⚠️ Version 1.1 released. ⚠️ Check the changelog in Logs -> Changelog or here (perhaps more readable).
⚠️ Version 1.11 released. ⚠️ Temporarily disabled Psy Phantoms from the Psy Aura feature due to a bug that made them persist indefinitely. Standard Psy Phantoms will still appear at high Psy levels as per vanilla behavior.
Future Development Roadmap
Core Design Philosophy: Rather than endlessly buffing Controllers, I would like to create engaging gameplay through balanced mechanics and meaningful counter-play options. So far, from my limited experience with S2 modding, adding or tweaking existing effects is much easier than adding conditions for defense against the effects that I made. Tips on how to implement the features below are very welcome!
1. Player Defense Mechanics - Improved Psyblock effectiveness against the new abilities - Progressive Psy resistance system (linear scaling) - Specialized artifacts and armor upgrades for specific Controller ability defenses 2. New Controller Abilities Combat Control - Movement reversal system (NLC 7-inspired) - Forced weapon manipulation (random switching/firing) (NLC 7-inspired) - Player orientation control (NLC 7-inspired) - Grenade interference mechanics
Enhanced Variety - Multiple Controller variants with unique abilities - Improved boss encounter sequences
Your Feedback Priority List: - Controller boss fight pacing and mechanics - Psy Aura effect balance - Implementation suggestions for new features
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Known Issues
- Persistent PSY effects even after leaving the zone of Psy influence. This seems like a vanilla issue, which hopefully gets fixed by GSC soon. The straightforward solution is to load a previous save that has no such bug and replay, but you may see some helpful information here as well.
Any plans to add the Controller suicide when you get too close to it? Its from a mod for Anomaly, and if I remember is cut content from the originals. You'd need custom animations though but its one of my favorite things from modded stalker.
A new patch is out. Apparently, it added a new disorienting roar attack to the controllers.
Unfortunately, I don't have access to my main PC yet. If someone could upload ControllerAbilities.cfg, Controller.cfg and EffectPrototypes.cfg from the latest patch, I maybe would be able to update the mod to the latest patch.
For both immersion and "mutant danger scaling consistency", I believe this is a necessary mod. I mean, Bloodsuckers, Poltergeists, Pseudogiants, Chimaeras and even Snorks all deliever that pucker factor with a side of "Oh, s#*!!". With some some of those are thrown at you from the starting line it felt really strange to find that a mutant whispered about as near-legendary to be just an opiate-addled, toilet-paper wrapped ex-jeans model stumbling about, who occasionally throws a wet fart at you. Thanks for the remedy.
One point of consideration: I might suggest making this either A: a manual download only or B: creating a vortex-friendly installion that lets you pick whick version you want, unless its already there and the installation just didn't work correctly and ask me which version to load.
You're too kind, thank you very much! I'd like to improve the mod further as pointed in the sticky. I posted the mod in the GAMMA server too. So far, I don't know how to implement any of the listed plans, unfortunately. Perhaps GSC will give modders more tools in the future.
As for Vortex, I missed that detail. I set the mod to manual-only download now, thank you for the feedback!
So, Burers always take your guns, which is great. But then I find myself stocking uo on grenades and having a pretty easy time with them. Coyld they theoretically be made to yank your grenades and throw them at you, as well? It would encourage you to use your knife more, which can be balanced with a melee damage mod.
Yep, they COULD do it in CoP and even hold your grenades indefinitely to pick the right time to throw them at the player, but for some reason, GSC did not implement this in S2. My mod is very simple, actually, it utilizes already existing effects that are used elsewhere in the game and attaches them to the controller aura or other abilities.
If I could figured out how to make burers (or anyone else for that matter) interact with grenades, I would make the mod, of course.
I love using this mod with my artifact one. Feels like I really need to prepare for a fight with a controller or flee and return since they wreck me otherwise :D
I have a problem were when you face the controller at the WPS, the screen color change and other effects that alter the colors is still there after I killed him. Reloading the save don't work or closing the game or sleeping. I removed the mod played that mission again killed him and the screen colors did change back to normal after killing him tested on version 1.02
Yes sure. and I yes im using other mods and merged it with them. But to my memory this glitch happend to me once in prev saves, where colors stays the same after killing the controller. So it could be vanila glitch. And It is possible that this mod has increased the possibility of this glitch occurring.
The Controller's attacks and aura seem to give a permanent psi debuff. Can't seem to get rid of it no matter how much Psiblock and other consumables I take. Reloading saves doesn't fix it either.
You seem to be right, I noticed the psy phantoms persistently get summoned. Sorry for the buggy release, I'll investigate
Might need to hide the mod temporarily until I fix the issues; it's really weird that they seem to have occurred after using separate refurl and refkeys...
EDIT: I uploaded a 1.11 version which has no Psy Phantoms (Mutants) in the Psy Aura component until I can fix them. Psy Phantoms (Mutants and NPCs) still spawn at the threshold psy points (vanilla behavior).
The issue is specifically with WanderingLightSpawnPSYPhantoms that I tried to use as an effect to spawn Psy Phantoms for the Controller's Aura. It works fine when used outside of the EffectPrototypes (i.e. spawns phantoms every 6-12s), but only when a controller is present. After the controller is killed, for some mystical reason, it falls back to its default settings in EffectPrototypes (spawns phantoms every 30-60s) and becomes permanent. This shouldn't happen, but it does. What else I tried: 1. Reversing the order so that PsyPhantoms (mutants) spawn first under the initial psy point gain instead of the PsyNPC (fake guys that shoot you) under PsyMechanics entry. The changes to PsyMechanics in the separate file using refkey and refurl are simply ignored. 2. Using the other PsyPhantom spawning effects instead of the WanderingLight spawning effect. SpawnPSYPhantoms does not work. 3. Creating an entirely new entry with a different name, but exact same properties as WanderingLights spawning effect or the SpawnPSYPhantoms one. Does not work, gets ignored.
tldr; using existing methods or introducing my own to make the Psy Aura spawn Psy Phantoms either does not work, spawns way too many phantoms (might make a "funni" mod version out of it) or is bugged and gets stuck with the player permanently.
Sorry, guys, this game is an anomaly sometimes and I don't have much experience.
Nah, you're fine dude. s#*! happens and things need to be ironed out until it's perfect. Just how development goes. Helps when you have more people helping you test, kinda like this lol. I wasn't getting the Psy phantoms persistently spawning funnily enough. Just had the on screen and audio effects remaining persistent. Sweet, I'll update and test it out!
Thank you for the kind words. I really want to make the mod better and non-buggy.
And I REALLY want to introduce other effects described in the sticky post. My search through the game files was quite futile and I so far couldn't figure out how to do it. Would be a shame if it'd be only possible with GSC's modding tools/SDK, but I would be willing to work and improve the mod after they get released
It's all good! <3. The Stalker community is one of my favorite communities and what people have done to keep this series alive is insurmountable. Gotta have good spirits to keep awesome mods coming out! It would be awesome to see those other additions as well, but you've definitely made controllers feel terrifying again which is great work haha. If it is only possible with the SDK it's not a bad thing, just means a little longer till the mod is fully realized. Shouldn't be too long till they release the SDK since they said early 2025. I'd love to help but I don't know much about modding games, let along Stalker. You might be able to find some help in the GAMMA Discord. I've seen some modders saying there're discussing things in there. Keep up the good work!
51 comments
- Improved Psyblock effectiveness against the new abilities
- Progressive Psy resistance system (linear scaling)
- Specialized artifacts and armor upgrades for specific Controller ability defenses
2. New Controller Abilities
Combat Control
- Movement reversal system (NLC 7-inspired)
- Forced weapon manipulation (random switching/firing) (NLC 7-inspired)
- Player orientation control (NLC 7-inspired)
- Grenade interference mechanics
Enhanced Variety
- Multiple Controller variants with unique abilities
- Improved boss encounter sequences
This seems like a vanilla issue, which hopefully gets fixed by GSC soon.
The straightforward solution is to load a previous save that has no such bug and replay, but you may see some helpful information here as well.
Unfortunately, I don't have access to my main PC yet. If someone could upload ControllerAbilities.cfg, Controller.cfg and EffectPrototypes.cfg from the latest patch, I maybe would be able to update the mod to the latest patch.
Thanks everyone!
For both immersion and "mutant danger scaling consistency", I believe this is a necessary mod. I mean, Bloodsuckers, Poltergeists, Pseudogiants, Chimaeras and even Snorks all deliever that pucker factor with a side of "Oh, s#*!!". With some some of those are thrown at you from the starting line it felt really strange to find that a mutant whispered about as near-legendary to be just an opiate-addled, toilet-paper wrapped ex-jeans model stumbling about, who occasionally throws a wet fart at you. Thanks for the remedy.
One point of consideration: I might suggest making this either A: a manual download only or B: creating a vortex-friendly installion that lets you pick whick version you want, unless its already there and the installation just didn't work correctly and ask me which version to load.
Either way, BOMB-azz mod. Thank you, thank you!
I'd like to improve the mod further as pointed in the sticky. I posted the mod in the GAMMA server too. So far, I don't know how to implement any of the listed plans, unfortunately. Perhaps GSC will give modders more tools in the future.
As for Vortex, I missed that detail. I set the mod to manual-only download now, thank you for the feedback!
My mod is very simple, actually, it utilizes already existing effects that are used elsewhere in the game and attaches them to the controller aura or other abilities.
If I could figured out how to make burers (or anyone else for that matter) interact with grenades, I would make the mod, of course.
I removed the mod played that mission again killed him and the screen colors did change back to normal after killing him tested on version 1.02
I'll try to take a look, but I'm on 1.1.3 and didn't really touch any Psy screen effects (e.g. sepia).
But to my memory this glitch happend to me once in prev saves, where colors stays the same after killing the controller. So it could be vanila glitch.
And It is possible that this mod has increased the possibility of this glitch occurring.
Glad to work with ya and iron issues out.
This version unfortunately also suffers the same permanent PsyPhantom bug for me.
Might need to hide the mod temporarily until I fix the issues; it's really weird that they seem to have occurred after using separate refurl and refkeys...
EDIT: I uploaded a 1.11 version which has no Psy Phantoms (Mutants) in the Psy Aura component until I can fix them. Psy Phantoms (Mutants and NPCs) still spawn at the threshold psy points (vanilla behavior).
The issue is specifically with WanderingLightSpawnPSYPhantoms that I tried to use as an effect to spawn Psy Phantoms for the Controller's Aura. It works fine when used outside of the EffectPrototypes (i.e. spawns phantoms every 6-12s), but only when a controller is present. After the controller is killed, for some mystical reason, it falls back to its default settings in EffectPrototypes (spawns phantoms every 30-60s) and becomes permanent. This shouldn't happen, but it does.
What else I tried:
1. Reversing the order so that PsyPhantoms (mutants) spawn first under the initial psy point gain instead of the PsyNPC (fake guys that shoot you) under PsyMechanics entry. The changes to PsyMechanics in the separate file using refkey and refurl are simply ignored.
2. Using the other PsyPhantom spawning effects instead of the WanderingLight spawning effect. SpawnPSYPhantoms does not work.
3. Creating an entirely new entry with a different name, but exact same properties as WanderingLights spawning effect or the SpawnPSYPhantoms one. Does not work, gets ignored.
tldr; using existing methods or introducing my own to make the Psy Aura spawn Psy Phantoms either does not work, spawns way too many phantoms (might make a "funni" mod version out of it) or is bugged and gets stuck with the player permanently.
Sorry, guys, this game is an anomaly sometimes and I don't have much experience.
And I REALLY want to introduce other effects described in the sticky post. My search through the game files was quite futile and I so far couldn't figure out how to do it. Would be a shame if it'd be only possible with GSC's modding tools/SDK, but I would be willing to work and improve the mod after they get released