OS Neutral Ark: Survival Evolved (Early Access)

[marksatt]

Also, graphic-wise my MBP hates this game. While dying nonstop last night, the game defaulted to the highest setting. Lag, disappearing mouse, etc. Headache mania! Finally got it down to low settings this AM, which is a bit ugly.

Your older iMac should play it better - it has more GPU power...

I'd love to play it but all I've got is a 2010 MBP. Definitely keeping this game in mind when/if I ever upgrade.

Yes sadly you will need to upgrade - OpenGL 3.3 GPUs like your Nvidia 330M don't support the required minimum rendering features for UE4 under OS X.

Depending on the Mac, it could be quite ugly. My 2011 MBP will barely play it on low settings.

....

This article claims that game performance will be improved by the time it hit retails. Maybe then my MBP will play it better.

Unfortunately your MBP, which presumably has an AMD 6750 or 6770, is not supported by Metal - only Macs from 2012 or later are. Also as I mentioned on the other thread - don't believe performance claims for Metal that are too good to be true.

 

[Huntn]

Your older iMac should play it better - it has more GPU power...



Yes sadly you will need to upgrade - OpenGL 3.3 GPUs like your Nvidia 330M don't support the required minimum rendering features for UE4 under OS X.



Unfortunately your MBP, which presumably has an AMD 6750 or 6770, is not supported by Metal - only Macs from 2012 or later are. Also as I mentioned on the other thread - don't believe performance claims for Metal that are too good to be true.

I wonder how much metal will make a difference for end game FPS? I'll need to upgrade my MBP in the future.

 

[Huntn]

Having fun building my Swamp Hacienda.

 

[Mackilroy]

Having fun building my Swamp Hacienda.

Definitely making me want to pick up the game... perhaps when it goes on sale again!

 

[Huntn]

Definitely making me want to pick up the game... perhaps when it goes on sale again!

Survival vs Creative: This is what I've run into. On the server I'm on (which has taming slightly sped up), I can spend an evening running my dinos to the forest for wood or up the mountain for metal. I can deal with that.

My primary issue is that taming high level dinos can take like 6 FRICKN hours. Lately the Devs instituted raising baby dinos and mammals, and that can take 9 hrs (monitoring the egg until it hatches, feeding the baby to reach a point where it can eat on it's own from a feeding trough.

Fortunately when an egg drops, it can (unrealistically) be put in the fridge to hold it in stasis until you are ready to hatch it. Frankly I have low tolerance for that. Fortunately I have an extensive cheating section in my ARK guide (thread and link) posted in this forum. Where the time grind can be reduced all most as much as you want allowing you to play the game like you want to- Surivival: go harvest for endless hours, or Creative: give yourself stuff and concentrate on building.

Even in the creative mode, dino difficulty, fighting and knocking them out for taming purposes can be left unaltered, leaving the fun, but reducing the grind. Even if you give yourself the raw materials, and you craft (for leveling purposes- a must), it's still time consuming to build, but about 10x less than gathering the materials in the wild.

 

[Huntn]

My understanding is the max level dinos are achieved with 1.0 DifficultyOffset (in Settings), but I've read higher numbers like 4.0 can be typed in. You also have to use the admin command "cheat kill Wilddinos" to reset the world, and allow higher level dinos to spawn. I notice when I relogin, the DifficultyOffeset number is back to 1.0 which makes me wonder if the 4.0 has any effect? Everything I've read on line, indicates 1.0 is the max, with the max wild dinos somewhere between 70-90 without a mod.

Speaking of MODS
I'm interested in ARK Reborn. Anyone familiar? Does anyone know if this is the knd of mod that once used is required to maintain game progress? IOW, if you install it, save games using it, but later decide to remove it, will it screw up any progress, dinos acquired, Dino level, buildings, etc?

 

[Huntn]

My understanding is the max level dinos are achieved with 1.0 DifficultyOffset (in Settings), but I've read higher numbers like 4.0 can be typed in. You also have to use the admin command "cheat kill Wilddinos" to reset the world, and allow higher level dinos to spawn. I notice when I relogin, the DifficultyOffeset number is back to 1.0 which makes me wonder if the 4.0 has any effect? Everything I've read on line, indicates 1.0 is the max, with the max wild dinos somewhere between 70-90 without a mod.

Speaking of MODS
I'm interested in ARK Reborn. Anyone familiar? Does anyone know if this is the knd of mod that once used is required to maintain game progress? IOW, if you install it, save games using it, but later decide to remove it, will it screw up any progress, dinos acquired, Dino level, buildings, etc?

Udpate: AR is a core mod. My understanding is that without it your saves and game progress is effected. How badly removing it would break a solo game save, I don't know. But I've decided no Core Mods for this game.

 

[Huntn]

ARK: Survival Evolved is nearing retail release. Still having a wonderful time on the best, most impressive sandbox game I've ever played. No invisible walls, no zone loads, fall to your death! , The Island is reportedly 36sq KM, big and beautiful, plenty big for exploration, especially if you are on foot. There are also underwater areas that 'I've not even looked at, including game mechanics to tame and ride large sea creatures, with appropriate saddles and underwater apparel like scuba gear.

It adds elements to the game, but if I have a critique, it's unlikely an island of this size would include both tropical and snow biomes.

On the private server I hang out on, we have our fingers crossed there will be no be no wipe. My understanding is that unless there is a technical reason, the Devs have said no wipe. After all the work I've put into this game, it would drive me back to my solo game. We currently have a base on the North Central coast, North of the Frozen Fang and an East Coast Swamp base by the Gulf of Lamentation.

Quick Guide link here

Over The Hidden Lake (vicinity of North Coast East)

 

[Huntn]

Steam Halloween Sale- ARK: Survival EVolved on sale 50% off $14.99, a steal.

 

[Huntn]

Since my online server has basically folded (nobidy there) I've gone back and am enjoying the fun of solo creative play. I'm working on a largish spread, on the East Cost of The Original Island map, the prettiest place I've found on that map. I'm on the plateau that overlooks the swamp where it exists on the middle East coast. The only thing about swamps is that you need to do frequent leech checks or they will kill your animal in as short as 9 hrs if left attached. I learned that the hard way. The biggest danger is when you are pack hunting, each Dino must be specifically checked.

There does seem to be an impact on frames if you go real large building. . I've removed some of my extraneous building with a positive impact in this regard.

I also ran into my first Troodon when out with my pack at night on the edge of the East Coast Swamp. I dismounted, when suddenly this pair of orange/yellow eyes came at me, a ruckus broke out, and then I passed out. The Troodon likes attacking people, I got bit and it's poisonous. Fortunately my Allosauruses were able to take care of it before I was eaten. I want some as pets.

Maybe soon, I'll turn my eyes to the ocean for underwater exploration.

Mods- I've gotten over my fear of mods in this game and am using Steam Punk, Advanced ARK, and Glass and Metal. For the creative mindset, the Steam Punk steam generator, that runs on water and is continuously supplied by water when it rains is a godsend. The Ark Advance stove for cooking meat is amazing, along with the refrigerated feeding troughs. The Glass and a Metal mod offers gorgeous glass versus the game's vanilla ugly glass. There is no comparison. There is also Armor in Steam Punk that is frick'n amazing!

 

[Huntn]

May 2017- Anyone playing Ark?

It's beern about 6 months since I've played. I logged back in yesterday for the first time both on an online server and in my solo game and ARK looks like utter hell. Incredibly bright, over-saturated colors, and the gamma adjustment does not correct the issue.

I saw a post from 2015 saying the dynamic lighting was broken. Is this still the case?
Are the graphics broken? Looking for solutions.
Is there a setting to de-saturate the colors? If you have any insight, advice appreciated.
It also looks like there is too much contrast in the game. and the colors are still over saturated. When looking at the tress in the forest, their leaves used to have nice soft appearance, now they have way too much contrast.
While I was gone, were the graphics adjusted or was the game engine replaced or updated? The game still looks horrid, where before it used to look pretty good.

Thanks!

I am using the Geforce Experience and I'm wondering if by playing a different game if it adjusted my monitors settings? Not sure if it can do that, but it looks like there is too much contrast in the game.

Before:

Now:

 

[Huntn]

April 2018- Currently playing on a server with the Immersive Taming Mod. This is really cool and not the time consuming nightmare that taming can be in this game. Twenty to thirty minutes and you have a fully tamed max value (100%) dino. There also other mods such as the Automated ARK Cauldron which allows you to make whatever kibble you want including imprinting kibble which takes a lot of the grind out of raising little dinos and getting the imprinting buff. Rock Drakes, Wyvern, and Basilisk are all nifty.
[doublepost=1524612010][/doublepost]

May 2017- Anyone playing Ark?

It's beern about 6 months since I've played. I logged back in yesterday for the first time both on an online server and in my solo game and ARK looks like utter hell. Incredibly bright, over-saturated colors, and the gamma adjustment does not correct the issue.

I saw a post from 2015 saying the dynamic lighting was broken. Is this still the case?
Are the graphics broken? Looking for solutions.
Is there a setting to de-saturate the colors? If you have any insight, advice appreciated.
It also looks like there is too much contrast in the game. and the colors are still over saturated. When looking at the tress in the forest, their leaves used to have nice soft appearance, now they have way too much contrast.
While I was gone, were the graphics adjusted or was the game engine replaced or updated? The game still looks horrid, where before it used to look pretty good.

Thanks!

I am using the Geforce Experience and I'm wondering if by playing a different game if it adjusted my monitors settings? Not sure if it can do that, but it looks like there is too much contrast in the game.

Before:

Now:

Update on this old post. My graphic setting in game somehow got degraded, upping the settings fixed it. Back to a pretty environment.

 

[Huntn]

Anyone playing this? Just curious. My game has been crashing on the Load screen, while it's trying to update mods. Right now I'm checking integrity of game files. If that does not fix, will reinstall it...

 

[Huntn]

Anyone playing this? Just curious. My game has been crashing on the Load screen, while it's trying to update mods. Right now I'm checking integrity of game files. If that does not fix, will reinstall it...

Checking integrity of my game files through Steam found 9 that needed replacing. No clue how that happened, but I’m back up and running.

 

[Huntn]

Brought over from Ark on sale thread:
It was tough locating my ARK guide, here it is: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ark-survival-evolved-q-d-guide.1912168/

Do you usually play solo or on a server ?

Is online server mode a massive PvP ?

edit: I saw in a previous post where you said that you never played on a public server.

Lately, when I play it’s solo, there you have the comfort of knowing your game progress is in your hands. The issue with the rented server is how long will it remain rented? Even so, during the months I played on a private server, it was more fun to share the game experience with others. Some tasks were easier with 2 players. The single most difficult solo task in the solo game is capturing a Quetzle, the largest bird in the game. You wanted it for carry capacity over long distance when harvesting. Your first flyer will be a Pteradon.

​

When I had clanmates playing, I was on a server that someone in the clan was renting (private server), at one point I chipped in with 2 other people to pay for it and I managed the server, keeping the mods updated.

I don’t know what the max number of players is, but I’ll say 100, but on the servers I was in, there might be 40 people active, abut no more than 20 max online at any given time. Most times, 10 or less.

The game is PVP, there is a communal concept based on tribe, however containers can be locked to protect your personal gear and doors can be locked to keep other tribe members out of your stuff.

 

[Huntn]

@Plutonius Ok, I might be a little confused, it’s been a while since I played ARK solo, and in one of my posts I said, you can pause the game, one of the luxuries of solo play.

So, without launching the game and testing it, I’ll say you can pause it.

 

[Plutonius]

@Plutonius Ok, I might be a little confused, it’s been a while since I played ARK solo, and in one of my posts I said, you can pause the game, one of the luxuries of solo play.

So, without launching the game and testing it, I’ll say you can pause it.

I have been pausing it by hitting the escape key.

Unfortunately, the game never pauses while you are crafting, repairing, etc .

One very annoying thing about the game is it's disabling the steam overlay (running it in MacOS) so I can't take screenshots or message people.

The MacOS screenshot works however (shift command 3).

 

[Huntn]

I have been pausing it by hitting the escape key.

One very annoying thing about the game is it's disabling the steam overlay (running it in MacOS) so I can't take screenshots.

Hmm. I primarily use the Steam overlay for SS for any steam game. I assume it’s a bug with Mac Steam. On my MBP I use SnapzProX: https://download.cnet.com/Snapz-Pro-X/3000-13633_4-8561.html or http://www.tucows.com/preview/210290 but I’ve had it forever, have not used it during a game for years, and I don’t remember it costing $69 frick’n dollars. So sorry for mentioning it. ?
I wonder if there are any low cost Mac Screen capture apps in the App Store, that works while a game is running?

 

[Huntn]

@Plutonius I forgot to mention, the way I capture a Q bird is with a mod that provides powerful darts, powerful enough that they can drop one or a Gigantasaurus with a single dart. Yes, some would call this cheating and you miss that sense of accomplishment. Did you read my Giga story? I now do this while riding a Griffin, using a rifle with dart equipped. Using vanilla darts it’s a long drawn out process, and can’t even guess how many darts it would take. And I gave up on trying to jump from an Argentavus onto one’s wings.

 

[Huntn]

Honestly I've not played ARK seriously in almost a year. I recently got a ViewSonic 4k Gaming Monitor, and while some games like Red Dead Redemption 2 look gorgeous, ARK it looking pretty rough. I've checked the resolution and have it up at 3840x2160 and graphic settings a mix of high to epic, and what I see is that in many cases not all of the textures paint in as they should, so a building will look ok, but the dino or the nearby rock next to the building has that pre-texture look, that in the past was there, but eventually went away in a short period of time.
Any thoughts on this? Is ARK able to handle a 4k display?
Thanks!

 

[Huntn]

After speaking with @Plutonius, I was inspired to go back and revisit ARK and my solo game I've been running since 2019. I found that the graphics looked better when taken down from Epic, to High on my 4K monitor. I think this is an issue with the ARK graphic Engine, it's just not as polished as Conan Exiles nor Fallout 4, but the Dinos are always cool.

I also found that at least one of my mods needed updating, so I switched from Automated Ark 2 (outdated) to Automated Ark 3 and to my happy surprise, it did not require me to run around all 10 of my bases and replace the wireless generators, the refrigerated feeding troughs and other conveniences associated with this mod. With AA2, there were ugly range circles showing the coverage of the feeding troughs.

For anyone who's interested here is my 202 Mod List. Now note, in a solo game, especially with Admin Privileges, you may not need or want all of these, but I really like having Wireless generators so I'm not having to run wiring anywhere.

Volcano (Map) Chateau Lower Bird House, Upper Under Construction

Volcano (Map) Chataeu Upper​

Huntn's June 2020 Mod List

• Advanced Rafts
• ARK Alter
• AutomatedArk 3 Core
• AutomatedArk 3 Power Generation
• AutomatedArk 3 Kitchen
• AutomatedArk 3 Garden
• Baby Premium Care
• Castles, Keeps, and Forts Medieval Architecture
• Death Recovery Mode
• Dino Tracker Classic
• Glass Metal
• HG Stacking Mod 10000-90 V287.4
• KRY Wardrobes
• Immersive Training- Outstanding training mod, which seems more realistic than the knock them out and then feed them until they love you.
• MRRadtools.INC Content Pack- Outstanding walls.
• Ship Cargo Decore
• Super Spyglass (Open Source)
• Eco’s Garden Decore
• Eco’s Rp Decore
• Eco’s Stable Structures and Decore
• Eco’s Terrariums
• Eco Trees (added 5Oct18)
• More Narcotics & MoreTranq-Arrpws Combined V3.0- Super Tranq Darts and arrows.

 

[maflynn]

Interesting news regarding ARK - It seems to have upset their user base.
In short

• Ark 2 is being delayed
• Ark 1 is being remastered
• Publisher promised back in January that the remaster was going to be free
• Publisher is now saying the remastered is going to be 50 bucks on PC/Xbox and 40 bucks for PS5
• Ark 1 non-remastered is being killed including their servers

Basically if you play ARK, you have to re-buy the game you already own

[UPDATED – Official Reply] ARK Community Is Livid After Broken Promise of Free UE5 Remaster for Existing Users

 

[Huntn]

Interesting news regarding ARK - It seems to have upset their user base.
In short

• Ark 2 is being delayed
• Ark 1 is being remastered
• Publisher promised back in January that the remaster was going to be free
• Publisher is now saying the remastered is going to be 50 bucks on PC/Xbox and 40 bucks for PS5
• Ark 1 non-remastered is being killed including their servers

Basically if you play ARK, you have to re-buy the game you already own

[UPDATED – Official Reply] ARK Community Is Livid After Broken Promise of Free UE5 Remaster for Existing Users

I’ll assume you could still play Ark1 as your solo game? If I was to return to it, this is how I would play it. However, as I previously mentioned it does look rough on my 4K monitor. No way in hell will I play $50 for a remastered version considering I originally purchased it early access for $20. This is chicken **** on their part, screw’m. 😐

 

[maflynn]

I’ll assume you could still play Ark1 as your solo game?

I'm not sure, I was wondering that myself.

 

[Huntn]

I'm not sure, I was wondering that myself.

It will have to be tested, if I ever revisit it.