StalkerSoup or OP2?

Greeting Stalkers.  I've not played any soup mods yet, but I'm at the point where I'm ready. I have about 2000 hours in stalker across about 30 mods and the only mods left unplayed for me are these grand-in-scope soup mods.


I'm tossing up between SS and OP2.1(or 2), it hard to find comparisons or recent discussions on the topic to help decide. Has anyone played both ? I would welcome some advise and opinions of other people on this topic.


Size doesn't matter, I'm actually looking for big. I know that OP is technically the biggest but is SS still big enough to scratch that itch ?  How many hours on average is STALKERSOUP, are we talking hundreds of hours, that's what I"m looking for, like bring it on !!


Key factors for me would be stability, and how easy to get help if (when) I get stuck. I came across several excellent SS guides here on this very forum so that's a plus for SS.


In contrast the best OP guide I ever found was in Russian which I translated and copied (took hours to do). It is readable enough but I do wonder how complete and accurate it is, and how well translated the mod itself is end-to-end.  There are also no known forums in English that I've found.. so a part of me is hesitant to do OP2.  Finding this forum and learning that stalker soup is still being updated has caused me to rethink it and give it a serious consideration.

They are quite different so might as well try both of them

Thanks Tyler0641. If that's the case and they are unique enough each on their own right, then that is a fair point. More stalker is more stalker.

hi cleaner667, and welcome to the forum

From what I understand, OP and StalkerSoup took different directions as MegaMods, using the original NS as a starting point, and I don't doubt that each mod's dedicated programmers and writers have put their all into them both

Not having played OP I can't comment on differences, but I can say with certainty that enormous efforts have been put into the translation and rewriting of StalkerSoup to English - especially with text files that the vast majority of translators of any mod, based upon NS,  put on the back burner until later - and StalkerSoup is unique in this respect

We also have a professional cartographer on the writing team, with the result that maps, their descriptions, and their informative layouts have gone above and beyond most other STALKER mods

The essence of SS is realism and immersion, and it's no accident that the greatest fans of this game are retired professionals. Most of the game is in native English, with a few areas of NS still undergoing contextual rewriting

A typical playthrough of StalkerSoup should take you at least 200 hours

For info on the game's content, please see [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The Installation Guide is [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

But before playing, please wait a few more days for the latest patch 1.10019.5 to be released. It will be announced on this forum soon, and the Installation Guide will be updated accordingly

Finally, please be aware that the game is (and always will be) a work in progress, because the storyline keeps developing. There are currently four levels to the game, with Level 0 being a highly modified and rewritten version of the original NS. Level 3 is awaiting completion due to one of the developers being in Ukraine, but there are several additional levels to come... 

Hi Sword2012.  I am now convinced and have done a 180 from a few day ago.  I will play SS, and will do it before OP (save that one for last). I can see a lot of love has gone into making it great, stable and playable for English speakers.

No issues waiting for the next patch, got a few other little things to play through first. The concept of Levels, what seems to amount to Tiers of play is very exciting. I truly believe NS and its forks are the best of what the game has to offer.

Thanks for the links, I have downloaded the guide, the torrent of v110012 and the patches etc in preparation.

Fantastic effort to the team. I hope the member in Ukraine is safe and well

I think the translation of OP (if present) is extremely poor and incomplete in my experience. I just play this mod for reference for personal projects (I'm making an RPG book for solo stalker experience). SOUP is translated with great effort and it shows a great experience that I really appreciate. The positive thing about OP is that in 2.2 I believe there is a map called valley of whispers which is also a small mod and also other map called kurchatov 37 which is intriguing to me that are not in SOUP.

cleaner667 wrote:

Original post:

Hi Cleaner667, what do OP2's initials stand for? Please give a brief overview of the storyline. Thanks and Regards TrueB

Hi TrueB. For context, it Joint Pack, that other big NS fork that I am told uses an older NS story, and adds a whole other arc consuming hundreds upon hundreds of hours.

The literal Russian I believe is "obaedinyonnyy-pak".

There are very sparse comprehensive guides and info in English (read: none).  Spend enough time trying to get info on it takes you deep into Russian forum territory, as well as the C-Consciousness discord, where its all just referred to as OP2, it catches on after a while and you stop calling it Joint Pak and start calling it OP2 like every one else there.   Forgive the confusion.

cleaner667 wrote:

Hi TrueB. For context, it Joint Pack, that other big NS fork that I am told uses an older NS story, and adds a whole other arc consuming hundreds upon hundreds of hours.

The literal Russian I believe is "obaedinyonnyy-pak".

There are very sparse comprehensive guides and info in English (read: none).  Spend enough time trying to get info on it takes you deep into Russian forum territory, as well as the C-Consciousness discord, where its all just referred to as OP2, it catches on after a while and you stop calling it Joint Pak and start calling it OP2 like every one else there.   Forgive the confusion.

Hi cleaner667, many thanks for your explanation  of OP2. I admit to being for StalkerSoup despite it being a standalone game ever evolving. StalkerSoup is over 4 stages: Level 0, and Levelups 1, 2, & 3. Each provides plenty of FPS entertainment. There are two regularly updated guides available. If you only read the first you will see what a complex game it is. I hope you give it a go and if so I wish you good hunting. Regards TrueB

The op2.x is very detailed oriented if you make a small mistake you may have to redo a lot of staff (eg i sold a piece of mutant which in a specific person would yield a gun i wanted ), it has quest tips from a small dialog mention which are big and involving, is super hard eg. better know to use special grenades and be familiar with any position that gives height to protect yourself from masses of mutants.
I knew in every place where to go to protect my self and you make a route if want to go from A to B. 
Very powerful mutant enemies you need special bullets and guns that can shoot them.
Unique missions and for that alone the experience is worth the time and effort 

So we are talking about a different animal