Ark: Survival Evolved

[Ketchup]

So is anybody still playing this? We got it for my son a while ago. He likes it, but goes through spells. It just did an update yesterday and it runs horribly slow (framerate). I have turned down just about everything I can find, but no change. I am hoping it's just a temporary thing. I know my 660 is getting a little long in the tooth, but it shouldn't be this bad.

 

[Newbian]

Last I had checked this game is very unoptimized so you will need a beefy system.

I never got into it as much but do play rust at times and that runs a bit easier although it's more pvp while ark is a lot more pve.

 

[Ketchup]

Last I had checked this game is very unoptimized so you will need a beefy system.

I never got into it as much but do play rust at times and that runs a bit easier although it's more pvp while ark is a lot more pve.

It ws either the area or something just that day because he played some last night and everything was back to normal.

 

[Smoblikat]

It ws either the area or something just that day because he played some last night and everything was back to normal.

Ive gone through 3 computers trying to make this game happy, and from what ive seen it needs more VRAM and system RAM than anything else. Had an old AMD X6 and a pair of 560Ti's that were barely playable (VRAM always pegged) even when walking on the beach facing down. So after struggling with that for a few weeks I threw in a GTX 680 and things got much more tolerable. It still tops out at around 45 - 50fps on the beach and VRAM is always at least 1900mb, but its the minimum card you should be using to try and play this game. Then I took that same GTX680 and put it in a "new" IVB I5 machine and doubled the system RAM, from 16gb to 32gb. The game was slightly more smooth but the added CPU power didnt really seem to make a big difference, VRAM was still always maxed and GPU usage stayed at 95 - 99% in the more inland/woods areas. Then I rebuilt my old I7 3770K rig. Put 32gb of RAM in that and an HD7970. Right now with a 4.3ghz I7, 32gb DDR3 1600, and an HD7970 I am able to comfortably play the game on a mix of medium/high settings @ 1080P. VRAM was holding steady at 3000mb until I turned textures and AA down to medium (both were on high) and now it hovers around the 2700mb - 2800mb mark for most of the game. Dont even bother playing this game if you have less than 16gb of system memory, I tried running 8, 10, 12, and 14gb and I would always get that popup that says "Your system is low on memory please blah blah blah pay us, <3 M$", so I recommend 16gb for singgleplayer and at least 32 if you want to host a private server for you and a couple friends.

The moral of this rant is that you will always need more RAM when playing this game. I started off with 8gb system memory with a perfectly good X6 1090T and a pair of trusty 560's, and ended up needing a system 4X that powerful just to hold 35 - 40fps average. THis game needs serious optimization work, but is otherwise very fun. Just stick to the beaches and use low settings if your PC cant handle it, its not worth the frustration of watching a dino slideshow.

 

[TheELF]

Never had a problem with 8Gb sysmem in this game,as you can see in process hacker private bytes is at about 6,5Gb that's what the game needs,maybe it's because of the lowish settings but still it runs without any probs.
Graphics is what really is badly optimized,you get way worse quality with the same card as in other games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSNKK5alXc8

 

[Ketchup]

Never had a problem with 8Gb sysmem in this game,as you can see in process hacker private bytes is at about 6,5Gb that's what the game needs,maybe it's because of the lowish settings but still it runs without any probs.
Graphics is what really is badly optimized,you get way worse quality with the same card as in other games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSNKK5alXc8

I agree with both of you, I think it's the VRAM. The 2 GB in my 660 just isn't cutting it. If I see a 6 GB GTX 1060 this year, it might be enough to push me to upgrade.

 

[Smoblikat]

I agree with both of you, I think it's the VRAM. The 2 GB in my 660 just isn't cutting it. If I see a 6 GB GTX 1060 this year, it might be enough to push me to upgrade.

I almost pulled the trigger on a nice 290X 8gb, but after reading posts online, even the current high end cards cant get a stable 60fps on high/epic settings @ 1080P, so I dont think just throwing better hardware at it is really solving the issue. I plan on waiting until the devs address the lack of optimization before deciding what GPU (if any) I need. Because my current rig barely bats an eye at every other game fully maxed out, even GTAV/Skyrim with all those nice visual mods, so I expect that once they put some effort into making the game run efficiently most of our problems will be solved.

One thing I can say for certain is that the game is generally not CPU limited in any way, I ran it on an AMD X4, X6; intel I3, I5, and I7 and the only one that seemed to be slightly upset was the X4, but it was clocked low, I bet bumping it up to 3.5 would have solved the issue entirely.

 

[IGemini]

Been getting into ARK over the past month. I play on a server with a few friends, only uses a 2.5x taming modifier. We even tamed a Giganotosaurus last week, though we don't have anyone with the level to make a saddle yet.

The engine still needs a lot of work. I run the game at (mostly) high settings on my GTX 980 and maintain 30-50 FPS depending on the environment. Lowering the ground clutter setting helps a lot, but I like how it looks at half. Most of the slowdown I get is actually from server-side load. It's also the only game that constantly taxes almost all 16GB RAM on my setup. The devs have a DX12 update in the pipeline that they claim will boost performance by at least 20%, but no ETA.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Been thinking about getting this. Has there been any major improvements? I noticed it's still in early access and it's been in early access for a long time. Any end in sight? Does this game go on sale? I see they already have an expansion out for $20, but the base game isn't even fully developed (what kind of bullshit is that?).

 

[Rifter]

Ive been watching it for a long time but honestly it seems like one of those EA scams where they are trying to milk it for all its worth without ever releasing the full game. Hopefully im wrong.

 

[nerp]

Good writeup in PC gamer this month.

 

[pontifex]

i want to get into these types of games but without a group of people to play with you are going to be screwed by people who do play in groups. they all end up being straight up pvp or gank fests. you'll never get anywhere alone.

 

[HumblePie]

i want to get into these types of games but without a group of people to play with you are going to be screwed by people who do play in groups. they all end up being straight up pvp or gank fests. you'll never get anywhere alone.

If you play an official pvp server solo then you are not going to have fun.

that said, even the official servers aren't fun for me. When taming time on some animals is measured in days, it is impossible to do some of the content solo because of that. Then the breeding that takes days too is another annoyance.

Most people play on unofficial servers where the timers have been tweaked a bit for everything. Now some things aren't fun when they are way too fast, but anywhere from 3x to 10x taming speeds is fine for most people and for anyone solo. Faster just feels to monte hall easy to me.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Well with any game like this it's good to have a group and it's not hard to find a group. Visit the Steam discussions and ask or join one of the countless Ark groups and ask there. A friend bought it for me last night after they saw me make this thread, and I spent about five minutes being killed by two level 12 spitting dinosaurs on the beach where I spawned. Made a new character and died to a level 11 dinosaur five feet off the beach.

 

[OCNewbie]

Friends of mine have been playing this for close to a year now (I'm the OP of this thread). I finally gave this game a real shot about a month ago, and I am thoroughly enjoying it, and that's with my playtime being 95+% single-player. It's true that, especially for single-player, or small, private or unofficial servers, the default tame speeds, gathering rates, etc., are way too low/slow (in my opinion). I think they make sense when trying to balance multiple large tribes competing for dominance over the Island though.

This game looks amazing with Epic settings; it's the best-looking game I've personally ever played. The Island feels really alive, with all the random carnivore/predator dinos preying on the herbivores. Why opinion used to be about this game that, "Dinosaurs don't really interest me much, so I doubt I'd like this game." I'm not sure if I can explain what's changed, other than to say that, even single-player, this game is MUCH more than that. It has a really well-done feeling of progression, and a steady increase in power. Once you get to level 35, and have access to the Pteranodon mount, the game totally changes. You can now truly explore this immense island/world (there are multiple maps available, but one "default" map).

If you love exploration, insanely-good graphics (just have a really stout computer, GTX 980/1060 or better recommended, even for 1080p), and a nice combo of power progression, building, and an ever-present feeling of danger and risk, with rewards to follow, I think you'll love this game, regardless of your opinion or interests in dinosaurs (I think dinos are much cooler now, however).

 

[HumblePie]

Hey my guide got a like! guess it finally helped someone out.

 

[ginfest]

That was me
I read this post earlier and went out and got the game. Appreciate the info in your guide and the time it took to compile all that data.
Going to start it up for the first time shortly.

 

[HumblePie]

That was me
I read this post earlier and went out and got the game. Appreciate the info in your guide and the time it took to compile all that data.
Going to start it up for the first time shortly.

It's a basics "starting" guide. There are some new mechanics they recently added that make the early game easier such as the addition of Bolo's. Those bolo's allow you to lock down smaller targets so you can tame them easier. It makes taming Pteranodons much easier early on. Being on a Pteranodon is literally game changing.

 

[Stg-Flame]

It's a basics "starting" guide. There are some new mechanics they recently added that make the early game easier such as the addition of Bolo's. Those bolo's allow you to lock down smaller targets so you can tame them easier. It makes taming Pteranodons much easier early on. Being on a Pteranodon is literally game changing.

Especially when you hit level 10/15 and can start farming storage caches. You know, until you get brave and try for that yellow-ringed green supply cache sitting in the middle of the swamps and end up getting dragged off by some crocodile-looking lizard and losing everything you've found in the last 20 minutes.

 

[ginfest]

Well, I'm into the game and I like it. But boy do I die a lot! I'm going to have play a lot more cautiously than I'm used to.
Wish there was better indicator for which dinos want to make me a meal! Seems like they don't "light" until I am right on top of them and by then it's too late!
And those friggin Titanboas and Crocs. Jeeze

 

[HumblePie]

Well, I'm into the game and I like it. But boy do I die a lot! I'm going to have play a lot more cautiously than I'm used to.
Wish there was better indicator for which dinos want to make me a meal! Seems like they don't "light" until I am right on top of them and by then it's too late!
And those friggin Titanboas and Crocs. Jeeze

Stay AWAY from the swamp until you know what you are doing. Which basically means that until you can tame and ride an Argy, I wouldn't bother going anywhere near the "danger" zones on the map.