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About this mod
Desolation is a global overhaul mod, focusing on realism, survival, and emergent storytelling. It introduces punishing mechanics, changes, new and expanded systems, and a dynamic, evolving Zone to challenge you while rewarding ingenuity and adaptability.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
- Donations
Desolation is a Global Hardcore Overhaul mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl. The main focus of the mod is to expand the game via in-depth mechanics, content additions and overall fluid blending of gameplay, world and lore. Though focusing a lot on "realism", the main focus of it is to generate stories for the player, put them into tense situations in a punishing environment, while overall keeping the goal of it feeling like an even playing field for both the player chatacter and other non-playable characters.
Aside from the survival mechanics Desolation will introduce a lot of new features, approaches to usual things as the mod evolves. My goal is to create an overhaul where the Zone will be a unique being that will punish everyone inside of it mercilessly for their mistakes, bend and break them at every chance they give it, yet reward the curious and smart stalkers in moment's of it's grace. And the playing field will become even for both player and other chatacters.
This is an initial release of the mod, it is not in a stable 1.0 version yet. This bares some responsibilities with it, when downloading it in current state:
- Keep you normal playthrough saves backed up or better yet, have a separate profile for modded playthroughs in case of possible corruptions.
- Be ready for bugs, inconsistencies, typos and possible crashes which will be fixed in time.
- The mod was tested in sterile "developer mode conditions", so it might behave differently in a normal playthrough. Balancing will be done throughout development.
- I'm playing through the game alongside you, to see the changes that need to be made and addressed personally.
- The updates might not be frequent at all, or happen in quick succession. Many circumstances outside of my modding hobby can affect the development.
- At the moment of the release the initial supported languages are English, Ukrainian, Polish, French and Russian. Others have placeholder English version.
- You won't be able to recover your save after playing with Desolation due to the extensive changes it makes.
- Any mod's that have multiple localization files need a merged patch, this is not unique to Desolation, just how S2 works right now.
Spoiler:
Desolation at it's core uses many different AI-powered tools to generate foundational material that is later heavily edited by me to produce the final result.That being said, I know not everyone is a fan of this technology and it can be a pretty hot topic of discussion. I myself view is as nothing more than a powerful and useful tool in the right pipeline, but not a replacement for any handmade creative work. For me it has become an important tool, allowing me to achieve many things much quicker than my life schedule would ever let me otherwise, while also helping solve the issue of social anxiety and the want to work solo (for the forseeable future).
This is written here so that if you are against the use of AI, I am upfront about it's use and you won't waste your time downloading Desolation.
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Desolation at it's core uses many different AI-powered tools to generate foundational material that is later heavily edited by me to produce the final result.That being said, I know not everyone is a fan of this technology and it can be a pretty hot topic of discussion. I myself view is as nothing more than a powerful and useful tool in the right pipeline, but not a replacement for any handmade creative work. For me it has become an important tool, allowing me to achieve many things much quicker than my life schedule would ever let me otherwise, while also helping solve the issue of social anxiety and the want to work solo (for the forseeable future).
This is written here so that if you are against the use of AI, I am upfront about it's use and you won't waste your time downloading Desolation.
Desolation Discord Server is officialy LIVE!
Spoiler:
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NPC Combat Overhaul
- NPCs now share weapon properties with the player, removing unfair advantages while increasing challenge. No more aimbot shotguns and mosquito bite–sized damage to the player!
- NPC grenade usage varies by experience: rookies rarely use them, while veterans rely more on explosives.
- Over 200 new items integrated into world loot: food, medicine, backpacks, armor, headwear, lore notes, and unique utility gear.
- Stalkers evolve alongside the player: as you rank up, so do they—acquiring better equipment but maintaining logical diversity.
- Late-game balance ensures variety—no more exoskeleton-only encounters.
- Stalkers now have varied inventories, reflecting their roles and personalities for a more immersive Zone.
- Bleeding is more dangerous; medical supplies are rarer, more expensive, and more specialized.
- Bandages only stop bleeding, while medkits provide slow, non-combat healing.
- New combat injectors offer quick but crude healing in fights.
- Expanded radiation treatment options, each with drawbacks tied to quality.
- Trader inventories and prices now reflect their location, accessibility, and role in the Zone.
- Distant traders have supply issues: higher prices and limited stock.
- Not every trader buys everything—factor in supply and demand.
- Artifacts serve as universal currency, valued by all factions and merchants.
- Restock times depend on distance from supply lines and rarity of goods.
- Mechanics will buy broken gear, but at significantly lower prices.
- A new trader in Rostok is ready to purchase your fauna trophies.
- The bread shop in Rostok is now functioning and sells different types of bread.
- New sleeping bags with varying benefits and effects.
- Additional outfits and headgear designed to blend seamlessly into the world.
- Introduced a field repair system for weapons and armor using dedicated kits.
- Over 200 unique new items—some purely for trading, others with practical uses.
- Restored and expanded mutant loot mechanics.
- 52 mutant trophies ranging from organs and body parts to meats and furs.
- Stashes now yield a broader range of rewards, from valuable gear to junk.
- Artifact caches and high-value finds make thorough scavenging worthwhile.
- Some stashes include environmental storytelling through item generation.
- Ammo is less abundant, encouraging careful resource management.
- Crate loot generation revamped—no more arcade-style markers; crates blend naturally into the environment.
- Food and drink mechanics adjusted for realism (e.g., scarcity, irradiated variants, sugar-induced energy boosts).
- New PDA notes and conversations offer deeper insights into the Zone’s characters and events.
- Intro mission overhauled with new challenges, lore content, and a unique twist at the end.
- Dedicated hidden backpack slot for storage upgrades, separate from armor or headgear.
- Ten new back item variants, each with distinct pros and cons.
- Pouches can now be slotted into belts for increased carry capacity.
- Radiation poisoning spans seven stages, each with escalating effects.
- Maximum radiation resistance raised to 95%, improving long-term survivability.
- Food-induced sleepiness implemented to reflect real-world parasympathetic responses.
Spoiler:
MANUAL INSTALLATION
If you don't have a "~mods" folder or other folders in the path, create them.
4. Drop the following contents of the downloaded zip file into ~mods folder:
ZZZZ_Desolation_P.pak
ZZZZ_Desolation-Localization_P.pak
ZZZZ_Desolation-Localization_P.ucas
ZZZZ_Desolation-Localization_P.utoc
ZZZZ_Desolation-Textures_P.pak
ZZZZ_Desolation-Textures_P.ucas
ZZZZ_Desolation-Textures_P.utoc
5. Make sure there is only a SINGLE localization file trio within your ~mods folder. Desolation or merged - doesn't matter.
MOD MANAGER
Use the mod manager of your choice and follow it's generic installation procedure.
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MANUAL INSTALLATION
- Download the mod from the Files section on this page.
- Navigate to your S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl installation directory.
- There, make sure this path exists: ..\S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl\Stalker2\Content\Paks\~mods
If you don't have a "~mods" folder or other folders in the path, create them.
4. Drop the following contents of the downloaded zip file into ~mods folder:
ZZZZ_Desolation_P.pak
ZZZZ_Desolation-Localization_P.pak
ZZZZ_Desolation-Localization_P.ucas
ZZZZ_Desolation-Localization_P.utoc
ZZZZ_Desolation-Textures_P.pak
ZZZZ_Desolation-Textures_P.ucas
ZZZZ_Desolation-Textures_P.utoc
5. Make sure there is only a SINGLE localization file trio within your ~mods folder. Desolation or merged - doesn't matter.
MOD MANAGER
Use the mod manager of your choice and follow it's generic installation procedure.
At it's core, Desolation is a global overhaul that will touch upon almost every gameplay aspect with deep-level overhauls, however in the current version of the Beta the mod does not touch on these mechanics, making mods that change them compatible with Desolation:
- A-Life
- Artifacts
- Weapon Addons/Stats/Ballistics
- Mutant & Human stat tweaks
- Anomalies
- Weather
The mods that change the following will not be compatible unless someone makes a patch for them, mixing up their changes and Desolation's changes:
- Trader's inventory
- Stalker's inventory
- Stash contents
- Mutant loot (covered by Desolation)
- Adding custom items to traders
- Making mechanics able to trade (covered by Desolation)
- Add field repair items (covered by Desolation)
- Change consumable stats and effects
- Mods that have localization files included need a merged patch or you won't see any text display right in game
Overall, most of the things that cover the inventory of traders/stalkers and stashes can be patched relatively easy, I made a tutorial right here on how to work with and patch Desolation's generators.
- Can I help with the development of the mod? At the moment my aim is to keep it a solo hobby project, but that can change in the future!I don't like X addition, can you remove it? Unless it proves an actual technical issue I will probably stick to my changes, though you are free to make a patch removing anything you don't like! Check the PERMISSIONS section for my stance on Desolation tweaking.
- Why do many traders have a bunch of useless items for sale? It clogs up the inventory. I added them with an intention to bring a little immersion to the stock available, making it so that you're actually looking at everything they have on display, searching for the things you need. As for the items being useless, that is because I've decided to start making the base of the mod while the official Modding Kit is not out yet, but once it releases I plan to make many of these items actually useable by the player. So these are just filled items at the moment, though you are free to make a patch removing anything you don't like! Chech the PERMISSIONS section for my stance on Desolation tweaking.
- Can we cook the various mutant meats we harvest? At the moment I don't have the planned crafting system implemented, so these are just for sale, though you can get your hands on cooked mutant meats at some traders, who have the right skills to make them into something edible.
- How frequent will the updates be? When is the next version release date? I usually give no ETAs and priorities to make small posts on the development progress instead. As with anyone, I am sadly a subject of real life factors that can drasticly change my time available to develop the mod. So updates may happen any time, multiple in quick succession or none at all for quite a while, though with every update, the old version will be available for download in the Archive/Old Files section so that you can keep playing the one you liked the best and not have your save broken by the latest update being the only available!
- The inventory bloat with useless items is mindnumbing! As a Project Zomboid player I actually enjoy variations even of mostly useless items that can be found around in containers or on npcs, making them feel more alive, adding personality to them, so sorry to say but this is one of the core points of the mod which will keep getting bigger, not less.
- I can't find other mods items in loot/stashes/traders, is it not compatible? Desolation is designed to offer compatibility at it's core with most mods, the core here being the localization file and the Mod Loader mods support, but for things you mentioned you'd need to make a patch that either adds the other mods items to my rewritten loot tables or have a patch disable my systems and revert to what was before. Though in the case of the second approach you'd need the patch to also inject my custom items into those loot tables for them to spawn.
- The items in-game are not displaying text correctly, I get things like "sid_items_...", how do I fix this? Make sure Desolation's localization files are the only localization files in your ~mods folder. Having multiple mods with them is known to cause this. Desolation has in-built support for all the mods included in Community Lozalization Project.
- I'm using Gamepass version of the game and the sleeping bags/backpacks don't work and just disappear. How can I fix it? Since Update 5, Desolation should work on any and all game versions. If you still have trouble launching the backpack/sleeping bag systems and new content, use this command in console:
XStartQuestBySID DSInitializeSystems
Spoiler:
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- The media for this page used 2 images from amazing photoshoots of talanted StarionCostumes as foundation with artwork filter added. Here's another link to their Facebook!
- Joric - wonderful Stalker 2 Online Map which made the tracking down of specific SIDs a cake walk.
- Zivaka - amazing mods, which structure and execution I studied to see what is at all possible in the current config modding and support for Desolation's bug tracking!
- Somber - maintaining the useful Community Localization Project which required quite a bit of work on their part.
- Herbata - creation of amazing Herbata's DLC as Mod Loader, which helped make some mechanics possible and permission to ship the ini file with the mod.
- Desolate from GAMMA Discord Server - polish translation.
- Ruskov03 - french translation.
- Osobist9 - russian manual translation.
- Sami - provided russian localization file.
- DeadlyStr1ke - main Desolation developer.
- GSC - creators of the amazing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and lovingly crafted and breathtaking second installment.
- You - each and every one of you, members of the modding community. Modders and mod users, all of you contribute to S2 modding scene growth and prosperity and I can't wait ot see where it will be at in a few years. Thank you for being supportive and inspiring.
