I have a question concerning the heat haze effect that is present in the vanilla Stalker SoC... I'm using the Zone Reclamation Project 1.7, and therefore this effect is disabled. And there is no f** way to enable it, as it seems.

And everything on the internet is just talking about disabling/removing this effect, and so on...

So, is it possible to turn the heat haze back on?

I haven't come far but I can confirm the beginning is working with GOG's 1.006 if you pick the one called 1.005 update for Priboi mod, not strange considering the chagnes in 1.006 were not in the single player part of the game.

Do you happen to know if this mod is compatible with Zone Reclamation Project?

I have no idea - I'd actually forgotten that Dez0wave had done an update for priboi though.

Yes, my first playthrough. I am playing CoP Reloaded on hardest setting right now and it is really really hard, but I enjoy it alot. (lots of saving and loading involved though)

-If you have any suggestion of mods for a first playthrough, I´m all ears.

Should I play the vanilla game first, or the mods because I hear their an entirely different experience?

Vanilla first. Most mods will have a different experience, easier, harder, different feel to The Zone, whatever.

Well, I'm a purist. I'm very against using anything other than "fix it" mods for first time playthroughs. In the case of CoP, I feel that the game in vanilla form is quite good, and doesn't require any modding to be enjoyed. I strongly recommend playing it unmodded first (although it seems I'm too late).
It's inadvisable to play Shadow of Chernobyl without some fixes. I think I've already recommended The Zone Reclamation Project, but I will do so again. It's a fantastic mod that fixes many of SoC's issues while leaving the core game as intact as possible. It also comes with a few optional features, but they can be easily turned on or off via a front end. You even have the option of keeping certain non-gamebreaking bugs in the game if you so desire.

It's really inadvisable to play Clear Sky unmodded (although I managed it the first time I played the game). I'm currently trying the Sky Reclamation Project, which is basically ZRP for Clear Sky, and thus far it seems to be a good pick.

As I said above, Call of Pripyat is pretty good out of the box. I believe there are a few quirks, but overall I recommend just playing it vanilla on your first go. It's a very well-made, well-balanced title (even if it is a little slower and more relaxed than the other two games).

Anyway, you should keep an eye on Lost Alpha. It's an upcoming standalone mod/game by dez0wave that's been in works for many years now. It aims to recreate the old S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game concept from years ago, before it became the current Shadow of Chernobyl. It will be free AND standalone.

Here's their ModDB page: http://www.moddb.com/mods/lost-alpha

Now to just wait a few years for it.

Stand alone as in not requiring the game assets from SOC? Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to Lost Alpha.

not that long!
new version of x-ray engine. yes. standalone. rewritten gameworld, new levels etc.
why? - it was never stopped - just put on pause.

Well, GSC as we knew it is now dead, and the STALKER team has mostly gone on to work on Survarium, so...

Not true mate. GSC are still active, S2 is merely on hold. The people that left to form Vostok are not the entire team.

I would also like to recommend Oblivion Lost ultimate.

What is this madness you speak?

I trust you, of course, but do you have any sources about this? I could have sworn GSC was dead and STALKER 2 was canceled.