OL faq

[MattyDienhoff]

Good idea, but flawed, it needs work. I spellchecked the whole thing, rephrased a few things, went into more detail where to find things and how to edit them, added a big red spoiler warning on a couple of the questions that gave away end details, changed most spoiler boxes to code boxes, and tidied up the formatting (it no longer switches between fonts). Here's my edit. I didn't add or remove any answers.

Originally Posted by abandonator

As many questions are asked many times I made this thread for it, so if you have a question or problem, check this thread first

OBLIVION LOST FAQ:

I installed the mod, but nothing changed
To get the game to read modified data from folders (rather than use the defaults in the .db files), you have to edit a file called fsgame.ltx in the game's root directory. Open the file with notepad and find this line: (If it's difficult to read the file, it helps to turn word wrap off.)

$game_data$ = true| true| $fs_root$| gamedata\

That's how it should look. If either word says false, change it to true. Now the game will read modded data.

My game crashed, but when I ask for help people ask me for my crashlog? Crashwhat?
The crashlog is a file that the game writes an error report to. This tells what went wrong on the moment of the crash, check this page to know how to get it Crash-log - Mod Wiki –credit to atrocious for making it-

How do I get the third person camera?
Go into the controls setup in the options and bind a key to "Third person camera". Alternatively, open the console and type each of these lines in seperately.

bind cam_1 kF1
 bind cam_2 kF2
 bind cam_3 kF3
 bind cam_4 kF4

Then use the F1, F2, F3, and F4 keys to switch camera modes.

What is the purpose of this mod?The purpose of this mod is to get closer to the old Oblivion Lost, and give the best performance possible, while implementing the best mod features:Total Freeplay, Modified A-Life, and Reality Enhancement.

I am member of a hostile faction, how can I get to the barkeep?
Become a ninja, and check this video YouTube - Stalker tip 168 Bar (Reach barkeep unnoticed)

I found an awesome thing on some dead stalker. Or a quest object isn’t lying around where it should be... what the hell?
That is likely due to the NPC looting system, NPC’s are able to loot bodies and pick valuable items up from the floor. Don’t worry, they can’t loot stashes. So if something disappeared, check the area, maybe some NPC took it
My game crashes when I try to load an old savegame. What now?
The changes the mod makes require a new game, savegames created while the game was running with different data will not work.
!!!SPOILER!!! How do I get out the NPP after killing koshei?
Get back to the door that led you out of the sarcophagus. It will let you in again and then go back through it, etc.
!!!SPOILER!!! I can’t join any factions?
To be able to join a faction, you have to beat the game first, wich means-> refuse c-consciousness, and kill koshei, then when you return, you can join them.

How to get an NPC to come with me?
First of all, quest-NPCs can’t be asked to join you. Secondly, the NPC has to be your friend.

I went to another area… and where the heck is my companion?
Unlike you, the NPCs need to physically walk all the way from the last area to the next one, rather than go through the portal like you have to do. They will come, but it'll take a while for them to reach you, so wait a minute and they’ll show up.

How many of them can I take with me?
As many you want and your PC can handle. So prepare for the red army of marked one if you have 6 GB of RAM!

Important NPCs keep dying on me
There are some tweaks to help you with that problem. Check these pages:
Discussion - Making neutral stalkers invulnerable
VINPC Invulnerable for OL 2.2

The Monolith don't attack the barrier, what should I do?
Don’t worry, just shoot one of the Monolithians and they will start the attack.

How do I mutate artifacts?
By placing an artifact in an anomaly. Only certain artifact/anomaly combinations will work, and you can find 'recipies' of tried and true methods in various places. Check the encyclopaedia for this information once you get it. When there is a big white flash, the mutation has begun. Wait around until the mutation is complete, and pick up your new artifact! For more detailed information expand the spoiler box directly below.

Spoiler:

There are few, very basic rules to transmutation and should be followed as such:

1. Make sure you have the recipe (labeled recipt in older OL versions) in the PDAs "Encyclopedia" section. You receive recipes from completing missions for people like Sidorovich, Barkeep, Duty/Freedom leader. And you may also find one on a dead stalkers PDA.
2. Have the correct artifact and find the correct anomaly (to help identify the anomaly you can also check the "Anomalies" section in the "Encyclopedia" which provide pictures of them).
3. Approach the anomaly close enough not to get harmed. Go to the inventory and "drop" the artefact. If done correctly you will see a white flash. Every artifact has a different transmutation time which you can find in the recipe.
4. Sleep for the time period required to finish the transmutation.
5. If the transmutation succeeded you will find the next version of the artefact you dropped into the anomaly (sometimes the location may shift so if you do not see it right away, look around it maybe 10 meters from where you originally dropped it).

---------------------------------------
There are several things you should be aware of regarding transmutations:

1. They do not always succeed. The percentages of success vary from artifact to artifact but there are 4 general outcomes.

i. You receive a brand new shiny artefact
ii. You receive your original artefact back
iii. You receive a cobblestone (a fairly expensive artefact with no properties which can still be sold for profit)
iv. The anomaly destroys your artefact completely and you get nothing (chances of this are generally low)

2. As of OL 2.1, you can only transmutate artefacts during the night when the anomalies become stable. The general definition of "night" in the game is 8-9PM until 6AM or so with perhaps slight variations.

It is part of the dynamic anomalies feature which can be disabled by going to <stalker directory>\gamedata\scripts and editing olp_mod.script with a notepad, going to the last line that says anoms=true and setting it to false, then saving the file.

Another tip to transmutation in OL2.2, do not start transmutation later at night such as 4AM. The anomalies may disappear in the morning while you sleep because they "change position" and your artifact will disappear with it.

3. Not all artefacts have recipes, generally the "harder to get" ones that you may only see once in the "vanilla" version of the game (i.e Shell, Pellice, Kolobok, Mama's beads, etc). They generally have 3-4 tiers(stages) and must be done in chronological order for obvious reasons.

There is also one fake recipe that does not work which you can buy from Snitch.

Spoiler:

Its the Sunshine recipe, tells you to put "nightstar" into an anomaly. This doesn’t work so do not ask what you did wrong

4. Finally, transmutations are not the creation of the Oblivion Lost mod, they came from the AMK mod which had numerous typos in the recipes, so if you have older OL versions sometimes the anomalies are mixed up so if it doesn't work in one, try another and see if you get a white flash. Or better yet upgrade to OL2.2 which has the corrected recipe descriptions.

I did a mutation, but after waiting I can’t find my artifact.
It's possible the artifact spawned wrongly and fell off the map. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about this, so either reload or try again.

I can’t use any heavy weapons like the PKM and the Minigun!
Bad boy! You should have read the readme! These weapons can only be equipped when wearing an exoskeleton. To use them without the exoskeleton, open the file 'amk_mod.script' in the scripts folder, and search for 'wpn_pkm'. Then find these 3 sections:

if tmp1==false and weapon:section()=="wpn_pkm" then 
      db.actor:drop_item(weapon)
      local tmpw = amk.spawn_item_in_inv("wpn_pkm")
      db.actor:transfer_item(weapon,db.actor)
      alife():release(tmpw)
    end
    
    if tmp1==false and weapon:section()=="wpn_wulcano" then 
      db.actor:drop_item(weapon)
      local tmpa = amk.spawn_item_in_inv("wpn_wulcano")
      db.actor:transfer_item(weapon,db.actor)
      alife():release(tmpa)
    end
    
    if tmp1==false and weapon:section()=="wpn_mg3" then 
      db.actor:drop_item(weapon)
      local tmpb = amk.spawn_item_in_inv("wpn_mg3")
      db.actor:transfer_item(weapon,db.actor)
      alife():release(tmpb)
    end

Delete the section that references the weapon you want to be able to carry without the exoskeleton, and you're done.(Note: wulcano = M134 minigun)

I saw people using artifacts as weapons, how do i do that?
You can't. That feature was in OL 1.3.3, but has since been removed from the game.

I’m having problems with my widescreen
Help is at hand. Check this link:
http://forums.filefront.com/s-t-l-k-e-r-soc-modding-editing/374047-inventory-bug.html#post4515859

Is there a script I can edit to adjust the frequency of blowouts
System.ltx -> [blowout_period]
You can either disable or set both
time = 1800.0
time2 = 2160.0
higher.

Better?

Also, a question I think we should add:

How do I change what traders sell and for how much?
See this guide:
http://forums.filefront.com/s-t-l-k-...der-files.html

Because that comes up quite a lot.

Finally, I have an idea. Maybe we should make a list of additional/user-made OL tweaks? Starting with the official ones like VINPC and the new deaths_manager by Atrocious, and then adding tweaks that the rest of us have come up with. This way people who find it hard to edit the files might find that someone else has done it for them. I've already got a few I could contribute:

* Edited trader prices and inventory
* All stashes full at the start of the game (Stashed merged with OL2.2)
* MG3 and PKM don't need exosuit

[Supernatur4L]

Originally Posted by MattyDienhoff

Good idea, but flawed, it needs work. I spellchecked the whole thing, rephrased a few things, went into more detail where to find things and how to edit them, added a big red spoiler warning on a couple of the questions that gave away end details, changed most spoiler boxes to code boxes, and tidied up the formatting (it no longer switches between fonts). Here's my edit. I didn't add or remove any answers.



Better?

Also, a question I think we should add:

Because that comes up quite a lot.

Finally, I have an idea. Maybe we should make a list of additional/user-made OL tweaks? Starting with the official ones like VINPC and the new deaths_manager by Atrocious, and then adding tweaks that the rest of us have come up with. This way people who find it hard to edit the files might find that someone else has done it for them. I've already got a few I could contribute:

* Edited trader prices and inventory
* All stashes full at the start of the game (Stashed merged with OL2.2)
* MG3 and PKM don't need exosuit

Cool but I did a mutation, but after waiting I can’t find my artifact that is already covered in the mutation you can just add that it falls off the map as well there. Under heavy guns section i do not recommend deleting sections because you cannot revert the changes back, its easier just to add a 1 after wpn_pmk and what not so in the future you can re-enable it again instead of replacing the whole file. And imo the spoiler boxes should have remained with the complete answers in them, its just easier to find a question and just expand that one question. Oh and under why wont NPC follow me, you forgot that they need medkits otherwise the dialog option wont appear.

* Edited trader prices and inventory <-already covered in how to edit which should be added, i agree
* All stashes full at the start of the game (Stashed merged with OL2.2)<-not a FAQ, but its a good idea to add it to the "Basic Modding with Playable Examples" thread
* MG3 and PKM don't need exosuit <- you already did

Finally, you prolly should have asked Abandonator if you can edit it because its his brain child and it should have been PMed to a mod so its changed on the front page. But better

[TheFedExPope]

Anyone know about problems with walking in the mod? I can't walk or run for very long before I'm stopped by an invisible force and I have to press my forward key again to move again, only to be stopped again a short while later. If you know about that then I'd think that's fitting for the FAQ, only started once I installed the mod.

[Abandonator]

yes, i have no problems with you sending in questions and stuf for the faq, but please pm with this, i'm working hard on this thing, it will be formatted, things will be added. but if you do it on your own.. wel the problem is i have to send the changes to a mod, so your work would come to waste, so please pm me for this

[MattyDienhoff]

Originally Posted by Supernatur4L

Cool but I did a mutation, but after waiting I can’t find my artifact that is already covered in the mutation you can just add that it falls off the map as well there.

Ah, I didn't read the entire artifacts transmutation guide, so I didn't see that part.

Under heavy guns section i do not recommend deleting sections because you cannot revert the changes back, its easier just to add a 1 after wpn_pmk and what not so in the future you can re-enable it again instead of replacing the whole file.

True, but it's a 'taste' thing that one is unlikely to change back once they've edited it, and besides which, even in the rare occasion that one did want to change it back, it's always good policy to make backups of anything and everything you edit, so it would be easy to restore. Long story short I just felt it was more important to keep the explanation as simple as possible rather than go to unnecessary lengths to account for that eventuality.

And imo the spoiler boxes should have remained with the complete answers in them, its just easier to find a question and just expand that one question.

Maybe, I thought the answers I put in code boxes were small enough to fit without making it look too untidy, but that's just my opinion.

Oh and under why wont NPC follow me, you forgot that they need medkits otherwise the dialog option wont appear.

I wasn't sure what that meant exactly and in fact, I'm not sure what you mean either. Do you mean that an NPC has to have a medkit in their inventory and be your friend before they'll follow you? I interpreted the mention of the medkit to mean that you have to give a wounded NPC a medkit to make them your friend, which I saw as an irrelevant detail and so removed.

* Edited trader prices and inventory <-already covered in how to edit which should be added, i agree
* All stashes full at the start of the game (Stashed merged with OL2.2)<-not a FAQ, but its a good idea to add it to the "Basic Modding with Playable Examples" thread
* MG3 and PKM don't need exosuit <- you already did

No no no, I'm not talking about adding these to the FAQ, I'm talking about creating another topic - a list of the tweaks we've all made to our installations of OL so people can use our work to further customize the mod without having to do all the work themselves.

Finally, you prolly should have asked Abandonator if you can edit it because its his brain child

Yeah, you're right, it's just that I've spent so much time editing wikis lately that the concept of personal ownership of content has blurred for me somewhat. I apologize if you feel my 'copy editing' is rude, Abandonator, no disrespect was intended.

and it should have been PMed to a mod so its changed on the front page. But better

Perhaps, but if I had, you wouldn't have been able to offer me your worthy criticisms, and so - if it was put up - it would have been put up more flawed than it would be otherwise.

EDIT: Also, I know someone already had the discussion about whether a question really has to be "frequently asked" to be in here, and iirc the consensus was it doesn't, it just has to be helpful, well if that's the case I just thought of another one. When I deleted my user.ltx file a while back (don't ask why, it's not important), the new one the game generated had a peculiar quirk, the camera inertia (a setting that you can only edit from the console in-game, I didn't even know it existed at the time) was set to 0.7 or something like that, causing character movements (aiming, leaning, crouching, etc.) to be very indistinct, smooth and... swimmy. It also sent various animations out of whack, including the OL "waking up from sleep" animation, which causes your view to spin around like crazy if camera inertia is any higher than 0.5. I only discovered the cause by comparing the new, regenerated user.ltx with the old one in the recycle bin, and found the cam_inert line that way. I'm not sure if it does this every time it regens a user.ltx or if this was a rarity, but it might be worth mentioning. So:

My mouse movements are very wandery and indistinct, and my view spins around wildly after waking up
This is caused by the camera inertia setting behind too high. Type in the console:

cam_inert 0

To change it to it's lowest setting, this will fix the problem.

This is only related to OL because the "view spinning around" thing is the most noticable symptom and that wouldn't happen in the vanilla game (or at least not as often).

[powerhorst]

it IS kinda answered in the faq, and ofc logical too - but:

if i join duty, will freedom faction attack me on sight? and vice versa? id assume yes, of course; but, as the marked one superhero XD its perhaps possible to join them both? my standing with both factions is very good atm, both are friendly; the faq say something about enemy faction, but id be thankful if someone clears that up for me.

[Supernatur4L]

Originally Posted by MattyDienhoff

True, but it's a 'taste' thing that one is unlikely to change back once they've edited it, and besides which, even in the rare occasion that one did want to change it back, it's always good policy to make backups of anything and everything you edit, so it would be easy to restore. Long story short I just felt it was more important to keep the explanation as simple as possible rather than go to unnecessary lengths to account for that eventuality.

Yea but then youd have to explain that you should make backups. To people like us its a regular thing, if someone follows the guide, they will do EXACTLY as we tell them to.

Originally Posted by MattyDienhoff

Maybe, I thought the answers I put in code boxes were small enough to fit without making it look too untidy, but that's just my opinion.

I said in my opinion, but yea the short answers dont really need it i suppose.

Originally Posted by MattyDienhoff

I wasn't sure what that meant exactly and in fact, I'm not sure what you mean either. Do you mean that an NPC has to have a medkit in their inventory and be your friend before they'll follow you? I interpreted the mention of the medkit to mean that you have to give a wounded NPC a medkit to make them your friend, which I saw as an irrelevant detail and so removed.

Yes the NPC has to be your friend and have a medkit in the inventory. When they are lying on the ground dying, when you give them the first medkit, they use it up right away. You have to trade them one or a few medkits for them to accept following you. But they will use those kits to heal you as well.

Originally Posted by MattyDienhoff

No no no, I'm not talking about adding these to the FAQ, I'm talking about creating another topic - a list of the tweaks we've all made to our installations of OL so people can use our work to further customize the mod without having to do all the work themselves.

Miscommunication

Originally Posted by MattyDienhoff

Yeah, you're right, it's just that I've spent so much time editing wikis lately that the concept of personal ownership of content has blurred for me somewhat. I apologize if you feel my 'copy editing' is rude, Abandonator, no disrespect was intended.

Im sure he didnt mind you taking time to edit it, we appreciate it but abandonator can decide if it looks good, and then he would re-send it to a mod.

Originally Posted by MattyDienhoff

Perhaps, but if I had, you wouldn't have been able to offer me your worthy criticisms, and so - if it was put up - it would have been put up more flawed than it would be otherwise.

Touche hehe

Originally Posted by MattyDienhoff

EDIT: Also, I know someone already had the discussion about whether a question really has to be "frequently asked" to be in here, and iirc the consensus was it doesn't, it just has to be helpful, well if that's the case I just thought of another one.

I agree, i suggested renaming this to "Stalker Knowledge Database" so we can keep this updated, but your things like activating ALL stashes and stuff seemed very specific and ive never heard a question like that even being asked so i just thought we'd keep it to common questions. I now think that if we start adding EVERYTHING the FAQ will get very "heavy" and it will be a little harder finding relevant info.

Originally Posted by MattyDienhoff

When I deleted my user.ltx file a while back (don't ask why, it's not important), the new one the game generated had a peculiar quirk, the camera inertia (a setting that you can only edit from the console in-game, I didn't even know it existed at the time) was set to 0.7 or something like that, causing character movements (aiming, leaning, crouching, etc.) to be very indistinct, smooth and... swimmy. It also sent various animations out of whack, including the OL "waking up from sleep" animation, which causes your view to spin around like crazy if camera inertia is any higher than 0.5. I only discovered the cause by comparing the new, regenerated user.ltx with the old one in the recycle bin, and found the cam_inert line that way. I'm not sure if it does this every time it regens a user.ltx or if this was a rarity, but it might be worth mentioning. So:
This is only related to OL because the "view spinning around" thing is the most noticable symptom and that wouldn't happen in the vanilla game (or at least not as often).

Speaking of "spinning around" in the priboy story vid(unfortunately i cant find it anymore on youtube) theres a clip where the character wakes up in the dark valley cell where you have to rescue one of the duty guys. It shows very very smooth animation from side to side when the character wakes up, not the crazy spinning, if someone knows where that video is or knows how to fix the crazy spinning please post the link or code.

Originally Posted by powerhorst

it IS kinda answered in the faq, and ofc logical too - but:

if i join duty, will freedom faction attack me on sight? and vice versa? id assume yes, of course; but, as the marked one superhero XD its perhaps possible to join them both? my standing with both factions is very good atm, both are friendly; the faq say something about enemy faction, but id be thankful if someone clears that up for me.

Just to confirm, when you join a faction, in your ranking page or statistics, your faction actually changes from neutral to freedom or duty, at which point the game checks the relationship file and will see that duty will be hostile to freedom and vise versa. So to answer your question, yes if you join one, the other one will attack you.

The only way to get both to be your friends is not to join you but to do missions for both. From my experience to get around the "betrayal of duty to freedom" you should make sure that when you inform lukash that there are freedom guys outside the base, they are already dead, so you can say i took care of it myself. In reality duty can be killed by a blowout or monsters, just as long as that camp is now filled with loners.

Another way is to tell them but dont follow them to kill duty and hope they take care of it. That way you dont actually do anything hostile towards duty so they would still remain neutral but freedom missions will now be open to you.

[MattyDienhoff]

Yea but then youd have to explain that you should make backups. To people like us its a regular thing, if someone follows the guide, they will do EXACTLY as we tell them to.

Agreed.

Yes the NPC has to be your friend and have a medkit in the inventory. When they are lying on the ground dying, when you give them the first medkit, they use it up right away. You have to trade them one or a few medkits for them to accept following you. But they will use those kits to heal you as well.

Oh, okay, thanks for clearing that up.

but your things like activating ALL stashes and stuff seemed very specific and ive never heard a question like that even being asked so i just thought we'd keep it to common questions.

I agree, which is why, again, those aren't questions I want added to the FAQ, but tweaks I've made to my game that I could contribute to a seperate topic - a list of user-made tweaks to the mod.

Speaking of 'spinning around'; in the priboy story vid(unfortunately i cant find it anymore on youtube) theres a clip where the character wakes up in the dark valley cell where you have to rescue one of the duty guys. It shows very very smooth animation from side to side when the character wakes up, not the crazy spinning, if someone knows where that video is or knows how to fix the crazy spinning please post the link or code.

I did, in my faux-question.

My mouse movements are very wandery and indistinct, and my view spins around wildly after waking up

This is caused by the camera inertia setting behind too high. Type in the console:

 cam_inert 0

To change it to it's lowest setting, this will fix the problem.

The only way to get both to be your friends is not to join you but to do missions for both. From my experience to get around the &quot;betrayal of duty to freedom&quot; you should make sure that when you inform lukash that there are freedom guys outside the base, they are already dead, so you can say i took care of it myself. In reality duty can be killed by a blowout or monsters, just as long as that camp is now filled with loners.

Actually last time I did that part, I just didn't do anything to resolve the freedom/duty fight. I refused to help Skull, and when I talked to Lukash I didn't tell him anything either, so both groups are still sitting in their bases, calm as can be.

I could still do side-quests for Lukash, but I don't know if my inaction prevented me from being able to do any special missions on Freedom's part, are there any?

Anyway, now that the medkit issue is cleared up, I'll refine that draft I put up and PM it to abandonator. Thanks for the constructive criticism!

[MattyDienhoff]

Nevermind, the horrible markup on this forum means you can't copy and paste a post without losing something in the transition, which means that if I PM it all the formatting will get screwed up, so I put the edited FAQ in an .rtf to preserve the formatting, that .rtf is attached to this post.

[LoneSVDHunter]

How does one go about editing the mods files to assign weapons to npc's? For example giving the bandits techs and shotguns and the military 47 74's and 94's and what not.