@HowardOffTheRails Thank you so much for your kind words; it’s really nice to see people appreciate my work and notice even the small details :) Before working at GSC, I spent 3 years as an assistant locomotive driver on the Ukrainian railway and 3 years as a train driver in the Kharkiv Metro. I love railways and always pay attention to the rails in games myself, yet I’ve never seen anything truly realistic- not even in railway simulators. That’s why I’m so glad I had the chance to create such rails for the game, and I’m happy when people notice them 😇 So once again, thank you for this video 😇
Seriously appreciate such realistic attention to detail in these assets, great work Roman! While railways have never been my expertise, i always make an effort when creating 3d assets to make them logical/realistic even in places set less in our known reality. I always find there's beauty in engineering, the same way there is beauty in nature.
@@roman.goliaf круто сделал коенчно, много в игре детализации ХОТЯ не везде, велосипеды не понравились вообще, половины деталей у стандартной модели просто нет, не сделали их только в общих чертах раму повторили, хотя может ТЗ такое было не хочешь на канал видео снять тем более про твою работу в сталкере? если по условиям договора тебе можно конечно
Meanwhile at the campfire: "I saw the strangest zombie at the old railway today... He was pretty articulate, but he was walking around aiming his weapon at the tracks while talking to himself about railway construction." "Zone's getting stranger and stranger... I wonder what fried his brain..."
Thank you for the professional comments during this video. I also worked as an engineer though only for 7 years, on Ukrainian railways - "Ukrzaliznytsya" before I went into the "IT" industry. That's why it was nice to watch your video and hear your comments on the details of the implementation of the railway system in the game "Stalker 2". As for the question of why concrete sleepers were added among the wooden sleepers, I can say that during my work on the railway we did something similar. If wooden sleepers on a section failed (due to age or poor quality of production), and there were not enough new ones allocated to replace them, we tried to strengthen such a section of the railway by laying one reinforced concrete sleeper between every 4 wooden sleepers (its fastenings more reliably held the track width).
@@ВасяПупкин-л8ш8о Ah, that makes perfect sense to put a concrete sleeper in that instance to better hold the gauge (width). Thank you for the comment and information!
It's amazing how much effort they put into details that the average player would never stop to look at or think about. I'm glad there are people like you, who can actually appreciate all of this stuff.
what I heard from devs was - they made an acceptable open world and put main story with couple quests, in their roadmap adding more quests/lore and ingame content on top is the next goal... Honestly I'm not thinking indie studios should make such things and sacrifice plot for the sake of assets building. But here we are
It works on average player, though. I may have never registered that it's exactly like the real thing, but I walked along real railways. Probably everyone did. And subconsciously you register the mixed parts, the realistic look and it adds to immersion. If only because nothing there breaks it.
@@yorhaunit8s agree. it should be good enough to not brake immersion in to the world. first game had nonsensical railways, not the biggest flaw but it was noticeable and disappointing.
I’ve read a few posts from the artist who made these on ArtStation. He used to be a Ukrainian railway worker. I’d imagine a lot of these more unusual features are taken directly from his experience. Edited to add: Roman Goliaf is his name.
i'll never look at Zone railways the same way again. there is an explanation for the way too good condition: even after the first and second disaster many of these locations were used and maintained to serve the secretly running Project X Labs.
Would be funny if devs actually made a distinction between tottaly forgotten unused railways with lush foliage on top, rusty rails and rotten sleepers and those secretly used decent looking, greased and with rust scraped off at the very top just where wheel makes its contact with rail (if you watch over a railroad where train goes occasionaly every now and then you'll notice how does rusting cycle look, I've had this opportunity living close to a steel mill railroad where train with scraped metal would go in and out only once a week).
Did I notice any of it while playing - probably no. Would have I notice if it would just be poorly made and things just clipping through - yes. And I think this is the point, isnt it? To make such a good job that it isnt bothering anyone, and for ones that know stuff about it, can really appriciate it! Thank you for spotting this!
22:26 that criticism may even not be valid. Game mentions that since 1986 there were some experiments in the exclusion zone before 2006 when it became the Zone. One of the quests has a railway cargo depot with cargo manifest notes which may indicate that some rail was minimally maintained to supply the labs around. Which would mean that this yard only been abandoned for around 15 years(game happens in 2021)
Even in reality, the station itself was only shut down in late 90s, and some activity in the zone still happening after that (e.g. building new containment facility, as it's pieces definitely were not moved there on trucks).
Hi! An ukrainian here. I want to try to explain 2 moments. 1st is about railway condition. So, even though catastrophe occured in 1986, most of dangerous consequences were liquidated by 'liquidators', that's why most of irradiated areas of forest, village, and fleet were buried or dragged into lowlands. So, most of real life's Exclusion Zone's territory is still expluatated. By knowing that fact, it's clear that strategic kilometres of railway wouldn't be rusting without work. Even some passenger trains were cruising near the CNPP. Next little subject that you've mentioned is 'weird' mix of wooden and concrete planks. So, answer may be both simple and hard, but,for sure , it can't be exact. You see, 'soviet union' during existence of which whole Chornobyl county infrastructure were built, wasn't too rich country. That's why the least acceptable quality bar was an average option for soviet engineers.
The only correction I have is regarding the locomotive. It's not VL-10, but VL-80. They do look very similar and a person who's not into railway thing can easily confuse them. But under the hood the difference is significant: vl-10 is dc locomotive, while vl-80 is ac one. Both are used in Ukraine but regoinally speaking, vl-80 indeed have more sense, you can easily spot one in Kyiv, which is not so far from the exclusion zone. The issue with the game interpretation is that the overhead wires are distinctly modelled after dc variant. Vl-80 could not run under these. That's probably one of the few technical issues with this game depiction of the railway. But yes, I was shocked how precise their modelling was. It feels like a real thing. They did a magnificent work at showing how overhead lines are built, and the rolling stock is quite accurate. Even the infrastructure that is used to service locomotives was shown quite close to its real counterpart. This is truly the best depiction of the railway in non-dedicated game
@@pterius ah yes, you are correct. I see the VL-80 has those coloured sockets under the headlights. Your information is appreciated, as I am not an expert of those types of trains. Thanks. I agree that this game is an excellent depiction for a non-dedicated game!
15:16 There is one similar signal to the west of Yaniv station, and because of the electric anomaly it actually blinks! I love this game and the insane attention to the details. I have much appreciated this video as well!
I bet there is a railway nerd in the dev team. I honestly love that they did this even though most people wont even notice. There are few maniacs like us that will😊
It is so nice to see someone go that extra mile even if they only people who care are other train buffs (or fans of this channel). I wonder if any other aspects of the game had their own detailed focused equivalent to Roman Goliaf too ? I can imagine there is some parallel Universe somewhere where someone is making videos about wet engineering and covering shipping containers and port infrastructure the like - LOL
Рейки в грі такі самі, як на більшості старих залізниць в Україні. Єдине що до таких старих шпал у них було інакше кріплення з по іншому забитими костилями) Та і в принципі залізниця у грі десь така сама, як в половині країни (там де ще не зробили ремонт і не змінили шпали на бетон). За свої поїздки по країні бачила сотні таких самих місць навіть з такими ж стовбами і таким же типом кріплення проводів. Між іншим, це раніше була стандартна техніка здешевлення ремонту залізничної колії - класти не усі шпали бетонні, а десь кожну п'яту-кожну шосту, а решту залишати дерев'яними. Як кльово, що я натрапила на твій канал - мені дуже подобається!
I couldn't even imagine... Such a temptation in process of modeling to miss a bolt or copy rust somewhere🫣 The most unrealistic thing is that not all the bolts have been unscrewed yet by stalkers😅
This game has a lot of small details like the cars, they are very high quality. I can see the game being used in school as a history snap shot of Chornobyl to teach people.
Wow that was absolutely not a video I was looking for but absolutely happy to randomly get recommended! As somebody who worked for the local railway company and now works in the model train buisness I had to binge all your videos as soon as I found your channel! Keep up the great work!
Ukrainian railway fan here. Overall, the details of railway in stalker is very accurate - surprisingly accurate. But when they are gathering into one picture - they don't really make any sense. Starting from overhead wires made into places no one really puts them, inconsistency between ac rolling stock and dc overhad wires and finishing with electric locomotives coupled with cars of multiple-unit trains that do not mean to be used with a locomotive (unless emergency). Also, the directions: a passenger train next to Yaniv is placed on the line that eventually leads to the rostok plant - an absurd thing. But the details themselves (switches, wires, substations, rolling stock) are remarkably accurate and easily recogniseable
@@fluffywolfo3663 In the game's lore there is a whole network of tunnels underneath the zone that connects into laboratories, and in Call of Pripyat there were even railway lines and trains in Jupiter Underground location (also known as Pripyat Underground), which was a section of those extensive tunnels... so the tunnel may go somewhere, just not on the surface...
Howard, thanks so much for this. It didn't even cross my mind that there would be so much detail packed into the railways in STALKER 2 until coming across your video. I'm working on a video review of the game myself, I hope you don't mind if I cite your video in it because I LOOOOVE this.
The amount of details in this game are incredible. Engine blocks, train tracks, cigarettes burning down and flicking of actual ash. So many little things if you look hard enough.
I love it when pros dive into their areas of expertise in video games. I remember that one guy who went viral for making an entire automated factory complete with foreman's office.
Hey, amazing video! Just wanted to add that in the Stalker universe, many of these railroads were used up until the creation of the zone in 2005. Most installations in the zone were built after 1986. C-con scientists created a bunch of secret labs and factories, and they were using those railroads to transport stuff.
I'm only a few minutes in so far and this is absolutely fascinating mate! Definitely going to check out your Metro video for sure. Keep up the good work. Cheers from Aus!
21:40 IRL railroads in the Zone are in good shape and constantly maintained due to the construction of the New Safe Confinement, spent Nuclear Fuel Storage, and constant transportation of equipment and personnel. The main lines were completely rebuilt in 2017-2022. In the game, we can assume railroads were heavily used and maintained before the event of 2006 while the construction of X laboratories and all that sci-fi infrastructure was on the way
Wooden and concrete sleepers - usually in eastern europe all sleepers were wooden. Then in the 90s they replaced 1 in 10 sleepers with concrete ones to add extra stiffness to the entire line, because the old sleepers were cracking. It is pretty accurate
This kinda makes me wanna do something like this from the perspective of a former forklift operator since lots of video games have forklifts in them. They're usually just part of the scenery since a lot of games take place in industrial areas (sometimes functional like Half-Life 1, other times derelict like the Zone). I think there might even be a Half-Life 1 mod where you play as Gus the forklift operator! Btw, wanna try some Zone Sportsmanship Challenges? 5:57 Fleshpigs have evolved from galloping pig-lumps into leaping potato-pigs! I wish there was a mod that lets you play as a fleshpig! 🤪 18:39 Mag-ditching reload animations get on my nerves. There are situations that justify either a Spestnaz reload (for guns with AK-like mag wells and mag releases) or a "Wick flick" (for guns with AR-like mag wells and mag releases). They're called "emergency reloads," and they're called that for a reason. In video games, we see that type of reload being done outside the context in which it would be purposeful. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mods exist that make magazines separate items, so emergency reloads would result in those mags ending up on the ground. IRL, you'd be able to scrounge them back up after the battle. And in fact, you should. Otherwise, you're wasting resources (which no savvy zoner would do). 22:38 "The Taking of Pelham 12331466" 23:12 That's also in the old S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. I can't think of any other game that has that sort of detail.
@@judsongaiden9878 do it mate, start a channel. I only started this one after I watched a nuclear engineer channel “T Folse nuclear” doing reaction videos and thought I could do the same. There’s loads of industrial setting games and you can talk about the operation as a whole like the forklift, safety of the area, operational stuff like positioning of shelving and equipment, when you think about your job there’s more to it than meets the eye for most people.
Thank you for this video, Howard! If not you i would not even noticed how big work was made by GSC on this railway modeling. But now i do. And this is amazing. But still i'll wait for some game updates (espesialy A-Live updates) before playing it (Already tryid it on release, it was buggy :) ) Meanwhile i'm playing original Stalker games. Hello from Ukraine!
I did note that the railway looked good but I didn't look at them this close and didn't realise they were this detailed! It's the little things that make the difference tbh... I mean even the radiators in buildings have plumbing going to and from them!
I was a Stalker fan from 2003, where i'd bought first "illegall" (it was hidden commertial campain by devs) build on a grey market. Have to say that from early stages of development artists where riding to Chornobyl zone (and other industrial scrap, and abandoned shitholes), to make photorealistic textures, industrial and architectural design, etc. They did it well, and that's why people who lived under soviet occupation love this game - cause design is correct, and for nostalgy.
I remeber first Oblivion Lost demo videos, it looked so photorealistic in 2002 I think. When game finally came out it was not so impressive any more, still the details and atmosphere of post-Soviet world was never done better since, and I agree very nostalgic.
great video. i know nothing about rails but do feel a bit sad when in games you see a switch clipping in itself or same looking sleepers being copy pasted across the whole railroad cos that's obviously not how they are in real life. attention to detail like this is what makes good games into a great ones.
23:06 forgot to edit in the name lol. Great video tho! I know nothing about railways except what I gleaned from Thomas the Tank Engine as a child. Glad I found your channel!
It's interesting to see the level of detail that was put into the railways system. I would have never even questioned it's validity, and even if I did, I have no knowledge on such systems. I wish the same level of detail was put into firearms reloading. I own several firearms and an can attest that there's a need for a couple more reloading stages to be added. They overall look fine but the lack of these stages at times hinders gameplay, can be a little visually jarring, and in general is just unrealistic. Reloads, more accurately magazine based reloads, need two more stages. Those being no mag with bolt locked, and new mag in with bolt still locked. At the moment, any disruption to the reload, no matter the stage of the reload, the old mag reappears in the firearm. It's quite the anomaly when my fresh mag which is basically seated into the firearm, retreats back the backpack. Due to my need to dodge the chimera that decided me and the bloodsucker were making too much noise. Which leaves my old unless and still empty mag, warping back into my firearm, and me running like scared dog. My apologies for the rant, peace and blessing, stay safe and stay strong out there, JCLY. Edit: I forgot to mention that flesh sponge most basic rifle rounds, but shotguns will make quick work of them.
All these details but meanwhile I'm running along these tracks, quite frequent, never looking down and only recognize that they make kind of a cool crackling sound at times.. Man.. Props to the detailed artwork gone into it
Very entertaining video, makes me interested in seeing similar videos about other aspects of the game, like vegetation, geology, architecture.. i bet they are also very very close to reality. devs really nailed the realism of this game. Дякую.
I would jump on these boxes of the SP6M machine everytime i come back from school through the railroad crossing , in Simferopol Crimea, also my friend hit diesel locomotive "ЧМЭ3" driver with a snowball he even stopped the machine, we ran so fast. I miss my home so bad..
watched one of your other vids a while ago and because of that i actually stopped and looked at the points in stalker 2 lol, glad to know they got it right
so its loook like devs made fine work on making that rails so realistic, its weird that its lacks some quests related to rails. and i guess we need some stalkers that can drop few words about rails and trains
I dont like the drawbacks of UE5 in this game, like bad performance and lighting that freaks out from time to time. But Nanite enables the devs to put in very detailed models and I really like the many highly detailed vehicles and rail vehicles in this game. They didnt have to account how many polygons went in there, they used as much as they needed :) The map ( even tho not complete yet) is one of the the best things about Stalker 2. I knew you would have a field day with this :)
HOly shit! I knew they made it super detailed, but this is insane. GSC just gained some more respect points from me and I am a fan of STALKER Shadow of chernobyl
considering the good condition that many of the railroads are in, it's surprising that the stalkers aren't using at least some parts of them for travel. getting a draisine into the zone should not be too difficult.
They are plenty fascinating on multiple levels - the "simulation" aspect the attention to detail in game development & even the use of Railways as a broader indication of level of detail (and lack of it) in games in general as graphics get better and computers get more powerful one has to ask if in 10 years time would anyone care to put this level of effort in, I suspect not as I think these game's railway screams the love and nostalgia by the artist to me.
Great video, very novel. I've subscribed and will go through your catalogue :) Any chance you could do Half Life 1, 2 and Alyx trains? Or is there not enough there to work with?
The railway engineer is quite thorough in regard to details which concerns his profession. But he fails to be precise when he speaks about post-USSR by mentioning only Ruzzia (more so, the depicted territory is Ukraine, not Ruzzia) in the beginning, but he sure spoke more correctly further, for example in episode about locomotives. The railways equipment was more or less the same in all Soviet Union. Which means in unmodernised parts of railways it could be mostly the same in all territories of former republics (which were 15 or so when it broke).
@@andriianashovam7070 yes, not precise of me to say. I do know the difference. The picture I put on the screen was of a machine in Russia specifically. But I do realise that soviet railway equipment will have been standardised in the USSR. Thank you for commenting. Cheers.
@HowardOffTheRails Thank you for the clarification. Because I noticed you seem to know the difference, therefore was a bit perplexed, but now all makes sense for me.
Thank you bro for the video :)
@@roman.goliaf no way, the man himself. Your work is exceptional, sir. Incredibly realistic. Congratulations on your succes, I love the game.
@HowardOffTheRails Thank you so much for your kind words; it’s really nice to see people appreciate my work and notice even the small details :)
Before working at GSC, I spent 3 years as an assistant locomotive driver on the Ukrainian railway and 3 years as a train driver in the Kharkiv Metro. I love railways and always pay attention to the rails in games myself, yet I’ve never seen anything truly realistic- not even in railway simulators.
That’s why I’m so glad I had the chance to create such rails for the game, and I’m happy when people notice them 😇
So once again, thank you for this video 😇
I can't believe how lucky GSC is to have one day "we need someone to design railway system" - "yea, we have the guy exactly for that" 😂👍
Seriously appreciate such realistic attention to detail in these assets, great work Roman!
While railways have never been my expertise, i always make an effort when creating 3d assets to make them logical/realistic even in places set less in our known reality. I always find there's beauty in engineering, the same way there is beauty in nature.
@@roman.goliaf круто сделал коенчно, много в игре детализации ХОТЯ не везде, велосипеды не понравились вообще, половины деталей у стандартной модели просто нет, не сделали их только в общих чертах раму повторили, хотя может ТЗ такое было
не хочешь на канал видео снять тем более про твою работу в сталкере? если по условиям договора тебе можно конечно
Meanwhile at the campfire:
"I saw the strangest zombie at the old railway today... He was pretty articulate, but he was walking around aiming his weapon at the tracks while talking to himself about railway construction."
"Zone's getting stranger and stranger... I wonder what fried his brain..."
@@beaker-yt actually laughed out loud at this 😂.
Best comment! I also laughed out loud 🤣
ахаха
I stopped reading the other comments. No one will top this one. 😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thank you for the professional comments during this video. I also worked as an engineer though only for 7 years, on Ukrainian railways - "Ukrzaliznytsya" before I went into the "IT" industry. That's why it was nice to watch your video and hear your comments on the details of the implementation of the railway system in the game "Stalker 2". As for the question of why concrete sleepers were added among the wooden sleepers, I can say that during my work on the railway we did something similar. If wooden sleepers on a section failed (due to age or poor quality of production), and there were not enough new ones allocated to replace them, we tried to strengthen such a section of the railway by laying one reinforced concrete sleeper between every 4 wooden sleepers (its fastenings more reliably held the track width).
@@ВасяПупкин-л8ш8о Ah, that makes perfect sense to put a concrete sleeper in that instance to better hold the gauge (width). Thank you for the comment and information!
It's amazing how much effort they put into details that the average player would never stop to look at or think about. I'm glad there are people like you, who can actually appreciate all of this stuff.
what I heard from devs was - they made an acceptable open world and put main story with couple quests, in their roadmap adding more quests/lore and ingame content on top is the next goal...
Honestly I'm not thinking indie studios should make such things and sacrifice plot for the sake of assets building. But here we are
It works on average player, though. I may have never registered that it's exactly like the real thing, but I walked along real railways. Probably everyone did. And subconsciously you register the mixed parts, the realistic look and it adds to immersion. If only because nothing there breaks it.
@@yorhaunit8s agree. it should be good enough to not brake immersion in to the world. first game had nonsensical railways, not the biggest flaw but it was noticeable and disappointing.
Such a weird thing to do in a game unrelated to rail ways, but all the boys be like: Hell Yea.
I’ve read a few posts from the artist who made these on ArtStation. He used to be a Ukrainian railway worker. I’d imagine a lot of these more unusual features are taken directly from his experience.
Edited to add: Roman Goliaf is his name.
@@shootingstar123524 great information. Thanks. You can really tell.
Mf, on 400 view video you showed up and droping some obscure info.
i'll never look at Zone railways the same way again.
there is an explanation for the way too good condition: even after the first and second disaster many of these locations were used and maintained to serve the secretly running Project X Labs.
I have the same feelings after watching this video. @howard hats off!
Would be funny if devs actually made a distinction between tottaly forgotten unused railways with lush foliage on top, rusty rails and rotten sleepers and those secretly used decent looking, greased and with rust scraped off at the very top just where wheel makes its contact with rail (if you watch over a railroad where train goes occasionaly every now and then you'll notice how does rusting cycle look, I've had this opportunity living close to a steel mill railroad where train with scraped metal would go in and out only once a week).
Дякую за огляд з такого ракурсу. Не думав, що розробники підійшли до цього питання настільки серйозно.
ого, дяка за огляд, це цікаво, ну і розробникам дяка за такі деталі
So cute.
Game is still very raw, but graphics is 10/10
Hi from Kyiv, btw
Chornobyl is like in 50 km from me /_/
Лол, чим вона сира?
Did I notice any of it while playing - probably no. Would have I notice if it would just be poorly made and things just clipping through - yes. And I think this is the point, isnt it? To make such a good job that it isnt bothering anyone, and for ones that know stuff about it, can really appriciate it! Thank you for spotting this!
22:26 that criticism may even not be valid. Game mentions that since 1986 there were some experiments in the exclusion zone before 2006 when it became the Zone. One of the quests has a railway cargo depot with cargo manifest notes which may indicate that some rail was minimally maintained to supply the labs around. Which would mean that this yard only been abandoned for around 15 years(game happens in 2021)
@@ВладНеумный that could certainly explain it! Thanks, I hadn’t noticed that in the game.
Even in reality, the station itself was only shut down in late 90s, and some activity in the zone still happening after that (e.g. building new containment facility, as it's pieces definitely were not moved there on trucks).
Some of the signal lights will flicker on at random when electrical anomalies are nearby.
Hi! An ukrainian here. I want to try to explain 2 moments. 1st is about railway condition. So, even though catastrophe occured in 1986, most of dangerous consequences were liquidated by 'liquidators', that's why most of irradiated areas of forest, village, and fleet were buried or dragged into lowlands. So, most of real life's Exclusion Zone's territory is still expluatated. By knowing that fact, it's clear that strategic kilometres of railway wouldn't be rusting without work. Even some passenger trains were cruising near the CNPP.
Next little subject that you've mentioned is 'weird' mix of wooden and concrete planks. So, answer may be both simple and hard, but,for sure , it can't be exact. You see, 'soviet union' during existence of which whole Chornobyl county infrastructure were built, wasn't too rich country. That's why the least acceptable quality bar was an average option for soviet engineers.
Forgot to mention: since anomalous zone appeared only at 2006, nature couldn't conquer everything in 15 years.
The only correction I have is regarding the locomotive. It's not VL-10, but VL-80. They do look very similar and a person who's not into railway thing can easily confuse them. But under the hood the difference is significant: vl-10 is dc locomotive, while vl-80 is ac one. Both are used in Ukraine but regoinally speaking, vl-80 indeed have more sense, you can easily spot one in Kyiv, which is not so far from the exclusion zone. The issue with the game interpretation is that the overhead wires are distinctly modelled after dc variant. Vl-80 could not run under these. That's probably one of the few technical issues with this game depiction of the railway. But yes, I was shocked how precise their modelling was. It feels like a real thing. They did a magnificent work at showing how overhead lines are built, and the rolling stock is quite accurate. Even the infrastructure that is used to service locomotives was shown quite close to its real counterpart. This is truly the best depiction of the railway in non-dedicated game
@@pterius ah yes, you are correct. I see the VL-80 has those coloured sockets under the headlights. Your information is appreciated, as I am not an expert of those types of trains. Thanks. I agree that this game is an excellent depiction for a non-dedicated game!
@HowardOffTheRails If you look closely, you can see the name sign on the front of the locomotive - VL-80
15:16 There is one similar signal to the west of Yaniv station, and because of the electric anomaly it actually blinks!
I love this game and the insane attention to the details. I have much appreciated this video as well!
I bet there is a railway nerd in the dev team. I honestly love that they did this even though most people wont even notice. There are few maniacs like us that will😊
Me: My backlog is big, I have lots of work and not much time, I need to play STALKER.
Also me: oh, a video about rails!
It is so nice to see someone go that extra mile even if they only people who care are other train buffs (or fans of this channel).
I wonder if any other aspects of the game had their own detailed focused equivalent to Roman Goliaf too ?
I can imagine there is some parallel Universe somewhere where someone is making videos about wet engineering and covering shipping containers and port infrastructure the like - LOL
Рейки в грі такі самі, як на більшості старих залізниць в Україні. Єдине що до таких старих шпал у них було інакше кріплення з по іншому забитими костилями) Та і в принципі залізниця у грі десь така сама, як в половині країни (там де ще не зробили ремонт і не змінили шпали на бетон). За свої поїздки по країні бачила сотні таких самих місць навіть з такими ж стовбами і таким же типом кріплення проводів.
Між іншим, це раніше була стандартна техніка здешевлення ремонту залізничної колії - класти не усі шпали бетонні, а десь кожну п'яту-кожну шосту, а решту залишати дерев'яними.
Як кльово, що я натрапила на твій канал - мені дуже подобається!
As a model railway fan who was looking to make a model rail diorama based on Stalker 2, I'm so excited to watch this video!
That would be _amazing_ to see!
I couldn't even imagine... Such a temptation in process of modeling to miss a bolt or copy rust somewhere🫣 The most unrealistic thing is that not all the bolts have been unscrewed yet by stalkers😅
The only reason is that Sidorovich won't buy them from stalkers)
Thats how the Main Characters have infinite bolt, no matter how many times Stalkers harvested them, it kept respawning
@nonbiri8904 The Zone takes care of everyone who wasn't eaten, burned, or drowned...👌
Dropped a massive log to this 👍
😂
Literarily me rn 💨🔥☠️
This game has a lot of small details like the cars, they are very high quality. I can see the game being used in school as a history snap shot of Chornobyl to teach people.
23:25 holly crap :D The ease this guy got on top of that train :D It woudn't even cross my mind to try to get on top of it :D
Not the stalker vid i was expecting but proper enjoyed watching.
Wow that was absolutely not a video I was looking for but absolutely happy to randomly get recommended! As somebody who worked for the local railway company and now works in the model train buisness I had to binge all your videos as soon as I found your channel! Keep up the great work!
@@TheMegaloloful Thanks mate!
6:00 LOL....how quickly Howard forgot about trains and rails when he saw the "bullet sponges"!
Ukrainian railway fan here. Overall, the details of railway in stalker is very accurate - surprisingly accurate. But when they are gathering into one picture - they don't really make any sense. Starting from overhead wires made into places no one really puts them, inconsistency between ac rolling stock and dc overhad wires and finishing with electric locomotives coupled with cars of multiple-unit trains that do not mean to be used with a locomotive (unless emergency). Also, the directions: a passenger train next to Yaniv is placed on the line that eventually leads to the rostok plant - an absurd thing. But the details themselves (switches, wires, substations, rolling stock) are remarkably accurate and easily recogniseable
There's also that one place in Cement Factory with a tunnel that doesn't really seem to... go anywhere?
@@fluffywolfo3663 In the game's lore there is a whole network of tunnels underneath the zone that connects into laboratories, and in Call of Pripyat there were even railway lines and trains in Jupiter Underground location (also known as Pripyat Underground), which was a section of those extensive tunnels... so the tunnel may go somewhere, just not on the surface...
Howard, thanks so much for this. It didn't even cross my mind that there would be so much detail packed into the railways in STALKER 2 until coming across your video. I'm working on a video review of the game myself, I hope you don't mind if I cite your video in it because I LOOOOVE this.
The amount of details in this game are incredible. Engine blocks, train tracks, cigarettes burning down and flicking of actual ash.
So many little things if you look hard enough.
this is a fucking amazing video mister howard off the rails. please make more, this shit is gonna be popular i guarantee
@@nemmajean thanks mate.
best "watch with ton of beer" video
"Oh my god a herd of bullet sponges." Hilarious and accurate
I have never seen such content before😁Thank you🤗
I love it when pros dive into their areas of expertise in video games. I remember that one guy who went viral for making an entire automated factory complete with foreman's office.
Hey, amazing video! Just wanted to add that in the Stalker universe, many of these railroads were used up until the creation of the zone in 2005. Most installations in the zone were built after 1986. C-con scientists created a bunch of secret labs and factories, and they were using those railroads to transport stuff.
I'm only a few minutes in so far and this is absolutely fascinating mate! Definitely going to check out your Metro video for sure. Keep up the good work. Cheers from Aus!
@@angrymetalhead cheers mate. Metro exodus was really good too. They got a lot of track geometry and alignment issues in there as well.
It's incredible the detail they put into the open world in this game.
21:40 IRL railroads in the Zone are in good shape and constantly maintained due to the construction of the New Safe Confinement, spent Nuclear Fuel Storage, and constant transportation of equipment and personnel. The main lines were completely rebuilt in 2017-2022.
In the game, we can assume railroads were heavily used and maintained before the event of 2006 while the construction of X laboratories and all that sci-fi infrastructure was on the way
Such videos make ppl actually start noticing these small yet interesting details.
It's been a joy to play this passion project of theirs
The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy had a plenty of railways, you may check them out
I have also found that the detail on the railways is incredible. As a model railroader, I really appreciate the effort that the devs put in.
Wooden and concrete sleepers - usually in eastern europe all sleepers were wooden.
Then in the 90s they replaced 1 in 10 sleepers with concrete ones to add extra stiffness to the entire line, because the old sleepers were cracking.
It is pretty accurate
This kinda makes me wanna do something like this from the perspective of a former forklift operator since lots of video games have forklifts in them. They're usually just part of the scenery since a lot of games take place in industrial areas (sometimes functional like Half-Life 1, other times derelict like the Zone). I think there might even be a Half-Life 1 mod where you play as Gus the forklift operator!
Btw, wanna try some Zone Sportsmanship Challenges?
5:57 Fleshpigs have evolved from galloping pig-lumps into leaping potato-pigs! I wish there was a mod that lets you play as a fleshpig! 🤪
18:39 Mag-ditching reload animations get on my nerves. There are situations that justify either a Spestnaz reload (for guns with AK-like mag wells and mag releases) or a "Wick flick" (for guns with AR-like mag wells and mag releases). They're called "emergency reloads," and they're called that for a reason. In video games, we see that type of reload being done outside the context in which it would be purposeful. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mods exist that make magazines separate items, so emergency reloads would result in those mags ending up on the ground. IRL, you'd be able to scrounge them back up after the battle. And in fact, you should. Otherwise, you're wasting resources (which no savvy zoner would do).
22:38 "The Taking of Pelham 12331466"
23:12 That's also in the old S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. I can't think of any other game that has that sort of detail.
@@judsongaiden9878 do it mate, start a channel. I only started this one after I watched a nuclear engineer channel “T Folse nuclear” doing reaction videos and thought I could do the same. There’s loads of industrial setting games and you can talk about the operation as a whole like the forklift, safety of the area, operational stuff like positioning of shelving and equipment, when you think about your job there’s more to it than meets the eye for most people.
love it! i started playing this game, and i was looking out for things that i learned from your previous videos
Thank you for this video, Howard!
If not you i would not even noticed how big work was made by GSC on this railway modeling.
But now i do. And this is amazing.
But still i'll wait for some game updates (espesialy A-Live updates) before playing it (Already tryid it on release, it was buggy :) )
Meanwhile i'm playing original Stalker games.
Hello from Ukraine!
Since my youngling stage, always thought that Britain have a pinnacle of what can railway infrastructure unravel
Interesting explanation and analysis👍
I looove yt recommendations and videos like this
Good to see that the title now says "Chornobyl" ❤
It will likely come as little surprise that the 3D artist who worked on the railways in Stalker 2 was once a train driver.
That's amazing, thank you for all the insights. I've run along these tracks for hours and hours and never knew.
I did note that the railway looked good but I didn't look at them this close and didn't realise they were this detailed! It's the little things that make the difference tbh... I mean even the radiators in buildings have plumbing going to and from them!
They put more detail into the rail track than I intend to put in my entire game.
I was a Stalker fan from 2003, where i'd bought first "illegall" (it was hidden commertial campain by devs) build on a grey market. Have to say that from early stages of development artists where riding to Chornobyl zone (and other industrial scrap, and abandoned shitholes), to make photorealistic textures, industrial and architectural design, etc. They did it well, and that's why people who lived under soviet occupation love this game - cause design is correct, and for nostalgy.
I remeber first Oblivion Lost demo videos, it looked so photorealistic in 2002 I think. When game finally came out it was not so impressive any more, still the details and atmosphere of post-Soviet world was never done better since, and I agree very nostalgic.
great video. i know nothing about rails but do feel a bit sad when in games you see a switch clipping in itself or same looking sleepers being copy pasted across the whole railroad cos that's obviously not how they are in real life. attention to detail like this is what makes good games into a great ones.
Ukrainian here, interesting video! what a game, man
23:06 forgot to edit in the name lol. Great video tho! I know nothing about railways except what I gleaned from Thomas the Tank Engine as a child. Glad I found your channel!
Glad to see this game did _something_ well, at least. I would’ve loved nothing more than for this one to live up to its reputation.
It's interesting to see the level of detail that was put into the railways system. I would have never even questioned it's validity, and even if I did, I have no knowledge on such systems.
I wish the same level of detail was put into firearms reloading. I own several firearms and an can attest that there's a need for a couple more reloading stages to be added. They overall look fine but the lack of these stages at times hinders gameplay, can be a little visually jarring, and in general is just unrealistic.
Reloads, more accurately magazine based reloads, need two more stages. Those being no mag with bolt locked, and new mag in with bolt still locked. At the moment, any disruption to the reload, no matter the stage of the reload, the old mag reappears in the firearm.
It's quite the anomaly when my fresh mag which is basically seated into the firearm, retreats back the backpack. Due to my need to dodge the chimera that decided me and the bloodsucker were making too much noise. Which leaves my old unless and still empty mag, warping back into my firearm, and me running like scared dog.
My apologies for the rant, peace and blessing, stay safe and stay strong out there, JCLY.
Edit: I forgot to mention that flesh sponge most basic rifle rounds, but shotguns will make quick work of them.
Well, now I'll also have to start admiring the railways in this game besides everything else I already admire.....Thanks for that!
I did notice that railways make sense in this game, their locations and connections on map etc. But didn't realize its that accurate.
All these details but meanwhile I'm running along these tracks, quite frequent, never looking down and only recognize that they make kind of a cool crackling sound at times.. Man.. Props to the detailed artwork gone into it
It blows my mind that we get details this accurate throughout stalker 2
It's just never ageing anomaly 😂
When I played the game I knew someone would make this video.
You haven't yet seen the railroad crossing (Deaf Crossing) north of the chemical plant. + traffic lights light up near electrical anomalies
wow never crosed my mind now I know more about rails
Very entertaining video, makes me interested in seeing similar videos about other aspects of the game, like vegetation, geology, architecture.. i bet they are also very very close to reality. devs really nailed the realism of this game. Дякую.
railway simulator mod for stalker 2, when
I would jump on these boxes of the SP6M machine everytime i come back from school through the railroad crossing , in Simferopol Crimea, also my friend hit diesel locomotive "ЧМЭ3" driver with a snowball he even stopped the machine, we ran so fast. I miss my home so bad..
I adore videos like these. Thank you.
Well that's 26 minutes of time i wont get back... and i don't regret it
Why did I watch this? It was amazing!
Thanks for the lesson :)
Nice information.
Many of assets in stalker is photogrammetry(scanned), so this rail is built from parts that most likely exist in real world.
The Soviet military were a train-driven military. I think, like a lot of countries, the history is really linked with the train.
20:40 Never thought about that, at least how stalkers have so may bolts since you can't really reuse them like they did in the book.
watched one of your other vids a while ago and because of that i actually stopped and looked at the points in stalker 2 lol, glad to know they got it right
The video i did'nt know i needed!
so its loook like devs made fine work on making that rails so realistic, its weird that its lacks some quests related to rails. and i guess we need some stalkers that can drop few words about rails and trains
Now I need to replay Stalker 2 again.
Thank you. Very cool video.
I haven't watched the video yet, so I don't know if you noticed: the car numbers are reflected so that they are readable in a mirror
I dont like the drawbacks of UE5 in this game, like bad performance and lighting that freaks out from time to time.
But Nanite enables the devs to put in very detailed models and I really like the many highly detailed vehicles and rail vehicles in this game. They didnt have to account how many polygons went in there, they used as much as they needed :) The map ( even tho not complete yet) is one of the the best things about Stalker 2.
I knew you would have a field day with this :)
We got Stalker 2 Railway review before GTA VI
Players: fk, what are you doing? Why the game so delayed?
Developers: we create real railways.
HOly shit! I knew they made it super detailed, but this is insane. GSC just gained some more respect points from me and I am a fan of STALKER Shadow of chernobyl
considering the good condition that many of the railroads are in, it's surprising that the stalkers aren't using at least some parts of them for travel.
getting a draisine into the zone should not be too difficult.
Hi, the rail looks good because it's in use. Or at least was in use within the lore of the game before the second disaster in ~2006.
i have honestly no interest in railways but these videos are great
They are plenty fascinating on multiple levels - the "simulation" aspect the attention to detail in game development & even the use of Railways as a broader indication of level of detail (and lack of it) in games in general as graphics get better and computers get more powerful one has to ask if in 10 years time would anyone care to put this level of effort in, I suspect not as I think these game's railway screams the love and nostalgia by the artist to me.
3:44 lol they accidentally put a concreet and a wooden sleeper inside one another.
Not a dig, shit tends to happen but it looks funny
I FUCKING LOVEE TRAAAIINS
Great video, very novel. I've subscribed and will go through your catalogue :) Any chance you could do Half Life 1, 2 and Alyx trains? Or is there not enough there to work with?
@@Jensen8918 a few people have suggested half life games and they are on my list to review! Thanks.
Railway engineering must pay to get a pc that can play stalker 2
m8 never clicked on a video faster in my life. Cheers legend
so for absolute perfection devs should make a patch for more decay and nature retake, eh?
The railway engineer is quite thorough in regard to details which concerns his profession. But he fails to be precise when he speaks about post-USSR by mentioning only Ruzzia (more so, the depicted territory is Ukraine, not Ruzzia) in the beginning, but he sure spoke more correctly further, for example in episode about locomotives. The railways equipment was more or less the same in all Soviet Union. Which means in unmodernised parts of railways it could be mostly the same in all territories of former republics (which were 15 or so when it broke).
@@andriianashovam7070 yes, not precise of me to say. I do know the difference. The picture I put on the screen was of a machine in Russia specifically. But I do realise that soviet railway equipment will have been standardised in the USSR. Thank you for commenting. Cheers.
@HowardOffTheRails Thank you for the clarification. Because I noticed you seem to know the difference, therefore was a bit perplexed, but now all makes sense for me.