Miscellaneous Tips & Tricks

Master S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl - Enhanced Edition with essential tips on health, survival, and using debug mode.

Cheats:

1. Open the launcher and check the box marked Debug Mode, found under Misc Settings.
2. Once in the game, press F7 to bring up the console (a menu for cheats).
3. Click on the cheat you want, or press the appropriate hotkey, then press ESC to close the console.

Health Management:

Your overall health status is represented by three bars at the bottom left of your screen (HUD (heads-up display — the on-screen icons showing health, ammo and the minimap) - Heads-Up Display), along with circular (negative effect) or square (positive buff) grey icons to the right of these bars.

• Sleeping is not an effective way to heal and can be dangerous if you wake up without food or drink.
• Before sleeping, cure all status effects indicated by circular grey icons (like radiation or bleeding). Then, eat something, drink something, and ensure you have both food and drink ready for when you wake up, especially for longer sleeps.
• Sleeping bags are useful for creating beds, but must be deployed in an area marked as an emission shelter (a safe zone during radioactive storms) to be usable.
• First-aid kits provide strong healing but take a long time to use, leaving you vulnerable. Stimpacks are more expensive but lighter and faster.
• Avoid cooking and hunting for meat; it's fiddly and requires a cooking kit, matches, meat, water, and a campfire. It's easier to buy two or three cheap food items from a trader.
• Damage over Time (DoT) is common. If you're taking damage and can't identify the cause, open your inventory and check the damage status bars in the bottom panel; any icon flashing red indicates the problem.
• Fall damage is minimal in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl - Enhanced Edition; you will almost certainly survive most falls. Falling can be a good way to escape mutants, as they must follow you the long way down. Crouching before a fall can reduce damage further.
• When choosing armour, prioritize upgrades for health restoration and wound healing. Do the same when selecting artefacts (items with special properties) and armour modules.
• Note the locations of medics; they can fully cure you for a small amount of money (pennies).

Survival Tips:

1. Save your game frequently. The Zone is indifferent to your survival.
2. Manage your inventory weight carefully. Prioritize ammo for your chosen weapons (and grenades), then repair items (like glue and oils), then curatives you are low on, then artefacts. Collect light items like drugs, faction patches, and paper cash as they can pay off later. Staying light allows you to move quickly and conserve stamina.
3. Running, jumping, and shooting increase fatigue, which depletes your stamina bar. Avoid running everywhere to prevent running out of stamina, which can leave you unable to move, crouch, or jump, and reduces your chances of outrunning emissions (sudden, dangerous environmental events).
4. Information is valuable. Ensure your headlamp has nightvision capabilities, upgrade your PDA (Personal Data Assistant, which shows maps and information), or get a better detector. Keep batteries topped up for these items.
5. Scout areas from a safe, elevated position using binoculars or scoped rifles to know enemy positions and avoid surprises.
6. Try to travel during the day and in good weather. Poor weather and low light negatively affect you but not enemies. While humans may have trouble spotting you in the dark if you're sneaking, gunfire makes you fully visible. Enemies have a significant advantage at night and in bad weather. You can sleep to wait for better conditions or adjust weather settings in the menu.
7. Use anomalies (dangerous environmental hazards) to your advantage against mutants, as humans are unaffected by them.