Your first modification
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(New page: == Getting Started == Modding S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a rewarding experience because it allows you to bend the extremely atmospheric game to your will. With enough patience and will power, (Kno...)
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Revision as of 22:08, 25 June 2008
Contents |
Getting Started
Modding S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a rewarding experience because it allows you to bend the extremely atmospheric game to your will. With enough patience and will power, (Knowing Russian helps) you can figure out how to change the most complex "settings" in the game to fit your new world. However, we are not at that step yet. We are going to start nice and simple and work our way up through other tutorials. You will need quite a few tools before you begin on your first mod.
Tools
Database Extractor
Notepad ++ (Optional, Windows Notepad works fine, but you will thank me later)
STALKER patched to at least 1.005 (1.006 is mostly an optional patch, it only changes Multiplayer stuff, nothing you will be editing)
A good amount of space on your Hard Drive. (10 gigabytes free is a must for lots of wiggle room and backups)
Understanding Extraction and Mod Structure
Extract all the database archives into a separate folder on your desktop. Name it gamedata_original. Now, there is so much to change! Create a new folder in your X:\Program Files\THQ\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl (X for your drive letter) and call this new folder gamedata. If you have not already browsed through your gamedata_original folder, do so now. So many files and sub-directories! Whenever you edit a file, Notepad ++ will create a .bak of the original in the folder it was edited so you always have the file as it was when it worked (or before changes). To make this .bak work, all you must do is rename the extension back to .ltx or whatever it was before.
If you can't see extensions and are on Windows XP, open up a folder and go to Tools - Folder Options and click on the View tab. Uncheck hide extensions for known file types.
Editing your First File
Notepad ++ and Windows Notepad are only capable of editing essentially word files. These extensions include .ltx and .xml and .script. (Notepad ++ handles .xml and .script files much cleaner than Windows Notepad) An easy first change to STALKER is changing how much you can carry, your weight limit. When STALKER was first released there were mods that were entirely based on just doing that. It isn't any big mystery how it's done now, but it is still sometimes done improperly. There are a total of 3 lines of code that need to be edited to make the new weight limit official. 2 of them are in actor.ltx and one of them is in system.ltx
C:\Program Files\THQ\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl\gamedata\config\creatures\actor.ltx
C:\Program Files\THQ\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl\gamedata\config\system.ltx
You see now both of these files have gamedata\config in common, so browse to your STALKER gamedata folder which is looking very empty right now, and create a new folder called config inside. System.ltx will land right in there, but actor.ltx goes a bit deeper. Create another folder inside config and name it creatures. Keep the gamedata folder open and go to the gamedata_original folder. Browse first to gamedata_original\config and copy system.ltx to your STALKER gamedata\config folder. Open it up and you should see something like this:
Hit Ctrl F and search for weight and you will hit upon a line with max_weight in it. Change the value to say 120 or whatever value you want. 1 = 1 KG in game. Save it, you are done with system.ltx.
