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S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chernobyl

Been waiting to play this one, partially becaue I want a GPU upgrade first, partially to wait until it is further patched up. Nice list of fixes. Couldn't copy/paste the change log because:

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TLDR: Big patch. :D
 
The middle part of the game is such a slog. I just got some psi blocker and now need to go another KM to see what’s up.
 
Finally got my hands on a new GPU

Has this had enough time in the oven as of 1.3 or do I hang on longer
 
The game seems fine to me.
Patches have been huge, but Ive had no issues.
I get over 100FPS, 4K, DLSS enabled.
 
socK said:
Finally got my hands on a new GPU

Has this had enough time in the oven as of 1.3 or do I hang on longer
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It's better than launch but it still has a lot of performance/optimization issues. It's certainly playable on high-end hardware but there's still a lot of work to be done on the game itself, I would say.

magoo said:
The game seems fine to me.
Patches have been huge, but Ive had no issues.
I get over 100FPS, 4K, DLSS enabled.
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Not on a GTX 1080 Ti it isn't. :p
 
MavericK said:
It's better than launch but it still has a lot of performance/optimization issues. It's certainly playable on high-end hardware but there's still a lot of work to be done on the game itself, I would say.


Not on a GTX 1080 Ti it isn't. :p
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STALKER is never an optimized or well performing game series. Where 2 is at now, it is already quite a bit more stable than unmodded original versions of the prior three.

I would say there is zero reason to wait any longer, and there was little reason before after the first patch or two. The game is not going to get much "smoother" in the future, IMO. They never made these games to run on low end hardware, and even high end stuff ran worse than 2 does now
 
FighterAce124 said:
STALKER is never an optimized or well performing game series. Where 2 is at now, it is already quite a bit more stable than unmodded original versions of the prior three.

I would say there is zero reason to wait any longer, and there was little reason before after the first patch or two. The game is not going to get much "smoother" in the future, IMO. They never made these games to run on low end hardware, and even high end stuff ran worse than 2 does now
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I guess not, but I would say it runs bad even for a game that has high-end graphics.

I'm just saying, you have to set your expectations. There are also still issues with A-Life (the persistent AI system in the game) but that's something that will likely get fixed over time...hopefully. There are mods to mitigate it if not.
 
FighterAce124 said:
STALKER is never an optimized or well performing game series. Where 2 is at now, it is already quite a bit more stable than unmodded original versions of the prior three.

I would say there is zero reason to wait any longer, and there was little reason before after the first patch or two. The game is not going to get much "smoother" in the future, IMO. They never made these games to run on low end hardware, and even high end stuff ran worse than 2 does now
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when the game first came out SkillUp said in his review that it was most likely going to take at least 1 year to get in good shape...I think that's exactly the way it's playing out (we're almost at the 6 month mark)...they also still need to add hardware ray-tracing
 
None of the patches have dramatically changed the game in any significant way. It's mostly been attempts to make it less broken. Small increments of improvements. Nothing stands out as an enhancement or upgrade. If you're expecting this game to be dramatically different in a year, you'll probably be disappointed.

Keep in mind this game launched back in November. This game will have been out 5 months in about two weeks.
 
Absalom said:
None of the patches have dramatically changed the game in any significant way. It's mostly been attempts to make it less broken. Small increments of improvements. Nothing stands out as an enhancement or upgrade. If you're expecting this game to be dramatically different in a year, you'll probably be disappointed.

Keep in mind this game launched back in November. This game will have been out 5 months in about two weeks.
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They don't need to add anything new as long as they make what's already there actually work
 
polonyc2 said:
when the game first came out SkillUp said in his review that it was most likely going to take at least 1 year to get in good shape...I think that's exactly the way it's playing out (we're almost at the 6 month mark)...they also still need to add hardware ray-tracing
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Thats nice, I have owned each of the prior GSC titles on launch. I am willing to bet, based on the experience the developers have provided in the past, that they will continue the exact same trend.

And so far, they are. Hoping and dreaming is cool and all, but they have already made several games and its pretty clear how they end up every single time.


Waiting at this point is a waste of time. The game is not going to massively change. The largest change, which I dont think will ever actually happen, would be a significant improvement in the A-life system - which is, honestly, auxiliary to being able to play the game and generally do stuff with little to no major bugs.
And you can already play the game with few if any major bugs now, and have been able to for months.

There is no game-changing performance to be gained, no game shattering bugs to be fixed. Just minor improvements, in the large scope of the game being playable, enjoyable, and functional.
Adding RT is not game changing, its just looks. It doesnt matter if it ever gets added in terms of playability and functionality.
 
The game right now will benefit more from the devs supporting Hardware Lumen than adding something fancy like Path Tracing.

Most the people who complain about A-Life 2.0 really have no idea what they are talking about. The whole debate devolves into an echo chamber. Either rose-tinted glasses or they're remembering it wrong. A-Life in the original wasn't THAT much different than it is right now. Remember, the original wasn't open world. Less chance for encounters, actually. If anything, A-Life 2.0 is slightly better because the AI actually tries to flank you and hide. Ultimately a minor thing but not gone unnoticed.

The mods were what really shaped the originals into something memorable. That's not to say the same can't happen to the sequel. But don't count on the devs to elevate the game beyond what it is today. That's all I'm saying.
 
The original games needed unofficial patches to remove game breaking bugs. A-life didn't work in the original game and while it did work in COP it was still very basic compared to anomaly. It's a huge problem for the CPU and general performance which is why stalker 2 actually runs better than anomaly. GPU's from 3 generations ago shouldn't be expected to run the game beyond 1080P. If you want to run this at 4k you need a 4000 series card from 3 years ago. This is normal and people complaining will continue to do so until they upgrade their rigs down the road. This always happens with games that push graphics on the PC versus watered down console stuff.

There is room for improvement in terms of the spawning system as well as graphics and they will come in time but I wouldn't expect groundbreaking pushes forward.

The original game was delayed to the point where they had someone from Edios go over there and force them to release it before they were happy with it. Many game developers were sitting around adding minor little flourishes to the AI and game world because the game development was stuck and they were trying to find something to keep them busy. Game development is expensive and it's unrealistic to create a world 10x larger with no loading screens and way better graphics without sacrificing a few minor details. These things can be added by mods in the future. 4 out of 5 people who bought the game enjoyed it and I guarantee you that the 1 in 5 who were mad were either activists or children with unrealistic hardware expectations or a hate for the unreal engine. It's also important to note that this game is a niche game and requires patience. It's not for the COD dumbs and it's flashy graphics will attract people to the game who will never appreciate it. I had a handful of crashes and 1 broken quest which could be worked around when I played the launch version. At this point you will probably run into an occasional memory leak but that's it. If you like previous stalker games and you have a PC that can handle modern games then there is no point in waiting.
 
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Absalom said:
The game right now will benefit more from the devs supporting Hardware Lumen than adding something fancy like Path Tracing.
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I'd rather see nanite applied to trees, if possible. Seems like there is a lot of pop in on those in videos and apparently it is not covered by nanite.
 
The tweaks I supplied earlier will fix all pop in with this game while improving visuals and performance. All FPS limitations that I'm currently having are CPU related as my 4090 is always under 100% utilization when my FPS drops below 120. The entire game runs at about 115FPS for me other than the starter village. Which means that my 4090 is rarely at 100% utilization. Why the game devs are not using the latest DLSS or supplying a more optimal setup for unreal engine is unknown to me because I have no problems with my install and it looks much better than the vanilla game while performing the same in some areas and better in others. Most likely they are not well versed with the Unreal Engine. The optimization mod that I linked to earlier has not been integrated into the official game despite the entire community claiming it helps and causes no problems so I would say that GSC is just being cautious because they don't understand the engine very well.
 
FighterAce124 said:
Waiting at this point is a waste of time. The game is not going to massively change. The largest change, which I dont think will ever actually happen, would be a significant improvement in the A-life system - which is, honestly, auxiliary to being able to play the game and generally do stuff with little to no major bugs.
And you can already play the game with few if any major bugs now, and have been able to for months.
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so you're saying that because they made buggy games in the past that they can only make buggy games in the future?...the last STALKER game was released in 2010...technology and developer tools have substantially improved in that time...the first Kingdom Come Deliverance game was pretty buggy yet they made a complete turnaround with the sequel

STALKER 2 was hindered by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war so there's reason to believe that development was rushed and they can substantially improve things going forward in the coming months...most games nowadays benefit from at least 3 months of patches- some games more than others...Cyberpunk 2077 is an example of a game that added a ton of features and improvements for years after launch

every STALKER 2 patch seems to have hundreds of fixes in them so it's obvious the game was released too early and needed more time...the last patch had over 1200 fixes which is an insane number!...a few more major patches like that and yes the game can be significantly changed/improved
 
polonyc2 said:
so you're saying that because they made buggy games in the past that they can only make buggy games in the future?...the last STALKER game was released in 2010...technology and developer tools have substantially improved in that time...the first Kingdom Come Deliverance game was pretty buggy yet they made a complete turnaround with the sequel

STALKER 2 was hindered by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war so there's reason to believe that development was rushed and they can substantially improve things going forward in the coming months...most games nowadays benefit from at least 3 months of patches- some games more than others...Cyberpunk 2077 is an example of a game that added a ton of features and improvements for years after launch

every STALKER 2 patch seems to have hundreds of fixes in them so it's obvious the game was released too early and needed more time...the last patch had over 1200 fixes which is an insane number!...a few more major patches like that and yes the game can be significantly changed/improved
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I think STALKER 2 will likely always be a bit buggy. Long development + poor development conditions, a split team, and likely a lot of half baked feature implementation likely means it will be hard to patch. Remember the team is still largely split up. Still I am probably going to wait a bit more myself. I think there can be some room for improvement but I wouldn't expect anything major.
 
Flogger23m said:
I think STALKER 2 will likely always be a bit buggy. Long development + poor development conditions, a split team, and likely a lot of half baked feature implementation likely means it will be hard to patch. Remember the team is still largely split up. Still I am probably going to wait a bit more myself. I think there can be some room for improvement but I wouldn't expect anything major.
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I think they released it in a half baked state with the intention of improving it going forward...it's easier to release a game and patch it afterwards rather then trying to fix everything prior to launch...Microsoft was also probably putting pressure on them to release this earlier
 
polonyc2 said:
so you're saying that because they made buggy games in the past that they can only make buggy games in the future?...the last STALKER game was released in 2010...technology and developer tools have substantially improved in that time...the first Kingdom Come Deliverance game was pretty buggy yet they made a complete turnaround with the sequel

STALKER 2 was hindered by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war so there's reason to believe that development was rushed and they can substantially improve things going forward in the coming months...most games nowadays benefit from at least 3 months of patches- some games more than others...Cyberpunk 2077 is an example of a game that added a ton of features and improvements for years after launch

every STALKER 2 patch seems to have hundreds of fixes in them so it's obvious the game was released too early and needed more time...the last patch had over 1200 fixes which is an insane number!...a few more major patches like that and yes the game can be significantly changed/improved
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You can stop apologizing for them. In case you cant tell, I own all of the stalker games and love them. Im telling people to buy the game instead of waiting.
I am also citing their history and the fact that the game is already better than the older ones.

I dont care what future patches bring, the game is already worth buying.


Not sure why you have such a problem with that. Im not attacking you for them releasing buggy games and leaving them at that, but with 3 games released and 3 games left meh, but you sure seem to take it personally, despite the fact that I love the games and recommend them to everyone.
Im not even attacking GSC, Im just stating facts based on all of their proven track record - 3 for 3.
 
FighterAce124 said:
You can stop apologizing for them. In case you cant tell, I own all of the stalker games and love them. Im telling people to buy the game instead of waiting.
I am also citing their history and the fact that the game is already better than the older ones.

I dont care what future patches bring, the game is already worth buying
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I'm saying the game is worth buying as well...but I disagree with you when you say the game can't be significantly improved with future patches
 
I just killed a main character in the game. And it is still going on. wtf. How long is this damn game. It’s not even interesting anymore.
 
So I have a few things regarding the game, first is the artifact weird water, it has made a huge difference in how much I can carry plus how long I can sprint for. I'm able to cover so much more ground and a lot quicker as well. I got used to the drunken effect, plus I actually like how the games colors really pop. The next is the Thunderberry, it also has been huge regarding endurance.
The other thing I wanted to share is you can now use DLSS4 through the Nvidia app, it's not much better on performance but does seem to give a better graphical experience over DLSS3.
 
Flogger23m said:
I think STALKER 2 will likely always be a bit buggy. Long development + poor development conditions, a split team, and likely a lot of half baked feature implementation likely means it will be hard to patch. Remember the team is still largely split up. Still I am probably going to wait a bit more myself. I think there can be some room for improvement but I wouldn't expect anything major.
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I agree and if you look at the past games they were just as bad even when the war was not going on. This isn't a development studio in California and it doesn't have the budget of many of these large scale failures we keep seeing. I'm not sure what people are complaining about because it looks and runs great for me. I've put in 251 hours and it runs liquid smooth with minimal issues. The one bugged mission I experienced was fixed long ago. You could do video comparisons of the old games and yes, there are some minor AI flourishes that they built into their old X-ray custom engine while the mismanaged team sat around trying to keep busy but other than that.... The game has all locations from all 3 previous games and enough new content to double those games combined. It's got all of the weapons plus some favorites from the modding scene thrown in as well. The gunplay is great, the atmosphere is second to none and when it comes to the economy, difficulty or even small things like night vision, you can already download mods to customize it or add whatever you like. Want to collect and sell mutant parts? Want to make it a true survivalist experience? You can do it all with minimal effort.

Once they upgrade the lighting/shadows and release the DLC content with mod tools it will go even more crazy. Despite being a niche game from a Ukrainiun developer with 1/4 the budget, it's got a player base that is 2x the size of Assassins Creed and for good reason. The game sold 1 million copies within 48 hours despite being on game pass and it recouped it's development costs within 1 month of release. They reached over 6 million players months ago and one of the developers said it's projected to make 1 billion in revenue.

One last note. If you are using a 4000 series card, use older drivers. The new drivers run the game 15FPS slower on my system. Nvidia has been having problems for a while now so I'm using 566.36 with the 10.2 DLSS.dll.
 
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the_sextein said:
Once they upgrade the lighting/shadows and release the DLC content with mod tools it will go even more crazy.
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Did they confirm they will do this?

the_sextein said:
One last note. If you are using a 4000 series card, use older drivers. The new drivers run the game 15FPS slower on my system. Nvidia has been having problems for a while now so I'm using 566.36 with the 10.2 DLSS.dll.
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Good to know.
 
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