[wikkid]

The SMRTR added weapons and armors can be found ONLY in the hidden green cases, and you'll have to look around, they're not just sitting out in the open. All the vanilla gear is available same as it is in vanilla (drops, traders, stashes.) Customization is good considering that it's a shooter and not an rpg. Almost all weapons and armor can be upgraded, there are 3 "tiers" of upgrades and many allow different paths, it's not a very in-depth system, but it does allow you to customize your armor and weapons to do what you need them to do. For example you can choose to use your assault rifle as more of a long-range sniper-type weapons, so you'll go for flatness, accuracy, lower recoil, that type of things, or you can go the other way and make it more of a short-range weapon and pick rate of fire, slower wear, better handling, etc. For armor there are many more options because of all the anomalies and mutants that have "elemental" damage.
You'll need to find toolkits to unlock upgrades though, one for each tier. SMRTR also adds a sniper rifle toolkit. It's a great system for a shooter, much more customization then most shooters allow.
You may want to at least start the game without mods, just to check it out for a couple of hours. There are quite a few weapons in the vanilla game, and unlike ShoC you won't have to slog through hours of quests to see them. There are some that you're not likely to see in the first map, but even those sometimes end up in your hands a few minutes into the game... sometimes bandits or mercs carry them and you can grab them off the bodies. SMRTR basically adds variety, but it won't influence the game itself that much because nobody except for the player can get their hands on those weapons.
Perhaps CoP Complete would be a better idea for a first playthrough. Complete doesn't touch the gameplay at all, it's an atmosphere improvements mod, and it does make the game look much nicer. It won't work with SMRTR straight off though, some of the scripts and configs are modified by both, so they must be merged or they'd overwrite each other.

[GawainBS]

Alright, how do you go about this merging? I'd very much like to play with SMRTR (what does it stand for, anyway?) from the get-go, as I won't likely replay the game anytime soon.

[wikkid]

I've no clue what, if anything, it actually stands for, I always assumed SMRTR as in smarter...

The way I merged was to get both, then install one, install the other in the same place without overwriting the files, and then I used WinMerge to compare the files that both mods changed and merge them. It took a bit of trial and error... I'd try to load the game and then when it crashed I'd check the log file to see what else needs fixing... Obviously not something you could do if you're not familiar with the way STALKER mods work.

Mostly they work on totally unrelated systems or it wouldn't be feasible at all... I'd consider uploading my gamedata, but I also did TONS of little tweaks that I can't even remember ATM. Like I tweaked most character resistances, flashlight, carry weight, armors, weapons, ammo... and those are ones I could remember.

Really though, it may make sense for you to try Complete without messing with SMRTR, and if you feel that you want even more guns then you could look further into SMRTR. I mean the vanilla game has 14 pistols, 7 shotguns, 12 assault rifles, 7 sniper rifles and then a couple of SMGs, machine guns, launchers, and a couple types of grenades. So it's a decent amount of iron to try out... and even more if you consider that each one could be upgraded to fit different styles.

[GawainBS]

Alright, I'll try CoP Complete after the slew of games that's eagerly awaiting to get played. Thanks!

[wikkid]

Anytime Glad I could be of assistance.

I've been posting topics similar to this one in other forums myself, only I'm not looking for a shooter, so I know it's not easy to find *the* game to play have fun with your slew!

[GawainBS]

What kind of game are you looking for then? Perhaps I can return the favour.

[wikkid]

To be honest I pretty much gave up at this point... I've played pretty much every recent (and many not so recent) game...
Basically I'm looking for WoW but without the MMO. But I'm picky, I really like the environment of Oblivion, but I hate the loot and character progression systems. I really like the WoW loot, the environments, the story, but the MMO bit kills it for me, I don't like to rely on others for my fun. Lately I'm kind of fiending over Titan Quest, it somehow slipped through my fingers before so I just recently discovered it... if it had a camera more akin to WoW's, to give that sense of exploration and wonder when finding new zones, and at least a half-decent story and characters it would be perfect. It's hard to describe exactly what I want because the only way I could do that is compare to other games, and I don't know if you're familiar with them...
environment of Oblivion/WoW
loot system of Torchlight/Borderlands/WoW/TQ
story and characters of WoW/ME
character customization of WoW/Torchlight/TQ
Hm, every category has WoW in it :/ but I don't want an MMO. Too bad all the WoW emulators are so bugged, otherwise I'd run my own server and multibox when needed.

[GawainBS]

Kingdoms of Amalur comes close to what you're looking for.

[wikkid]

It does have some of the things I'm looking for, but it also misses a few. I tried to get into Amalur a couple of times, but it just didn't hold my interest. The story feels flat, and while the environments are pleasing to the eye there is no exploration to the game, it only looks open at first glance, like Borderlands. Plus I'm not a big fan of action-type combat, I think it's one of the big points for me, I really like how WoW (again WoW) does combat... it's more of a strategic system then action clickfest one.
I've looked at the RPG listings here and found something called Drakensang, so I'll be checking that out soon. Two Worlds II also gets a lot of the elements right, but it's another one of the action type RPGs. I can deal with combat systems that Torchlight/TQ has, but once it starts getting into different types of attacks (not skills, attacks) it becomes too action-y for me.
I'm probably looking for a game that doesn't exist, which is why I'm not really searching anymore... maybe someday, somebody will make a game to satisfy me on every level... actually I did spend a couple of years on WoW, but like many others I feel they really drastically changed the direction of the game sometime around late Burning Crusade/early Wrath.

[GawainBS]

I'd go on a limp and offer Dragon Age 1?
Your points about Amalur are true, though.
Not a fantasy setting, and an MMO, but perfectly soloable (I did so): The Secret World. It's even free. Combat is slightly action-y, but not much. It's one of the better games I've played, though.

[wikkid]

I assume you mean DA:Origins, that one I actually finished... if they (anybody) could somehow add the party control (tactics) system from DA:O to WoW I'd throw all my money at them! I'd probably grow roots in front of my PC.

DA:O has almost everything I want, except loot and exploration. TBH I don't even need an open world to explore, I was plenty satisfied with views in Mass Effect, especially now that I learned a tiny bit about the various AA modes that could be forced with nvidia inspector. I love that sense of entering a new locale and just sitting back like 'wooow', and WoW (woow, WoW, get it? ) does that very well. *slightly offtopic* buut, didya know that envidia in latin (I think) means envy?
Secret World is an MMO innit? I've been eyeing a couple of MMOs cause I must haz my RPG fix! Guild Wars 2 looks nice, but I think that one requires the purchase of the game itself, I think they did get rid of the monthly fees though.
I didn't know that Secret World is free... I thought you have to buy the game, same as GW2. I'm not against buying games or anything, but I prefer buying games that I'll actually play for longer then an hour or two... which is what I get out of the vast majority of recent RPGs.

Fallout3/NV are nice, but once I start adding more loot and graphical improvements the game gets so bogged down that my chips start sweating... or some mods start conflicting and it crashes all the time. Guess I'm a hard customer to please. Thanks for you suggestions though they're appreciated, and keep throwing more if you got em.

[GawainBS]

NV is an awesome game, but lacking in loot.
The Secret World does indeed require the purchase of the game, but it's at €30.I wholeheartedly recommend it, though. Keep an eye out for promotions, I'd say. For this price, I think you'll get your money's worth. Steam has regular promotions.
GW2 has a free weekend trial coming up this weekend. Combat is too action-packed for your tastes, I think, though. Great sense of exploration, on the other hand. The crafting system annoyed me somehow.

[wikkid]

Oh, sucks about GW2 combat I was under the impression that it's very similar to WoW... Oh well.
Will look some more into SW, maybe watch some gameplay vids or something.

Yeah I really want to like FO3/NV, but the whole desert thing is much too depressing for my taste, and the fact that there is very little loot to be had... I really like the combat system though, not a big fan of twitch shooters, so the whole "time-stop" thing is awesome. It's almost surprising that I like STALKER so much considering that it's a shooter game... it does allow long-distance combat in most situations though, and sniping I actually enjoy, I'm weird like that.

BTW, going back to the original topic of this thread... has Far Cry 3 been suggested for you? It does have a few RPG elements, leveling, skills, crafting... but it is a shooter. And it's definitely one of the most beautiful games released in the past couple of years... that island is gorgeous!

[GawainBS]

Far Cry 3 didn't really "get" me. Too much hype around it.
Well, Fallout is all about desert, nothing to do about that.
Do give the GW2 trial a go, though.

[wikkid]

Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled with FC3 myself... especially after I realized that crafting and skills are largely useless gimmicks, just something for the devs to put on the features list... and hunting too, more of an annoyance then fun. But you can't argue that it is a damn fine looking game... a bit too bright but I toned it down a bit with SweetFX.

[GawainBS]

I got Stalker: CoP, but I stopped playing as soon as I realised the extend of the durability system. I hate that mechanics in games. I found a mod which circumvents it, but it crashes the game. Are there any alternatives out there?
This is the one that didn't work: http://stalker.filefront.com/file/No_We ... ons;104715

[wikkid]

I'm not aware of any mods that remove the damage to armor/weapons... I think they did it pretty well in CoP, not very well balanced but the system itself works well. You can pretty easily modify those values yourself if you don't find a mod for it... that's what I did, along with a whole bunch of other tweaks.
I recommend getting one of the "major" mods, like CoP Complete, they do some changes to fix the balance (depending on the mod obviously, some will change everything and even add new systems.) The configs for weapons live in "gamedata/configs/weapons/" folder, but you won't have that folder or the files unless you get a mod that has them or extract the default gamedata archives. I can't remember where exactly the values for armors are, can't search right now as I'm heading out for class... but I'll check later and let you know.

edit: Did you follow the instructions for that mod? Without editing that file (fsgame.ltx) none of the mods will work, it won't even read the gamedata folder.

[GawainBS]

Yes, I followed all the instructions, repeatedly, from clean installs.

[wikkid]

That's strange, looking at the comments there's not a single one that's saying it doesn't work. Is the path correct? It should be
X:\MAINGAMEFOLDER\gamedata\ inside gamedata there's supposed to be a folder structure that goes config\weapons\ inside weapons folder should be the .ltx files for all the weapons.

Try opening up one of the weapon's .ltx files, any text editor will do - I prefer Notepad++, for example w_ak47.ltx (I'm pretty sure that's one of the default ones, if you don't have that one any other weapon ltx will do.) Scroll down a bit to line #55 or so, you should see something like:

Code: Select all

condition_shot_dec         = 0.001
condition_queue_shot_dec   = 0.0012

Those are the parameters responsible for decrease of condition, first one for single shot and the second for bursts. You can simply set them to 0's and the condition won't decrease at all. To change the condition of dropped weapons you have to work with another file I assume, I've never tried to remove the damage system so I don't know how that could be done.

If what's bothering you is the fact that you can't sell damaged weapons it would be easier to change what condition the buyers won't go below. This is something that I did change because it was seriously pissin me off when I was getting (and luggin around) tons of weapons but couldn't sell them. The files to do those changes reside in "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat\gamedata\configs\misc\trade" For example the file "trade_zat_b30_stalker_trader.ltx" is the one that's responsible for Owl, the trader on the first location (Zaton). About 9 lines into the file there's a line that goes:

Code: Select all

buy_item_condition_factor = x.x

That "x.x" is where the condition modifyer goes, it's a number between 0.0 and 1.0... set it to something like .4 and he'll buy anything that's better than 40% I believe. The exact formula may be more complex but this one variable is enough to get it how you want it.

To do same with armor would be a bit more complicated from what I can tell. The files for outfits reside in "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat\gamedata\configs\misc\".

Obviously you won't have any of these files unless you've got a mod that modifies them or you extracted the base files (not sure if/how that could be done.) Also any pieces added by mods may be located in different files, but the folder structure should remain the same.