Comments - the_sextein

Hi, The oxygen tank has an animation that will play out when you equip it or if you take off your mask to eat something. It's set by default to return to an FOV of .65 which is extreamly annoying if you use EFT or play with GAMMA ect. I found that you can fix this problem by going to Toxic Air/ Gamedata/ Scripts and open the file named "toxic_air". Look for the lines I've copied below and change the last line that I copied from an FOV of .65 to .45 in order to solve the problem. This way you won't get strange looking arms and guns that aim at the incorrect FOV.

------------------ anim (stole some from fdda) -------------------
local cur_slot, hud_fov, det_active
function play_ta_anm(tank_typ, filter_typ, filter_delay) -- types: "on" / "off" / nil
if not toxic_air_mcm.get_config("filter_animation") then return end

-- prepare anm
hide_hud_inventory()

game.only_allow_movekeys(true)

hud_fov = ui_options.get("video/basic/hud_fov")
exec_console_cmd("hud_fov 0.45")

For those of you who are getting blue textures with the Nosorog suit... Download the "lite" version of HD models and copy the "Darthshepard" folder that is located in the textures/act folder and paste it into the textures/act folder of the latest version of HD models. That will fix your problem. The "darthshepard" folder was left out of the latest release of HD models and that is what is causing the problem with visible body.

Hello, I'm using GAMMA. Is there a recommended respawn setting I should be using in ZCP? It appears that dezmen's extended radio mod is installed and already setup to work with this mod. I have tested it and the loudspeakers propaganda works and I've seen some larger spawns at the farm as well as the military at the bridge checkpoint. I've noticed some other changes to other areas as well and it looks promising. First time playing with this.

Once again, thank you for sharing these creations and pushing stalker to new heights. Something like this seemed like an unrealistic wish a couple years ago. This community has been blessed with many talented content creators. I've looked forward to each and every one of these and can't wait to see what you come up with next. All of the remaining mutants are unique and aught to be fun to modernize.

The problem I reported about the blood was false. The blood gets really light when it's raining and since I was testing out the rain drops it looked much lighter in color. It was an oversight on my part. The blood pools and splatters look fine during normal weather. On version 17.1, I can't tell a whole lot of difference between ES 1.09 and the latest version. There is a noticeable difference between running anomaly without ES vs with it. Some good and some bad. Perhaps I'm not as critical as some. Most of the issues that Gamma has regarding overly bright reflections or lack of them are due to Gamma's use of textures and vegetation.

In my opinion, the stalker anomaly modding scene has blown up so much that it's impossible for these huge mods to make sure they are stable with every little mod out there. It's the responsibility of small mod makers to ensure compatibility with the big ones like SSS because if given the choice, people will always use the larger mods that improve the game more and leave the little ones by the wayside. Of course, I'm not saying they shouldn't be reported and if something can be done easily from a major mod maker then the help is always appreciated. I use the dismemberment mod myself, but I have it set up to only blow off limbs if hit with an explosion, so I haven't run into that bug yet.

Do you know where I could download ES 1.09? I can't find it on Mod DB anymore. I've done some testing and it looks like bullet holes on bodies from VFX, Hollywood FX ect look white and blood pools look really light out in the open and really dark with no refraction from the flashlight in dark areas. I'm not sure if atmospherics would have problems if I switched back to 1.09 but I'd be willing to give it a shot if I could find it. I was never a fan of ES anyway, but gamma is built around it so I've "went with the flow" as they say. I think ES and atmospherics combined have a nice effect on weapon saturation ect so it's not all bad but SSS was more refined on my custom installation with no ES.

BTW congrats on the latest release, this was a major one for sure.

I'm loving these new effects. Only change I made in MCM is the rain drop refraction and splash size refraction. I cut those in half. They are not as noticeable but more consistent with what the other rain effects are doing and more realistic in my opinion. I'm pretty happy with the way everything else is set up though.

I did see that blood pools and gore effects look really dark, but I've also seen blood effects that have a normal brightness that I'm used to with a shiny wet effect to them that looked really cool. It might just be the lighting making it look darker than I'm used to in some situations or there may be a problem with some of the gore mods and the new blood shader effects from SSS 17. Figured I'd say something in case there is a problem that the community would want to know about.
I'm using blood pools with trails and steps from xcvb and better blood decals from Ni75LT. They are both default gamma mod options. I might try disabling them and testing to see if there is a problem later tonight.

No problem, I'm using Gamma so I just went through this bit of troubleshooting myself. Enjoy!

Where you installed stalker anomaly. There should be a gamedata folder, db folder and bin folder. Sorry about that, I named my anomaly install folder "Gamma". I updated my instructions above to avoid confusion to anyone else interested. Yes, you should drag Mr. demonized's files into your anomaly install folder.

Also, if the version of Gamma you are using came with SSS update 16 or lower then you need to unistall that from MO2 and Install the latest SSS version 17 and check the options you want to install.

I'm using Gamma at the moment and I had the same problem with invincible enemies. Dropping the updated executables from mr. demonized fixed the problem. Do a google search for "updated executables from mr demonized stalker anomaly" it should bring up a link to download them from GitHub. Just manually drag the gamedata, db, and bin folder to your anomaly install folder and it will fix it.

When you install SSS on Gamma through M02 you need to choose the options you want to install. I install them all other than the ice shader. I believe the other options are left off because of performance reasons. Gamma tries to deliver a stable frame rate on a mid tier PC so it won't automatically turn on all effects to their highest settings. Atmospherics mod can be pushed higher than gamma has it set by default. Also the Arrival mod works perfectly with gamma and the latest release of SSS in case anyone was wondering.

Great update Ascii1457. This is very impressive and adds to the immersion without slaying my frame rate. The rain drop effects look awesome!

Alright, I rebuilt my rig and I'm looking at MO2. Make HD models priority 28 in the install order. Re-install GBOOBS and then reinstall it again but just the patches the second time. When it asks you if you want to overwrite them select "merge".

One thing I've noticed is that 1.10 version of enhanced shaders seems to look much better with the r_sun_lumscale toned down abit. The pre config for gamma had it set at 2.25 and it's using an auto tonemapper mod to adjust middle grey on the fly for optimal results. Atmospherics is pushing a reshade on top of everything. Honestly I'm kind of surprised by how well it looks. My biggest issue with Enhanced shaders is that it effects the way vanilla grass fades into the distance. The grass appears smaller and more bunched up. I know it's a shader mod and probably shouldn't have that effect but it always does. It seems to play more nicely with the vegetation tweak pack that gamma is curently using. ES has always had better looking guns and a color tone that goes slightly darker than the original. These things can all be tweaked though and it doesn't look to shabby. I'll try the specular adjustment you mentioned and maybe I'll try switching back to 1.09 if I can still find it for download.

I usually do my own custom mod installations and usually I do everything manually. However, I've been toying around with gamma this last week since it includes most of the mods I personally use and only requires that I add 20 or so mods on top of it. This allows me to check out some new mods I have not used and see what grok has been up to regarding game balance.

I don't expect this mod to support gamma but I figured I would mention a few problems I've noticed when doing a full install of this mod with a gamma install. The first issue might be an issue with the latest version of Enhanced Shaders. I'm not sure because I usually do not use ES but I have noticed reflective surfaces are a little more overbearing than they are on default Anomaly. Another issue I noticed is that some bushes and reeds in the swamp area are shining bright white when it rains. This could be an ES issue or possibly an issue with the vegetation tweak pack that comes pre installed to the spring version. One last issue, Using MO2, shader based scopes mod installs fine and I can see the black shading function of it working on the scope but the magnification doesn't seem to work. I don't have this problem when I do a manual installation but it doesn't seem to work correctly with gamma MO2 installer and this mod.

Either way, not a big deal just figured I would report what I have seen since I'm currently playing around with gamma.

Look for my post on the previous page of comments. I left some information and links to patches that need to be installed. Each patch has its own instructions. In all, you will need to disable 5 or so gamma options and reinstall the GBOOBS option and use files that are included in the compatibility patches I previously linked. It can feel a little complicated but if you follow the patch install directions step by step it will work fine. I've been playing for a week and clocked a ton of hours without any errors or issues in gamma with HD models installed.

Very nice! You work at a brisk pace and never disappoint. Thanks for sharing.

check my earlier posts up on this page. They describe how to get HD models working with Gamma. I've played for 20 hours with no crashes or errors.

Hello, I'm using the latest version of gamma which includes this mod by default. After a few days in the zone alot of npcs have gathered at the rookie village and it's starting to hurt my frame rate. I read the instructions on this mod and it says that you need to set the delete all npcs parameter to "true" and then start a game, save it, exit the game, uninstall the mod and they will be gone. However, they are still there and I can't get rid of them.

I've been using this with the Arrival anomalous mod. Pretty cool to see reactive grass pulse to the rhythm of an anomaly.

Very cool. I'll check it out and report back.

EDIT:
I installed the latest HD Models patch that you provided and I installed it with MO2. The MO2 installer worked great. I loaded up an exosuit and some high powered guns and walked from the Cordon to the generators map keeping an eye on the console for any errors. No errors were reported in the console. Meatchunk's Prefetcher with the prefetcher patch for HD models is a must have in my opinion. I no longer have FPS drops in Jupitor and Zaton maps because all of the assets are already loaded. Afterburner is reporting 27GB of system RAM usage and 14GB of Video RAM usage but those are peaks from all of the caching with pretty much every graphics add on installed at the highest quality settings running at 4k. Worst case scenario 20FPS boost to FPS minimums and maintaining 60FPS+ on those big maps is no longer impossible at 4k with good grass settings.

I added some mods to gamma including Arrival, HD Models, Dismemberment, Toxic Air, Toxic Rain, Alternative Cats, Alternative Fleshes, Crossing the Boarder, and the latest version of Screen Space shaders with all options enabled and pushed further through the .ini. All things said and done 395 items are installed through MO2 and only a handful of errors are ever reported to the command console. Basically, mags redux has a texture error the first time you open your inventory with mags in it. The Gamma UI also has a texture error the first time you access the inventory but both of these errors do not cause stutters or crashes and after you open the inventory for the first time they never occur again. I've seen a few bump map and model errors from B&S weapon pack but that's probably because gamma is not using the latest version. The latest version of B&S is not compatible with Groks revised stashes mod and I would rather play with that then have a few new weapons and weapon fixes. I've experienced no crashes so far and the game looks and plays amazing. I've only put about 4 hours into testing so far but all looks good. I'll report back if I see any HD Model related errors in the future.

BTW, nice job with this pack. The models look polished and fit the world perfectly. This mod has come a long way over the years and makes the other models look like stick figures in comparison.

Ok I figured it out. Well I didn't figure it out but I found the solution. It might be a good idea to supply this info as a note for the HD models installation instructions. GAMMA is a very popular mod and HD models works fine with it but I was unaware of some info and patches that are available to the community and they smooth over the installation problems many are having.

Basically all you need to do is install anomaly and patch it to 1.5.2 and then download groks installer and do a full install of Gamma. Install the latest patch for HD models and then download the mods from the links provided below. Make sure to carefully read the instructions and follow each step for the patches provided below.

Moddb.com

Everything works great but the load times are horrific. Thankfully Meatchunk provided a prefetcher that comes included with gamma and speeds up load times and even minimizes microstutters in game. The problem is that the prefetcher wasn't made for HD models and it will crash your game but there is a patch for that as well. Patch provided here.

Moddb.com

Thanks to these two patches I got HD models working in Gamma with no install problems or crashes in game. Cr3pis HD armor icons even work after following the instructions on the above-mentioned patches. All character models are HD models in my game now so this fixes the problem I was having and will avoid the error that diego.09 had as well.

This is a nice mod. Thanks for sharing it. The new Anomalies are pretty great even when compared to HFX 3.0. I would say the seeds and leaves are my favorite aspect of the mod though. Modern Games like Dying Light 2 do similar things and this makes the game feel more modern in that way and it adds to the immersion by having more going on and distracting the brain from catching as many unrealistic elements.

I'm using a 7950X CPU and I find that disabling the hyperthreads and core zero allows this mod to work without a noticeable loss in performance but if you don't do that it will hit performance pretty hard. This is probably because the CPU is already pushed to the breaking point without proper multithreading it's just too much for a single core even with boosts up to 5.9Ghz. Before I used this mod, that trick would only gain me 5FPS but now it gains me 15FPS or a 25% performance increase so it's needed to get a solid 60FPS with this mod in my case.

Thanks for this mod, the mutants are one of the only remaining areas that look out of place compared to the rest of the game. NPC animations and mutant models were in desperate need of some work. This series of mods is taking care of the mutants and doing a great job of keeping the original developer vision intact as well. Good work.

I have some frame rate issues in Yanov station but no crashing and I'm using HD models as well.

A couple screen grabs.
I.imgur.com
I.imgur.com

I'm not having any problems with stack trace errors using Anomaly 1.5.2 and SSS version 15.1 in DX11 mode with windows 11. I've tested it for 15 hours without a single crash and I'm using about 120 mod addons.

I've come to the conclusion that shadows in this game are not ideal and pushing everything to the max isn't the best option. The main problem is that the engine does not create soft shadows vs hard shadows based on the distance between the object casting the shadow and the object having the shadow cast onto it. Instead, the game allows you to choose between hard shadows and soft shadows based on how far your character is from the shadow which is not only unrealistic, but the engine doesn't slowly blend the different shadow qualities as you get closer. There is a point where it will just switch from mid cascade to near cascade and it's very jarring.

Also a problem is that you choose distances for shadows and your FOV will cause shadows to come and go out of range while you are standing still and simply moving your POV. This makes shadows appear and disappear while they are on screen. Even if you max out all options which will kill performance, these problems will still occur on screen which is very jarring as well.

My opinion is that no option will create realistic shadows all the time and the best choice is to blend the quality options so that they don't mismatch based on distance and to find options that minimize graphic anomalies while still providing visual benefits worth pursuing. So these are the settings I have chosen to get the absolute best looking visuals without considering performance.

Anomaly Launcher:

Shadow Map=4096MB

Anomaly>Settings>Advanced:

Distant Shadow Culling=Disabled
Grass Shadows=Endabled
Shadow Quality Slider=Maxed
Actor Shadow=Enabled
Sun Shadows=Enabled
Sun Shadow Quality=Extreme
SSAO=SSDO
SSAO Quality=High

SSS configuration settings in the Anomaly>gamedata> shaders> r3 folder:

# Define G_sss_steps=64

MCM Options:
Shadow Cascades:

Near Cascades Size=20
Mid Cascades Size=40
Far Cascades Size=140
Grass Shadows Quality=Ultra
Grass Shadows Distance (sun)=50
Grass Shadows Max Distance=30

Increasing these settings will increase visual anomalies that outweigh the higher quality or larger draw distance in my opinion. Lowering any of the settings will sacrifice visual quality for performance and will be subjective to each individual and what their hardware can do.

I have the crashing problem at the generators map. Using the fix for version 3.5 of CVFX will cause my game to crash. Sometimes I can play for 10 minutes before it crashes and sometimes it will crash immediately after I load my game. This will happen on any map even on a new game. It's always related to the particles.xr file. Until a real fix is provided for this problem, this mod cannot be used with story mode. Or you can remove it when you get to the generators map like I had to.

I haven't noticed any difference in grass rendering distance on my setup so it might be hardware specific, or something went wrong in his install. I had two DOF entries on my mcm after I installed 15.1 for some reason. Manually clearing out the SSS files in my r3 directory fixed the problem.

!Can't write file: 'c:/anomaly\appdata\shaders_cache\r4\font2.ps\4096111100110000000000100000111331110010?1121000'. Error: 'Invalid argument'.

It only started doing it with version 15 and it doesn't happen until you go into the mcm and adjust the grass settings. Setting them back to default doesn't fix the problem, once it's started it never stops.

That aside, this release was a really nice suprise, interactive vegetation and a much-improved shadow system for grass with scalability. I've been testing it all weekend and I'm impressed. Those were two areas that needed improvement so it's very welcome. It's possible that the problem is a combination of mods but it doesn't happen until your mod is installed and it didn't happen until version 15 with interactive vegetation. BTW, I'm using 1.5.2 with the scopes option and no ES. Windows 11, DX11.

When I install version 15.1 my shader cache stops working. I noticed my load times were long so I cleared the cache and once again my load times were still long so I checked the cache and it was empty after I loaded up a game and quit playing. I checked the command console and it shows the game is unable to write to the r4 cache folder. I decided to do a clean install and once again, I was without error until I installed SSS. It starts happening after you enable the new features in the MCM.