About The Guide

Goal

The goal of this modlist is to provide a base to build upon with mods of your own choosing, whilst providing a perfectly good experience on its own, should you choose to not go any further. Initially a remake of EXPIDITION with less crashes, more vanilla assets, less overkill ReShades, and modularity, it’s quickly become it’s own modlist.

First, Important, and Final Warning Before Starting

Support will NOT be given towards people who have modified the modlist further than what’s provided within the guide. Although this modlist is designed to give you the essentials for a smooth and relatively fun experience to build on with mods you want to use, I simply cannot and will not provide support for everyone’s modlist setups.

Pre-Requisites

• Visual C++ Runtimes
• DirectX Runtime Libraries
• A decent internet connection
• A computer that can run S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly, in the words of seargedp:

  “I recommend at least 16 GB of RAM, a recent quad-core CPU and a graphics card with at least 4 GB of VRAM, ideally at least something as powerful as a GTX 970 or higher. It’s also only tested on Windows 10 and requires a 64 bit version of Windows.”

• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly

Initial Setup

This section was completely ripped off and converted from Viva New Vegas. All credits to Qolore07.

Uninstalling the Game

If you do not have the game installed yet, skip this step.

1. Find where you installed STALKER Anomaly and delete it completely.

Installing the Game

1. Download STALKER Anomaly 1.5.1
2. Extract it to any location outside of any default Window folders (like Program Files x86)

Post-Installation

Key Terminology

Now that the game is installed, there are two folders from it that will be referred to in the guide often:

• Root folder: Where the game is installed

Example: D:\STALKER Anomaly\

• gamedata folder: Where all of the game’s assets are located

Example: D:\STALKER Anomaly\gamedata

• bin folder: Where the executables and engine modifications are installed

Example: D:\STALKER Anomaly\bin

Quickly Running The Game

1. Run AnomalyLauncher.exe from the game’s Root folder

• If you do not know what the game’s Root folder is, read the Key Terminology section above

1. Select DirectX 10 or DirectX 11

• If you have a lower-end PC, or want to squeeze as much performance out of the game as possible, you can select the I’d recommend DirectX 10. It offers pretty similar lighting quality for performance improvement, especially on older hardware. Using a lower DirectX version will result in crashes. Another great way to improve performance is tweaking the visuals/graphics in-game and lowering the shadow map to 1536.

1. Tick the Reset graphics settings box
2. Set the Resolution option to your preference
3. Click the drop-down box and choose either Borderless Windowed or Fullscreen

Enabling File Extensions

By default, Windows Explorer will not show file extensions (such as .exe, .dll, or .esp). These extensions are very important when going through the guide, so it is highly recommended to enable file extensions:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Select the View tab at the top
3. Check the box next to File name extensions

Mod Organizer 2 Setup

This section was completely ripped off and converted from Viva New Vegas. All credits to Qolore07.

Installing Mod Organizer 2

1. Download the latest Mod Organizer 2 file from here
2. Once downloaded, extract it to any location outside of any default Window folders (like Program Files x86) and outside of the game’s Root folder (the installer’s default location will work)

Initial Setup

1. Run ModOrganizer.exe
2. You will be prompted with a pop-up called Creating an instance, in which you should just select Next
3. On the next page, select Create a portable instance
4. On the next page, select STALKER Anomaly
5. On the next page, keep the Location file path default

If you have MO2 installed on an SSD or a HDD with little space, you can check the Show advanced options box and change the Downloads file path to a different drive with more space. This will not effect download/game performance, and the downloads can be deleted after the mods have been installed.

1. On the last page, select Finish
2. MO2 will launch and prompt you with a pop-up called Show tutorial?, in which you should select No
3. From the pop-up called Register?, select Yes

• This pop-up will not show up if you have already registered a different instance of MO2

Configuring Settings

1. Select the X in the bottom right of MO2 to close the log window
2. Select the Settings button at the top of MO2 to open the settings
3. In the Theme tab, you can select a different style from the drop-down menu at the top

• I use the 1809 Dark Mode theme

1. In the Nexus tab, select Connect to Nexus

• This option will not show up if you have already connected your Nexus account on a different MO2 instance

1. MO2 will open your browser and prompt you to authorize the connection
2. Once you authorize it, you can close out of your browser and of the MO2 settings
3. Allow MO2 to restart if it asks

Creating Profiles

Mod Organizer 2’s “Profiles” feature allows for easy switching between different mod configurations. In this step, we will create a profile for the guide while keeping a strictly-vanilla profile for testing/de-bugging. Profiles can be selected via the drop-down menu above the left pane.

1. Select the Profiles button at the top of MO2 to open the profiles menu
2. Select the Default profile, then select Copy
3. Name the new profile JOURNEY
4. Select the JOURNEY profile and make sure both Use profile-specific Game INI Files is checked at the bottom

You may get a pop-up called INI file is read-only when attempting to make/select a new profile. If so then select Remember my choice from the drop-down at the bottom then click Clear the read-only flag

1. Exit out of the profiles menu and select the JOURNEY profile from the drop-down above the left pane

Mod Installation Advice

1. Click the DOWNLOAD NOW! button (or whatever the download button is for the respective site)

I recommend moving the downloaded files to your JOURNEY MO2 downloads (i.e. JOURNEY\downloads) folder.

1. Once the download has finished, click the Archive button at the top of MO2
2. From the new window, navigate to where the file was downloaded to and double-click it

When downloading multiple files from the same page, you will be prompted with a box in Mod Organizer 2 with the options Merge, Replace, and Rename. You should select the Rename option and rename the mod to its respective file name. This will make MO2 install them as separate files for easier management. If you are updating from an old version of a mod, you should select Replace. This will delete all the files from the old version of the mod and replace them,with the ones from the new version. This is the only time you should use the Replace option, otherwise always use Rename.

This guide will assume that from here on out you’ll know how to install the mods, and will provide mostly image-based help if the installation requires a special process. Otherwise, install as stated above.

Modlist Setup

Initial Setup

To begin, you will need to download the Anomaly Modded EXE Files and extract the files into your root STALKER Anomaly game folder.

User Interface

Anomaly Mod Configuration Menu
DLTX’d Persistent MCM Configuration OPFOR ClearHUD and ClearMask - Minimalistic and Immersive HUD
Hunger, Thirst, Sleep UI Improved
Crook’s Faction Identification UI
Instant Tooltip
Cost In Tooltip
Battery Warning

Fixed Vanilla Visuals

Glossy Surfaces and Water SSR

Fixed Vanilla Models & Textures
Dux’s Innumerable Character Kit

• Alternative (Do NOT use Fixed Vanilla Models & Textures and Dux's Innumerable Character Kit if using): Anomaly HD Models OR Anomaly HD Models Lite, and be sure to grab the latest fixes in the description of the mod.

Torch Animation Fixed
MP-133 Fix

Additional Visuals

Camera Reanimation Project - I.N.E.R.T.I.A.
T.H.A.P. Rework

Food, Drug and Drinks Animations

Asnen’s and Grok’s Better Cigarettes Animations

Gunplay

EFT Weapon Reposition Updated


Lowered Sprinting Animations Sights Without Dirt/Clean Sights
Shader Based 2D Scopes

Gameplay

RF Receiver Hidden Package Sidequests
Bounty Squads Expanded
Stealth

Tweaks

Nitpicker’s Modpack

Modular Miscellaneous Tweaks

Crafting With Multi-Use Items Fix
UNISG Hollow Boundaries Fixes



Fixed Player Thermal Resistance
He Is With Me
Quick Companion Teleport
Rats Are Not Enemies



Angry Chimera Growls
Coordinate Based Safe Zones
Fairer Thermal Anomalies
Companions Deactivate Headlamps When In Stealth
475 New Stash Locations
Bugged Stashes Fix

Final Steps/Patches

OPFOR HUD + Quick Companion Teleport Patch
Open your axr_options.ltx file in gamedata\configs\ and find the [mcm] tab, paste and replace the contents with the contents of this text file.
Finally, if you want some sort of indicator as to how your modlist should be ordered, this should do nicely. Simply expand the modlist.txt tab.
NOTE: The modlist.txt file features both the FVM + DICK mod combination and the HD Models + HD Models Fixes + THAP HD Models Patch mod combination. Do not have both of these turned on, they are only both on for demonstration’s sake.

Optional Mods

Azazel Mods [OPTIONAL]

Azazel Tweaks

Warfare Mods [OPTIONAL]

Warfare ALife Overhaul

Hawkie’s Warfare Mechanic Fix

ReShade [OPTIONAL]

1. Download ReShade
2. Install ReShade by going into your S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly bin folder and choosing the DX version you use.
3. Install any of these presets into your bin folder.

в.о.л.к. ReShade
LUSH - ReShade
Clear Sky ReShade
METRO-STALKER ReShade