Shadow of Chernobyl Complete: Long range combat config mod file

Shadow of Chernobyl Complete: Long range combat config mod

A series of minor changes in the config files for the Stalker Complete series of games, that give it a dramatically different playstyle with longer range, more accurate, higher damage weapons that make the playstyle more aggressive, and takes advantage of the enormous maps in the game to actually allow you to have realistic and more engaging battles across the map. Weapons, special weapons, armor and other items have been altered as well, providing a number of quality-of-life improvements to the game to make it more easily replayable, such as the ability to carry more weight (10 kilos), jump higher, run faster and generally progress faster, while still being very challenging. It also comes with a number of additional config changes, providing new unique weapons, armor, treasure, and trade options. Enemies will notice you from further away, and get the same improved damage and accuracy from your weapons, making them just as lethal. In some ways, it's easier than the original, and in other ways it's much harder. The mod is not perfectly polished, but it's more or less not buggy.

The mod more or less could be called, My-series of config files for stalker, but is geared towards long range combat. The mod also provides a series of quality-of-life mods to make it more fast paced and aggressive, as well as more replayable, as replaying the game vanilla can get a bit stale, and this will keep it feeling fresh and faster. There's a number of new unique weapons, weapon changes, and various enhancements to make it so you have a reason to use different weapons late game that originally were simply inferior, and it allows you access to late game weapons such as the FS2000 or Railgun and to reuse them more frequently. The weapons offer a greater degree of balance, but also a greater degree of uniqueness in their function. There is still a reason to use the AR-15 and other such weapons late game, even if previously it was just inferior.

Although it's almost entirely changes to config files, it will make the game feel almost completely different and gives a whole new experience. It may take some time to get used to the higher damage and longer range, but it's worth it as it makes the game feel more fun. Recoil is greatly reduced on many weapons, notably the sniper rifles, so they're actually usable, and it's ammunition is actually sold across many traders. There's a lot of great hidden options that weren't available in the past, that now are. You can also start off playing as any faction including monolith and zombies, which should be a bit of fun if you replay, and you can always switch back to another faction at any time, provided you have the money. Playing as a loner or Duty is the obvious choice, however Ecologists make for an interesting playthrough as you are neutral to the military and start off with the Spas-12 shotgun, and Freedom is fun but difficult to play as you don't have access to the bar. You can always be neutral and be friends with Freedom or Duty. Unfortunately most other factions make you hostile to loners, which sort of makes the game unplayable unless you want the hardest experience possible, but it can still be fun. The Zombie is perhaps the most interesting given that you spawn in with amazing equipment, but everyone is hostile except for monolith and of course other zombies.

Another change I made was to make armor more usable late game. It's annoying to simply reach the end of the game and have one suit of armor that is clearly the best, and instead it gives you reasons to keep using other suits of armor during the game as they offer features unique to them. The Exoskeleton allows you to carry up to 100 kilograms instead of 80 like originally, and most suits of armor add some extra carry weight, usually +10 as well. In addition, they provide more armor protection, with some suits of armor offering far more protection than the exoskeleton late game, and one exoskeleton letting you carry up to 140 kilos (fang's exoskeleton). You can sprint in the exoskeleton, but none of the upgrade versions. Each one comes with it's own benefits and drawbacks. Special versions of the armor tend to be far better as well, with far better features and armor. The HEV mod applies to more sets of armor and they provide better protection overall. Artefacts also provide different enhancements, which I feel makes it feel more balanced and interesting. For example, the Gravi, Goldfish and Kolobok artefacts also provide enhancements to resistance to all types of damage, which makes them more useful than just providing rupture resistance at low levels. Ammunition drops more, artefacts drop more, and there's generally more stuff in the game. If you're used to the original game, it should provide enough of a difference to make it feel enjoyable on a replay. Unique items can be bought from traders, and some drop more than once or are on more than one NPC, making it more fun to use.

Installation

Installation is very easy, just download the files, and copy and paste the config mods over an already installed Stalker complete config mod, and copy over the original files. Copy the Gamedata file, and paste it over the existing Gamedata file in your game library, such as in your steam library. Because it's largely changes to config mods you CAN in theory get away with installing it to the vanilla version of the game, however I cannot guarantee it will be totally serviceable if you do this.

New unique items

Quite a few new unique items have been added, and older unique items have been upgraded or changed. The most extreme change is the change of the MP5 that normally fires 9mm x 18mm makarov rounds instead firing 5.45mm, and versions of the MP5 in 5.56mm and .45 ACP exist in the game. The standard MP5 can fire makarov rounds, which I feel is not only more balanced, but more realistic as the MP5 in real life can reliabily fire makarov rounds, as can most 9mm, making it silly to make it a separate ammunition type. An AR-15 exists in 9mm and 5.45mm, and an Abakan in 5.56mm. There's quite a few "assault" guns added to the game, which were left out of the original game but in the config files, which extend the magazines and make them shooter faster, and quite a few sniper variants of guns added which improve accuracy and reduce felt recoil. There is an RPK-74 in the game which holds 75 rounds, and a G36 which holds 100. Certain traders, such as Duty or Freedom, are the only way to get certain guns in the game, and so for the best experience on your first playthrough I recommend being a loner to see both sides, if you are interested in this. Most armor is improved, and the changes are far greater. Extra healing and wound reduction are added to quite a few armors in the game, and healing is far greater on healing armor. Unfortunately due to a problem in the way the code works, armor can no longer be damaged easily. While it's possible to repair items, armor just simply almost never degrades. Weapons still degrade normally, however. The best armor in the game protection wise is the SKAT-9m, while the most carry weight comes from the exoskeleton or tourist outfit. You can sprint in the exoskeleton, but not the upgraded version. A special upgraded exoskeleton exists meant for when you play as the zombie, that is a bit unbalanced and game-breaking on purpose.

Perhaps the biggest change of all comes to shotguns, which are WAY more accurate at long range, making them actually usable and being potentially upgraded in comparison to the original game. The changes to the shotgun are perhaps my most fun change in the game, and they're way more fun to use and more realistic. The double-barreled shotgun is still awful, but every other shotgun is dramatically enhanced. The AK-74u or carbine is also still awful in order to balance the game as the original creators intended. There's also new or changed stashes, which give the player access to some new unique items. The Fang, Freedom leader's stash, and a few others give some interesting new weapons, such as a Sniper variant of the G36, machine gun variant and weight-enhanced exoskeleton you can't sprint in.

If you're looking for a new and fresh replay for Shadow of Chernobyl, without changing too much, this is your mod!