Pillhead – Substances Of Stalker
Pillhead is a medical overhaul that adds 10+ new drugs to the game and rebalances vanilla ones.
Only English Localization supported at present.
Pillhead is a consumable overhaul for Stalker 2 that overhauls the medical system in the game, rebalancing vanilla items and adding in new items to create a more complex and robust system. Only English Localization supported at present.
Features
Medical system reworked to offer depth and complexity
10+ new substances for Skif to use and abuse
Improved Sleep and Psi Mechanics
Improved inventory UI for consumables
Does not replace base game cfgs; only modifies consumable and consumable loot table structs.
Contains experimental fix for infinite psi-radiation bug in vanilla game.
Consumables now build up fatigue, psi, and rad meters variously.
Skif will get tired more easily and may often see and hear people that do not exist.
Multiple psychoactive and therapeutic substances have been added and “gamified” into the world of STALKER, from Fentanyl to Modafinil.
New substances can be purchased from medics, and some are available from loot tables.
But nothing comes for free. Just like real life, all medications cause undesirable side effects – stronger medications typically cause stronger side effects.
The best way to manage side effects is of course, polysubstance abuse.
Addiction Is A Bicycle
Mix and match pills like tic tac to keep back side effects
In Pillhead, the side effects of drugs intentionally loop into each other – forcing the player to juggle multiple status effects.
For example, healing items makes you sleepy. Stimulants keep you awake but build up your PSY meter. Xanax and PSYBlocker replenishes your PSY, but make you hungry. Eating builds up radiation. Vodka cures radiation but makes you hungry. And so on. The side effects loop into each other, meaning that the player has to stack synergistic drugs in order to perform optimally. Just like in real life, addiction is a bicycle – once you master the balance of your drug stack, you will never have to worry about falling off.
Ambient Sleep Mechanic Rework
In the base game, Skif does not need to sleep because the existing sleep mechanic is either bugged and/or increments too slowly – it seems to take a dozen hours of real time before Skif becomes sleepy. On top of this, an energy drink restores 20 sleep points, which is 1/5th of the whole hidden sleep meter. Sleep takes hours of gameplay to build up while 5 energy drinks erase the whole meter, meaning that the player will practically never becomes tired in a regular playthrough.
The key to Pillhead’s gameplay loop first begins with a nerf to the problematic Energy Drink effect, reducing its sleep restoration from 20->10.
In Pillhead, healing items and food now build up the fatigue meter. Out of combat, the sleep meter will build up very slowly and naturally from food consumption. In combat however, sleep builds up incredibly quickly as the player eats through medkits – using 6 regular medkits is enough to make the player drowsy. Sleep reduces your aiming ability and since fatigue buildup in combat is inevitable, the player will have to rely on stimulants in order to keep Skif awake.
Stimulant-class drugs decrease your sleepmeter without having to sleep.
Unfortunately, heavy stimulant use puts you at risk of NARC. (Noosphere Activity Rearranging Consciousness).
Noospheric Activity Rearranges Consciousness
Stimulants keep you awake by increasing cognitive activity, which also increases your vulnerability to psi-radiation.
Unlike other vitals, the PSY meter regenerates by itself over time. For example, a controller’s PSY attack increases the PsyPoints of the player, which slowly degenerates back to normal over time. Substances abuse will build up the psy meter, making psi a consequential effect that you have to manage proactively.
In Pillhead, substances generally have two types of psi build up, Flat Psi and Psi Over Time. Flat Psi adds a static number of Psi points, while Psi Over Time builds up Psi over time. Since Psi points naturally degenerate, Psi Over Time is more dangerous than Flat Psi. Flat Psi can be waited out, while substances with high Psi Over Time can outright kill you.
*There seems to be an infinite psi-radiation bug in the base game caused by scripted sequences which add permanent PsyPoints to the player.
This mod is unlikely to contribute to the infinite psi bug, as it does not add permanent PsyPoints to the player. See the “Permanent Psi-Radiation Bug Fix” section below for more information.
To remove Psi effects, you have to use anti Psi-chotic medication, such as Xanax or Psi-Block. This class of drugs slow down brain activity, protecting it from the effects of background Psi-radiation.
While the overall complexity of the mod may seem intimidating, the core gameplay loop of the Pillhead system is very intuitive.
Healing causes drowsiness, which you must use stimulants to remove. Stimulant use builds up the Psi meter, which you must take psychiatric medication for.
Installation
1. BACK UP YOUR SAVE GAMES. Go to %appdata%/local/stalker2/saved/steam/savegames, and make a zip of ALL your save games, including the campaignssave.sav file. You need the campaignssave file in order to load any of your savegames.
2. When you have backed up your save games, install this mod into the ~mods directory where you put your other paks.
3. Delete other localization files.
4. Play.
Compatibility
-No CFGs replaced. Highly compatible with mods without localization.
-Only overwrites consumable and consumable stash structs and does not modify structs outside of this scope.
-The localization database in Pillhead contain the english strings for Project Itemization and Mutant Loot. Both mods are compatible in English if you use Pillhead’s localization. For now, delete the localization files from those two mods and use Pillhead’s
-Currently, only English localization is supported. If you want to help me with translations, please look at the localization source file uploaded.
-Stalker 2 can only load 1 localization file. Currently, you will have to remove all other localization paks from your game directory in order for Pillhead item names and descriptions to work. I am working on localizationDB merges with other item modders.
Uninstallation
-Uninstallation is not supported at the moment.
-I cannot guarantee that uninstalling this mod will not brick your saves
-If you want to uninstall this mod, sell all items added by this mod, download the uninstall pak, sleep in game, go to the medic, verify that all new items have been REMOVED from the trader inventory. Then, remove both the uninstall pak and the pillhead pak, and load into your save.
