A-Life Uh.. Found A Way
NPCs now spawn around the player in 860m radius, Closer range(100-200m) will be 1 to 2 common unit spawns mostly. Midrange(150-400) It’s more likely to see small groups/packs. (400-600) Lower chance to spawn in Poltergeist, PseudoDog, Burer, Deer etc. The more exotic larger mutants have the lowest chance to spawn so you can work around them.
It started with a drop of Stalker DNA
After Flic and I both finished helping with Shay’s Living Zone, we started experimenting to see if spawn range could be extend. Every new answer came with a new puzzle to figure out. As the experiment continued we ended up with something that should be closer to A-Life 1.0 and allow spawns to feel more natural. We managed to keep most if not all the scenarios intact, but spawning at an appropriate distance. Hopefully this will help avoid that forced spawn feeling when you stumble into one (HumanVsMutants, Lair Battles, etc…).
We also included new scenarios so that the more exotic mutants have a small chance to show up like Deer & Pseudogiant. To balance them we have them spawning further way from the player’s initial/current location so that as you move towards a new location you can pick and choose whether you want to engage something or move around it.
Sauce..
The main ingredient of this mod is a tier system deeply tied into the radius from the player which allows us to restrict and command certain enemy types the player can run into depending on the Distance which will be explained below. This Radius was allowed after rewriting the way the Director is configured. Planned with a tier system in mind both in scalability and chance.
Imagine a large circle around the player representing the radius 860m; within this radius are smaller radii leading up to the player’s restriction zone for spawns. This field defines the area where offline interactions are pooled, though these offline simulated interactions are currently limited to a range of 400 meters.
What happens when you start moving?
As you move forward you should start to see humans & mutants do their own thing. Maybe 1 or 2 in the first 100-175m. Next some smaller groups and packs that were spawned in around 150-400m. Then there is a low chance to spawn in Poltergeist, PseudoDog, Burer, Deer, etc… 375-750m. The more exotic/larger mutants have the lowest chance to spawn(475-750m). However since they have their own goals you might encounter them sooner if they happen to be traveling by. Video shown above displays leaving the starting zone for the first time and how the tier system generated the upcoming interactions ahead of time based on distance.
Lesser Zone & Swamp
Fear not my fellow Stalkers, we’ve also tailored the spawn scenarios for the Lesser Zone & Swamp. To avoid overwhelming the smaller areas, some exotic mutants have been removed and the timing set to a slower rate.
Lairs
Respawn after clearing a lair has been increased to give you time to look around and loot. However that doesn’t mean you should hang out and have a picnic. It’s best to finish up your tasks and move on before something comes looking to avenge their fallen companions.
VS
There is a rare chance for this to happen still in the midrange. I believe we also lowered the number of participants. Hopefully this will allow it to feel like you’ve stumbled into a small skirmish rather than a war.
Start New or Continue?
We feel like it might be best to start with a fresh playthrough. This will likely give you the fullest experience from start to finish. However you should be fine to use this while continuing an existing save. Though it might take a little to adjust your playstyle.
We also highly recommend our friend Ani HVX’s MHM(Modular Hard Mode) mod when using our mod with a fresh start
https://www.nexusmods.com/stalker2heartofchornobyl/mods/88
Are You a Runner?
Well you might not see much on you’re initial run, but once you pause at a POI, Lair or quest the spawn director should start to catch up and fill in around you.
Why Didn’t We Catch Everyone Else Up Yet?
By the time we had it figured out, cleaned up, and tested enough to know it was fully functional we ran out of time. The Devs are working on a new patch that could come out any day now. So we wanted the community to at least have the option to see and try it for what it is. Hopefully the Devs next patch will allow it to keep running the way it is, only they know. To our fellow modders give it a try, we’ll do our best to explain what’s going on so you can integrate your own vision/ideas. It’s your turn to take the torch again and hopefully push the A-Life we have available a little further!
Alters:
AIGlobals.cfg
CoreVariables.cfg
NPCSpawnerPrototypes.cfg
./ALifePrototypes/ALifeDirectorScenarioPrototypes.cfg
./ALifePrototypes/ALifePopulationManagerPrototypes.cfg
./LairPrototypes/GenericLairPrototypes.cfg
