Introduction - veerserif/GAMMA-manual GitHub Wiki

This page aims to explain what the modpack is, as well as what games it is built on. It also includes a brief setting description for the world of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.

What is G.A.M.M.A. ?

G.A.M.M.A., which stands for "Grok's Automated Modular Modpack for Anomaly", is a comprehensive modpack for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly mod, created by Grok. Grok is a prolific modder of STALKER Anomaly, and this modpack aims to provide a repair- and crafting-focused style of play, requiring players to find and fix their own gear with the aim of providing a balanced, fair but lengthy challenge as they rise to the top of the Zone.

On the technical side, the G.A.M.M.A. modpack comes with a custom-written installer to smooth the process of downloading, installing, and tweaking the options for 330+ addons. This installer exists specifically to ensure the modders whose work makes this pack possible receive pageviews, download counts and other metrics that give them proper credit for their work. Currently, only Windows is currently supported.

G.A.M.M.A. is designed for players who are already familiar with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly. Much like that game, it has a minimal tutorial since it assumes players are already familiar with the basic gameplay systems of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, as well as having some familiarity with the combined map. In terms of the setting, G.A.M.M.A. takes place after the ending of Call of Pripyat, the third S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game. Players play as a stalker who enters the Zone for the first time, and are free to pursue one of several main story quests or just play the game as a sandbox experience.

Major changes from STALKER Anomaly

  • No gun or armor trading. All suits and guns must be found by the player (from dead stalkers or in marked stashes), and players must use the game's crafting systems to fully repair them into working condition.
  • An artifact crafting system. Artifacts now lose condition as they are used, with more powerful artifacts naturally starting at low condition. Players must use the new "Artifact Melter" crafting item to melt down artifacts, which allows them to create or empower other artifacts.
  • No more free stash loot. Stashes must be marked on your PDA in order to have any kind of reward - these coordinates come from quests and doing tasks for other stalkers. Instead, hand-placed loot from randomized pools is scattered throughout the Zone to reward exploration, and provide plausible loot items that suit their locations.
  • A health system that incorporates location-based wounds, damage effects, and healing.
  • Changed crafting systems especially around cooking, making cooked mutant meat more beneficial while raw meat is more dangerous.
  • Expanded and curated weapons from multiple weapon packs, including Boomsticks and Sharpsticks.

Every mod in the pack can be found on ModDB via Mod Organizer 2, so if players want to learn more they should read the individual mod's description on ModDB.

What is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly?

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly is a standalone, free mod made by the Anomaly team (link to credits PDF). It features several technical improvements on the base game engine, a map that combines the play-area of all three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games into one, expanded multi-chapter main story quests, restored mutants and maps that were cut or not quite finished in the base games, a better companion system, visual overhauls, dynamic faction combat, inventory system overhauls, and more. In short, it's practically S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1.5.

What are the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games?

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is the name of a series of games developed by GSC Game World. The first game, Shadow of Chernobyl, was released in 2007. It had two sequels. The second game was Clear Sky, released in 2008, and the third game was Call of Pripyat, released in 2009. All three games are available for purchase as of 2022 on Steam and GOG. A new game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, has been in development for an extended period of time, and is set to release as a Windows and Xbox exclusive. The tentative release date is in 2023.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are set in an alternate universe version of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, where a mysterious second disaster devastated the zone again in 2006. This second disaster produced heavy radiation, twisting humans and animals into mutants. It created dangerous "anomalies" where the rules of physics no longer applies,but also caused strange physics-defying "anomalies" to be created. These anomalies are often dangerous but can produce "artifacts", ordinary objects warped by the anomalies to have powerful, almost magical effects. In the game, individuals known as "stalkers" make a living from sneaking past the military lockdown on the zone to hunt and trade in these artifacts, often coming into conflict with one another, and forming different factions of stalkers based on different ideals and approaches towards the Zone and the artifacts that come from it. The plot of the main three games concern the fate and actions of a stalker named "Strelok", whose actions permanently affect the balance of power in the Zone.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games themselves were inspired by an influential Russian sci-fi novel from the 1970s called Roadside Picnic. This book inspired a film called Stalker which was released in 1979, also a major influence on the game. The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games themselves have gone on to influence other games such as the Metro series and Escape from Tarkov.

What is a modpack?

A "modpack" is a pre-authored collection of mods. Generally speaking, modpacks are created to fit the particular playstyle or game design goals of their author(s), and customizability of its settings depends on the degree of effort the modpack author puts into supporting individual tweaking of the pack as a whole. Modpacks can technically be as small as a handful of mods, or as vast as G.A.M.M.A.'s 300+ mods. Modpacks exist for many popular and moddable games - some are independently hosted (such as G.A.M.M.A.), some require you to follow guides to manually install all their mods, and others use software like Steam Workshop's Collection feature to automate some aspects of installation.

While modpack authors (at least, the responsible ones) should test their packs for stability, no modpack can be guaranteed to be 100% stable with good performance. Therefore you should be ready to do some of your own troubleshooting, and be willing to try to follow instructions extremely carefully and precisely to make the modpack run. There is always going to be a big difference between a professional game dev studio who can use existing software like Steam to make a one-click install-and-play process, and modpack authors who are essentially hobbyists doing this in their free time. It's best to adjust your expectations to fit too.

Things that G.A.M.M.A. can't change

  • Bugs that were in the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games such as negative damage resistance effects,
  • Adding entirely new maps
  • Adding entirely new mutants
  • Making the engine not singlethreaded