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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has launched and is enjoying great popularity.
Unfortunately, die-hard S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans can’t quite call it a dream start, as bugs and missing features currently mar the experience.
If you’re still waiting for more polish and upcoming updates, but the call of the Zone is growing louder, why not start with the newly updated version of the popular Complete Mod by creator "Artistpavel"?
This mod received an update just this month - perfect timing to embark on a new (or nostalgic) run through the early days!
Moddb: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete 1.5:
Version 1.5 is a 4K RTX HDR-ready, in-depth rework of the original mod. It showcases the finest contributions from the community over the years, alongside brand-new, original content. Every featured piece has been meticulously edited for consistency, delivering a unified aesthetic under a cohesive art direction. Designed to work with the original game's engine, the mod incorporates extensions and the DirectX 11 support, to maximize its potential and fully leverage modern hardware capabilities.
Here are some examples of the enhancements included:
My goal was to put the player in a believable and captivating environment, evoking a strong sense of presence. When designing landscapes, I applied fine art principles such as color harmony, aerial perspective, and structuring of foreground, midground, background, and far plane elements to create depth and spatial realism.
To achieve a seamless view I color- and tone-matched ground textures with custom-designed grass vegetation unique to each level. Additionally, engine tweaks were implemented to extend grass draw distance, to pronounce the effect. The distant vistas, crafted by Argus, contribute to the sense of a vast, expansive world, further amplifying the scale and immersion.
The new grass assets were created using a combination of several mod packs, photographs I personally captured this summer, and hand-painting. The plants are uniquely tailored to their specific environments, ranging from lush and vibrant areas to dry, arid landscapes, and levels affected by radiation.
The foliage has been updated by reusing and modernizing existing assets from the series. I find this approach of improving the trees preferable to adding flora that feels disconnected from the world’s design.
NPCs have been upgraded to high-poly models, offering a degree of variance while maintaining their connection to the original source material. The models, ported by Nestandart_5443 and Kallipsoul, have been thoughtfully customized to ensure they blend naturally into the game’s gritty style. I’ve carefully selected which models to include and edited each outfit with a worn, desaturated aesthetic to integrate them into the game's world. Without these adjustments, some of them would appear out of place.
The iconic novice tan jacket has been faithfully recreated, preserving its nostalgic charm, alongside the classic Adidas-clad bandits, ensuring these memorable designs remain integral to the game's world while benefiting from updated visuals.
Dynamic Shaders, powered by a DX11 runtime, is a collaborative effort by 16 contributors, designed to elevate the game’s visuals by several generations. Building on the foundation introduced by Sky4ce in the original version, this iteration by Meltac represents a natural evolution of the concept. The shader settings have been customized to match the Complete palette, ensuring a visually stunning experience.
The new version introduces a curated collection of textures to ensure that all surfaces work harmoniously together while staying true to the original design. This aspect of the update required the most work, as I had to adjust multiple files repeatedly until the desired look was achieved. Everything has been looked at, down to the smallest elements—such as the paper debris scattered across the floor, which have now been replaced with authentic letters from 1986, further enhancing the game's immersive atmosphere.
An example of this approach can be seen in areas where I’ve inserted new wooden elements while preserving and enhancing the original door frame. This blend of new and old ensures the updates feel authentic to the game’s environment.
The vehicles have been noticeably upgraded, with colors matched to historical photographs from the events and enhanced by specular metallic accents.
You'll be able to see subtle edits, such as rust stains naturally spreading out from the rusted rim instead of abruptly stopping where the rubber material begins.
High-contrast, overexposed objects have been tone-normalized for better compatibility with RTX HDR.
Details matter, and every prop and item has been retouched to enhance the realism. For example, in Sidorovich's bunker, every object has been given attention—from the walls and furniture to his devices. The paper folder on his desk now features bent corners and subtle discolorations, the table surface shows tea cup stains, and his laptop displays faint fingerprints. These subtle touches breathe life into the space, making it feel more believable and lived-in.
Since the game struggles with lighting objects, I’ve taken the extra step of painting lights and shadows directly onto the textures themselves, giving it a natural and immersive appearance despite engine limitations.
The updates also include optimizing the game for modern 16:9 high-resolution screens. The UI has been cleaned up, with the more critical misalignments corrected as needed. Additionally, an option to increase the font size by 150% has been included, ensuring improved readability on 1440p and 4K displays.
The new PDA design
I designed the HUD with a minimalist and transparent aesthetic, ensuring it remains unobtrusive and allows players to stay fully immersed in the game world. Additionally, I updated the PDA, binoculars, main menu, loading screen, and other interface elements to align with the modern design philosophy.
The game has received a wealth of high-quality artworks appropriate for their spaces. For instance, you might come across a ZIL-130 schematic placed in a location where such a vehicle would logically be stationed, adding a layer of authenticity.
Rain, sunlight, and various effects—including celestial objects—have been updated to deliver a more impactful and immersive experience. The rain soundscape has been mixed to include distant rainfall, along with the subtle sound of droplets tapping on the Marked One's hood, creating a deeper sense of presence and environmental interaction.
Originally beginning as a hybrid of the Panoramic Mod and S.W.O., this project has grown into a standalone creation, packed with many original features. In this version, the experience has been further refined: outdated pixelated skyboxes have been replaced with high-quality alternatives, events have been reworked for better pacing and immersion, and the overall gameplay experience has been enhanced to feel more finalized and enjoyable.
The nighttime experience has been transformed with the addition of a stunningly detailed night sky. Designed and calibrated using an OLED monitor, the starry sky offers incredible depth and vibrancy, making nighttime exploration feel more atmospheric and visually captivating.
The mod includes a built in multi-language patch, providing accessibility for players worldwide. To address the challenge of translating various in-game signs, text has been replaced with universally recognizable pictograms, providing an intuitive solution.
Many of the game's posters have been replaced with exact high-resolution copies sourced online, keeping the original design while significantly enhancing their visual quality.
Other additions include:
For a more detailed changelog and a comprehensive list of credits recognizing the authors whose work has contributed to this project, visit the downloads page.
This update is now live
Unfortunately, die-hard S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans can’t quite call it a dream start, as bugs and missing features currently mar the experience.
If you’re still waiting for more polish and upcoming updates, but the call of the Zone is growing louder, why not start with the newly updated version of the popular Complete Mod by creator "Artistpavel"?
This mod received an update just this month - perfect timing to embark on a new (or nostalgic) run through the early days!
Moddb: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete 1.5:
Version 1.5 is a 4K RTX HDR-ready, in-depth rework of the original mod. It showcases the finest contributions from the community over the years, alongside brand-new, original content. Every featured piece has been meticulously edited for consistency, delivering a unified aesthetic under a cohesive art direction. Designed to work with the original game's engine, the mod incorporates extensions and the DirectX 11 support, to maximize its potential and fully leverage modern hardware capabilities.
Here are some examples of the enhancements included:
1. Scenery
My goal was to put the player in a believable and captivating environment, evoking a strong sense of presence. When designing landscapes, I applied fine art principles such as color harmony, aerial perspective, and structuring of foreground, midground, background, and far plane elements to create depth and spatial realism.
To achieve a seamless view I color- and tone-matched ground textures with custom-designed grass vegetation unique to each level. Additionally, engine tweaks were implemented to extend grass draw distance, to pronounce the effect. The distant vistas, crafted by Argus, contribute to the sense of a vast, expansive world, further amplifying the scale and immersion.
The new grass assets were created using a combination of several mod packs, photographs I personally captured this summer, and hand-painting. The plants are uniquely tailored to their specific environments, ranging from lush and vibrant areas to dry, arid landscapes, and levels affected by radiation.
The foliage has been updated by reusing and modernizing existing assets from the series. I find this approach of improving the trees preferable to adding flora that feels disconnected from the world’s design.
2. NPC Models
NPCs have been upgraded to high-poly models, offering a degree of variance while maintaining their connection to the original source material. The models, ported by Nestandart_5443 and Kallipsoul, have been thoughtfully customized to ensure they blend naturally into the game’s gritty style. I’ve carefully selected which models to include and edited each outfit with a worn, desaturated aesthetic to integrate them into the game's world. Without these adjustments, some of them would appear out of place.
The iconic novice tan jacket has been faithfully recreated, preserving its nostalgic charm, alongside the classic Adidas-clad bandits, ensuring these memorable designs remain integral to the game's world while benefiting from updated visuals.
3. Dynamic Shaders 2.0
Dynamic Shaders, powered by a DX11 runtime, is a collaborative effort by 16 contributors, designed to elevate the game’s visuals by several generations. Building on the foundation introduced by Sky4ce in the original version, this iteration by Meltac represents a natural evolution of the concept. The shader settings have been customized to match the Complete palette, ensuring a visually stunning experience.
4. Textures
The new version introduces a curated collection of textures to ensure that all surfaces work harmoniously together while staying true to the original design. This aspect of the update required the most work, as I had to adjust multiple files repeatedly until the desired look was achieved. Everything has been looked at, down to the smallest elements—such as the paper debris scattered across the floor, which have now been replaced with authentic letters from 1986, further enhancing the game's immersive atmosphere.
An example of this approach can be seen in areas where I’ve inserted new wooden elements while preserving and enhancing the original door frame. This blend of new and old ensures the updates feel authentic to the game’s environment.
The vehicles have been noticeably upgraded, with colors matched to historical photographs from the events and enhanced by specular metallic accents.
You'll be able to see subtle edits, such as rust stains naturally spreading out from the rusted rim instead of abruptly stopping where the rubber material begins.
High-contrast, overexposed objects have been tone-normalized for better compatibility with RTX HDR.
5. Finer Details
Details matter, and every prop and item has been retouched to enhance the realism. For example, in Sidorovich's bunker, every object has been given attention—from the walls and furniture to his devices. The paper folder on his desk now features bent corners and subtle discolorations, the table surface shows tea cup stains, and his laptop displays faint fingerprints. These subtle touches breathe life into the space, making it feel more believable and lived-in.
Since the game struggles with lighting objects, I’ve taken the extra step of painting lights and shadows directly onto the textures themselves, giving it a natural and immersive appearance despite engine limitations.
6. User Interface
The updates also include optimizing the game for modern 16:9 high-resolution screens. The UI has been cleaned up, with the more critical misalignments corrected as needed. Additionally, an option to increase the font size by 150% has been included, ensuring improved readability on 1440p and 4K displays.
The new PDA design
I designed the HUD with a minimalist and transparent aesthetic, ensuring it remains unobtrusive and allows players to stay fully immersed in the game world. Additionally, I updated the PDA, binoculars, main menu, loading screen, and other interface elements to align with the modern design philosophy.
7. Artwork
The game has received a wealth of high-quality artworks appropriate for their spaces. For instance, you might come across a ZIL-130 schematic placed in a location where such a vehicle would logically be stationed, adding a layer of authenticity.
8. Complete Weather
Rain, sunlight, and various effects—including celestial objects—have been updated to deliver a more impactful and immersive experience. The rain soundscape has been mixed to include distant rainfall, along with the subtle sound of droplets tapping on the Marked One's hood, creating a deeper sense of presence and environmental interaction.
Originally beginning as a hybrid of the Panoramic Mod and S.W.O., this project has grown into a standalone creation, packed with many original features. In this version, the experience has been further refined: outdated pixelated skyboxes have been replaced with high-quality alternatives, events have been reworked for better pacing and immersion, and the overall gameplay experience has been enhanced to feel more finalized and enjoyable.
The nighttime experience has been transformed with the addition of a stunningly detailed night sky. Designed and calibrated using an OLED monitor, the starry sky offers incredible depth and vibrancy, making nighttime exploration feel more atmospheric and visually captivating.
9. Translation
The mod includes a built in multi-language patch, providing accessibility for players worldwide. To address the challenge of translating various in-game signs, text has been replaced with universally recognizable pictograms, providing an intuitive solution.
10. Miscellaneous
Many of the game's posters have been replaced with exact high-resolution copies sourced online, keeping the original design while significantly enhancing their visual quality.
Other additions include:
- Adjusted carrying weight, sprint, enemy vision, difficulty and more, based on community feedback
- Added software EAX functionality for interior reverb effects (HRTF is on by default)
- Added custom audio effects in collaboration with sound designer Michael Tornabene
- Added Chinese translation to the multi-language patch
- Added 15 new acoustic guitar tracks
- Added more blood decal variants
- Added Particle Physics Mod
- Restored anomaly visibility
- Various minor graphical and gameplay updates
For a more detailed changelog and a comprehensive list of credits recognizing the authors whose work has contributed to this project, visit the downloads page.
This update is now live
Last edited:
