It happened. It really happened. STALKER 2 finally released. More
unexpected things have happened this year, but not more welcome.

Not that I'm buying it. Not yet at least. Not that I besmirch the
developers getting paid for their hard work, but I just don't feel
like paying $60 USD for a game in a franchise I've only lukewarm
feelings toward.

(Much less $80 or $110 USD for the Deluxe or Ultimate versions,
respectively. Honestly, the division of the game into these various
editions annoyed me enough to kill any desire to pay even the $60 USD
asking price for the standard edition).

Reviews are -unsurprisingly- overwhelmingly positive, although I'm
sure that has more to do with nostalgia for the franchise than any
actual, honest appraisal of the game (anyway, it's a huge game and how
anyone could honestly make judgement on the game after only a few
hours is a mystery to me). Also, this being 2024, I'm sure the game
released full of bugs and with poor optimization; it's worth waiting a
few weeks (or months!) just for all that nonsense to sort out. We'll
see what people really think about the game in February.

Still, congrats to GSC Gameworld (the developers) for finally
releasing the game. That's a hard struggle for a small developer with
an outlandishly large reputation under any circumstances; expectations
are unproportionally high. But having to do that while your homeland
is literally under siege and on fire... it's an impressive feat. My
hat is off to you, gentlefolk.

On 20/11/2024 22:23, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> Reviews are -unsurprisingly- overwhelmingly positive, although I'm
> sure that has more to do with nostalgia for the franchise than any
> actual, honest appraisal of the game (anyway, it's a huge game and how
> anyone could honestly make judgement on the game after only a few
> hours is a mystery to me). Also, this being 2024, I'm sure the game
> released full of bugs and with poor optimization; it's worth waiting a
> few weeks (or months!) just for all that nonsense to sort out. We'll
> see what people really think about the game in February.

It seems a bit of a mixed experience so far from the reviews and a day
one patch. I'm going to wait a bit for everything to settle down and
even then my poor little budget PC is probably going to struggle. Then
again that's what the Steam refund option is for.

On Thu, 21 Nov 2024 09:01:11 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>It seems a bit of a mixed experience so far from the reviews and a day
>one patch. I'm going to wait a bit for everything to settle down and
>even then my poor little budget PC is probably going to struggle. Then
>again that's what the Steam refund option is for.

At least one Youtube review complains that the game is too long
(approx. 30 hours)

I well remember threads in this group bemoaning how short games had
become. When RTCW was first released some posters lamented that it was
'only 12 hours long'.

The best Steam review in my opinion is here
https://steamcommunity.com/id/reddlyb/recommended/1643320/

It's a pure STALKER game. If you enjoyed vanilla Shadow Of Chernobyl
then you will probably enjoy STALKER 2

--
Rob

On Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:40:14 +0000, Mr Rob
<noemailformethx@jsjsaiiowppw.com> wrote:

>On Thu, 21 Nov 2024 09:01:11 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>>It seems a bit of a mixed experience so far from the reviews and a day
>>one patch. I'm going to wait a bit for everything to settle down and
>>even then my poor little budget PC is probably going to struggle. Then
>>again that's what the Steam refund option is for.
>
>At least one Youtube review complains that the game is too long
>(approx. 30 hours)
>
>I well remember threads in this group bemoaning how short games had
>become. When RTCW was first released some posters lamented that it was
>'only 12 hours long'.
>
>The best Steam review in my opinion is here
>https://steamcommunity.com/id/reddlyb/recommended/1643320/
>
>It's a pure STALKER game. If you enjoyed vanilla Shadow Of Chernobyl
>then you will probably enjoy STALKER 2

I've only had time for maybe an hour with it (hopefully I'll have more
time with it this weekend), but I already like it... the immersion
alone is worth it and I can tell I will get some hours out of it.

However..and this is a big however...I'm breaking my multi-year streak
of not buying single-player games upon release. The reason is I just
bought a new high-end rig, which is my first new personal desktop PC
(for my own use not including girlfriend or work related expense)
since 2018. I bought the rig for reasons completely unrelated to
gaming as I'm doing more with video, music, and AI these days, but it
turns out this title landed right around the time the high-end rig buy
did, so of course I need to try it out the new shiny AAA titles. :)

I ran Stalker 2 on "Epic" graphic settings at 1080p, but in a few days
I'm going to switch that over to 1440p when the new monitor arrives,
which represents another shift for me, my gaming resolution is getting
upped. Not so much because I find gaming at 1080p inadequate, I'm
just kind of tired of maintaining different setups for gaming and
productivity workload, so this is merging them into one... I need
1440p for everything but gaming, and in my increasing age and laziness
I'd rather do most of what I do on one PC rather than multiple. I've
been on 1440p for work and 1080p for gaming for a long time now, and
its time the two shall merge. Trend on Steam shows 1440p gaining a
lot of momentum as well, so I'm not going to be surprised if that
becomes the baseline in 5 years.

So Stalker2 is a good looking, fluid and immersive game for me, but
when I watched the review on Worth A Buy I was sort of appalled at the
visuals Mack was seeing on an i9-9990 with RTX 2080, it really looked
like a game from the mid 2000's by comparison to what I'm seeing...
and a bit flaky and jittery on top of it all.. I'm getting something
like 180fps average with everything maxed out, and as anyone who has
paid attention to my feedback here knows, low input latency and
overall fluidity of movement is an important aspect of immersion in an
FPS shooter for me. The visuals are really nice on a PC that can
handle it, maybe not worth loading on a discount box. So if anyone
with mid-range or lower PC specs are panning it in reviews then I do
get it, it doesn't seem well suited to older or lesser spec'd PCs.

Then there is the consideration about will it appeal to long-time fans
of the franchise, etc.. I don't give fuck all about any of that. I
just think it feels like a breath of fresh air (so far at least) in
the sense that it seems to reach for what made old school FPS games
fun... avoiding the politics and DEI bullshit, avoiding the need to
endure endless cutscenes, avoiding lots of handholding, and so forth.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

>It happened. It really happened. STALKER 2 finally released. More
>unexpected things have happened this year, but not more welcome.
>
>Not that I'm buying it. Not yet at least. Not that I besmirch the
>developers getting paid for their hard work, but I just don't feel
>like paying $60 USD for a game in a franchise I've only lukewarm
>feelings toward.
>
>(Much less $80 or $110 USD for the Deluxe or Ultimate versions,
>respectively. Honestly, the division of the game into these various
>editions annoyed me enough to kill any desire to pay even the $60 USD
>asking price for the standard edition).

Hah, CDN prices $79.99, $109.99 and $149.99, and then taxed on top of
that to become $90.39 for the 79.99. Nope!

Wishlisted, so they'll send me an email when it's on sale.

Xocyll

JAB wrote:
> It seems a bit of a mixed experience so far from the reviews and a
> day one patch. I'm going to wait a bit for everything to settle down
> and even then my poor little budget PC is probably going to struggle.
> Then again that's what the Steam refund option is for.

Am I only one that thinks that being buggy is to be expected, specially
with s.t.a.l.k.e.r.? I mean, there's eurojank, and there's eastern
eurokank. The original game was always an absolute nightmare until there
were enough community fixed to bundle them into a gigapack that makes
the game actually playable.

Sure bugs, and that are a pain, but for me it would not be a
S.t.a.l.k.e.r. game if it was perfect and without issues. I think the
real issue is that while the first game and its sequels were pretty
niche products and almost underground cult games, S.t.a.l.k.e.r. 2 has
been hyped and pushed to AAA game level. A mainstream audience is
probably not ready for it.

On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:41:35 +0100, H1M3M <wipnoah@gmail.com> wrote:

>JAB wrote:
>> It seems a bit of a mixed experience so far from the reviews and a
>> day one patch. I'm going to wait a bit for everything to settle down
>> and even then my poor little budget PC is probably going to struggle.
>> Then again that's what the Steam refund option is for.
>
>Am I only one that thinks that being buggy is to be expected, specially
>with s.t.a.l.k.e.r.? I mean, there's eurojank, and there's eastern
>eurokank. The original game was always an absolute nightmare until there
>were enough community fixed to bundle them into a gigapack that makes
>the game actually playable.
>
>Sure bugs, and that are a pain, but for me it would not be a
>S.t.a.l.k.e.r. game if it was perfect and without issues. I think the
>real issue is that while the first game and its sequels were pretty
>niche products and almost underground cult games, S.t.a.l.k.e.r. 2 has
>been hyped and pushed to AAA game level. A mainstream audience is
>probably not ready for it.

Interestingly though, it's currently sitting at 18k+ reviews with a
"Very Positive" rating on Steam, which on a relative scale at least,
is not off to a bad start at all among the whiney / nitpicky audience
that gamers (especially the ones that write lots of reviews) tend to
be.

A lot of games that are actually quite fun get ripped apart on Steam
for a variety of reasons, or quickly find themselves in the "Mixed"
bucket. I don't know if rating abuse (ratings getting boosted via
sentiment in favor of Ukraine in the war) is playing a part in the
early success of Stalker2 ratings or not.

On 11/22/2024 2:44 AM, Xocyll wrote:
> Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
> entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
> say:
>
>> It happened. It really happened. STALKER 2 finally released. More
>> unexpected things have happened this year, but not more welcome.
>>
>> Not that I'm buying it. Not yet at least. Not that I besmirch the
>> developers getting paid for their hard work, but I just don't feel
>> like paying $60 USD for a game in a franchise I've only lukewarm
>> feelings toward.
>>
>> (Much less $80 or $110 USD for the Deluxe or Ultimate versions,
>> respectively. Honestly, the division of the game into these various
>> editions annoyed me enough to kill any desire to pay even the $60 USD
>> asking price for the standard edition).
>
> Hah, CDN prices $79.99, $109.99 and $149.99, and then taxed on top of
> that to become $90.39 for the 79.99. Nope!
>
> Wishlisted, so they'll send me an email when it's on sale.
>
If you live that long. :P

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:41:35 +0100, H1M3M <wipnoah@gmail.com> wrote:

>JAB wrote:
>> It seems a bit of a mixed experience so far from the reviews and a
>> day one patch. I'm going to wait a bit for everything to settle down
>> and even then my poor little budget PC is probably going to struggle.
>> Then again that's what the Steam refund option is for.
>
>Am I only one that thinks that being buggy is to be expected, specially
>with s.t.a.l.k.e.r.? I mean, there's eurojank, and there's eastern
>eurokank. The original game was always an absolute nightmare until there
>were enough community fixed to bundle them into a gigapack that makes
>the game actually playable.

Oh, I definitely expect it, especially given the developers and the
very rocky development cycle. Doesn't mean I like it, or am rushing
out to experience it. I'm happy to wait until the worst of the issues
are fixed... either by the developers or (more likely) the fanbase.

Speaking of which, there are already mods available. Including one to
remove the inventory weight limitations, which will absolutely be one
of the mods I will install when I eventually get the game. I /hate/
inventory restrictions.

[This may surprise absolutely none of you, but I'm a bit of a
packrat when playing computer games too. ;-) If it's not
nailed down in the gameworld, I'm picking it up and bringing
it with me. And if the game doesn't le me carry everything,
I'm gonna hack it so it will]

On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 17:23:51 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>It happened. It really happened. STALKER 2 finally released. More
>unexpected things have happened this year, but not more welcome.

Good job, devs. Apparently the game has sold over a million copies in
two days on Steam alone. Although it isn't clear whether or not that
number includes pre-purchases, it's still an impressive milestone.

I don't think the STALKER games are as awesome as some make them out
to be, but they are the quintessential example of a "PC Game" and I
think a lot of the hype and excitement is because of that. Of course,
I think that particular differentiation is a lot less important these
days; it's not like the early 2000s when there was a noticable
seperation in design theory for PC and console FPS games. In fact, if
anything it's probably the 'console FPS' which is the rarer commodity
these days. But the STALKER games were almost uncompromising in their
ruthless difficulty curve and lack of fucks given to people with
lesser hardware, and I think there's still an appreciation --at least
amongst some gamers-- for that sort of game.

Not to mention, you know, that whole Ukraine thing. I think that
resonates with a lot of players too.

And the games --well, at least the original; I can't comment on this
newest sequel-- aren't bad games either. A lot of the excitement is,
sure, just because people want _more_ STALKER; a return to the
Chornobyl Exclusion Zone to face off against mutants and raiders and
emission storms. Just because I don't think the games are deserving of
ALL the hype doesn't mean I don't think they're worthy of SOME of the
hype.

Nonetheless, even if the fast sales of STALKER 2 aren't entirely due
to the games themselves but more due to the meta surrounding them, I'm
still happy for the developers that they're getting this sort of
success. Who knows, if it keeps up we may even see a STALKER 3... in
2041. ;-)

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:41:35 +0100, H1M3M <wipnoah@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> JAB wrote:
>>> It seems a bit of a mixed experience so far from the reviews and a
>>> day one patch. I'm going to wait a bit for everything to settle down
>>> and even then my poor little budget PC is probably going to struggle.
>>> Then again that's what the Steam refund option is for.
>>
>> Am I only one that thinks that being buggy is to be expected, specially
>> with s.t.a.l.k.e.r.? I mean, there's eurojank, and there's eastern
>> eurokank. The original game was always an absolute nightmare until there
>> were enough community fixed to bundle them into a gigapack that makes
>> the game actually playable.
>
> Oh, I definitely expect it, especially given the developers and the
> very rocky development cycle. Doesn't mean I like it, or am rushing
> out to experience it. I'm happy to wait until the worst of the issues
> are fixed... either by the developers or (more likely) the fanbase.
>
> Speaking of which, there are already mods available. Including one to
> remove the inventory weight limitations, which will absolutely be one
> of the mods I will install when I eventually get the game. I /hate/
> inventory restrictions.
>
> [This may surprise absolutely none of you, but I'm a bit of a
> packrat when playing computer games too. ;-) If it's not
> nailed down in the gameworld, I'm picking it up and bringing
> it with me. And if the game doesn't le me carry everything,
> I'm gonna hack it so it will]

I didn't play STALKER and probably won't touch STALKER 2 either. I
don't need another over-complicated overstuffed mechanical contraption
sitting in my kitchen. The computer does this when I play Prey (F.E.A.R?):

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/C_ZJVd2R4rs

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

>On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:41:35 +0100, H1M3M <wipnoah@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>JAB wrote:
>>> It seems a bit of a mixed experience so far from the reviews and a
>>> day one patch. I'm going to wait a bit for everything to settle down
>>> and even then my poor little budget PC is probably going to struggle.
>>> Then again that's what the Steam refund option is for.
>>
>>Am I only one that thinks that being buggy is to be expected, specially
>>with s.t.a.l.k.e.r.? I mean, there's eurojank, and there's eastern
>>eurokank. The original game was always an absolute nightmare until there
>>were enough community fixed to bundle them into a gigapack that makes
>>the game actually playable.
>
>Oh, I definitely expect it, especially given the developers and the
>very rocky development cycle. Doesn't mean I like it, or am rushing
>out to experience it. I'm happy to wait until the worst of the issues
>are fixed... either by the developers or (more likely) the fanbase.
>
>Speaking of which, there are already mods available. Including one to
>remove the inventory weight limitations, which will absolutely be one
>of the mods I will install when I eventually get the game. I /hate/
>inventory restrictions.
>
> [This may surprise absolutely none of you, but I'm a bit of a
> packrat when playing computer games too. ;-) If it's not
> nailed down in the gameworld, I'm picking it up and bringing
> it with me. And if the game doesn't le me carry everything,
> I'm gonna hack it so it will]

You're a Locustian like me.

When you leave it's like a swarm of omnivorous Locusts had been through
and *nothing* is left.

You'd harvest the grass if you could, even though it has no value and no
possible use, it's *there* so it must be taken.

Xocyll

On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 17:23:51 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>It happened. It really happened. STALKER 2 finally released. More
>unexpected things have happened this year, but not more welcome.
>
>Not that I'm buying it. Not yet at least. Not that I besmirch the
>developers getting paid for their hard work, but I just don't feel
>like paying $60 USD for a game in a franchise I've only lukewarm
>feelings toward.
>
>(Much less $80 or $110 USD for the Deluxe or Ultimate versions,
>respectively. Honestly, the division of the game into these various
>editions annoyed me enough to kill any desire to pay even the $60 USD
>asking price for the standard edition).
>
>Reviews are -unsurprisingly- overwhelmingly positive, although I'm
>sure that has more to do with nostalgia for the franchise than any
>actual, honest appraisal of the game (anyway, it's a huge game and how
>anyone could honestly make judgement on the game after only a few
>hours is a mystery to me). Also, this being 2024, I'm sure the game
>released full of bugs and with poor optimization; it's worth waiting a
>few weeks (or months!) just for all that nonsense to sort out. We'll
>see what people really think about the game in February.
>
>Still, congrats to GSC Gameworld (the developers) for finally
>releasing the game. That's a hard struggle for a small developer with
>an outlandishly large reputation under any circumstances; expectations
>are unproportionally high. But having to do that while your homeland
>is literally under siege and on fire... it's an impressive feat. My
>hat is off to you, gentlefolk.
>
*--

I didn't get very far into the game but was really liking it! However,
I have to wait at least 5 minutes before the game is playable due to
not only the compiling shaders thing (which takes forever and the
adjustments to the video card setting does absolutely nothing to speed
up the process), but the splash screens beforehand.

And then after that finishes, it still takes about a minute or so for
"press any key" to actually load play the game.

In addition, the settings are not saved - after the game actually
starts, I have to go back into the settings in order to invert Y. Even
though I press F to save and am told the settings saved, they are NOT!

I did like that there was a quick save command (but not quick load)
and old-fashioned manual save spots in addition to auto-saves!

Too bad. Going to move on to something else. Probably God of War
Ragnarok but now I need to figure out how to stop the lengthy
cutscenes that are happening all the time! They are so long! :-)

I guess I am now an old you know what when it comes to playing games.
Pretty demanding, eh? hehe

-pw

On 26/11/2024 19:46, PW wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 17:23:51 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
> <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> It happened. It really happened. STALKER 2 finally released. More
>> unexpected things have happened this year, but not more welcome.
>>
>> Not that I'm buying it. Not yet at least. Not that I besmirch the
>> developers getting paid for their hard work, but I just don't feel
>> like paying $60 USD for a game in a franchise I've only lukewarm
>> feelings toward.
>>
>> (Much less $80 or $110 USD for the Deluxe or Ultimate versions,
>> respectively. Honestly, the division of the game into these various
>> editions annoyed me enough to kill any desire to pay even the $60 USD
>> asking price for the standard edition).
>>
>> Reviews are -unsurprisingly- overwhelmingly positive, although I'm
>> sure that has more to do with nostalgia for the franchise than any
>> actual, honest appraisal of the game (anyway, it's a huge game and how
>> anyone could honestly make judgement on the game after only a few
>> hours is a mystery to me). Also, this being 2024, I'm sure the game
>> released full of bugs and with poor optimization; it's worth waiting a
>> few weeks (or months!) just for all that nonsense to sort out. We'll
>> see what people really think about the game in February.
>>
>> Still, congrats to GSC Gameworld (the developers) for finally
>> releasing the game. That's a hard struggle for a small developer with
>> an outlandishly large reputation under any circumstances; expectations
>> are unproportionally high. But having to do that while your homeland
>> is literally under siege and on fire... it's an impressive feat. My
>> hat is off to you, gentlefolk.
>>
> *--
>
> I didn't get very far into the game but was really liking it! However,
> I have to wait at least 5 minutes before the game is playable due to
> not only the compiling shaders thing (which takes forever and the
> adjustments to the video card setting does absolutely nothing to speed
> up the process), but the splash screens beforehand.
>
> And then after that finishes, it still takes about a minute or so for
> "press any key" to actually load play the game.
>
> In addition, the settings are not saved - after the game actually
> starts, I have to go back into the settings in order to invert Y. Even
> though I press F to save and am told the settings saved, they are NOT!
>
> I did like that there was a quick save command (but not quick load)
> and old-fashioned manual save spots in addition to auto-saves!
>
> Too bad. Going to move on to something else. Probably God of War
> Ragnarok but now I need to figure out how to stop the lengthy
> cutscenes that are happening all the time! They are so long! :-)
>
> I guess I am now an old you know what when it comes to playing games.
> Pretty demanding, eh? hehe
>

From what I've read there are quite a few technical issues
(particularly optimisation) and bugs currently but the devs. are working
on fixing those. So probably best to move on until your first experience
of the game will be a good one.

On Wed, 27 Nov 2024 09:38:56 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 26/11/2024 19:46, PW wrote:
>> On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 17:23:51 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
>> <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> It happened. It really happened. STALKER 2 finally released. More
>>> unexpected things have happened this year, but not more welcome.
>>>
>>> Not that I'm buying it. Not yet at least. Not that I besmirch the
>>> developers getting paid for their hard work, but I just don't feel
>>> like paying $60 USD for a game in a franchise I've only lukewarm
>>> feelings toward.
>>>
>>> (Much less $80 or $110 USD for the Deluxe or Ultimate versions,
>>> respectively. Honestly, the division of the game into these various
>>> editions annoyed me enough to kill any desire to pay even the $60 USD
>>> asking price for the standard edition).
>>>
>>> Reviews are -unsurprisingly- overwhelmingly positive, although I'm
>>> sure that has more to do with nostalgia for the franchise than any
>>> actual, honest appraisal of the game (anyway, it's a huge game and how
>>> anyone could honestly make judgement on the game after only a few
>>> hours is a mystery to me). Also, this being 2024, I'm sure the game
>>> released full of bugs and with poor optimization; it's worth waiting a
>>> few weeks (or months!) just for all that nonsense to sort out. We'll
>>> see what people really think about the game in February.
>>>
>>> Still, congrats to GSC Gameworld (the developers) for finally
>>> releasing the game. That's a hard struggle for a small developer with
>>> an outlandishly large reputation under any circumstances; expectations
>>> are unproportionally high. But having to do that while your homeland
>>> is literally under siege and on fire... it's an impressive feat. My
>>> hat is off to you, gentlefolk.
>>>
>> *--
>>
>> I didn't get very far into the game but was really liking it! However,
>> I have to wait at least 5 minutes before the game is playable due to
>> not only the compiling shaders thing (which takes forever and the
>> adjustments to the video card setting does absolutely nothing to speed
>> up the process), but the splash screens beforehand.
>>
>> And then after that finishes, it still takes about a minute or so for
>> "press any key" to actually load play the game.
>>
>> In addition, the settings are not saved - after the game actually
>> starts, I have to go back into the settings in order to invert Y. Even
>> though I press F to save and am told the settings saved, they are NOT!
>>
>> I did like that there was a quick save command (but not quick load)
>> and old-fashioned manual save spots in addition to auto-saves!
>>
>> Too bad. Going to move on to something else. Probably God of War
>> Ragnarok but now I need to figure out how to stop the lengthy
>> cutscenes that are happening all the time! They are so long! :-)
>>
>> I guess I am now an old you know what when it comes to playing games.
>> Pretty demanding, eh? hehe
>>
>
> From what I've read there are quite a few technical issues
>(particularly optimisation) and bugs currently but the devs. are working
>on fixing those. So probably best to move on until your first experience
>of the game will be a good one.

I mean... it _is_ a STALKER game. If you didn't want the bugs, why did
you buy it before it's at least three years old? ;-)

***
To skip shader compilation, create a new file called ENGINE.INI in
your {appdata}local\stalker2\config folder, and added the following
lines:

[SystemSettings]

r.PSOWarmup.WarmupMaterials=0

(If you change GPU or drivers, you'll want to re-enable shader
recompilation though)

***
To skip the intro movies, there's a mod for that (of course)
https://github.com/Lyall/STALKER2Tweak/releases
Extract to your STALKER2 director and the intro/logos should be gone
(the mod also adds various config tweaks. Oh, and I just noted it has
an option to disable shader compilation too)

On Wed, 27 Nov 2024 09:38:56 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 26/11/2024 19:46, PW wrote:
>> On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 17:23:51 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
>> <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> It happened. It really happened. STALKER 2 finally released. More
>>> unexpected things have happened this year, but not more welcome.
>>>
>>> Not that I'm buying it. Not yet at least. Not that I besmirch the
>>> developers getting paid for their hard work, but I just don't feel
>>> like paying $60 USD for a game in a franchise I've only lukewarm
>>> feelings toward.
>>>
>>> (Much less $80 or $110 USD for the Deluxe or Ultimate versions,
>>> respectively. Honestly, the division of the game into these various
>>> editions annoyed me enough to kill any desire to pay even the $60 USD
>>> asking price for the standard edition).
>>>
>>> Reviews are -unsurprisingly- overwhelmingly positive, although I'm
>>> sure that has more to do with nostalgia for the franchise than any
>>> actual, honest appraisal of the game (anyway, it's a huge game and how
>>> anyone could honestly make judgement on the game after only a few
>>> hours is a mystery to me). Also, this being 2024, I'm sure the game
>>> released full of bugs and with poor optimization; it's worth waiting a
>>> few weeks (or months!) just for all that nonsense to sort out. We'll
>>> see what people really think about the game in February.
>>>
>>> Still, congrats to GSC Gameworld (the developers) for finally
>>> releasing the game. That's a hard struggle for a small developer with
>>> an outlandishly large reputation under any circumstances; expectations
>>> are unproportionally high. But having to do that while your homeland
>>> is literally under siege and on fire... it's an impressive feat. My
>>> hat is off to you, gentlefolk.
>>>
>> *--
>>
>> I didn't get very far into the game but was really liking it! However,
>> I have to wait at least 5 minutes before the game is playable due to
>> not only the compiling shaders thing (which takes forever and the
>> adjustments to the video card setting does absolutely nothing to speed
>> up the process), but the splash screens beforehand.
>>
>> And then after that finishes, it still takes about a minute or so for
>> "press any key" to actually load play the game.
>>
>> In addition, the settings are not saved - after the game actually
>> starts, I have to go back into the settings in order to invert Y. Even
>> though I press F to save and am told the settings saved, they are NOT!
>>
>> I did like that there was a quick save command (but not quick load)
>> and old-fashioned manual save spots in addition to auto-saves!
>>
>> Too bad. Going to move on to something else. Probably God of War
>> Ragnarok but now I need to figure out how to stop the lengthy
>> cutscenes that are happening all the time! They are so long! :-)
>>
>> I guess I am now an old you know what when it comes to playing games.
>> Pretty demanding, eh? hehe
>>
>
> From what I've read there are quite a few technical issues
>(particularly optimisation) and bugs currently but the devs. are working
>on fixing those. So probably best to move on until your first experience
>of the game will be a good one.

*--

I think so too! If I could hold on until Baulder's Gate 3 came out
was patched, instead of buying it two years plus earler under Early
Access I can wait for this one to be fixed. Although I quit playing
BG3 early on (too confusing for me! :-))

Good point JAB! Thanks!

-pw

On Wed, 27 Nov 2024 10:21:03 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Wed, 27 Nov 2024 09:38:56 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
>
>>On 26/11/2024 19:46, PW wrote:
>>> On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 17:23:51 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson
>>> <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> It happened. It really happened. STALKER 2 finally released. More
>>>> unexpected things have happened this year, but not more welcome.
>>>>
>>>> Not that I'm buying it. Not yet at least. Not that I besmirch the
>>>> developers getting paid for their hard work, but I just don't feel
>>>> like paying $60 USD for a game in a franchise I've only lukewarm
>>>> feelings toward.
>>>>
>>>> (Much less $80 or $110 USD for the Deluxe or Ultimate versions,
>>>> respectively. Honestly, the division of the game into these various
>>>> editions annoyed me enough to kill any desire to pay even the $60 USD
>>>> asking price for the standard edition).
>>>>
>>>> Reviews are -unsurprisingly- overwhelmingly positive, although I'm
>>>> sure that has more to do with nostalgia for the franchise than any
>>>> actual, honest appraisal of the game (anyway, it's a huge game and how
>>>> anyone could honestly make judgement on the game after only a few
>>>> hours is a mystery to me). Also, this being 2024, I'm sure the game
>>>> released full of bugs and with poor optimization; it's worth waiting a
>>>> few weeks (or months!) just for all that nonsense to sort out. We'll
>>>> see what people really think about the game in February.
>>>>
>>>> Still, congrats to GSC Gameworld (the developers) for finally
>>>> releasing the game. That's a hard struggle for a small developer with
>>>> an outlandishly large reputation under any circumstances; expectations
>>>> are unproportionally high. But having to do that while your homeland
>>>> is literally under siege and on fire... it's an impressive feat. My
>>>> hat is off to you, gentlefolk.
>>>>
>>> *--
>>>
>>> I didn't get very far into the game but was really liking it! However,
>>> I have to wait at least 5 minutes before the game is playable due to
>>> not only the compiling shaders thing (which takes forever and the
>>> adjustments to the video card setting does absolutely nothing to speed
>>> up the process), but the splash screens beforehand.
>>>
>>> And then after that finishes, it still takes about a minute or so for
>>> "press any key" to actually load play the game.
>>>
>>> In addition, the settings are not saved - after the game actually
>>> starts, I have to go back into the settings in order to invert Y. Even
>>> though I press F to save and am told the settings saved, they are NOT!
>>>
>>> I did like that there was a quick save command (but not quick load)
>>> and old-fashioned manual save spots in addition to auto-saves!
>>>
>>> Too bad. Going to move on to something else. Probably God of War
>>> Ragnarok but now I need to figure out how to stop the lengthy
>>> cutscenes that are happening all the time! They are so long! :-)
>>>
>>> I guess I am now an old you know what when it comes to playing games.
>>> Pretty demanding, eh? hehe
>>>
>>
>> From what I've read there are quite a few technical issues
>>(particularly optimisation) and bugs currently but the devs. are working
>>on fixing those. So probably best to move on until your first experience
>>of the game will be a good one.
>
>
>I mean... it _is_ a STALKER game. If you didn't want the bugs, why did
>you buy it before it's at least three years old? ;-)
>
>
>
>***
>To skip shader compilation, create a new file called ENGINE.INI in
>your {appdata}local\stalker2\config folder, and added the following
>lines:
>
>
>
>[SystemSettings]
>
>r.PSOWarmup.WarmupMaterials=0
>
>
>(If you change GPU or drivers, you'll want to re-enable shader
>recompilation though)
>
>
>***
>To skip the intro movies, there's a mod for that (of course)
>https://github.com/Lyall/STALKER2Tweak/releases
>Extract to your STALKER2 director and the intro/logos should be gone
>(the mod also adds various config tweaks. Oh, and I just noted it has
>an option to disable shader compilation too)
>
*--

So true!! LOL!

-pw

On 27/11/2024 19:58, PW wrote:
>> From what I've read there are quite a few technical issues
>> (particularly optimisation) and bugs currently but the devs. are working
>> on fixing those. So probably best to move on until your first experience
>> of the game will be a good one.
> *--
>
> I think so too! If I could hold on until Baulder's Gate 3 came out
> was patched, instead of buying it two years plus earler under Early
> Access I can wait for this one to be fixed. Although I quit playing
> BG3 early on (too confusing for me! :-))
>
> Good point JAB! Thanks!

Unfortunately it now seems like good advice for lots of games. Resist
the FOMO and wait, so not only will yet get a better first game
experience but you can probably pick it up at a discount!

It's kinda ironic with paid for early access to the actual released
game. I pay you so I can get the game a week earlier than others but
what I get to be is a free tester for a bug ridden mess.

On 27/11/2024 15:21, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> From what I've read there are quite a few technical issues
>> (particularly optimisation) and bugs currently but the devs. are working
>> on fixing those. So probably best to move on until your first experience
>> of the game will be a good one.
>
> I mean... it_is_ a STALKER game. If you didn't want the bugs, why did
> you buy it before it's at least three years old? 😉

Luckily I seem to have some sort of brain that is completely oblivious
to game breaking bugs that others easily spot.

On Thu, 28 Nov 2024 09:25:46 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 27/11/2024 19:58, PW wrote:
>>> From what I've read there are quite a few technical issues
>>> (particularly optimisation) and bugs currently but the devs. are working
>>> on fixing those. So probably best to move on until your first experience
>>> of the game will be a good one.
>> *--
>>
>> I think so too! If I could hold on until Baulder's Gate 3 came out
>> was patched, instead of buying it two years plus earler under Early
>> Access I can wait for this one to be fixed. Although I quit playing
>> BG3 early on (too confusing for me! :-))
>>
>> Good point JAB! Thanks!
>
>Unfortunately it now seems like good advice for lots of games. Resist
>the FOMO and wait, so not only will yet get a better first game
>experience but you can probably pick it up at a discount!
>
>It's kinda ironic with paid for early access to the actual released
>game. I pay you so I can get the game a week earlier than others but
>what I get to be is a free tester for a bug ridden mess.

I'm not immune to the allure of buying games new (see my recent
purchase of "Mechwarrior 5: The Clans") but intellectually I know it's
something to be resisted.

It's not just the bugs, although that's a significant reason to avoid
brand new games. It's the pricing too. Wait six or 12 months and I can
get the same game for half the price! Or the allure of added content:
buy today and get half the game; buy in a year and get all the DLC
included. Then there is the fear of publisher shenanigins ("hey, let's
suddenly add microtransactions or wedge in some obnoxious DRM!").
Giving a game some time also allows for the hype to die down and to
get more reasoned reviews of the game. Walkthroughs are available for
those difficult spots, if I wait. Mods are there. There's a lot of
reasons to Just Wait some months (or years!) before buying, and
comparatively few to purchase a game immediately.

Well, at least for the games I play. If you're big into the
multiplayer scene, then there's a bit more of a rush; you want to get
in before the crowds inevitably move on to the next game, and you want
to start practicing your skills at the game before you're completely
surpassed by the 'I'm playing this game 19 hours a day for three
months straight' crowd. There's a bit of a rush then. (Even so, you
could probably make some argument for waiting a few months). But for
something like "STALKER 2", there is no advantage to buying it on day
one, except that we're all primed by the marketeer's psychological
manipulation to do so.

It's hard to do so --especially for a game like "STALKER 2", where
there's been pent up demands for decades!-- and I don't always
succeed... but it's the better choice all around.