S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl

[ANova]

au contraire (or however it's spelt)

If it were don't you think we would have seen it in games long ago? ;)

[Chode]

You'd think that...

but my ancient Ti 4800 (PS1.3) is doing the same effect in Far Cry. :unsure:

[lexor]

God I hope they aren't gonna make it look like Far Cry, the vegination looked so friggin cartoony on my friends 9800Pro it I didn't even want to try it on mine. Leafs on palm trees looked a-la Zelda with added smoothness... man I hate that.

@all the throat grabbers, when I said dx9 compliant, I meant that stuff that is possible in 7,8,9 would be actually done using 9's API's. if you gonna be that picky, why didn't you correct me saing that there is no such thing as dx9? only DirectX 9.0 (notice .0 and full spelling) :D you guys know what I ment.

[Chode]

@all the throat grabbers, when I said dx9 compliant, I meant that stuff that is possible in 7,8,9 would be actually done using 9's API's. if you gonna be that picky, why didn't you correct me saing that there is no such thing as dx9? only DirectX 9.0 (notice .0 and full spelling) :D you guys know what I ment.

I followed you, dude.

I wish people would give up referring to Dx versions and just refer to Shader versions.

It's more understandable if I say "PS1.3 is capable of rendering the effects that some people claim are PS2.0+, albiet at a lower quality"

Edited May 10, 2004 by Chode

[ANova]

You'd think that...

but my ancient Ti 4800 (PS1.3) is doing the same effect in Far Cry. :unsure:

Care to post a screenshot?

[altermind]

hope this game runs on my computer

[MxxCon]

The light source reflection on the tile is a DX9 shader. That type of visual is not possible using DX8 and lower.

it might not be possible with "DirectX8", but does not use shaders 2.0.

but my ancient Ti 4800 (PS1.3) is doing the same effect in Far Cry.

Geforce 4 4800 is AGP8x version of 4200, it does not' support pixel shaders 1.3, only 1.2

pixel shaders 1.3 is dx8.1 feature, and the only card that support it is ati's 8xxx line, not geforce 4.

[FatCat]

I'm really excited about this game because of the System Shock rpg element like the inventory system , should be awesome.

[Chode]

Geforce 4 4800 is AGP8x version of 4200, it does not' support pixel shaders 1.3, only 1.2

pixel shaders 1.3 is dx8.1 feature, and the only card that support it is ati's 8xxx line, not geforce 4.

I'm positive this card (the Asus GeForce 4 Ti 4800 8x SE) uses PS1.3. Here says it uses PS1.3/VS1.1.... :unsure:

But to be certain...does anyone know any software which will tell me what PS version this card uses?

@FatCat: I should let you know the game won't use "Skill points" or experience levels... they rather a players skill grows as they grow to understand the game more.

@ANova: I'll fire up Far Cry later and pull up a screenshot that shows bump mapping and specularity been caused by a dynamic light (the flashlight)

-edit-

Ok, I got some screenshots.

Remember folks, these are FAR CRY shots taken on a GeForce 4 Ti 4800 (what I believe to be a PS1.3 card), not S.T.A.L.K.E.R. shots. I know the game looks better on an ATI Radoen 9600 XT and everything up from that, but I still think this Ti is doing a pretty damn good job with this game. ;)

The image on the left is with the light off, the right shows the flashlight on.

1/4

Edited May 11, 2004 by Chode

[Chode]

2/4

[Chode]

3/4 (and by far my favourite one)

[Chode]

4/4, this time with some different coloured lighting.

[ANova]

That is not the same effect. It should look like this.

http://members.cox.net/riess/FarCry0018.jpg

http://members.cox.net/riess/FarCry0019.jpg

Oh and the Geforce 4 Ti line supports PS1.3. PS2.0 allows for per-pixel lighting equations which is what you see in the screenshots I posted and is not possible on 1.3 and lower.

[Chode]

I dunno..... :/

True those images look a lot better...

but I think that PS1.3 is using that effect, just not at the same level of quality.

Is that displacement mapping on the cable in the top of the first shot? That looks pretty nice.

p.s., looking at those screenshots, never before in my life have I so wanted a 9600 xt :blush:

[sanctified Veteran]

Chode, what are your machine specs?

[Chode]

,May 11 2004, 15:57] Chode, what are your machine specs?

Crap-tacular :(

Well, not really.

CPU: Athlon XP 1700+ (upgrading REALLY soon)

RAM: 512MB DDR2700

MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte Ga7s748

GRAPHICS: Asus GeForce 4 Ti 4800 8x

OS: Windows XP Home

Edited May 11, 2004 by Chode

[Chode]

I'm starting to think that the dam has burst on the stream of media.

The official website has had some minor updates, including vehicle stats.

Moskovich

An ancient vehicle, the remnant of the last century, rambles through thickets of mutated vegetation and dilapidated fences.

"Moskvich" is a stalker's partner in his traversing the Zone.

Price: 1200 roubles

Capaciousness: four people

Carrying capacity: 150 kg

Mi-24

Helicopters have been used to patrol the Zone, back up the army and military stalkers in their actions, conduct rescue operations and eliminate major mutant troops. The choppers pose no threat to a single stalker; the same works the other way around. However, it is not recommended to tease the armoured monster crew with gunfire. It is possible to purchase a displaceable antiaircraft gun emplacement in the Zone. However, stalkers do not normally spend lots of money for a doubtful pleasure from a pranged chopper. There is one stalker who managed to save enough money and buy the helicopter. He flew for about 20 minutes over the Zone before the fuel ran out. Now he carries gas in canisters to the aircraft to get it from near Pripyat.

Capaciousness: 10 people

Carrying capacity: 1500 kg

Armament: 12.7 mm Gatling type gun

Speed: up to 300 km/h

Must have: immense fuel supply

APC BTR-70

The military try restrain from using modern and expensive machinery for their operations in the Zone because it must be destroyed after the utilization. Therefore, the army makes use of the outdated, though still reliable, armoured personnel-carriers that were left in the Zone in plenty back in the Soviet times. The vehicle is rather expensive and not every Stalker can afford it. Though, you can always snatch it away from a patrol. Significant fuel consumption makes it quite unpopular among stalkers.

Price: 5300 roubles

Capaciousness: sixteen people

Carrying capacity: 1000 kg

Armament: 14,2 mm machine-gun

Speed: up to 80 km/h

Must have: significant fuel supply

Two other high res screenshots here and here.

Kamaz truck

Despite all the inconveniences in use, trucks are fast and good to transport heavy things en masse.

Price: 6000 roubles

Capaciousness: two people

Carrying capacity: 2000 kg

Speed: 120 km/h

Must have: fuel supply

Niva 4x4

Stalkers can't get vehicles by the army posts. Thus, they try to obtain them in the Zone, i.e. on the auto junkyards and irradiated machinery disposal places. After some repairing and slight modifications, which bring the vehicles back to life, stalkers use them to move around the Zone. The vehicles get armoured and equipped with devices that secure their protection from anomalous effects. When buying a vehicle make sure it is not irradiated. Niva is a cross-country capacity car.

Price: 1800 roubles

Capaciousness: four people

Carrying capacity: 200 kg

Speed: up to 70 km/h

Must have: fuel

[Chode]

Some basic anomalies.

Gravity concentration

Gravity field with differently directed acceleration.

Tears entrapped living creature apart.

Visual indicators:

*Dents in the ground

*Bent metallic objects

*A stone thrown inside a gravity concentration patch changes flight trajectory

Rusty hair

All the metal grates and rods acquire rusty hair through time. Touching rusty hair causes the body to smoke and blacken.

Fog

Unprepossessing fog corrodes skin, hair, eyes, leaving a scorched corpse. Getting into fog without protective suit or oxygen mask leads to death.

Meat-mincer

A trap which gradually stocks a charge, discharges on a living being and on a special device - discharger. It is absolutely harmless when uncharged

Unverified

...Somebody of the "monolith" stalkers claimed he was attacked by a poplar fluff near the "Dump"... Either he drank too much in the stalker pub or new troubles are coming...

Cycles of anomalous activity

There are weeklong cycles of anomalous activity in the Zone. The activity has its peaks and recessions. During the peaks the concentration and size of the anomalous areas reach the highest degrees, the Zone blowout takes place. During recessions the concentration and size of the anomalous areas reach their bottom levels.

And some artifact information

Gravitational artifacts

These are the artifacts with directional magnetic and gravitational anomaly. Some particularly powerful artifacts may puncture or damage materials.

Price: 10 to 100 roubles depending on the size and anomaly concentration

Peculiarity: artifacts with a powerful gravitational anomaly. Must be stored in special containers only.

Galantine

A sticky substance. Extremely dangerous colonies of mutated bacteria.

Price: 5 roubles per 0.1 kg

Peculiarity: very dangerous anomalous formation. Must be stored in special containers only.

Mercury ball

It normally emerges after the blowouts and vaporizes shortly afterwards.

Price: 50 to 200 roubles depending on the size

Particularity: dangerous anomalous formation. Must be stored in special containers only.

And some more info on the zone blowout:

In equal periods blowout waves of gravitational nature together with an increased psychotropic influence pierce the Zone. It is deadly dangerous to stay in the Zone at that time. A man without special equipment dies immediately. The ground starts shaking with a number of flashes to follow. The sky gets glowing and the whole world is black-and-white. The eyes can't withstand the blinding sun. During the blowouts, one can see phantom formations and haze in the places of gravitational formations.

[machima]

Oh man... This game is what dreams are made of. And if it's true that they're showing a level of the Sarcophagus then i'm gonna cream my jeans.

[MxxCon]

Is that displacement mapping on the cable in the top of the first shot? That looks pretty nice.

once again you are spewing buzzwords w/o knowing what they mean :pinch:

displacement mapping is creating actual geometry based on texture, does that pipe look like it has actual physical ridges?

it's plain bump mapping.

plus again geforce4 doesn't support displacement mapping (w/o major performance penalty)

[Chode]

once again you are spewing buzzwords w/o knowing what they mean :pinch:

displacement mapping is creating actual geometry based on texture, does that pipe look like it has actual physical ridges?

it's plain bump mapping.

plus again geforce4 doesn't support displacement mapping (w/o major performance penalty)

Read what was said again.

I never said a GeForce 4 supports displacement mapping. I asked if the card that was used to take ANOVA's shots did. I'm assuming that card was one of the the 9x00 XT's. The CABLE (not pipe, cable) appeared to have much more complex geometry than my graphics card was producing, hence it appears conceivable that displacement mapping was been used. An effect I already know is supported by the game engine, and was used to great effect in the Catacombs map.

I also know that displacement mapping is not a pure shader effect (the Source engine uses it independantly of shaders), though like bump mapping, hardware shaders can perform the effect allowing closer to real time results.

Bump mapping is a trick of the light to simulate fine details on a surface.

Here is an image to illustrate this.

Edited May 12, 2004 by Chode

[sanctified Veteran]

Some basic anomalies.

Gravity concentration

Gravity field with differently directed acceleration.

Tears entrapped living creature apart.

Visual indicators:

*Dents in the ground

*Bent metallic objects

*A stone thrown inside a gravity concentration patch changes flight trajectory

Rusty hair

All the metal grates and rods acquire rusty hair through time. Touching rusty hair causes the body to smoke and blacken.

Fog

Unprepossessing fog corrodes skin, hair, eyes, leaving a scorched corpse. Getting into fog without protective suit or oxygen mask leads to death.

Meat-mincer

A trap which gradually stocks a charge, discharges on a living being and on a special device - discharger. It is absolutely harmless when uncharged

Unverified

...Somebody of the "monolith" stalkers claimed he was attacked by a poplar fluff near the "Dump"... Either he drank too much in the stalker pub or new troubles are coming...

Cycles of anomalous activity

There are weeklong cycles of anomalous activity in the Zone. The activity has its peaks and recessions. During the peaks the concentration and size of the anomalous areas reach the highest degrees, the Zone blowout takes place. During recessions the concentration and size of the anomalous areas reach their bottom levels.

And some artifact information

http://www.stalker-game.com/images/ov_gravitation.jpg

Gravitational artifacts

These are the artifacts with directional magnetic and gravitational anomaly. Some particularly powerful artifacts may puncture or damage materials.

Price: 10 to 100 roubles depending on the size and anomaly concentration

Peculiarity: artifacts with a powerful gravitational anomaly. Must be stored in special containers only.

Galantine

A sticky substance. Extremely dangerous colonies of mutated bacteria.

Price: 5 roubles per 0.1 kg

Peculiarity: very dangerous anomalous formation. Must be stored in special containers only.

Mercury ball

It normally emerges after the blowouts and vaporizes shortly afterwards.

Price: 50 to 200 roubles depending on the size

Particularity: dangerous anomalous formation. Must be stored in special containers only.

And some more info on the zone blowout:

In equal periods blowout waves of gravitational nature together with an increased psychotropic influence pierce the Zone. It is deadly dangerous to stay in the Zone at that time. A man without special equipment dies immediately. The ground starts shaking with a number of flashes to follow. The sky gets glowing and the whole world is black-and-white. The eyes can't withstand the blinding sun. During the blowouts, one can see phantom formations and haze in the places of gravitational formations.

with that description and other info available about this game Im started to think that this is not in competition with HL2 but with those massive RPG's like Morrowind

[Chode]

,May 12 2004, 11:00] with that description and other info available about this game Im started to think that this is not in competition with HL2 but with those massive RPG's like Morrowind

got it in one. ;)

It's difficult to describe this game without referring to Elite, Morrowind, and Fallout. PC Powerplay Australia calls it "Half Life meets Deus Ex in Chernobyl"

@Mxxcon/Anova:

This is what I meant about the cable.

[ANova]

As far as I'm aware Far Cry only uses bump mapping (what Crytek likes to call polybumps). But I do know R3xx cards support displacment mapping as well.

Here are some more shots with PS2.0 shaders in use.

http://members.cox.net/riess/FarCry0007.jpg

http://members.cox.net/riess/FarCry0013.jpg

http://members.cox.net/riess/FarCry0025.jpg

They were all taken on a Radeon 9500 Pro at max detail.

[Ryan Versaw]

there is a build of Far Cry that supports displacement mapping, though its not the one that is currenly available. i think the footage of it was from the launch of the 6800.