I just installed S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky; however,

I am somewhat annoyed that even with an 8800GTX I am not allowed, by the software, to increase graphical options to what I want.

I am not allowed to push the lighting distance or enable certain features such as volumetric light, wet surfaces, volumetric smoke etc.

No doubt I can force these, like Crysis, via editing the configs. However, it should be down to the user - not some deal with MS (as per Crysis) as to what I can change.

"Mr Unhappy".

crash your computer

Are you moaning that you dont have the OS to run the DX that Clear sky wants you to have to get these options?

Don't worry, puki. If it has as many bugs as Shadow of Chernobyl had, it won't be playable anyway and not worth spending time with it.

STALKER is the only game that I know that became WORSE with every new patch; with 1.0005 on Vista SP1, I can't even rescue that guy with the PDA in the very beginning anymore - sometimes not even the bandits are there, sometimes my 'support group' isn't there, but the guy I am supposed to 'save' is kneeling on the ground nevertheless and does not react to anything except for being shot, and that's the only way to retrieve the PDA. This little mission always worked WITHOUT the patch - but then others wouldn't work and it was also impossible to go back to the trader where the game starts.

And even with the patch installed the game runs crappy on Vista SP1, and I have an 8800GT with 512MB and a Quad Core Xeon with 8 GB RAM. Even Crysis runs smoothly on that rig!

I play Shadow of Chernobyl no problems on my system.

Surely not being able to do what you want with your computer, is a small price to pay for using the worlds most popular OS? I mean what are you going to do? Use Lejnoks? Games don't even work on Macs! Microsoft are the best in the world, and you're just upset because your computer isn't big enough to run Vista.

If you're making a list, you can add KOTOR II to it. The game is (now) perpetually broken (because Lucas Arts has already cashed in their chips, Bioware is doing their own thing, and Obsidian simply couldn't care less).

Azathoth, lucky you. I've played through Shadow Chernobyl in patch level 1.0001 on Windows XP SP2, and even back then several things just did not work or were broken (for example the thing with with the special scientist suit). I now wanted to play it again a bit on my new machine and graphics card with the latest patch (on Vista SP1) and not even the story parts (or whatever you wanna call it) in the beginning of the game are working flawlessly and are obviously completely broken.

FlameDuck, I agree - Microsoft provides the ultimate solution for gamers. But it's not their Windows operating system. It is their Xbox 360. Nothing beats that babe. I've wasted the last two days playing my latest purchase Unreal Tournament 3 on it and love it.

So what parts of the story doesn't work?

I've already mentioned a few, but here's a longer list:

I couldn't get the scientist suit, although I've completed the assignment for which I should receive it and returned the requested item to the scientists. (Did not work in the original STALKER.)

In the very beginning, the wounded guy is not always lying there. And sometimes, he -is- lying there and crying for help, but the med kit is not where it should be. (Always worked in the original STALKER.)

In the original STALKER, the door to the merchant where you start the game won't open again after you've left him. (Works now in patch 1.0005.)

In the very beginning, the rescue mission just does not work anymore: My fellow STALKERs magically do not appear at the meeting point. The bandits are not there. And the hostage is kneeling on the floor, not reacting to anything. (Mostly worked in the original STALKER.)

The mission where you're supposed to kill the boars in the very beginning does not work: There are no boars. (Worked in the original STALKER.)

Sometimes, even the first military post is not guarded by military. They are just not there. --OR--, what is even more obviously a bug, they are only spawned when you are climbing over the railway. (Worked in the original STALKER.)

After the railway, the guy 'who is surrounded by critters' either is not there, -or- he is there, afraid to talk to you, but the blind dogs neither have attacked nor will they ever attacked. (This worked in the original STALKER.)

The next guard house to the next level is no longer guarded. (It always was in the original STALKER.)

These are the bugs that I found in one hour of playing the game, and after that I deleted it. Now it's just another nice steel box in my collection. And I will certainly NOT spend any money on Clear Sky.

By the way, one thing I still find extremely annoying about STALKER: It's the year 2020 or something and there are NO WOMEN in the game world? I mean, this is the Ukraine, former part of the Soviet Union, where women could have military careers LONG before they were allowed to in the Western World. This is an unbelievable huge design flaw in STALKER, unless in this game CSD stands for Chernobyl Street Day. Sorry, but a design flaw the size of Manhattan island really upset me. It's like Ferrari building a car without an engine.

The guy surrounded by critters should be laying on the floor, however you can also kill him and still get the info from his body.
Most the bugs you've described I've never come accross myself.
As for there being no women, maybe they don't want to go to an area filled with radiation and mutants.

Ripley did not want to go there either, but still she went and fought off all those Aliens. Oh, and there was Vasquez, too, who has more interested in being a soldier than doing the cleaning and cooking and raising of children...

Well, I still managed to enjoy several parts of STALKER when I played it last year. Some of the underground levels were pretty good, and I also liked that power station where you had these strange visions.

Still, it would have been nicer with Lara, Ripley and Vasquez around. ;-)