thanx for the tip, gonna check Ubersoldier 

Yes sorry missed that in IRC last night. I did try Fallout 3 and it kept crashing as I was being born. I should try it again and see if it magically works - it is a good choice (although as an FPS RPG, not something new to me). 

DLing new vegas word. 

what about nehrim?

did you try glovepie (key remapper) with dark souls? 

Nehrim just looks like more RPG, even if it might be good.

GlovePie could be an option but it is a lot more dicking around, I am lazy and used to just installing and playing games ;).

Actually I'd be up for another modern classic ground-based RTS if anyone has any ideas?? 

I'm tired of L4D2 mods already, they're all the fucking same, so I reinstalled Stalker COP. This time didn't touch the settings or install complete, and haven't had a single crash, yay!

Been playing for the last few hours and I seem to be almost to the point of entering pripyat (just need a suit)... which appears to be well into the game already, over halfway? I haven't done many side quests yet, only a few, so i think i'll have to go back and do some. I haven't even found a single artifact or lootpack yet, the whole place seems empty. No interesting places to explore, no cool items yet (some fancy shotgun is the best i've got so far from a bandit leader). The graphics aren't very good either, doesn't seem to be any improvement since the original (which looked better with complete) so COP appears worse out of the box.
I'm going to try this mod: http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-hd-project1

Looks like it does a pretty good job of improving the looks, just gotta wait for the 7gb download! 

Stalker COP:

Finding artifacts works differently from the first stalker game. They aren't simply scattered around the countryside. Your detector actually is good for something, and it's worth buying (or looting) the best detector you can afford.

There are stashes hidden everywhere in the world, but unlike the first game they are not in containers and usually not even marked. You have to search buildings and structures from top to bottom.

The side quests are most of the game in Stalker COP, unlike the first one. 

You should try Absolute Nature 3.1 (or 3 Lite if you don't want additional vegetation) and Absolute Structures with AtmosFear 3 if you want eye-candy. This HD mod has some really weird textures and is unfinished afaik.
I'm almost certain you need to start a new game with AtmosFear 3 however. 

ok, wow, i had kind of ignored this stalker, but i kind of think it sounds awesome now... 

1. Google for DSfix and DSMfix.

2. Find a tutorial , start following instructions.
a. Uninstall GFWL
b. Uninstall GFWL marketplace
c. Download and install GFWL

3. Find another tutorial, worry the first one is mistake, start refollowing instructions.
a. Reuninstall GFWL
b. Reuninstall GWLF marketplace
c. Try to follow video instructions, no options for Win 7
d. Choose vista as the closest and hope.
e. Try to log-in to GWFL, comes up with an error. Click on the error to go to Xbox site to find how to fix it, page has moved.
f. Reuninstall GWFL and marketplace.
g. Restart computer.
h. Retry steps 2. Fails to log-in. Give up on GFWL.

4. Download DSfix and DSMfix after numerous problems and delays with servers.

5. Start Dark Souls, connect to GFWL but only in offline mode despite being logged in according to the game.

6. Copy over the DSFix and DSMfix files despite there being a confusing folder structure to the former.

7. Download some other windows bollox the guide tells me to.

8. Go through changing the settings in the DSFix.ini.

9. Start Dark Souls, successfully change resolution. Start a new game.

10. Try to perform anything with mouse in the first cell. Mouse is not captured.
a. Try to escape out to Windows, escape key doesn't work
b. Alt-tab and close game, restart game, get a warning that I need to use the System menu to quit the game.
c. Escape still doesn't work, no obvious way to access System menu.
d. Retry repeatedly. Mouse doesn't work at all.

11. Uninstall game and kiss �20 goodbye. Slightly more annoyed by the waste of 1.5 hours fucking around than throwing money away. Never again. 

0. Ask someone on Steam/IRC who you know has played it on PC with Mods.

Seriously whats this GFWL Install/Uninstall stuff, i don't recall ever having to touch that. 

I needed to do that shit with GFWL otherwise the game wouldn't launch. I have never encountered Shambler's other issues though. 

is an absolute disaster. I bought it for �4 in the steam sale and haven't been able to get it working. I feel bad for anyone who spent more than I did on the game. 

I got Dark Souls and gave up on it after 5 minutes of just trying to start a god damn game. That UI is unforgivable. 

is an absolutely brilliant 2d beat 'em up, megaman, metroidvania-ish, kind of rpg platformer thingy game... with a really great soundtrack.

Get on it! 

Sad to hear your having so many issues :(

I didn't follow any guides. I just downloaded dsfix and edited the .ini with my settings and off I went.

I already had a G4WL account that I used for some other games so that wasn't really a problem. I never tried to run the game in offline mode (and I would suggest that for dark souls, running online makes the game better in a lot of ways. Summoning/invading etc only works when you are online obviously and is a pretty cool mechanic).

I can't talk about using kb+mouse to control the game. Honestly every single article/comment/guide I read about the pc controls just said PAD OR GTFO and I have to agree.

It is a fucking awful port. Dreadful in fact and ticks all the boxes for "stay the fuck away". If the game wasn't as captivating as it is then I would have never even touched it. 

good job that I have my consoles to play it on. I'm glad I did because it's one of my favourite games of all time, probably in the top 3. 

People in the office were playing it on PC and was thinking I'd get around to it sooner or later. Guess not. 

Dark Souls is a console game, it is designed for the PS3 and the controls are perfect for the controller. Trying to use a mouse/keyboard is unwise with this game. I would highly recommend to attach a controller to the PC port, the game is good because the controller scheme is well thought out and implemented, it is worth learning.

After seeing the Daz derpathon through Dark Souls and that DS2 is coming out soon I decided to break my usual habit and try a pure magic character build and it was awesome. Once you get the crystal spells from Logan and a couple of good rings it is possible to create a pure glass canon mage build that can easily one shot any mob (including giants / large demons) and make mince meat of most bosses.

I tried the new DLC content and really did not like it compared to the original. Most fights are melee only and the difficulty level is extremely high compared to the original, but the story for the new area is brilliant. 

It is all entirely irrelevant to me now. Tried, failed, ignored.

Except: *IF* DS2 works out of the box, I will give it a try. As per Derpz, it still intrigues me. 

I really enjoyed the balance of DS1, after you get the hang of the game it really feels perfectly tuned.

I played Dark Souls 2 last year at a convention and it was rock solid in comparison. You can get staggered out of defence quite a lot easier, the swings take a lot more stamina too. The whole thing feels slowed down and tougher. Now I hear if you crank up your agility it feels a bit more like DS1. Graphically it's greatly improved from the last game. I hope gameplay has been tweaked by the time it's released. 

k I've finished call or pripyat. Actually despite giving the impression that I was significantly into the game, i had nowhere near enough cash to buy the seva suit or get buddies to get to pripyat so I had to go back and do a tonne of side quests anyway. So I did probably about 40% of the side quests overall. But in the end didn't need to do so many because the end was fucking easy.

I might see if there's any big mods for it (with new levels).

glad I reinstalled it though, it was worth a playthrough.

necros if you do want to play stalker, i'd say go for the third one, it's the most polished.
actually, here's my thoughts here: http://www.electricescape.com/etherealhell/index.php/game-reviews/2009-reviews/item/stalker-call-of-pripyat 

You could only play on static lighting? Shame. The game looks tons better with the highest lighting settings. The engine has it's problems though. Crashes and most annoyingly the poor level streaming. I read a interview with the engine designer saying how it was his biggest mistake and didn't have the time and resources to correct it, his next engine running Metro 2033 is supposed to have really good level streaming. I haven't played that yet though.

One thing I liked about the design in CoP was that the world was much more concentric and hublike, compared to SoC where you often had to do long and dull walks to get to places. Might have been an engine limit at the time? I never played Clear Sky, since it's supposed to be sub par.

The ending is pretty easy, yeah. Compared to Shadow of Chernobyl where it literally is hell on earth. Actually I don't think I finished it, running out of anti rad in the last part is pretty much a death sentence. 

Is call of pripyat only on steam? any way to get it without the DRM? (legit i mean...) 

Clear Sky ending was the hardest I think...I only watched it in youtube because the game crashed a couple levels before the end and wouldn't let me continue, but I remember thinking that looked fucking hard.

just torrent it if you can't buy it anywhere anymore, it's not like GSC are around to get the profits. the steam version is buggy i believe. I didn't notice any drm shit with my install.