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Post by Coolverine on Nov 25, 2024 18:56:40 GMT -5
So sometimes less is more.
Decided to try only LSFG 2.3 without the in-game FSR3 frame generation again, turned max frame latency to 1 and Nvidia Reflex is enabled in-game. Also disabled WCG double buffering since it introduces more latency, otherwise all other settings are still the same. With these settings framerate is still near-solid 144fps and drops to 100 at the lowest, latency almost not there.
Probably gonna leave it here.
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 25, 2024 19:10:20 GMT -5
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 26, 2024 0:37:25 GMT -5
Yeah it does suck when things just randomly spawn out of thin air. So far I haven't run into anything game-breaking but after going to The Sphere for the 2nd time, there were a few invisible walls that wouldn't let me through, and it was an area I'd been through before. There was also a random tree stump hovering above the ground near there. Still, over 25 hours in now and no serious problems. Only done maybe 2 or 3 of the main quests so far. *edit* lol my best gun broke during a fight. Can still use it but it's super unreliable, gonna have to play more main quests to find a better weapon. To repair it will cost over 9,000 which I only have 7,000 or so. There was even an achievement for the weapon breaking beyond repair. *edit* Looks like there's a mod that fixes how flashlight doesn't cast shadows: www.nexusmods.com/stalker2heartofchornobyl/mods/221Kinda lazy so probably won't get around to trying it yet. The post on Steam where I found it said there's no performance impact. edit - also been messing with fg and upscaling more, not sure if the game got updated or if I'm just at a part of the game where it's better optimized, but now I'm getting really good results with just in-game DLSS and fg. LS does help to keep it more consistent but relying on game settings only still works really well, plus LS doesn't look much worse at all, there are some things but it becomes invisible once the game is going. Been a mixed bag for sure in terms of optimization, hopefully they will roll out an update before long. Also heard DLSS frame gen is broken in it. Actually had to lower the difficulty from Veteran to Stalker, just too many bullet sponge enemies. Playing this game makes me realize how similar shooters are to each other these days. STALKER 2, Fallout 4 and 76, Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077 etc all have pretty much the same mechanics and principles. Pretty sure a lot of it came from all the devs copying the original Deus Ex from the 21st century on. All things considered, I am finding STALKER 2 to be a great game and it keeps me coming back. Really enjoying the quests so far, just did one where I had to help these guys clear bandits out of a big plant or something. Tried but couldn't keep all the friendly ones alive. That whole thing where enemies spawn in randomly seems to be working out better in the area of the game I'm at now, it's some chemical plant. edit - lol also just discovered V is melee attack, wish I had known that sooner. Just got caught in an emission (2nd one so far) and got attacked by mutants at the same time, was intense. Also discovered another thing, the spawns are indeed random. Went to another save a few minutes before my last one, and suddenly a group of bandits started attacking this other group which had not happened the first time around. Could be what is causing save corruption, guess I will find out later. Already deleted a few saves, one of them I couldn't sprint and was not overweight at all, and another one my character was stuck in the floor somehow. Deleting older saves could be a good idea. One more thing, apparently players are running into a bug where saves get corrupted, the quest is called "Light at the end of the tunnel" and I wish I hadn't looked it up because just looking it up was a huge spoiler. Doesn't seem everyone is affected though, not sure how far I am from it. Could be it affects only certain configurations. {CLICK FOR SPOILER}
The area of the game I am at now is called "Garbage" like from the first game. |
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 26, 2024 8:44:04 GMT -5
There is a mod that reduces the Bloodsucker mutants health by 50%. Some rare mutants like the Controller should have a lot of health, but the Bloodsucker is so common its a ridiculous bullet sponge.
I'm glad I got Vortex setup with Stalker 2. Auto-mod updates and if a mod sucks or its broken you can disable it with a single mouse click. I didn't bother setting it up for Silent Hill 2 because I knew I wasn't going to install that many mods but Stalker 2 is shaping up to be like Skyrim or Dragon Age Origins where you don't just install 1 or 2 mods.
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 26, 2024 12:30:48 GMT -5
One thing that really impressed me is the physics, I threw one of those bolts down this metal stuff from way up and it bounced down it like a game of Plinko from The Price is Right. Even made metal sounds as it bounced down from way up. Also don't waste money repairing or upgrading basic weapons, there are much better unique ones that can be found from quests. Haven't found any special/unique armor yet though, not sure if there is any or not. also you can run through doors to open them. Time to take a break I think:  *edit* Jumped back in for a bit to knock out a few more quests, ended up finding a unique armor so that answers that question. Did spend 11,000-something before to repair my regular armor before and it actually ended up saving me during the last fight. Grenade blast went off point blank, wouldn't have survived it if the armor had still been in disrepair. Messed with LS again and got it working perfectly, I think sometimes it doesn't apply properly and everything has to be done over. |
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 26, 2024 22:38:51 GMT -5
Btw something I have noticed when frame generation is on, it seems to smooth out more and have less latency/lag after letting the game sit for bit. Also there's a kind of horizontal smear effect that happens with certain things like brightly colored small spots, it's usually not noticeable but stands out on the crosshair mostly. There's kind of a vertical/diagonal aliasing that happens too. Pretty minor things, worth the trade-off in most cases. Especially for lower-spec configurations. *Edit* lol just now I misunderstood an objective and wiped out this room full of who I thought were bandits. Deleted last 2 saves and went back to before that. and just discovered another bug, there's a quest called King of the Hill where after doing both objectives, you have to go back to this guy called Varan. If you go to Slag Heap before going to him, it makes his marker on the map disappear for some reason. Gave up and went back because I just couldn't find him without the marker. So might be something to watch out for. *edit* Thought I had run into that save corrupt bug, but it wasn't. Seems like the game had to re-sync with Steam or something, and it took a bit longer to launch. This area is reminding me so much of the first game:  Really good idea to have artifact scanner out while exploring, never know where there will be one. |
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 27, 2024 10:28:24 GMT -5
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 27, 2024 15:06:15 GMT -5
First CTD of STALKER 2, pretty sure it was caused by me playing a movie on my 2nd monitor while playing the game. Probably for the best to leave all available resources to the game.
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 27, 2024 20:31:37 GMT -5
First CTD of STALKER 2, pretty sure it was caused by me playing a movie on my 2nd monitor while playing the game. Probably for the best to leave all available resources to the game. I only have 7 hours in the game, and I did mostly side quests and wandering. It sounds like if you get a quest that tells you to go to Clear Sky you should avoid it because the game becomes buggy and for some people unplayable after that quest. Good news is looks like a patch drops tomorrow for Thanksgiving. |
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 28, 2024 0:26:29 GMT -5
First CTD of STALKER 2, pretty sure it was caused by me playing a movie on my 2nd monitor while playing the game. Probably for the best to leave all available resources to the game. I only have 7 hours in the game, and I did mostly side quests and wandering. It sounds like if you get a quest that tells you to go to Clear Sky you should avoid it because the game becomes buggy and for some people unplayable after that quest. Good news is looks like a patch drops tomorrow for Thanksgiving. Not sure how far I am from there but one thing I've been doing is deleting old saves, hoping that will prevent it. Also seen lots of stuff about an infinite money glitch/exploit, beginning to wonder if this is a factor with save corruption. The last quest did mention Clear Sky but nothing about going there yet. *edit* Also found the location of where the game keeps saves, it's not in that My Documents/My Games folder where most games keep them: C:\Users\(your profile name)\AppData\Local\Stalker2\Saved\STEAM\SaveGames\Data Just copied the whole folder elsewhere just in case. Would suck to lose 50+ hours worth of playtime, although if I did have to the next play would probably work out a lot better since I know what to expect. |
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 28, 2024 1:45:39 GMT -5
66 hours now in Dragon Age. Hoping to finish it this long weekend.
It reminds me of Dragon Age 2 a lot in presentation and reusing environments but thankfully unlike DA2 waaaay more variety. I don't hate the writing but several times its tried to be really emotional and just ends up cheesy and try-hard.
Every quest is like OMG GO GO RIGHT NOW HURRY but leveling up your gear requires opening treasure chests which takes time.
When you enter a zone it shows you where to go for the quest but there will also be a path off to the side that leads to chests with gear, so I have got in the habit of ignoring the quest marker and looking for chests.
There was a chest I could not for the life of me figure out how to get to and turns out if you walked into a certain area there was a teleporter I found accidentally. Nothing explained you would be ported.
Also certain areas are walled off and open up later, I spent a good 15 minutes trying to find my way into an area. The solution was finishing my quest then coming back.
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 28, 2024 1:49:57 GMT -5
^The more I read up on DA Veilguard, the more it's sounding like DA 2. I didn't like that one at first but after playing a while, it got really good and I couldn't put it down. I can remember a lot of ppl saying that DA 2 was a flop too. *edit* Found this incredible shotgun in STALKER 2, it's not even a named/special one or anything, just was fully upgraded to begin with.
The shots stay clustered for quite a ways, has incredible range for a shotgun. Probably my favorite weapon now, been spending out the a** to repair it so it's always reliable. Really good vs mutants:
 ^that rifle in the other slot (right) sucks btw.
Also enjoying the music in the game a lot. The ambient music is fine, but the music that plays on the radios is great. There were some some post-rock sounding Ukrainian songs back to back on the radio in the upgrade shop of the first village, suddenly found myself taking a break in the game just to sit here and listen.
I bet someone will make a mod where the player-character (Skif) has a radio he can tune into out in the Zone. Might be one already.
*edit* playlist was easily found with a search, it's a long list.
also wow, they put a lot of detail into the guns and their operation:
*edit* Oh yeah if you fight those Controllers that have telekinesis, take a psi blocker before fighting it. One really cool thing, you can actually play the guitar in this one:  Surprisingly well-crafted, there's more to it than I was expecting and you can actually get some songs out of it:
I think left mouse button picks and left shift key strums, and TAB changes the chords. Not sure if there's more.
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 29, 2024 4:30:42 GMT -5
Finished Dragon Age. It really is like a longer Dragon Age 2 mixed with Mass Effect 2. Some plot twists but nothing completely crazy. I liked it, but of the 4 its probably my least favorite.
Near the end of the game I finally tried a mage necromancer subclass skill that doubles the damage of your ranged attack but also makes it take twice the mana, then I put on every single piece of gear I have that did +bonus to ranged damage, and an item where if you hit a Weakspot(headshot) you get +10 mana back and holy crap I just shredded everything including the final boss. Wish I would have taken that skill earlier.
Since that skill makes you use 2x the mana you would think you would run out of mana quick which is true but with the item that makes you +10 mana per weakpoint hit as long as you aim for the head mana never goes down.
I did every single companion or faction quest in the game hence I got the best ending, took me about 80 hours. I'm tempted to do a playthrough where I rush through the game as quickly as possible with no side quests and see how bad the ending is. I saw a video of that on YouTube with Mass Effect 2 and like EVERYONE died besides Shepard.
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 29, 2024 4:37:38 GMT -5
Saw a video where they were calling it a "soft reboot" like ME Andromeda was. That one wasn't bad but I still haven't finished it, just got too boring and by the numbers rinse/repeat. Still do want to go back and finish the story someday though.
Watched a few videos of the actual gameplay and story from DAVg and it does look like it has that going for it.
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 29, 2024 4:38:39 GMT -5
Also some of the reviews said that the ending was "abrupt". I didn't find it that way at all. It didn't end on a cliffhanger like Trespasser did, but it also wasn't abrupt.
The game makes and autosave at a critical point and I reloaded and did every ending I could do quickly and none of them were bad
One thing I didn't like is in DA3 and to a lesser extent DA2 you hear people like Dorian and Fenris talking about how Tevinter society functions and you never get to see much of it. Like none of the politics or heads of state or anything. You just get to run around the city is all.
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 29, 2024 9:34:59 GMT -5
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Post by sj on Nov 29, 2024 11:15:34 GMT -5
Good, you guys keep finding out all the bugs so I can play it smoothly next year  I don't disagree. But that's the price u pay for being a modern gamer, unless you don't mind being the last kid on the block to play the latest & greatest games. The gaming industry is so different from the golden age of gaming (80's to early 90's, imo). Now ppl are paying up to $80 (or $100+ if you buy the deluxe editions) for the privilege to be beta testers. U can lose your saves and whatever other BS, whenever a new patch gets released. Then microtransacts, DLCs for years, and every sort of nickel & diming you could think of. |
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Post by sj on Nov 29, 2024 11:27:04 GMT -5
imo, the worst thing about modern gaming are online requirements (to play the game and/or it's the sole method for getting post-release patches. Thus, physical copies of games (pre-patched console games) are almost as useless as digital. Someday, those companies will go under or get bought out, then physical copies are just beta and/or broken versions of the game.
PC is somewhat more immune (than consoles) thanks to online gaming communities offering support and the ability to patch & mod games to an extent (even after the developer permanently goes offline). Not entirely tho because less popular games don't always have community support or cracking the DRM is too much of a hassle to bother with. For the most part, however, if a game is loved enough, hackers generally figure out how to crack it.
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Post by sj on Nov 29, 2024 11:35:40 GMT -5
The day gaming becomes streaming as a service, like Netflix, and with forced commercials will be the day I stop buying games. I'm sure they'll figure out a way to keep most ppl paying even despite annoying commercials.. i.e. ultra-realistic VR with AI driven (story and graphics) created on the fly and built into a pair of normal looking sunglasses.
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Post by Coolverine on Nov 29, 2024 11:43:50 GMT -5
I played the crap out of Cyberpunk 2K77 even when it was still problematic, when it was finally fixed and the expansion dropped, started a new game and it felt pretty much like playing it for the first time all over again. STALKER 2 is so big, been playing for nearly 60 hours now and still seems like there is a lot to go.
Also must be lucky, because I've encountered very few issues so far, meanwhile others are encountering serious problems like memory leaks and crashes. Minor things, though there have been 5 total CTD's. Nothing has broken the game yet though.
Edit- Was reading this article where the founder of Arkane Studios was criticizing Metacritic for encouraging developers to make "safe" games instead of pushing boundaries like they used to. They could have played it safe and made a smaller game with loading screens tailored to lower specs, but they chose to make a huge open-world game with a lot to offer and no loading screens (except for first loading the game and when you die) that they can patch up after the fact. I would always choose the latter.
The funny thing is, this article is from the same site who gave it a 4/10 on Xbox.
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 29, 2024 13:10:37 GMT -5
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Post by ForRealTho on Nov 29, 2024 14:15:41 GMT -5
I've been avoiding the Dragon Age subreddit and haven't read anything about it in general to avoid spoilers. So I've been reading the subreddit and and a lot of spoilers and such.
Pro Tip: Do your companion quests then do the faction quests. I did it backwards, factions first. If your companions are all "hardened" and all their quests done this unlocks special dialog choices and even lets you avoid certain battles.
Also apparently not only did I unlock the happy ending, I also unlocked the secret ending completely on accident. I did every quest I could finish and in every zone you can see how many statues and chests you have unlocked. I got all of the chests/statues in a few areas but in Minrathous I was at like 23/25 chests and decided it simply wasn't worth my time to unlock more.
Arlathan Forest is a very cool area that reminds me of the Zone in Stalker hence why I made my background from there and unlocked everything I could see there. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out how to get to the extreme North across a bridge. Turns out it was unlocked in a quest waaaay later in the game.
I had hoped being a Veiljumper Elf would unlock a lot of dialog, instead it was like 2 lines. There are so many dark spawn and Venitori in the game that a background with bonues to those would be good tho I always aimed for the head so got a lot of the Veiljumper weakspot bonus. Next time I play I am going to go for a different background for sure. Probably male Qunari Gray Warden
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