Design of Female NPCs

In the game, as far as I have found there are 3 women NPCs: Tweed, Panther and the one in Dead Marshes plus women zombies.
My suggestion for modding is the supply of female MOs, for players who may prefer to play the part of MO in female form.
Naturally uniforms would be needed for play in 3D form where players view their MOs from behind or in F3 mode from any angle.
I don't see why there needs to be any change in the dialogue nor missions,
Simply the MO character even if called Strelok could be female Strelok. The only yet necessary in my opinion change is to mod uniforms that like Tweed have feminine attributes.
When I used to play Stalker SGS 2, I came across a variation mod that had armed groups of female and male stalkers in Rostok. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of the mod. But the players character was still male. I hope this will be considered, Thanks and Regards TrueB

Well, don't forget Fly, and Lightning. There's also Spark and Sak's wife, both of whom we've not yet met in person, but may make an appearance in future...

But from a dialogues point of view I can see a vast part of the story needing to be rewritten for a female lead - from the perspectives of the protagonist, those encountering her, and the storyline itself

The dialogues for Tweed, Karina, and especially Panther needed to be written from a female perspective, and for the men who respected and cared for them...

But maybe one day, when the story is complete, and we get a female writer on the team...

I'd say dialogue doesn't need to be accounted for. Considering the game is already half google-translated.
Also, sorry to hijack the post, is there a way to play Stalkersoup in Russian? I am fluent and the occasional google translated text is just not understandable..

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it, it'd probably be a lot of work that could be put elsewhere, considering the amount of suits needed to be rendered for the inventory screen...

Akira wrote:

I'd say dialogue doesn't need to be accounted for. Considering the game is already half google-translated.

Actually very little (if any) of the original machine-translated dialogue remains in StalkerSoup. Sword2012 and his Dialogue Improvement Team have been steadily working through the entire game, replacing the original often garbled text with something more understandable - and in many places making it more relevant and meaningful to the unique story of StalkerSoup.

pchester is correct

StalkerSoup is a merging of independently-created mods woven together into a new and unique storyline, carrying on from where NS ended in 2012

Each of these mods had a different set of authors from different countries, using different writing styles, all of which needed to be brought together into a common language and style

Since 2012, several stalwarts have attempted to translate the mire of gobbledegook that machine translation had imposed on the original text files. However, under the circumstances, understanding the context was incredibly difficult so, in 2015, the decision was made to rewrite the game completely, using native English writers to take the intent and context of each line of dialogue into account

In doing so we've rewritten entire batches of files, common to several other STALKER mods, that have never before appeared in unbroken English - mainly because they were so bl**dy long and difficult to understand...

In addition, we've rewritten all 53 map descriptions in the game to create a Unified Zone, describing a common history of culture, politics, and topography of each area - and how the game's events of 1986 and 2006 affected each of them. This will appear in your game with the next patch

It's true that there are still parts of the game with machine translation, which was due to an unplanned hard drive failure a few years ago, and we're still working towards completing the first draft - but after that it should become a lot more fun, for those of us at both ends of the keyboard...

Sorry, I didn't want to come across as if I'm undermining the work that has been put, it's a ton of work, and a lot of time, I just didn't want to hijack the post too bad.. just a little bit! The work that has been done already is absolutely astounding and I'm loving (almost) every minute. The Resident Evil soundtracks sprinkled on top are absolutely amazing I must add. Also the hand translated parts are all very well written. If you guys need help, as a Russian, I'm willing to help with translation.
I asked if it's possible to play in Russian solely because that's my native language, and the language I always played stalker in. This mod is the first I'm playing in English. There's also a little bit of linguistic intrecacies getting lost in translation, but it's totally understandable and is not a big deal at all.

Since this has been mentioned, there actually is a bit of google translated text that still remains. I found it mostly in the chatter with stalkers or various side-missions, it's definitely far from critical but it made me sad that I just couldn't understand what was being said.

You guys did an amazing job so far, for me personally on par with mods like Ray of Hope in terms of scope (even though 2 entirely different realms) just in terms of sheer amount of work. So sorry if I came across as rude!

That being said... is this mod possible to play in Russian though? >_<
Now that I think about it, I don't even want it that bad. Sorry for making a mess out of this innocent thread 

Hi Akira

No offence taken at all, and we'd really appreciate it if you would point out those 'lost in translation' errors

It should be very clear from the text which areas have been rewritten, and which are still awaiting reworking - but if you find something that's been rewritten but incorrectly, then please feel free to point it out here

In order to find and correct it a screenshot of the text is the most useful. Either that, or the exact wording of (part of) the incorrect text

Yes, much of the legacy 'chatter' still remains from the original, and this will be addressed after the next patch. Up to now we've been focused on getting the main storyline right so it can be followed naturally without losing immersion, but I'm pleased to inform that, out of the 155 text files that make up StalkerSoup, 132 have been completed to a first draft level

In answer to your question about translation to Russian, it's my opinion that only when all the files have been completed in English that it'll be suitable for translation to other languages - if only to make the job easier for a brave and determined translator to interpret without giving up in sheer frustration...

Sorry, I've progressed quite a bit since then, so I can't pin-point exactly or give a screenshot, but it was mostly in Rostok, especially so in the Bar where I saw most of it. Another part I remember is after you give Ghost's diary to the scientist. Again, it's only a very very small bit and nothing serious, doesn't even break immersion that bad. So no worries! All in due time

When it's all ready and done, I'll definitely be happy to give a hand at translating to Russian. Russians don't know what they're missing by not playing this mod!~

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Ah, yes, most of the Rostok dialogues, other than Baldy's tales, have been reworked for the next patch. Dialogue improvement anywhere else will be continued after the patch is out

But thank you for the 'Russians' comment. Praise from Caesar indeed!

Well, since this topic, it would be interesting that, before including a female character for the player, the visual aspect of the female characters that already exist is improved.
While Panther is not bad (it is noted that she is a female model from Half Life 2), she is badly equipped in terms of armor having been in the Zone so long.


Of whom if I have many complaints, is Fly.
I'm right on that mission, and looking at it is just ridiculous.
It reminds me of a scene from Futurama where some kids hack the internet to enter a +18 site, haha ...

Spoiler:

And it is just a head in a common stalker body.
There is no way to make her a smaller body and/or give him another suit, something more feminine?

Here I attach several mods and reference images.

I think this is the mod that you reffer:

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I'm not going to lie, some models look ugly.
More than anything because the hips are poorly modeled.

I found these bandit models for the Call of Chernobyl.

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Also this one, but for it's too much for my taste.

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Too sexualized for the Zone ... unless her boobs are radiation proof..


This is what I think of when they mention a girl living in refuge in the Zone:




Wow, I find these:

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And this is closer to what I think of when I think of Panther.



Although this would be who I think when I think of Panther, hehe ...

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A female mercenarie:

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And of course there is always Hip/Aurora:

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Also just as a suggestion ... since you included Gordon Freeman, wouldn't it be great to be able to include Alyx Vance?
Any rescue mission where we have to take Gordon as a partner, to rescue her?

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Hi Sword, whilst Stalkersoup conversations are now brilliant, and I am pretty sure you may already have this suggestion covered, I wonder if when MO visits eg the dark valley bandit base, and bandits burst into songs, could there be a translation please of what the song is, in English and likewise their conversations eg round fires etc, for they seem to be the most vocal. Also, perhaps what Fractures, Controllers, and Female Zombies say, just as text, please,  beneath?
Thanks and Regards TrueB

Above post:

You have some really good models here Ikaruss. The Karina model if this is the Levelup 1 model in Dead Marshes, is realistic, and Tweed, is very quick at killing mutant animals. Tweed's character could be used to explain references to her in that storyline for she is shown to have history with the game prior to MO's visit, and Karina could have further story with the scientists. But the idea of battle ready Stalkers of both genders, and appropriate dialogue, and costumes has been addressed in some other mods too. The female zombies, could surely like their male ones, have firearms as military zombies.
I do think that adding an equality of both genders, would encourage more players to Stalkersoup, for as in real-life military equality of gender ranks does happen, so it would be great to reflect this in Stalkersoup. Regards, and Thanks, TrueB

Without commenting on the modelling (which is not my subject), may I suggest that, in addition to the sheer difficulty of finding (or getting someone to make) body armour shaped to the female form, and that replacement Kevlar plates are supplied to traders in standard sizes, Panther may have discovered that looking like a woman would have had several disadvantages in the Zone - including attracting a more human form of predator...

In addition, she may well have chosen to look like her team in order to lead them from within their ranks, and not look like an outsider - be it an officer or a woman - who could be identified from afar as a CO or a potential hostage

Let me see if I can translate my ideas from Spanish to English correctly.

My first impressions about the lack of women in STALKER, I found it curious, and then interesting and even purposeful, although without reasonable explanation.
This is, mostly, my own analysis of the situation, of course:
That is, the women are that iconical representation of a mother. And a mother protects.

So when you are in such an aggressive, inhospitable and strange place, and you don't have a female representation, it's inevitable not to feel a certain irrational fear, a certain state of vulnerability.
Many times, during the game, whether in vanilla or some mod, I had this awful feeling or almost instinctive impulse to take refuge in some hole, crouched, and not to leave the safety of that space.
Either when facing dangerous mutants, or when an issue occurred.
Especially with emissions, it's run to the first safe place and stay there under cover while you say goodbye to your sorry *ss...
I've even seen that some mods (now I don't remember which ones specifically), included the option that some NPCs, would get almost in a fetal position, and there, with their hands on their heads, they would start praying or crying.

Yes! I found it.
It was from Lost Alpha.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Well, to sum it up, I was saying that the lack of women or a figure that could provoke some motherhood, made the game much more visceral, more brutal.

Eventually, I was coming up with ideas and theories as to why there would be no women in the Zone.
Not only does it have to do with the fact that it is an extremely hostile environment, and many women would end up working for Sidorovich, haha... but also, it seems that the Zone is similar to the Sea of old times, a female entity, like the goddess Calypso, and therefore would be jealous of other female entities.

At least that's one of the many theories I formulated for the tabletop role-playing game I've been developing for some time.
Then because to my surprise I had a significant amount of female role-players interested in participating in some STALKER Zone Picnic games, I changed a few details here and there.
For example, the Zone in my game, is still a female entity that calls and seduces men, and is jealous of women.
Therefore, I made that playing with a male or female character is very different.
The female characters suffer a lot from the hostility of the Zone from the moment they enter and go deeper and deeper.
The difference comes later, because while men are easy targets for the Zone's deceptions and hallucinations, women have a greater resistance.
Practically, in my game, women acquire an immunity to certain hallucinations that most men do not, in exchange for feeling constantly rejected.
And it has been something that my players, both men and women, have been most pleased with.

I've even thought about including more specific female NPCs, like a couple based on Cara Delevingne, or Pelageya.
(Yes, I'm in the Pelageya crush stage right now, hahaha).

Some images of Cara:

Spoiler:

Also, it's an interesting way to take advantage of stalker.pl's women in the Zone album on facebook.

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Historically (since Stalkersoup is based on a Russian mod), in Soviet times in WWII women did carry firearms, were in the Soviet army frontline. And like their male compatriots might be ferocious not just for their motherland but their safety too.
Nowadays, women and men both join their countries' forces, and go into combat. They also play F.P.S, including Stalkersoup. My hope is combat figures like Tweed could be given more active roles rather than being confined to buildings and encourage more female players to play; Panther being the good example.
The Tweed/Panther's NPC mod could surely be used as Marked One given a different outfit, since eg among Dutyers, at the Garbage checkpoint have several same facial features, so to could MO to the other females. Regards, TrueB

Wow...I just had a great idea.
Well, it's not my idea, I stole it from the anime Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans, hehe...
I was thinking how cool it would be to have an all-female faction in the Zone.
In the Gundam series, Turbines is a space transport "company" that groups all female pilots, for various jobs.

Spoiler:

It's an idea that Gundam originally copied from its younger anime sister franchise Macross, where the alien Zentradis race is divided into two factions, the Zentran (men) and the Meltran (women), and that women are much better pilots than men, more lethal when fighting against the poor humans.

I'm not going to put images because I don't want to keep diverting the subject, hehe....

But well, it would be more than interesting, the idea of a faction made up entirely of women, and that was created by the need for women to protect themselves in a hostile environment.
They are not feminists, they are not radicals or anything like that, just women protecting themselves and looking out for their own interests.

Spoiler:

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Very interesting about the game restraints. A page for Stalker songs would be welcome. If I recall correctly there is on Forum a recent post about Stalkersoup in other languages where the contributor in my opinion volunteers Russian, which might be useful.

There is a Stalker mod which has bloodsuckers and other mutants wearing outfits and armed with firearms, though I  don't recall if they had conversations.
Seasons Greetings, TrueB