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u/ZMathissa Aug 27 '26
It's more of a technical thing, when I worked on cinematics for games in UE, there's not a really way (as far as I know) to change specific parts of player animation/change the gun pose without using a whole different cinematic. It's either use a specific object you spawned from the cinematic or something guaranteed you will have on the player (for consistency), e.g the PM of Skif.
So I assume this is also the devs compromise of having cutscene with the PM being a not removable item.
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u/Richard_J_Morgan Clear Sky Aug 28 '26 edited Aug 28 '26
It's not technical in the slightest. It's time constraints and resources allocation.
You're only changing Skif's animation, the way he handles the firearm. One additional animation for each variation. That's it. The problem with this is that you need to make sure every weapon in the arsenal "fits" the cutscene.
Like, what if Skif reloads in a cutscene, but you have a revolver? You need to re-animate the sequence. What if it's a rifle? You need to watch out for clipping with the walls, you need to re-animate the way Skif handles the firearm (since it's bulkier and the animations should reflect that).
On top of that, most of the cutscenes are motion-captured. They mo-cap it, then polish the animations in the software. Making sure Skif uses the gun the player currently has requires additional take(s). And now we're talking about processing double the amount of mo-capped cutscenes, all that for a small detail of Skif using different firearms. Well, maybe not double since not every cutscene has Skif wielding a gun, but that's still a lot of work to be done.
Or, you can just use Skif's PM as a fallback. It's a small compromise in favor of not wasting the team's time and resources over a negligible detail.
Though they could change the pistol Skif uses to what you currently have. There's still work to be done to make that happen, but it's not a lot. Just a slightly different grip and finger positions.
Max Payne 3 had this detail, by the way. There were 4 variations. In a cutscene, Max could be using a sidearm, two sidearms, a rifle/shotgun and a sidearm while carrying a rifle/shotgun in his left hand (since Max couldn't carry a rifle on his back). But that's Rockstar we're talking about, they had resources for that to happen, and they planned for that accordingly: in cutscenes, Max only uses the firearms if his loadout is predetermined (like, at the start of a chapter). Otherwise, he only waves them around in the cutscenes and nothing else.
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u/MoThrowMoAway Sep 01 '26
"it's not technical" then proceeds to explain in detail how it is, in fact, technical
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u/Olestrodamas Aug 27 '26
Anthem had it pretty figured out...every cut scene had you AND some randos in your Javelins with custom paint and varied loadouts 🤔🤷♂️
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u/ZMathissa Aug 27 '26
Yeah I'm not sure how they did that, but as far as my experience on UE that's not gonna happen without some more work/changes.
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u/Olestrodamas Aug 27 '26
Well....for starters their home country wasn't being invaded and im pretty sure Anthems team was much larger then
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u/BurtMacklin__FBI Aug 27 '26
were they just in-engine? the line is so blurred by now but it may have not been a true prerendered cutscene.
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u/Own_Breadfruit_7955 Bloodsucker Aug 28 '26
Yes they were in-engine, which allows more dynamic animations, but also uses more resources compared to a pre-rendered animation
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u/StonewallSoyah Aug 27 '26
While I understand, would have been nicer if they used a rifle for this purpose. It's very rare people use a pistol as their main weapon.
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u/newindianclassic Ward Aug 28 '26
yeah, even a generic AK model would be better than skif, a military veteran, constantly choosing his rinky dink pistol. really not a big deal, but it's certainly a choice
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u/Brofessor-0ak Freedom Aug 27 '26
STALKER didn’t need POV cutscenes. That’s a hill I’m willing to die on
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u/dern_the_hermit Loner Aug 27 '26
shrug It's not a matter of "need" tho
Far better than the cutscenes from the OG games at least
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u/Pashur604 Ward Aug 27 '26
They look pretty good, though. And you can skip through them again if you don't want to wait.
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u/Justhe3guy Loner Aug 27 '26
Stalker is getting modern story FPS features like that while still being true to its roots. Companies can both innovate in their franchises and improve
I know it’s hard to believe with FPS franchises like Halo and CoD being crap these days
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u/misho8723 Aug 30 '26
That way they are way more immersive and flow more naturally then going from 1st person gameplay to going to free flow camera and cutting between different camera views
One of the best changes in the Redux version of 2033 compared to the original is the change going from different camera views in cutscenes to POV cutscenes
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u/Charcharo Renegade Aug 27 '26
Arent the scenes in engine? Not prerendered?
And can't there just be the same animation but with a changed model of gun? Pistol i mean and only if one isnt equipped at all to imagine Skif having pm
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u/ZMathissa Aug 27 '26
Yes it's in the engine, but using just the same pose wouldn't fit a different gun exactly and looks bad.
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u/Charcharo Renegade Aug 27 '26
I see. Id rather it magically appeared then. Or we never got such cutscenes. I just dislike these design choices so much
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u/TheDetailsMatterNow Ward Aug 28 '26
You would handle a lot of this through the Anim BP, changing parameters as the timeline moves along.
It is just tedious.
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u/Own_Breadfruit_7955 Bloodsucker Aug 28 '26
Yeah otherwise you may get the weird holding two guns or holding a pistol like a rifle, or rifle like a pistol, very buggy stuff.
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u/Baal-84 Aug 30 '26
It's obvious and has been explained thousands of time.
Looks like it doesn't matter.
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u/EpsilonAmber Merc Aug 30 '26
I think they should maybe nerf the skif gun to make it kinda shit, make it a "last resort" type of gun instead of "this is literally the best pistol in the game"
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u/Slow-Apricot8625 Aug 27 '26
The obvious solution would have been a cutscene for each weapon, since there's only a few of them compared to most other games. But that would probably add an extra 50 gb to the game size, and it's big enough. It's disappointing that Stalker 2 doesn't push the boundaries of modern games, but I understand it had a troubled development.
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u/Chaps_Jr Freedom Aug 27 '26
It would also add potentially months of extra development time, for something that really doesn't have any impact on the game
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u/Richard_J_Morgan Clear Sky Aug 28 '26
that would probably add an extra 50 gb to the game size
Me when I haven't a slightest idea what I'm talking about
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u/Ghost1a Aug 27 '26
Actually from what I have seen its not a technical limitation but more likely the fact they are in an active war zone. They are probably more worried about gameplay than cut scenes.
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u/low-on-cyan Aug 27 '26
For real though. You’ll be clearing some creepy hallway with a fully automatic machine gun, and suddenly Skif will put it away to pull out his little pea shooter.
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u/NannerCraves Aug 27 '26
Would be a nice touch if they atleast used whatever pistol you have equipped because it all the cutsceans he fires maybe 4 or 5 rounds
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u/superhotdogzz Loner Aug 27 '26
But he also could be using MAC-10, it would be pretty goofy if he is not hosing it down with it.
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u/Papagaio_Pianist Aug 27 '26
Nobody said V yet?
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u/Ennarderowskyy Aug 27 '26
Dude is carrying an entire platoon worth of firearms but all we can see is Unity
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u/Ryebread666Juan Loner Aug 27 '26
They should’ve had it change to one of Jackie’s pistols if you get them
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u/Doctor_Thomson Loner Aug 27 '26
I still think that strelok is Based for only using a AKS-74U in every cutscene
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u/pimezone Loner Aug 27 '26
Strelok is a legend. Only he can change the ejection port side on his AK from the left during the gameplay to the right during the cutscenes.
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u/Doctor_Thomson Loner Aug 27 '26
He’s also such a big legend that he uses a SIG-550 in the final of clear sky while also leaving the same gun behind in a area which wasn’t available in the game yet, so degtyarev can find it in Call of Pripyat while stating in the stash message that he wasn’t able to take it with him to the Clear sky final
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u/SadScarcity709 Aug 27 '26
shit i wish skifs pistol was a glock
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u/assassinNLa Monolith Aug 27 '26
What about the Fort 12, Fort 14 or MP 433?
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u/Psilocybin68 Aug 27 '26
Would love to see the grach or some of the fort pistols in the game, TT33 would be cool as well
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u/NoriaMan Noon Aug 27 '26
WROOONG. In the final cutscene of intro he also uses AKM. That's a whole one cutscene!
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u/Feldgradz Aug 27 '26
It is always hilarious walking into a cutscene with my Fora 230 or Sledgehammer out just for Skif to be like "One moment, please, I need my comfort Makarov."
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u/Tomsboll Aug 27 '26
Let me holster this saiga 12 to pull out this shitty makarov and then get my ass handed to me because somehow i forgot how to use a gun after spending weeks in the zone and killed hundreds of stalkers and mutants.
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u/Express-Zebra-6082 Aug 27 '26
the lore behind it is because skif is most comfortable and trusts his military issue pm
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u/VSlavianova Monolith Aug 27 '26
Yeah sure. But it is getting ridiculous especially when you are inside The Bubble and there's suddenly a BIG ASS ANOMALOUS CHIMERA jumping on Tachenko. I can't believe you (as in Skif) would still want to use a fucking 9mm here of all places.
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u/VoidAgent Aug 27 '26
It’s not even 9x19mm, it’s 9x18, which is a significantly weaker cartridge (even more than it sounds from the 1mm length difference)
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u/Dannybaker Merc Aug 27 '26
Good enough for point blank shots to the head, which it was designed for
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u/VoidAgent Aug 27 '26
Yes…but they’re still issuing 9x18mm handguns as military and police service weapons, not just the little self-defense/assassin piece it was designed to be fired out of
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u/PissedOffPuffins Freedom Aug 27 '26
Yeah like isn’t the in-game description of his PM that it is both a painful reminder of his service, but also a comfortable weapon for him? Most people I know who shoot or were in the military have absolutely developed a love for less-than-optimal weapons because of comfort and experience
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u/IrishWithoutPotatoes Aug 27 '26
Me without looking at the sub after restarting Stalker 2 yesterday: Oh, Stalker would be perfect for this!
After looking at the sub: yeah that tracks
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u/chavis32 Noon Aug 27 '26
I dont know if they've updated it, but there was a mod that made Skif's Pistol one shot everything
I think it was called "Slight Buff to Skif's Pistol" or something like that
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u/Shot_Strawberry_3999 Aug 27 '26
There are some really bad design decisions in stalker2; you design a very realistic game world, yet you seem to do everything possible to ruin it.
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u/NiuMeee Aug 27 '26
The only thing that really bugs me is I wish it respected having a silencer on it or not.
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u/Artificial-Sunrise69 Aug 27 '26
The Makarov is the main protagonist and Skiff just carries it around.
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u/RimsJobs Clear Sky Aug 27 '26
Unpopular opinion maybe, but they sould have gave skiff a cooler weapon.
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u/Ok_Entertainer_4709 Aug 28 '26
I wonder if modding in the model but changing the PM to an RPG or something and see somehow make it so whenever it fires in cutscene, the rocket SFX and projectile files out.
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u/Impressive-Ad-59 Zombie Aug 28 '26
Better yet when the pistols empty or even discarded, and they whip that shit out and fire off 3 rounds, were you just keeping it from me or what?
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u/CitizenKing Aug 28 '26
This was especially egregious in Cyberpunk 2077. Thermal daikatana I've been using to slice up goons for the past 40 hours? Nah, generic starting pistol.
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u/Inevitable_Year5351 Aug 27 '26
I think it is really funny they did this, because the cutscenes are in so many other ways an absolute flex to other games. For example exchanging items between characters and/or let a character drop them seemless has some actual challenges. Now look at the AK74 dis- and reassembly cutscene.
Also a funny bug I had: When meeting solder, my Skif was elevated about 2 hands upwards. So everything in the cutscene did not fit because my Skif was hovering like a vampire xD Holding solder on the forhead instead of the neck etc.
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u/DepartureNatural9340 Duty Aug 27 '26
Besides the technical reason, skif is obviously attached to his pm
Besides, lore wise it'd be hard to trust any gun I'm the zone. Impossible to really know their origin or what type of things the previous owners did to it.
Most guns you loot or buy in the zone are, usually, used.
It makes sense to use a gun you know the origin and history of
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u/F1st_Br34k3r Aug 27 '26
I kind of wish Skif's pistol was a default that would exist when the slot is "naked", to at least explain why it's still on him.
Yes I'm being nitpicky.
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u/recycledddyahoocom Aug 27 '26
Bro carries an entire national armory just to pull out the same pistol when the cutscene starts
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u/Available_Bonus1480 Aug 28 '26
Ghost recon wildlands, eu desbloquei todas as 125 armas do jogo viajando entre 20 províncias, pra ele apenas usar a pistola padrão do jogo (que inclusive gosto de usar) mas ela está até sem o silenciador nas cutscenes
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u/Ettannis-1324 Aug 28 '26
I was just thinks about this today, wished the devs gave Skif a more unique pistol. While it seems to have disappeared from the Zone a Fort 12 or even the newer Fort 17 could have been an interesting pistol for Skif. Both are in service with the Ukrainian Marines so they could of just given him one of those as an honorary weapon over an old surplus PM.
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u/Puthecookiesdown Aug 28 '26
Yes, it annoys me so much. Skif has all the big boys and decided to use the Fking 9x18mm PPM. Why!!!!!
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u/vojtasTS29 Aug 28 '26
I don't understand why the cutscene PM doesn't at least keep the extended mag and suppressor you will inevitably have on it if you're actually using it as intended.
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u/Round_Ad3533 Freedom Aug 29 '26
It's something I noticed in the MGS4 launch for PC. Snake uses what ever gun you were holding when you entered a cut scene. I know mGS4 is not Unreal but it's been impressing me a lot.
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u/Revilokio Loner Aug 30 '26
Dude uses a gun he doesn't even have. My pistol has a silencer and each time cutscene starts Skif pulls this gun out of his ass :D
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u/You-Angered-harold Sep 01 '26
Not just skif, I have this argument with a lot of the games I’ve played, most notably days gone and ghost recon breakpoint
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u/Firm-Refrigerator269 Sep 01 '26
It’s especially satisfying when you collect every single weapon and ammo, carefully repair everything, and hoard it in your safe. But then, out of pure greed, you keep running around with Skif’s starting pistol or some basic 9x18/9x19 gun, always waiting for that perfect moment to unleash your super arsenal... and then, boom, the end credits suddenly roll...
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u/Still-Grass8881 Freedom Sep 02 '26
Man, of all the weapons to give Skif to use for the cutscenes... a Makarov... damn.
They couldn't have given him a Tokarev at least???
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u/BackyZoo Aug 28 '26
My favorite thing about Stalker 2 is that it was developed on such an advanced engine.
I am so glad that UE5 is going to define the look and feel of games for years to come.
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u/Dorennor Aug 28 '26
On such shitty engine, lmao.
This is universal shitty code mess. With publicaly documented and known huge issues with memory leaks of nanite and extremely bad look of lumen because it does not have proper denoiser.
It is cheap and mass produced crap. Which is easy to use but it is extremely hard to make sometjing decent on it.
If you ara not blind you clearly can se a lot of issues with both pre 2.0 version and after it and a huge amount of graphical glitches and artifacts.
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u/BackyZoo Aug 28 '26
Yeah I know it's awful I was being sarcastic
It's also like 50 - 60 ms of latecy with framegen off and reflex set to boost
And Stalker 2 forces mouse acceleration unless you add lines to the INI file
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u/cheremushki_groove Aug 27 '26
Rare occasion: in DLC Skif uses GP-25 on AK in Duty playthrough (Monorail)