ARK: Survival Evolved - Catch All

The biggest concern I have would be mod management. Right now, most of the mod management is handled via the Steam Workshop. Even on the server side, the best mod management tool I've used calls the Linux steam client by default. A secondary concern would be that it uses Steam matchmaking for multiplayer. Is the Epic Launcher going to open Steam?

Sydhart wrote:

The base game has The Island map and then there are 2 free DLC maps that you can download from Steam, Ragnarok, and Valquero. Right now most of us are playing on the Valquero map.

Actually, there are 3 free DLC maps. The Center was the first one Ragnarok and Valquero came after. So if you include those 3 free maps with the Island map which is the base game. You can have 4 maps from the start. Plus a new free DLC map Crystal Isles is coming out here soon.

superspork wrote:
Sydhart wrote:

The base game has The Island map and then there are 2 free DLC maps that you can download from Steam, Ragnarok, and Valquero. Right now most of us are playing on the Valquero map.

Actually, there are 3 free DLC maps. The Center was the first one Ragnarok and Valquero came after. So if you include those 3 free maps with the Island map which is the base game. You can have 4 maps from the start. Plus a new free DLC map Crystal Isles is coming out here soon.

How could I forget about the Center! That's a great map as well. Kind of funny that my favorite maps are all free DLCs originally created by modders. I'm super excited for the new Crystal Isles map as well.

I'll be adding it to the cluster on day one, looking forward to it myself! I never tried the mod version.

Unfortunately the Game Pass version is not compatible with the Steam version. It can do crossplay with the Xbox One version, but that's it. No mods either.

So, I have the game now thanks to EPIC.... Now what... lol

Watched a 'first 20 levels' video from 3 years ago.... Get pickaxe, get flint hatchet, get spear, get hides.... get clothes, build shelter, get triceratops with saddle, get raptor... then you can start... lol

Also build storage boxes to level fast.

So how much of that is BS now? How many hours does it take to get to 20?

If you want to level quick, the best way is to craft. Make yourself a pickaxe and hatchet and farm thatch (pickaxe) and stone (pickaxe) to level 2. Acquire pike and thatch foundation engram. Get hide sleeping bag at level 3 and plop one or 2 down using hides from dodos or dilos. Best way to kill dilos is strafe around them so you don't get spit on or make about 10 spears and hit them from range while dodging spit. Keep farming thatch and flint and make thatch foundations and demolish (getting 50% of resources back) until you level to 5.

At level 5 get mortar and pestle, spark powder, and storage box engrams. You'll also want to get narcotic engram. Farm wood and flint and turn all that flint into spark powder to get to level 10 and store the wood and extra stone. At level 10 get wood foundation engram. Now do the same thing with wood foundations as thatch. Make and demolish, etc. Continue making spark powder as well.

Grab the bow and arrow engram at level 15. Now you can kill more stuff.

Keep in mind this is repetitive and boring but an easy way to level to 20 while learning the game.

At 20 you'll get the tranq arrow which means you can start to tame the big dinos and that changes the game drastically.

The fastest way to level is to do a note run. With the experience event going you should level even faster this way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9k5...

I'm not exactly sure how the EPIC version works to be honest though. I picked up a couple more copies for my 2 oldest daughters this weekend but we did not get to try them. A few of us are currently playing on private servers hosted by Omni. I did not get to play around at all with the EPIC version to see if I could even find the servers.

Well I got to level 20 or so without really leaving the beach or doing much... lol

I would much rather join a friendly server where I can play in a corner most days as I am not online much or when other people want to play, but see cool stuff others are doing.

I know initially it was an issue for EPIC to connect, but I didn't dig into it.

The servers will work cross-platform between steam and Epic, but as far as I know, there is no mod support as it stands, otherwise you'd be more than welcome on the cluster.

I take it that means you are running mods?

Yes, the cluster has 7 main mods, and one map has 9 due to two map-specific mods.

I haven't looked into it enough to see if you can manually install the mods...

From what I've seen, the Epic version is set up like the Microsoft Store version, in that it doesnt even look to see of mods are installed; it ignores them even if they're there. Unlike Microsoft however, Epic is working to add mod functionality soon. Once that's done they'll patch the game to look for mods.

Got to level 31 and got a parasaur and a pteranodon... (sp?) Not sure what to do with the pteranodon... I assume I'll get a saddle sometime soon.

Parasaur is really slow... are all of them like that? or can I find faster ones? When I tame them... is it just knock them out with tranqs and add food? or is there something else I need to do?

According to the youtubes... I really need a triceratops followed by a raptor... haven't seen either... most likely due to the beach life. I have built small platform on a raft and am putting items on there until I get the next level of gear.... but maybe I need to be hunting dinos more than playing minecraft... not sure about the balance there.

Not sure where I should invest in a real base either. Does it pay off to explore a lot first? or are there places that are much better than others?

Well... raft may have been a bad idea... Decided to go to a new area... saw something big swimming around... it ate me twice... Will the Baryonx continue to destroy my raft and all my stuff?

Do I drop items upon death? Why didn't I get to go to my real bed after the sleeping bag?

There should be triceratops around the beach area.

Baryonx shouldn't be able to get on the raft. Don't put like storage box and bed near the edge though because they can hit it. Also, try doing something like this.

Which map are you playing on?

I did put them at the edges... Ill have to remember that next time.

Thanks for the video.

Trikes are pretty good early tames, as they can easily be kited (they are slow), but you need to avoid hitting them in the head. Their advantages are they are pretty strong in a fight and have good weight capacity to carry stuff around, however they are slow. Raptors are your early combat/scouting mount. They have good damage and speed, but lack the ability to carry much (I think most raptors only have 150-200 weight capacity).

If you "armor up" the raft like in Syd's video, the only thing that should be able to destroy it is a Dunkleo, so just stay out of deep water. You can then basically turn your raft into a mobile base, letting you easily access any beach areas, islands, or river spots. You will eventually want to settle down near a mountain with good sources of metal and obsidian.

When you die, you leave a body on the ground. If a carnivore is nearby, they will eat your corpse, leaving a bag on the ground. Sometimes your body/bag can fall through the ground, and there's not much you can do at that point.

The only problem I had while trying to play on a "live" server like Omni's, is that once you tame something, since the game never stops, it because a time management game. Your tames will get hungry, so you need to feed them, but food spoils, so you have to constantly replace it, which means you basically have to log in every day to feed your tames. It just got too tedious for me when I wanted to play for a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon or something.

Ahh, I hadn't thought about the animals needing food... I guess a server might be more like EVE Online than Minecraft... lol if that makes sense.

I'm definitely a few hours a couple times a week gamer. Looks like I'm going solo.

manta173 wrote:

Ahh, I hadn't thought about the animals needing food... I guess a server might be more like EVE Online than Minecraft... lol if that makes sense.

I'm definitely a few hours a couple times a week gamer. Looks like I'm going solo.

Their are feeding troughs which reduce the spoil time on food and can stack up to 2000 or 5000. You'd basically have to not log on for weeks (months maybe) for your animals to starve.

I'm trying to get into this, but the performance and graphics optimization is abysmal.

vypre wrote:

I'm trying to get into this, but the performance and graphics optimization is abysmal.

With the new ESO port kind of phoning it in, my hopes for Stadia making it more accessible to my aging 970 seems moot. (Caveat being ARK might make more effort in their port.) The textures in the distance are really bad for me... can't tell if it's a rock or something that wants to eat me... oh wait ... its a tree.

This article seems to have been a big help:

https://windowsreport.com/ark-surviv...

If Dino's are out of render range, they go into 'stasis', which means they don't really exist and don't consume food, etc.

Trouble is, if you build a base somewhere that there is through traffic of other players, then the Dino's get loaded and start to need food until they return to stasis.

Cryopods can also help. A single charge on one lasts for 30 IRL days, so you could just un-cryo them when you play, and store them back up when you're done.

Most of us with large dino collections end up with pretty much everything in cryo storage, just to save on maintenance (and aid with fps).

There are ways to make it accessible no mater your play style

I've been quite happy just playing single player with limited console cheats (so the dinos don't constantly attack me). The "other people" aspect of ARK never appealed to me.

All of this is very interesting... so if I see a big scary dino in the distance and run away... I can come back later and it will still be there in stasis?

Stengah wrote:

I've been quite happy just playing single player with limited console cheats (so the dinos don't constantly attack me). The "other people" aspect of ARK never appealed to me.

Issue with single player play is that when you get to mid and high tier things like crafting/taming/hatching, can take hours to complete. Ark isn't very friendly when left running in the background so what would normally take hours can take days depending on how you utilize your computer.

manta173 wrote:

All of this is very interesting... so if I see a big scary dino in the distance and run away... I can come back later and it will still be there in stasis?

Wild Dino's are treated differently by the game engine than tamed ones. I was referring to tamed Dino's only, in terms of stasis.

ranalin wrote:
Stengah wrote:

I've been quite happy just playing single player with limited console cheats (so the dinos don't constantly attack me). The "other people" aspect of ARK never appealed to me.

Issue with single player play is that when you get to mid and high tier things like crafting/taming/hatching, can take hours to complete. Ark isn't very friendly when left running in the background so what would normally take hours can take days depending on how you utilize your computer.

That's only an issue if you keep the default settings, which I don't.

Agree. I started a single player game yesterday and immediately turned down the time required for taming just a little bit and turned hunger/thirst off completely. Similar to Subnautica, I like to explore, craft, etc and don't feel the need to delve into the mandane necessities of real life.

Nice thing is if any of those types of settings seem too easy/hard, you can change them on the fly.

1.31GB patch for PC dropped today. Too new to the game to know the significance of any of any of this, but for those of you that might be interested:

PC - 311.209
Released - June 18th, 2020
- Crystal Wyverns can now be transferred between maps
- EGS Clients can now use the favourite server feature
- Genesis Geysers no longer restore the food stat
- Fixed a bug where using the rocket launcher could propel you backwards
- Scout can no longer pushed tamed dinos
- Crystal Wyverns can now be cryopoded
- Fixed multiple mesh holes, collision issues, floating foliage, and incorrect volumes
- Fixed Tropical Wyvern from regaining health passively
- Fixed a bug where some Crystal Wyverns could not be tamed properly

Edit: Wait a minute... 'ROCKET LAUNCHER'?!