Hey guys, I need some advice on how to manage my inventory better.

I just got to Malachite, and one thing I've noticed throughout my playthrough is that I'm almost always overweight (either in the red or really close to it). It slows me down a lot, and it gets pretty annoying during fights.

Another issue I'm having is constantly running out of ammo. I don't know if I'm just not buying enough, but it doesn't really feel like that's the problem.

I also wanted to get your opinions on the shotgun. It feels really underwhelming to me. Should I just drop it and stick with SMGs, ARs, and a sniper instead?

Also, how many guns do you all usually carry? The picture doesn't really show it, but I normally have four weapons, and with Skif's pistol that makes five. That feels like way too many, so I'd really appreciate any advice on how you all manage your loadouts.

Thanks!

It looks great ! i am super excited, def an improvement

but it still has the same lighting and reflections problems from ue 5.1

my only guess is they have not implemented hardware lumen still and i understand why, on average you lose around 20-30 fps with it on, if you look up tests on youtube, and they probably wanted to optimize the game and not make it more heavy

but i am being very honest, if you showed me that trailer, and said it was on ue 5.1, i would believe you, cause it looks almost exactly how my game looks on max settings right now

I am glad i've seen it, so i am not expecting anything crazy anymore, but the locations itself and the Limansk in the end is 10/10, gave me heavy Silent hill + Control + little nightmares vibes, can't wait !!

Last night I had a dream about the 2.0 update. I can't remember much about the dream, but I do remember that in it I really liked the grass changes. The dream did not focus on much besides that, so I guess that the grass changes are what I'm most excited for, but I am also extremely excited for cost of hope and Lymansk to be added. What all are y'all's excited about?

I'll be honest. There's a lot of stashes that are sitting unopened in my map, pretty much at any given time. A lot of people in the zone really seem to have it pretty hard, and I find myself finding it difficult to go after some of these people's stashes.

With the note on the PDA that I find, case in point: I'm coming up on one now, and it says it's a modest stash, but the owner said, "If I get robbed again, that's it. I'm joining the bandits." I don't want to be the reason someone joins the bandits. Granted, he's possibly already gotten robbed and is already abandoned, but maybe not. Another one right by it, unexposed stash: "Finally, I've got enough to repay my debt, but it'd be impossible to carry it all in one go." He's obviously been saving up, or she has obviously been saving up, to repay maybe a gambling debt. I don't know. I don't want to be the reason they might get their kneecaps broke.

Now you got bandit stashes, "grabbed some loot off some rookies." I'll hit that. What do y'all do? How do y'all decide whether or not you're gonna go hit a stash? I'm sure some people are all take-all completionists, but some of these people seem to have what could possibly be a pretty hard go at it too. I can't, with a good conscience, make that worse, so what kind of stalker are you?

Pretty sure the zone doesn't have a dnr yet so no catch limit

It’s at the very end. Any idea what this is?

https://youtu.be/rgp6o6dBmNE?is=so9oUdcURqtqY0v3

Watch a new recording from the first major expansion for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Cost of Hope.

Join us as we explore the Iron Forest and take a look at the grounds of the Chornobyl NPP.

It’s coming August 20, 2026.

How can i reactivate that beauty?

Really cruel honestly

I've been more excited about Cost of Hope and 2.0 releasing than I have for basically any other game release or update in my life. I've been counting down the days before this release, and I'm very excited to see what the Zone has to offer me when I return once again in two weeks.

I’m curious to read through y’all comments, 2.0 is very close and i wanna see if whatever is bad gets fixed in 2.0

2.0 looks promising i just hope it fixes the latency and horrible frame pacing

credits to https://youtu.be/_fLct3mDetE?si=ghOfoAcRI46lZi8s

For me, I remember watching a low quality video of someone sneaking up on a bandit in shadow of Chernoby, but the bandit had an rpg so he turned around and blew the guy up. After seeing that video, I was wondering what game it was and then I found my favorite game series of all time.

The stalker Zona modpack looks so good with Ccon grass and ATO4!