Q: Whats are pc reqs for LA?
A: Well it definitely needs a stronger pc, than SoC, you can find some more info here: Forum.stalker.pl
Q: Will you make LA on CoP engine?
A: No. :) LA is based on SoC engine, which makes it truely atmospheric, and memorable.
Q: Don't you want to use any sources from CoP?
A: Maybe some models, textures etc, nothing more.
Q: What about storyline? Is it ready?
A: Yes its ready. We started to implement it into the game in early January, 2011.
Q: What can you say about it?
A: It won't change the world, but will bring smile on our fans' face :)
Q: Will you add free play function in game?
A: Yes, after finishing the story, you can go back and do some sidequests, which will only appear in the jobs list after the ending.
Q: Don't you need beta-testers?
A: We carefully select the beta testers. No need to apply, we will find you!
Q: Will you release a beta version of Lost Alpha?
A: No. We won't release half-made projects. Please do not beg for it, it won't change anything.
Q: I can't make mods, but want to help you anyway, what can i do?
A: You can donate to us. Everybody who will donate, can send us a character description with name, short bio and equipment list, which he would like to see in game. Also donators will be included in credits. We have webmoney and paypal accounts. For more info, drop us a pm or email.
Q: Will you add any secrets to the game?
A: Yes. If you played Priboi Story, you know we like secrets :)
Q: What about physics?
A: It will be "more realistic" with ragdoll implemented from old builds. However, what can not be fixed, won't be fixed. Don't expect us to rewrite the ode engine.
Q: Will we be able to kill crows?
A: Yes.
Q: Hud will be used from SoC?
A: We would like to make it more similar to the old style.
Q: Will you replace torchlight?
A: Nope. It's good as-is. However you will have to put it on your belt in order to make it work, and you will need batteries for it.
Q: Will you remake global map?
A: Yes of course. But let's not talk about it until the release :)
Q: Did you leave any vanilla SoC levels?
A: SoC Yantar, but drastically changed it, and of course the lab under it (x16) :)
Q: How will you make sleeping? Through the sleeping bag or inventory?
A: There will be sleep-bags, as it's really fast, convenient way, and more realistic than a button. Of course there will be sleepzones, which means, you can only sleep in safe areas.
Q: Will you include Panoramic Mod by Argus?
A: The creator of Atmosfear mod (Cromm Cruac) joined us to make some nice weather for the R2 render, so you can expect real good panoramas, but only on r2 render.
Q: Will you make pda-chat like in 1935 build?
A: Yes, for more details check our videos here or on youtube :)
Q: Will you make new guns?
A: Yes. We will add 3 new weapons, 3 own made little revolvers, and the old ak74 and possibly the old fn2000, just for nostalgia. Plz note: p90, pkm, mosin nagant won't be included.
Q: Will you make faction wars?
A: No, it wasn't planned.
Q: Any new factions will be?
A: Sin aka dark stalkers. They are needed for the story, and of course, there were planned in old stalker too.
Q: Will you add bullet decals on bodies?
A: Yes.
Q: And what about car doors?
A: They are all fine, you can open-close them as you like. You can also use the trunk of the cars to store some loot.
Q: Will you make a weapon upgrade system like in CS?
A: Our upgrade system is based on cs-cop version, you can see it in action in one of the 3 alpha format videos.
Q: Will there be detectors to looking for artifacts?
A: There will be detectors, but they will only help to get in the anomaly zones.
Q: How much LA will "weight"?
A: Currently its 13-14 GB. We removed all unnecessary SoC files, the rest is needed, and it will come with nice installer, so you won't need to edit/merge/move anything, just install & play. The game is packed to xray database packs, which helps to reduce size as well, plus easier to handle. No worries, all available db unpackers can unpack them. The game will be packed with 7z zip as well, so the packed size is around 4.7 GB (2012.05.15.)
Q: What time of year will be in game?
A: Summer, but this does not mean that all levels will be green. You will see dried levels, as well as beautifully overgrown, green areas
Q: If some new builds appear in the network what will you do?
A: GSC deleted all old builds, but before we had the opportunity to check them, and they let one of our member to release them slowly for the fans, to keep the stalker mod-community alive even longer. So we can safely say, there aren't any builds which could be harmful for our project, and since now all oldies were released, any modder can try to make his own dream game, of course new content is always more welcoming, than using old materials made by other people.
Q: Did you add back rats?
A: Yes, they look quite funny. And since now we have rats, we renamed the rodent specie to ratwolf, since it perfectly fits. They are big rats, and really aggressive :)
Q: Will you return old mutants?
A: Yes. All of them we could find in soc gamedata, plus the green dwarf, and some custom made swampbeasts, which are based on the poltergeist's visible form. We have other new monsters in plans too, but we can not promise that they will be ready till the release.
Q: What kind of patch will be needed?
A: Lost Alpha is based on a beta patch, called 1.0007. This was never released to the public, but we had the opportunity to get it, and fix it up. The engine is now totally upgraded, runs better than ever. This means, you don't need any SoC patches for LA, since now it became a standalone (but still free) game.
Q: How will this work with Steam version of SoC?
A: You can put LA in steam, if you want to, but since LA is standalone game, SoC is not needed for it to run.
Q: Will we see military patrols?
A: Yes. They usually check the well known paths, but no need to be hostile with them. You can stay neutral, if you follow their rules. Later in storyline you can even cooperate with them in some tasks.
Q: Will you make yellow karlito?
A: We tried, but the guy who was working on it left us long ago, and it wasn't finished. We might include the model in LA, if we can reach Nova to send it to us.
Q: What about the ballistic of weapons?
A: Ballistic won't be changed, with the upgrading system, you can upgrade your weapons.
Q: Will be there blowouts and how will they look?
A: There will be random blowouts, which is default in nowadays mods. You will be able to hide from them in special shelters, which you will see marked on your map as soon as the fun begins. They won't give 100% protection, but you will survive easily. Npc will go to shelter too, if they find one. If not, they will run around in panic, or attack an other shelter. Birds will fall down (as in Priboi Story), animals will go crazy and attack camps... If you go underground, you will get the feeling of the blowout too, which we call "underground blowout". You saw these in Priboi Story already :) Nothing more we can say. It's perfect as is.
Q: What kind of hud will you use?
A: Hud changes all the time. We cant say which will be the last. You can see the latest, and probably the last version on the screenshots. :)
Q: Will NPCs be able to avoid anomalies?
A: Npc will try to avoid, but everyone can make mistakes, so it's highly possible, that some npcs will stuck in anomalies, and die :)
Q: Will NPCs avoid hitting dynamic objects?
A: All dynamic spawned objects are visible for AI, but why should they e.g. go around a wooden box? They will simply toss it away, like you would do. The dynamic objects are not heavy, so they wont block AI movement (except some doors :).
Q: Will you add back some cutout animations to stalkers?
A: Yep, but only those which suitable for gameplay, and looks acceptable. We made TONS of new animations too :)
Q: Will you add back the old rounded cursor?
A: Yes. But it can be turned off in console, if someone would prefer the default cross or dot.
Q: Sidorovich remains in the game?
A: Of course, yes. He is part of the story.
Q: What kind of textures will be used in Lost Alpha?
A: We will use only the necessary textures for the levels, which is currently near 1 GB. We also use weapon textures and some npc-monster textures from the betas, but thats all. Player will be able to use his favorite texture packs, We won't force anyone to use our favorite. (also with this step, we can spare a lot of unneeded GB)
Q: What about weather?
A: We will use sky textures from old builds and unused from vanilla game. We made a new weather system, if the player uses r2 render, the game will automatically load the atmosfear dynamic weather, which also includes the old skyboxes from stalker. If the player plays on r1 render, then the old classic beta-style weather will load. Of course he can override, and change weather presets in console.
Q: Which weapon textures you use?
A: We use textures from old builds and our ones. We don't plan to include weapon texture mods. Players can do that :)
Q: What about Russian version of LA?
A: When all the dialogs, stories are ready, we will look for helping hands to translate LA to russian. Currently it seems, we won't be able to translate LA into Russian till the release. In worst case, a quality translation will be released in later patches.
Q: What about graphics?
A: Static render was improved & enhanced, but nothing serious, it looks perfect already. The r2 render was also changed, but we wouldn't want to spoil it :) All we can say, it will be a nice surprise!
Q: Will you use Dead City from 1935 build?
A: Nope. We use our own which we started in April 2008 and finished in September 2009. We will include some extras about development stages, and some easter eggs. :)
Q: Will you make any new maps, which wasn't in Stalker?
A: There will be some new areas, which we made either from scratch, or with help of GSC.
Q: Radar map contains forested areas and the garbage hills too?
A: Both. :) Check our screens (on Moddb). :)
Q: Which Yantar map will you use?
A: From 1935 build with lots of changes. First of all, fixed geometry, added water, added new vegetation, added enterable bunkers and a lot more :)
Q: What about Darkscape?
A: One of our best own made maps. It's huge, maybe too big, but engine can take it easily. We already spoiled the map :) It contains a big mine, several villages, bus station, and long -long roads.
Q: The power plant is now one big location, or you split it?
A: One big location with lots of changes. We are sure, players will like it.
Q: Will we be able to join factions?
A: Can't say anything about these. We won't spoil the storyline :)
Q: Will you add cars?
A: Yep. You will need to buy them at traders. Forget about the randomly spawned working vehicles in game. It's rather unrealistic. If there would be a working car, bandits have already taken it :)
Q: Will you make trunk & gasoline in cars?
A: Yes. We made it long ago during the works on Priboi Story.
Q: Where will you add the faction bases?
A: We can't reveal such secrets :)
Q: Will you return weapon shaking, like in Clear Sky?
A: Yes, it's already in game. You can see it in action in our "Happy New Year 2012" video.
Q: What about ambient sounds?
A: We use a lot of cut or unused sounds from final game or old builds. They will make some oldschool atmosphere in stalker's world.
Q: What about the main menu. You made new?
A: As in 2005 builds with minor changes, but you can see it in our latest Deadcity video on youtube or moddb. :)
Q: Can I suggest some mod to be added to Lost Alpha?
A: You can... but we said many times: we won't :) simply because most of the requests does not fit to that atmosphere which we want to create, or we don't find it interesting. Let us deliver our gem, as we would like to :)
All right, thats all for now. Later, if there will be more questions, we will extend this FAQ, or write new one. Thanks for your time!
(last updated: 10. Aug, 2012)
Good info, sounds like the game is coming along well.
Kinda wish they had more then three new weapons. One thing I like about other mods (L.U.R.K. S-mod) is searching for that one weapon the suites me. But I bet they will make up for it with the new story, maps, and all that stuff.
Now i now... nothing! :P
You too? :D
its only useful for those, who dont follow our project, just check it from time to time. and this way we can avoid writing down the same answers all the time :)
I have a good question which wasn't addressed.
You say this mod is about the Origins of Strelok.. are Ghost and Fang going to be included ingame as running mates?
yep. as you make progress in story, you will meet them, make them your friends, and prepare for the first trip to the center.
Will we have rendered cutscenes? ;]
and who would make that for free? :D
I would :D
i7 3960x here; I would be happy to help with anything. I can leave the pc rendering for ages, so no problems really. Please contact me if you need rendering, I really like stalker and this mod is (in a way) giving me the canceled stalker 2. Sincerely, Alex.
the problem is not with pcs, but to find someone who could make the videos for us
really nice and long FAQ... it explains it all :D
Thank you.
Youve mentioned darkscape being 'maybe too big', dont you dare touch it!! :)
The bigger the maps, the better!
i even crashed when texture setting to maximum when entering this area, time to upgrade my rig i think (or reinstall OS to 64bit)
nice FAQ. but I'm dissapointed with the weapon shaking :(
I hated the static look of weapons in SoC -.-
The shaking of CS and CoP looks so more realistic.
is it so hard to change that small feature? at least please try it:(
Cool!
I have a possible weapon, that could be along the lines of the gauss rifle: Gepárd M1 :)It will take a long time to reload. Though, I am trying to modell it in blender, I dont know, if it will be finished and it will look good, is there any way to test it with the engine?
Ah and also for the new pistols, Danuvia VD-01, though there is only a small number of images of it.
And also, what other translations will be available, or will it be easy to translate the game, because I have a friend who does not knows English, but he still likes the game.
Thank you
there will be english by default, then russian, german, possibly polish too, and if i will get some help then hungarian too :)
about the guns... sounds interesting, but dunno how they would fit to the zone, second, i cant make it work, but if you can send us images of the model, when its done, we can try to add it to the game... if our modeler (Nova) decides to come back :)
Stalker has a huge mass of fans in Czech Republic. A Czech translation would be awesome.
portuguese would be awesome too ;)
any french ? ;-)
Personally I think you guys should add an AK47. Not the one everybody else has that looks ugly and has bad sounds but something that has a lot more effort put into it. I mean after all it is one of the most commonly used guns in the world.
I could help with the hungarian translation, if you need it.
Also for the gepard, in working on it, but at the moment it is untextured, and in separate parts, I could upload a picture, but it would look much better with textures.
For the AK 47, with boolean modelling (AKA Constructive Solid Geometry or CSG), it would be not that hard, or at least at the moment it does not seems hard to do a basic design, but will get a high poly count, and can slow pc's down, but can you explain something specific that would make the rifle look better. As for the sounds, I dont know what I could do with it.
well, i dont know nothing about weapons, and because of the upgrade system we made, its a pain in the *** to add any new wpns to the game, since you need to rewrite a lot of craps to make it work. so lets say, we dont need new wpns, and after release, the fans will merge it to the game as they wish. we don't have time for "this extra" :S
about translation, sure, would be cool if you can help, i will contact you when the stuff is ready for translation. also i will work on it
Ok thank you, it would be good for me to help in any way! Im looking forward to it.
(buried)
The graphic enhancement from STALKER SoC 2009 made by artistPaul will it be included in Lost Alpha? And if not, why not? It looks killer to me.
Because Lost Alpha don´t wants to be a big Graphic-blender with nothing interesting....
Dez, I think the HUD (armor- and lifebars) must be like in 1935.
P.S.: Soviet people, wr ur ya? We are waiting THIS S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for eight ears!
And don't forget to make the MOVING clouds such as in 2215 (texture and so on...). Or you have done already?
if you check some screens, some of them already visible, but i dont like it much, so im not sure if i will leave them or disable.
Maybe a user-optional thing (like an "addons" folder or something)?
Dez, will npc's throw bolts into anomalies? There is such script in SoC, but it's off and needs to be fixed (some conflicts with another schemes). Anyway this action looks freakin' great, when a stalker walks close to anomaly, throws some bolts into it then walks around and goes on his way.
it already worked in priboi story :)
or will be female stalker???
nope
No kitchens in the zone
Блин!, а наши то пока не знают)!, что не так долго осталось, до выхода "того самого" СТАЛКЕРа. Хм, думал, что не пойму, однако :о)! Респект и уважуха, пацики ;) Буду ждать с нетерпением этого мод-а! Посмотрел новогодний "подарочный" видеоролик -. stalker-planet.ru/load/10-1-0-1334 .- убедило, что куете что то классное =)! Мда, я кстати тоже скучаю то "тому самому" ^_^, и даже CoP, - не тот СТАЛКЕР, не тот :D. В общем ждем и мечтаем ;*!
Sounds awesome. Can't wait to play it!
Until "this stalker" come out, i will continue play in "that stalker" (1935) XDDD
R2 это нечто волшебное! Детализация и ФПС зашкаливают, и это в игре 2004 года Т_Т А в CoP графика как гуано по монитору размазали( Чёрт, даже R1 1935 и тот лучше чем R2 CoP!
Wait for LA!!
Hey Dez, isn´t the Answer to the Question
Q: Did you leave any vanilla SoC levels?
A: Nope. :)
wrong? I mean, your leaving untouched Vanilla X16 and a remake of Vanilla Yantar, so this must be a "Yes" or not?
hm, yeah, youre right, since when we wrote the faq, the vanilla x16 wasnt planned yet...
ok i fixed that :)
I like the SoC engine somewhat better than the CoP engine.
BTW: I have played Build 1935, and it doesn't degrade your mod one bit in my opinion.
Does this game works on windows xp professional?
I think I had XP Pro before (I know I had XP), and Stalker still ran fine.
As for the mod, likely will still run fine :)
Hey guys, quick question:
Will you add the drinking feature that was in Stalker (where the player literally takes a bottle of vodka out and drinks it)?
Just wondering.
i dont find it so interesting to see a lowpoly object going closer to your mouth, it does not look fine imho. currently its possible to do, but it does not worth.
Yeah, you're right; it would be odd to see an HQ model get so close to the actor's face it becomes to look like a box :P