S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a game where you are an amnesiac that must travel through the Zone, the area around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, to kill a person called "Strelok". Unfortunately for you, the Zone is filled with monsters, strange anomalies, treasure seekers, and factions fighting for what to do with the Zone. Around the halfway point, the game becomes about collecting as many weapons, ammo and artifact powerups as possible, then letting most of it rot in a chest.

This game was in development hell, so there are a lot of unused things in the game's code and files.

Weapons
SoC has a ton of unused weapons.

P90


The P90 is a personal defense weapon that would've used 5.7x28mm ammo. The code for it has been removed, but the gun's model and texture along with the model and texture for its ammo can be found in the game's files.

An early design document for the prequel/sequel, Clear Sky, shows that the P90 was meant to be usable in that game. However, it did not appear in that game as well.

Mounted PKM


A model and code for a mounted PKM machine gun can be found in the game's files. According to the file, the mounted PKM has a .60 hit power, while it would use the 7.62x54_7h1 ammo type. There is no ammo limit listed, so it probably would have unlimited ammo.

An unused inventory icon suggests that the PKM could be used as a normal weapon at one point.

TOZ-34 shotgun


The TOZ-34 (TOS-34 in game) is a double barrel shotgun, but has a different design and does not have sawed off barrels, unlike the one in the game. The most notable thing about this weapon is that each shot has a 1.5 hit damage. This means that each shot does a ridiculous amount of damage, making it the most powerful weapon in the game. The over-the-top hit damage was most likely a mistake, as the usable TOZ-34s in various prototypes are not death cannons. It would use all of the three shotgun shell ammo types.

The hands on the first person model have a smoothing problem. This problem did not appear in any prototypes the gun appeared in.

The TOZ-34 appeared in the next two Stalker games as a normal weapon.

Browning Hi-Power


The Browning Hi-Power (HPSS-1m in-game) is a pistol that uses the 9x19mm round. It has a 13 round magazine and weighs .88 kg. Its hit damage is 0.70, which makes it stronger than any pistol or assault rifle in the game. It works fine when placed in the game.

Mac-10
This one is interesting, as the only proof of its existence is some code for it. Based on the name, it was supposed to be the MAC-10 sub machine gun. However, the code is a copy of an earlier version of the AK-74. It seems they never got around to actually making unique code for it before removing it.

Minigun


SoC was supposed to have a goddamn minigun at one point. The only remnant of this is the gun's texture and some bump maps for it. However, it was usable in very early prototypes for the game.

Of note is that the Minigun texture found in the final's files are different compared to the one used in early prototypes. Even though the minigun was removed after the 1154 prototype, it seems they decided to touch its texture up for the final game.

GSH-18


Inside the weapon texture folder is a texture for a GSH-18 pistol. There is no code referencing this item nor is there any icon for it in final icon texture sheet. The texture sheet is also fairly rough-looking and don't have the front of the gun on it.

An icon for this weapon can be found on an early inventory icon sheet found in the game's files.

Interesting bit of trivia: one of the textures for this gun comes from a picture of the real GSH-18 found on this site.

Mines
In the "grenade" model folder are models for two mines. Each of them has "wpn" in their file name, suggesting they were meant to be weapons at one point. However, they have no first-person view model nor code, so there's no way to reenable them.

There are minefields in the final game, but these models never appear in them.

Weapon Variants
Three weapon variants cannot be found in the final game.

Bulldog-6 M209


This is the Bulldog-6 (RG-6) grenade launcher modified to use the M209 grenades that the M203 grenade launcher and the F2000's grenade launcher use.

"Farshooter" SVDm2


This is a modified SVDm2 sniper rifle. Compared to the normal SVD, its scope zooms in more and has 50% less recoil. There's nothing really special about it, which is probably why it was removed.

Storming SIP


The Storming SIP is a SIG 550, but with its weight reduced to 2.38 kg. However, it cannot mount a grenade launcher, like the normal SIG 550 can. This was probably removed because there is already a reduced-weight version of a weapon out there, the Lightened IL86, that doesn't remove one of the big selling points of the weapon.

Other unused weapons
An old HUD icon sheet can be found in the games files. It shows many unused items.


 * PKM
 * RPK-74
 * AK-74 with full-sized stock
 * AK-47
 * VSK-94
 * Full-length Double Barrel Shotgun
 * Stechkin APS automatic pistol
 * GSH-18 pistol.
 * Strela-3 anti-air missile launcher
 * GM-94 grenade launcher
 * Two grenades unseen in the final game.

No code can be found for most of these items in any of the prototypes released. The exceptions are the full-length Double Barrel Shotgun, which appears in the 21xx and 22xx series of prototypes, and the Gsh-18, who's texture appears in the final game. The AK-74 with the full stock did appear in Build 1844 as the AK-74's icon, but the in-game model in that build is the final's.

Beretta 92


A Beretta 92 pistol (Martha in-game) can be found in the game, but only in one location. It is found on Bullet's buddy when you need to rescue him from bandits in Dark Valley. He never uses it, but it does appear in his inventory. You get it by murdering him, or get him killed by his captors or by mutants as he runs after being freed.

This pistol has a 15 round magazine, but has very low reliability. Using 9x19mm PBP rounds, the gun will start jamming after a few magazines worth of shots. There doesn't seem to be any obvious reason why this weapon was removed, as it fits well as a "good damage and accuracy but bad reliability" weapon, like the L85 assault rifle.

A look at S.T.A.L.E.R.: Clear Sky's design document, Anarchy Cell, shows that the developers considered the Beretta removed from SoC, as it is listed as a new weapon in Clear Sky's design doc. Bullet's buddy having a Beretta was most likely an oversight.

Unused Attachment


When the F2000's model is opened in an editor, it has a silencer attached. However, it is impossible to do this in the final game. It might've been removed to prevent the F2000 from being a better all-in-one weapon than the LR-300 assault rifle, which can equip a silencer, grenade launcher and scope.

The ability to attach a silencer to the F2000 was added in Clear Sky, but was taken away again in Call of Pripyat.

Unused Mutants
Shadow of Chernobyl has a ton of unused mutants. In fact, there are about as many unused mutants as there are mutants in the game. Some of the unused mutant's models appear in the final game as background props, but not as actual enemies.

Zombie


The final game has brain-dead human NPCs with guns called zombies, but hidden in the game's files are real zombies. You know, rotting flesh, moaning and shuffling along the ground. They have a ton of health and do a decent amount of damage per swipe. Zombies will normally shuffle around until you shoot them. When you do, they will start walking towards you to swipe at you. If you take off a decent amount of their health, they will slump down and pretend to play dead. However, you'll know they're still alive because their body has not ragdolled yet. Eventually, they'll get back up and continue attacking.

The corpses found throughout the game, such as the hanged bodies you see when approaching the Bar from Garbage, use the Zombie's model.

Ghost


The Ghost is a zombie with a semi-transparent effect on his body and does slightly more damage per swipe. Otherwise, he's the same as the normal zombie.

Izlom/Fracture


This is a mutated human with a really long right arm that walks on all fours. Their max health is 200. He will charge the player as soon as he seems the player. The name "Fracture" come from the name for the enemy's code, but it's model file is called "Izlom".

Cat


The Cat is your ordinary mutated housecat. It's behavior is similar to the Pseudodog, which is probably why it was cut.

This enemy's model can still be found as a stuffed animal in the Duty base.

Burer


The Burer is a dwarf with mutated skin and a leather jacket. He has two attacks; melee and a psychic attack. The psychic attack is a shockwave that does more damage the closer you are to his attack. Based on the visuals, the Burer's shockwave fires small orbs that spread more the further they get from the Burer.

Normally, the Burer's eyes are closed. However, when he attacks, his eyes open. In addition, the screen will start to tint red and a beeping sound will play if the player gets to him.

There are two Burer models in the game's files. One has a brown coat, while the other has a black coat. The black coat model's file size is smaller than the brown coat's. However, only the black coat model is used in-game.

The Burer appeared in Call of Pripyat, where he received new attacks and a lot more health.

Chimera


The Chimera is a dog-like creature with two heads. The creature will either pounce the player or simply walk over and bite the player. After he attacks, he will run away, run 180 degrees around the player, then attack again. He has a medium amount of health.

An alternate model with "undead" in its name can also be found. The texture on the model has no skin on the heads, no eyes, and darker fur. There are no hints as to where this would be used.

While you can't fight the Chimera in-game, a mounted Chimera head (or heads) can be found in Freedom's base in the Army Warehouse.

The Chimera became a regular enemy in Call of Pripyat, where he received a huge boost to his damage and a lot more health.

Rat


The Rat is different from the skeleton-like rat that appears in the final game. This one is your normal rat, but with a small patch of blood on it. Unlike the skeleton rat seen in the final game, the unused Rat will relentlessly attack.

Dark Stalker


A model of a bandit called "dark_stalker" can be found in the monster model folder. This is a leftover from when there was a faction called "Sin" in the game. Sin consisted of religious fanatics that believed the Zone was divine, would attack anyone and were nicknamed "dark stalkers". When Sin was removed, their models were repurposed as bandit models.

Phantom
A subfolder inside the "monsters" folder called "phantom" has copies of nearly all the used and unused mutants, but with a semi-transparent effect on their models. While there doesn’t seem to be anywhere where the models would be used in the final game, they could be used in some events mentioned in earlier designs. The profile for Duty on the game's official site back in 2003 mentioned that Duty would give the player an mission to kill a monster called "Phantasm" in the swamp, which would control phantoms. A design document made for the original game mentions that C-Conscious, the "bad guys" in the game, would be able to send phantoms versions of mutants when the player was trying to destroy them.

The Pseudodog phantom model is used as a part of an attack used by the Psy-Dog. It summons phantom versions of itself as support to kill the player. However, the model being in the "phantom" folder originally suggests that it was originally meant to be part of whatever summoned phantoms.

Removed Areas
The game's script files mention several areas that were removed from the final game. However, only one of them was fleshed out in the game's script files.

Note that all of these areas appear in the Build 1938 prototype.

Dead City
Dead City is, as you would expect, an abandoned city. It is small and divided between Mercenaries and bandits because of a ceasefire between the two sleazy organizations. The player and Doctor, and important NPC, would be captured and sent here by the Mercenaries. The player has several goals in this map; escape the prison he and Doctor are in and pry a map of the area from the body of either the Mercenary or Bandit leader to sell to your faction of choice.

Interestingly, the text for this map shows that the player would learn that they are Strelok from Doctor and would get the key to Strelok's stash in Pripyat in Dead City. After Dead City was scrapped, they moved your little chat with Doctor into the Agroprom Underground.

The loading screen image for this map is still in the game, giving a glimpse into what it would look like if it survived.

Swamps
Swamps was to be a decent-sized swamp area, complete with towers and a bridge. Several pre-release screens feature military stalker NPCs walking around in the Swamp. No text nor missions for this location can be found in the game's files. Either they didn't add anything to it, or they wiped the files of quest info after it was scrapped.

This area was reused for the swamp area in the prequel, Clear Sky.

Generators
This area was supposed to be the area behind the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. No information about this area exists in the final game outside of a name on a file for it, but a full map can be found in Build 1935.

Warlab
Another map that who's only remnant is a filename in the final game. As usual, it can be found in Build 1935.

The entire area was recycled and released in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, as the X-8 laboratory.

Test


A map for a level called "test" can be found in the game's files. It is just a small grass field.

andy_test


Another test map. Based on its leftover mini map, this is is a green field, but with some weird-looking buildings here and there.

Selo


Believe it or not, its a removed test level with its mini map left over in the files. Its a small room with concrete floors and lots of small pillars.

testers_mp_bath
Testers_mp_bath is a removed mulitplayer level. It looks like this would take place in a medium-sized city environment with a large drained pool in the center of the map. This is the only removed multiplayer level that has a loading screen image, thumbnail and map.

testers_mp_pripyat
Another removed multiplayer map. It seems this one would take place in Pripyat's main plaza. No map exists for this level.

mp_fog_net


This deleted multiplayer level looks a lot like test_andy. It was probably a modified version of that map for testing mulitplayer. No loading screen image nor menu thumbnail exists for this map.

Semi-unused items
There are some items in the game that are used, but the ways to get them are so unusual that it seems they were left in the game by mistake.

All of these items can be found in the Dark Valley level, suggesting that the developers didn't put as much effort into removing unused content in Dark Valley than other levels.

Soldier armor


A semi-removed armor vest can still be picked up. It is called "Leather Jacket", but when dropped, it looks like the uniform the basic soldier NPCs wear. When used, it makes the player look like one of the soldier NPCs, but with a bacalva on their head instead of a beret or bandana that most soldier NPCs have. It provides only 30% rupture resistance and has a base selling price of 5000 RU. The armor is still obtainable, but most likely because of an oversight by the developers. This armor is completely in the game in some later prototypes.

The armor can be found as a random item in a box in the Cordon. Go to the military blockade to the right of the Rookie Village, then circle the perimeter of the blockade until you see some junk near a concrete fence. Jump over it and hop on the urinal. From there, hop into the attic of the barracks. You'll find some boxes. Save here because the boxes will not always spawn the armor. Destroy the boxes and reload until one of them drops the armor.

Flashlight


At one point, the flashlight (torch) was meant to be a separate item instead of something permanently attached to you from the start. Some unused enemy types, like rookie Mercenaries, still have flashlights listed in their inventories. Some prototypes have the flashlight as a separate item that need to be put on a part of the inventory called the belt in order for it to be used. NPC inventories do have it, but it is impossible to take it from them.

This item is used in multiplayer mode. It costs 50 RU.

Guitar


A guitar, along with some other items, can be found hidden in Dark Valley. This item cannot be used and sells for about 30ish rubles.

NPCs will occasionally take out a guitar and start playing it near a camp fire, but you cannot get it from them, even if you kill them while they're playing it.

hand_radio


A strange item called the "hand_radio" can be found in the same location that has the guitar. This item has no description and uses the graphic that the unused Torch item has. There is no way to use it.

Unused Anomalies
Some removed anomalies can be found. However, only one of them has their code remaining.

Lift
The only remains of this anomaly is its description.

A harmless anomaly, temporarily negating normal gravity. Manifests itself as an area - usually several meters in diameter - where Earth's gravitational pull is greatly reduced. Forms the Pellicle artifact.

This was probably cut because it was worthless.

Time Machine
Another anomaly who's description is the only remaining element.

A true miracle of an anomaly: an area several meters in diameter where the time flow is significantly slower than usual. Appears to have no negative effect on human health. However, the Time Machine can be very difficult to get out of. Interestingly, removing Mama's Beads - an artifact usually found in the center of the anomaly - causes the Time Machine to disappear.

Note that, if it was in the final game, this would be the only anomaly that could be removed by picking up an artifact near it.

Rusty Hair


This anomaly is the only removed anomaly that still has code and a model associated with it in the game's files. It would be able to spawn the Thorn, Crystal and Sea Urchin anomalies. The full code for the anomaly can be found below:

[zone_rusty_hair] GroupControlSection	= spawn_group_zone $spawn 			= "zones\rusty hair" class			= Z_RUSTYH visual			= physics\anomaly\anomaly_liana
 * $prefetch 		= 16

ef_anomaly_type			= 7 ef_weapon_type			= 19

hit_impulse_scale	= 0.5 effective_radius	= 0.75 ;размер радиуса в процентах от оригинального, где действует зона sound			= zone_mosquito_bald postprocess		= postprocess_new

artefacts		= af_rusty_thorn,0.7,af_rusty_kristall,0.25,af_rusty_sea-urchin,0.05 BirthProbability = 0.1

min_start_power		= 90 max_start_power		= 100 attenuation			= 1 period				= 1 min_artefact_count	= 1 max_artefact_count	= 2
 * --- Anomaly settings ---

hit_type		= shock

disable_time		= -1	;время игнорирования неживого объекта в зоне (-1 если не нужно) disable_time_small	= 500		;время игнорирования маленького неживого объекта в зоне (-1 если не нужно) disable_idle_time	= -1	;время отключения idle партиклов

ignore_nonalive		= false; ignore_small		= false; ignore_artefacts	= true

awaking_time				= 500 blowout_time				= 1000 accamulate_time				= 5000

attack_animation_start		= 0 attack_animation_end		= 1000

blowout_light		= off idle_light			= off

visible_by_detector = on

blowout_wind		= off

spawn_blowout_artefacts = off
 * рождение артефактов во время срабатывания
 * рождение артефактов во время срабатывания

Old Stalker sounds


Inside the "monsters" folder located in the "sounds" folder is a folder with early sounds for NPCs. What's interesting is that all of the sounds used during attacking are spoken in English, not Russian. It seems that they wanted to translate most of the NPC chatter at one point, but didn't get around to doing it.

The full set of sounds can be found.

Trading sounds


Apparently, NPCs could say yes or no to you wanting to trade with them. In the final game, all you need to do is hit the trade button.

Old Detector
Inside a folder called "detectors" is an old detector sound called "bomb_beep". This sound was used in some prototypes, such as Build 1935.

Unused weapon sounds
There are quite a few unused weapon sounds laying around in the weapon sound folder.

TOZ-34 both barrels firing


An unused sound of a TOZ-34 firing both barrels can be found in the "weapons" sound folder. Its impossible to do this in the final game, but some prototypes, such as the 15xx series of prototypes, allow you to do it as an alt-fire mode for the TOZ-34. The alt-fire function was removed from the game, so the ability to fire both barrels at once went with it.

Walther P99
There are actually two unused P99 firing sounds. They both sound different from the final game.

Fort-12
The Fort-12 pistol also has some old firing sounds.

AK-74
The older sound isn't as powerful-sounding as the one in the final game.

AKS-74U
Another gun that had a weaker-sounding fire sound.

SVD
An older SVD firing sound lacks the after report sound that the final sound has.

Monolith sounds
Monolith NPCs has a full set of sounds (like campfire jokes, asking you to put your gun away, etc.), but none of them are used because they never do anything but try and kill you. They appear to be sounds used by the Loner NPCs, probably as placeholders.

dialogue.rar
A file called "dialogue.rar" can be found in the base folder that has all of the human NPC voice acting. When opened, it has all of the original Russian lines for the Barman and Sidorovich, even if you have the English version. There doesn't seem to be any reason why this package is still in the game.

Unused Gamemode
In the "textures" folder is a folder called "andy". Inside it are textures with names such as "andy_sniper" and "andy_charselect". Based on these names and graphics, it seems these are some sort of unused game mode, probably for multiplayer. What few details show that it was supposed to be some sort of class-based game. There would be three classes; assault, sniper, and technician. Nothing else about the game mode can be found.

Vehicles
The player was supposed to be able to drive vehicles at one point. Drivable vehicles include your average car, a large truck, a jeep used by the military, and a freaking APC. Fuel would have to be purchased in order to make them work. Despite being in the game as early as the 756 build, they were removed from the final game. Their models can be found scattered throughout the game. Some mods reenable vehicles and remove the need to purchase fuel for them.

Prototype footage on a TV


TVs in the game actually show footage from a prototype version of the game. Its impossible to see exactly what prototype it came from, but judging by the gloves, the footage is from the 14xx-19xx series of prototypes.