STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Dcully

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122888346#Comment_122888346

Im running everything maxed out apart from post processing which i have set to low as i dislike most PP in games @ 1440P

DLSS is set to quality and frame gen is on with little to no input lag at all, i find once your 90 fps or so introducing some FG doesnt add much input lag at all.

If i turn off FG i sit between 85-100 fps, turn of DLSS and its 70-85 fps.

Grayzone Warfare is another game people really struggle with but ive always got 130+ fps in that game similar settings.

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122864195#Comment_122864195

Cant wait to play this. First Stalker is one of my favorite games and glad to hear the "brutalness" has made it into this game. Just thinking back to how long it took me to clear out that little house of bandits at the beginning of Shadow of Chernobyl.

What's up with the miss spelling of Chernobyl tho? Was puzzled by that.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122888354#Comment_122888354

So if you turn off FG, keep DLSS quality on, you still get over 80fps in the starting village?

Dcully

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122888430#Comment_122888430

Yes , about 85.

Dcully

This guy is very good at what he does and he just uploaded his latest vid might be worth a look.

Scroll to his optimized settings and give them a try, im gonna do the same to gain some more frames.

https://youtu.be/814y2OPLsX0?si=0FbuTZRpcGclAr2O

DeSelby83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122888387#Comment_122888387

Apparently it's the Ukrainian way of spelling as opposed to the Russian way which we are most used to seeing......I think

Cordell

Lots of fixes:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1643320/view/4455844537830474602

_CreeD_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122901733#Comment_122901733

Thank Jebus. I just ran into this one last night as my first true game breaking bug (basically under certain conditions you can't 'win' one of the better side missions, if you can even progress to the end it will tell you that you've saved everyone, then when you leave that zone it reverses to they're all dead).

• Fixed multiple issues in the On the Edge mission, including idle NPCs, stuck doors, and the Monolith attack progression.

_CreeD_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122901774#Comment_122901774

Righty after the massive patch this mission is better but can still bug. There are meant to be 2 distinct phases and in between some side objectives. Pre-Patch the sides were borked and would show complete, then not and then lose progress etc. just a total mess. After the patch I reloaded before I entered the Lesser Zone to trigger it, progress was much better but at the end of phase 1 (talk to Gaffer) I went out of the town and got the trigger for phase 2 but it basically never happens. There's a post on steam with multiple reports of the same thing. So this mission is still borked. And again from my perspective if you care about the immersion this should be considered a Main so be warey if you start it before it's properly fixed. Spoilers will include how this happens.

Spoiler Warning

So after the Monolith are, well, re-monolithised if you travel back towards Zalissya (common as you will likely be near if not full inventory and what you think is the intermediary shop is not anymore) you'll get a call for help to defend the town. This is a great role playing mission, or well should be. SAVE before you enter the Lesser Zone until you know this is fixed. In v1 there was an emission as you entered which borked A-Life by having the scripted Monolith enemies run to cover with the NPCs you have to defend…complexity and breakage ensues. In the first patch it appears those Monolith insta-die if this occurs, better. But now when you complete the first phase and it's subs and then attempt to leave it calls you back to the town to defend it and no-body attacks. If you leave, just like in V1, regardless of being told you succesfully defended the town it will then kill them all and Zalissya becomes a dead town.

Cordell

New patch out:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1643320/view/4455844537830474746

…claiming to fix that mission

Grumpypants

Started playing on Xbox Game pass. I had gotten to the "bolt" part at the start at launch but hadn't gone back. Had been tired and messing on my phone so had no clue what to do. Restarted the whole game and I'm now really enjoying it.

Just got to the first friendly village so doing some side missions here to get to grips with things.

Can you fix the broken guns? I keep picking them up and then drop them as I've gone overweight.

Grumpypants

Never mind just met Lens.

Cordell

Weird water bottle - 100% radiation protection (from both radioactive areas and artifacts) and 120 carrying weight, slight downside is that you're permanently drunk. Well, it's the zone, where vodka treats radiation poisoning. I've even got an achievement for getting a headshot while drunk.

This is my GOTY.

weiland79

I'm assuming that none of the NPC's making any sound when I'm talking to them is a bug?

weiland79

I've just gotten to the first friendly village and according to the subtitles there is an announcement on a loudspeaker but I can't hear the either.

weiland79

I can hear myself walking around and the sounds of monsters and the sounds of weapons firing but not other things it seems. Tempted to put it down and come back in 6 months when they've polished it.

Cordell

It's still broken here and there but not that much. Maybe try to reinstall it? For me it was quite smooth, minor issues, mostly animations, and the odd crash, but nothing major and one single game breaking bug introduced by a 1.1 patch and fixed the following day.

I finished it last week and I got the, let's say, world ending, which appears to be the canon ending. But I can't uninstall it yet, every day I feel the need for a stroll in the zone.

weiland79

So audio issues fixed, now to fix the getting fecking murdered at every encounter issue.

I'm doing an early side mission, I have to find a group of rookie stalkers. I've done the first part and now I have to find the final member of the group. Mastiff.

Whenever I come across a group of bandits they're making short work of me.

Is it as simple as leveling up my gear and weapons? So go off and do other things first?

I get that the game is hard but in an area so close to the starting point it seems a little excessively so.

Those bandits hit with pinpoint accuracy.

Cordell

Going against a group of enemies in an open space is supposed to be hard, especially in this game. They will seek and outflank you, they will shoot from cover and they will see you better than you can see them - between them they have more eyes and firepower. Your best chance is a good sniper weapon and engaging them from distance, and not even in this case you're not guaranteed to have an easy time.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122997554#Comment_122997554

It was kind of like this in the original. Until you got a sniper rifle and could starting hunting you really had to be careful when you are stuck with pistols and less effective weapons.

_CreeD_

Headshots is where combat is here, even lower level enemies can take a ridiculous amount of body shots but unless they have head armour a single headshot will take most down. The pistol is actually one of your best options early on, at least until you get a decent scoped weapon and there are a few lying around just waiting for you. The only time to go full auto or use a shotty is for mutants. If you have the Deluxe or Ultimate versions follow the Journalists stashes and you can get well equipped early on, there's only one (in the swamp) that's truly locked behind progression (with a little work you can get into Pripyat early for an excellent set of armour, a great shotty and marksman rifle in the one stash, for The Duga you can take the long way around for that stash (though it's not as good imho as the one in Pripyat)).

For others check here : https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/stalker-2-unique-weapons-locations/ , Valik’s AKM-74S is available right at the start and a great option. My favourite DMR/Sniper is the 'Clusterf**k' also on that page, it's a bit of a trek from the start but was my go to right to the end.

Cordell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gwNrYJ5VKM

More than decent for a fan made film.

_CreeD_

So I finished this about 2 weeks back, 50 hours and a lot of just wandering. Loved it, probably obvious from my posts. I picked up probably another 15 or so games through sales since but other than Halls of Torment couldn't get invested. So I loaded this back up with the hopes that A-Life and most of the obvious was fixed and also mainly again to just roam and not worry about the story. I put on the usual Stamina/Weight/Sprint mods and added Shays Living Zone with a bump to veteran. I'm not a serial re-player, there are some games I will play 'til I die (Mass Effect x, Crysis x, Skyrim, Supreme Commander etc.) but I usually don't until a major DLC, update or just boredom. Loving it all over again. I can't quantify why but what you will see all the time from fans, if you aren't already one, is The Zone is just a fkn cool place to be. I really wish they could turn this into a proper MMORPG/Live Service - not the crap generally dumped on us in that name but an authentic ever growing map and associated quests to spend time in.

Cordell

I really wish they could turn this into a proper MMORPG/Live Service

Be careful what you wish for. I'd rather have them working on more single player games than seeing this being destroyed again by going the live service way.

_CreeD_

Live service can be single player though, the idea of a constantly adding new content for a worthy game is not in itself bad it's just how shittily it's usually been done to this point - where exploiters think that means more overpriced cosmetics and season passes for just more of the same multiplayer content. I think the only game I've seen that did it half right for a while was The Division 2, before it was handed over to the B team and they tanked it. They added a ton of new areas over time even outside of the major expansion that was Warlords of New York and that's what I'd like to see.

Cordell

New content like constantly adding small missions and events? I've seen this, it never makes up for a good solid single player game complete with a story that can't be delivered in small pieces. I'd rather have the devs working on a sequel, or a big DLC, or both. As you said it yourself, it almost never works.

nowaktobias55

I still haven't had a chance to play. I thought I'd be able to build my new computer before the release, especially considering how many times the release date was postponed. But in the end, I didn't manage to upgrade in time, so I'm settling for watching Let's Plays. How about you? Is the game good enough to justify buying new hardware to play it?

_CreeD_

Is any one game? You're looking at 50 or so hours if you explore and do most of the side missions. If you like the originals you'll likely love this one but balance the cost of that upgrade against that time. Obviously the upgrade means improving more than just this longer term which would be a 'yes' but the way you phrased it explicitly I would say no. It looks good, but not stellar and performs worse than you would expect for those visuals, though it's noticably improving with each major patch and there are optimisation mods out there that help. But it's not like say Crysis, The Division or the Avatar game for example where for their times they could crater performance but you saw really clearly why.

Cordell

It's not pushing the limits so it's not that kind of game which drives people to upgrade, it's not the next Cyberpunk 2077. But it's a brilliant game and if you don't have a rig or what you have is not up to it then it's as good as reason as any.

Wilsoruna

The atmosphere in the game is 10 out of 10..graphics are bit outdated but it's not a big deal