NEWSA+SIMBION_tweaked Support and Gameplay

[audioave10]

Balious...set your stashes to "classic" or "unique" but not to "random" as that causes the looting crashes. "Unique" will give you some cool weapons and stuff.

[Nightwatch]

Very colourfully desribed story, Balious, great Yeah, enemy sometimes manages to enter the 100 Rads Bar, too. That's the beauty of it, things happen, things change, at great extend depending on the current situation there. It's not even random, as there are no fixed scenarios from which the engine chooses from. it just happens in calculation with all the relevant variables and values present at that point. Kudos to original AMK team, XStream, Russo, GSC, and all those involved in this creation of almost organic intelligence.

Btw, the crash you had may happen if you continue to watch the game it has actually ended , after it said: Game Over. Though it is still an applaudable function to keep the game rolling without the player, nevertheless, the engine starts to falter in processing things once the "game ends." Longer you watch, bigger chances of a crash is brewing. Not important, though. Because the player has already died... and being prepared for a burial... or for a dog food.

[3040Krag]

Based on a PM with Nightwatch, this post is to clarify my NEWSA setup.

System specs (very far below Nightwatch's minimum!)
DFI Lanparty NF2, 200 MHz FSB, 11 mult on a Mobile Athlon XP.
1 GB ram, NOT in dual channel as I've filled all three slots (I've had a hard time finding 1 GB ram sticks that will POST on the Lanparty, it's been a problem for years).
Radeon 9600, OC'd to 440 MHz GPU, 275 MHz DDR memory.

1-I'm using Horror-Lite mode. Long ago I tried Extreme, but after about 50 tries to get north of the bridge in Cordon without being shot by the heli, I started over with Horror-Lite.

2- I had a Horror_Time in Red Forest during the period after switching off the Brain Scorcher antennas and before entering Pripyat. Oh, yes, quite the horror time indeed. It came while still in the little tunnel leading to the rail cars in the Brain Scorcher above ground, and fighting off firebites, bloodsuckers, a burer and numerous zombies between me and the rail cars was pretty exciting!

3- (Nightwatch's question to me) "It appears from what you wrote that you had a good episode of fighting in the entrance of Pripyat, when you were "walking with the Stalkers" there, so trying to fully clarifying the events: Did you have attacks from Monolith fighters along this "Snipers Alley" as it's called. soldiers coming down from the rooftops and attacking you and your mates from the side streets as well? Or was the road empty of enemy soldiers until you've reached the underground car park?"

We had numerous mutants attacking us, but no monolith. The 5 stalkers I met at the Prypiat entrance never entered the underground car park. They have instead decided to make a grand tour of Prypiat, currently they're making a frontal assault on the Monolith HQ. The lack of sniper alley action disappointed me, so I've also done a hard save from the Autosave entrance to Prypiat so as to try and see if doing things a bit different I'll get a little sniper alley action.

However, in spite of no sniper alley action from Monolith, my stalkers are trying real hard to be dead heroes. Meaning I need to constantly be on point, flushing out Monolith that would otherwise be killing my guys. Lots of "mini-saves" so I can reload after either dying myself or after too many stalkers die.

[Nightwatch]

Thanks for the feedback, 3040Krad So, the case is applicable in Horror_Lite as well. This is a memory management issue inherently arising from vanilla STALKER on how it handles memory management. Interestingly enough, the area in which the Symptoms are seen, Pripyat, is not the cause of the matter, whereas the Red Forest is. Particularly Horror Time event proves too much for the engine to handle and process things, mainly the info relay and skips certain steps. Water was already on the rim of the glass in vanilla, so to speak, and additional work load tests the engine too much on some systems. It's not an easy and clear cut thing to assume that any 2-3 Gig RAM would clear things up. More RAM definitely helps: as one of the important elements, but not as the only solution. There are many other factors that work on the same saucepan before the game delivers the output the the screen. (not necessarily means high end does better, depends)
The new patch is ready, but I'm holding it until I've placed a work-around for this matter which should help a much wider spec PCs and they could output the scenes as seen on Utube/mod site videos. A few options are available on my hand, and I'm considering them at the moment; well, as this is an unpaid hobby work, real life matters of course do require attention as well.

3040Krad, it'd be quite useful if you could try something. This problem occurs (when it occurs) only when you go to Pripyat from Red Forest. And once it's stuck, it seems no matter how many times you try, it repeats itself; but, if the player leaves Red Forest and then re-enters and goes to Pripyat, everything works fine. So you can leave Red Forest from either of the level changers (Army Warehouses one and the LV at the opposite of Brain Scorcher antennas -you'll see it on you map) then re-enter and proceed to Pripyat. Your system is below recommended level, but you may be able to witness the Monolith assault in Pripyat Snipers Alley.

[3040Krag]

Nightwatch,

I did not go directly to Prypiat from the RF after turning off the Brain Scorcher. I went back to Bar and did a ton of side-missions first, as I was out of money, ammo and supplies. About a week of game time went by before I returned to the RF via Yantar (as AW bogs my system severely, 1-4 FPS is not uncommon though occasionally I get 10-15 FPS, I cannot guess why I sometimes get almost normal frame rates). After a horror time near the BS, I triggered the Duty-Freedom skirmish while walking down the hill toward the sniper bunker. Letting Freedom and Duty duke it out, I sniped at Monolith near the level changer until they came down the hill, using the auto shottie to neutralize them (love the NEWSA auto shotgun, cheap ammo and effective even when PAB ammo just tickles. Reminds me somewhat of the original Doom shotgun for some reason ).

[3040Krag]

Re-reading the request, I will leave Prypiat from my hard save, leave RF, and come back through RF to Prypiat. I shall do it as many times as it takes to do so without encountering a horror time in RF and see what happens.

Does that fit the request, Nightwatch? I *think* that's what I'm reading in your post, it may be necessary to get through RF to Prypiat without encountering a horror time in order to trigger a normal sniper alley.

[Balious]

Thanks audioave10. I done that now and havent had a crash since. But I may speak too soon

Thank you Nightwatch. I will now be posting screenshots

As my head is full of wanting to write my other stories I won't make one right now for these screenies. But I try and describe what happened

Cordon Collection
Its fun to watch the birds:
http://i50.tinypic.com/29bemog.jpg

I hate to die like this Bandit:
http://i50.tinypic.com/14mz3ah.jpg

Its mad and looking right at me:
http://i45.tinypic.com/2z74c46.jpg

This is going to hurt I just know it will:
http://i47.tinypic.com/347hamx.jpg

Funny seeing it like this:
http://i48.tinypic.com/5bz8k3.jpg

It's a Blue Night:
http://i46.tinypic.com/24pi636.jpg

Perfect View of the Moon:
http://i48.tinypic.com/np5a3l.jpg

That Zombie's head must feel like hell:
http://i49.tinypic.com/2qdpfv9.jpg

Fox Stood No Chance:
http://i47.tinypic.com/1z35i0g.jpg

Dying sure is fun:
http://i45.tinypic.com/119cb50.jpg


Agro Collection
A Zombie to Kill:
http://i47.tinypic.com/15clcsi.jpg

How Many Zombies do I need to kill?:
http://i45.tinypic.com/1183a86.jpg

I actually think this picture looks great for a death one:
http://i48.tinypic.com/2nrklsk.jpg

The Helicopter crashes right where I wanted it to:
http://i48.tinypic.com/359wlm1.jpg

Doesn't Look like anyone survived:
http://i46.tinypic.com/2055ru1.jpg

Don't you just love big Explosions?:
http://i48.tinypic.com/30mwaqa.jpg


Bar Collection:
I get welcomed by a Dog:
http://i46.tinypic.com/2zzn7zq.jpg

Everyone is all on alert always watching their backs like this Loner:
http://i45.tinypic.com/2z3orwx.jpg

Wolf wonders through the Bar:
http://i49.tinypic.com/smy9ao.jpg

Prapor is on duty of patroling the Bar:
http://i49.tinypic.com/wlq3co.jpg

Military sure are hated here:
http://i45.tinypic.com/2nimw04.jpg

Insane Monolith:
http://i48.tinypic.com/2vt5f1z.jpg

Who can stop this Monolith?:
http://i47.tinypic.com/2ugcd4m.jpg


Thats all for now time to put it in my screenshot thread.

[3040Krag]

Great pictures, Balious! I especially like the one game over pic you said was nice!

Nightwatch, I loaded my hard save (standing at the entrance to Prypiat from the RF changer) and left Prypiat->RF->Yantar. I let the game "settle" on entrance to each level (disk access low to none, FPS peaked). I did a bit of trading at Yantar, then went Yantar->RF->Prypiat. Also let the game settle each time. No Horror Time triggered on any of the levels.

Nothing in sniper alley, not even mutants or zombies like the first time through. This time, the stalkers did decide to camp in the car park. So I bought a little insurance and did a hard save so as to have a trader if I cannot save at least one of the stalkers in my Prypiat tour save.

Anything else I might try to aid you? It'd be an honor if there is something I might do to help.

[Nightwatch]

Thanks 3040Krag, it was what exactly I had requested. Feedback from different set-up PCs and from different modes of the mod is very useful. ON several PCs which had experienced this symptom, Sniper Alley action was initiated after the folks left RF and then came back and entered Pripyat. (or they just went to Bar or somewhere else directly from RF prior to entry to Pripyat.) In your case, though, Sniper Alley action was still not activated, further confirming that symptom is system related (not the cause, though), being affected by configurations, but caused by memory management. As you have employed only 1 Gig RAM on this test, it was definitely not enough to reply for vast demands. Your test has been valuable in my works. Thanks again.


Yes, Balious, pictures are great. I've noticed that your new system produces much sharper and detailed pictures with a better colour tone. We can use some of on the Players Corner as well, in the first available opportunity.

[Balious]

Thanks guys
Feel free to use any of my screenshots Nightwatch. It looks to me that place could use a little more updating.

Also I just remenbered. Is that award thingy for NEWSA still on? I understand Eggchen first did it but I am wondering if thats still going on?

[Ultradad]

Hello there

Thanks to Father Christmas i upgraded the CPU and Graphics Card over christmas . Today i thought i take my Fave Mod for a spin and see how it goes with the upgrades and Windows 7.Game feels realy smooth even when fraps is showing under 30 fps. Its nice to actually run this game with Full Dynamic lighting on

Nice shot of inside of building looking out, shadows are great



So i have a little wander around Starter Village, playing on extreme with monster appearing in Horror Time and blowouts and respawns every 2-3 hrs, i like to play it on max baby

Wolf died about 10 mins after this screeny, dammit he was a good stalker



Everyone was chilling out but didnt know i had the game cranked to the max



About 10 mins later all hell broke lose i had to camp out in my fave place the attic and ride it out



10 cats spawned and spanked Wolf to death and i got a nice shiney Newsa Chain Gun. Took me a few hrs to make my way around Corden killing things and dying a lot but made it to Garbage and got my first nice weapon in Hanger. The tank outside got bored so decided to come look for me



I managed to save mole on my first attempt and headed undergound



Got back to trader and handed in a few quests etc and got to head off to see bar keep now but on my way i got some nice screenys of Artifacts, they got a lovely effect to them




Not one crash so far, feels alot better on windows 7. The Game still looks great after all these years

[Nightwatch]

Congratulation are due for your new Graphics Card and the CPU, Ultradad Pictures are sharp and have nice saturated tones. You've captured very good angles as well.

Windows 7 have come like a divine hand for Xray engine, and even on Quad CPUs, which had terrible performance with STALKER (or vice versa ) Windows 7 proves to be a right choice for STALKER.

[3040Krag]

Argh! The AI in STALKER never ceases to surprise me, especially in NEWSA+Simbion!

I spent a couple of days saving my "Heros of Le Grand Tour de Prypiat" and the remaining three finally went down into the underground car park. And success! One of them became a trader.

So, I went to him and sold off the many Monolith armaments I'd collected during Le Grand Tour. I decided to duck back into the Red Forest and sure enough, Monolith were everywhere and they were DYING to give me their arms. Heading back into Prypiat, my trader was not underground at the car park. I searched Prypiat for bodies or live Loners, and found two walking toward the Prypiat/RF changer and the third lying dead in an anomaly. My trader was still alive, so I traded with him, only to watch him walk off to the Red Forest once we were done! He's gone from Prypiat now, who knows if he'll ever come back!

As a note, mod'ers have truly gained my sympathies. I'm a seasoned C language developer, and when I got a CTD when asking a Dutyer "Do you know something interesting" and got this:

[16-9] get_xml_name for[maingame_pda_msg.xml] returns [maingame_pda_msg.xml]

FATAL ERROR

[error]Expression : !phrase_dialog->m_PhraseVector.empty()
[error]Function : CPhraseDialog::SayPhrase
[error]File : E:\stalker\sources\trunk\xr_3da\xrGame\PhraseDialog.cpp
[error]Line : 140
[error]Description : No available phrase to say, dialog[dm_cool_info_dialog]


stack trace:

I knew just exactly how buggy the engine must be. A "null pointer" error is one of the most trivial, and should have been caught by the original developer and certainly should never have made it past system test. If the system has no available phrase to say, it lies because it can say exactly what is in the dump, "No available phrase to say" Even the simplest of error-checking routines can do better than trigger a Fatal Error in such a simple condition as not finding a programmed response.

[Nightwatch]

Thanks 3040Krag for once again brilliant depiction of events in Pripyat and Red Forest.
And, yes, of course you're right on that issue, too, that the engine abandons the game even at the slightest of a glitch; and, well, Xray is not short of glitches, at the least. Then so, everything has been well set for a disaster to happen any time.
(I had given an example about it, on the last page or so, mentioning the Ubisoft/Grin's GRAW 2, in which, at one point a tank assists you, but it's a bit glitchy there, sometimes it just doesn't move. It's a mission defining act, but even in that case, it doesn't take the game down. It's up to you if you want to face the music without a support or reload the game. Crash is not a good (and only) option to be served with. )

[Ultradad]

[quote="3040Krag"]

So, I went to him and sold off the many Monolith armaments I'd collected during Le Grand Tour. I decided to duck back into the Red Forest and sure enough, Monolith were everywhere and they were DYING to give me their arms. Heading back into Prypiat, my trader was not underground at the car park. I searched Prypiat for bodies or live Loners, and found two walking toward the Prypiat/RF changer and the third lying dead in an anomaly. My trader was still alive, so I traded with him, only to watch him walk off to the Red Forest once we were done! He's gone from Prypiat now, who knows if he'll ever come back!

Hello there

I do love the AI in this mod, everyone does strange things and go walk about. After i save mole he usualy ends up at The north zone point camp with other stalkers in Corden. I been attacked by the trader in Prypiat, he run up shot the hell out of me and run off

Found the Trader from Prypiat dead on stairs in Agroprom complex where you help mole out

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr127/Ultradad2008/traderfrompripyatinagroprom.jpg

The Doctor in Prpiat just lost it and would do hit and run attacks on me, very funny i cannot remember what i did to piss him off

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr127/Ultradad2008/heisatitagain.jpg

Every Game is different, just dont know what they gonna do next, thank god bar keep just stays in the same place and does nt go for a walk

[Ultradad]

Hello there

Just had my first crash to desktop but never had one of these before

Scheduler tried to update object particle_instance
stack trace:

0023:75D3B727 KERNELBASE.dll
0023:70B88E89 MSVCR80.dll, EH_prolog()
0023:70B89082 MSVCR80.dll, _RTCastToVoid()
0023:03BFBD8C xrParticles.dll, PAPI::pDomain::transform_dir()

Am i missing a DLL on my system?. Thanks for any help

[audioave10]

The Zone Emissions are eating-up brain cells! I once found one of the traders out in a field on the south end of the Bar.

[3040Krag]

ultradad,

My "Save Mole" at agroprom was one of those where I blasted every Army and APC on the entire level (including the Army base) and Mole still kept whining "Help me guys. theyr'e gonna kill me". Ahem, the lack of the gentler sex and the fact Mole moved in with Fox in those Cordon buildings where you save Fox from the dogs early in the game has me "wondering" lol. Another thing, for someone who bitches how he needs medkits, Fox seems to be invulnerable. I think he's grown to like dog bites!

[Nightwatch]

The Zone Emissions are eating-up brain cells! I once found one of the traders out in a field on the south end of the Bar.

Ahem, the lack of the gentler sex and the fact Mole moved in with Fox in those Cordon buildings where you save Fox from the dogs early in the game has me "wondering" lol.

Ultradad, on this MSVCR80.dll message: it could be just a glitch or due a corrupted file, or you may be having -more probably- a memory problem , also a NET run time error possibility exists, too. Are you running Vista? Have you activated IncreaseUserVa 3072 command, which may pose a side effect on Kernel, ( though it significantly helps the game on 32-bit systems, like when running games that require more than 2 gig virtual memory file usage). If you continue receiving same error message, please post it again with full specs of PC, running background programs, etc. But, do not download and install a MSVCR80.dll. Microsoft seriously discourages any such moves. I guess it was a fluke, anyway.

PS: good pictures, very nice catches