AAO and SWO3 Issues

[chaosshade]

After installing some mods I rather like in a certain order, my game has crashing issues. After talking w/ imperialreign, I wasn't able to figure out what was wrong, but I WAS able to make it stop acting weird. On a possibly related note, it's been almost a month in game and it hasn't rained except for like one day in the Cordon.

Order Installed:
- Pseudo-mod (minor gameplay tweaks, will explain if asked)
- Nature Mod Autumn
- SHARPER Textures
- Sky4ce 1.80
- Stalker Weather Overhauled 3.0
- - Moon On
- - Normal Nights
- - Max Settings
- - SWO3 Sky4ce 1.81
- Ambient Audio Overhaul 1.8
- - NPC Dialogue Fix
- - AAO 1.8 SWO3 Patch
- Sky4ce 2.0
- SWO3 QuickFix #2

I don't know what was causing it to crash, but when I installed it in THIS order:
- SWO3
- - Moon On
- - Normal Nights
- - Max Settings
- - SWO3 Sky4ce 1.81
- SWO3 Vanilla Patch
- SWO3 QuickFix #2

It caused crashing before it even reached the main menu. Installing just AAO in this order:
- AAO 1.8
- - NPC Dialogue Fix
- - AAO Vanilla Compatibility Patch

I'm not sure why one or the other causes crashing by itself WITH the Vanilla Patch. If I install them together with the correct patches:
- SWO3
- - Moon On
- - Normal Nights
- - Max Settings
- - Vanilla Patch
- - SWO3 Sky4ce 1.81
- SWO3 QuickFix #2
- AAO 1.8
- - NPC Dialogue Fix
- - SWO3 Patch

It crashes the same way. I'm not sure what happens, but it's confusing the hell out of me and I'd like some help.

Patch Version: 1.0005

Current Gaming Rig:
- Win7 x64 and x86
- Core i5-750 2.66ghz (3.24ghz) [quad core]
- 8gb DDR3 RAM @1333mhz
- EVGA P55 LE mobo
- 512mb EVGA GTS 250 and 512mb EVGA 9800 GT (nVidia PhysX Engine)
- 2x Seagate 160gb 7200rpm HDDs

Old Gaming Rig:
- Win7 x86
- P4 3.0ghz (3.33ghz) [single core]
- 3gb DDR2 RAM @533mhz
- Intel D925XECV2 mobo
- 512mb EVGA 9800GT
- 2x Seagate 160gb 7200rpm HDDs

[natvac]

How are you installing/merging the mods? What patch version of STALKER are you using? Not running SLI, right?

Something I'm suspicious about: Windows 7 and permissions and virtual store. STALKER's old-style mod mechanism puts game changes into the installation directory, a no-no per modern Windows OSes (e.g., Vista and Windows 7). The OS handles this silently; you can install and change all you want, but when you run the game, the only changes used are those that are complete replacements after you delete the originals. Modifications of existing files are not reliably used, as they belong to the installer user, not you.

It's a virtual store or virtual cache thing. It may be complicated if you have used a mod in the past that used an installer.

[chaosshade]

I do all my modding manually because I dislike SMM. I'm not running SLI because my board only supports crossfire. The reason I have two cards is because I'm running nVidia's PhysX Engine. Stalker version is 1.0005, but I'll be dropping back to 1.0004 when LA gets released. I've never had problems with the game misbehaving in terms of modding except for one instance but I fixed that.

[imperialreign]

You've come across a really odd problem, Chaos . . . TBH, you're also the first user who's mentioned such horrendous issues with SWO3 + AAOv1.8.

Try removing the shader folder entirelly, then copying the shaders included with SWO3 - see if that changes anything . . . I think it might actually be conflicting issues with the shader files . . .

If not, at this point - backup your saves and user.ltx. Re-install SoC, and patch to desired version.

From there, yout Psuedo mod, then Nature mod, then SHARPER, then install SWO3 as you want (including the shaders included with), then install the SWO3 patches. Following that, install AAO + the AAO/SWO3 patch. See how that works out.

If everything seems alright, you can try to install Sky4ce 2.0 . . . rename your currently installed shader folder first, then copy 2.0 into your gamedata.


If you're still having issues, as a last resort - I have the two big mods (SWO3 + AAO), if you can, pack up the smaller mods seperately into one .zip file (or .rar or .7z, whichever), and upload them for me to DL (if less than 50MB, you could always setup a WIN Live account, which gives you access to SkyDrive, which will host a good number of files for free).

But, send those my way and I'll merge everything together for ya, and figure it out this week - then I'll send it back your way.

[chaosshade]

Well, after following your advice, imperialreign, the root of the problem is the vanilla patch for both. For some reason it's causing a bug to pop up that won't let SoC throw an error log and won't let the game start up. I reloaded SoC without backing anything up (I don't mind starting over, I like playing through ^^) so I could I have a clean install, then I put it together one at a time watching everything carefully as I went. I DID NOT install the Pseudo-mod or Sky4ce 2.0 when I was doing testing.

SWO3 Order:
- SWO3
- - Moon On
- - Normal Nights
- - Max Settings
- - SWO3 Sky4ce 1.81
- SWO3 Vanilla Patch
- SWO3 QuickFix #2

When I installed it WITHOUT the vanilla patch, it worked 100% fine. Something about the vanilla fix for SWO3 is causing it to act this way. I'm still not sure what that might be, but it's really really annoying. I get the EXACT same results if I install AAO by itself with the vanilla patch.

AAO Order:
- AAO 1.8
- - NPC Dialogue Fix
- - AAO Vanilla Compatibility Patch

Again, if I omit the vanilla patch it runs perfectly fine, but with it the game won't start up. I'll see if I can get it to throw an error log, but it doesn't seem to want to.

[imperialreign]

No, when you're installing the AAO vanilla hotfix - are you making sure to install only the SWO3 folder?

As well, when installing AAOv1.8, make sure for the compatibility settings you're only installing the SWO3 comp folder.

Plus, after installing AAO + vanilla hotfix, make sure you install the SWO3 compatibility patch.

So, in order:

SWO3 Order:
- SWO3
- - Moon On
- - Normal Nights
- - Max Settings
- - SWO3 Sky4ce 1.81
- SWO3 Vanilla Patch
- SWO3 QuickFix #2

Then for AAO:

AAO Order:
- AAO 1.8
- - NPC Dialogue Fix
- - AAO Vanilla Compatibility Patch - SWO3 folder *only*
- - SWO3 patch


The SWO3 folder in the vanilla hotfix includes a necessary script file I had forgotten to include with the original release.

The SWO3 patch (which is technically patch #2) includes a fix to the ambient sections which was causing a crash in Dark Valley / X18.

If you're running SWO3 with AAO, those patches must be installed, and not those meant for a pure vanilla loadout.

[chaosshade]

Ah, okay. Thanks a ton imperial! I pulled the whole thing and redid it (along with my weird little pseudo-mod) and I upgraded to Sky4ce 2.0 w/ no issues at all. I LOVE how amazing SoC looks now! I started over completely just so I could see the weather in other areas for fun.

[imperialreign]

Glad to hear you finally got it working - figured it was something minor . . .

Let me know what you think of the AAO setup as well - I haven't had too much feedback on that release.

Also, trojanuch is planning an update to SWO3 sometime in the future, I'll be sure to let everyone know when that's ready.

[chaosshade]

AAO's setup is pretty much a no-brainer in terms of installation ease. The same is more or less true for SWO. All you really need to do is follow the directions. So far it's working quite nicely, no more annoying bar patrons outside the bar, no more hearing the blockpost speaker at the northern end of the cordon (which I always thought was funny,) and some of the new anomaly sounds are quite nice.

My biggest gripe at this point really is the new anomaly graphics. The fact that springboards join the realm of the invisible menace kinda bugs me, although they're usually not terribly strong. I also don't like the change to the burner. That fog is frankly kind of boring. I liked the wavy heat instead. The new electro graphic is really nice, though it makes them really nasty at night (although I have the locations memorized) and I don't like the new sound for it. Other than that, AAO gets my okay.

I still can't tell the difference between a Whirlgig and a Vortex though, lol. I wish there was more of a distinction other than the way it kills you.