Just picked up the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bundle from the Steam Sale. Which one should I play first? Essential mods?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Thread
SoC vanilla first
SOC no mods
>>322050101
Consult this Starting Guide, and then /vg/'s General.
Play in release order, no mods - only latest patch. You CAN however also use the recommended "Starter Packs", that only contain extra bug fixes and lightweight visual mods.
Play on Master difficulty, and disable crosshair.
Do not give up in the beginning! Starting gear sucks, and first area's nothing special. Mind the bullet physics, stay low, and aim with sights, preferably to the head.
Don't play the second one
There is an impassable bug when you try to enter the map of the scientists
>>322053718
Never had anything of the sort, in pure vanilla or Starter Pack.
I do, however, know that COMPLETE mod adds a gamebreaking bug towards the end of the game. You were not using that shit, were you?
I'd personally recommend giving CS a spin. With all the fixes found in Starter Pack. It really needs them. The game introduced many changes to the gameplay, that are still present in CoP.
>>322051509
>>322052502
So no graphics tweaks? Not to sound like a graphics whore but how is the eye cancer threat?
>>322055820
They hold up OK, textures are a bit messed up here and there but it fits the setting
>>322055820
The graphics feel bleak but it's not really bad
All you need is ZRP for bugfix
>>322055936
Ok then. Thank you anon.
>>322055820
You sound exactly like a graphics whore
>>322055820
>>322056014
Starter Pack DOES include visual mods too, if you want to use them. The packs are fully customizable and totally modular.
That being said, the vanilla graphics are still very gorgeous (come on, they're 2007-10 games, two latter have DX10.1 & 11 modes!). The lighting engine of the XRay is damn impressive, there's normalmapping and even parallax everywhere, and overall the games are very atmospheric.
Pic very related.
>>322056002
Thanks!
>>322055820
>>322056227
>Not to sound like a graphics whore but how is the eye cancer threat?
If this is too "ugly" for you, you're quite a graphix fag.
>>322055820
The games look better than Fallout 4.
Dead serious.
They also play and feel far better.
>>322056574
Underground sections are especially gorgeous.
Using the AMK1.4 mod here, but it doesn't really have any other visual changes besides gun skins by default. The most important thing is to use the latest DirectX dynamic lighting modes.
>>322057057
I also dig disabling the HUD for some of the better looking screenshots.
>dat concrete texture
>2006 game
>>322056574
Is that guy back there taking a piss?
>>322058081
In the soviet Zone, piss takes you!
>>322056574
>>322056227
>>322056790
>>322057275
What the fuck? A skeleton crew makes a game almost a decade ago that Stil BTFOs current AAA?
Here's a guide made up of other guides and various solutions althought /vg/ has everything else, made by a thankless anon.
http://pastebin.com/FUPEbLiv
and people have used trips for much less.
>>322050101
Why did you buy it, there's a repack at /vg/ and the money doesn't go to the developers.
>>322050101
From someone who played all of the games, I recommend playing through SoC and then CS with the starter packs only. You will lose your fucking shit during the ending parts of Clear Sky, guaranteed.
Then I'd recommend playing CoP with patched Misery 1.0, that game's open areas paired up with some of the changes Misery does is probably among my top 5 first person shooter experiences, right up there with things like Jedi Outcast and Shadow Warrior Classic.
>>322057275
Does HUD-less playthrough viable? I want to do a fully immersed playthrough.
