, yeah I tried a no-knife start, too. Hardest 2000Ru to get together to buy one, ever.
I hardly ever used the knife before I buffed it. Now, if you're capable and confident enough, you can take down a squad of people with it.
Sometimes.
EDIT:
what settings are you on for difficulty and population?
Played further along and can report weapon repair kit appears broken too. Selected target weapon and parts donor weapon, and clicking repair or cancel does nothing. Hitting ESC crashes game to desktop.
Drag and drop works though, right? I only later realized you were talking about the repair UI bit.
I didn't know that feature existed until I made the Repair Toolkits Tweak addon. I went "Oh, that's neat." and promptly forgot about all about it. I'm not even sure that's enabled in vanilla. :D
Not sure what you mean by drag and drop. What I do:
1. Right-click on repair kit and select USE
2. Top window I select weapon I want to repair
3. Bottom window I select same type donor weapon for spare parts
4. At this point I should be able to click Repair and have a repaired weapon
But I can't. Clicking Repair does nothing, clicking Cancel does nothing. Only option I can find is to hit ESC and game crashes.
Oh, I mean the old-school way of dragging the repair kit to the item you want to repair and dropping it. That does work.
Confirmed that does work. All this time in the Zone and I didn't know you could do that. Does mean you can only do 10% repair and not 25%.
Side effect of not using repair kits is that it slowed down progression even more. No early income from weapon repair and had to save up to get looted weapons repaired by mechanic. Interesting tradeoff...
Yeah. I'm trying to smooth out the progression curve without making it frustrating or dumb, but it's a very subjective thing. Oh, if you get the Mechanized Warrior achievement the repair kits do 20%. At that point you can cash in quickly.
I like to try out a lot of different gear combinations and weapon upgrades, so this gives me time to do that before I end up in end-game stuff too early.
Here's another interesting mechanic that just sort of happened: you get more money for completely kitted out weapons than for the individual parts, like weapon + scope (+ silencer? those are expensive) + grenade launcher. I think that has to do with how attackzone974 rebalanced the values. But it pays to hang on to weapons until you can pimp them.
Oops, I fixed it, but I also accidentally complicated things. Hurray!
Moddb.com
Drag and drop just does 10%, with the Mechanized Warfare achievement it does 20%.
Double-clicking (or right-click Use) also works, but does not benefit from the achievement bonus (and I have no idea how to make it benefit from it) ... but you can use spare parts from other weapons or armor to gain an additional 5% of condition.
So you can get a little more condition out of repairs early on, but you have to give up potential candidates for later repair that is more efficient.
Thanks man, I wouldn't have found this without you. People on this side of ModDB are remarkably non-communicative.
What other side of ModDB is there?
So here's some more feedback after several hours of playing:
Other than repair kits and night vision, I've not encountered any other bugs or crashes beyond what I'm used to with CoC (not playing story mode). As a matter of fact, remarkably stable for the number of integrated mods. The AO gear is extremely well integrated, with buy and sell prices well thought out. No more instant riches from selling scopes, no mass quantity of launcher grenades. The distribution of weapons by type across the different merchants is well thought out and was a pleasant surprise. The Dead Sky weather effects like fog, rain, and sunrises and sunsets are gorgeous.
I tried 2 other addons with this- Backpack Fast Travel and CoC Minimap, and both worked without issues. There are definitely things to get used to- primarily other Stalkers running around like hopped up coke freaks on amphetamines. Player's speed is incredible, and early in the game I sprinted non-stop from Cordon to half way through Darkscape, basically just dodging shots and mutants. Of course when I stopped, I was greeted by a bullet in the cranium....
So far quite pleased with this assembly and looking forward to trying it with story mode.
Impressive job.
You know, I'm not often at a loss for words.
Thank you. I am stoked.
I will share a deep personal secret with you and only you; everybody else must skip reading this comment ON THEIR HONOR.
Everybody gone? Good.
In the end-game, with the right artifacts and armor upgrades, you can basically sprint forever at high speed if you're light enough
--
I make VROOOOOM noises like a race car
Yup. Heart of the Oasis, my favorite. Fully upgraded Exo for extra carry capacity. I can run for miles and miles and miles...
Ok, I finished testing for this character run. I got all 3 toolkits, assaulted the NPP and took the free exo, and made it all the way to the Generators because I wanted to test that level. Happy to see that Generators renders properly. I fully upgraded my selected armors and weapons and everything worked correctly. Had one crash when entering Truck Cemetery, and no other crashes at all, and visited most areas of the Zone.
Overall, I really like the mod, especially the weather graphics, and find it to be stable. I have some personal preferences I like better (different stats on Heart of the Oasis, 2 artifact slots on Exo, minimap), but very minor and I had no issues modifying those. Liked the immersive fast travel too.
Congrats on a very well done job.
When I have time to play around with it again, I'll remove the character creation addon so I can play story mode, which I really like, and test your repair kit fix.
If you want my starting location tweaks, let me know how to get them to you.
Story mode in this is pretty damn good compared to the old DRX questlines. He rewrote everything from scratch and it shows, it's all much more solid and mature.
Just one thing though: make a hard save before you do the warlabs. The final battle is a bitch and a half.
Could you zip up the files and throw them on Mediafire or something? Thats probably most convenient.
Yes, I finished it 2 times already on COTZ 1.1. Agreed on final Warlabs battle, several more times with different characters I made it to that point and just quit because I couldn't put myself through that again. Dr.X was creative with the Wish Granter and backpacks... lol. My exploit no longer works for getting everything.
I'll document the files a bit better and get them to you in the next day or two.
I'm glad to hear my game runs better for you than on my own system :D Entering Truck Cemetery is pretty much a guaranteed crash for me, every time.
Seriously though, it's a relief to hear it's so stable for you. One of the things I love about CotZ is its stability, but considering its 32 bit engine it just is more fragile than say Anomaly.
I could probably slightly reduce the number of crashes on my system if I got rid of the animated background; it's that tight. That background's not going anywhere though.
I wrote a fairy-tale (OR IS IT) in the addon description. Here's the gist of it: this patch fixes vodka sorting.
Mediafire.com
Master, 1.5 mutants and stalkers. I leARNED to knife hunt in original COP Misery mod...
Hey, what's the deal with night vision? I looted and repaired a Tactical helmet which has base night vision built in. When I toggle N instead of night vision I get dizzy headshake?
Reinstall Enhanced Vision Tweaks. I was messing around with shaders when I made the archive.
Those are some hardcore settings. I believe I have found my target audience. May I suggest reinstalling the CotZ Population Increaser with the 100% option? I've never been brave enough to try that with max population settings. It should make things nuttier than squirrel poop.
At those population settings even my honestly very harsh loot drops must seem almost generous.
Ugh on the night vision. Between **** and putrid, I opted for none of the above and reinstalled default COTZ nv. MUCH better at level 1 nv. Sorry, didn't like the Enhanced Vision Tweaks. I'll retest again when I get 2nd toolkit and can upgrade to tier 2.
CotZ Population Increaser with the 100% option? Sounds crazy. Sign me up....
I'll let you know when I get a chance to try
First modded Stalker I played was the SGM mods for COP. Loved them. But the Zone in SGM was never empty so it just grew on me. There were times in SGM I got chased by groups of 50-60 snorks...
Hah. Once again I am reminded not all people are alike. I can't stand the vanilla tier 1 nvg, I can't see **** through that thing. I'm pretty confident you'll like tier 2 and 3 though.
There's another addon on here that dynamically spawns swarms of mutants at night. Maybe throw that on top as well?
This one: Moddb.com
Man, the madness. THE MADNESS.
That is some serious masochism right there....
Yeah, I've not tried that one either. I like shooting dudes more than shooting critters.
After I got second mechanics toolkit, I retested the night vision. I agree with you that your Nightvision 2 Contrast version is phenomenal. Keeping that. I'll try level 3 when I get the last upgrade toolkit and relevant headgear
The logic to modify the % of stashes that contain loot is in gamedata\scripts\coc_treasure_manager.script. It is one single formula.
All caches are populated at beginning of a new game from this script:
Gamedata\scripts\coc_treasure_manager.script
The default is that one half of all the caches will contain loot. The below formula determines that:
for i=1, math.floor(caches_count/2) do
By changing the divisor you can select the percentage that will contain loot. To have all contain loot:
for i=1, math.floor(caches_count/1) do
Changing it to:
for i=1, math.floor(caches_count/4) do
Will have 1/4 of stashes contain loot. And so on. Simple.
Thanks. I don't mind rewarding player knowledge. The only thing is that in CotZ stashes respawn, so all full stashes may be too much? But my loot drops aren't super generous. But all full stashes gives players two times the chance of hitting a jackpot stash.
Argh. I'll have to think about it.
I didn't know they respawn, nor did I ever notice one to respawn unless it was a reward stash or part of a quest such as "bring me PDA from Stash" or "bring me toolkit from stash" (in which case it replaced previous contents, including mine). And I sometimes revisited after long intervals to put stuff in that stash myself. Because you never throw anything away. You will unbalance the Zone. I'm not a hoarder. I'm not a horder... I'm...
I had to accept my hoarder tendencies when I ran into the game's limit for how many items you can put in a backpack stash.
It's a lot! :D
... it's not enough :(
Wait... there's a limit ?!
Luckily because I use the Backpack travel mod, I have several dozen backpacks throughout the Zone.
I have same problem with Fallout 4 and Borderlands 2. With 87 bazillion guns, I want one of each...
You sure on the stash getting refilled? I think it's only individual ones that are part of quests or quest rewards...
Not only is there a limit, the limit is based on number of items and ammo counts as individual items. But it takes a loooong time to get there. You'll know when the bag is full because the game instantly crashes to desktop! :D
EDIT: I only found out because I wanted to find out. The game will subtly indicate the bag is getting full with stutters and eventually freezes when you open the bag.
I'm pretty sure on the refilling stashes, yeah. Here's what clued me in. Everybody has their routines, right? Stashes you always check even though you're like absolutely sure, 100% positive, that you checked that stash a hundred times before and there was nothing in it?
The chest under the Cordon bridge is an example of a stash like that for me. I check that thing way too often, but you know, it's right there and it only takes a second and I'm passing it anyway...
So yeah, it contained a random stash again. Maybe it happens when crates and breadboxes respawn, too.
I will happily admit that with the hundreds of fresh starts I've done in the past few weeks I may be imagining things. The Zone gets in your head like that.
I did something with this info, and maybe found out something you didn't know. Have a read.
Moddb.com
Thanks again for all your help and feedback. It was tremendously useful.