Catching up on a recent update for the ongoing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. graphical overhaul, Atmosfear. Modder CrommCruac is hard at work and close to releasing take two for the third game, Call of Pripyat. Atmosfear – for those who haven’t been following it – focuses on the weather and ambient lighting in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. titles rather than any gameplay changes or added content, and Atmosfear 2 (among other things) totally reworks the ubiquitous blowouts, the lethal waves of radiation that sweep periodically over the gameworld. The ModDB page has a recent news post with six new screenshots and a video of the effect in action.
Our esteemed editor isn’t too keen on this sort of thing, by all accounts, but personally I’m all for it – much as I love GSC Gameworld’s X-Ray engine, it was an ailing beast when the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. finally made it out, and these days it’s looking decidedly long in the tooth. More so than Source, I could argue. CrommCruac states the blowout sequence is now intended to look much like the CG intro to the second game, Clear Sky. Kudos is definitely due; I’d prefer to look up and see the sky ripped wide open, personally, not just the air turning red and birds dropping dead for no apparent reason. But then graphical overhauls are usually a case of love them or hate them.
Not long now, either way: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. modders are an industrious lot, and on the strength of the updates so far Atmosfear 2 looks like making its July release without too many problems.
The ModDB page for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat: Atmosfear (both versions 1 and 2) can be found here.