After completing the release version of the game, I decided to experiment with modifications and the sandbox settings. After 35 hours of experimentation, I came to a certain final version, which, in my opinion, is balanced and presented in this guide.

I would like to emphasize that the bridge configurations were implemented not to bypass locations, but exclusively for the purpose of base construction.

The enemy settings might seem very intimidating, but the gameplay is focused on firearms (although the settings will work for melee combat too — I tested it), and without increasing health and damage, you will be too powerful.

Set friendly fire at your own discretion. I like to set it to 200-300% so that there's a reason to keep an eye on your allies to avoid accidentally shooting them. I always set hunger and thirst to the maximum because the game has a pool of antejuice, a filter, and plenty of food (I also take hunger and thirst as negative traits). With these settings, I recommend setting the toilet need to the minimum to avoid constantly having to go with such a high metabolism. Durability and experience gain were set this way for balance. Item weight was adjusted to maintain balance with mods (I’ll talk about them below). Set the item stack size to whatever you prefer.

I selected the mods in such a way as to preserve the balance between ranged weapons, melee weapons, the need to carry a lot of ammunition, first aid supplies, and food, and to ensure that vehicles remain useful for transporting resources.

Link to the Google Drive folder with all the mods described below

[drive.google.com]


"UE4SS (Unreal Engine 4/5 Scripting System) bundle with the necessary configurations to make it work with the latest Abiotic Factor version." — Required for other mods to work.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Improves backpack capacity progression (28 -> 72 slots) and weight reduction progression (0% -> 66%)." — That's exactly why we increased the item weight by 80% in the sandbox settings.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Simple instant fishing mod. Simply cast the fishing rod into a valid fishing zone and get your reward." — I got extremely bored of staring at one spot for hours, so I can't live without this mod. Installation is optional.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Makes movement and interactions more convenient. Vanilla walk and sprint speed." — Ambient light around the character is turned on, and to be honest, I would remove it as well. The mod is only needed for proper stamina recovery.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Increases vehicle inventories to 42 slots, makes driving experience less annoying and speeds up tram speed by 1.5 times." — Slightly improves driving experience.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"A gun rebalance mod that focuses on a more gun-oriented playthrough" — One of the key mods.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Increases number of assault spawns, units tier or mixed different factions in assault." — Vanilla assaults are very trivial.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Mod that changes the appearance of Lab Rats, Sappers, and Order, making them wear hazmat suits, armor, and some firearms in Black Mesa style" — Optional mod.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Reduces gibs health to 40HP (a few knife hits)." — Quality of life mod (optional).
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Removes film grain and blendables (horizontal lines) from NVGs T1 and T2." — Quality of life mod (optional).
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Alters Grayson's trades to make ammo trading more sustainable." — I highly recommend installing it. The mod makes gardening even more useful than before.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"All the sound swaps, except the portals. they will remain at regular volume. updated to reduce waterfall sounds." — The mod was installed to reduce the noise from the waterfall at the hydroelectric power plant (optional).
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"UE4SS script mod that removes the Moving Box from the game." — It irritates me a lot, so install it if you want.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"A simple mod that removes the indicator that is auto enabled after leveling the thrown weapon skill." — I had to install it because the indicator shows incorrect information at long distances.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]


"Provides different cheat commands that can be enabled through games native console." — The mod is optional and was installed solely for the ability to explore inaccessible areas on the map after completing the game. Install it if you wish.
Link [www.nexusmods.com]

Any feedback and suggestions are welcome! I understand that for some, this build might be too difficult or too easy, but I want to remind you that it was assembled for me and turned out so well that I decided to share it with everyone.



We are not in a boarding school for noble maidens; we have gathered here to find out the truth!
©Lev Artsimovich