Basic Modding with Playable Examples

[niphty]

The scope_zoom_factor actually relates to the Field of View (FOV) that the player can still see, in arc-degrees, I believe. So 1 would mean your field of view narrowed and extended to only show 1 degree, while 10 was 10 degrees, and thus 10x wider view. I'm not sure the ratio of zoom factor to arc degrees, but I'm betting it's not linear, maybe more like exponential.

[>Omen<]

Niphty, all I want to know is how to make a mod to change the nights to be darker? There have been many comments about this, some claiming the use of dynamic lighting makes it darker, others using dynamic lighting say not so. I have my gamma set at the default and use static lighting.

Seems to me if the sun isn't even present during night time hours there's nothing to cast dynamic light anyway, except for the moon maybe. I'd like to make a mod that makes it gradually darker then lighter as the sun sets and rises. At least 1/4 of the day cycle should be dark IMO.

There is a Darker Nights mod available and even comes in a version with a 40m torch setting, but those whom have used it say it's only dark for about an hour, which is not very realistic. I'm really surprisd that Filefront has so many STALKER mods yet not one to account for the unrealistic bright nights.

[niphty]

I wouldn't really classify that as a "basic" mod, lol. The problem is the light renders so much differently on different hardware. Like you said yourself, some say these options work best, while others say these do. Just from reading, not everyone gets the same "look" of the game just from their hardware. It's quite possible the level map files were tweaked up to have a bit of a general brightness to them just to ensure players wouldn't be completely lost at night. Or maybe the whole place just glows because it's irradiated Or maybe in Russia there is no night, lol.

I don't know why they chose the way they did, but it wasn't really a huge issue for me. Also, with the night only lasting about an hour in that one mod, did you open the PDA and run the time forward while watching the night/day process? Just to see if he'd limited the "night hours"?
To be honest, if someone has already modded it, it'd be best to ask them how to do it. I've long since deleted all the directories but the config one, since it made the game run a serious level slower for it to check over every file from the extracted DBs.

As Stalker is famous for saying, the SDK package will probably give a lot better bearing on how to control day/night light levels in the maps, and from there you can try to find if there's a general engine setting for minimum brightness level.

Or you could just turn your gamma down a pinch. May be the card is overtweaking the gamma a wee bit on its own, since most people tend to like the gamma up a level by default. I know for me the night is dark, nothing like a really dark night with no moon here, but still dark enough for a game

[Final Warrior]

Actually, full dynamic lighting, sun shadows, and turning on bloom (by tweaking your user file) does make the world darker at night. However, it doesn't make the sky dark, which is a pain in the arse if you're running around at night with your NVGs on...

-- Griffinhart

PS. @Niphty: Hm, you might be right (about the scope_zoom_factor). Have you tried comparison shots of scopes with different scope_zoom_factor settings? I would, but taking screenshots doesn't seem to work for me...

[niphty]

Yeah, here's the scope differences shown. I decided not to post the 1 degree file, as it was crazy zoomed, lol. But they should be in the order of Normal, 2 Degree, 10 Degree, 100 Degree, just to give basic idea of the levels. Yes, 100 degrees actually zooms you OUT. You can play with values in between all you want, I'm really just showing extremes on an unscoped gun since you can get an idea of scale from the sights. =D

[SilentHuntR]

oh, well dope to me for getting the text strings wrong, I tried over and over to find out why my game wouldnt work, so instead of linking my gun to a description, I just put something like "Cheat Gun" and "It's a cheating gun omgwtfbbq" instead of enc-wpn-cheatgun or something, it works just as good, but then you got quotes, but without em your spaces get removed, ohswell. everything else I found out on my own, and I did the unique_items.ltx approach on the weapons too because making your own base doesn't work when you try to prefetch them in weapons.ltx, I tried a lot of crap to get it to work like changing stalkers_cutom.ltx, but the problem is I had no idea what it did and put a lot of time in experimenting and stuff

and Im sure you people have realized that the trader won't sell artifacts (i.e. the one you made called "poop" which gives you super mega stats) well a way of getting around this is to give another npc your artifact because they dont want it and if over weighted they drop everything. of course you can trade with anyone you can talk to, so why not give one of these guys your artifact?

inside of gamedata>config>gameplay> is a .xml called "Character_Desc_Escape.xml" (escape being the name of the first level) scroll down or do a find for "Wolf" The first specifically named NPC you meat after trader. their it's pretty obvious, it says [Spawn] \n and some stuff under it like a gun and some ammo, and his hand radio! which btw you shouldnt buy before he uses it 0o (game freezes)... all you gotta do is add a line under his stuff, make sure it's properly indented, and put \n after it (include the space like the others)

and then he'll sell you're petrified poop

sorry if someone else posted this but I really just dont feel like reading others peoples junk for the next hour 0o

[Final Warrior]

Um, dunno what you're talking about, but any NPC in the game can sell any item as long as you change the right lines for their respective .ltx files... if you take a gander at the Hutztle (or whatever he spells it) mod, the barman sells every item in the game, including artifacts.

-- Griffinhart

[niphty]

LOL.. yeah, you can make the traders sell anything. I have guitars and harmonicas (someday, they will be useful), artifacts, power suits, uber guns, and some test mods on the starting trader without any issues.

BTW, if you have a weapon/problem with a weapon you'd like me to look over, test, play with, and give you an comments on, feel free to send them my way. Here's one sent by goo5e, who posted earlier about my posting it here for him.. it's a pretty fun little concept gun: and MP5 rigged to shoot shotgun shells with the power of my gauss rifle. Crazy stuff! Guaranteed to take out a helicopter with three hits, and that's with BUCKSHOT! =D

[wpn_mp5-goose_m1]:wpn_mp5
$spawn = "weapons\uniq\wpn_mp5_m1"
description = enc_weapons1_wpn-mp5-goose_m1
inv_name = wpn-mp5-goose_m1
inv_name_short = wpn-mp5-goose_m1
ammo_class = ammo_12x70_buck, ammo_12x76_dart, ammo_12x76_zhekan
inv_grid_x = 5
inv_grid_y = 33
cost = 1
slot = 1
fire_modes = 1
ammo_limit = 1000
ammo_current = 500
ammo_mag_size = 1000
sprint_allowed = true
misfire_probability = 0.0
condition_shot_dec = 0.0
hit_power = 10.10, 10.10, 10.10, 16.60
hit_impulse = 6000
fire_distance = 10000
bullet_speed = 150000
rpm = 500
scope_zoom_factor = 7.5
animation_slot = 1
fire_dispersion_base = 0.005
control_inertion_factor = 1.0f
cam_relax_speed = 0.65
cam_dispersion = 0.002
cam_dispersion_inc = 0.0005
cam_dispertion_frac = 0.004
cam_max_angle = 0.06
cam_max_angle_horz = 0.09
cam_step_angle_horz = 0.005
silencer_status = 1
light_disabled = true
snd_shoot = weapons\w_ak74_shot1

Now, this is the reason I put the tutorial up, so people could think up some crazy ideas, test them out, and get a better idea of the engine extremes. Once you know those, you can start to balance weapons better and generally make a more realistic mod =D This gun certainly pushes the limits.

I also wrote up a little description for it, to give people some idea of how they might want to "Credit me" into their projects, plus hopefully people will get more behind the RPG aspects of the game and actually create descriptions of why weapons were made, what needs they fill.. cute back story type stuff

<string id="enc_weapons1_wpn-mp5-goose_m1">
<text>After seeing Niphty Industries' version of the Viper, Goose decided to pay a visit and throw down some specs for an even more powerful gun. After working back and forth with Niphty himself, Goose finally obtained the Viper of his dreams. Not only has this version been modified to fire shotgun ammo, but merely peering down the sights through an active anomaly atop the weapon gives the user amazing ability to sight in on targets at range! You don't want to be on the receiving end of THIS.</text>
</string>
<string id="wpn-mp5-goose_m1">
<text>Goose Uber Viper</text>
</string>

You should know how to add it to the trader by now It's a pretty wild weapon, that's for sure. Now, if he ever finishes with his pistol, we're all in for trouble..

[Final Warrior]

XD

Someday, I'm just gonna go all-out with mah guns. Hehe... fully-automatic rifle that fires rockets.

Now that oughta crash my PC...

-- Griffinhart

[XNecroBladeX]

Does anyone else get a problem with crashing on death when holding an added weapon?

I have tried with both the niphty gauss and goose mp5, as well as my own modified ak, and they always crash. Tried without patch, then with patch, didnt help, and tried numerous time with a new game, or loading a save, didnt help either.

Can anyone help?