S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

Developers
	GSC Game World
Publishers
	Deep Silver
Engines
	X-Ray Engine
Release dates
Windows	August 22, 2008
Reception
Metacritic	75
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Eastern Europe, Post-apocalyptic
Series	S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl	2007
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky	2008
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat	2009
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Lost Alpha (Unofficial)	2014
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl	2024

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action and shooter game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.

General information

Developer's forum

TweakGuides guide

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		TAGES Solidshield DRM. StarForce DRM for Russian release. Install patches to remove the DRM on retail copies.
GamersGate
GOG.com		Serial key for multiplayer shown in the game's library entry.
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam		Comes with 1.5.10 patch preinstalled. TAGES DRM is reported to be inactive. Some CD keys can be redeemed on GOG.com

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest version of the game is Patch 1.5.10. This version allows for additional effects with DirectX 9 rendering that were previously reserved only for the DirectX 10 renderer. It also fixes many game breaking bugs, improves overall performance and fixes some problems with Tages DRM.

The Multi-Patch replaces the GameSpy master servers and optionally forces Vsync. The Steam version is already patched.

Skip intro videos

Use replacement files[citation needed]
Apply the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky intro skip.

Modifications

The Sky Reclamation Project (SRP) is an unofficial patch which fixes bugs that remain in the latest official patched version of the game.

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Stalker-STCS\
Steam	<path-to-game>\_appdata_\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/20510/pfx/

CD key, language and GameSpy ID are stored in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GSC Game World\STALKER-STCS

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Stalker-STCS\savedgames\
Steam	<path-to-game>\_appdata_\savedgames\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/20510/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game general video settings.

In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			See the WSGF entry.
Ultra-widescreen			3440x1440 works perfectly
4K Ultra HD			UI element with text won't scale (they made for 1080p and less), making them hard to read
Field of view (FOV)		67.5° Vertical - See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use windowed mode and -no_dialog_header command line argument.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Up to 16 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 4x MSAA + Transparency Anti-aliasing.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		In-game Vsync option is broken in Steam & GOG versions. Use the Multi-Patch to fix it. Vsync is always enabled in GOG versions.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		No frame rate or refresh rate cap.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)

Field of view (FOV)

Changing FoV[citation needed]

Download FOV switcher. Copy it to the installation folder. Back up the original xrgame.dll. Run fov_switch.cmd. Use the mouse wheel to scroll through all available variants. In the opened window enter the number from 1 to 52 depending on your game version and chosen FOV. To enable the external cam in singleplayer mode (by F6-F8 buttons), enter these commands in console: bind cam_1 kF6 bind cam_2 kF7 bind cam_3 kF8

Manually patch xrGame.dll

Multiply your desired FOV by 2, eg. 45 degrees x 2 = 90. Convert the value to hexadecimal, eg. 90 = 5A. Open <path-to-game>/bin/xrGame.dll in a hex editor app (e.g. HxD). Search for the hex string "42 F0 A7 C6 3D", which should be found at address 53C59B if the game is unmodified. Change the value preceding it to the desired value, eg. "5A 42 F0 A7 C6 3D" Notes As a precaution, make a backup of <path-to-game>\bin\xrGame.dll before editing it.

Notes

It is highly recommended not to play online with the FOV hack installed.

Input

In-game control settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		SFX and music only.
Surround sound		Up to 7.0 output \ You need to install EAX Surround mod, which requires OpenAL to restore EAX support. Without OpenAL game will crash instantly
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 2.0. HRTF can be used without any audio card with some modification. See Use OpenAL Soft's HRTF
Royalty free audio

Use OpenAL Soft's HRTF

Replace OpenAL32.dll file

1. Go to the main OpenAL Soft page and download both the latest Source Code release and Win64/Win32 Binary Files. 2. Unpack soft_oal.dll from bin\win32 directory in archive, rename it to OpenAL32.dll and replace the existing one located in <path-to-game>\bin. 3. Create a folder called openal in %AppData% and unpack the hrtf folder from the source code archive in there. Create a new text file in %AppData% called alsoft.ini and add the following line: [general] hrtf=true 4. Save it and then run the game. 5. Go to the Options→Sound and change the Sound driver to OpenAL Soft and restart the game. 6. Open up the developer console using ~ and scroll up using the Page Up key, if the message says. SOUND: OpenAL: Required device: OpenAL Soft. Created device: OpenAL Soft Then the OpenAL Soft device is used and with it, HRTF mode as well.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Retail only. link #1 or link #2
French
German
Hungarian				Retail only. Includes optional Hungarian voice-over translation. Download from here.
Italian
Polish				Features optional Polish voice-over translation.
Brazilian Portuguese				Download.
Russian
Serbian				Fan translation based on original Russian and Ukrainian versions; available in both Cyrillic and Latin.
Spanish
Turkish				Fan translation, download.
Ukrainian				Official translation patch from GSC, download. Already included in Steam version, and available as an extra on GOG.com. Duty, the military, mercenaries and the Monolith still speak Russian.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		32	Versus
Online play		32	Versus Use the Multi-Patch to replace the GameSpy master server.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	3783, 6515, 6500, 6667, 13139, 27900, 28900, 29900, 29901

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (DX9).
vorpX		G3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Devices
3RD Space Gaming Vest

Issues fixed

"Unable to connect to master server" error

The GameSpy master server has been shut down; use the Multi-Patch.

Crashes on DirectX 10

Using Nvidia inspector, delete xrengine from the clear sky profile and add it to the call of pripyat profile.

Steam version does not launch on Windows 10/11, BugTrap reports error at 0023:00125311

Mandatory ASLR prevents game from running
Open Windows Defender. In App & browser control, open Exploit protection settings. In Program settings, add an exception for xrEngine.exe. Disable "Force randomization for images (Mandatory ASLR)".

Mouse Delay and bad frametimes

Selecting normal or full dynamic lighting will cause the game to saturate the CPU by one core, which will cause stutters.

Set lighting to Static Lighting

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c, 10, 10.1	Bound to the lighting renderer. DirectX 10.1 support was added in version 1.5.06.
Shader Model support	1.x, 2, 3, 4

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Open Dynamics Engine
Audio	OpenAL
Multiplayer	GameSpy

Modifications

Ironsights v1.0

It adds back Iron Sights for the pistols like the previous game

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	2000 SP4	XP SP2, Vista SP1
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz AMD Athlon XP 2200+	Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce FX 5700 ATI Radeon 9600 128 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.0 compatible	Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 10.1 compatible