S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Shadow of Chernobyl Beta Tester

[ExiL3 10]

Hi it’s me again,

 

For those of you who don’t know, STALKER SoC, is an upcoming game by GSC Game World and THQ. It is a FPS combined with RPG, a thrilling story and a great multiplayer. The game will come for PC only. The game will be out in about one month.

Here are the TWO home pages for those of you who are not impressed already:

 

-          Developer game site

http://www.stalker-game.com/en/

 

-          Official game site (THQ)

http://www.stalker-videogame.com/

 

So for those of you who want to know more about the game, go to the sites check the videos and so on…

 

The reason that I am making this thread is because I got an email from the STALKER team today, about me being picked out to be a STALKER Multi Player BETA tester. I was thrilled to say the least, and since I have been waiting for the game since 2003, I had to try it out. (2500 people got picked out to try out).

Now this is totally legal for me to post images here, the BETA was only for a few picked people cause of server limits and a small test group is better than a HUGE one when it comes to a pre release of a game like this. Also 2500 different PC systems should cover most of the PC user sytems.

 

Now enough chit chat, I’ll post some pictures today, and will keep posting stuff for a while. I love to play the game and test it out.

 

ALSO, the BETA runs DX8 at the moment, and the graphics will improve a lot when the game comes out in its full DX9 glory with better performance.

 

1.

Now one thing that is REALLY cool about STALKER and is the only thing I will cover today is that it has a in game real world weather system. There have been games before that have tried to make the sky change, and use day and night effects, but not anything near as complicated as in STALKER. There is rain, wind, lightning strikes with thunder, fog, clear skies, all the weather you can imagine. Except for Winter, which the game doesn’t cover (as far as I know) because the in game season is not in the winter season.

 

Just watch the sky as I play… In MP the weather changes more often than in SP because this can be changed by players who can vote in game on how the weather should be. Cool eh? 

also check out how my FPS (top right corner) changes in pic.5 when the lightning strikes in the distance. This is part of a preformance lag in game, and will be fixed.



2.


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Atlast, a Single Player image (from THQ) in DX9. Monster is a "bloodsucker" if I am correct.



Hope this caught your interest. More images of ME playing Multiplayer, and more cool stuff to come. 
Any questions??

take care,

[frogface 354]

I've been waiting for this game for ages! how is performance, the only thing im worried is that my laptop will not be able to handle it

[Glenni 1,447]

Reminds me of Half Life 2, i think i'll buy this one, cool to hear you are one the beta testers team,exil!

[ExiL3 10]

FF: My computer is a AMD 64 3500+, 1gb OCZ DDR533, ATI radeon sapphire X1950 Pro. The game runs pretty smoothly, but has some lags here and there. THOUGH remember I am only running a BETA, and developers told us that many lags and preformance issues are, and will be solved. I think there is a minimum and optimal requirement chart on their website...

Glenni: hehe, yes, but it is also totally different. It will rock, I can't wait. And yes, I was shocked when I got the Email!

take care,

[hym 358]

Those are definitely some cool looking screen shots.   And the bloodsucker looks pretty sweet too.

[ExiL3 10]

hym: Yeah, I really like the game, even though it is just a BETA. The graphics and sound are not like in the fullversion, f.ex the BETA is just 400MB, the upcoming game will be released on a DVD so they had to take a lot of stuff away to make it downloadable for the BETA testers.

Ok, so I played the game today so I have some new pictures to show. I have experienced a few bugs, my system has crashed a few times, but it is worth it. Anyhow I guess that when I get the game I probably will play the Single player much more than the multi player even though the MP is good. I want to play the game for it's story and the free roaming world. 

Anyhow, over to the pictures:

1.


2.


3.
To Throw or not to throw??


4.
BOOM! The game has some REALLY good heat effects, and shock effects. I am quite amazed by how much the developers managed to put into the small BETA version. The picture isn't that good, I tried to make a good pic of an exploding nade... I kinda failed


5.


6.
If you want to hit anything, aiming mostly does the trick!



Ingame pic by IGN. IGN is probably the gaming site who has followed STALKER the closest. They have a buch of previews, pictures and movies. 



Actually IGN just came out with a new article on STALKER, on the MP BETA. It seems they are also a part of those few who got a BETA key. They have managed to cover a good portion of the MP and the article can be found HERE.
Also the Article states that soon, GSC will release additional BETA keys to the public, so If you want to try out the BETA then you'll get a chance.
Remember though, it is a BETA, so don't get surprized if you encounter preformance lags and fatal errors, they are common believe me!

take care,

[JanYpe 17]

1. How large are the multiplayer maps? Do you know anything about the single player maps?

2. Are the loading times acceptable on your system?

3. Do you think the graphics can still compete with the newer games? The pictures look nice, but screenshots often lie. Stalker has been in development for quite a while I believe.

4. How realistic is the game? Closer to Quake or closer to Armed Assault / OFP?

5. Does the game have any unique multiplayer modes, or just the standard CTF and (team)deathmatches?

6. I see a score counter with "Freedom" and "Mercs", what are the differences between these teams?

Have you taken part in other betas? When I played the JO:Escalation beta they constantly reminded players not to talk about it.

[Yoman3 5]

They should make the only weapon an AK-47

Some of those movies are really freaky on gamespot!

[ExiL3 10]

JanYpe:

Answers;

1;

- There are two multiplayer maps for the BETA. One is small and intended for intense fights and Artifact hunts (two teams who fight against each other to find and retrieve the most artifacts).

- There is no such thing as "single player MapS" as far as I know. The SP will be one one HUGE free roaming map that is something like 40x40KM. The map IS the Chernobyl area.

2;

- The loading time in the MP isn't a problem on my system. Though there are still bugs, within the performance area.

3;

- Yes, I think they can still compete. Even though the BETA only runs DX8, I still find the graphics more complex than Half life 2. Go to Gametrailers.com 's page about STALKER, and scroll down to find the Direct X9.1 trailer. HERE is the link.

- Also remember, this is a HUGE world. You can't really compare this game with DOOM3 or Quake 4. Those two games are confined to small spaces, and everything is planned ahead. Though, With lightning and other high end options on, I think you actually can compare STALKER with those games.

4;

- I can't say anything about the SP, but the MP is more like ArmA. Though, the developers told us that the SP would be more realistic when it came to damage then the MP, since people would die to quickly in MP if the damage system was "too" realistic.

5;

- In the BETA, you'll find:

    *Deathmatch

    *Team Deathmatch

    *Artefact hunt

6:

-Mainly the difference can only be explained in the SP. But I think you can find some answers on the STALKER homepage. When it comes to MP, the difference is mainly color. Freedom are Green, mercs are blue.

hmm... no other than a few modifications to Half life 1, I haven't been part of any other BETA's.

Yoman3:

Well that would be a bit boring, though I am guessing that was a joke

There are tons of weapons in game, and addons and such to the different weapons. Lots of really cool stuff

I would check out GAMETRAILERS.COM, they have a bunch of STALKER movies.

take care,

BTW, I'll post some more pictures soon.

[Yoman3 5]

Just got this game, love it but damn is it creepy

[Eastwinn 6]

^How well does it run on your computer? I don't know if it'll do well on mine, I only have a reasonable graphics card + vista is sucking up all my RAM.

[ExiL3 10]

Eastwinn: My specs are,

AMD 64 3500+

1GB OCZ DDR400 Ram

ATI Sapphire X1950pro-256DDR

and WIN XP pro sp2

I don't meet all the recommended specs for Stalker, but I have no problems running it on High.

Though, Stalker have some issues with X-series ATI cards and the DX9 Dynamic lightning, I had to turn Dynamic lightning over to DX8 for the game to run smoothly. Though I am waiting for a patch that fixes this problem.

Other than that, the game is probably the best experience I've had since HL1, and possibly even better. It has so many elements, and it is well thought through. You can also play the game over and over, because the world changes randomly (it's inhabitants), and there are 6 different endings to the game. I started the game on the most difficult option (Master i think), something I would recommend since it makes the game very realistic.

One thing though, SAVE GAME as often as possible!!!

take care,

edit; STALKER as MANY other games have issues with Vista. Also test shows PC games often run up to 15% slower on Vista systems, so I think you might get some problems running the game. If you want to run games on Vista, 2GB is total MINIMUM, and 4GB is recommended.

[Eastwinn 6]

15% is a bit of an understatement considering that at a minimum, 42% of my RAM is being used. Currently I have around 30 fps on HL2, 20-25 on CS:S (with a server of 20-44 people; ping of 5-40) and 30-40 fps on DOD:S on Vista. As long as Vista hasn't affected my graphics card, then more RAM should fix my problem.

BTW -- None of my games have encountered problems on Vista that completely stop them from running. Somehow (I have no idea why) Vista has made RCT faster even with many of the graphics settings on high.

[ExiL3 10]

30fps in HL2 is not very good. I guess you need a better graphics card, or run the game on low settings (turn off DX9 lightning and set everything else to low).

My Pc, runs HL2 with an average of 120fps on high settings (no AA/AF though). In stalker I get around 70fps without DX9 lightning, and everything else set to high.

What graphics card do you have?

take care,

[xiziz 11]

Could be ther Resolutions too, i thought Stalker was a bit choppy while playing at 1440x900, tryid lowering it, and the game went totaly unplayable at 800x600, then i tested 1650x1050(my native res) and guess what, the choppyness was gone (Banzai). Though ive been stuck with CNC3 instead, as i struck a few bugs, so im waiting for a patch.

[ExiL3 10]

xiziz: what kind of bugs are you getting?

My game runs smooth, as long as I don't use DX9 lightning. I'll try to set the res to 1680x1050 (which is also my native res) to see if those weird lags I get now and then stop.

Anyhow, I am now on my way into the x18 lab complex, it is SCARY!!! I just met my first snork, sneaky bastard! XD

take care,

EDIT: Xiziz, you have downloaded the 1,001 patch right? came out a couple of days ago...

[xiziz 11]

nope, not downloaded the patch yet, i had some trouble with "quests" repeating themselves, like the first one where our supposed to clear out the "factory" and rescue some dude, once done they all kept respawning etc. I dont have any graphical glitches and the AI in the game is totaly unbleivable ^__^

Though i dont think my card supports Dx9 Lighting, since its quite old, an X850XT... on the AGP bus ^__^ usually its my processor with 4 years on its back that takes its toll, think it was released 4 years ago anyway, i bougt it as it was getting phased out though, though im thinking of getting a new one now that prices are falling like stones in April.

[ExiL3 10]

you should absolutely buy a new graphics card. I am using X1950pro, and everything runs quite smooth, except for the "popular" DX9 Lightning bug.

What happens is (mostly with ATI cards) that the game freezes. Cards like mine should be able to run the game on full DX9 lightning and high settings with an average FPS of 50-60. I tried this my self, and I often had around 60 FPS, BUT the game would suddenly freeze and I would have to reboot.

Still Now, I am running customized settings (high -> very high), 1680x1050, pluss I have added "-nointro -noprefetch" to the game shortcut to make the game load faster, and savegames to load faster.

Found some good tips in the new "STALKER Tweak Guide", I am writing a 'quick reply' at the moment so I'll write the URL as is. I really recommend visiting the Tweak Guide site for Tweak Guides to STALKER and many other games.

http://www.tweakguides.com/