S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Lost Alpha Mod

[Jazer]

From the makers of Priboi Story -

Have you ever dreamt of playing the old, forgotten S.T.A.L.K.E.R?

We were amazed by GSC's work when they released the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. screenshots in 2002. The old design, and atmosphere was stunning and we couldn't believe in our eyes. Later in the end of 2005, beginning of 2006 something has changed. Maybe data loss? ... who knows. They redesigned almost all old levels. Some of the levels became smaller, simpler (still nice but some areas can't be compared with the old ones), and some levels were removed. After the release in 2007 we played the game a lot, and noticed that some areas are missing. We opened forums, and talked countless nights about it for almost a year. Now days we could say, we have a full vision about GSC's old levels, due to the collected materials, videos and forgotten screenshots. We decided to remake those stunning areas, maybe they wont be the same, but we will try everything to make them very similar and also we will add our own creative parts. However GSC released a build, called 1935, which contains many old maps. We will use them, but also adjust them for our liking, but we wont throw out our own remade levels. From now, you will see many old maps in many mods, but you shouldn't worry, our maps won't be simple copy-paste compiles.

However this mod is not just about levels and levels. We will try to remake the original somewhat, but not fully restricted A-Life, and return a lot of cutout features.


Summary of features:
- All the old levels are coming back, all which are being edited to be fit for 2009's visuals.
- Original A-Life is coming back. S.T.A.L.K.E.R's roam the land searching for artifacts and take them back to traders. They interact with others and trade. They will loot bodies and handle equipment.
- Vehicles are coming back
- Presented in full dynamic lighting and high quality DX9 shader effects.

In other words. This is all of the ambitious dreams of lost alpha being made real. A huge, open world, full stalkers that do things just like you. You have a huge arsenal of weapons, you do trading and handle artifacts.

Levels in the mod -
* Cordon (completed)
* Garbage (completed)
* Agroprom (completed)
* Yantar (rework completed)
* Swamp (rework completed)
* Radar (rework completed)
* Generators (completed)
* Bar-Rostok (completed)
* Warlab (completed)
* Secret lab (completed)
* Darklab (x18) (completed)
* Stancia (completed)
* Sarcofag (completed)
* Military (completed)
* Bunker (radar ug) (completed)
* Dead City (completed)
* Darkscape (completed)
* Rostok Factory (completed)
* Darkvalley (98%) (changing some models from 2205)
* Pripyat (60%)
* +1 "surprise" map (20%)


As you can see, there is going to be a lot to explore. And I mean A LOT.

The developers say they learned so much after they finished Priboi, they could not go back and apply it. So I am sure that their experience will shine here.

The release date for this mod is December 2009, next month. I have been waiting for this mod since they left Priboi!

Screens:




















Visit their gallery to see how much more there is:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/lost-alpha/images

Also see their Dead City Map video they uploaded a week ago. It is fucking huge. It's like Pripyat, but with a wilderness beyond the city limits.

[Cobra]

I have heard about this before... I heard they might incorporate LURK with it...

[Jazer]

They are also adding a truck to vehicles to store your extra gear in, you also need fuel to keep your car running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVY03h1_Rrw&feature=player_embedded#

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Dead City (WIP 2.0)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Lost Alpha Sarcophag Level

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Garbage Returns (WIP)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Generators Returns (WIP)

[Dark Angel]

I've read about it but i doubt i'm gonna DL it because why would i DL a mod if i can DL normal Alpha version and patches for it?

[Jazer]

Come on guys, I thought you would be a little more excited about this huge project. By the way, Dark Angel, these old Alpha maps are being converted to the new X-Ray engine, V1.0 that is used in retail SoC. It may look old, but the code, AI, and features is all from retail SoC too. They are using some of the older huds and textures to bring back the original feel, but this mod in no way one of the old crappy Alpha releases from GSC's years old database.

[Steel]

Wow... im waiting for this now. Are they redoing all gameplay etc?
Im trying to figure out how quests will work.
Is there going to be an extended story line or something?
Would be good if something like OL was compatible with it.

[lolKieck]

It looks cool, but 3/4 of the things were implemented in OL, but STALKERS were not walking 'round and taking artifacts.
But I can't wait for it, if it is enhanced OL.
And by the way, Quick-shooting AKM rocks with the OL dot, because it shoots where you point.

[Lucidius]

This = love.

Can't wait for this to come out, hopefully armory mods will be compatble, it's still SUPER EPIC WTF AWESOME if they arn't though, this looks SOOOOO FUN.

OMG

[Jazer]

Yes, they have made a new story like they did in Priboi, but this is a stalker's story, rather than some military guy.

And yes, most of everything they have done is for bringing the original vision GSC had for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. If you were one of the people like me who surfed the deep corners of the internet in 2004 searching for alpha videos of stalker, then you are going to love this mod. It's as if GSC got to continue working on stalker till 2009 and managed to bring all of the features they wanted in before THQ forced them to cut things and release early.

I don't think there will be any current mods compatible with this, almost all of the original levels in retail have been replaced by the best alpha versions. GSC stated that somewhere half-way between development they had to scrap all the levels since they were way too complicated for the Smart Terrain AI they had at the time, that basically means the Alpha version of the levels were actually better than the retail; better layout, larger areas, more stuff. The dezowave team have gone in did there own work to touching up the visuals so they could be as best as they could be. They also made the Smart Terrain AI better to support the level's complicated paths.

[Lucidius]

I really hope they actually put stuff in cupboards and desks and what not.

One thing that really killed the atmosphere in STALKER was that every cupboard you encounted was entirely empty. WHy bother havin them there in the first place?

Also, watched videos of some of the alpha stuff and agreed, it looks MUCH better then the retail ShoC. Fucking THQ.

This mod should be super epic though. I'm looking forward to this so hard.

Also armory mods are just entering some text in a file, they should be compatible with most mods unless it has doubles (OL 2.2 has 2 FN2k's, one is original ShoC and the other has a new model, sounds and costs 1k more)

[Bagelz]

Few things I'd like to say about this mod.

NPCS like Zombies, and cats were taken out because they simply...fucking...sucked. It was GSC's idea to remove them, and I can see why after playing a multitude of mods with them in.

I love how they kept the overall HUD similar to that of the alphas, and of the vanilla SOC we know today. I loved the HUD in SOC, and I'm sure many others did.

I hope they leave the fucking ballistics as they were. GSC made them as they were for a reason.

Can't say much else, mod overall looks good.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Preview - Dead City & Old Garbage (PCGames) - also very good video...

[Lucidius]

Agreed @ the ballistics.

And I know they removed zombies, and other creatures because they sucked, but hoperfully they improve the AI on them abit instead of just adding them like OL.

Also seen that video ages ago. I wonder why they only show the VSS, SVDU and F2k?

Also omfg, I wish they kept the spinning 3 model previews, that loks so jawesome. Must have been a performance issue but even N64 has spinning 3d things for inventory previews.

[Jazer]

Good job pointing that out, I had no idea they had a 3D preview of items in the inventory.

Anyways guys, I hope you are realizing what this is, I don't think some of you are because you are comparing is to OL and AMK, which is sad. This is an overhaul mod, almost all the alpha content is coming back, even the levels, a lot of which are replacing retail game levels like Cordon. Not only that, they are hand editing the levels themselves to bring the game back to an acceptable quality w/ the SDK tools. This mod is also much better than a shitty Alpha build you can download from GSC's site, everything they are bringing back is getting fixed.

[Bagelz]

I am quite well aware of what this mod means, and I'm glad you are as well.

I was watching Stalker since I turned 13 in 2005, and I remember very well all the amazing content the showed. We all waited anxiously, and I still enjoyed Stalker for what it was, but at that time, I was oblivious to how much changed up until release.

Either way, the mod does look good, but these guys making it take it a bit too....seriously. I mean, it's just a GAME, the amount of work they invest boggles my mind, I can't even think about how much work it takes for what it is.

Few other things.

-Many people seem to fail to realise, that there is a reason GSC's developers made the ballistics the way they were, and have talked about it dozens of times. For some reason, which bothers me, people just cannot leave them alone, and mods like Oblivion Lost, make the weaponry baliistics just absolutely, ridiculously accurate. GSC made the ballistics the way it was to keep the game ACTION-packed, not popping head-shots on every enemy you see.

-The spinning 3D model idea looks fantastic! Why THQ forced them to remove this plethora of features, is beyond me.-

-Likewise, Pripyat also looked amazing. Incredibly amazing. The level we see in that video is extremely similar, if not, the same build we see in Call of Pripyat. It includes the theater, the statue, the radio-area, the hotel, and the many other things both games have and had.

-The last thing that bothers me, is why THQ wanted GSC to leave the engine the way it was. The engine for its time was amazing, if not, some of the best, most advanced work possible in 2004-2005. Why did THQ want GSC to leave it as it was? At release in 2007, the graphics for its time were absolutely terrible, as were the phyiscs, the engine, and overall stability. It was a shame that the community was the one to fix the game up majorly, and most of it. 

[Lucidius]

and mods like Oblivion Lost, make the weaponry baliistics just absolutely, ridiculously accurate. GSC made the ballistics the way it was to keep the game ACTION-packed, not popping head-shots on every enemy you see.

QFFT (quoted for fucking truth)

It's fucking obnoxious how mods like AMK and OL have SUPER ACCURACY, and MAGICAL SHOTGUN CHOKE THAT ADJUSTS WHEN YOU CROUCH.

Also, agreed on the engine issue.

I don't mind old engines but the few thigns that annoy me MOST about STALKER is the whole:
Stability
Physics (slight issues)
and AI movement.

Just last night I had a Bandit Crawl down the side of a building, and then crawl back up.

I've also Thrown a grenade into a sniper tower, only to have a friendly NPC crawl through the tower up to where I threw the grenade, get pisse,d and shoot me in the face. (They'll crawl form point a, to point b, not just up the wall. They'll be crawling and walking liek they where on the gorund but moving horizontally)

Physics, not as bad as HL2 but i've been fcuked up pretty bad from a slow movin barrel, and also the physics sounds have too high volume (many times i've had to mute my game to avoid broken ear drums, and that's on minimal volume)

Instability for obvious reasons.

I see why they kept it on the same engine. Look at L4D2, source engine. Source engine has been in dev since like 2000 and released 2002ish, VALVE is still releasing and basing games off and with this engine.

[Cobra]

Umm those mods try to increase Realism for the accuracy of guns and such if you don't like it well... QFT. Not to mention the AI have the same increased accuracy making things harder and more action packed in my opinion you actually have to take cover you can't rambo your way up to 30 feet and have them shoot around you.

[Bagelz]

But mods like OL make the guns TOO accurate. Skeet shotguns and Mossberg Pumps do not land a direct slug shot from 180 feet away.