ARK: Survival Evolved

Rough edges and performance aside this is one of the most interesting games of recent times
 
I've been playing on a local private server - me and my boy. It's been fun and challenging to play with all vanilla settings. We're only now getting into the real mid-game of it, I'm level 53 and he's 45. Only recently did we have the resources to go into the snow biome for any reasonable amount of time and tame a pair of Mammoths.

Like I said, it's been fun- but I'm worried about end-game stagnation on this little server of ours. Can anyone recommend an online server to play on, or know of an [H] tribe?
 
What settings are you guys playing on to maximize eye candy and performance? This game has insanely bad performance or it is just incredibly good looking...I suspect it is a bit of both. For one, SLI is not supported...and at 1440p I still get around 30 FPS! My settings are below - any tips?


[click to enlarge]

EDIT: and I am using the "-USEALLAVAILABLECORES" launch option...it didn't change anything for me, performance-wise.
 
sk3tch said:
What settings are you guys playing on to maximize eye candy and performance? This game has insanely bad performance or it is just incredibly good looking...I suspect it is a bit of both. For one, SLI is not supported...and at 1440p I still get around 30 FPS! My settings are below - any tips?


[click to enlarge]

EDIT: and I am using the "-USEALLAVAILABLECORES" launch option...it didn't change anything for me, performance-wise.
Click to expand...



For good SLI feel free to try:

Nvidia Inspector with SLI bit 0x080000F1
 
schoenda said:
For good SLI feel free to try:

Nvidia Inspector with SLI bit 0x080000F1
Click to expand...

Thanks! That really did help. Although now it is foggier than I have ever seen before - is that a side effect or just "new" weather that I haven't seen in my 20 hours of play?

Also - do I change "SLI compatibility bits", "SLI compatibility bits (DX10 + DX11)", or "SLI compatibility bits (DX12)"? I assume the first one is universal and is what I should set. I set all 3.

EDIT: just tried only using that bit on "SLI compatibility bits" and SLI stopped working again. I'm guessing it's just "SLI compatibility bits (DX10 + DX11)" that needs it (for obvious reasons).

EDIT2: I can see why NVIDIA hasn't included SLI support for this game - there have been a few glitches here and there and although the fog is gone (must have been weather) - the performance does not seem to be much more than 20% better at the absolute best. Like 30 FPS to 35 FPS-type upgrade. I still appreciate the advice because now I am an NVIDIA Inspector user. I had never had a reason to use it (always knew about it but never bothered) - and now I've donated $$$ to the dude because this is really cool software!
 
Last edited:
I am glad you are enjoying ARK....I feel it is an underrated gem. You got the SLI bits figured out. I get noticeably smoother performance with SLI, but I do get some artifacting when looking at flames some times. Have not noticed other glitches.

I hope you have checked out the Steam workshop for ARK...like a million cool mods.
 
GOD'SlittleSERVANT said:
I put about 80 hours into ARK then got bored due to no one to play with.
Click to expand...

True, it does shine on a local server with a buddy PvE or "friendly" PvP...I have not played much on public servers...I think there are some 'bot' mods to make bot tribes to fight but I have no idea if they are any good. Anybody try those?
 
schoenda said:
True, it does shine on a local server with a buddy PvE or "friendly" PvP...I have not played much on public servers...I think there are some 'bot' mods to make bot tribes to fight but I have no idea if they are any good. Anybody try those?
Click to expand...

"Friendly" PVP is the way to go. Sure - sometimes you get raped and just have to start over - but sometimes you meet cool peeps and it is fun as hell, too. I can't imagine PVE. Too basic.
 
sk3tch said:
"Friendly" PVP is the way to go. Sure - sometimes you get raped and just have to start over - but sometimes you meet cool peeps and it is fun as hell, too. I can't imagine PVE. Too basic.
Click to expand...

Primitive tech only can make PvE cool...bunch of friends around a t-rex with spears...
 
schoenda said:
Primitive tech only can make PvE cool...bunch of friends around a t-rex with spears...
Click to expand...

That does sound cool.

I tried taming a dino yesterday, wow...what a time suck. Pop berries into it for hours. Ended up just killing it.
 
sk3tch said:
That does sound cool.

I tried taming a dino yesterday, wow...what a time suck. Pop berries into it for hours. Ended up just killing it.
Click to expand...
custom servers have different tame rates

sk3tch said:
What settings are you guys playing on to maximize eye candy and performance? This game has insanely bad performance or it is just incredibly good looking...I suspect it is a bit of both. For one, SLI is not supported...and at 1440p I still get around 30 FPS! My settings are below - any tips?


[click to enlarge]

EDIT: and I am using the "-USEALLAVAILABLECORES" launch option...it didn't change anything for me, performance-wise.
Click to expand...

I play on a single card and it rarely dips to 30fps

1440p, render scale 100%
everything on EPIC except

terrain shadows medium
general shadows high
view distance high

distance field AO off, motion blur off

ingame press tab to open console
type
'r.bloom 0'
'r.lightshafts 0'
 
Ieldra said:
custom servers have different tame rates



I play on a single card and it rarely dips to 30fps

1440p, render scale 100%
everything on EPIC except

terrain shadows medium
general shadows high
view distance high

distance field AO off, motion blur off

ingame press tab to open console
type
'r.bloom 0'
'r.lightshafts 0'
Click to expand...

Thank you, thank you. This is HUGE! Along with schoenda's SLI tip I now get around 70 FPS and it looks about the same.

RE: custom servers - my next guy will definitely be on a custom server. Now I am just on OfficialServer32 so it's vanilla.

 
sk3tch said:
Thank you, thank you. This is HUGE! Along with schoenda's SLI tip I now get around 70 FPS and it looks about the same.

RE: custom servers - my next guy will definitely be on a custom server. Now I am just on OfficialServer32 so it's vanilla.
Click to expand...

the biggest thing for IQ is making sure render scale is 100%, then if you want a huge performance boost turn of SSAO, but then the game looks a lot worse. You can also run it with no sky effects from steam


random but amusing, on one of the custom servers I met this tribe and they gave me a gift; a quetzal

so i started being an enormous troll, airlifting titanboas and dropping them inside people's buildings xD
 
Ieldra said:
random but amusing, on one of the custom servers I met this tribe and they gave me a gift; a quetzal

so i started being an enormous troll, airlifting titanboas and dropping them inside people's buildings xD
Click to expand...

That's so awesome. Exactly something I would do haha.

I had my first flight experience a couple of days ago when a high level dude dropped by to say hi. He took me to some mountains for some crystal so I could make a spyglass. I got a bit too greedy and ran off from him a bit and ended up getting killed by some high level insects. He felt bad so he gave me a bunch of gear including a pistol. Next day some dude named "THE INCREDIBLE HULK" who was level 200 just bowled over me and jacked my shit. Left my house alone though at least. Ah ARK. :)
 
sk3tch said:
That's so awesome. Exactly something I would do haha.

I had my first flight experience a couple of days ago when a high level dude dropped by to say hi. He took me to some mountains for some crystal so I could make a spyglass. I got a bit too greedy and ran off from him a bit and ended up getting killed by some high level insects. He felt bad so he gave me a bunch of gear including a pistol. Next day some dude named "THE INCREDIBLE HULK" who was level 200 just bowled over me and jacked my shit. Left my house alone though at least. Ah ARK. :)
Click to expand...

nothing beats the exhilaration of running away from a powerful dino with your friends, it's hilarious

the game is just tons of fun, hard to find a game that gives you such a sense of wonder and excitement nowadays

i got for 12$ with humple bundle
 
Another funny anecdote, I started playing on the global pvp severs.

I noticed almost all the English speaking players hated the Chinese.

Turns out Chinese players were super aggressive and had become infamous for their raids.

Turns out they all made black characters so they were camouflaged at night.

Me and my tribe ended up attacking black people on sight, assuming they were Chinese.

10/10 would be racist again xD
 
ha hilarious. i heard some rumblings about the Chinese on my server (OfficialServer32) - they seem to be pretty against them. the nature of PVP, I guess!!
 
Ieldra said:
Another funny anecdote, I started playing on the global pvp severs.

I noticed almost all the English speaking players hated the Chinese.

Turns out Chinese players were super aggressive and had become infamous for their raids.

Turns out they all made black characters so they were camouflaged at night.

Me and my tribe ended up attacking black people on sight, assuming they were Chinese.

10/10 would be racist again xD
Click to expand...

sk3tch said:
ha hilarious. i heard some rumblings about the Chinese on my server (OfficialServer32) - they seem to be pretty against them. the nature of PVP, I guess!!
Click to expand...

It's because a lot of the Chinese players were hackers. That is how the majority of the big Chinese tribes established themselves. I haven't played for a while so I don't know if hacking is still prevalent, but the Chinese tribes used just about every hack imaginable and ruined the game for everyone else. As the hacks were patched legitimate tribes were able to fight back. I haven't played for about a year now so I don't really know what the status of hacking is now, but they were making tons of improvements so I'm sure it isn't nearly as bad anymore.
 
Game is so cool...but I am so addicted. Like...getting worried addicted. It is so easy to pop in and play for like 2 minutes or 2 hours. You can even leave it running while you do other shit. It's the perfect game for a work from home guy like me but dangerous for my larger projects in terms of them getting done haha.
 
Some screenshots, please note I included the settings then forgot to separate the pictures associated to them. If you want advice for how to mess with settings to maximize performance and IQ hit me up
 
nice! ^

I'm just a level 22 so I like seeing all of those exotic locales. :)

I took down a level 76 Sarco! Combination of bow and arrow and circle strafing around my small fort (surrounded by spike walls in a pin wheel pattern so mobs get stuck heh heh).


[click to enlarge]
 
sk3tch said:
nice! ^

I'm just a level 22 so I like seeing all of those exotic locales. :)

I took down a level 76 Sarco! Combination of bow and arrow and circle strafing around my small fort (surrounded by spike walls in a pin wheel pattern so mobs get stuck heh heh).


[click to enlarge]
Click to expand...

that bloom is too strong :p

add me on steam, same user and picture as here, i can join you
 
Ieldra said:
that bloom is too strong :p

add me on steam, same user and picture as here, i can join you
Click to expand...

done! i'm on OfficialServer32 - just formed a tribe with my buddy kstyle - we are ">:eek:" (the old AIM angry icon).
 
Sketch, you guys recruiting? I'll start playing again if you guys are just starting out. I'm "demgainz" on steam, add me.
 
Guys who don't we all pick an unofficial server, faster taming, resource collection, xp etc
 
Sounds good to me... I am pretty noob...

I am central time zone, Chicago / Comcast - cable internet / good ping
 
I'm 100% down with that. Everyone add me on Steam and we can talk on there and find a server.

I'm not noob at building and gathering and taming, etc.. but I'm pretty noob at raiding.
 
So does anyone know if this game supports SLI yet? I want to play in 4K but I'm not going to purchase if only one card is working...
 
Only 1 titan X ? HAHAHAHA...

I ran on R9-280's 3GB's crossfire just fine, but now I'm using a R9-390 8GB just fine

EDIT - oops, I am only running 1920x1080
 
I'm thinking about buying this and hosting on my home lab east coast, fios 100 meg, should be good if you guys want to start out with me.
 
sounds great, i am considering renting a server myself if i can get a decent group of regulars to play. I really don't like the xp curve on official servers, way too slow. I've been playing on 5-10x tame/xp/resource servers and it makes it much less dull
 
We are on server Bunn3h's(blah, blah, blah) @ zone WEST 1 then head up the beach & keep the water on your left
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top