Hello guys,

finally got things at work sorted out and now I'm having the mind to play Stalker SOC, very excited since I never played the game and I only heard good things about it.

but first I'm sorry to post this, I should do my research and I did to some extent except it's really overwhelming to even attempt to understand the history of 8 years of modding.

so I would like to ask you for help, I'm looking for a Beautiful looking, free of bugs, Vanilla (almost) gameplay experience with this game, I chose these mods:

1. Photo Realistic Zone 2 (Texture pack)
2. The Zone Reclamation Project 1.07_R5EE (bug fixes)

now, I'm looking for a Shader, I have 3 to choose from:

- PRZ2 - Shader Patch 1.0.5.6


- Autumn Aurora 2


- Dynamic Shaders 2.0 CTP


what I'm leaning toward is Dynamic Shaders, it's the most recent long waited one, but I also see the appeal in AA2 except I'm not sure how is the compatibility going to work here between AA2 with the Photo Realistic Zone 2 and The Zone Reclamation Project.

my question is:

- do I need to consider adding other mods?

- how do you see the compatibility work here?

- which shader can give the best result?


again sorry for putting this out, tomorrow is the weekend and I don't have much time to keep researching and losing track when ever I see a shinny mod claiming it's the best.

thank you in advance.

Why not go with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete?

http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-complete-2009

"If you haven’t played 2007’s most immersive and atmospheric shooter, or you’re back for replay, this mod is for you. This is the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. like you’ve never seen before, with updated graphics and added functionality that don’t change the original story or gameplay. The game hasn’t been changed beyond recognition, but rather enhanced while preserving the core elements that made it the unique experience it is."

Because it fundamentally changes gameplay and makes the game easier, thusly losing out on the vanilla S.T.A.L.K.E.R. experience for a first time player.

and different to vanilla.

also - you should already know about the "reply" function. stumbling upon replies becomes a little problemaic and tedious.

Ooops! When i was writing my post i saw that i haven't made it a reply to you and i really wanted to do it before i press "submit" but i - eventually - forgot about it.. anyway, too tired...

...I guess it's time to go to bed (5 o'clock in the morning - hello insomnia..). Good night! :)

thank you guys for the replies, work had me lose track of the this post.

again thank you guys, and I still haven't got the answer I was hoping for,

I know Complete 2009, it was my first choice but not after hearing so many feedback about how it changes the gameplay, plus it lacks some of the ZRP bug fixes.

I still wanna know the compatibility between: Photo Realistic Zone 2, The Zone Reclamation Project 1.07_R5EE and Dynamic Shaders 2.0 CTP.

I guess noone here knows the answer of the question you've set; maybe you should make the same question in the official forum! (if you haven't done this already!)

http://www.gsc-game.com/index.php?t=community&s=forums&s_game_type=xr&lang=en

Cheers!

best thing I can suggest is to download them and then use something like winmerge to check for clashes - did this a few times in the early days of CS and CoP mods.
it will also let you combine the various files that clash into a frankenbeast - though you'll have to do a fair amount of trial and error until you get it spot on.

Edit: http://winmerge.org/

I can't say I recommend the Complete 2009 mod either, though it has some nice things like weaponrepair I agree that it is too easy and the upgraded graphics use too much bloom so in bright daylight everything looks white.

Autumn Aurora, didn't like it in CoP Misery, everything made just to look plain boring instead of authentic which was so great about the original style.

I did a lot of experimenting. I kind of ended up with the following:

- ZRP 1.07 RC R5
- Photo Realistic Zone 2.1
- SWO 3.1.1
- Photo Realistc Shader 2.1 (comes as an addon with PRZ2.1)

I'm almost finished with the game (beyond Pripyat) and had exactly one issue with PRS2.1 (not PRZ). When PRS2.1 was installed the game crashed at one particular point. So I just played beyond that point without it and then reenabled it.