Call of Chernobyl: Ragnarok Stand Alone Extreme Graphics Update (Mk. II) file

Call of Chernobyl: Ragnarok Stand Alone Extreme Graphics Update (Mk. II)

A stand alone version of Call of Chernobyl with a number of mods added, with an emphasis on better graphics for modern computers. I've fixed the old tile texture issues and probably the worst bug, that companions won't follow you! However companion quests are often bugged and I recommend simply not taking them to not risk it or saving a lot before you take the quest so you don't bug the game. For some reason it almost never works, and the ecologist quests are particularly bad, although to be fair they were in anomaly and the original CoC. I still have no idea how to fix these. However, you can use old saves from the older game with the new game, it will just be slightly off in some ways, particularly without certain older models or items spawning back in.

It has new music, textures, shaders and other features designed to run on the new 64 bit engine, and features new HD models. The game is meant to be a stand alone mod and can be played by itself without any need for adding it to your Call of Priypat folder. Just unpack the file with a zip folder and you should be good! With the new foliage, the grass can be really blinding, and therefore you might want to go back to the original; I recommend decreasing grass density, or, deleting all the level folders if it bothers you enough. You can also use the original level folders and textures.

The Mod is meant as a precursor to another mod I'm working on, called Chernobyl: Ragnarok, which will include numerous previously cut factions from previous versions of the Stalker games focusing in part around the cut faction Ragnarok or Final Day, however this particular mod features little changes to the base Call of Chernobyl game. The game, in all honesty is heavily based around other mods, and in particular Max's Mod for call of Chernobyl and uses a lot of call of the zone features (although not quests as they've been harder for me to implement, sadly). It should be noted that I created hardly original textures or models for this mod and have copied all the textures and what have you from other mods or locations, so I don't take credit for owning ANY of this. The only thing I've done is largely edit a few textures and config files, mostly squishing things in as I see fit. I've made a few original textures however. I also have added large amounts of music that I myself did not create. I don't intend to sell it, and therefore it is not a copyright infringement. Most music is non-standard and parodies or altered forms of the original anyways.

The game features shaders, textures and models from HD CoC, Radiophobia, Call of Priypat Complete, and numerous other graphical updates I can't track down. It has many songs added, included some copyrighted that I don't intend to sell so it's not a copyright infringement and I don't take credit or ownership of them. It has HD models, and numerous bug fixes to reduce crashing as well as AI enhancement which makes fighting groups of enemies a lot more fun, and they randomly spawn in less. It takes longer for background functions to update, so it can take a while for enemies or traders to respawn with items. Weapons are rebalanced to be more powerful and don't heal the enemies with each shot like 1.4, with hits being a lot more likely to land. It also makes it easier to die. The economy has been reworked a lot, and it's not quite as buggy or tough as nails as the original, while still being easy to die A LOT even with full armor. You can wear helmets with most suits of armor, and they have all been weakened a bit to reflect that. Ammunition is cheaper and now stored in blocks of 60 to reduce how many background items there are and reduce slowing down the game, plus it's just faster and nicer. Exoskeleton weight is increased to 150 kilos, to reflect the ability to carry lots of weight and, let's face it most experienced stalker veterans increase player carry weight anyways as we've all been-there-and-done-that with stockpiling items. This gives a more fair limitation that is still just a bit annoying. Items like Hercules increase carry weight to 100 kilos, while water and energy drinks increase it by 20 kilos for a short duration. The game is tough, but it is fair, with radiation still being insane and anomalies able to kill you in a single hit even with full armor sometimes which is, yes just as annoying as the original.

The best way to understand the graphical updates is just to look at them! I haven't changed the background menu which is still not 4k, but I will in later updates, and the menu and credits songs are different. I added a lot of new music, including ambient music from half-life which fits extremely well. The only issue really is that some music is too loud sometimes and I've added tools to make it possible to adjust the sound volume of ogg files, just go to tools and use SAVandT. Another tool I added is crazybump, which allows you to make bump-textures for your own textures. I've included numerous screenshots and game files for you to get started with right away, or you can start from the beginning. All the graphical and game presets are already there to my liking, so be warned about that. It is not optimized in any way for older computers.

There's also a lot of new equipment, including an Exobackpack that allows you to increase the carryweight of virtually all of your armor suits, new armor including the nosorog from anomaly that's been slightly changed, and perhaps more so a lot of new helmets, including faction specific helmets. Ragnarok and Spartan helmets provide some of the best armor protection, while the Duty faction helmet provides the most protection overall, but it doesn't actually show some of these attributes anywhere as it reduces actor damage. I wasn't able to add new weapons yet due to them crashing constantly so I left them out, although if you spawn in any WWII weapons or find them at the wishgranter they'll crash if you try to use them.

Features
-The game is based on Max's CoC mod, so it includes all of these features
-Updated Graphics and shaders (game is preset on ideal settings including 4K from the beginning)
-HD models for CoC
-New HD Textures from across many games
-New 64 bit engine that runs with more memory and textures
-New helmets and outfits as well as other gear and improved gear
-Arsenal overhaul mod with new scope textures
-Outfit Marauders so enemies drop outfits
-Quick travel mod so you can quick travel between certain chosen locations
-Changed enemy AI so the fight in groups and don't spawn at complete random
-PDA displays squads like in Clear sky
-Trading is completely overhauled, and traders spawn in with more stuff
-Added in more artefacts and changed their features a bit, their drop rate is also increased
-Time is slowed down to about 3 times that of the regular game so you can enjoy the game more without extreme changes
-Door tweaks so they are easier to open and close and close faster
-Traders will buy gear on any condition, certain items work better and are modified, and gear has much higher durability
-No more toolkits for mechanics to upgrade
-Lootmaster so that you get money automatically when you loot corpses
-New foliage, to make the game look prettier (it can be harder to see so you might turn the grass settings down)
-One new mutant which makes the rats far larger, as the old one was annoying and hard to hit
-No falling damage (this is really annoying for no reason in the game)
-Jumping does not consume energy, you run faster and jump higher to get over weird obstacles
-Many more small Quality of life tweaks

I have to give credit to Max's CoC mod, Radiophobia, Call of Pripyat remake, Complete, Anomaly, and numerous other mods I copied and ported stuff from. This is my series of mods and I really hope nobody sees me as a thief for stealing all my favorite features. Have fun, and be warned there are a few issues I have yet to resolve. If you fix it, please let me know so I can include it in the update.

Known bugs and issues
-Companion quests seem to break a lot, which is a hold over from the original games to some degree. I recommend not taking them or saving a lot before it.
-Unload all weapons pretty much crashes the game, you really shouldn't use it but I left it in the game in case you can figure out how to work out the kinks yourself.
-Not exactly a bug, but the game is set on 4k from the beginning. If this crashes your game, then try lowering the graphics settings inside of the file. The game is meant to be played on 4k and is meant for good computers, so be warned! It is not optimized in any way. Go to the users folder in appdata and change the user file feature "vid_mode 3840x2160" to "vid_mode 1920x1080" if your computer can't do 4k at all, or whatever graphics resolution you want.
-Not a bug, but some UI things are out of sync and it's kind of hard to change, and often times it reverts back to the original anyways without me changing around the DDS files. I think a base database file will load sometimes and override my changes. So these will be out of sync from time to time, it's weird. I have tried a bunch of times to change it and this is what I've got.
-This isn't a bug either, but there are less quests or missions than there could be due to them crashing a lot and me needing to remove them, so the game doesn't have all the cool Call of the zone quests, yet.
-Not a bug, with with new foliage it will be harder for you to see and enemies will likely be able to see and shoot you first. This makes the game WAY harder ,but if you want it to be more open just turn the grass settings down. It makes seem like an aesthetic choice but it's a totally different playthrough and style. Grenades and melee become way more important in high grass where as regular gunplay is more important in more open areas, so bear that in mind, it makes it harder and different. If it's too frustrating, you can turn down the grass settings OR increase the transparency up to 0.9 to 1.0 in the creature, m_stalker, m_stalker_monolith, and m_stalker_zombied config files to modify them. A bigger number = harder for the NPC's to see. There are two transparency figures you need to change
- I wasn't able to add new weapons yet due to them crashing constantly so I left them out, although if you spawn in any WWII weapons or find them at the wishgranter they'll crash if you try to use them.

Fixed bugs
-Fixed a number of crashing issues related to the force_wounded script that I fixed by adding in various scripts from other games, notably from Dr. X.
-Fixed issues and conflict issues from Outfit Marauders and got it to sync with Arsenal Overhaul
-Fixed the issue where companions would unfollow you for no reason, but for some reason many companion quests are still bugged, some from the original CoC and anomaly games (there is still a bug with ecologists in anomaly when you accept the quest from the bunker).