Vandalised Firearms v1.1

Created by SpeedCanHurt aka Vandal

Contents

- Description

- Tactics

- Ammunition

- Weapons

- Uninstalling

- Thanks

- Terms of Use

Description

VFire is a free, downloadable modification for S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Sky. It changes all firearms in the game, making them more realistic, balanced and challenging to use. This effectively results in a more enjoyable combat system, greatly improving the gaming experience. This modification is not for everyone, however, and some may find they prefer the feel of the original weapons in the game. If you find this, simply refer to the uninstall information in this manual for instructions on how to revert to the original game. For a full list of changes, refer to the latest VFire text file located in your game directory.

Tactics

Players using this modification will find combat tactics used in the unmodified version of Clear Sky are much less effective. This is because VFire encourages the use of tactics used in real life. Some of the strategies that are useful with this modification:

- Better use of cover. Unless you can use cover effectively, you will find yourself dying often in VFire. You should prioritise things like brick walls, vehicles, rocks, concrete blocks and even large corpses over less resistant forms of cover such as trees, logs and thin walls. You should always be aware of the next piece of effective cover in case you need to relocate due to grenades or flanking enemies.

- Controlled fire. VFire features greatly increased recoil for all weapons, and you will find long bursts of automatic fire to be highly inaccurate with most firearms. In order to effectively hit a target, you will need to take advantage of burst fire options, such as two or three shot bursts, and semi-automatic fire. Weapons that do not feature these additional firing modes should be fired in automatic mode but only in short bursts. Also, when you do need to fire extended bursts, you will need to manually ‘push’ the front of the weapon down, or up, to maintain relatively good accuracy. To do this, simply aim the opposite way to which the weapon is pulling.

- Stealth. As soon as an enemy detects you, they will open fire. If you have not already taken cover, you will likely be killed. To avoid this, always approach enemy fortifications from behind cover, making sure to avoid your targets line of sight at all times, and creeping to avoid creating too much noise. Even better, engaging your target from long range before they can react allows you to incapacitate multiple hostiles quickly and efficiently.

- Aiming. Without VFire, it is possible to simply take down all your targets with headshots quite quickly. In VFire, this is much harder, so you will need to aim for the torso in order to be as effective as possible. Similarly, if a target is behind thin cover, aim for roughly where they should be and shoot through the cover. If they are behind strong cover, look for exposed body parts, such as feet and hands. Hitting a target in a non-lethal location such as legs and arms can stun them and make them stumble, giving you time to pull off a lethal shot.

- Good support options. Not all gunfights will go in your favour. For these situations, make sure you always have plenty of ammunition, medical kits and bandages, and have a clear path you can retreat to, with good cover to hide behind. Better still, use your allies to cover you in combat, or retreat to allied fortifications, where any hostiles that are following you will be killed.

- Be alert. Your best time to break cover and kill an enemy is when he is reloading, changing weapons or running from cover, so listen for the telltale sounds of footsteps or reload mechanism operation that will inform you of these opportunities. Also try to keep in mind how much ammunition your enemies magazine will hold, depending on his weapon, as this will help you plan when to launch your attack.

- Distance. When hunting for mutants, keep in mind that most have no ranged offenses. This means you can maintain a good distance from your target and kill them without risking your own life. Also, targets with short-range weapons like handguns and shotguns will have a harder time hitting you at longer ranges. That said, some targets are more capable at long range than short range. In this case, you should attempt to sneak up as close as possible before engaging your enemy.

- Weapon choice. Don’t just pick your favourite weapon – pick the best for your mission. If you are attacking targets from a distance, pick a weapon that has good long-range capabilities and is fairly accurate. When fighting in closed-in areas, such as urban or indoor locations, pick a weapon that does a good deal of damage and has a decent rate of fire. Likewise, pick ammunition that has the right performance for the application. Always upgrade your weapons for best performance specific to their natural strengths, and never allow your weapons condition to degrade too far. Damaged weapons will be less accurate, harder to use and will jam more often.

Ammunition

Your choice of ammunition will be more important than ever with VFire. Keep in mind that modifying weapons to fire different ammunition will have drastic effects on their performance. To assist in your choice of ammunition, a list including strengths and weaknesses of each type is included here.

9x18mm Full Metal Jacket

A very basic and outdated form of pistol ammunition. Has very poor accuracy, penetration and stopping power, offset only by its low weight and cost of purchase. Suited for use with the Makarov PM, PB/6P9 and Fort-12 pistols. The Browning HP, Beretta 92 and Walther P99 pistols and MP5 submachine gun can be modified to use this ammunition.

9x18mm Hollow Point

A hollow-point bullet that fragments on impact designed for 9x18mm cartridge. Provides improved stopping power, but has even lower penetration capabilities. Can be used in the Makarov PM, PB/6P9 and Fort-12 pistols, or modified-calibre Browning HP, Beretta 92 and Walther P99 pistols and MP5 submachine guns.

9x19mm Full Metal Jacket

An improved 9mm pistol round. Features improved damage and penetration, and is one of the most accurate pistol cartridges available. Can be used in the MP5 submachine gun or the Browning HP, Beretta 92 and Walther P99 pistols. Makarov PM, PB/6P9 and Fort-12 pistols can also fire this round after modifications have been carried out on the weapon in question.

9x19mm Hollow Point

A hollow-point round attached to a 9x19mm cartridge. Provides much greater stopping power than the FMJ variant, but is offset by poor armour penetration. Bullet trajectory is no different to the standard round. Designed for use with the MP5 submachine gun, Browning HP, Beretta 92 and Walther P99 pistols, or modified-calibre Makarov PM, PB/6P9 and Fort-12 pistols.

.45 Full Metal Jacket

A large, hard-hitting pistol round originally designed for military handguns. Provides great stopping power, decent penetration and average accuracy, but has a low effective range due to bullet weight, and is much more expensive than other handgun ammunition. Can be used in the USP, M1911 and SIG P220 pistols.

.45 Hollow Point

One of the most powerful handgun cartridges in existence, fitted with a fragmenting hollow-point bullet. Has highly impressive stopping power, but suffers from poor penetration abilities. Otherwise, it has the same performance as the FMJ round. Suited for the USP, M1911 and SIG P220 pistols.

.50 Full Metal Jacket

The famous .50 calibre ‘Action Express’ round with a standard full-metal jacket bullet. Has incredible stopping power and decent accuracy, as well as a respectable muzzle velocity. Unfortunately, it is very heavy and has poor aerodynamics, greatly limiting its effective range. Suited for the Desert Eagle.

.50 Hollow Point

An incredibly powerful round, consisting of a fragmenting hollow-point round mounted on a huge .50 AE cartridge. Has the greatest stopping power of any handgun round and respectable grouping, but lacks penetration power. It is also heavy and limited to short distances due to its poor ballistic qualities. Can only be used in the .50 Desert Eagle.

9x39mm Full Metal Jacket

A heavy subsonic round designed for use with some special rifles. While it has a low muzzle velocity, its weight provides good stopping power and decent armour penetration. This comes at the cost of maximum range and accuracy, as the bullet itself has a tendency to ‘drop’ at long ranges. Can be used in the OC-14 Groza and AS Val assault rifles, as well as the VSS Vintorez sniper rifle.

9x39mm Armour Piercing

Subsonic 9mm rifle ammunition fitted with a toughened armour-piercing bullet. Features much better armour penetration at the cost of much higher purchase prices. Suited for use with OC-14 Groza, AS Val, VSS Vintorez rifles.

5.45x39mm Full Metal Jacket

A generic rifle round, used most commonly by Warsaw Pact countries. Provides great accuracy and range and is lighter than all other rifle rounds of its class, not to mention cheaper. It also lacks the power of other rifle rounds, however, and has lower penetration abilities as well. Suits the AK-74, AKS-74U and AN-94 assault rifles, as well as calibre-modified LR300, L85, SG 550, G36, F2000, OC-14 Groza, AS Val and VSS Vintorez rifles.

5.45x39mm Armour Piercing

A 5.45mm rifle cartridge, with a toughened bullet that provides better armour penetration than standard FMJ rounds. The only downside of this round is the much higher price. Can be used in the AK-74, AKS-74U and AN-94 assault rifles. Also suited to LR300, L85, SG 550, G36, F2000, OC-14 Groza, AS Val and VSS Vintorez rifles that have been modified to use the smaller calibre ammunition.

5.56x45mm Full Metal Jacket

A NATO-standard rifle round, now adopted by most European and Western nations. Provides greater stopping power, penetration abilities and muzzle velocity than the smaller 5.45mm rounds, but suffers from greater bullet weight and size, causing lower accuracy and a slight ‘tumbling’ effect at longer ranges. Designed for use in the LR300, L85, SG 550, G36 and F2000 assault rifles. Some modified AK-74, AKS-74U and AN-94 assault rifles can also use this ammunition.

5.56x45mm Armour Piercing

The NATO-standardised rifle round fitted with a toughened armour-piercing bullet. Provides much greater armour-piercing power, with the only downside being the high cost of purchase. Suited for the LR300, L85, SG 550, G36 and F2000 assault rifles, as well as calibre-modified AK-74, AKS-74U and AN-94 Kalashnikov-series assault rifles.

7.62x54mm 7N14

A large, powerful and time-proven rifle round, designed specifically for sniper use. Features an efficient armour-piercing bullet, high accuracy and range, and very good stopping power. It is, however, heavy and expensive, and so should be used sparingly. Used in the Dragunov SVD and SVU sniper rifles.

7.62x54mm MG

A cheap 7mm armour-piercing rifle round designed for large machine guns. Because it comes attached to linkable belts, it is only suitable for the PKM group machine gun.

12x70 Buckshot

A large shotgun shell that contains 10 pellets, or shot, designed for both military and hunting use. The shot spreads out over range, providing a good spread of damage. While each individual pellet does relatively little damage, together they can take down the strongest of targets. They do, however have fairly average armour-piercing capabilities and lose effectiveness over long range quite quickly. Suited for use with any Sawn-Off Shotgun, Classic Shotgun, Remington 870 or SPAS-12 that has not been modified for slug and dart use.

12x76 Slug

A shotgun round that basically consists of an explosive charge and a huge lead slug. While fairly soft, the slug is relatively accurate for shotgun ammunition, and provides huge amounts of stopping power. Even if it doesn’t penetrate armour, it will cause huge internal damage to the target, purely from the force. Used in Sawn-Off, Classic, Remington 870 or SPAS-12 shotguns.

12x76 Flechette

A large, metal ‘dart’ contained inside a sabot. Provides great armour-piercing ability, as well as highly impressive stopping power. While the flechettes fins usually stabilise it in flight, they can be adversely affected by crosswinds, making them less accurate than would be expected. Designed for use with the Sawn-Off, Classic, Remington 870 or SPAS-12 shotguns.

Weapons

There is a large variety of weapons to choose from in Clear Sky, and the changes made in VFire can make choosing weapons even harder. To assist with your choice, a list of firearms, along with their strengths and weaknesses, is listed here.

Makarov PM

A small, cheap 9mm pistol with an 8-round magazine. Though it was originally designed in Russia, it is now produced in mass by low-cost companies around the world, and is known for its poor reliability. It is, however, lightweight and cheap, making it useful for less experienced stalkers. Fires the widely-available 9x18mm Makarov ammunition, though modified versions are capable of using 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition.

PB/6P9 ‘Noiseless’

A special operations pistol based on a heavily modified Makarov PM. It is heavier and more prone to damage than the PM, but is practically silent due to a special firing mechanism which reduces muzzle velocity to subsonic levels, as well as a custom-built suppressor, both of which also result in reduced recoil. Uses 9x18mm pistol ammunition, but can be modified to fire the more accurate and powerful 9x19mm type.

Fort-12

A Ukrainian police pistol. Features a 12-shot magazine and exceptionally low weight. While not entirely reliable, it is much better than most other 9x18mm pistols, though all other performance is typical of its class. Fires 9x18mm Makarov ammunition, or can be modified to fire 9x19mm Parabellum rounds.

Walther P99

A 9mm pistol that provides a huge 16-round magazine capacity and extremely low weight, making it useful for more experienced stalkers. Not entirely reliable, though, and has a fair amount of recoil. Designed to fire the highly-accurate 9x19mm Parabellum handgun rounds, but can be modified to fire cheaper 9x18mm Makarov ammunition.

Beretta 92

A heavy, low-recoil 9mm pistol with a 10-shot magazine. Extremely useful, except for very poor reliability, particularly concerning the slide, when not properly maintained. Uses 9x19mm ammo, but can be modified for use with the cheaper, lighter 9x18mm type.

Browning HP ‘HiPower’

A fairly heavy but extremely reliable 9mm handgun. Boasts a good 13-shot magazine and very low recoil. Many stalkers swear by it, as it can go without maintenance for long periods of time. Designed for use with 9x19mm ammunition, but can be modified for 9x18mm rounds.

Colt M1911 ‘Government’

A large-calibre 7-shot handgun, designed over 100 years ago, and used by the US military for the last 70. While it has fairly low recoil due to its ‘gold-standard’ pistol grip, it is heavy and there are many older versions on the market that affect its average reliability greatly. Fires .45 calibre ammunition.

SIG P220

A fairly recently designed Swiss large-calibre handgun. While it is reliable, lightweight and accurate, it was rejected by many armed forces for its high recoil and low 7-shot magazine capacity. Uses .45 ACP rounds.

USP .45

A widely used modern handgun that has received great praise from the many special operations groups and armed forces that use it. It is reliable, lightweight and features a 12-shot magazine as standard. Designed to fire .45 ACP ammunition.

Desert Eagle Mark XIX

A well-known large-calibre handgun, famous for its immense stopping power. It also has a decent muzzle velocity and respectable accuracy, but is heavy and its history has been plagued by jamming problems when not correctly maintained. Fires .50 AE ammunition only, and cannot be fitted with a suppressor.

MP5

One of the most used submachine guns in existence, definitely the most popular western design. It has a good rate of fire and is quite lightweight, but inaccurate and difficult to control during extended bursts of automatic fire. Features an optional 3-shot burst firing mode. Uses 9x19mm ammunition, but can be modified to fire the more common 9x18mm rounds.

OC-14 ‘Groza’

A Russian-built assault rifle designed for the heavy, subsonic 9mm rifle round. Has impressive stopping power at short-medium range, but its effectiveness quickly diminishes at longer ranges due to bullet ‘drop’. Also has an under barrel grenade launcher for 40mm caseless VOG-25 grenades. Uses 9x39mm ammo as standard, and can be modified to fire more accurate 5.45x39mm rounds.

AS Val ‘Shaft’

A modified version of the VSS Vintorez, designed to be used as an assault rifle. While it does not have the scope or first-shot accuracy of the sniper variant, it does have a larger 20-round magazine and less recoil due to an improved stock. Also has the same integral silencer as the Vintorez, and fires 9x39mm subsonic ammunition, giving it good stopping power at short-medium ranges. Can be modified to fire 5.45x39mm rifle rounds.

AK-74

Probably the most used weapon in the Kalashnikov series, based upon the famous AK-47 model. It is a cheap, reliable assault rifle, used all around the world. Provides good accuracy and average recoil during automatic fire. Uses 5.45x39mm rounds, but modified versions can fire 5.56mm NATO rounds.

AKS-74U

A variant of the AK-74, designed for special forces use in urban combat areas. Features a folding stock and shortened barrel that decrease weight considerably, but suffers from lowered muzzle velocity and accuracy and increased recoil. Standard models fire 5.45mm ammunition, but can be modified to fire 5.56mm ammunition.

AN-94 ‘Abakan’

A highly complex Kalashnikov-design assault rifle, designed in the mid-1990s. Has much better accuracy and control then earlier models, but is much less reliable due to a complicated firing mechanism. Has an additional 2-shot burst firing mode. Designed for 5.45mm ammunition, but can be modified for 5.56mm ammunition use.

LR300

A modified variant of the famous M16, produced and sold by a private American corporation. Features an extremely high rate of fire, but suffers from poor handling, reliability and accuracy. Features an additional firing mode for 3-shot bursts. Standard models fire the NATO-standard 5.56x45mm ammunition, but they can be modified to fire more widely-available 5.45mm ammunition.

L85

A British assault rifle designed to be useful in medium-long range infantry combat. Features an integrated 1.6x scope for sniper fire and high accuracy, but is less than reliable due to its complex design, and extremely heavy. Fires 5.56mm rifle rounds, but can be modified to use 5.45mm ammunition.

SG 550

Swiss-made assault rifle that features extremely high accuracy and muzzle velocity as well as quite impressive reliability. This is offset by high recoil, caused by poor weight distribution along the length of the rifle. Designed for 5.45mm ammunition, but can be modified for 5.56mm rounds.

G36

A popular German-made assault rifle with a good balance of performance statistics. It is lightweight, accurate, easy to control and reliable. It also has an integrated 1.6x telescopic sight and an additional firing mode for two-shot bursts. Standard models fire the NATO-standard 5.56x45mm ammunition, but they can be modified to fire more widely-available 5.45mm ammunition.

F2000

A modern ‘weapon system’, designed for use in a variety of combat environments. A very good all-round rifle, it has high muzzle velocity, stopping power and rate of fire, as well as low recoil and good reliability. It features an integrated telescopic sight and under barrel integrated 40mm grenade launcher. Also has a 2-shot burst firing mode for better fire control. Designed to fire standard 5.56mm NATO rifle ammunition, but can be easily modified for use of lighter, cheaper 5.45x39mm ammo.

VSS Vintorez

A small, lightweight, suppressed sniper rifle designed for use with special operations groups. The heavy 9mm rounds provide good stopping power at short and medium ranges, and it comes with a calibrated telescopic sight. It is also capable of automatic fire at up to 800 rounds per minute, though it only uses a ten-round magazine. Uses 9x39mm subsonic ammunition, resulting in practically ‘noiseless’ fire, but can be modified to fire 5.45mm ammunition.

Dragunov SVU

A variant of the famous SVD, designed in a lighter, more compact and easier to control bullpup layout. While it has a slightly lower muzzle velocity and accuracy than its big brother, it is still more than effective for medium to long range sniper work. Fires 7.62x54mm 7N14 ammunition.

Dragunov SVD

The quintessential Russian sniper rifle. It is reliable, highly accurate at medium to long ranges, has a high muzzle velocity and its 7mm ammunition provides both good armour penetration and stopping power. It suffers only from high recoil and weight. Suited only for 7.62x54mm 7N14 sniper ammunition.

PKM

A large 7mm Russian-built group machine gun. Has good stopping power and is relatively controllable in automatic fire, but suffers from its weight, poor accuracy and high cost of not only purchase, but maintenance. This makes it useful only for urban combat, but it is useful for covering narrow approaches, for example a narrow street or a gap between fortifications. Has no semi-automatic fire mode. Can only use 7.62x54mm MG rounds on linkable belts.

Sawn-Off Shotgun

A generic side-by-side double-barrel shotgun with barrel length considerably shortened, usually by sawing them off. The shortened barrel length reduces both muzzle velocity and accuracy considerably, making it only useful for close combat, and such modifications also make it slightly less reliable and induce huge amounts of recoil. Its only advantages are its light weight and low cost of purchase. Fires 12x70 buckshot and 12x76 slugs and flechettes.

Classic Shotgun

Classic over-under double-barrel hunting shotgun, designed for accuracy rather than combat effectiveness. Because of this, it is accurate at longer ranges than most other shotguns and has a higher muzzle velocity, but is still heavy and unreliable in such harsh environments. Suited for use with 12x70 and 12x76 shotgun shells.

Remington 870

American-built pump-action shotgun, used both for hunting and combat. It is relatively lightweight for its class, and has a 6-round magazine capacity. It is also much more reliable than most other shotguns, making it the first choice for many stalkers. Uses 12x70 and 12x76 shotgun shells as standard.

SPAS-12

While it was designed for automatic fire, the SPAS-12 is too unreliable for common use in this mode, so experienced firearms experts only use it in the pump-action mode. Other than this flaw, it is an effective combat shotgun and has lower recoil than others of its class, as well as reasonable reliability. Only suited for 12x70 buckshot and 12x76 ammunition.

Uninstalling

If you’re not happy with VFire, then installing it is relatively simple, assuming you have no other Clear Sky modifications installed.

1 - Go to your game directory, usually Program Files/Deep Silver/S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky.

2 - Delete all the files inside the folder titled ‘gamedata’.

If you have other modifications installed for Clear Sky, you will need to manually delete VFire files one by one to prevent the loss of your other modifications.

Thanks

Thanks go out to:

Karstux, for allowing me to integrate his pistols iron sights modification into VFire.

The members of the GSC modders forum, for helping me out along the way.

All those people who tested this modification and gave me feedback, it wouldn’t have been possible without you.

Everyone who has downloaded or used this modification, I never would have expected there to be so many.

And, finally, GSC for making such a great game.

Terms of Use

Not to be modified and redistributed without the permission of the creator. For permission, email speedcanhurt@fastmail.fm. This modification may be uploaded and advertised freely, as long as you inform the creator at the aforementioned email address or through the VFire discussion topics on either Gamespot or the GSC forums, give proper credit to the creator and include an acceptable amount of information detailing what the modification does and what the terms of use are. By installing, using, uploading or opening files, other than this readme, from VFire, you are accepting these terms. Anybody violating these terms will be found and punished to the greatest possible extent.