NEWSA+SIMBION_tweaked Support and Gameplay

[audioave10]

2 votes to try again? - okay guys...thanks.

Edit: 1 hour later -save/reload, slept, ate 7 times and wasted
another hour.

[audioave10]

I am so stuck here...
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f356/ ... -44_l1.jpg


I was lucky to get that screenshot as it only blinks on rarely...tried
jumping into it and hanging around the door, multiple reloads,
different weapons, slept...I could starve here and I have 49 food items left!

[NatVac]

Ah, that's not the level changer, audioave10. That's just a teleporter effect -- ask EggChen.

Perhaps the level changer is not there, or it is there but has a radius of zero.

It is possible to create a level changer based on the stuff that is supposed to be there, or even read that level changer's data, modify it, and write it back. That's usually what's being done with dynamic level changers.

I'll look at the info that is supposed to be there, if you can't get it going. We can either apply the shock paddles, or clone it; we have the technology.

Keep the earliest save you made after returning to this point.

At the moment I'm living just fine with switching Yantar-Kruglov offline. I was surprised at one point by an invisible helicopter. That of course meant that one incendiary bullet later I was dead. The chopper wasn't there when I reloaded a previous save.

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>> Can't open section 'af_mosquito_bald'

Ah, my bad: That's one of the non-existent artifacts. I inadvertently left it off the list. Edit: I can no longer edit the file to add it for future reference, just one day later.

Pretty much, you can eliminate these body-search crashes by commenting out these consecutive entries (make backups first)...

Code: Select all

af_mosquito_bald = ...
af_gravi = ...
af_mincer = ...
af_electra = ...
af_zharka = ...
af_ameba = ...

by inserting a semicolon before them, like so...

Code: Select all

;af_mosquito_bald = ...
;af_gravi = ...
;af_mincer = ...
;af_electra = ...
;af_zharka = ...
;af_ameba = ...

... in these files:

death_items_by_communities.ltx (8 blocks of 6 lines)
death_items_by_count.ltx (1 block of 6 lines)
death_items_by_levels.ltx (2 block of 6 lines, followed by smaller blocks; see below)

In the last file, search for each entry separately, as they are not all together. Note that the first appearance of af_gravi in a section (like "[l11_Pripyat]") is okay; that's a valid artifact. But the second appearance is redundant, so comment it out.

Changes made to these files will take effect the next time you start the game from the desktop, and will work with current saves. In other words, you do not need to start a NEW game.

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I see what you guys mean about the Zonemaker. Widowmaker is a better name.

Wow, the carnage upon first returning to the bar from Yantar is awful...

[Nightwatch]

Hey Guys, been away nearly three days (2.5 to be precise) struggling with all the problems of jumping on to 64-bit wagon. I'll put my hard earned experiences on the relevant tread on Hardware & Software. I think Grump642 has a thread there for this purpose.

Ok, Thanks everybody for keep posting. I've seen very good pictures, from both fiznerpin1962 and busetibi and on eunlucky one from audioave10. I see that you've got stuck in fron of the portal to outside to not-so-green fields. I'm afraid that therehas been a problem with your game going back possibly several levels. As you say that the game crashed upon loading an earlier save, any symptoms point to an early developed fault in the game which has been carryed by the saves. There was a very good post, almost article quality, from NatVac which this head (tired from 64-bit Windows wrestling) cannot remember exactly where it was, but it was elaborating on such an issue.
Those teleport graphics, there are a bundle of those transporters in the game, which are now disconnected from active service (because they took too much resource/memory and caused problems) can be accessed by pressing S key when you're on the main menu. Mind you, they are now only a visual effect, nothing more.

Try a much earlier save; I would even suggest re-entering NPP.

PCs are strange beings (I say beings, because they almost behave like that) with countless different combinations of drivers, services, processes and other software running in the background, let alone the variety of hardware. Complications from those cannot be estimated fully at any time, this is the territory of a PC. It doesn't mean it's a weak PC. Just the combinations of many variables create different outputs)
Thanks NatVac You've been great, as always.
Beside your gracious help, it's a pleasure to read your writings as well.
Thanks for the ZRP fix for Mole mission, it'll be undoubtedly included in the next patch with great thanks, also it goes to those mission artifacts in death_items files

Thank you for showing enough interest to force yourself to play this mod, as it's not quite the mod that you'd like; but I'm happy seeing that you've found at least some features and points to your liking and worth mentioning.

---------------------
My head feels like a bucket full with water, lol. I have re-installed Windows twice in 36 hours, together with dozens of programs with their uncountable settings.

PS: Now, as you've expected, Players Corner update will have to wait just a few more days, as I'm only about to install Frontpage and rearrange the backups.

[fiznerpin1962]

Carnage. Just how I like it......

[Kaidonni]

Nightwatch, I have an interesting find. Just did a test because I wondered why radiation was not taking my health away, and having modded SmP 2.3 recently to fit some personal parameters, it occurred to me something had to be wrong in one of the files, perhaps a value or two too high or low. I mean, radiation not taking health away just doesn't happen, not when it's the hazardous zones where radiation caps regardless of suit or artefacts. Guess what? I think some of the values in actor.ltx were set far too low, because now I do take health hits from radiation. I copied some of the values that SmP 2.3 uses for radiation exposure, and now, when I venture into radiation, my health does decrease (with no other injuries taking from my health - I tested it so that I wasn't bleeding or hungry). I copied the values to do with the rate at which health decreases (I didn't touch the immunities to radiation and such that is found under the novice, stalker, veteran and master headings). This really does explain the whole me not dying from radiation thing now.

Also, I am interested in the recent finds on the dead bodies CTD. For me, it was always more prevalent during the Bar area. It still happened in other areas, although far more rarely. Could it all really have been because of those artefacts? Also, no, I can't stash things safely...things even get stolen from seemingly unreachable places for other Stalkers.

I haven't been playing NS 3.0 recently, been tweaking SmP 2.3. Having completed those tweaks, I've been playing a real hardcore game. No crosshairs or NPC recognition from a distance, higher bleeding rate, the same hunger as in NS 3.0, that sort of thing. If some of the recent discoveries mean the dead body CTDs are figured out, though, and can at least be better controlled if not fixed completely, then I might return to NS 3.0 very soon. At least the radiation issue is sorted out. Now, the weather and weapons...maybe those issues for me were because, when I was going through NS 3.0 and reporting my various issues, I had reinstalled Stalker and the mod to see if I could fix some of my problems, and then continued from my previous saves, so possibly it broke something.

[Nightwatch]

fiznerpin1962

Carnage. Just how I like it......

Hey, I hear you.


Kaidonni
Thanks for posting the developments on your game. You seem to be the only ever person who has not been effected by radiation. OK, for your interest, I'll make a funny video to show how many ways one can die due to radiation exposure when playing. Everybody dies or got sick when exposed to radiation. These things cannot change almost magically for each player. It's one set of values that goes same to everyone, but as I suspect (and as you verified) your PC is infected, and from that points onwards (from the point of infection, plus other problems) all is only a guess work. But, you are a miracle worker as it seems, and managed to resolve at least that particular situation in your game. Great.

[Wombat_70]

Hey audioave10 same thing happened to me in v2.4, stucked
in that same room, jumping up to catch the level changer, I never could get out from
that damn c-con room , I restarted the the game with a new Gamedata, same thing
happened, I gave up.

After a while I had to re-install Windows and I thought to give an other try, well believe or not
it worked, I just walked to the door and wow magic, I was in Stancia 2, now I'm not suggesting
to re-install windows but things happens and are behind our control, I believe in my case
some thing in Windows wasn't right and affected my game.

[audioave10]

Thanks...Wombat...at least I'm not crazy or crazier
Its a fairly new XP install when I got the new P45/Intel E8500 setup. It seems so very fast & stable for everything else that I would not want to reformat now...but I'll keep an eye on it.

[fiznerpin1962]

Update time:

- caught out in a Prypryat blowout (pretty heavy, but surviveable):
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr49 ... _pripy.jpg

-I really have to start humping some of this crap back to Sakarov! ('course I would like to see just how full I can cram a stash backpack..... ):
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr49 ... _radar.jpg

[busetibi]

on my way to "End Game"
I've dropped off/stashed my ABC repair kit in Pripyat also got some ammo and med kits stashed in RF, made myself as light as possible to hump more ammo, sold off most of my artifacts and mute parts, I'm gonna try for ten mill by selling off any mute parts/guns etc from horror times and kills I get to NPC's in RF & Pripyat. (this is where I've made most of my money throughout the game)
This will be my last re-supply for v 3.0

http://i39.tinypic.com/v81k45.jpg


Death or Glory

[NatVac]

audioave10, because the game is quirky in certain ways, I would forgo re-installing anything until after trying a few easier things.

The game has a way of not doing what it says it is going to do. One example: Not all dropped weapons are "re-conditioned" (damaged). Yes, some are perfectly good because they are dropped by wounded folks, but some 100% weapons are found on or tossed by folks you just killed -- and they are the only slot-1 or slot-2 weapons these guys had. The function is intermittent.

Likewise, here, something may have been missed in the creation of the portal. I have not reached that location yet, and I don't really know where that is; it doesn't look familiar enough other than a location in Monolith control headquarters. I would have said the C-Con hologram room, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, I can give you a way to create a level changer. As Nightwatch noted, it might be compounding a bad problem, but I don't think you have anything to lose at this point. If you are willing to try a workaround, give me a bit of time to prepare a set of files for you.

I can make it so that you can create a level changer anywhere you are. I'm assuming the destination is stancia2, so it will put you at the vanilla starting point for that level unless folks who have been there can tell me otherwise.

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At this point, I have a strong feeling that the pos.word_1.exist() crash is due to the treasure manager and not something in the corpse's backpack.

You guys who have had the crash: Would you please tell me what setting you have on your Additional Options page (or whichever one has the choice of game secrets: random, unique, classic, none) so that I can eliminate this or narrow the possibilities?

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While in the Garbage, I had incredible lag when looking in a certain direction. This direction varied depending on my location, and I could triangulate it by turning; the lag disappeared when a certain area (here, near the vehicle graveyard) was "on-screen". Going there was painful -- ever try to kill pseudodogs when your framerate was 1/2 FPS? -- but it became obvious what the problem was when I got there.

There was a backpack with some stretched textures that reached to the old anomaly field to the west, belonging to a body that had gone ballistic. When I searched the backpack and removed its contents, the body snapped together, the way a stretched rubber band does when it finds one end suddenly free.

Other things I've found:

• You can search the same bodies each time you enter a level for additional chances at new secrets.
  
• You can change news_manager.script to report English locations on the secrets. In the function send_treasure(), replace the Russian with English. For example, level_name["esc"] = "Cordon". (This code seems to be based on my old stuff; it even has the same benign bug. ) Note that this WILL void your warranty; you might want to wait for the update from Nightwatch.
  
• Certain standard side tasks are not doable at the moment, primarily those that involve mutant parts. I'm testing a few changes in this regard to see if they can be enabled, replete with text descriptions. One conflict: the chimera claw might need to be changed as a target because the chimera generates meat.
  
• It's cool to get those notices that someone left something for you at Barkeep's Bar or Sidorovich's bunker. But the dialog isn't included, so you get the "xxx_xxx_miniquest_n" placeholders. You can include it by adding "stable_miniquest_dialogs" to the list in localization.ltx, or incorporate the stable_miniquest_dialogs.xml file's contents into config\text\eng\string_add.xml; cf. the text\rus\ equivalent. (Again, you might want to wait on this; I'll be passing a better translation of the file on to Nightwatch that he may want to use or edit.)
  
• Nightwatch is tricksy, he is. I finally broke down and bought my precious from a trader, only to have another trader give it to me as a quest reward. This is definitely NOT vanilla.

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Wow, fiznerpin1962: Fifty-two dogtags!

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>> Death or Glory

Glory only has one spot on the 20-sided die, busetibi. I use the "Last save" feature a lot.

__________
Edits: Typo corrections, clarifications. exists() -> exist()

[busetibi]

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At this point, I have a strong feeling that the pos.word_1.exists() crash is due to the treasure manager and not something in the corpse's backpack.

You guys who have had the crash: Would you please tell me what setting you have on your Additional Options page (or whichever one has the choice of game secrets: random, unique, classic, none) so that I can eliminate this or narrow the possibilities?

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I've had this crash twice.('twas early in the game, can't remember where/what I was doing )
NEWSA v3.0 in Extreme Mode on the 1.0004 patch.

Additional Options
Interactive Hud - Off.
Classic Stashes.
Vaporize Corpses - Off.
Strong Language In news - On.
Very Frequent Spawns.
Add monsters during Blowouts.
Add monsters during "Horror Time"

[fiznerpin1962]

Yes, the level changer to Stancia 2 is vanilla location. In fact, it's all vanilla right through the cutscene of Strelok shooting the stasis pods & laying in the grass. then you get warped to the Ferris Wheel after a load screen. FREEPLAY!
- I have had that "stretch armstrong" thing too. pretty wierd...
- Busetibi has had more game time in freeplay, and I know he has more controller tags. But I WILL catch him.

He needs to explain "end game" in this never ending story, though ......

[audioave10]

NatVac...using "random" stashes...and I think that might either
be the problem or part of the problem. Others are using "classic"
stashes. That crash happens about every 10 lootings almost like
clockwork.
Yes, I'm in the "Monolith secret" hologram room.
and NO...I would not reformat for this game.

[Wombat_70]

NatVac I also use the random stashes setting and also
get a crash about every ten searches.

audioave I didn't reformat for the game, I did it because my
operating system had become very unstable.

[Nightwatch]

I'm just dying on my PC trying to repair Windows by running Repair OS from Vista Disk. More problems to going for 64 bit. Mostly occuring a lot of software that I need to install. I'll detail my experince on Hardware and Software section on Grump642's thread.

Back to the mod thread:
(First of all, NEWSA site and You tube videos were attacked, if you were not able to log-in until now, Host company have run repairs on the site, and You tube repairing the videos. One of them is still not working at this very time. Well. Maybe I can get comfort from that saying: they stone the tree that gives fruit )

Thanks NatVac for your continuing help, you've been great, as always, there must be a reason why they call you "father of modding" Your observations and notes have been duly noted.
PS: Weapons drop like that from dead bodies, because it's the way I set it, it should not follow vanilla line. (I don't quite much like vanilla. )

I'll be expecting your promised notes, don't rush yourself, you're very busy. My email accounts are being setted and resetted and resetted continiously, so there may be a communication delay from my part, this goes to everyone, sorry if you've emailed and not received a reply. I'll certainly come to that immediately.
_____________________________

Guys, OK, then please stop using : "random stashes." I haven't removed that function (coming from main mods, as known) but not much used myself, didn't like the idea very much. But some liked it. I like "classic stashes." Rock Solid Performance there. I'll remove that function (random stashes), soon. OK. That's good to know.



Wombat_70
Very good observation on Windows problems, too, thanks. That's a point that always needs to be kept in mind. PCs are not Xbox or PS2, not pure dedicated machines. Inside PCs are full of video, sound players, drivers, picture editors, many more drivers and other software, plus known or not known various contamination, which we may decide to tolerate, but an OS may not be so tolerant of course.


Great going, fiznerpin1962
You may soon catch and pass everyone, which of of course will put a lot of pressure for all guys. Season is getting very hot.

That (however rare) occasional streching of some bodies and bags, seem to be resulting from SkyCE4 Shaders and their Parallax Occlusion function, which puts a lot of pressure and sometimes slight incompatibilities with some cards in their own way of dealing things.

The SkyCE4 says in its documentation, pointing out to some expected performance issues on some systems:

From SkyCE4:
"If you are experiencing performance issues, you can try to run the game with the -noshadows command line parameter. Just find the game shortcut on the desktop, open its properties and add -noshadows after X3_RDA.exe, e.g. "D:\STALKER\bin\XR_3DA.exe" -noshadows
This will kill all dynamic shadows in game, but improve performance."


Busetibi
You're going like a steam roller again. We need some pictures and reports from the battle fields of the "end game."


audioave10,
It's an exteremely rare situation that you've found yourself, it a real pity, but it happened in a few instances and most have recovered on next tries. I'm sure that your game had hit a problem way before you've come here to this point, possibly a glitch on on-offline switch/spawn of an NPC and was carried into your save as a sort of "dent" and it has also collected more problems with it were were further created by it.
You can try again from inside the Lab (coded door) turning on classic stashes, let's give it a chance. I could send you a portal point (as I'd do for Grump642) to help you get out of there, but none of the files is installed on my PC yet and such a thing should not be done from memory without actually looking at the files. I'm expecting by tomorrow I'll up and running. I don't know why I entered this 64 bit transfer thing.

[Balious]

Hey everyone. First maths test went okay and hopefully I will pass it but I have to do the 2nd one first along with english.

Managed to get a quick game of Stalker in last night. Crashed as soon as I got into it with that watchdog error thing. Reloaded and everything went alright apart from the game suddenly going very hard in terms of these god damn Firebite Dogs. Heres whats going on, I am at the broken bridge place where the military normally guard getting bribes off loners etc (they all dead if you must know) and a blowout happens. Of course I rush to find a hiding place and the nearest to me was that disused farmhouse where there are normally three loners in one building and a bunch of Fleshes in the other. Well during the blowout there are two Firebites somewhere and they are a right pain to deal with. I managed to survive the blowout and killed them. But as everything went normal from the blackness another two Firebites that looks almost the same as the two dead ones (couldn't see their bodies but didn't really get a chance) and next thing i know im in a corner dead. I reloaded and this time the same two Firebites outsmart me and crush me. Will try a third time today on beating these two.

Something I noticed is someone gets a random error (say the corpse one) and all of a sudden everyone else starts getting it. Seems like some sort of virus spreading around us perhaps we cursed each other.

[Nightwatch]

Hey balious Great news about your math tests. On ething is out of the way, now. Very testing experinces you're having also agianst those (mostly) firebites and other hazards of the zone. You'll get them, of course, though I know they are very hard to deal with.

_______---

Two notes, Guys:

first, after a quick thinking about the usability levels (how new they are) of the dropped guns (after NatVac mentioned of it) , I decided that I will decrease the usability levels of dropped weapons from the dead. So, great majority of the dropped weapons will be, :cough: just crap. Another screw tightening on the Extreme level.

secondly, this damn 64 bit thing is not going well, I'm afraid and I'm on the verge of considering going back to 32 bit. I had a brilliant PC on 32, why would I need 64 bit?? Well, I wouldn't know before trying, would I? Now I'm thinking like this as you see. In an hour or so, after the last a few set-up tries, I'll give a final decision.