Talk: ARK Survival Evolved Wiki

Spawn-/Config-Commands

Wouldn't it be way more convenient to have all game.ini commands on each of the corresponding item pages? Like, for meat, the commands to spawn it and to change it's spoil timer. It would just save anyone lots of time going back and forth between pages. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.133.24.80 (talk • contribs) at 10:03, 10 January 2016‎ (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

Can you explain more why do you need to go back and forth between pages now? I'd say it is more convenient to have it all on one page, but I never configured the game.ini, so I might miss something. --Cadaeib (talk) 11:10, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

Because now you read an article about a page, then you have to go to the commands page, search the right command,... and so on. If the commands were on the page already, this wouldn't be necessary. And since specific commands apply to specific items/aminals/... it would make total sence to have them as well on the pages for these specific items/animals/... linked to the commands page as well as the other way around. Well, since you never configured the game.ini you simply might not be able to relate to the issue. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.133.24.80 (talk • contribs) at 13:29, 11 January 2016 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

Just to be clear, are you referring to the Commands- and Entity IDs-pages (to execute commands ingame in the console to spawn items or dinos) or the game.ini-page (to configure server-settings before the server is started to adjust gathering rates, taming-times etc)?

For both tasks there are tools, that make the handling easier. To get the console commands try this consoleCommands-Tool, to create a game.ini try this online-generator or use the ARK Server Manager to setup your server. Don't forget to sign your entries.--Cadaeib (talk) 14:08, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

I'm talking about both; and in my case single player, not multiplayer. Hence, the Server Manager doesn't apply. The online generator is very incomplete and far from up to date, similar to the command tool. But in general it shouldn't matter if IDs, console or game.ini commands (as mentioned - maybe not that clearly, I have to admit - in my first two sentences 2 days ago). All of them should be on the pages, basic commands should be added for users to copy/paste/modify on every page as wikis are mostly for those not already knowing everything or how to do everything and they should be convenient to use. (And yes, from what I saw IDs are mostly already integrated.) The simple fact that there are some tools out there which give some commands can't be a reason to not have it on the sub pages of this wiki. Otherwise one could argue that all the information here is somewhere else too which would make this whole wiki redundant as well. Anyways, as mentioned before, item/animal/... pages should contain ALL corresponding available information - which includes commands and IDs. My entries are signed with my IP.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.133.24.80 (talk • contribs) at 14:54, 12 January 2016‎ (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

The signing is done by me until now, it would be helpful if you do it yourself with just --~~~~. The command tool should contain all items and creatures up to now (if not, let me know), the commands can also be added like you wish, I find it easier to get the commands with the tool instead of searching the wiki-pages. What commands do you suggest to put on the specific pages then, the GiveItem(Num) and the SpawnDino-commands?--Cadaeib (talk) 19:13, 12 January 2016 (UTC)

Do you mean, for example, that the Procoptodon page should include /summon Procoptodon_character_bp_c and /spawndino "Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/Dinos/Procoptodon/Procoptodon_Character_BP.Procoptodon_Character_BP'" 1 1 1 1 - the commands relevant to that creature (and a similar format for items)?
-- Mr Pie 5 (talk) 20:33, 12 January 2016 (UTC)

@Cadaeib I've just checked the tool for the electric prod - it's missing. Just as an example. BTT: Sure, the tool is handy and nice to use but as said before, no tool or other website can make any information on a wiki page redunant; that would negate the raison d'être of any wiki. Ok, say a new animal/item is added to the game. One can come to the wiki, read up all the information known about it and spawn one right into their single player game when the command is right there to be copied, without having to go through the wiki search, finding the commands/itemID page, then the right line and so on. Therefore @Mr Pie 5 yes, all available GiveItem, SpawnDino, whatever else... commands (since e.g. one gives only random animals/item while others can be set to what level the animal/item should have). Also the commands for the ini files to e.g. replace this new Dino with another one, the command to replace another Dino with this new one, or in case of e.g. saddles, the command for the build limit and in case of food the command for the spoil limit. All of the commands available to manipulate the game by either spawning or adjusting things should be right there, ready to use, on the pages. --88.133.24.80 08:11, 13 January 2016 (UTC)

The spawn-commands are worked on. I don't see the advantage of the commands for the ini-files etc. If someone wants to change these settings, the best place is to look them all up on the game.ini-page etc. The problem with duplicate information is, that if one version gets outdated the information differs and people then get confused. It's better to link to one place where all the info is. That's just my opinion, though. If you feel all the info should be on these pages, feel free to add them, it's a wiki anybody can edit.--Cadaeib (talk) 16:21, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

You're right about your considerations of outdated information. But the information about ini file commands and editing is highly clusterd all over the steam/other ARK forums and this wiki only contains the default values. There's no information on the page in regards of e.g. changing spoil timers, mating timers,... . So, in some cases (if not all) it still makes quite a lot of sense having that information on the wiki pages. Or - if the game.ini page was more useful - a link to the specific information on that. Sure, I know everyone can edit wiki pages and if I had more time at hand, I'd definitely do it - but spare time is quite sparse. Thanks for adding the spawn commands!--88.133.24.80 17:14, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Main Page

Edit request: Please, for the love of all that is holy, add an "under" to the heavy development disclaimer in the first box. It has driven me insane long enough for me to create an account to ask. --Erydu (talk) 22:57, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Fixed, sorry about that, Welcome and glad to have you around! --Z3ther (talk) 12:33, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Anyone think there are some really good/important pages that editors have formatted really nice that should be on the front page? --Z3ther (talk) 20:21, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

I would like to see the page Beacons added to the front page. --SharpShot gif (talk) 13:41, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

Looks good, I'll add it as soon as I can make or find an icon for it. --Z3ther (talk) 12:50, 1 July 2015 (UTC)

Hey does anyone else notice that the main page doesn't fit on the screen?

fits fine on my screen and tablet what screen resolution are you using and what zoom are you on? (Default is 100%) --SharpShot gif (talk) 18:48, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

Can we get the Dedicated Server Setup page added to the front page.. it's really hard to search for. Maybe at the bottom of the Ark Features of the main page, add "Host your own dedicated server."

Added! Thanks.. --Z3ther (talk) 09:57, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

Edit request: Can you please add Leveling to Quick Game Basics? --Tyvic (talk) 10:30, 25 June, 2016 (EST)

Shouldn't we try to add in the Giant Bee dossier into Section 3 at least? Robongio (talk) 19:00, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, I updated that section. --Cadaeib (talk) 19:20, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

Excellent. Oh! And by the way, maybe we should add the finished Sheep into "Recently Revealed Dino Dossiers" as well right? Robongio (talk) 20:55, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

Unable to Upload

I have uploaded my survivor to the ark unnoficial servers, it worked when i joined a friends ark. then i uploaded him again to use on my local ark. which all worked fine, now when i logged back on tonight i cannot get my original survivor. how can he work one day then not the next. i've lost all my data now and cant use my animals or house! this is very annoying. Does anyone have advice? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jaryd44 (talk • contribs) at 7:35, August 26, 2015 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

I never play online, so I'm not sure how the whole uploading/downloading of survivors works. When you start up your singleplayer game, there is one option in the menu called "allow content downloads" or something like that. You may need to check that box. Although you said that you had successfully re-uploaded him to your singleplayer world already, so you probably already tried that. For future reference, it's a good idea to keep multiple backups of both your survivor and your world. It's kept me from losing a lot of work on more than one occasion. --Mr Pie 5 (talk) 14:02, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

"Survival At Its Finest"!

"Survival At Its Finest", not "Survival At It's Finest". --Agamemnus1 (talk) 07:15, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

You are correct. I'll get it fixed. --Mr Pie 5 (talk) 08:30, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

Where did engrams go?

I've taken a extended hiatus from the game(and wik), back then the engrams page was linked from the front page of the wiki, I'm curious as to why it isn't anymore? Surely it's one of the most if not the most important part of the game? Alex42000 (talk) 11:40, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

It was replaced when Breeding was introduced. I personally never looked that page up, but I understand your point. I'll add it to the "ARK Game Features" section, so you can access with one click from the main-page. Do you think there is a page less important as Engrams in the "Quick Game Basics" section? Or that it should be extended? --Cadaeib (talk) 14:28, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

If i was to guess at the least important page on the quick game basics section, i would say it's cooking. However all of them are important, so i guess extending it would be the best move. Possibly we could also introduce more sections, such as a resources page, cave link etc etc. --Alex42000 (talk) 09:26, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

I also think Resources can be listed as that is what brought me to the Wiki origionally --DasGoudvis (talk) 09:45, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

Just add the Basilosaurus Dossier to "Recently Revealed Dino Dossiers" please! R.T Robongio (talk) 08:11, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

Suggestion to reorganize start page boxes

In my opinion the "Quick Game Basics" are currently much too far aside in the lower part. I thought about a better place and so I'd like to suggest the following arrangement, because I think that similar parts are more together at one place/column this way.

Left column (gameplay info)

• Welcome ...
• What is Ark ...?
• ARK Game Features
• Quick Game Basics
• Survival At Its Finest

ARK Game Features and Survival At Its Finest can maybe rewritten and united into one box.

Center column (extensions)

• The ARK Wiki Community
• DLC: The Center
• DLC: Primitive Plus added
• Survival of the Fittest
• Primal Survival and other game modes in the future

The ARK Wiki Community is maybe still displaced in the middle column, which is primarily dedicated to DLCs and Game Modes, but I think it should still have this / a top place anyway.

Right column (news and other recent information)

• Official Tweets
• Current Patch Notes
• Recently Released Creatures
• Recently Revealed Dino Dossiers

What do you think? (I know, I didn't mention the 1 and 2 columns layouts for smaller screens.)

Flachdachs (talk) 10:25, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

The problem I see with that is that the Patch Notes sections can either be really long or really short, so having them all together could throw off page layout. This is especially true for smaller-resolution users, who will only have two columns, with 2 and 3 merged together. Maybe Quick Game Basics and Survival at its Finest could be moved to where DLC: The Center is now, and The Center could be moved to somewhere in the right column, which seems a little short of space?
-- Mr Pie 5 (talk) 06:09, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

Yes, the length of boxes is a problem. But this is already the case with the patch notes for SotF. I think, nobody needs the whole patch notes on the start page. Although most of the time you will see only a short note about the recent hotfix version. This problem can be solved with a "... → read more". Essentially only some meta data about the version and a note if you have to update your server would be sufficient as information on the start page.

If the intention was to tell which (major) things are new in this version, then the patch notes as implemented now don't satisfy this. This information is only available for some hours (or sometimes minutes) after version x.0 came out, and major an minor things are mixed and make the list long. Then it will be replaced too soon by mostly error correction info. Maybe the former list of upcoming features reduced by the things that didn't made it into the current version would be the better information for the start page. Flachdachs (talk) 07:47, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

Dinosaur Rarity

Would it be a good idea to have a page that states how the dino rarity is determined? i.e. rare is 4 different seen in a single area, common is 10 and so on and so forth.— Preceding unsigned comment added by TheSk8rJesus (talk • contribs) at 13:43, 2 September, 2016. Please sign your posts with ~~~~

I wish I could say that we had a standard method for determining rarity. It's really just a matter of "wow, Diplos seem really rare around here" or "I'm surrounded by dodos here".
-- Mr Pie 5 (talk) 15:11, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

The only objective data source is the devkit. Until someone found out how to extract these data from there we only have the subjective data, falsified by wrong observations due to spawn errors. --Flachdachs (talk) 17:14, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

Simple Question

Should we add this image to "Recently Revealed Dino Dossiers" or not? Robongio (talk) 06:34, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

Done. --Flachdachs (talk) 07:30, 7 July 2017 (UTC)