Visibility settings Thread - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Hi,

this thread is to discuss visibility settings.

Pros of current settings: Sneaking possible

Problem with current settings: Enemies react way too late to the player

Example: When sprinting to duty blockpost in Rostok coming from garbage as bandit, Duty only starts shooting once I am past the truck next to their barricade, essentially 5 meters from their face.

With alternate settings, they start shooting as soon as I cross the bridge. A good balance is being able to sneak reasonably close to enemies, but not so close that it feels stupid, and still being able to go around camps/move across map without being shot at from ridiculous distances. I tried those settings by moving towards various enemies and see when they react. Some of them are close to Misery 2.2 levels.

Biggest problem with current settings imo is low eye_range and high visibility_threshold.

Would be cool to have input from people who know their way around those settings.

Current settings:

[stalker_vision_free]
min_view_distance = 0.4 ; min range of cone based on eye_range
max_view_distance = 0.8 ; max range of cone based on eye_range
visibility_threshold = 120 ;Threshold in which object becomes visible based on factors
always_visible_distance = 0.0 ;Distance object is always considered visible (float)
time_quant = 0.005 ;step increment to for sight calculations
decrease_value = 0.1 ;Decrease over time to overall threshold
velocity_factor = 0.4 ;Higher value = greater bonus to detection speed when target is moving (depended on movement speed)
luminocity_factor = 0.7 ;Low value = easier to see at night
transparency_threshold = 0.75 ;Low value = easier to see through objects
still_visible_time = 0 ;The time (milliseconds) that the object is still considered visible , even if it is not in the frustum (u32)

[stalker_vision_danger]
min_view_distance = 0.6 ; min range of cone based on eye_range
max_view_distance = 1.0 ; max range of cone based on eye_range
visibility_threshold = 60 ;Threshold in which object becomes visible based on factors
always_visible_distance = 0.0 ;Distance object is always considered visible (float)
time_quant = 0.0054 ;step increment to for sight calculations
decrease_value = 0.1 ;Decrease over time to overall threshold
velocity_factor = 0.6 ;Higher value = greater bonus to detection speed when target is moving (depended on movement speed)
luminocity_factor = 0.6 ;Low value = easier to see at night
transparency_threshold = 0.5 ;Low value = easier to see through objects (if greater then 1 then enemies are blind)
still_visible_time = 0 ;The time (milliseconds) that the object is still considered visible , even if it is not in the frustum (u32)

;---VISIBILITY--------------------------------------------------------
visi />visi />eye_fov = 120
eye_range = 100
far_plane_factor = 1.0 ; фактор дальности тумана
fog_density_factor = 0.05 ; фактор плотности тумана ; фактор плотности тумана

Settings I use and enjoy so far:

[stalker_vision_free]
min_view_distance = 0.6 ; min range of cone based on eye_range
max_view_distance = 1.0 ; max range of cone based on eye_range
visibility_threshold = 55 ;Threshold in which object becomes visible based on factors
always_visible_distance = 0.02 ;Distance object is always considered visible (float)
time_quant = 0.0013 ;step increment to for sight calculations
decrease_value = 0.1 ;Decrease over time to overall threshold
velocity_factor = 1.1 ;Higher value = greater bonus to detection speed when target is moving (depended on movement speed)
luminocity_factor = 0.7 ;Low value = easier to see at night
transparency_threshold = 0.82 ;Low value = easier to see through objects
still_visible_time = 0 ;The time (milliseconds) that the object is still considered visible , even if it is not in the frustum (u32)

[stalker_vision_danger]
min_view_distance = 0.8 ; min range of cone based on eye_range
max_view_distance = 3.0 ; max range of cone based on eye_range
visibility_threshold = 33 ;Threshold in which object becomes visible based on factors
always_visible_distance = 0.02 ;Distance object is always considered visible (float)
time_quant = 0.0010 ;step increment to for sight calculations
decrease_value = 0.0011 ;Decrease over time to overall threshold
velocity_factor = 1.1 ;Higher value = greater bonus to detection speed when target is moving (depended on movement speed)
luminocity_factor = 0.6 ;Low value = easier to see at night
transparency_threshold = 0.5 ;Low value = easier to see through objects (if greater then 1 then enemies are blind)
still_visible_time = 0 ;The time (milliseconds) that the object is still considered visible , even if it is not in the frustum (u32)

;---VISIBILITY--------------------------------------------------------
visi />visi />eye_fov = 140
eye_range = 250
far_plane_factor = 1.0 ; фактор дальности тумана
fog_density_factor = 0.05 ; фактор плотности тумана ; фактор плотности тумана

Edited by: PossuM

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try these values for a while and if they feel like a good fit, I can integrate them in the next update. I might still tweak them a bit or decide to make then an optional addon if it's not possible to play stealthy anymore.

sure, I also still tweak around all the time, will be happy to hear about your findings/thoughts

I'm currently testing some tweaks to combat and right now it's not decided if I'll integrate this by default or make it an optional addon. Maybe you want to test these tweaks, I've temporarily uploaded a small test package to Drive.google.com

Yeah, I´ll test them with my next char! Current one is iron man so I don´t want to change mid game.

What did you change except visibility? I see damage and actor file have been modified

Will test them. Will report back after a small play.

I've played with these settings for a few hours and decided not to integrate them in the pack by default. The goal of the pack is a more balanced and less punishing experience and the settings in my previous post revert almost all tweaks I did to achieve that. It might be more realistic and definitely more appealing to hardcore players, but definitely less fun for me and probably for many other players that are looking for challenging but fair instead of hard and punishing.

Yeah, I think it would be wise to maybe have a sneak-preset(default) and a combat-preset, it´s not so much about hardcore imo, because with the mod settings you can still take quite a beating before death.

With my settings I still managed to shoot up the Bandit Camp in Dark Valley with only an AK47 and a Sunrise suit, no medkits or grenades. So that´s not hardcore. (and also sneak pretty close btw)

But I do think many Stalker fans will have an issue with the enemies reacting so late once they realize it, so having a more long-distance-firefight oriented preset as addon file will certainly be appreciated!

Since I could not test it yet, did your tweaks also increase dmg to the player? Because that balance is fine imo, at least on iron man it feels good that not every mistake means death(for example I was attacked by a Bloodsucker while wearing Sunrise suit, he hit me once, my gun jammed and I managed to run away and find an alternative path). My issue was really just detection range.

Edited by: PossuM

I'm currently playing with the values of the googledrive and I must say it did strike me that the enemies reacted faster/farther away. But I'm quite happy with that. The reaction time was indeed too slow (imo), I'm used to Stalkersoup's reaction times and they're fast. Stealth is still possible with those tweaks so I'll stick with this. I can understand the point of not touching the values tho.

Edited by: HDKramer

I'll tweak the default a bit, but not too much. It will still be more forgiving than LD or Misery.

I've seen that PossuM posted an addon for the visibility values, that's awesome. The changes in the file I posted on gdrive are probably even a bit more challenging. You may want to diff them with your changes to see if anything in my tweaks is useful for your addon.

I'm also working on integrating the disguise system mod. So it will be possible to wear the armor of a group to "hide" from them in plain sight, at least at a distance. The diguise system is actually really nice, reminds me of the mechanics in the Hitman games. From far away, enemies will think you are one of them, but if you get closer their might see through your disguise and start attacking you. And wearing a mask makes the process of being identified a bit slower.

Well the changes in the m_stalker regarding visibility are a bit more challenging in my version, with lower threshold.

Rest of the files I can´t really say anything about since I´m still not sure what they do ^^

I think it should be as modular as possible anyway, one addon for visibility, another for damage etc so people can fine-tune it as they like it (if they are not content with default in that specific regard).

Edited by: PossuM

I'm playing the newest test update with Duty. I have a used Nosin. Ranges feel natural and normal now. Spotting isn't as hardcore as in vanilla LD, it is better tweaked. I fought some Freedom and Monolith and I have to ask is Warfighter in this new pack? It feels like it. That is good by me since a shot to the chest seems to kill. Good balance, I like it.

I did not include Warfighter. But if you still have the test-package installed that I posted a few days ago, Warfighter was included in that...

Thanks for the feedback, so far I'm also quite happy with the balance. Had time to play update 5 preview for 2 hours today.

I'll start packaging the update 5 release version in an hour or so and publish it later today.