Stalker 2 is a tough game, that is also quite buggy. While most bugs are not of the game-breaking type, they do break immersion for sure. Luckily, there are ways to get rid of these anomalies from the game with the right mods. With the power of mods, you can also make the game run and feel better, and also add far more customization options. The list is likely to change as the modding community keeps coming up with new ones, we will keep updating it. Here are the 10 best mods for Stalker 2 at the time of writing this article.
List Of Best Mods For Stalker 2
We have categorized the mods into two sections, the first section covers mods that improve performance, and the second covers ones that change gameplay.
Best Performance Mods For Stalker 2
Let’s address the elephant in the room, the FPS drops and the Low Latency, here are some of the mods that do an incredible job in fixing some of the most important performance issues from Stalker 2.
#1. Stalker 2 optimizer
What does it do: A convenient app to manage the .ini settings for Stalker 2.
Stalker 2 Optimizer allows you to tune your graphic settings and make the game run smoother by tweaking many options. Here is the list of settings available in the app.
- Post-processing effect
- Frame Rate Limits
- Input settings
- Engine optimization settings
- Texture streaming settings
- Logging settings
- Frame rate smoothing option
- Advanced Lighting and Ray Tracing settings.
After tweaking the settings, hit Apply Changes at the end. There is a Rollback Changes option if you want to restore to the previous options.
#2. Optimized Tweaks S.2 – Reduced Stutter Mouse Fix
What does it do: If you are facing stuttering issues in lower latency, then this fix is just the help you need for your game.
Optimized Tweaks S.2 fixes the Mouse Stutter and gives a boost to the loading and launch time for Stalker 2. If you have decent hardware, you are going to see a lot of changes. But the highlight here is the performance and stuttering issues.
Game Tweaks Mods For Stalker 2
Now the mods listed here will affect how the game gets played. These mods will bring minor to drastic changes to the survival nature of Stalker 2.
#3. No (or reduced) weight for ammo, meds, and food
What does it do: No more Encumberance! Ammos, Consumables, and Grenades have no weight to them.
No (or reduced) mod does allow you to customize the weight option. Here you can choose:
- No weight requirement for Ammo, Grenade, Food
- 10% or 50% Weight limit for all consumables.
#4. Reduced Repair Cost
What does it do: Allows you to make changes to the cost of repair in Stalker 2.
Running frequently out of cash in the Zone for repair? Look no further than the Reduced Repair Cost mod to cut you some slack from vendors. The mod allows you to make a good amount of changes to the repair setting, to make the game work for you.
- Set the cost of Repair from 100% to 80%.
- Set the cost of Repair to 60%.
- Set the cost of Repair 50%, 20%
- Lastly, make the Repair free of charge.
#5. Longer Sprinting
What does it do: Allows you to sprint for a long time without draining stamina.
Walking around the zone is 80% of the fun in Stalker 2, so why not make it faster by installing the Longer Sprinting mod to the game? Here you set the sprinting speed:
- Set the stamina to 25%
- Set it to 50% to cover 2 times the distance.
- Or, set it to 75% to cover 4 times the distance.
#6. Reasonable Weapon Degradation
What does it do: Lowers the degradation of all weapons.
Reasonable Weapon Degradation does not completely remove weapon degradation, as the name suggests – it makes this rate more reasonable (lower!) than what it is by default. Your guns will now last that much longer while you explore the Zone.
#7. Sell Damaged Stuff
What does it do: Now you can sell damaged weapons, or outfits to any trader in the zone without them giving you the stink eye.
Sell Damaged Stuff brings a fresh amount of changes to the game by allowing you to push the junk armor or damaged gears to any merchant in the game. They have no choice but to buy these broken gears!
#8. Ledge Grabbing
What does it do: Mantle onto fences barricades or anything above your head. Allowing a bit of parkour to the zone.
A mere 6 KB file Ledge Grabbing mod will enable parkour to the zone, you can now hop over anything that you couldn’t before. The new updates promise to bring the hotkey version and climbing while sprinting.
#9. Faster Backpack
What does it do: Skip the fancy animation, and grab the stuff in an instant.
Faster Backpack is a lifesaver if you just want to grab the item without seeing the same animation playing out over and over again. It is the problem you know, you know, many modern games do have animation for everything. Luckily, we have mods such as animation cancel to allow us to bring the video game feel back to the game.
#10. Reduced Melee and Jump Stamina Costs
What does it do: Lowers the stamina requirement for Jump and Melee
Reduced Melee and Jump Stamina mod to lower the melee and jump stamina requirement, since we have a sprinting mod that cuts the stamina for running, this mod will cut down the stamina cost for Jump and Melee.
How To Download Mods For Stalker 2
We will download the mods from Nexus.
Don’t worry it’s going to be a lot easier than you think, no need to scour the internet to find good mods for the game. The best place mod has always been Nexus, while many known games like Skyrim or Fallout will have their own mod launcher-friendly mods. Since Stalker 2 is a brand-new game, you will have to mod the files in an old-fashioned way, by manually dragging the files into the location. Here are the steps you need to follow:
Steps to Download:
- Open Nexus Mods
- Create an Account, if you don’t have any you will not get the download pop-up
- Search for Stalker 2 mods. Click on any mod on the list
- Here head to the Files tab right next to the Description.
- Click on Manual Download. After a while, the website will give you two options: Slow Download or Fast Download.
- Since Fast Download is reserved for premium users, hit Slow Download.
Steps to Install:
- Open Stalker 2 Directory, by right-clicking Stalker 2 Shotcut on your desktop and then choosing Open File Location. Or manually go to the location by:
- “/S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl/Stalker2/Content/Paks“
- Under the Paks folder, create a new folder and name it “~mods.” The directory will look like this:
- “/S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Heart of Chornobyl/Stalker2/Content/Paks/~mods“
- Now drag the downloaded file (which will be in the Pak format) to the “~mods” folder.
That’s it, now you are the mod master, download any mod and drag it into the ~mods folder to see the changes.
While you choose among these mods ones that work best for your playstyle, you may also want to browse our articles on all artifacts in Stalker 2, or all unique weapons in the game.