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About

Welcome to Road To The North!

Road To The North is a project by Roy Wierer, built to add a large amount of new content to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series made by GSC Game World.

Some of the new features in Road To The North are:

  • Huge redesigned world map and level transitions to be more accurate with the real world.
  • A complete, large and interesting new story line! Completely lore friendly.
  • New side missions, which often involve popular characters from the series.
  • Overhauled most dynamic CoM missions and rewards.
  • Adds a real reason to visit the Labs and other extremely dangerous locations.
  • You can choose which faction you are in from the start.
  • Play as a male or female character, sounds, icons and first person models included. Be anyone.
  • Roleplay! Multiple choice dialogs and unpredictable events.
  • Ceasefire between Freedom and Duty at Rostok (bar) and Wild Territory. Voronin's orders.
  • Disguise yourself as any faction by wearing their clothes! (optional feature)
  • Gas masks now use filters, some suits use oxygen tanks. Both have their own durability.
  • Restored some dialogs from CoP to their original characters.
  • High difficulty. You are just human.
  • More realistic damage on living creatures. Difficulty is not based on enemy health.
  • Multiple endings.
  • Many new characters.
  • New quest items, with new icons.
  • New mutant parts, with new icons.
  • Treasure hunt! You can find hidden stashes with your shovel.
  • Change the future of a faction.
  • Some story characters can be replaced if they die, opening an alternate mission/dialog.
  • A female NPC included in the story.
  • Dialog choices depend on your faction and recent events.
  • Large amount of dialogs, some unlock after events.
  • Fully written in English, almost completely translated to Russian (just the latest new weapons require translation).
  • Take characters with you on a mission.
  • Clear mission updates, markers and descriptions.
  • Mutants get a larger role in missions.
  • Rewritten vehicle code for combat.
  • Have your own journal, that writes itself after certain events or choices.
  • Play as a male or female character, sounds, icons and first person models included.
  • New items, models and textures including HD artefact detectors and the glowstick.
  • Inventory space system, most items use space, filling your bag.
  • New artefacts, all based on the ones in "Roadside Picnic", with special abilities.
  • A new faction "The Beyond".
  • Completely new mutants with their own tactics and powers: "Silent One", "Domovoj", "Nightshade".
  • Different enemies and spawns for most locations.
  • Toolkits are no longer in random stashes, they can be bought once in a while.
  • Some redesigned ui and textures.
  • New enhanced campfire cooking system.
  • New main menu.
  • Some new cutscene videos.
  • Immersive item usage.
  • Mutant, item, dynamic economy and npc tweaks for a better and more realistic experience.
  • Many tweaks to existing content.
  • Rewritten tips and hud messages to be in first person. "I am, I have"
  • An optional no save spam mode (2 minutes between saves).
  • Kick boxes instead of breaking your knife on it.
  • Configure Tronex Dynamic Tip system with a pda from the inventory.
  • Toggle interface on and off with (scroll lock)

Road To The North is built on top of the Call of Misery mod and includes all features.
A full list of all of the merged mods can be found in the credits.

An example of merged mod content:

  • 64bit engine code from Anomaly.
  • New weapons, grenades and armor.
  • Many new items (Misery mod).
  • Complete texture overhaul.
  • Sounds and music overhaul.
  • New gun sounds.
  • Start as any faction, choose your start location.
  • New Vegetation.
  • Improved AI.
  • Improved economy system.
  • Dynamic tasks, stashes and dialogs.
  • High difficulty.
  • No minimap (but can be restored).
  • A battery system.
  • Artefact cases, to reduce radiation.
  • Drugs and medical items.
  • Slow item usage, medkits take time to restore health.
  • New ammo types.
  • New scope reticles.
  • Weapon varations (old/rusty/modern).
  • Mutant hunting and skinning.
  • Artefact containers (to reduce radiation).
  • Armor attachments.
  • Repair items yourself with kits, oils and misc. items.
  • Sleeping bags
  • Place your own stashes.
  • Cooking system.
  • Immersive fast travel dialogs.
  • Global weather system.
  • Dynamic tips, npcs react to the world and communicate!
  • New character visuals.
  • Companion system.
  • New mutants.
  • Lootable armors.
  • Light campfires.
  • Kick tushkanos
  • Optional Ironman mode (lose saves on death)
  • Optional campfire saving mode (can only save at lit campfires)
  • Inaccurate zombies.
  • Loot money from corpses.

Download

The latest versions of Road To The North, patches and addons can be found on ModDB.
The size of RTTN is around 15GB zipped.

Download Road To The North on ModDB

Media

The world map has been redesigned to match real life:

The atmosphere of Dead City, near the mercenary base:

Your journal which tracks your progress and actions:

Disguise yourself as another faction:

Use filters and oxygen tanks with your gas mask or suit:

The inventory using the (optional) limited space mode:

New artefacts can be collected, inspired by Roadside Picnic:

An incredible amount of new, dynamic and unlockable dialogs:

Many new items, weapons and gear:

Light campfires and cook the meat you harvest from mutants:

Contact

I support modders and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. community! Don't hesitate to contact me. I like discussing any idea related to game development and the future of modding as well. Contact me if you need my permission for something, have any questions, or if you encounter a bug.

If you want to join the Road To The North community, or ask me questions directly, you can find us on ModDB.

Frequently asked questions

Some frequently asked questions might be answered on this page. On the bottom of this page you can also find an overview of the new missions and how they are connected.

Q: On launch, I receive the message "A S.T.A.L.K.E.R. call of pripyat installation has not been detected ...... requires you to own a valid copy of GSC game world's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. call of pripyat?"

A: The engine on which Road To The North is build looks for a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. call of pripyat cd key on launch. This check is still present to prevent piracy and to support GSC game world, the creator of the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. A digital copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat is available on Steam. If you already own Call of Pripyat, install it once so the cd key is registered on your PC. Road To The North does not require any of the files of the original games, as it is a standalone mod, but it does require the Call Of Pripyat CD key to be present in the registry.

Q: MSCVP***.dll is missing?

A: Install Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable from Microsoft.

Q: My character is dying and I don't know why?

A: This is usually radiation. Avoid some areas untill you have a gas mask and filter. Use the geiger counter item to see your radiation value. Sources of radiation vary from walking through areas on the map to consuming low quality food. Cigarettes, vodka and some medicine can be used to lower the radiation.

Q: Where do I go, in what order?

A: Missions unlock while you progress. Start with the mission at Skadovsk, marked by a yellow mission marker on the PDA. Explore areas and come back later if they are currently too difficult to survive in. Find out ways to make and preserve money in different areas to buy better gear before you move on, especially psy / rad / chem protection is important and getting a shotgun will make many areas more accessible early on. If you don't remember your current playthrough's progress or need a hint, take a look at the self writing journal which is an item in the inventory. You may choose your own order of progressing through the available missions, the game will respond to your actions. The very first main mission at skadovsk may not be failed, or the story ends.

Q: Gonta is stuck, crouching at a wooden crate in the hunting mission?

A: A chimera should show up. Kill it and complete the mission. This mission may not fail. As the world contains many simulated elements, the A.I. sometimes proved unpredictable even in scripted events. If you can not (or don't like to) pass this mission, there is an addon on ModDB to skip the mission.

Q: Crashes!

A: send me a private message with your issue, so I can check if I need to make a patch for something. The mod is very stable. Keep in mind that high video settings like full grass distance, or making changes to the mod yourself can make the engine itself unstable. Try lowering the lighting distance/grass distance for example before posting a crash report. If a crash log mentions DirectX, try switching DirectX versions in the graphics options.

Q: My inventory icons are bugged/stretched/missing and I didn't mod anything myself?

A: In the graphics options, increase the texture detail slider and (in some cases) switch to another dx(10/11) setting. The problem seems to be related to low graphics settings, or old hardware. For modders: keep the ui_icon_equipment.dds size low and export with DXT1. a 4k DXT5 file caused this issue for me on a high end system.

Q: Text fonts are very small or large?

A: Text scaling isn't perfect in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Fonts on screen resolutions close to 1920x1080 are alright. Extremely low or high resolutions (4K) show large or tiny fonts. There are addons to configure fonts for 4K.

Q: How can I improve graphics of distance objects / depth of field?

A: This might decrease fps a small bit. insert the following console commands in-game:
For LOD: r2_ssa_lod_a 32, r2_ssa_lod_b 32
For DOF: r2_dof_far 1250, r2_dof_kernel 1

Q: I'm getting some FPS drops?

A: Please report the location, situation and if possible the cause to me in a private message. Short fps drops are normal in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I noticed some anomalies and lighting can cause issues too. I might be able to help if you send me enough information. The mod is build for medium > fast PCs. on a slow pc or laptop, switch to low graphics, lower resolution and choose static lighting.

Q: How can I be a female character?

A: Go to the mod included patch folder, open the male or female gender folder and copy the contents of gamedata into the RTTN gamedata folder. This will give you the female sounds and hand model, or the male version. When starting a new game you can choose from female icons (on the bottom of the icon list) which will change your gender status into female.

Q: How do I use the gas mask filter / oxygen tank?

A: Filters are for compatible masks, which are most of them except for cloth sheet and metal helmet. Oxygen tanks are used with SEVA suits, the ones with a closed respiratory system. Filters and tanks can be "Used", to set it as an active filter/tank. Depending on what you are wearing, the system will automatically choose between tank or filter. When active on your helmet/suit, a tank or filter can be damaged by toxic or radioactive environments. Your helmet or suit will only protect you against toxic / rad particles if your filter / tank is active.

Q: How do disguises work?

A: Wear any faction suit to disguise yourself. Disguise Status can be seen on top of the inventory menu. If you put on a suit in front of the enemy, your disguise will be lost. If you shoot anyone from the faction you are disguised as, your disguise will be lost. If for any reason the enemy sees through your disguise, travel to another level and they might forget you. Friendlies think you are their enemy if you disguise yourself as their enemy. Take off your disguise to make them friendly again instead of shooting back. View the faction relations tab in your PDA to plan ahead how you will disguise yourself and what to expect.

Q: Duty starts shooting at me when I walk into their base / What about the ceasefire?

A: There is a ceasefire between Duty and Freedom near the bar area. If you are Freedom, or disguised as freedom, Duty will become hostile if you enter their base.

Q: How do I find Patches for his mission?

A:*SPOILER* He can spawn during the mission for Boss where you bring Scar's PDA to Doctor in the swamp. When you ask around for Doctor in the Clear Sky base he will spawn.

Q: How do I find The Beyond?

A:*SPOILER* The story of Red is connected to this faction. After finishing up the Link Emitter mission in Jupiter a door in Limansk will open.

Q: The Beyond is hostile to me?

A:*SPOILER* It's possible you met them early near their base (Red Forest), when they are supposed to be hostile, and they did not forget about you. This fits the story. The group you met at the Jupiter was a different branch of The Beyond, combat with them is expected.

Q: Some characters do not respond to combat / are invincible?

A: This is a rare occasion when character simply may not die or initiate combat, to keep the story going. In some cases I will allow a story character to die in which case the story will change, dialogs will change and alternate missions might become available.

Q: The game is too dark?

A: The following values can be set from the console, or in user.ltx: r2_sun_lumscale [-1.000,3.000] - Multiplier for illumination from sunlight, r2_sun_lumscale_amb [0.000,3.000] - Multiplier for ambient / background illumination from sunlight, r2_sun_lumscale_hemi [0.000,3.000] - Multiplier for hemi-illumination / evenly distributed light over surfaces

Q: Cat graphics stretch, or texture glitches

A:These have been reported but seem to be hardware / driver / engine related beyond my control which make them appear only for some users. Switching DX versions on the graphics options, or turning of parallax have often fixed this issue.

Mission list *spoilers!*

If you wonder how to progress or where exactly you are in Road To The North, you can read your personal notebook ingame. If you don't mind spoilers or if you just want to check if you missed anything on your last playthrough, then proceed reading. For readability, I will suggest an order to play the missions in, top to bottom. This is optional. Randomly generated missions are not listed.

Early optional missions:
  1. Mission:Razor: That amazing mixtape

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:None

  5. Next:None

  6. Note:Good as a first / early mission in Cordon.

  1. Mission:Wolf: Bear Hunt

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:None

  5. Next:None

  6. Note:Good as a first / early mission in Cordon. Can complete it after hunting just any bear.

Freedom (early / midgame optional missions):
  1. Mission:Freedom: Monolith at the truck cemetery

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:Yes

  4. Previous:None

  5. Next:Freedom: Stealing from Duty

  6. Note:A bit difficult (but possible) early on. Failing or sabotaging multiple Freedom missions changes their future.

  1. Mission:Freedom: Stealing from Duty

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:Yes

  4. Previous:Freedom: Monolith at the truck cemetery

  5. Next:None

  6. Note:Those smoke grenades Ikaros sells could be useful.

  1. Mission:Freedom: Forester's map

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:Yes

  4. Previous:Freedom: Monolith at the truck cemetery

  5. Next:None

  6. Note:It's easy to find and anger The Beyond (hostile) in Red Forest, possibly locking you out from their missions later on.

  1. Mission:Forester: Digging for treasure

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:None

  5. Next:None

  6. Note:Available if you can't afford Forester's map.

  1. Mission:Beard: Jokers lost rifle

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:None

  5. Next:None

The story starts:
  1. Mission:A place to stay: The ship, Skadovsk

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:None

  5. Next:Beard: Join our hunter

  6. Note:Prepare well! Don't rush and enjoy the start of the story.

  1. Mission:Beard: Join our hunter

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:A place to stay: The ship, Skadovsk

  5. Next:Last known location, Krug antenna complex

  6. Note:Failing this mission fails the story. Prepare! Fast shotgun / grenades and a headlamp highly recommended. Move fast.

  1. Mission:Last known location, Krug antenna complex

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:Yes

  4. Previous:Beard: Join our hunter

  5. Next:Scientists: The experiment

  6. Note:Yulian becomes a trader if he survives.

  1. Mission:Scientists: The experiment

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Last known location, Krug antenna complex

  5. Next:Red OR Sakharov: Find the link emitter

  6. Next:Birdman: The "secret seller"

  7. Note:Continue the main story with (Ikaros) Birdman, or help Red / Sakharov first.

Link Emitter / The Beyond (optional midgame missions):
  1. Mission:Red OR Sakharov: Find the link emitter

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:Yes

  4. Previous:Scientists: The experiment

  5. Next:Link Emitter: Jupiter Factory

  6. Next:A strange creature

  7. Note:Choose to cooperate with Red or Sakharov. Or, continue the main story with Birdman and finish this questline later. Not easy.

  1. Mission:Link Emitter: Jupiter Factory

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Red OR Sakharov: Find the link emitter

  5. Next:The Beyond: New Arrival

  1. Mission:The Beyond: New Arrival

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Link Emitter: Jupiter Factory

  5. Next:The Beyond: Death Lamp, heart of Oasis

  6. Note:They can be hostile instead, if you already found the base. Play this as early as possible / avoid Red Forest before this.

  1. Mission:The Beyond: Death Lamp, heart of Oasis

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:Yes

  4. Previous:The Beyond: New Arrival

  5. Next:The Beyond: Cleanse the anomaly

  6. Note:To learn a bit more about The Beyond, notes can be found. One note is at Oasis.

  1. Mission:The Beyond: Cleanse the anomaly

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:Yes

  4. Previous:Death Lamp, heart of Oasis

  5. Next:None

To continue the main story:
  1. Mission:Birdman: The "secret seller"

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Scientists: The experiment

  5. Next:Boss: Scar's PDA

  1. Mission:Boss: Scar's PDA

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Birdman: The "secret seller"

  5. Next:Boss: Lab X-8

  6. Note:Doctor will notice if you look like Strelok.

  1. Mission:Patches: That amazing rifle!

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:None

  5. Next:None

  6. Note:Patches follows you if you ask around for Doctor at the Clear Sky base during "Boss: Scar's PDA"

  1. Mission:Boss: Lab X-8

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Boss: Scar's PDA

  5. Next:Boss: The team in Dark Valley

  1. Mission:Boss: The team in Dark Valley

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:Yes

  4. Previous:Boss: Lab X-8

  5. Next:About that nuclear power plant

  6. Note:If team members survive, they will return in the missions. If they die you will miss their dialog and details.

  1. Mission:The prototype rifle

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Boss: Lab X-8

  5. Next:None

  1. Mission:About that nuclear power plant

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Boss: The team in Dark Valley

  5. Next:Teleportation

  6. Next:The Monolith disguise

  1. Mission:Teleportation

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:Yes

  4. Previous:Boss: About that nuclear power plant

  5. Next:Boss: Two more stalkers

  6. Note:If Noah died, this mission is different.

  1. Mission:The Monolith disguise

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Boss: About that nuclear power plant

  5. Next:Boss: Two more stalkers

  1. Mission:Disable the Brain Scorcher

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:None

  5. Next:Call from the north

  6. Next:A strange creature

  7. Note:Of course you could try to disguise yourself.

  1. Mission:Boss: Two more stalkers

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Teleportation

  5. Previous:The Monolith disguise

  6. Next:A strange creature

  1. Mission:A strange creature

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Disable the Brain Scorcher

  5. Previous:Red OR Sakharov: Find the link emitter

  6. Previous:Boss: Two more stalkers

  7. Next:Assist the ecologists

  8. Note:If Red is still at the scientist bunker, that mission needs to be finished, so that he stops controlling the bunker.

  1. Mission:Assist the ecologists

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:A strange creature

  5. Next:Hallucinations

  1. Mission:Lobster eyes for the medic

  2. Story:No

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:None

  5. Next:None

  6. Note:Available while the ecologists are in Pripyat during "Assist the ecologists"

  1. Mission:Hallucinations

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Assist the ecologists

  5. Next:Volcano anomaly

  1. Mission:Volcano anomaly

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Hallucinations

  5. Next:Road to the north

  1. Mission:Road to the north

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Boss: Two more stalkers

  5. Next:Identity

  1. Mission:Call from the north

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Disable the Brain Scorcher

  5. Next:None

  6. Note:This mission has been with you since you disabled the brain scorcher. It solves itself during a talk with Ikaros at the end of "Road To The North".

  1. Mission:Identity

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Road to the north

  5. Next:A dark secret

  1. Mission:A dark secret

  2. Story:Yes

  3. Choices matter:No

  4. Previous:Identity

  5. Next:None

  1. After the main story has ended, you can choose to continue playing. For those I have added additional dialogs and little world detail to discover. What happened to all the others?

Credits

Many thanks to everyone who supports Road To The North!

Thank you GSC Game World for creating the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, the games we love.

Music / Sound

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

Vanya Importent, Alex Heidern: "Addaraya - Gurza dreaming (song cover)"

Raffaele Du Marteau: "Dreaming of Nowhere" (song)

Testing

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

Special thanks: Jonathan Eversen, for testing some missions.

Special thanks: ColonelRH, for helping test TAZ.

Story writing

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

Special thanks: Benjamin "Razorizz" Andersson, for the character "Razor" and his mixtape mission.

Dialogs

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

English spell and grammar check

Benjamin "Razorizz" Andersson

Programming

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

Textures / Design

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

Paranoiia8: Some of the mutants and the HD detectors

Special thanks: Cameron James Wellman, for creating "Nightshade" concept art.

Special thanks: NeonQueen (FO4 Crocodile hairstyle) for the hair model used on Anna.

Special thanks: Matias Nicolas Machado, for the background of the main menu and the RTTN website.

Special thanks: Elles Boer, for the vector version of the RTTN logo.

3D modeling

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

Paranoiia8: Some of the mutants

Animation

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

Paranoiia8: Some of the mutants

Cutscenes / video

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

Special thanks: Haskins Laboratories, for XRay material.

Female character icons

KaroTheStalker

EzgiCtankep

WTFSexyheadphones

Sophie V Weg (sjebberd)

Alex (Alexandr Chrome Rybak)

Michaela Bušovská

Voice

11linda: "female player voice effects" Freesound.org

Russian translation

Oleg Kovalyov

Dimon12321

FlamingDuck

AV661194

[BY]Gre4ka

WakeUpDeath!

S.T.A.L.K.E.R666Z

cenak

Muraxez

Nuclearoid

Aonestr

hlgrm

ItsAPenta

Sveta Torlak

Kostya Chernyak

Stepan Ivanov

Road To The North is built on top of a framework of many other amazing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mods:

ZoneExpanded - Artefacts

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

ZoneExpanded HD models

Roy Wierer (Seda145)

64 bit engine code

Seargedp

MISERY

MDT

CoC / CoM

TeamEPIC, Russian Com/DA team, Junx, LostAlphaRus, Master_Boli, nik19845, cat Maxim

STCoM for Call of Misery 1.0d

bi0nicman, Sasha Tulunzhi

The Armed Zone (TAZ)

TAZ team, mp5lng, ColonelRH

S.W.T.C. - Call of Chernobyl Edition [CoC 1.5]

Tronex

Stalker Two-K

Paranoiia8

TRX: Global Weather (2.2)

Tronex

Bear Model Pack for CoC v1.0

thales100, Greshnik13rs, CAHCAHbl4

DoctorX Questlines

DoctorX01

DoctorX Dynamic Anomalies 2.1

DoctorX01

Original Guns Reanimated

r_populik

TRX - Sounds Revamp 8.0

Tronex

Female ecologist voice

SashaRed

STCoM Weapon Pack

bi0nicman, Sasha Tulunzhi

Outfit Addon

Jack, VodkaChicken, Victor Makarin

Immersive fast travel 1.0 [1.4.22]

spikensbror

Adjusted Zoom Levels 0.6 [1.4.22/1.5b r4]

SashaRed

Simple Instruments

TKGP

Open scopes for STCoM WP

bi0nicman, Morka02, Sasha Tulunzhi

Outfit loot CoC 1.4.22 v2

av661194, Shoker, dimitrian

Enemies Dont Always Drop Broken Guns - STCoM

crazyiscombine

Inaccurate Zombies [CoC 1.4]

Fohom

Weapon Sound Mod [STCoM] UPDATED 19/6

brankovich, Porpeta Voraz

lootmoney for CoC [1.5]

tsěsarĭ, anon

Please send me a message if I should change something in the credits, or if you should be in it.