Call of The Zone is a standalone modification for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Call of Pripyat that allows you to explore the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – a desolate and highly contaminated region of Ukraine that has been abandoned and closed off for decades ever since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. What has been going on in this irradiated wasteland since then? There are no shortage of rumors and conspiracy theories, each more fantastic than the last. Rumors of mutated wildlife, brainwashed cults, secret experiments, and unexplainable paranormal events abound, as do promises of great riches and wildest dreams coming true for those who are daring or desperate enough to try to break through the cordon. You are about to find out for yourself what is true and what is yet undiscovered, and experience for yourself all the Zone has to offer... or to take from you.
Call of The Zone v1.2 with a tweaked and fixed EAP on top and a custom build of my package on top of that. Bam.
After installing, download the update and install it on top of the main download: CLICK HERE.
This is not Mahzra's Pack v2.0. Mahzra's Pack v2.0 is being built on top of Rhons' pack, as that pack actually expands the base game with missions and items and stuff. Mahzra's Pack - EAP Edition is a one-time release but does feature some stuff that's not in v1.2 of my pack. Consider it a sneak peek.
Scroll down to the bottom of the description for screenshots. Full incorporated addon list is below the screenshots.
Mahzra's Package - EAP Edition is ridiculous. There, that's out of the way. First I unpacked the CoTZ v1.2 database files, then I installed Ekkaia's outdated but absolute quality Enhancement Addons Pack as a cosmetic base to build on. I threw my pack on top of it and that broke everything. I fixed the crashes one by one until it was stable and then threw the artifact and item overhauls on top of that. Back to fixing crashes, animations, merging items, loot balancing, etc. This took about what, 16 hours? EAP Edition wasn't designed. It just sort of developed as I went on and by the end I had so much fun playing it that I decided to archive and share it.
This is provided as is. The package is solid and stable, but contains so many modded components that it may easily break. I don't recommend installing anything (even my own addons) on top of this unless you know what you're doing. Weapon packs and anything to do with NPCs or questlines (sadly that means Rhons' excellent NPC expansion and repeatable questlines addons) will definitely break the pack. I would love, love, LOVE for someone to make a re-vanilla NPC models patch for EAP so I could merge Rhons' NPC and quest addons. Sadly such a thing will never happen.
Adding anything to this pack is like playing russian roulette where a bad spin could reduce the whole pack to a very hefty windowserrormessage.wav player.
By one-time release, I mean that I will not be adding new addons or features to this package. It is what it is. I will of course fix bugs and glitches and tweak the thing FOR ALL ETERNITY. Any suggestions will be considered for future projects though, so don't be shy.
After installing, download the update and install it on top of the main download.
A note on performance: this is a heavy pack to run. The first time you run the game, it will sit there and process shaders and whatnot. It may look like it's crashed. It hasn't. Be patient. After what will seem like ages, it will get to the title screen. Starting a new game will again take a while. It will get through this. After the game has finally started, you may notice stutters and hiccups. This is normal, and the game will smooth out as you play. You'll notice the next time that loading times are much more tolerable.
If performance is lacking (like due to a 2GB graphics card such as mine) there are a few things you can do to improve it:
Aside from the DX9 "Out of memory" crash there are two crashes I have been unable to get rid of. One is the "there are no free room to place item" crash. It happens semi-randomly when an ammo counter in your back hits 0 and when you equip or attach a scope or sight to some weapons. Fortunately, it's easy to prevent. Doing this is pretty good practice in general anyway.
So, let's say that somewhere along your travels you come across one or more corpses. I know, it's shocking. What do?
I think it's caused by AO3's ammo counter (which it also seems to use for the bullet in the chamber, the 41st bullet in an upgraded AK; it's probably how AO3 handles tactical reloads) hitting a 0 where it shouldn't. Fortunately the U to unload script makes that far less likely to happen. I suspect that for every crash you prevent by using it, you pay a bullet! :D
I call the other crash the "0K log crash". It's all I know. The game just dies and leaves an empty log. It happens rarely and I suspect it's a memory issue as I don't think I've ever seen it happen on vanilla(ish) packs.
That said, we all have different playstyles. Maybe I just don't happen to do other things that make it crash. Provide me your crash logs.
* oh my fucking god I actually hit F5 to write 5 and I hadn't saved this anywhere and I had typed so much stuff and I thought it'd be all gone but no living in the future is awesome what even is a dystopia anyway
** not this time, bitch
Gameplay is essentially the same as my regular non-EAP pack, but the inclusion of the item overhaul means you get a higher number of items you don't need and you get fewer items you do need, so survival feels more difficult as a result. Combat is as fast-paced and lethal as it ever was, but the new combat meds are just as fast and more potent. Some of the new artifacts can really mix up your character build, too.
I had to make some adjustments to animations, since the item overhaul items do not have them.
I would very much appreciate feedback on the gameplay, as balancing all these mechanics is tricky. To illustrate, in my current game, which I'm playing on Lock 'n Load difficulty, I've had to buy canned foods and ammunition. Outrageous.
The title screen is symbolic of EAP's development status. It runs, the lights come on and everything, but it's not going anywhere. Call of The Zone version not quite v1.2 because EAP was originally built on v1.1. Because someone always asks: the menu music is "Ruined World (Eternal Derelict)"
Purty.
I am personally not a fan of HD models. I love everything else about the EAP though, hence this pack.
Psssst ... don't tell anyone.
Item overhaul items are included and follow my pack's rules: no charges, everything stacks. Values and weights have been adjusted accordingly.
We are entrusted with a mission of great import. I enjoy this to an almost childish degree. Almost.
Some of the new artifacts are quite ridiculous, and this one definitely raised an eyebrow, but it's not even that outrageous in the grand scheme of things. They're interesting!
This package would not have been possible without the use of a great many addons, both in Ekkaia's original Enhancement Addons Pack and in Mahzra's Package. That this huge stack of sometimes overlapping content works at all is kind of awesome. That it works, runs well and is very stable considering all the stuff that goes on under the hood is frankly amazing. I take no credit for anything but my own addons, and the continuous and never-ending merging and balancing of all these components. The addons are listed in no particular order. May their creators live long and prosper.
Enhancement Addons Pack (these are the components that have not been overwritten by Mahzra's Package):
Mahzra's Package:
Additions to Mahzra's Package:
Average
105 votes submitted.
This post logs what the update file does. New game required. Sorry guys.
It was uploaded Jan 11th, 2023.
Update file contains:
- weather crash fix
- Dante's artifacts removed from quest rewards
- traders sell knives, binoculars, smoke grenades and all types of ammo
- item value adjustments
- repair items support item overhaul items
- unload all weapons script (press U to unload all unequipped weapons in your inventory)
- vanilla artifacts value adjustment
- food and drinks buffed (longer duration effects, better nutrition)
- HollywoodFX texture crash fix
Issues I am aware of:
> There is one more weapon that has missing or incorrect .ogg comments.
I hear it on Army Warehouses sometimes but have yet to identify it. If you hear a pistol (I think) fire from the INSIDE OF YOUR SKULL please ask its bearer politely to relinquish his weapon so that you might inspect it.
Or dome him. I don't care. I just need the noise to stop.
> Attaching a holo sight to USP-10 changes its caliber to .45.
Never noticed this before. Let me know if you find any others that do this.
> Weapons have too much recoil.
I forgot to remove wpn_effects.script before uploading AGAIN. Rename gamedata\scripts\wpn_effects.script to wpn_effects.nope or delete the file to restore vanilla weapon behavior, which with my edits to the weapons has plenty of recoil already. This is safe to do on existing saves.
You could also install the latest version of AO3 Centered and Aligned, which is compatible with this package and does not require a new game. Get it here: Moddb.com
> Weapon and armor repair kits are too rare, repair support items too weak
Balancing in progress. There will be a few more repair kits for sale and I will buff the support items. I'll also allow the support items to be used on slightly lower condition items as I can hardly ever use them now. I don't want to sit there every three shots polishing my barrel.
> Realmoney addon wallet is missing.
Or purse, as the original addon called it. Someone make Stalker models with Gucci purses and stuff! :D Adding it via script didn't work for me, so I'll modify the character creation to include that by default. Oh, the character creation store. Dammit.
> Character creation store does not feature Item Overhaul items.
Do we really need those in? Do we? Maybe someday. I'll add the purse.
> New artifacts are too crazy.
You don't even KNOW yet. There is a plan for these, but it will take some time. Kind of a plan. Needs gestating.
> This is a mod, not an addon.
Oh. Oops! It's not going anywhere. This is where it belongs.
> The HD NPC models shatter my immersion like fine crystal.
Install the HD NPC Remover addon. This will also deactivate fast-travel, but you can reinstall that afterwards, if you want. I recommend leaving it inactive for balance and enjoyment reasons.
> Text descriptions do not match actual properties.
I'm not going to start editing these until I've made up my mind about these properties. They will be corrected eventually, as these will be used in future projects as well. You don't want me of all people to edit text without a clear goal in mind.
> Health seems to go down for no reason.
If your health goes down and you're not suffering from bleeding or radiation or anything, take off your artifacts. You may be starving to death without realizing it. Energy recovery boosts make your stamina look higher than it is, hiding appetite. Just like stimulants in real life, actually!
My routine is to get up in the morning, take off my artifacts, have breakfast, and put my artifacts back on. And then have a caffeinated drink, if my stamina recovery bar's not entirely full yet.
... I apply this routine in-game too! :]
--
I edit this post as things come up. Prevents me from making the addon description even more convoluted and messy. And here, I only have 5000 characters to work with! When the comment is full, I'm going to have fix some issues to make room! o_O
Last edited: Jan 24nd 2023
Current length: 3601
I need boundaries.
Love ya too buddy. You, Rhon and so many others are keeping Doc's baby alive and well for 3 whole years now. While everyone's talking about Anomaly and GAMMA, y'all still grinding out awesome addons, packs and ports. Bless all of you for your services.
Damn, this pack looks pretty crazy and fun, too bad I can't play it 'cause I'm saving all my data for 2.0 😭
Oh, and about your descriptions; fcking love em, the personality in them is so much fun to read through! Keep them coming, and make them as long as you want!
I have a big stack of DVD-Rs I never use, a disc burner, and an envelope. Send me a message with an address I can mail them to and I will share this package with you 2000's style, ON SHADY ILLEGAL LOOKING DVD-Rs.
One-time offer, call in now, supplies are limited!
(DVD ROM drive not included)
As someone who's laptop doesn't have a disc drive, take my ******* money, bro!
Jokes aside, I would lowkey love it if my favourite mods like CotZ and Enderal have physical releases, then I could create a TRUE 'Mod Collection', instead of just having a folder called 'Muh Mods'. I'd buy a shelf and a external disc drive just for that!
Man, Enderal is so good. I should go back and finish that sometime. Thanks for the reminder.
awesome, gonna try now <3
Let me know how you like it!
All items have 1 use? Interesting, maybe I can finally use something I had on my sleeve.
Yeah, I like my backpack and storage tidy. Can't stand stuff not stacking properly either, so charges had to go. I made one exception for the Swiss knife though, because I'm not sure what to do with it.
Oh, also items with charges are annoying to use on quickslots.
And since there's no charges, you can sell any food to anyone. There's no half-eaten rations packs anymore that you don't want to use and can't sell.
MAN CHARGES SUCKED DIDN'T THEY
:D
And I can use a script to irradiate items in radiation spots.
Whoops spoilers.
... Dan
Why are you so mean
why so mean Dan
Ooh quick question: can you write a script that makes the player violently explode upon death? Like, a red barrel's worth? Maybe three? After maybe a 3s delay?
No particular reason, I just think it'd be funny.
:)
Keep up the good job !!
I will, thank you! Hey, do me a favor. Let me know if the pack works. :D I haven't gotten positive or negative feedback yet and that makes me worried.
After a couple of hours of testing,
everything is perfect and stable :)
Thank you! That is a relief.
BTW, there's a fix for the missing wallet, the one that appears in the realmoney addon and I foolishly forgot to add in my addon.
Pastebin.com
Just save this snippet and rename it from txt to script format.
At the risk of sounding like an idiot: what is this for? :D
Guessing from the original addon's description, or what I could make of it anyway, is that this script is supposed to add a wallet item (didn't happen for me) and you use the wallet to transfer your RUs from your PDA into the wallet and vice versa?
Edit: Spawned the wallet from the debug menu, that worked.
The script didn't work for a new game, either. Maybe my alternate start addon is messing with it? I suppose I could add the wallet as a mandatory item in that addon to get around that.
Either way, thanks! I'll play around with it some more.
I left this script if anyone used an older version of the addon that lacked the wallet in the start-up loadout - or if anyone installed it mid game. The script detects if the wallet is missing and then spawned it.
Well, this is frustrating. Something I've always wanted to have in Stalker is Dark Souls deaths and I think all the pieces are here but I don't know how to glue them together.
Instead of death (maybe through modified mugging):
Convert player RU to realmoney
Drop backpack with realmoney (maybe through modified Quick Release)
Teleport player to location of game start (so, where the player loaded from)
Save game.
If the player dies before collecting that backpack, destroy the backpack, teleport player back to last load, save.
If the player collects the backpack, automatically convert notes back to RU.
People can always load an earlier save game if they got screwed by spawning issues and such. Of course, the wallet would then go back to not being a thing, as you can't store souls in Souls either.
It's so elegant! RUs are souls! Of course they're souls! Now to replace every single pickupable item in the game with a shiny blue glowy.
If I say it's impossible and can't be done, will some bright soul (hah!) step up and prove me wrong?
EDIT: ARGH, no takers. It would solve the endlessly reloading without consequences problem! It solves the ironman problem of unfair spawnrape-deaths! It solves the eternal hoarding of too useful to sell items! It solves MUGGING! You wouldn't lose progress when you die, just resources! There are no disadvantages! I'm begging here! :D
I found out why the script didn't work for me, but I'm not sure how to fix it. Fixing it would be helpful to me, because I'd like to use this functionality for other stuff as well.
From the log:
* loading script wallet.script.script
! [LUA] SCRIPT SYNTAX ERROR
! [LUA] ...ahzra's package v2.0 beta\gamedata\scripts\wallet.script:6: '=' expected near 'function'
! [SCRIPT ERROR]: ...ahzra's package v2.0 beta\gamedata\scripts\wallet.script:6: '=' expected near 'function'
! [ERROR] --- Failed to load script wallet
so much fun with your modpack ty again !
Roaming and fighting bloodsuckers in their lair in Zaton right now
at night and the creepy atmosphere is crazy :)
I'm so glad you're enjoying it, thanks for sharing!
HI Mahzra you wrote :
On my system, I use DX9. It will occasionally run out of memory
Suggestion:
with -no_staging i use also -noprefetch -nofpslock -smap1024 -gpu_nopure -depth16 on a crappy laptop and everything is fluid with at least 60 fps
Hope it helps :)
Thanks, much appreciated. -gpu_nopure is a new one, I've not seen that one before. I'll give them a try!
you can also check DXVK instead of dx9
20 to 30% more fps !
I feel pretty dumb now, because I use DXVK in Linux. Never thought to use it to improve DX9 on Windows. :D Got it running now, I'll see what kind of impact this has on performance.
Thanks a ton for that tip, because this applies to so many old games.
Some day, my child will ask me
"Daddy, why is my name Guest?"
and I will regale him or her with tales of your gallantry.
EDIT: I'll have to write up a forum post on how to do this, because it's neat.
My framerate is more consistent (stays high for longer, but when it drops it drops further too) and something I didn't expect: the game looks different. Colors are rendered slightly differently in this.
While you're being a hero, do you have any recommendations for the dxvk.conf specifically for Stalker? :D
when i tested it on linux, no dxvk.conf
basic install only.
For windows i don't know sorry.
hi mahzra FYI
i installed AO3 Centered and Aligned and got a crash
log : error]File : Xr_ini.cpp
[error]Line : 523
[error]Description : fatal error
[error]Arguments : Can't open section ''
No biggie i always backup files so still up and running !
I just updated that addon again to fix another crash, could you try again?
Everything is working perfectly now
Great addon Ty !!
Here is a guide on dxvk for Windows from Reddit
Reddit.com
Thank you, that is very helpful! I'll link it in the description as well.
Maybe your drops are caused by the -noprefetch command..
Nah, it turns out I was testing with an NPC population of about 1000. This runs much better.
music volume keeps resetting to max everytime I load a save or start a new game. any fix?
A strange thing Stalker does is save volume settings (and a lot of other settings) per save file. Could you try:
- start the game (don't load anything, just sit on the menu)
- set your music volume in settings and apply
- quit the game
Now when you start the game, the music volume on the menu should be what you set it to. Starting a new game (not loading) should also keep these settings.
Also do that for the save:
- start the game (hopefully now the menu music is at the right volume)
- load the save
- set the music volume, apply
- save the game
- quit
That should fix it for that save. Previous save games still have the old volume, so don't load those.
Please let me know if that helped.
loading the save, adjusting the volume, then saving and quitting fixed it, thank you :)
I just finished the addons list for this package. That is a lot of stuff. :D
Recently got around to trying this and after some personal tweaks, (Restoring the original HUD with the CoC minimap thrown on, installation of a ReShade for that sweet MSAA and FXAA, And I was originally plotting to do the modification to stop X-Rays buggy music volume problems though thankfully you already did that, though I did bump the volume from 0.7 to 1) I can say that I really enjoy the combination of the modpacks and I think this is now my favorite way to play CoTZ.
Awesome, nice. :D Thanks so much!
Feel free to share screenshots or videos, I don't even know how sweet this pack can look on decent hardware.
I saw Duty uniform used the same model with HD model build3 mod
Moddb.com
are you repacked that in your mod content? I'd be happy to know
I don't know, actually. The HD models in this are from an older version of Raito's Anomaly models.
Moddb.com
Don't use this on CoTZ. It's not compatible anymore and needs a new compatibility patch.
When I'm trying to add -no_stagging, the system warns me that the target line is incorrect. Am I doing something wrong or what?
You're misspelling staging. It's -no_staging.
Hey mate, loving this so far, having one issue in my current play through with emissions, they seem to be bugged. I get the message that an emission has occurred but they don't seem to be actually triggering, do you know if there is a fix for this or have a bugged this run for good?
Have you finished the main quest? There is a bug after you finish the main quest that could cause this to happen. If you haven't finished the main quest, there's something odd going on. You may be able to correct it by installing another weather mod on top of this, but that may also just straight up break the install. Make backups of the folders the weather addon modifies. It should be okay though. Should.
Weird I don't even remember starting the main quest or coming across one, I honestly didn't know there was one I have just been treating it as free play. I am playing a bandit though so I am not sure if that has something to do with it or if I checked an option at character creation, I will give you suggestion above a go and if worse comes to worse I'll start a new game and see if that fixes it. Thanks for your reply mate appreciate the help.
The main quest doesn't apply to bandits anyway, so that's not it. Weird! Let me know if you manage to fix it, maybe others have run into this issue too.