Just wanna point out that GAMMA does include the option to enable magazines in the game as well, it's just disabled by default in the MO2.

Love Gamma, but I always preferred a less brown, more overgrown feel to the zone, like in original Anomaly. I just have the autumn-based mods turned off in Gamma and it suits me perfectly.

I'm a bit late but i'll leave this for future people: Both are modpacks, so you can tweak them to look almost the same. The main difference here is the progression, gamma is a more streamlined controlled progression, early game anything below rostok, mid game anything below the radar, red forest and limansk, and finally endgame anything north of the dead city, army warehouse and truck cemetery. The progression relies on the fact that mechanics will not repair armor pieces and you need a toolkit to change the barrel of a weapon, which leads to EFP progression. EFP is non controlled progression, you can get a working high end sniper rifle as soon as you exit rookie village(EDIT: As you can switch barrels without needing repair kits), it puts more emphasis on combat and randomness, it also has picklocking for extra loot on cases and crates. This is the reason why EFP is suggested to people looking for combat, and gamma is suggested to people looking to progress evenly through the campaign. I would personally suggest EFP to those looking to muck around doing random things and GAMMA to those wanting to go through the story lines in a more progression friendly environment. Added EDIT: Also EFP gives me drivers timeout, gamma doesn't anymore, i would go back to EFP in a heartbeat if i didn't have that problem, but i'm just a pleb with an AMD video card.

Just a note that you can add back in a lot of the foliage and features like having to load mags manually in Gamma. They're already installed on the launcher but disabled by default.

It’s worth remembering that you can add addons to gamma to make it more like EFP and probably vice-versa too.

Thank you so much for making all of these videos about stalker and the modding community around it. I swear you're the only youtuber that makes videos that directly answer a lot of the questions I have. There's so much to unpack and your vids have made everything so much easier to understand. The only thing I'm still really confused about is graphics settings. I have my game looking pretty great on GAMMA but I just know there's more visual potential. Pressing the home button at the start screen alone is overwhelming af. If you have some resources you could direct me to or are willing to make a vid about that I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks for the content!

The thing I don't like about GAMMA is the fact that you can't buy guns. That is super unrealistic if you think about it. How does other stalkers have weapons then? I guess it rewarding to search and finally assemble a gun with part you find, but it could be much more realistic if Traders sold weapons, even if they were double or triple the price.

I think I am going to try out EFP. Until now I have only played Gamma and while I absolutely love it, Its just a bit tedious how long it can take until you have decent equipment in Gamma. I personally play Stalker for the intense gunfights and it seems that EFP seems to completely focus on that. Does anyone know if the Desolation mod which gives you crazy weapon customization is included in EFP?

Very nice Comparison, really helps me pick which one i should try, Thanks Mox!

I personally prefer GAMMA, I find it less cartoony and better thought out and put together. Also the mags mod is included in GAMMA just disabled by default. Also GAMMA at hardest difficulty and hardest progression, it is soooo hard, specially in the red forest, with UNISIG, SIN and MERCS everywhere, but if you make it, it is so rewarding to have a bunch of great broken guns to stash while I look for my expert tools. I do like the extended skills in EFP tho.

thank you for being one of the only ones putting out stalker content. I just got back in to the game.

New to the stalker series. Games have been feeling incredibly easy, I hate finishing a game early, I’m brand new to the stalker series, I started gamma last week and it’s so amazing.

The installation of Gamma 0.9 failed due to errors, so I had to use EFP 4.0 which installed flawlessly.

After playing GAMMA, playing EFP is just so bland to me now. Plus, u can just increase the population in GAMMA if u want more action.

While I was putting together my own modpack it started to feel like a reduced version of Gamma with a stronger emphasis on smoother visuals. But I was running into issues that Gamma already solved and I discovered that almost every mod which I was contemplating was already enabled or optional in Gamma. So in the end I did in fact build a reduced version of Gamma by copying Gamma's custom MO2 profile and stripping away a lot of the crap like Blackjack, every instance of BAS and extra weapons and equipment, while maintaining its economy changes and focus on crafting. After I'd optimized Gamma to my tastes I started working on the visuals, this time trying out Hippo's Shaders, Aydin's Grass, and the 1980s style Reshade. Gotta say, the game look prettier than ever before without sacrificing the derelict post-Soviet aesthetic the Zone should always have. But EFP, in my opinion, suffers worse feature bloat than Gamma and does exactly what made me give up on Tarkov -- it makes the stats mechanic the core of the experience. That would be okay if it eased you into the gameplay and economy changes. But not being able to buy a flask of water for being overloaded with all the dead mens' loot I've hauled back to pawn off for pennies was enough to stop me playing. If a game's economy is going to be that rough, it needs to be able to support the player elsewhere -- but organic loot is equally tough to come by so much so that most of the time I'm journeying at a deficit with no reward at the end to justify the expenditure.

if you dont like the brown textures in gamma you can reinstall the mod that effects it and choose between 4 distinct seasons

After playing first EFPv4 and then GAMMA. I just went back to EFP... and started adding mods or changing settings to make the experience more GAMMA-like. My problem with GAMMA is the lack of new guns. In EFP, besides BaS, they have their own gun mod which is great for variety. This is a must in an open world "looter" shooter. After awhile, GAMMA just feels like the same 10 guns appearing on enemies. Also, their medical system is too much especially when it affects the gunplay. Even in Tarkov they still let you aim your gun properly after getting hit. EFP is not without its fault. The guns without changing anything in the settings seem to shoot like nerf guns. I got fed up with Arti ballistics alone and install GAMMA ballistics underneath. Seems to work fine and let you kill enemies quicker. Finally, after some "digging", I installed atmospherics for EFP (RTGI option) and the ADEGA texture pack. Boom, EFP that is both survival focused, and gunplay focused that beats some AAA games in graphics.

How do you get your gamma to run so well?I have constant random stuttering, lag when opening stashes depending on i guess how many items im holding,lag everytime i loot or deposit an item,general slowdowns at random places etc,is there a particular graphics setting which maybe screws the frames a lot?

I've been between GAMMA and EFP. I've recently disabled mag redux in EFP and have been enjoying Anomaly the most since.

I love the vibrancy and gunplay of EFP, but that slow, tedious, and methodical grind of finally getting a good gun and armor in GAMMA is like taking a line of coke. The amount of dopamine rushing through my body after the crafting system clicked. Nothing will compare to my first couple playthroughs of GAMMA, learning new tips and tricks each time made the experience even better. Also I must say, it is one hell of a walking simulator.

Sorry for unrelated comment, but I can't take it anymore. There's something I just can't get over no matter how many times see your content. Watching a video narrated by a cool dragon-looking fuzzy creature with giant swaying ears, digitally blinking and speaking in a soothing voice with good pronunciation induces some incomprehensible but good feelings in me

Such a great video. Very helpful without being overly long and nitpicking at all the nuances. MVP!

i feel like EFP is very focused on combat while GAMMA is focused more on all the other aspects. in gamma you will probably have to play for 20+ hours on you first playthrough before you get a gun in decent condition, while you could probably have a fixed up gun after a few hours in EFP. i personally prefer EFP because i prefer walking around with decent weaponry and the earlygame isnt as interesting to me.

Heyy yoo bro.. Did you got done an art commmison of that mascot recently ? Cause i remember drawing him few months ago as an art commmison for a client. ❤

hey just wanna know what Is the full size Gamma And Anomaly?

Shadow of Chernobyl is my favorite, but if I had to choose between those two sandboxes I'll always choose vanilla Anomaly custom modded to my taste 😁😁

You cant play both if its on the same drive. What if i have gamma and that anomaly on one drive and EFP and that instances anomaly on a separate drive. Theoretically speaking would that work? Or due to both using MO2 its impossible no matter what?

Being able to refill flasks from water sources in EFP is really dope

EFP is cool for combat itself and has a decent EFT vibe But GAMMA doesn't lack combat quality, feeling, QoL changes and IMO it's better in every single other aspect Stalker is more survival than combat pve game so for me gamma is closer to my heart

I tried both and both are very good don't really know if the other is better than the other modpack each one has a unique style of gameplay i also would also suggest you another good modpack called Expedition it has one of the greatest graphical changes Also im trying to update BaS in EFP to the latest ver. and patching some things in it, Might release a patch to fully update BaS to latest in future or maybe EFP devs might do it themselves.

I found EFP more unforgivable in almost all aspects. It is a very rough ride, which is why I went back to Gamma, since despite lacking the guns from traders, I didn't feel so overwhelmed in combat. Though I will come back to EFP some other time.

I have Gamma and EFP installed to the same anomaly folder and they bother work, I installed gamma first, then EFP. so far no issues.

EFP with atmospheric mod with Adega texture pack make the game super realistic looking. You gotta have a pretty good PC to max out all the settings, but if you can it’s amazing.

Thank you!

Only Chad in Gamma. Thank you Moxy

Is there anyway to add the ability to change barrels in Gamma without a toolkit? One thing ive loved about EFP is the assortment of ammunition and the ability to swap barrels and parts without a specified tool-kit which is a lot more realistic to me. Its hard to describe but I think EFP is very good as a hardcore tactical shooter, as a full package i think GAMMA is a much better stalker title.

Gamma is much modular, majority uses magazines version in gamma, I switch for example aggressive looters for loot claims, you have more choices, a side I use 100 more mod on top like cold mod

I what about Faction Warfare mode? What kind of experience would I get from each of those mod packs on that game mode?

Can't I download 2 versions of ANOMALY on 2 separate folders ,then add GAMMA to one and EFP to the other , so i can play both without needing to uninstall the other?

Both are better than 99% of kodern day aaa games so does it matter which is better?

how demanding is gamma compared to efp? setting shaders and graphical improvement mods aside and pure cpu/ram requirement considered only

note, you CAN turn on magazines in gamma as well.

My first playthrough of GAMMA, i didnt know you could swap gun parts (besides barrel) on the field, leading me to use nothing but my SKS until i found advanced tools

Here's how I play GAMMA: - Full-condition weapons and armor from drops - Can't buy guns and weapons from traders - Completely avoiding repair system because it's a complete clusterfuck of tedium and I don't have time to waste on it - Playing on a higher difficulty - Increase the amount of money I receive from quests and loot (though I might change this for other playthroughs) - Increase the amount of loot and the chances of enemies having weapons and armor (might change this in future playthroughs) I am having the time of my life because my changes do not trivialize the game. I'm not OP because I don't get OP weapons from enemies. I just get them in pristine condition. But the combat is brutal. I have to always be on the lookout for enemies, ambushes, anomalies, hunger, thirst, etc. I might or might not get into the repairing system sometimes but right now, it looks incredibly tedious and non-enjoyable. Might change my mind later on.

super helpful thanks brother! ill be trying out EFP first.

I went from gamma to efp then back to gamma again because shooting guns just felt better in it. The visuals are much better in gamma too

Yo fellow proto I think G.A.M.M.A. combined with the magazine feature would be best for me.

Thanks for this vid, it helped me decide which to go with. Went with EFP because it seems to respect the core identity of STALKER and I found it very immersive. I've been enjoying my whole time through it. And even though I did find a powerful gun early on, I did still have to work for it to make it properly function, while having to rely on stealth often. Not touching Gamma with a ten foot pole, for how it pretty much overhauls the whole thing towards survival and making it very un-immersive by just making no sense with somw things. Like how Monolith and Mercs and Military won't sell guns just because. It's pretentious.

Damn your voice is so soothing

I personally like both. It really comes down to what kind of experience you're looking for. Want a more action focused campaign? Play EFP. Want a more survival focused campaign? Play Gamma. Regardless of what you choose, expect the Zone to be a cruel monster.

GAMMA seems like it's catered more to the hardcore survivalists, and EFP is more about just having a fun time. I prefer GAMMA because of the feeling of genuine accomplishment after completing a challenging task, but I see the value in both and think they're both fantastic mods.

I do wonder which one would I prefer, probably the Gamma as it doesn't seem to be too bloated with content in comparison to EFP, but EFP's visual are very nice, coming from OG games where everything is slightly different shade of brown and seeing actual blue sky and green grass was sort of refreshing

what about story mode

My thoughts. ive been playing a lot those 2 mod packs, and if u want more info adding to the OP read this: The main difference is that they have tons of little differences, but the total amount makes a big difference. -the one u may notice in the first 30 seconds, u move faster in GAMMA, also, in the next 10 min u will notice also mutants move FASTER. -Progression: The EFP progression isnt very balanced, example: me triying to start a game as military in darkvalley, u are very limited in equipment in a new start(gamma allows you more start equipment), my plan was go to meadow, kill the bandits and get some shotgun+food, darkvally to meadow seems an easy task? well... with the mutant population and the ammo you get i totally struggled. But...as de OP said, you progress faster in EFP, thats because is usual looting usable weapons, in 45% condition, some parts above 60...etc, in gamma you will loot weapons at 20% condition with most parts damaged. Not only this, in EFP when you use a vice, you are able to change the weapon parts, in gamma, you will need the proper weapon repair kit+ the vice, also kits are very very rare to find in gamma, so you will need to buy or craft them, making the high tier weapons harder to get. thats the same with the outfits. .Visuals: I have to say, EFP 3 looks way BETTER than EFP4, efp4 have really saturated colors, ugly foliage, the skies will look totally white most of the time, its really a downgrade from 3. Gamma by default, has some addons that makes the game look like a wasteland, very oring and flat for my taste i removed it. The reflections and shadowss looks much better in gamma, specially in the weapons. But recently, there is an addon called HIppo shaders atmospherics, you can use it in both gamma or EFP, not tried in gamma, but makes EFP look MUCH MUCH BETTER. (i.imgur.com/ndVQ14I.jpg) So in summary. Gamma has a progression that feels really good, fair, and inmersive, you will taste the early game to the late. i recommend get a higher enemy population because by default there are almost no enemies. But from time to time you will misss the intense fights of EFP and you will come back to taste some gunfights

I want to play these two SO bad. I've been on Vanilla Anomaly for a while. I wish there was a version of these two in 1.5.2 that didn't have to make you compromse your windows powershell.

between the janky keybinds and wonky recoil system, id always prefered gamma to efp granted i prob could've just disabled the recoil, but trying to get all of efps new keybinds to work in cohesive manner is a struggle the active combat zone feel of efp tho was pretty fun, despite all those issues oh and bloodloss affecting ur max hp was immersive but still annoying lol

Anomaly is a modified OGSR x64 Engine, which is a fork of the open-source (and incomplete) 64-bit X-ray Engine. Anomaly does not run on x64 X-Ray Engine. *Cheatsheet:* -S.T.A.L.K.E.R. SoC/CS/CoP and mods alike = _x86 X-ray Engine (32-bit)_ -OGSR x64 Engine (64-bit) = _Forked build of x64 X-ray Engine (64-bit, incomplete)_ -S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly + Gamma/EFP and mods alike = _Modified fork of OGSR x64 Engine_ -Radiophobia 3 = _OGSR x64 Engine recreation of original SoC with complete campaign_

I've been having a great time on EFP using voice commands. I was on reddit & mentioned on little tiny feature I don't like about GAMMA & that I personally prefer Escape From Pripyat & dang man, I got negative 3k karma & loads of hate in my DMs. I even deactivated my gaming channel on youtube because people from that Gamma community harassed me on this platform too.

EFP Key biding is a nightmare.

Truth be told I'd argue both are sorely lacking. EFP has the issue of trying to make Stalker more like Tarkov. Problem being that the game wasn't made for it meaning all implementations have some jank to them. Ultimately if I want a Tarkov experience I simply play Tarkov and I don't want the MMO aspect I play singleplayer Tarkov and mod it. GAMMA has some huge issues with pacing and interaction with it's mechanics. The most glaring example for it are the weapon parts and repair systems imo. Weapon parts can be repaired if their condition is over 60%, which means you need to find the right part in good enough condition. Aside from gun barrels which need the appropriate weapon repair kit to replace, except those repair kits allow the player to use a charge and simply conjure up the appropriate part at 100% making it completely unnecessary to repair parts manually. This is further exacerbated by how weapons are grouped to these kits. I.e. a sawn of Toz, Mossberg 590 and Armsel Protecta all use the same repair kit making many weapons obvious picks. And access to those kits is gated by the toolkits whose availability is mainly RNG dependent.

To sum up gamma is a pretty hardcore survival sim where as efp is more focused on gunfights action and just randomness I prefer efp bc I like how you can get a pretty good gun early on I haven’t tried gamma but I love gamma and efp players we are all experiencing the zone in our own way that’s the beauty of anomaly

Both are nice

EFP is a bit too much micro management for my liking, i tried it but ehh

Gamma: -Daily updates and bug fixes -Great majority of its content comes from moddb EFP: -Monthly/Yearly updates, worth in the end (? -Has their own brand new unique weapons I just wish EFP had the same update release consistency as Gamma tbh

I don't like EFP because of the mags, but I love playing tarkov. I think the whole thing of not having a vest where you put your mags and the inventory system makes it too clunky, if it was like Tarkov i would love it

the answer is, of course, NEITHER. the BEST is MY OWN mix of addons which I chose specifically to enhance my experience, because that mix fits my wants.

So sad there’s no English translation for NLC7:( Gamma and others are nice and fun, but NLC got so much deeper gameplay

The efp shiny ground and ass looking grass in the 4.0 version killed it for me...idk what the fuck they i did but my god. Glossfactor change does nothing lol

i personally love gamma, i always liked to nerf myself to give it a slight horror aspect, especially when clearing the labs or pushing the monolith

oof, that EFP color pallet for the zone looks like straight ass to me. That is not how I imagined the zone to look.

Gaming

If you like Escape from tarkov then you will love EFP

I play modded anomaly with some features of both of those mods! With gamma artifacts decaying is just bullshit cause people carry artifacts outside to sell, also not selling guns to the zone is also complete bullshit all wars are made for guns to be sold in real life ALL. Gun trading is one of most lucrative buisnesses in the world. EFP feels too much as tarkov. Both mods are high quality and good just i like some middle ground. Excellent review my man!

If I want an EFP like experience I just jack up the population settings in GAMMA lol

stalker anomaly desolation modpack 2023 Is the best but I hope to merge with EFP

Im with stalker series from the begining and i dont give shit about tarkov. So playing gamma:)

EFP is more difficult and IMO this is the best modpack so long.

The question isnt: which is better? Because that's a silly question. GAMMA is more easily played and enjoyed but EFP is far more interesting and rewarding. And they're just very different experiences which each do some things very well and some things not so well. Its a question which has no answer because everyone will have their preference. The real question should be: which one do you like more?

after trying both, i personally preffer gamma, its not as realistic or hardcore as efp but thats ok, it doesnt have to be,plus i love the economy in gamma, it feels just like an rpg game when you get a good weapon drop or armor and get to fix it, hell i still remember the first time i playied it and got so hyped after finding an exosuit in a garbage stash

quick question, if i dowload stlaker EFP will i lose my progression/saved games in Stalker Anomaly? btw nice videos

If you like simple military shooting games, I think EFP is more suitable. If you like survival and slow pace, then gamma is more suitable.

Giga chad EFP 🏆🗿vs nostalgia simp🧓💀 Gamma.

Gamma much better for me, efp feels really like some modern plastic AAA shooter and it’s too easy imo

cocaine addicted stalker days, drinking vodka and hiding during emissions

Gamma is for systematic people and EVP is for horders

Hey guys..... play the first 3 games. FIRST.

So i played gamma first, well after i played the og3, but i didnt like it. It wasnt untill i went and played reg anomaly and i understood gamma. Its for people who want constant punishment. You have to know everything to be able to play it. Not really a casual game. I like a more run gun and loot game, sonim trying efp next since i like spt...

Efp for me. I don't have a lot of time for gaming and efp just seems to alow me to get more done with my time.

GAMMA or EFP, Which is the BEST ? Me: Stalker A.R.E.A 😁

I've played both mod packs, starting with GAMMA. I'd say if you enjoy the shooting gameplay above everything else, you should switch to EFP because it honestly does it better. If you like the other aspects, like hunting mutants and artefacts, you should try GAMMA instead. I think I'll be sticking to EFP, because rolling RNG for tools, having to wait 24 hours to get more fucking steel wool to craft repair kits and running into a pack of dogs every 5 steps I take has gotten incredibly tiresome after so many hours. Also, this might be confirmation bias but I swear EFP both runs better and crashes less often than GAMMA. Again, could just be me getting very lucky, but Rostok isn't a powerpoint presentation for me in EFP.

No gamma, no efp. I play og lost alpha with its funny voice acting. 😁😁😁

Obviously the best one is the one that have the most variations of UMP 😊

I pick EFP anyday. Gamma is no fun for me. At least I tried it

Stalker gamma is Enjoyable hard game, it makes more sense when you have to save game close to campfire and crafting and Weapons are So Much better than efp but efp is way easier so i recommend efp if people can't enjoy gamma.

Id love to play EFP if I could get the fucking file to load properly

it would be nice if in GAMMA repairing stuff yourself would be optional and you could simply repair them using technicians. i also dont like this new artifact system.

I vote for EFT. Wasted days to install gamma. And still it crashes very often and has lots of bugs and problems. EFT is way much easier to install and looks very nice and also has many interesting mechanics.

GAMMA is better I don't know how it is in EFP, but in GAMMA you can customize every aspect of the game using MO2.

EFP is a better pick for me, reasons: - stable mod integrity, no need to play sapper each time you manage mods and change settings, simply because default game settings and mods are fine and you don't need to work around that - less updates is cooler than updates every 8 hours for me - better fps - guns guns guns, and shooting enemies in gamma feels 150% more bullet-spongy - warfare mode

Efp sounds more easy and nurfd to foook basically more easy but that's just my opinion