S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Requirements

[DeadJonas190]

Optimal requirements:

Windows XP (Service Pack 2)/Windows 2000 SP4
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6700 / AMD 64 X2 5200+
RAM: 2 GiByte - 10 GByte free hard drive space
512 MiByte Direct X 9.0c compatible graphics card / GeForce 8800 / Radeon X2900

And companies wonder why computer gaming is dying, you have to spend $5000 a year just to have a system that will run the game well enough to play without lagging or choppy game play.

I wanted to play this game, but I refuse to spend the money to upgrade my system to play it. At these specs it looks like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will be another multi-million dollar failure.

[Craig]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R was released last year, or are you talking about Clear Sky?

I'd love to give it a go, unfortunately my PC could only handle minimum requirements.

[MinionZombie]

Those are the specs for Clear Sky - and they're the absolute HIGHEST settings, and have - judging by comparison screen shots I saw - barely anything added when compared to the Recommended settings screen shot.

I sit somewhere between minimum and recommended.

I'll try it on my folks' new machine to see how well it handles, the only worry is the graphics card.

I played STALKER three times through on my own PC, so apparently you're supposed to be able to play Clear Sky if you managed the first game, so...

Hopefully the engine will be more efficient, but I'm not sure if it will be unfortunately. They'd better release a patch very swiftly to improve performance, because by v1.5 of the first game it was far better performance wise than the release version.

It's a real shame, STALKER is a great game, it just needs the programming efficiency know-how to get it out there properly, because in the end that's pretty much the only complaint you ever hear from the complainers out there.

Anyway, I should have my copy soon, it seems to be preparing for dispatch, so fingers crossed I can play it somewhere between minimum and recommended, which is what I was always expecting.

As long as I don't get an experience worse than when I played STALKER, that'll be good - however, I'd expect improvement after all this time since the original game.

Not that my experience with STALKER last year was awful, far from it, but it was lacking in the efficiency department and it's the sort of game that should be able to crank out better graphics on lower spec rigs, it really should - and it all comes down to efficient programming, which is basically the sole problem with the dude's behind STALKER.

I can't wait to play the new game, I'm looking forward to it. :)

[DeadJonas190]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R was released last year, or are you talking about Clear Sky?

I'd love to give it a go, unfortunately my PC could only handle minimum requirements.

Yeah, I was talking about Clear Sky, for some reason I didn't type the full title

[Danny]

my i-macs just the spec that you get from apple adn it plays it on hihg just fine.



'course it also runs crysis:p

[MinionZombie]

my i-macs just the spec that you get from apple adn it plays it on hihg just fine.



'course it also runs crysis:p
And it's a brand new computer. :p

...

Woooooooooooooooooooo!! STALKER: Clear Sky is now, finally, listed as "packing" in my account, schweeeeeeet! It's been "in stock" since Monday. So I should have it by Friday/Saturday if all goes well, right around the time of getting X-Files Season Three in the post ... so I'll be having a busy weekend potentially then. :cool:

I even finished bashing through Gears of War again yesterday, so my gaming schedule is cleared specifically for Clear Sky. All I need to figure out now is, what do I want to play in October first - Saints Row 2 or Fallout 3? Hmmmm...

Come on GSC, don't let me down now.:hyper:

[MinionZombie]

Schweet!

Woooooo...it's just been posted. Doubt I'll get it for Friday though, grrrr...bloody dispatch took three sodding days. :rolleyes:

[MinionZombie]

Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!!!

Still no STALKER, gotta wait till friggin' Monday, why not post off pre-orders earlier so people can get their sh*t on the day of release, otherwise you've got nothing over an actual shop!! :mad::rolleyes:

[Craig]

Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!!!

Still no STALKER, gotta wait till friggin' Monday, why not post off pre-orders earlier so people can get their sh*t on the day of release, otherwise you've got nothing over an actual shop!! :mad::rolleyes:
It was the same with GTAIV for me, I went out and bought it on the day and sent back my ordered copy. Shame I got so hyped up because after the initial kick in the nuts of 'oh my god this is the best game ever' I realised how completely underwhelming it was after a couple of weeks. The thing is, it's not even that fun to just mess about and (attempt to) go on sprees in GTAIV so I haven't played it at all in months.

Sorry, went a bit off-topic there. Anyway you know MZ, please don't take offense but from what I know about it I would of thought a game like STALKER was a bit too in-depth for you, that said I don't know you personally or I may be overestimating how 'in-depth' STALKER is...

Again no offense intended, when I say in-depth I don't mean over your head just simply not the sort of game I'd have thought would be to your taste, from what little I know about you from these forums at least.

[MinionZombie]

lol, bit random, too in depth? :confused::D

Weren't you around for my spree of pre-STALKER hyper-jizz-worthy posts last year? Plus it's an FPS, I'm that's my favourite gaming genre.

The game, while rough around the edges, was awesome. I loved it. Obviously I'm using a trainer, I don't play games for a "challenge", I want story, cool things to do, worlds to explore etc...and what better world to explore in a videogame than a based-on-truth Chernobyl? :cool:

I canny wait to play! Just hope it runs as well as/better than the original STALKER. Can't wait to start creeping around a rainy, thunderstormy, irradiated wasteland! :)

...

On the issue of me and gaming, what sort of gamer do I appear to be to you, just out of interest (no offence taken at all by the way)?

[Danny]

ive been wondering when id bust this one out.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/khazrak/cheating.jpg


burn cream sir? :lol:

[MinionZombie]

ive been wondering when id bust this one out.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91/khazrak/cheating.jpg


burn cream sir? :lol:
Neh, doesn't make any sense to me, haha, take that to your attempted burn which lamed out all over and in a bucket of fail. :elol:

I'll do what I damn well please, and use a trainer on the (now) rare occasion when I play a single player PC game, oh boo-hoo. :rolleyes:

http://www.students.stedwards.edu/vbright/Whatever.jpg

...*mumbles*...gaming facist...:moon:

[Craig]

I just got the feeling you were more of a console-centric 'casual gamer' I guess is the term, though since you're using a trainer maybe I'm right? :lol:

Of course there's nothing wrong with being a 'casual gamer' and I'm by no means 'hardcore' but from what I understood STALKER fits into a niche, nowhere near as mainstream or popular as the likes of CoD or Halo etc. So when you have a game as different as STALKER I just wouldn't expect a console-centric gamer to be playing it, let alone loving it as much as you seem to.

For me challenge really adds to the experience of the game and I'll usually choose normal difficulty on any new game I play so I've got a challenge, but I'm not thrown in at the deep end. If the option arises in a game for a 'realistic difficulty' I'll usually choose that one because it adds a lot to the immersion and experience for me, and since most of the time this difficulty level is only present in WWII games or near-simulation level shooters I'm a very happy chappy.

[MinionZombie]

I've never been at all interested in a "challenge" in videogames, I'm not at all fussed about that.

Actually I've only recently returned to consoles, before my Xbox360 my previous console was a Mega Drive 2 (bought Xmas '93). After my days on the MD2 I went to PC gaming, and stayed there until 2007 when I returned to consoles with the 360 (and my PC was too far behind the new games coming out) ... however, STALKER was my last hurrah on PC gaming (for now), and well ... now it's STALKER: Clear Sky.

Again - with STALKER - it's not about a "challenge", it's about the story, the setting, what you can see, what you can do ... these are the things I want out of videogames. The only time I'm pleased to pass a tricky section is:

1) I'm so fed up of re-doing the same sh*t.
2) I can finally proceed and see where the story goes, see what else I can do, see what else there is to see.

Also, I just play games for fun. Being challenged isn't fun to me, well - not being challenged in a videogame I mean - besides, there's enough challenges in life itself, so videogames let me kick back and get immersed in a fictional world in a first-hand way.

Also - indeed, with the hardcore nature of the PC market, I also fancied kicking back with a more casual gaming life for a while with the 360 - as well as not having to keep upgrading my PC to play the latest games (which got too expensive & inconvenient for me).

So yeah, I fancied getting a bit more casual, but even then I can spend a lot of time playing a game - heck, I've put in almost 100 officially clocked hours on GTA IV, and have played through all my console games without cheats. I do often choose the easiest setting - but again, that's because I'm not into videogames for the challenge - it's the story - it's what you can see - it's what you can do.

That's what attracts me to videogames, plus just having plain and simple fun.

...

If I want a game-based challenge, I'll get off my arse and play paintball (which I enjoyed immensely when I played it).

Anyway, that long-winded chit-chat, was the definitive explanation of MZ on Gaming. :D

[Craig]

I guess it's the fact many of the games I play and love just wouldn't be anything without the challenge... The sort of games where the only storyline is explaining what your next objective is. I'm not some sort of achievement whore or anything, once I complete a game on normal I'm not gonna try and and do it faster or on a harder mode. It's just that how do you enjoy and get the most out of something like a Real Time Tactics game without having the challenge of a competent enemy? Walking through a game with the ease of a knife through butter just doesn't spell fun for me, I much more enjoy putting thought into my tactics or how I go about different situations in a game.

You say if you wanted a challenge you'll go paintballing, if I want a great story I'll read a book. Of course it's that old saying 'each to there own', there's many different definitions of what people find fun and what people want out of a game, book, movie or music, all depending on who you ask.

[Danny]

i find modes like the one hit and your dead in GRAW and cod2 are hard, but compared to the final levels of N+ there not tourettes inducing, there just a fun challenge that makes you play the games in a new, often more tactical way.

[Bub666]

i find modes like the one hit and your dead in GRAW and cod2 are hard, but compared to the final levels of N+ there not tourettes inducing, there just a fun challenge that makes you play the games in a new, often more tactical way.

I agree.

[EvilNed]

Got it today. My initial impressions on the requirements on it are that they are heavy. I can't have the same settings as I had in the first STALKER, which is a bit of a shame. But I'm gonna try without full dynamic lighting and see what happens!

[MinionZombie]

Got it today. My initial impressions on the requirements on it are that they are heavy. I can't have the same settings as I had in the first STALKER, which is a bit of a shame. But I'm gonna try without full dynamic lighting and see what happens!
I'm waiting for a second patch to come out, see if that allows me to play Clear Sky at least at the same level as I was playing the original game at.

I'm a big fan of the franchise, but I think it's shocking that GSC have completely not bothered about coding efficiency and improving upon the original STALKER in the muscle department.

The specs are far too high for the pay off, Valve or id could make that game work on a far lower spec machine with better graphics too. That's my single (and big) complaint.

Hopefully they pull their fingers out and release a succession of patches very soon to sort the f*cking game out so I can play it and enjoy it at the same time.

[Tricky]

To be honest those are still pretty slack requirements,any PC bought in the last 2 years should have no problems with that.Try running Crysis on maximum settings,now that does require a beast!mine can only just do it & it doesnt like certain parts of the game when the settings are cranked right up :eek:

[MinionZombie]

Yeah, but for a game that should have come out circa 2004 or 2005 - i.e. Half-Life 2 era, a game which I can run with fancy lighting at crisp resolution on high settings - those specs are silly - at the very least, it should run far better with greater performance and efficiency on lower spec rigs, it simply SHOULD.

*sits tapping fingers until a new patch arrives that'll actually sort the bloody thing out*

[EvilNed]

Yeah, the coding is a bit slack. But after turning off full dynamic lighting the game runs pretty much like the original STALKER unless I run into a heavily populated area... Like the initial base!

[EvilNed]

I am now convinced this game is one of the best ever. The STALKER franchise rules! Yes, there are alot of CTDs. At first I didn't experience any, but today I think I've gotten three. I even had a corrupt savegame. But No worries, my autosave saved me.

Right now I'm considering which faction to join. Freedom seem the best suited, but Duty's base are soo much closer to where the action is at. I hate crossing the Garbage with all those bandits.

[MinionZombie]

I am now convinced this game is one of the best ever. The STALKER franchise rules! Yes, there are alot of CTDs. At first I didn't experience any, but today I think I've gotten three. I even had a corrupt savegame. But No worries, my autosave saved me.

Right now I'm considering which faction to join. Freedom seem the best suited, but Duty's base are soo much closer to where the action is at. I hate crossing the Garbage with all those bandits.
In that case I'd choose Duty ... ... BUT I can't say ANYTHING like that, cos I haven't played the game at all beyond a smidge of the beginning where you talk to two dudes in that camp.

Why? Because it still runs like backed-up, week-old turd on my computer and GSC need to get off their asses and make it work like the original STALKER did on my rig.

WHEN that happens, I'll play it ... but it's lame to be kept waiting, still, at least I've got Californication, X-Files and Battlefield Bad Company to keep my mind off having, but not playing, STALKER:CS.

STALKER still f*ckin' rocks though, and no doubt I'll really enjoy CS ... but damnit, all this waiting around for it to work like it should is just silly.

[EvilNed]

What's the latest patch then? Isn't there a new one out?

I decided to join the STALKERS for a few reasons.

- They are mostly neutral, and it's my first time playing this game. It's very tough, and the only bad thing about joining them is the bandits hate me even more. But they had a shoot-at-sight policy from the get-go anyway, so this way I can at least get back-up while fighting them.

- They have small outposts all over the place. They're not stationed at one single place, which is good. They got a base at the Cordon and at the Research institute, plus they got small trading spots elsewhere, like in the Garbage.

- They will help me in my own personal mission of ridding the Garbage of Bandits. I hate it that there's so many of them there, and that crossing the Garbage is a serious hazard.

- Plus, joining the STALKERS won't make the Duty or Freedom think any less of me. I'm still neutral to them!

[MinionZombie]

Sounds like a good plan, when I play CS I'll go STALKERS as well then.

The latest patch - 1.5.0.4 - has a bunch of fixes for various CTDs and such - HOWEVER - typically, your save games DON'T work from 1.5.0.3 to 1.5.0.4. :mad:

But I never started playing it, so I was alright - you on the other hand might be effed.

I read someone mentioning copying the save files from the install directory or wherever the saves are kept to another location, updating, and then picking up where you left off - but I've no idea whether that works or not.

I'm waiting to play until I install a patch that makes the game work properly, at the very least like the original game worked for me just fine (not amazing, but fine/decent/good) ... also, I don't wanna start it until I know further patches aren't gonna eff up my save games.