It's not Update it's actually game being delivered after the release . They sold us short on release and adding the content on the go . So I stopped playing it for the next year , but think even then they still giving the release date content as update 😂
May I ask where the fun is in it? All I see is shooting and looting not sure how this doesn't get repetitive easily + the map looks like 90% boring forests with barely any trees
@@llawlied6902 the first few hours of the game are compelling but a tad lack lustre but once you start getting into the exploration, the side quests, The artifact hunting, find some cool guns and upgrade them a bit and especially get into the main quest the game immerses you. If you played fallout 3 there’s a similar instance in this game to the Project purity/enclave return to the wasteland in force where the difficulty ramps up considerably and as a big fan of the OG fallout and metro games the atmosphere and set pieces really just hit right for me. I understand the games not for everyone and many aspects could use love but it takes me back to what I consider the golden age of open world RPG’s.
@@llawlied6902thats what a-life is for. You know that everything around are doing their own stuff, and you can stumble upon those things. It grounds the player in the world. You are making your own goals with aid of missions, and in the meantime a-life happens that you can take part into making it organic. The other part is that the series on the whole was organically designed. You don't get xp, it's not a looter shooter etc. You might not want to fight with enemies. Haven't bought 2 yet, because i'm waiting on actual release aka actually working a-life, but seeing the size of the map i'm a little worried. You need carefull balance to make it fun
@@llawlied6902 primarily I just find it very immersive. Never know what kind of trouble you might get into when you set out from safety. Theres much less loot than a bethesda game but the loot is meaningful. Gunfights are tense and can be over in seconds if you arent prepared. Stealth feels really good after patches. Can’t imagine it’s for everyone though.
Every time I read or listen to something about this game all I can think is... "This game is probably going to be really good in a year or two when it is completely patched and finished."
Also the developers essentially admitted that further improvements to A Life will offset any performance improvements. And performance issues are currently the biggest block from preventing many players enjoyment of this game.
The game is really good even now, it will be a masterpiece and timeless classic in few years. The same story that happened with previous Stalker games to be honest.
They gotta do something about the npc accuracy. The chaos is cool but getting sniped by a double barrel, in the dark, while hiding in a shrub, before you even know the group is there, is a little much.
A few channels have actually tested it. A-Life seems to be running more or less like it did in the original games now. I expect they will improve it even further.
@@Dino2GunZ its just a game system where the world is suppose to be more "alive", with NPC's having their own schedules and freedom around the world instead of spawning in near you.
I’m replaying again (stopped for the day because I work tomorrow) I already beat it with one of the endings I was looking for. I’m now out of Zalissya again and I can safely say it feels so smooth and different. The patches have improved the game a lot. I couldn’t complete in my first play through the quest from Shcherba that you are supposed to collect 4 collars for him. It was bugged so I gave up and completed the storyline instead so hopefully this time around every thing works just as it was intended.
If they manage to fix/improve A-life in this patch without compromising the performance that much, it means that GSC did a good job optimizing the game in this current patch. What I noticed in the current patch, my ram usage was significantly lower than the previous patch (17-18gb and not exceeding 20gb ram) before the patch my ram usage was 21-24gb ram. VRAM usage is also improved. My GPU VRAM usage is only 6.1 to 6.3GB. Before it was like 7gb+. EDIT: It was only 5.3 to 5.7 to 6+gb of VRAM. I was using an Engine Tweak mod to increase the shadow quality and distance, and foliage distance LOD that's why it was using 6.1-6.3GB of VRAM. I deleted it since it was making my game more stuttery.
@@ballusingh9948 Mixed of Low to High. Texture - HIGH Hair - MEDIUM Object details and Materials - HIGH Effects - MEDIUM Post processing - MEDIUM Aliasing - MEDIUM Motion Blur - OFF DOF -MEDIUM Light Shafts - ENABLE Sharpness - 20% FSR - Quality Frame gen off Shading and Global Illumination - LOW Reflection and Shadow - MEDIUM Clouds, Fog, Sky, Foliage - MEDIUM Environment Draw Distance - FAR Playing on Borderless mode 1080p 30fps to avoid massive frame drops.
@@30fpsguy I haven't bought the game yet but I only have 16gb, and my system uses about 2.5gb on its own, so it's worrying to see such numbers, when the listed minimum requirement is 16gb. At least I have 12gb vram.
The Stalker lore names them Zombies so by definition of the canon in the Zone, they’re Zombies. They’re people that had their brains turned to mush by Psi-radiation or Controllers.
I started playing a week ago. Then couldn't play Thursday night because of a 100+Gig patch. I let it update overnight. Played Friday, but now its Saturday morning (I have a couple of hours spare time) and I can't play again because I have another 100+Gig patch. Basically downloaded this game 3 times in 1 week. Luckily I don't have a download limit or I would be stuck for up to a month before I could play again.
@@troypinkerton9876yeah I’ve refrained from buying it yet cuz I’m not wasting my time, still love the games I’m just gonna wait for the Multiplayer patch like a lot of people
Having watched your videos for years (early Fallout 4 days I think), I knew you'd actually get in and see what the patch did rather than just reading off patch notes. Glad to see you did this, it really sets you above the dozens of "STALKER UPDATE 1.1 !!!1!1!1!" patch note videos. Keep it up man.
@@Alberto-xw8vx ill tolerate them for being an AA + and a typified jank game, and the often mention conflict happening. in contrast cyberpunk took a year based on everyone reception Patch 1.12? or 1.5 (amidst the anime).
This is it! This is what I was waiting for! I love random encounters, especially when NPCs interact with one another. You normally have to use 2-3 mods on Fallout or Skyrim to see this. Now I get to play Stalker 2 this weekend! Thanks for the video!
@92HazelMocha Honestly, it doesn't matter. My biggest pet peeve in games with vast words is when they're empty of any encounters - random or not. I appreciate the comment!
@catzor4795 Really? I ways see this game in my recommendations. I'll have to take a look if it indeed does have encounters worth recommending. Thanks for the heads-up!
I was so shocked when I woke up and wanted to get an hour of Stalker in before work but was hit with an update almost the size of the whole game. With my shitty internet speed I didn't get to play the game again until 11pm, BUT the update is great. It makes the zone feel much more alive and it adds a lot of difficulty having to stay vigilant for groups of 10 enemies that run up on you just for existing.
They don't actually spawn\despawn. GSC used the trick I wanted for the protagonist. They become invisible. But the game still watches them and decides what they will do, where to go, although we do not see them. Why did I want the same system for the player? So that when the AI notices you, the game creates an invisible character that repeats your actions, but when you disappear from the AI's field of vision, it stops seeing you, but continues to see your duplicate, which stops repeating after you and is controlled like a normal bot, takes cover, flank, runs away. Until the AI sees the player again, it will focus on the invisible-bot copy, try to throw a grenade behind the closest cover where the copy is hiding, or turn around and go around the building because the invisible copy started going around. AI bots will shoot and throw grenades at cover until they get close and see that there is no player there. The invisible copy can only exist outside the AI's line of sight, meaning it will disappear and reappear behind the next closest cover. AI bots will no longer just wander around or see the player through walls, they will act logically and purposefully. A cheap imitation of real intelligence and realistic behavior.
Imagine how you jump into some ditch and run away, and then from afar you watch how bots throw a grenade into this ditch, check it and, not finding you, go to the nearest house or along the ditch in your direction. Ok. Apparently we need two invisible copies of the player: one hides, the other runs away.
I just started a new game, got through my first playthrough with no bugs, but felt almost easy and dead in the world. Can already feel the difference only a few missions into my new playthrough after patch. Soo excited to see how much better it makes the game
I'm a bit shocked at how little this game has crashed for me. I believe I've only had it happen twice and I've been playing since launch. The first one was in the prologue when fighting the bloodsucker and the second one was a good 10 to 20 hours into the game. I did have massive performance issues which ended up being mostly resolved by switching the game over to SSD.
Thanks for this video. This is the only channel that doesn't lazily list off the patch notes, instead you play the game and give your perspective on what has changed in your experience. Bravo sir
This is the first game that I've seen that has 32 gigs of RAM as recommended specs. I'm going to give this a year to see if they can sort out the performance issues.
Its because its on UE5 and every single game nowadays using that engine basically NEEDS dlss upscaling to run well. Game looks and sounds great in every single way but this is just modern gaming now. Can't make a 80+ hour open world game with graphics like this and properly optimize and bug fix in the time frame they had (with the war and all). They're fixing it though, thankfully. Just get it on gamepass.
Wow, it actually seems like the zone is more alive now (despite still missing interactions and the ability to hire allies). Once I buy the game now that my Gamepass is up I hope my save data will still be Valid. Because as much as I love this game, spending days to restart my save would suck.
I wish I waited a few more weeks to play this. I put a good 48+ hours before getting soft locked. I started over but now I’m a little burnt out. Gonna give it a few more days before getting Back into it
In Stalker lore, The comparison between Normal Zombies and Zombified Stalkers is this. Zombies are person who has been exposed to psi-radiation in brain scorcher or they attack by psi-entities like controller. They are essentially mindless, feral creatures driven by instinct. They are slow, shambling, and often appear decayed or mutated. Zombified Stalkers are a hostile faction that are driven mad and exposure to Psy-field and those who remained for extended periods suffered a most terrible fate, either succumbing to the emission's influence and becoming members of the Monolith or becoming zombified stalkers. They retain some of their former intelligence and may even still carry and use weapons. However, their minds are severely altered, often driven by a warped sense of duty or a twisted version of their former goals. They are more dangerous than regular zombies due to their combat experience and the potential for coordinated attacks.
3:06 that was a thing even in 1.0.1 version 8:00 now THAT means they actually make their AI behave just like in old games which is great. They (bots) always do silly things like this HOWEVER most of the time they work super well.
Fantastic video. The fact that you provide results on tests you’ve done is the perfect way to assess an update. Thank you so much, and you’ve definitely gained a new subscriber.
@@jeambeam3173metaphor better + absolutely demolished launch, has been huge update after update after bug after bug. I do not want to purchase a $2-5k graphics card to play one game.
A broken game at released dont deserve GOTY. Dont get me wrong i love the game and stalker lore since 07' but this brokenngame doesnt deserve GOTY. Much like No Mans Sky, HUGE potential on release but broken and luckluster ASF at release, but the free updates kept it alive and now its one of the best survival/base building games.
What do you mean nothing else as good thats not DLC? Silent Hill 2, Infinite Wealth, Dragons Dogma 2 were also equally or more deserving of a spot there too Stalker is good but that Statement is extremely bold@@jeambeam3173
Releasing a game then changing requirements 2 weeks afterwards because of a patch (which adds things that should be included on release) is fucking crazy
@@dataanalystbynight4375 just gotta fork out how much for a PC or gaming laptop? with 32G of ram and an RTX 4070? that's a cool £1k-£3k from retail, if you're lucky (my laptop was £1200, and that was for a new one that would've been top shelf last year). not everyone has that much lying around
@@knuckles543 well friend the fact of the matter is, that you can build a solid system for the price of 900to 1200. With consoles like the play station 5 pro costing 700 with no games even. You would come out ahead investing in a pc especially on sales to stack up on games. People are playing on a console and getting a crappy playing experience. Consoles aren’t able to upgrade or keep up with the demands as the guy above said. You do you. But you could save 50 to 100 dollars a month and have a nice pc in a year or two. Which woudl last a while if you targeting high 1080 p ultra performance. Vs a console giving you 15 fps. People spend money on what they value and I invest in my hobbies.
I think the soldier's A-Life breaking might actually be a hint that they reused some code from the original system, there was a weird quirk where allied stalkers would go into a "warning" state if you sprinted and stop whatever they were doing (same as if you looked at them with a gun out), I think Yesha Biker was just pissed off that you were moving around so fast.
They stated performance improvements. Mainly for hub areas with lots of NPCs. But I tested it and have zero FPS difference? And I've got an RTX 4090 and i9 13900k with 64GB DDR5 RAM. Why do devs lie in their patch notes?? If they want to really fix performance. They need to change the ray traced lighting to be hardware based instead of software based. Currently software based means the mandatory RT is running off your CPU. Hardware would allow the RT to run off Nvidia's RT cores on 2000 series Nvidia GPUs and above. It would help solve the CPU bottleneck....
Just because it didn't work perfectly for your hardware doesn't mean it was a lie. I've seen many people say they have noticed an improvement. I've seen some say performance got worse after the patch. For me personally I haven't seen any difference.
And with all the npc in background you don't think the performance should be lower? If its the same you basically got a good amount of performance but you didn't felt
I'm still gonna wait until A-life is on a similar level to what mods like CoC achieved with NPCs having specific tasks, going on hunting trips, looting after battle. This is a good step in the right direction but having to download these massive updates seems like a pain so I'll also wait untilt the devs give it a final update to give the community some breathing room to make mods (when the mod tools are out) without fearing that they might break.
1:56 Was this not a thing before? I played this game like 2-3 days after it was released and went to a location, killed all the soldiers there and after running around for a while looting I was inside a house when I heard people talking so I sneaked out and found four more soldiers that had come into the area, so this isn't something new in my experience
I was waiting for this video when I saw the game updating constantly these days lol, also does anybody know if the 60 fps mode on Series X is more stable?
Funny thing is the amount you have to download will be about the same whether you uninstall for a while download the whole thing or keep it and download just a few of the upcoming patches. Tbh the patches will probably end up being more than the whole game after a few months.
NPC which were scripted in locations are still there and designed to attack you on a particular moment. They are not related to A-Life. Ideally they fix factions, so you better be friend and not an anemy to some of them.
If i would design a gauss rifle i would implement a energy reserve for atleast one loaded shot so you can immediatly shoot once the next battery (along with bolts) is inserted. So if you have that in mind it would make sense why the gauss rifle charges while reloading. Obviously this could just be an oversight but the bolts and energy have to come from somewhere so the only explanation would be my theory.
Now they spawn in multiple groups of enemies way too frequently. They went from feeling empty in the zone to feeling like they force fights every 30 ft. I had dogs, 2 bloodsuckers, bandits, and then the ward all showing up within 5 minutes. I'm wasting so much ammo and spending way too much on repairs.
13:38 The enemy's AI 20/20 vision and laser accuracy stopped me from playing before the patch, They broke the immersion of being a Stalker. I'm glad that the devs are addressing this issue.
it’s a little different but yeah basically the same thing A life is more like the entire map and npcs r supposed to be doing things even off screen oblivion just had like a handful of those and the tasks weren’t that complex
Dude I’m like 40 hours deep and had my first emission hit while I’m out and about some random npc saved my life took me to a cellar. I died 2 times before I seen him running. This game is dope.
This update completely broke my game I now have a permanent psi ailment where ghosts are nonstop attacking me and my health is constantly dropping and ontop of the they patched the train hole that alowed you to sneak into prypiat which has ruined any future playthroughs
Excellent. Make it more like Fallout 3 with NPC's actually going places and doing things while you're not looking! It adds to the randomness of the world that keeps people playing for ages to come.
Um the updates broke my game half the time it won't load & when it does load it crashes within 5 minutes. What was the point of today 110 GB update? Did they take notes from bethesda on how to break your game?
The problem with that is that the program is so complex your dev team can't possibly do comprehensive testing to the same extent as tens of thousands of ardent players. This game is going to be around for a long time judging from its predecessors and it's going to be tweaked, optimized and modded to the nth degree. All just part of the fun. I wish I had the $70 and the time to indulge in it right now.
Crazy after this patch my game freezes after 5 minutes of playing and then starts to eat 30 Gigs of ram. Tried launching it as admin. Changed some settings in game. And the enemies are deff just still spawning randomly within like 50 feet of me. Idk if it’s just me but this patch kind of made the game feel worse. I just wanna play the game but now I literally can’t due to the game locking up. Is anyone having similar problems and maybe has a fix?
Every game needs a A-life system. Hopefully they even expand on it, like them modifying areas they take over and trying to conquer other outposts, depending on your support they are maybe able to succeed. Cant wait for whats to come.
Stealth was not improved in my experience. They spot you instantly. Like at the start where you cross through the broken wall after using the scanner for the 1st time. This was exactly the same before the patch.
This will be a game I pick up in a year or two after it's fully updated, and the massive overhaul mods are in full swing. That way, I've got multiple ways to play the game and hundreds of hours of content to absorb. All at a discounted price.
I had the crashes on load, including during shader compilation. Updated my video drivers, and it fixed the issue. Sharing this info in case it helps anyone else.
I cant even play the game because every time i pause the download or close steam the download starts from the very beginning every time. and clearing download cache dosent work either
Still need to fix instantly spawning enemies. That is definitely not fully fixed yet. I was just running in the zone and enemies spawn on top of a hill and just came running at me. I did not see them at all and I was looking in the same direction and they just instantly came running at me calling me a cheeki breeki.
the blurry picture you are talking about is not a toggle. It's the graphic engine's fault. Blame Unreal Engine 5. If you look at other UE5 games like SCP:5K, it's the same blurry mess. Threat Interactive has a more in depth videos about the shitshow that is Unreal Engine 5.
They need to fix the grenade spamming from AI. And also the perfect aiming from AI that can hit you from a 100 yards away through a hill and trees. They have to fix that
@@CristobalArroyo-ct7phturn up game in display settings it is how I offset getting shot in the dark from several hundred meters away. Like night vision.
Actually they aren't Injured Soldiers they're Zombies you can pretty much see it by how slow and different they walk, how inaccurate they are and that they walk in a straight line to you no usage of tactics like flanking you etc., and the most noticeable thing by the typical zombie sounds they make.
Depending on the file structure, it may have to be a huge update just to patch a handful of files. Bethesda games are the same way. It didn't add 100gb, it just overwrote some files.
How do I download said patch? I got the game via Xbox game pass but play it on the PC, I hadn't played for a week or two and started up the game, it said looking for an update but that only took a couple of seconds, surely the game wouldn't have updated 100+ gig in 30 seconds, lol, how do I even check what version of the game I am on?
So the shader compilation freeze bug is still very much present, particularly on AMD GPUs. Other than that, these patches are incredible! And the performance on my end in previously very demanding areas like settlements is more in line with wilderness fps. Overall I saw a noticeable improvement on my older mid tier system.
Yup, I got it yesterday and after an hour gave up and uninstalled. I can tolerate in game weird bugs and glitches that are immersive breaking but when games wont even START??
I have 7800x3d and 7900 xt. First time I launched the game shader screen was running like a quarter compete gpu under full load never moved for like 30 minutes. Restarted and got it to load. Then next one took like 4-5 minutes and got through it. Then would load but then crashed a few times at shader screen. Before like loading on 4th or 5th try. Now I do spade a nexus kid to skip it completely and now it runs smooth. No issues lol. Other than random things that need to be fixed in gsme like quest stuff/interactions or seeing npc soldiers stuck running sonar a building lol
it would be cool if the npc after winning the fight would loot the bodies just like in call of pripyat!! instead of just turning around and walking off as if nothing happened, but it is already a big leap and good news for a-life 2.0, very happy for that.
Loving the changes so far. My only issue is now whenever I'm in the "base" area of Rostok for more than 5-10 minutes, my game freezes then crashes, and I've actually got to restart it 2x to get back in. Played last night on xsx, so haven't seen the couple hot fixes yet, maybe they fixed that. Not sure if it's the software or if I just need to blast the dust out lol. Anyone else experiencing this?
The only thing *I* want is for them to get rid of the hard coded binds so I can actually use my USB controller I use so I can play the game. The fact that you can rebind controls to something and then have a hardcoded conflict that *can not* be resolved is ridiculous. And I'm not the only one not happy about that. The forums are chock full of people trying to rebind even basic stuff like movement and they can't because there's hard coded conflicts all over the place.
i fired up the game after the update, started playing, heard a explosion in the distance and then the game crashed next try. i start firing at bandits, game crashed
Ive tried to get into it but honestly game needs another year at least before it’s worth playing. This coming from someone that is almost at the end of the main story of cyberpunk for the first time and just started playing through phantom liberty. Honestly it pays to wait until a game is in its best possible state.
Its not adding up to your already game size. the game basically redownloads it self. So it is the same size you used to have, but it downloads a few GB more. sadly that cant be done separately given the difficulty so the entire game redownloads it self so ensure all patch fixes work as intended. its lile doing a restart run to the game after installing some mods to make sure they work properly
@@unknown_karma12334 I'm starting to get really irritated with UE5 anyway. Most of the UE5 games suck in optimization, full of bugs, bloated file size, has insane system requirements also most of them has a generic look
The injured, limping soldiers are zombies :)
yeah I was so confused why he didn't know that
Lmao@@vicestegaming
yea I'm cracking up! He says it so confidently!
Hey! Im trying my best, you dont need to call me a zombie
@@vicestegamingbecause hes only played the game for 3 hours
That update was larger than every game on the Nintendo DS combined, which is only 83.2Gb.
What a fantastic stat!
It's really ridiculous that these kinds of 'update' sizes are acceptable, triple A gaming is apparently installing hundreds of gigabytes in updates.
It's not Update it's actually game being delivered after the release . They sold us short on release and adding the content on the go . So I stopped playing it for the next year , but think even then they still giving the release date content as update 😂
you truly think each of the stalker 2 patches have been 100s of GB?
@@mrtango1824 keep letting them believe that GB update size matters lol
My first stalker game. Feels like discovering fallout 3 all over again.
Same here and feel exactly the same, haven’t put it down since I started
May I ask where the fun is in it? All I see is shooting and looting not sure how this doesn't get repetitive easily + the map looks like 90% boring forests with barely any trees
@@llawlied6902 the first few hours of the game are compelling but a tad lack lustre but once you start getting into the exploration, the side quests, The artifact hunting, find some cool guns and upgrade them a bit and especially get into the main quest the game immerses you. If you played fallout 3 there’s a similar instance in this game to the Project purity/enclave return to the wasteland in force where the difficulty ramps up considerably and as a big fan of the OG fallout and metro games the atmosphere and set pieces really just hit right for me.
I understand the games not for everyone and many aspects could use love but it takes me back to what I consider the golden age of open world RPG’s.
@@llawlied6902thats what a-life is for. You know that everything around are doing their own stuff, and you can stumble upon those things. It grounds the player in the world. You are making your own goals with aid of missions, and in the meantime a-life happens that you can take part into making it organic.
The other part is that the series on the whole was organically designed. You don't get xp, it's not a looter shooter etc. You might not want to fight with enemies.
Haven't bought 2 yet, because i'm waiting on actual release aka actually working a-life, but seeing the size of the map i'm a little worried. You need carefull balance to make it fun
@@llawlied6902 primarily I just find it very immersive. Never know what kind of trouble you might get into when you set out from safety. Theres much less loot than a bethesda game but the loot is meaningful. Gunfights are tense and can be over in seconds if you arent prepared. Stealth feels really good after patches. Can’t imagine it’s for everyone though.
Every time I read or listen to something about this game all I can think is...
"This game is probably going to be really good in a year or two when it is completely patched and finished."
Also the developers essentially admitted that further improvements to A Life will offset any performance improvements. And performance issues are currently the biggest block from preventing many players enjoyment of this game.
The game is really good even now, it will be a masterpiece and timeless classic in few years. The same story that happened with previous Stalker games to be honest.
@@tyr8338 It should have been good on release.
@@sparhawk1228I hear that, the pessimist side of my brain is saying I’ll need to fork out money on a 12 gb gpu for that game for certain.
@hostileenvironment6107 16GB VRAM is my recommendation.
They gotta do something about the npc accuracy. The chaos is cool but getting sniped by a double barrel, in the dark, while hiding in a shrub, before you even know the group is there, is a little much.
You've obviously never played the originals lol
@@bushwoogieThe originals didn't have enough shrubbery for that issue to exist
They have already worked on fixing stealth
mods brotha
Facts they have to make them less aim botted and less bullet spongey
injured solders? they were zombies... have you played any stalker game ever?
That's what i'm saying. They were clearly zombies, Dude love to just make stuff up.
I think he is a tourist.
*surprised pikachu face* UA-camrs are businesses and cover topics for money and not personal passion?!
Yea he covers all kinds of gaming. He’s just a reporter. Doesn’t nail it every time.
@@Lazysquid27 You can't blame him, stalker 2 is his first stalker game and he plays a lot of these types of games from fallout 4 to cyberpunk
The "injured" soldiers 😂.
🤣
They were "injured" alright.
@@AxelLeJefflmao I was gonna comment that exact thing word for word 🤣
Go get laid gamer
@@ben_dover33you clicked on this video too cornball
finally, someone actually testing and showing the changes - a-life and all - instead of just narrating patch notes.
ty
open world games did a pretty thorough job as well and his info got out before 1.1.1 dropped should check him out
A few channels have actually tested it. A-Life seems to be running more or less like it did in the original games now. I expect they will improve it even further.
What is A-life?
@@Dino2GunZ its just a game system where the world is suppose to be more "alive", with NPC's having their own schedules and freedom around the world instead of spawning in near you.
@@Dino2GunZ it livens up the zone and gives npcs an online and offline mode in which actions and motives still continue... npcs basically get "a life"
I’m replaying again (stopped for the day because I work tomorrow) I already beat it with one of the endings I was looking for. I’m now out of Zalissya again and I can safely say it feels so smooth and different. The patches have improved the game a lot.
I couldn’t complete in my first play through the quest from Shcherba that you are supposed to collect 4 collars for him. It was bugged so I gave up and completed the storyline instead so hopefully this time around every thing works just as it was intended.
If they manage to fix/improve A-life in this patch without compromising the performance that much, it means that GSC did a good job optimizing the game in this current patch.
What I noticed in the current patch, my ram usage was significantly lower than the previous patch (17-18gb and not exceeding 20gb ram) before the patch my ram usage was 21-24gb ram.
VRAM usage is also improved. My GPU VRAM usage is only 6.1 to 6.3GB. Before it was like 7gb+.
EDIT: It was only 5.3 to 5.7 to 6+gb of VRAM. I was using an Engine Tweak mod to increase the shadow quality and distance, and foliage distance LOD that's why it was using 6.1-6.3GB of VRAM.
I deleted it since it was making my game more stuttery.
What settings do you use bro ?
@@ballusingh9948 Mixed of Low to High.
Texture - HIGH
Hair - MEDIUM
Object details and Materials - HIGH
Effects - MEDIUM
Post processing - MEDIUM
Aliasing - MEDIUM
Motion Blur - OFF
DOF -MEDIUM
Light Shafts - ENABLE
Sharpness - 20%
FSR - Quality
Frame gen off
Shading and Global Illumination - LOW
Reflection and Shadow - MEDIUM
Clouds, Fog, Sky, Foliage - MEDIUM
Environment Draw Distance - FAR
Playing on Borderless mode 1080p 30fps to avoid massive frame drops.
20GB ram? Is that the total ram the system is using with stuff in the background?
@@LuizPPassos OS+Game. Stalker 2 eats a lot of ram.
@@30fpsguy I haven't bought the game yet but I only have 16gb, and my system uses about 2.5gb on its own, so it's worrying to see such numbers, when the listed minimum requirement is 16gb. At least I have 12gb vram.
The "injured soldiers" are zombies
How do you know that?
@Al_Lergic Zombie shamble, pallid skin, and bloodshot eyes.
@@EvilWolf2 What's the lore behind them?
The Stalker lore names them Zombies so by definition of the canon in the Zone, they’re Zombies. They’re people that had their brains turned to mush by Psi-radiation or Controllers.
@Al_Lergic Stalkers who had their brains fried by the brain Scorcher.
I just got the game yesterday, downloaded it and now I have to redownload it again, yay
I started playing a week ago. Then couldn't play Thursday night because of a 100+Gig patch. I let it update overnight. Played Friday, but now its Saturday morning (I have a couple of hours spare time) and I can't play again because I have another 100+Gig patch. Basically downloaded this game 3 times in 1 week. Luckily I don't have a download limit or I would be stuck for up to a month before I could play again.
@@troypinkerton9876yeah I’ve refrained from buying it yet cuz I’m not wasting my time, still love the games I’m just gonna wait for the Multiplayer patch like a lot of people
@@kja6336 that's actually happening? is it like pvp or campaign coop
@@kja6336please elaborate what multiplayer patch
🤣🤣🤣
Having watched your videos for years (early Fallout 4 days I think), I knew you'd actually get in and see what the patch did rather than just reading off patch notes. Glad to see you did this, it really sets you above the dozens of "STALKER UPDATE 1.1 !!!1!1!1!" patch note videos. Keep it up man.
Devs are doing great work with patches!
Nope, they just cyberpunked their release 😢
@@Alberto-xw8vx ill tolerate them for being an AA + and a typified jank game, and the often mention conflict happening. in contrast cyberpunk took a year based on everyone reception Patch 1.12? or 1.5 (amidst the anime).
This is great news! I was worried A Life would never get a proper update due to performance issues.
You should probably try playing the game yourseld before commenting 😂
In 4:43 im very certain its just zombifieds not injured soldiers
I appreciate your videos because you don’t just read the patch notes; you provide actual gameplay. Great video!
Fun fact, with a pistol preferably suppressed, when you aim crouch you make no noise walking
This is it! This is what I was waiting for! I love random encounters, especially when NPCs interact with one another. You normally have to use 2-3 mods on Fallout or Skyrim to see this.
Now I get to play Stalker 2 this weekend! Thanks for the video!
X4 foundations is the only other game that does this without mods, although that's an entirely different genre
Mount and Blade: Warband.
@92HazelMocha Honestly, it doesn't matter. My biggest pet peeve in games with vast words is when they're empty of any encounters - random or not. I appreciate the comment!
@catzor4795 Really?
I ways see this game in my recommendations. I'll have to take a look if it indeed does have encounters worth recommending. Thanks for the heads-up!
I was so shocked when I woke up and wanted to get an hour of Stalker in before work but was hit with an update almost the size of the whole game. With my shitty internet speed I didn't get to play the game again until 11pm, BUT the update is great. It makes the zone feel much more alive and it adds a lot of difficulty having to stay vigilant for groups of 10 enemies that run up on you just for existing.
Thank you for actually testing the patch instead of just reading patch notes, its very helpful. Merry Christmas
They don't actually spawn\despawn. GSC used the trick I wanted for the protagonist. They become invisible. But the game still watches them and decides what they will do, where to go, although we do not see them. Why did I want the same system for the player? So that when the AI notices you, the game creates an invisible character that repeats your actions, but when you disappear from the AI's field of vision, it stops seeing you, but continues to see your duplicate, which stops repeating after you and is controlled like a normal bot, takes cover, flank, runs away. Until the AI sees the player again, it will focus on the invisible-bot copy, try to throw a grenade behind the closest cover where the copy is hiding, or turn around and go around the building because the invisible copy started going around.
AI bots will shoot and throw grenades at cover until they get close and see that there is no player there. The invisible copy can only exist outside the AI's line of sight, meaning it will disappear and reappear behind the next closest cover. AI bots will no longer just wander around or see the player through walls, they will act logically and purposefully. A cheap imitation of real intelligence and realistic behavior.
Imagine how you jump into some ditch and run away, and then from afar you watch how bots throw a grenade into this ditch, check it and, not finding you, go to the nearest house or along the ditch in your direction. Ok. Apparently we need two invisible copies of the player: one hides, the other runs away.
"injured soldiers", yea this guy actually plays this game I'm sure
I just started a new game, got through my first playthrough with no bugs, but felt almost easy and dead in the world. Can already feel the difference only a few missions into my new playthrough after patch. Soo excited to see how much better it makes the game
I'm a bit shocked at how little this game has crashed for me. I believe I've only had it happen twice and I've been playing since launch. The first one was in the prologue when fighting the bloodsucker and the second one was a good 10 to 20 hours into the game.
I did have massive performance issues which ended up being mostly resolved by switching the game over to SSD.
Yeah same here, I have 40 hours of playtime and not a single crash. I only had a few bugs with equipment and that’s it.
Nvme required for those type of massive and detailed openworlds
Thanks for this video. This is the only channel that doesn't lazily list off the patch notes, instead you play the game and give your perspective on what has changed in your experience. Bravo sir
This is the first game that I've seen that has 32 gigs of RAM as recommended specs. I'm going to give this a year to see if they can sort out the performance issues.
Its because its on UE5 and every single game nowadays using that engine basically NEEDS dlss upscaling to run well. Game looks and sounds great in every single way but this is just modern gaming now. Can't make a 80+ hour open world game with graphics like this and properly optimize and bug fix in the time frame they had (with the war and all). They're fixing it though, thankfully. Just get it on gamepass.
Wow, it actually seems like the zone is more alive now (despite still missing interactions and the ability to hire allies). Once I buy the game now that my Gamepass is up I hope my save data will still be Valid. Because as much as I love this game, spending days to restart my save would suck.
I wish I waited a few more weeks to play this. I put a good 48+ hours before getting soft locked. I started over but now I’m a little burnt out. Gonna give it a few more days before getting Back into it
How did you get soft locked?
How did you get soft locked?
Was it the Zalissya defense?
As long as you make regular saves it's impossible to get soft locked unless you're just saving over your only save 🤦♂️
@@mikeuk666 The Zalissya defense was and maybe still is completely broken but sure go off
In Stalker lore, The comparison between Normal Zombies and Zombified Stalkers is this.
Zombies are person who has been exposed to psi-radiation in brain scorcher or they attack by psi-entities like controller. They are essentially mindless, feral creatures driven by instinct. They are slow, shambling, and often appear decayed or mutated.
Zombified Stalkers are a hostile faction that are driven mad and exposure to Psy-field and those who remained for extended periods suffered a most terrible fate, either succumbing to the emission's influence and becoming members of the Monolith or becoming zombified stalkers. They retain some of their former intelligence and may even still carry and use weapons. However, their minds are severely altered, often driven by a warped sense of duty or a twisted version of their former goals. They are more dangerous than regular zombies due to their combat experience and the potential for coordinated attacks.
3:06 that was a thing even in 1.0.1 version
8:00 now THAT means they actually make their AI behave just like in old games which is great. They (bots) always do silly things like this HOWEVER most of the time they work super well.
Fantastic video. The fact that you provide results on tests you’ve done is the perfect way to assess an update. Thank you so much, and you’ve definitely gained a new subscriber.
They are killing it with these updates. For sure my GOTY.
It's bs that it can't be nominated when there's nothing else as good that isn't dlc
@@jeambeam3173metaphor better + absolutely demolished launch, has been huge update after update after bug after bug. I do not want to purchase a $2-5k graphics card to play one game.
They shouldn’t have released a game broken from the beginning.
A broken game at released dont deserve GOTY. Dont get me wrong i love the game and stalker lore since 07' but this brokenngame doesnt deserve GOTY. Much like No Mans Sky, HUGE potential on release but broken and luckluster ASF at release, but the free updates kept it alive and now its one of the best survival/base building games.
What do you mean nothing else as good thats not DLC?
Silent Hill 2, Infinite Wealth, Dragons Dogma 2 were also equally or more deserving of a spot there too
Stalker is good but that Statement is extremely bold@@jeambeam3173
Releasing a game then changing requirements 2 weeks afterwards because of a patch (which adds things that should be included on release) is fucking crazy
I wish they would just optimize the game. It's near impossible to play on a series X. 15 fps is not acceptable.
Come over to pc master race
@@dataanalystbynight4375 just gotta fork out how much for a PC or gaming laptop? with 32G of ram and an RTX 4070?
that's a cool £1k-£3k from retail, if you're lucky (my laptop was £1200, and that was for a new one that would've been top shelf last year). not everyone has that much lying around
@@knuckles543 well friend the fact of the matter is, that you can build a solid system for the price of 900to 1200. With consoles like the play station 5 pro costing 700 with no games even. You would come out ahead investing in a pc especially on sales to stack up on games. People are playing on a console and getting a crappy playing experience. Consoles aren’t able to upgrade or keep up with the demands as the guy above said. You do you. But you could save 50 to 100 dollars a month and have a nice pc in a year or two. Which woudl last a while if you targeting high 1080 p ultra performance. Vs a console giving you 15 fps. People spend money on what they value and I invest in my hobbies.
I think the soldier's A-Life breaking might actually be a hint that they reused some code from the original system, there was a weird quirk where allied stalkers would go into a "warning" state if you sprinted and stop whatever they were doing (same as if you looked at them with a gun out), I think Yesha Biker was just pissed off that you were moving around so fast.
I bought the game but im not playing it until March to give time for fixes to be sorted.
8:00 dont pretend you dont do that every once and a while
4:30 aren't those "injured soldiers" simply roaming zombies?
They stated performance improvements. Mainly for hub areas with lots of NPCs. But I tested it and have zero FPS difference? And I've got an RTX 4090 and i9 13900k with 64GB DDR5 RAM.
Why do devs lie in their patch notes??
If they want to really fix performance. They need to change the ray traced lighting to be hardware based instead of software based. Currently software based means the mandatory RT is running off your CPU. Hardware would allow the RT to run off Nvidia's RT cores on 2000 series Nvidia GPUs and above. It would help solve the CPU bottleneck....
The area they optimized for performance are probobly not the bottle necks you are having with a 4090
Just because it didn't work perfectly for your hardware doesn't mean it was a lie. I've seen many people say they have noticed an improvement. I've seen some say performance got worse after the patch. For me personally I haven't seen any difference.
@@JF-vz1ju rostok runs smoother for me 3080 i9 10900k and 16 gigs of 3200mhz ram
I can only assume the performance improvements would be more targeted towards mid-tier cards rather than something like a 4090.
And with all the npc in background you don't think the performance should be lower? If its the same you basically got a good amount of performance but you didn't felt
STALKER 2's New Update Is Incredible....and brings bunch of problems that I did not have before.
THANKS FOR BETA TESTING THE GAME FOR US!
GSC be dropping updates faster than kendrick drops disstracks
gsc lamar
Expect, when he drop something, it’s actual has quantity on launch day.
The only thing I want them to fix is for it to stop crashing over and over and over again
I'm still gonna wait until A-life is on a similar level to what mods like CoC achieved with NPCs having specific tasks, going on hunting trips, looting after battle. This is a good step in the right direction but having to download these massive updates seems like a pain so I'll also wait untilt the devs give it a final update to give the community some breathing room to make mods (when the mod tools are out) without fearing that they might break.
Complaining about updates is crazy.
Needing game changing updates for a product that costs real money is crazy
@@MindUrbidniss unfortunely we dont live in a world with perfectly finished products. Every game has updates and patches.
No complaining. You will play slop and you *will* enjoy it.
@@griffiththechad9483 griffith the femboy
I'm still having the same issue with crashing with this update
Bricked my game. Now I'm free to do something more productive with my time 👍
1.1.1 just released to fix the shader cache freeze.
Drama 😂
1:56 Was this not a thing before?
I played this game like 2-3 days after it was released and went to a location, killed all the soldiers there and after running around for a while looting I was inside a house when I heard people talking so I sneaked out and found four more soldiers that had come into the area, so this isn't something new in my experience
I was waiting for this video when I saw the game updating constantly these days lol, also does anybody know if the 60 fps mode on Series X is more stable?
I only use performance mode on series x
It feels incredible I'm glad I waited for the update to play properly!
Downloaded the game on release, was unplayable for me so i just uninstalled it, hopefully now with the update i can play the game😭
You should hold off until a few more patches and new features. It's still pretty buggy. Needs more work.
Funny thing is the amount you have to download will be about the same whether you uninstall for a while download the whole thing or keep it and download just a few of the upcoming patches. Tbh the patches will probably end up being more than the whole game after a few months.
The enemies always having night vision is super frustrating. Especially not having any kind of binoculars to help spot people
NPC which were scripted in locations are still there and designed to attack you on a particular moment.
They are not related to A-Life.
Ideally they fix factions, so you better be friend and not an anemy to some of them.
I noticed that the gauss rifle charges up a shot to full capacity while the magasine is empty and the player is reloading.
If i would design a gauss rifle i would implement a energy reserve for atleast one loaded shot so you can immediatly shoot once the next battery (along with bolts) is inserted. So if you have that in mind it would make sense why the gauss rifle charges while reloading. Obviously this could just be an oversight but the bolts and energy have to come from somewhere so the only explanation would be my theory.
110gb for an update is fucking stupid.
to compare, cyberpunk 2077 just got another update (to version 2.2), that was 40GB, and that has had multiple updates of similar size since launch
@@knuckles543 Both releases were equally disgusting. People should really stop tolerating unfinished products. They had the nerve to charge $70
Now they spawn in multiple groups of enemies way too frequently. They went from feeling empty in the zone to feeling like they force fights every 30 ft. I had dogs, 2 bloodsuckers, bandits, and then the ward all showing up within 5 minutes. I'm wasting so much ammo and spending way too much on repairs.
Crazy that not even a 100GB patch with 1800 fixes can fix the game..
They've only been fixing bugs but none of the gameplay issues
The solution is never buy a Game again until you make sure with a fitgirl repack that the game deserves to be owned.😊
@@Alberto-xw8vx best advise here, what i did w/ Cyberpunk launch
Yea its how UE5 handle their files.
13:38 The enemy's AI 20/20 vision and laser accuracy stopped me from playing before the patch, They broke the immersion of being a Stalker. I'm glad that the devs are addressing this issue.
That's kinda ridiculous 😮😮😮
Do the npcs in stalker 2 also loot the bodies they kill or they just ignore that? i still think the AI in call of prypiat is better
didn't Oblivion do this in like 2001
Tes III morrowind came out in 2002 boomer-bro
No lol
it’s a little different but yeah basically the same thing A life is more like the entire map and npcs r supposed to be doing things even off screen oblivion just had like a handful of those and the tasks weren’t that complex
Dude I’m like 40 hours deep and had my first emission hit while I’m out and about some random npc saved my life took me to a cellar. I died 2 times before I seen him running. This game is dope.
Almost 17 minutes of yapping to get that ad revenue lol.
Fr
This update completely broke my game I now have a permanent psi ailment where ghosts are nonstop attacking me and my health is constantly dropping and ontop of the they patched the train hole that alowed you to sneak into prypiat which has ruined any future playthroughs
It's utter garbage. How can you possibly say it's incredible? SMH. The game is now more broken than ever for a significant amount of people.
Excellent. Make it more like Fallout 3 with NPC's actually going places and doing things while you're not looking! It adds to the randomness of the world that keeps people playing for ages to come.
4:20 those are zombies
Um the updates broke my game half the time it won't load & when it does load it crashes within 5 minutes. What was the point of today 110 GB update? Did they take notes from bethesda on how to break your game?
You know what would be incredible, a developer who can release a game without it being unplayable and broken.
The problem with that is that the program is so complex your dev team can't possibly do comprehensive testing to the same extent as tens of thousands of ardent players. This game is going to be around for a long time judging from its predecessors and it's going to be tweaked, optimized and modded to the nth degree. All just part of the fun. I wish I had the $70 and the time to indulge in it right now.
Crazy after this patch my game freezes after 5 minutes of playing and then starts to eat 30 Gigs of ram. Tried launching it as admin. Changed some settings in game.
And the enemies are deff just still spawning randomly within like 50 feet of me. Idk if it’s just me but this patch kind of made the game feel worse.
I just wanna play the game but now I literally can’t due to the game locking up. Is anyone having similar problems and maybe has a fix?
Every game needs a A-life system. Hopefully they even expand on it, like them modifying areas they take over and trying to conquer other outposts, depending on your support they are maybe able to succeed. Cant wait for whats to come.
yeah, the "feel" it feels like i still have to customize my settings everytime i log on. yup, resets to default STILL!
How about bullet impacts on enemies? Still bullet sponge or they actually moves a bit when you shoot them?
Stealth was not improved in my experience. They spot you instantly. Like at the start where you cross through the broken wall after using the scanner for the 1st time. This was exactly the same before the patch.
Are the LoD issues with popping foliage still present? That’s what makes it unplayable for me.
This will be a game I pick up in a year or two after it's fully updated, and the massive overhaul mods are in full swing. That way, I've got multiple ways to play the game and hundreds of hours of content to absorb. All at a discounted price.
how you get this footege from preview ? is that cut-scene frame or gameplay by free mod camera
I just bought this yesterday! Seems like good timing!
I had the crashes on load, including during shader compilation. Updated my video drivers, and it fixed the issue. Sharing this info in case it helps anyone else.
I cant even play the game because every time i pause the download or close steam the download starts from the very beginning every time. and clearing download cache dosent work either
Still need to fix instantly spawning enemies. That is definitely not fully fixed yet. I was just running in the zone and enemies spawn on top of a hill and just came running at me. I did not see them at all and I was looking in the same direction and they just instantly came running at me calling me a cheeki breeki.
Is there any improvement to motion blur or a toggle option? The blurry picture is so annoying
the blurry picture you are talking about is not a toggle. It's the graphic engine's fault. Blame Unreal Engine 5. If you look at other UE5 games like SCP:5K, it's the same blurry mess. Threat Interactive has a more in depth videos about the shitshow that is Unreal Engine 5.
They need to fix the grenade spamming from AI. And also the perfect aiming from AI that can hit you from a 100 yards away through a hill and trees. They have to fix that
There aim gets worse if you run and jump around but I hate how they can see you so well through all the tall grass and shrubs in the dark.
@@CristobalArroyo-ct7phturn up game in display settings it is how I offset getting shot in the dark from several hundred meters away. Like night vision.
Actually they aren't Injured Soldiers they're Zombies you can pretty much see it by how slow and different they walk, how inaccurate they are and that they walk in a straight line to you no usage of tactics like flanking you etc., and the most noticeable thing by the typical zombie sounds they make.
For me, shader compilation crash was solved by deleting the directx shader cache using Disk Cleanup on Windows
Depending on the file structure, it may have to be a huge update just to patch a handful of files. Bethesda games are the same way. It didn't add 100gb, it just overwrote some files.
Still didn't address the issue of delivering the emitter to scar and him not being at the chemical plant so the cutscene does not start.
How do I download said patch? I got the game via Xbox game pass but play it on the PC, I hadn't played for a week or two and started up the game, it said looking for an update but that only took a couple of seconds, surely the game wouldn't have updated 100+ gig in 30 seconds, lol, how do I even check what version of the game I am on?
So the shader compilation freeze bug is still very much present, particularly on AMD GPUs. Other than that, these patches are incredible! And the performance on my end in previously very demanding areas like settlements is more in line with wilderness fps. Overall I saw a noticeable improvement on my older mid tier system.
Most people I see complaining after leaving their PC specs are Nvidia users. Think both are having issues due to the shitty game engine.
I had that oroblem for a few minutes but it got a patch soon after. Reddit also offers a fix
@@BurgerLandLord ah I see I guess it's a general problem lol
UE5 is infuriating
Yup, I got it yesterday and after an hour gave up and uninstalled. I can tolerate in game weird bugs and glitches that are immersive breaking but when games wont even START??
I have 7800x3d and 7900 xt. First time I launched the game shader screen was running like a quarter compete gpu under full load never moved for like 30 minutes. Restarted and got it to load. Then next one took like 4-5 minutes and got through it. Then would load but then crashed a few times at shader screen. Before like loading on 4th or 5th try. Now I do spade a nexus kid to skip it completely and now it runs smooth. No issues lol. Other than random things that need to be fixed in gsme like quest stuff/interactions or seeing npc soldiers stuck running sonar a building lol
it would be cool if the npc after winning the fight would loot the bodies just like in call of pripyat!! instead of just turning around and walking off as if nothing happened, but it is already a big leap and good news for a-life 2.0, very happy for that.
Awesome update! Time for my second play through! :)
Loving the changes so far. My only issue is now whenever I'm in the "base" area of Rostok for more than 5-10 minutes, my game freezes then crashes, and I've actually got to restart it 2x to get back in. Played last night on xsx, so haven't seen the couple hot fixes yet, maybe they fixed that. Not sure if it's the software or if I just need to blast the dust out lol. Anyone else experiencing this?
Does this update fix 5fps gameplay when inside that first tavern you have to go to?
The only thing *I* want is for them to get rid of the hard coded binds so I can actually use my USB controller I use so I can play the game. The fact that you can rebind controls to something and then have a hardcoded conflict that *can not* be resolved is ridiculous. And I'm not the only one not happy about that. The forums are chock full of people trying to rebind even basic stuff like movement and they can't because there's hard coded conflicts all over the place.
They should fix the npc health NPCs are complete bullet sponges when you shoot at the torso and the mutants are absolutely ridiculously beefy
Im dying over here with the injured soldiers, lol.
i fired up the game after the update, started playing, heard a explosion in the distance and then the game crashed
next try. i start firing at bandits, game crashed
Ive tried to get into it but honestly game needs another year at least before it’s worth playing. This coming from someone that is almost at the end of the main story of cyberpunk for the first time and just started playing through phantom liberty. Honestly it pays to wait until a game is in its best possible state.
101GB patch?! How much disk space the does the game take in total?
Its not adding up to your already game size. the game basically redownloads it self. So it is the same size you used to have, but it downloads a few GB more. sadly that cant be done separately given the difficulty so the entire game redownloads it self so ensure all patch fixes work as intended.
its lile doing a restart run to the game after installing some mods to make sure they work properly
The same as it was ~ 140gb total
@@unknown_karma12334 I'm starting to get really irritated with UE5 anyway. Most of the UE5 games suck in optimization, full of bugs, bloated file size, has insane system requirements also most of them has a generic look
The amount of smart work they are putting into this game post release is admirable, triple a companies need to take some serious notes.