Tested some mods (S.t.a.l.k.e.r SOC)

mrjingo on 20/12/2010 at 17:16

Hey all, longtime lurker here.

I noticed that there hasn't been any talk of the Russian "Narodnaya Solyanka" mod for SOC here.

Its a HUGE mod with many new levels, weapons, quests, etc.

"BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PEOPLE'S Solyanka 2009"
(taken from the Russian download page).
*30+ Locations: Cordon, Swamp, Garbage, Dark Valley, Forgotten Wood, Not Reconnoitered Territory, SRI Agroprom, Bar, Wild Territory, Yantar, Military Warehouses, Radar, Pripyat, CHAES1, CHAES2, Sarcophagus, ATP, Red Forest, Limansk, Hospital, Old Village, Generators, Underground Research Agroprom, Lab x18, X16, X10, Varlab, Cave, Labyrinth, Merv, Zaton.
*14+ Mutants: jerboa, rat, leech, marsh bloodsucker, a chimera, elktrohimera, controller, kink, poltergeist, fire poltergeist, byurer.
*13 Factions: Loners, Military, Mercenaries, Bandits, Environmentalists, Duty, Last Day, Freedom, representatives of the "O"-consciousness, Monolith, Clear Sky, Hunters, Avengers + dealers and repairers (even rumors of the presence in the Zone of women).
*Huge number of weapons, from fists and knives to heavy machine guns and grenade launchers.
*Great variety of armor, with the possibility of upgrading.
*5 types of detectors. 15+ anomalies. 4 mobile teleport devices. 45+ artifacts.
*Huge number of quests (200 to 300 hours of content). Unique quest caches.

Most of the maps from Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat have been imported into the game along with new maps.

There are 2 different versions on GSC's site, both are very good, but I would recommend the DMX version (more weapons, different UI, seems stabler).

(http://www.gsc-game.com/main.php?t=community&s=forums&s_game_type=xr&thm_page=1&thm_id=18718&page=all&sort=ASC&sec_id=17#328695) Vanilla Narodnaya Solyanka - requires SOC patch 1.004, refer to last post in thread.

(http://www.gsc-game.com/main.php?t=community&s=forums&s_game_type=xr&thm_page=1&thm_id=20235&sec_id=17#328693) Narodnaya Solyanka+DMX - requires SOC patch 1.005

(https://sites.google.com/site/friedsaltysnacks/Stalker_Guide_NS_8-26-2010_Dec12_re-acktorru.pdf) Walkthrough

EDIT: The mod has been translated to English.

Koki on 21/12/2010 at 19:23

Quote Posted by mrjingo

I noticed that there hasn't been any talk of the Russian "Narodnaya Solyanka" mod for SOC here.

Probably because there are only two posters here I know of that speak russian.

mrjingo on 22/12/2010 at 15:37

Quote Posted by Koki

Probably because there are only two posters here I know of that speak russian.

Its been translated to English :)

Axon1988 on 23/12/2010 at 10:15

I've been looking at that mod for a while. It looks really good. I might just download it sometime and try it out.

Koki on 11/1/2011 at 14:14

Thesis: Russian mods all focus so much on the big picture - adding new maps, NPCs, Mutants, Artifacts etc. - that they all forget it's the little changes - repairing, weapon looting/switching, avoiding anomalies - that make the game actually playable.

mrjingo on 11/1/2011 at 21:25

Quote Posted by Koki

er.. they have all that too:confused: Those are standard features on pretty much every mod these days...

Axon1988 on 11/1/2011 at 21:48

Which mods would you recommend then Koki?

Koki on 12/1/2011 at 07:29

Quote Posted by mrjingo

er.. they have all that too:confused:

Vanilla AMK didn't have them(AMK EN had some though), neither did the mod I tried recently - Old Storyline Restoration mod.

And guess what, it's a damn shame because it had the potential to be best SoC mod out there.

First thing Sid does? Tells you to stay out of the Rookie camp - because why would they let a marked guy in - and sends you straight north to the junk pile to bring him an artifact, triggering the scene with the Flesh running into a Whirgling. On the way there you get an message that some rookies attacked the military helicopter and need help.

Remember the poor Tolik? Remember how after you help him he says "I'll be sure to let everyone in the camp know that you helped me out"? Yep, that's your ticket in to Rookie Camp. That line normally doesn't make much sense, neither does the scene with the helicopter. Except in the mod.

Wolf now wants out of the Zone and sends you to Car Park to bring him dynamite, not for Nimble, who now gets executed the moment Bandit catch your scent in the breeze.

Or hell, remember the stash "Things belonging to the one who perished in the anomaly"? Now there's a whole little sequence for it, with the guy running away from a boar and actually ending up in an anomaly. You get the coordinates for the stash from his body, logically enough.

I made my way to the Garbage, shot some Bandits, but decided it's not worth it if I can't even repair my goddamn shit.

I honestly don't know how they restored all this - and did they even restore it at all, or just made it all up - but it all makes perfect sense and ties together so well that I have to recommend it. There's even some cut locations restored, you can see Dead City on your PDA map, dunno if there's more.

So if you understand russian try it out. I can't recommend the english translation because it's been done by copying english files from original SoC and then translating whatever's left. But with most dialogues changed it's just confusing; Like Tolik, who was supposed to attack the military helicopter but when you help him he says the original story about Bandits, or Wolf, who sends you for the dynamite then acts as if you went there for Nimble, and so on.

Axon1988 on 12/1/2011 at 11:39

Sounds like a good mod. Never heard of it though. Apparently we only have at most 11 months to wait for lost alpha. They say winter 2011 at the latest. Currently they are working on their story and as far as I know it's almost done. They've been playing around with more features and restoring older stalker videos with their mod. Like the latest mod released on moddb.

Funny thing, people complained about the new trailer, they asked why it was all in english. They never actually caught on, or read the description that it's actually a remake of a older stalker trailer. They used that trailer's sound.

Koki on 13/1/2011 at 07:46

Quote Posted by Axon1988

Sounds like a good mod. Never heard of it though.

It's pretty new. First release in June 2010, and the english "translation" wasn't done till December.

I dunno about Lost Alpha. I always have my doubts about megamods because they easily fall into the "shove as much shit into the game as you can" pitfall. And while Old Storyline Restoration Mod is based on the original story by GSC, Lost Alpha seems to be more of "STALKER like we thought it would be" which is a much less focused goal.

Quote Posted by Axon1988

Which mods would you recommend then Koki?

All things considered, AMK-EN final with stashes in Random. Rare mode is probably my favourite. It's not perfect, but it works for me.