STALKER Shaders MAX - Clear Sky

TDue to on-going requests I have started to develop optimised shaders for STALKER - Clear Sky. Initial tests from the first build below have shown a 100% FPS improvement which sounds almost impossible. I have recompiled the shaders to be half the size as the original ones and have made various optimisations to improve performance.

Special thanks goes to Blaberry who has done extensive testing, benchmarking and file dumping which has made this all happen.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1. FSGame.ltx

If you have not used a mod before in STALKER it is required that you enable the game data folder. To make this happen, look inside your STALKER root directory and you will find a file called fsgame.ltx. Open it up and it should be the second line you need to edit. It will appear (If you haven't edited it before) like this:

$game_data$ = false|true|$fs_root$|gamedata\

This is telling the game to ignore everything and just read the game files in the database archives. We need to change that. Change that line to appear as:

$game_data$ = true|true|$fs_root$|gamedata\

Now it will load any files you have in the gamedata folder instead of the same named files in the databases. Simple? Save and exit.

Step 2. Extracting

Extract the shader folder into your STALKER gamedata folder. If a shader folder already exists, delete it to ensure compatibility.

FAQ:

I keep getting the error "Your video card doesn't support Pixel Shader 1.1 or higher"

There are three causes for that error to show up:

1. You did not configure ShaderSettings.txt properly and caused an error

2. You installed over the top of a conflicting mod and it somehow bugged out instead of replacing the existing shaders

3. I could have broken a shader file

So how do I go about fixing that?

Here are the solutions to the above scenarios:

1. Try either rolling back your ShaderSettings.txt file or restoring a preset or the original ShaderSettings.txt from the mod

2. Delete the current shader folder located in gamedata/shaders then replace it with the contents of this mod

3. If you can't figure out how to fix the problem, go to %AppData%\XRay Engine\reports and email me the crash ZIP file at Kingo64@gmail.com

The shaders are reducing my framerate instead of increasing it, why?

This problem occurs to half the users due to an unknown reason. To combat this problem, try opening ShaderSettings.txt and playing with the performance/compatibility switches under Advanced.

Special thanks to shauntp for gifting me Clear Sky, allowing production of the mod :D