Dedicated Server issues are being ignored

[SaltyMonkey]

On 11/9/2018 at 1:02 AM, Luke3107 said:

Yeah, this happens to us too and we kinda just accept it as a result of the internet break. However the server will close off even if the connection is completely uninterrupted, which it is 99% of the time.

Sounds pretty much par for the course then.


Thanks again both of you! ?

Back when I hosted on console, I noticed the Xbox system updates would break my servers a lot, making them unjoinable. Something to maybe consider.

[drunkninja69]

having all the same issues as stated but now after the last update and buying yes i spent money like a sucker knowing this game is broke! now i cant even load up my dedi server without deleting save data! on my old xbox one i might add but all is fine on the xbox one x, have they screwed the people using the old xbox one??‍♂️

[Luke3107]

On 11/11/2018 at 2:55 AM, SaltyMonkey said:

Back when I hosted on console, I noticed the Xbox system updates would break my servers a lot, making them unjoinable. Something to maybe consider.

We had issues before any updates happened, and while they did ebb and flow in frequency I don't know if I could attribute that to the updates that did happen.

On 11/17/2018 at 10:48 PM, drunkninja69 said:

having all the same issues as stated but now after the last update and buying yes i spent money like a sucker knowing this game is broke! now i cant even load up my dedi server without deleting save data! on my old xbox one i might add but all is fine on the xbox one x, have they screwed the people using the old xbox one??‍♂️

We have since purchased and downloaded the Extinction DLC (suckers, I know...), and the server ran fine while the host and his partner played it. They were in the same house, and the enitre two days before myself and my own partner were able to join the server was constantly joinable. So I'm wondering if there's a possibility this is a region thing. So here's the new facts:

Host and his partner game in same house, using same internet connection as the Dedicated Server PC used to host the game. They're based in the US.
Myself and my partner also game in the same house as each other, however we are based in the UK.
Other members of the (old*) server are UK based, from roughly the same part of the UK (the UK based members all know each other in real life), all of whom play from different homes.

*(Old server members played on the Ragnarok Map before the aforementioned server wipe, they intend to join the Extinction Server but haven't yet)

I guess the digging continues, but I'm glad people are weighing in on this. If you know anyone else who has experienced the same (or similar) issues, please direct them here. The more we push this the more likely we are to get an answer.

[Luke3107]

So, update on the problem:

We have been playing solidly for about 2-3 weeks on Extinction (XB1) and found that the server consistently closes itself off when the host attempts to join the game. It still becomes unjoinable for no reason anyway, (be it because Saturn had a temper tantrum or maybe next doors baby is hungry), meaning that usually by the time I get back online the day after logging off, I have to get a server refresh. There has been occasions where no refresh is required for someone to get onto the server, (There's currently 6 of us in total now) however as mentioned, whenever the host gets home from work and decides to hop on we all brace ourselves for the inevitable chant of "Get somewhere safe, I need to refresh the server" (Basically the server motto at this point).

I'm still yet to find, hear, see, or recieve through celestial messaging, ANY acknowledgement from an official source that this issue is known. I don't think my singular problem deserves any more attention than anothers, however my research has informed me that this is a widespread issue that NEEDS some acknowledgement. It boggles the mind that an issue like this hasn't been discussed or looked into. I mean, what do we do if the Host goes on holiday? We can't very well expect them to refresh the server at our every whim while they put their feet up in the Bahamas,and sip a Pina Colada, can we? Yes, obviously we can play other games, but that should be a choice not a necessity.

Oh, also the Tekgram from OSDs doesn't allow us to make TekReplicators anywhere, be it at Titan Terminals, other OSDs, Loot Crates, Fabricators, Your mums purse... So umm... Yeah... More admin codes were needed for us to progress on Extinction. I'm sure our host would HAPPILY accept an hourly rate for running a server though? It is getting to be a second full time job after all lol.

[otoha0309]

So now they just don't give a crap

Ignore us complaining about this problem for literally years. Wait till it dies down then apparently shut down dedicated servers entirely

Apparently my tin foil hat game is strong. Because they've ignored the original post issue, and now with the most recent patch private dedicated servers have been shut down entirely.

But we're supposed to believe they AREN'T forcing us to rent Nitrado servers? This will not stand. I've paid this poop developer way too much money already

[Luke3107]

So yeah, basically now the privately hosted servers have been broken further with the latest patch.

Aside from the unjoinable state bug that keeps returning, this update has caused the hosts client to crash upon trying to start up the server. There doesn't appear to be a fix that we can find, as other people encountering the issue seem to have all resorted to starting from fresh saves. Something we are unwilling to do owing to the work we have put into our progress so far.

So with this latest patch, our Server has been shut down.

I await patiently for any news from Wildcard on whether a fix is in the works, but I am also waiting patiently for the second coming of Christ and my belief it will happen is at roughly the same level too.

[Juggernaut]

25 minutes ago, Luke3107 said:

So yeah, basically now the privately hosted servers have been broken further with the latest patch.

Aside from the unjoinable state bug that keeps returning, this update has caused the hosts client to crash upon trying to start up the server. There doesn't appear to be a fix that we can find, as other people encountering the issue seem to have all resorted to starting from fresh saves. Something we are unwilling to do owing to the work we have put into our progress so far.

So with this latest patch, our Server has been shut down.

I await patiently for any news from Wildcard on whether a fix is in the works, but I am also waiting patiently for the second coming of Christ and my belief it will happen is at roughly the same level too.

Devs said they looking into the issue, no ETA.

[Luke3107]

7 hours ago, Juggernaut said:

Devs said they looking into the issue, no ETA.

Awesome! To be clear, which issue?

Any chance of a link to the statement?

[Juggernaut]

There is a 50mb update right now for windows store version. 1.27.780.2, I was able to launch the server again. Yay!

[Luke3107]

On 12/13/2018 at 11:32 AM, Juggernaut said:

There is a 50mb update right now for windows store version. 1.27.780.2, I was able to launch the server again. Yay!

Well that was a turn up for the books, that issue got fixed rather quickly (for us at least).

That said, still nothing about the unjoinable state which is unfortunate. But I'm Scottish, so I know how to complain, and I can keep it up for incredibly long periods of time. Just ask the 2 or 3 people who can still tolerate me...

[Luke3107]

So I hear rumour that thre's been a similar unjoinable issue happening to official servers.

Out of curiosity (since I can't find anything) have Wildcard mentioned anything about the fix hopefully resolving the issue for private servers or is it wishful thinking?

[Juggernaut]

27 minutes ago, Luke3107 said:

So I hear rumour that thre's been a similar unjoinable issue happening to official servers.

Out of curiosity (since I can't find anything) have Wildcard mentioned anything about the fix hopefully resolving the issue for private servers or is it wishful thinking?

That was because they were performing maintenance and it was taking longer than normal. 

[Luke3107]

On 12/22/2018 at 2:23 PM, Juggernaut said:

That was because they were performing maintenance and it was taking longer than normal. 

So, wishful thinking based on a misinformed rumour... Back to the soapbox I guess. Cheers though.

[Luke3107]

Soo... In my futile attempts to be noticed and validated I'm posting another update to the condition of this issue.

It's now gone from unbearable nuisance, to colossal pain in the rear.

Not on its own mind you, but unfortunately whatever Wildcard had hoped to achieve with its most recent update has simply made other aspects of the game worse. From minor things like animals turning into polygons rather than HD Models (or Arks somewhat blurry version of HD...), to my home base completely failing to load in for 30-60 seconds when I land near it. However the biggest problem is the frequent crashing of the game, seemingly for no reason, like an angry mother who has concluded her child has been glued to the screen for too long and simply yanked the plug out. This was something that would happen to one or two members of our server, maybe once or twice a week on a bad week. Now, I'm lucky if I can complete two hours of game time without crashing to the Xbox Dashboard 3 or 4 times. No time out/ server crash/ error message of any kind, just... *blip*... dashboard. While myself and my partner get it the worst out of all members, (averaging 5-6 crashes each over the course of a few hours), we aren't the only ones who get it, as other server members are also crashing for no apparent reason several times a day.

Technically this crashing is a new issue, and as such probably should be in its own topic/thread. But it ties directly into the constant need to refresh the server for people to join. Two weeks ago, we were getting by on 2 or 3 refreshes a day if everyone joined at seperate times. On good days we only had one refresh in a 24 hour period that occured when the server host attempted to join the session and the server would lock everyone out of joining (see previous posts). But now with the frequent crashing, we're lucky to get anything done over a 3 hour period because the joinable state seems to lock out the person who crashed.

This is a serious issue for us as Boss Fights are a no go, since anyone could literally cease participating for no reason at any time, through no fault or choice of their own. Orbital Supply Drops are magnitudes more risky given that air support could literally drop out of the sky at any instant leaving the Pteras to pound the shields/drop itself completely unimpeded. This, in turn, means members need to either fight with a man down, or log out and back in while hoping they don't get killed during the downtime. Soloing drops, as a direct result, is inadvisable, (Actually, so is leaving home base altogether, since even flying over a single aggresive dino is potentially a death warrant).

There's a "Big optimisation update" due on the 15th apparently. Although frankly, any game that still needs optimising this long after release is probably beyond help. The game is fun. There's something special and satisfying about taming your first Giga, fighting your first Alpha, or even just building a fully self sufficient base with a friend or a few. It's just woefully unfortunate that Ark seems plagued by really intrusive problems that directly affect any, and all game play aspects.

[Level4Gaming]

On 1/6/2019 at 3:05 PM, Luke3107 said:

Soo... In my futile attempts to be noticed and validated I'm posting another update to the condition of this issue.

It's now gone from unbearable nuisance, to colossal pain in the rear.

Not on its own mind you, but unfortunately whatever Wildcard had hoped to achieve with its most recent update has simply made other aspects of the game worse. From minor things like animals turning into polygons rather than HD Models (or Arks somewhat blurry version of HD...), to my home base completely failing to load in for 30-60 seconds when I land near it. However the biggest problem is the frequent crashing of the game, seemingly for no reason, like an angry mother who has concluded her child has been glued to the screen for too long and simply yanked the plug out. This was something that would happen to one or two members of our server, maybe once or twice a week on a bad week. Now, I'm lucky if I can complete two hours of game time without crashing to the Xbox Dashboard 3 or 4 times. No time out/ server crash/ error message of any kind, just... *blip*... dashboard. While myself and my partner get it the worst out of all members, (averaging 5-6 crashes each over the course of a few hours), we aren't the only ones who get it, as other server members are also crashing for no apparent reason several times a day.

Technically this crashing is a new issue, and as such probably should be in its own topic/thread. But it ties directly into the constant need to refresh the server for people to join. Two weeks ago, we were getting by on 2 or 3 refreshes a day if everyone joined at seperate times. On good days we only had one refresh in a 24 hour period that occured when the server host attempted to join the session and the server would lock everyone out of joining (see previous posts). But now with the frequent crashing, we're lucky to get anything done over a 3 hour period because the joinable state seems to lock out the person who crashed.

This is a serious issue for us as Boss Fights are a no go, since anyone could literally cease participating for no reason at any time, through no fault or choice of their own. Orbital Supply Drops are magnitudes more risky given that air support could literally drop out of the sky at any instant leaving the Pteras to pound the shields/drop itself completely unimpeded. This, in turn, means members need to either fight with a man down, or log out and back in while hoping they don't get killed during the downtime. Soloing drops, as a direct result, is inadvisable, (Actually, so is leaving home base altogether, since even flying over a single aggresive dino is potentially a death warrant).

There's a "Big optimisation update" due on the 15th apparently. Although frankly, any game that still needs optimising this long after release is probably beyond help. The game is fun. There's something special and satisfying about taming your first Giga, fighting your first Alpha, or even just building a fully self sufficient base with a friend or a few. It's just woefully unfortunate that Ark seems plagued by really intrusive problems that directly affect any, and all game play aspects.

I used to provide an Xbox dedicated server like you, until I took a file-corruption to the knee.
Seriously though, I'm shocked, truly shocked at how quiet the devs have been about issues like this. I've had many issues that the one guy who made the LIST of issues as well. 2 years ago I had 30 players on my dedicated server on Xbox back when it was all I had. Then, the full release preparation fiasco that prevented many dedicated servers from even loading made me lose about a dozen people. Just that. A few came back after it was fixed, but then they left again after Ragnarok came out, and when I hosted, got corrupted after a week. I tried to get to the bottom of the issue, but me being very ignorant, I didn't want to go back to The Island since Ragnarok was fresh and new. (and also very overhyped :P). After I got Ragnarok working somehow by the hand of God, possibly, my luck was soon to run out. Some time in December or early 2018, we had all our save files get wiped due to a memory leak that hit me hard when I loaded up my server the next morning (expect a possible post about this soon). The number of players was then down to 8, and on the decline. In July, it was just me, and 6 other people who had suffered through all of the terrible bugs that ARK on Xbox has experienced, and even after many had gone ranting, dumping all their salt here on the forums, the bugs were only getting worse. Some time in July (the 29th), I ended up building a PC, not touching ARK on the Xbox ever again. But, Even after, I continued hosting my dedicated server, only going back on to do ARK chores like feeding my tames VIA crossplay on Windows 10. (which I'm amazed how broken that is too.) My friends who were loyal enough to stick with me were glad to see I continued to host, until recently, (some time in December) we got hit hard with another memory leak, wiping out all the save files again. Keep in mind all what i'm telling isn't the minor corruptions we suffered in between. After seeing more silence from the devs about file corruption, today I made the choice, and my friends agreed that I should shut down my dedicated server entirely, after almost three years of hosting it.
I also like how when people just bring up the topics of file corruption in general, which is a huge issue on the console version of ARK, not just dedicated servers, which is also why I quit playing ARK on xbox, and switched to PC (since PC actually has backups) because of the fact that I was scared to death of the thought that I would likely have another file corruption on my singleplayer saves. Obviously, this thread is old. But it's still relevant. The topic says it all.
Some random console player gets slammed hard with an unpredictable memory leak/corruption (on either singleplayer or on a dedicated server), and asks that it gets fixed since it's a severe issue, affecting many players? Nothing. Just complete radio silence from Wildcard.

[SaltyMonkey]

On 2/9/2019 at 6:09 AM, Level4Gaming said:

I used to provide an Xbox dedicated server like you, until I took a file-corruption to the knee.
Seriously though, I'm shocked, truly shocked at how quiet the devs have been about issues like this. I've had many issues that the one guy who made the LIST of issues as well. 2 years ago I had 30 players on my dedicated server on Xbox back when it was all I had. Then, the full release preparation fiasco that prevented many dedicated servers from even loading made me lose about a dozen people. Just that. A few came back after it was fixed, but then they left again after Ragnarok came out, and when I hosted, got corrupted after a week. I tried to get to the bottom of the issue, but me being very ignorant, I didn't want to go back to The Island since Ragnarok was fresh and new. (and also very overhyped :P) We had all our save files get wiped due to a memory leak that hit me hard in the beginning of 2018. The number of players was then down to 8, and on the decline. In July, it was just me, and 6 other people who had suffered through all of the terrible bugs that ARK on Xbox has experienced, and even after many had gone ranting, dumping all their salt here on the forums. Some time in July (the 29th), I ended up building a PC, not touching ARK on the Xbox ever again. But, Even after, I continued hosting my dedicated server, only going back on to do ARK chores like feeding my tames VIA crossplay which I'm amazed how broken that is too. My friends who were loyal enough to stick with me were glad to see I continued to host, until recently, (some time in December) we got hit hard with another memory leak, wiping out the save files again. Keep in mind all what i'm telling isn't the file corruptions we suffered in between. After seeing more silence from the devs about file corruption, today I made the choice, and my friends agreed that I should shut down my dedicated server entirely, after almost three years of hosting it.
I also like how when people just bring up the topics of file corruption in general, which is a huge issue on the console version of ARK, not just dedicated servers, which is also why I quit playing ARK on xbox, and switched to PC (since PC actually has backups) because of the fact that I was scared to death of the thought that I would likely have another file corruption on my singleplayer saves. Obviously, this thread is old. But it's still relevant. The topic says it all.
Some poor Xbox soul gets slammed hard with an unpredictable memory leak, and asks that it gets fixed since it's a severe issue, affecting many players? Nothing. Just complete radio silence from Wildcard.

Here you are again. How does you telling everyone you now play on PC, help Xbox players?

[Level4Gaming]

15 hours ago, SaltyMonkey said:

Here you are again. How does you telling everyone you now play on PC, help Xbox players?

The reason I bring it up is because it's that WC seems to show some sort of favoritism towards the PC playerbase. I know it's a far fetched guess to make, but with all the evidence as it currently is, there's no reason to not acknowledge that it's a thing. All i'm doing is trying to raise awareness of it. You don't need to comment on every post I make where I mention this problem. The whole post is about dedicated server issues being ignored. I proved the OP's point by showing my experiences with the feature. You must not be reading my entire post. I brought it up because I said: 

On ‎2‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 12:09 AM, Level4Gaming said:

because of the fact that I was scared to death of the thought that I would likely have another file corruption on my singleplayer saves. Obviously, this thread is old. But it's still relevant. The topic says it all.
Some poor Xbox soul gets slammed hard with an unpredictable memory leak, and asks that it gets fixed since it's a severe issue, affecting many players? Nothing. Just complete radio silence from Wildcard.

Since I was talking about the topic of corruption, I thought it would be worth mentioning that it doesn't seem to happen as often on PC.  If I feel like it needs to be said, I am going to say it. I'm not being biased or anything towards PC, i'm just showcasing the fact that it seems WC doesn't care about console in general.
Please just stop targeting me for mentioning this or anything about PC, since I'm still keeping the main point of this entire post about dedicated servers on Console.

[SaltyMonkey]

5 hours ago, Level4Gaming said:

The reason I bring it up is because it's that WC seems to show some sort of favoritism towards the PC playerbase. I know it's a far fetched guess to make, but with all the evidence as it currently is, there's no reason to not acknowledge that it's a thing. All i'm doing is trying to raise awareness of it. You don't need to comment on every post I make where I mention this problem. The whole post is about dedicated server issues being ignored. I proved the OP's point by showing my experiences with the feature. You must not be reading my entire post. I brought it up because I said: 

Since I was talking about the topic of corruption, I thought it would be worth mentioning that it doesn't seem to happen as often on PC.  If I feel like it needs to be said, I am going to say it. I'm not being biased or anything towards PC, i'm just showcasing the fact that it seems WC doesn't care about console in general.
Please just stop targeting me for mentioning this or anything about PC, since I'm still keeping the main point of this entire post about dedicated servers on Console.

Every single post you make on Xbox, you can’t help but mention PC. We get it. You’re one of those insecure people that must tell the world that you’re better than them at every opportunity. Oh and by the way, PC does suffer with corruptions as often as console, the only difference is that they can back up their saves so it goes unnoticed.

[Luke3107]

On 2/9/2019 at 6:09 AM, Level4Gaming said:

I used to provide an Xbox dedicated server like you, until I took a file-corruption to the knee.
Seriously though, I'm shocked, truly shocked at how quiet the devs have been about issues like this. I've had many issues that the one guy who made the LIST of issues as well. 2 years ago I had 30 players on my dedicated server on Xbox back when it was all I had. Then, the full release preparation fiasco that prevented many dedicated servers from even loading made me lose about a dozen people. Just that. A few came back after it was fixed, but then they left again after Ragnarok came out, and when I hosted, got corrupted after a week. I tried to get to the bottom of the issue, but me being very ignorant, I didn't want to go back to The Island since Ragnarok was fresh and new. (and also very overhyped :P) We had all our save files get wiped due to a memory leak that hit me hard in the beginning of 2018. The number of players was then down to 8, and on the decline. In July, it was just me, and 6 other people who had suffered through all of the terrible bugs that ARK on Xbox has experienced, and even after many had gone ranting, dumping all their salt here on the forums. Some time in July (the 29th), I ended up building a PC, not touching ARK on the Xbox ever again. But, Even after, I continued hosting my dedicated server, only going back on to do ARK chores like feeding my tames VIA crossplay which I'm amazed how broken that is too. My friends who were loyal enough to stick with me were glad to see I continued to host, until recently, (some time in December) we got hit hard with another memory leak, wiping out the save files again. Keep in mind all what i'm telling isn't the file corruptions we suffered in between. After seeing more silence from the devs about file corruption, today I made the choice, and my friends agreed that I should shut down my dedicated server entirely, after almost three years of hosting it.
I also like how when people just bring up the topics of file corruption in general, which is a huge issue on the console version of ARK, not just dedicated servers, which is also why I quit playing ARK on xbox, and switched to PC (since PC actually has backups) because of the fact that I was scared to death of the thought that I would likely have another file corruption on my singleplayer saves. Obviously, this thread is old. But it's still relevant. The topic says it all.
Some poor Xbox soul gets slammed hard with an unpredictable memory leak, and asks that it gets fixed since it's a severe issue, affecting many players? Nothing. Just complete radio silence from Wildcard.

I appreciate the input, more voices means a louder voice. Switching to PC is something many of us considered but few of us can afford to, and even then, not many of us even want to. So it's kind of moot regardless.
 

On 2/11/2019 at 6:05 AM, SaltyMonkey said:

Every single post you make on Xbox, you can’t help but mention PC. We get it. You’re one of those insecure people that must tell the world that you’re better than them at every opportunity. Oh and by the way, PC does suffer with corruptions as often as console, the only difference is that they can back up their saves so it goes unnoticed.

It was relevant here tbh, but if you have a personal issue with him leave it in PMs, I'd rather the mods didn't close the thread over a non-issue thanks.

[SaltyMonkey]

6 hours ago, Luke3107 said:

It was relevant here tbh, but if you have a personal issue with him leave it in PMs, I'd rather the mods didn't close the thread over a non-issue thanks.

No it wasn’t relevant because how does switching platform solve the issue? How does letting Wildcard get away with their piss poor incompetence solve the issue?

[Juggernaut]

10 hours ago, SaltyMonkey said:

No it wasn’t relevant because how does switching platform solve the issue? How does letting Wildcard get away with their piss poor incompetence solve the issue?

They care about PC more because that was originally what they developed the game for. The half-arked ported the PC to console and try to fix it with band aids constantly. Even worse, they took the half-arked Xbox console version and ported it back to PC under the windows store version, which has even more issues than console yet runs on PC, because logic. If the switch or mobile version wasn't obvious, any port from the PC was a pure rushed money grab. We all complain everyday on this forum but the devs don't read it, at least not the non PC steam sections.

 

The devs motto ever since alpha days has always been over promise, under deliver. Lately after the rift raft devs got pulled to Atlas (same issues over there, over promise, severely under deliver) ark has shown some progress from a developement view from what appears to be more competent developement team. Hopefully it continues and trickles down into ported versions and maybe one day our complains will be read.

 

 

[Luke3107]

On 3/1/2019 at 5:55 AM, SaltyMonkey said:

No it wasn’t relevant because how does switching platform solve the issue? How does letting Wildcard get away with their piss poor incompetence solve the issue?

It was relevant because he explained he'd moved to PC to escape this issue, only to be plagued by it, and others, on there too. Nonetheless, your beef with him is even less relevant to the conversation so I ask you to not respond further and to keep the conversation on the problems raised by this thread. It's hard enough getting the Devs to comment (or even acknowledge) the problem without someone with an axe to grind getting the threads that are raising said issue shut.

On 3/1/2019 at 4:11 PM, Juggernaut said:

They care about PC more because that was originally what they developed the game for. The half-arked ported the PC to console and try to fix it with band aids constantly. Even worse, they took the half-arked Xbox console version and ported it back to PC under the windows store version, which has even more issues than console yet runs on PC, because logic. If the switch or mobile version wasn't obvious, any port from the PC was a pure rushed money grab. We all complain everyday on this forum but the devs don't read it, at least not the non PC steam sections.

The devs motto ever since alpha days has always been over promise, under deliver. Lately after the rift raft devs got pulled to Atlas (same issues over there, over promise, severely under deliver) ark has shown some progress from a developement view from what appears to be more competent developement team. Hopefully it continues and trickles down into ported versions and maybe one day our complains will be read.

Can't say I'm shocked.

Firstly, the poor decision making from the Devs is one of the main reasons I was very reluctant to come back to the game. DLC released while the game was in Early Access? Release the game after all that time in Early Access despite little to no improvement in the game itself? Porting the game to every platform in sight while consistently ignoring huge issues present since day one (meshing anyone?)?

Secondly, we can drop any pretence that Atlas is a seperate project, I've seen more differences when I copy and paste things on Microsoft Word. It's got the same issues because it is literally the exact same game. Hell, you could access Ark specific menus when Atlas first released because not only did the Devs literally just port the game and change the font, they didn't even remotely bother playtesting the game.

Finally, I've seen minor improvements here and there, but nothing I would qualify as a significant improvement. I see a lot of talk from the Devs about "things in the pipeline" and "plans for the road ahead". Even videos from every single Ark YouTuber promising "a HUGE NEW ARK UPDATE" on its way, or "BIGGEST CHANGES TO ARK YET!!" which appear to be the only way they think they can get views. I recall one thread from November/December time (Maybe earlier than that) promising they were working on the meshing issue, but it literally boiled down to "We have ideas, but what do you think we should do?" or as I like to call it "It's been years and we've never got around to it, I guess we'll ask you lot to do the job WE'RE paid to do...?".

Does it show I have little faith in the Devs? I think it does...


I appreciate the input. More voices make it a louder one. We can only keep our fingers crossed.

[Juggernaut]

9 hours ago, Luke3107 said:

It was relevant because he explained he'd moved to PC to escape this issue, only to be plagued by it, and others, on there too. Nonetheless, your beef with him is even less relevant to the conversation so I ask you to not respond further and to keep the conversation on the problems raised by this thread. It's hard enough getting the Devs to comment (or even acknowledge) the problem without someone with an axe to grind getting the threads that are raising said issue shut.

Can't say I'm shocked.

Firstly, the poor decision making from the Devs is one of the main reasons I was very reluctant to come back to the game. DLC released while the game was in Early Access? Release the game after all that time in Early Access despite little to no improvement in the game itself? Porting the game to every platform in sight while consistently ignoring huge issues present since day one (meshing anyone?)?

Secondly, we can drop any pretence that Atlas is a seperate project, I've seen more differences when I copy and paste things on Microsoft Word. It's got the same issues because it is literally the exact same game. Hell, you could access Ark specific menus when Atlas first released because not only did the Devs literally just port the game and change the font, they didn't even remotely bother playtesting the game.

Finally, I've seen minor improvements here and there, but nothing I would qualify as a significant improvement. I see a lot of talk from the Devs about "things in the pipeline" and "plans for the road ahead". Even videos from every single Ark YouTuber promising "a HUGE NEW ARK UPDATE" on its way, or "BIGGEST CHANGES TO ARK YET!!" which appear to be the only way they think they can get views. I recall one thread from November/December time (Maybe earlier than that) promising they were working on the meshing issue, but it literally boiled down to "We have ideas, but what do you think we should do?" or as I like to call it "It's been years and we've never got around to it, I guess we'll ask you lot to do the job WE'RE paid to do...?".

Does it show I have little faith in the Devs? I think it does...


I appreciate the input. More voices make it a louder one. We can only keep our fingers crossed.

I forgot to mention ark minecraft version, forgot about that one also, "PixArk". 

[Level4Gaming]

On 3/2/2019 at 9:26 PM, Luke3107 said:

It was relevant because he explained he'd moved to PC to escape this issue, only to be plagued by it, and others, on there too. Nonetheless, your beef with him is even less relevant to the conversation so I ask you to not respond further and to keep the conversation on the problems raised by this thread. It's hard enough getting the Devs to comment (or even acknowledge) the problem without someone with an axe to grind getting the threads that are raising said issue shut.

I'm glad you brought this up. I will say this now though (and call me an elitist for it too lol) PC is a way more fun and stable experience than xbox and if you are going to host a dedicated server (even wanting to try to enjoy ark in general), it's basically your only choice. A good meme as well is that the game is actually CHEAPER as well on PC (it's a minor difference, 50 dollars on PC vs 60 on consoles. It's still a difference, though. and no, i'm talking about Steam, not the half-assed pile of hot stinking trash that is Windows 10 ARK.)

On 3/2/2019 at 9:26 PM, Luke3107 said:

They care about PC more because that was originally what they developed the game for. The half-arked ported the PC to console and try to fix it with band aids constantly. Even worse, they took the half-arked Xbox console version and ported it back to PC under the windows store version, which has even more issues than console yet runs on PC, because logic. If the switch or mobile version wasn't obvious, any port from the PC was a pure rushed money grab. We all complain everyday on this forum but the devs don't read it, at least not the non PC steam sections.

You're right, the only reason that the game even came to consoles was the popular demand for it, and I don't think it would have EVER happened if it wasn't for people begging. It's the same case with PS4 ARK, and Nintendo Switch was just a miserable failure. ARK was NEVER, and I mean NEVER designed to run on consoles (mainly due to the poor utilization of Unreal Engine 4, that WC also claims can't be updated to the newest version because it's "highly customized" or something stupid like that. Unreal is a great game engine, the game just uses it very poorly. But, If WC were to stop lying to their fans and just update to the newest version of Unreal, it would help so much with the optimization of the game and maybe even help with some of the crashes. But, due to ARK's incredible demand for system resources, ARK runs like trash on consoles also due to console's very underpowered hardware, it's not just down to the engine.) The only reason the mobile version is kinda OK is because it actually runs, but even that has bugs and sacrifices so much just to run on phones. It wasn't a great idea to load it with micro transactions either, that either ruins the fun of it and or makes it almost completely pay to win. If Wildcard's goal is to push the console players to PC, then, I'd say they probably are succeeding, because i'll bet you anything that i'm not the only one who dropped loads of cash on a new pc to play Ark. Ultimately I'd say it was worth it, but mostly for different games, and refreshes of some old ones I used to enjoy, but as you mentioned a lot of people aren't willing to spend money on something like that. But my point remains, it IS your only option if you want a version of the game that actually runs well, but I do agree, it's absolute garbage that it's the best option.
If they added backups like PC has, so many people would still be playing on their dedicated servers, but that strictly isn't Wildcard's fault, It's Microsoft's and Sony's fault for not allowing companies to allow players to access internal files of a game, which is the reason the game doesn't have save backups on consoles. People buy the game, WC and Sony/Microsoft get lots of money out of it, and their friends buy it as well until they quit due to the issues. Since Wildcard (and Grapeshot, the Quote unquote "sister company") has more than enough money to keep themselves sustained by now, they'll just continue to use the console ports as cash grabs, and only focus any bit of real effort on the Steam version since they know few are willing to switch to PC just for the game, and since most people just have consoles anyways. I am glad to see that I am not the only person who notices this. Though Jeremy Stieglitz is probably still happy sitting on his throne of cash and his life-sized wyvern (this is offtopic, but i'd LOVE to buy that thing off them, no matter what it takes XD) as long as that happens. I'm not afraid to take action and get my hands dirty though, even if It means starting some sort of a boycott. I'm curious though, I am dying to see what REALLY goes on in their studio. Oh, and because I can, they're in Gainesville, Florida, if you're curious BTW or want to see for yourself (if they even let you lol). As much as I love Ark, I really don't like the company that backs it. I am, however, glad that WC isn't like Electronic Arts and loads a game with micro-transactions, but they still promise so much, and give so little, like you had mentioned many times in your post. The point remains, though; Wildcard doesn't care about ARK on consoles, they are just using them for the purpose of the extra money, and dedicated servers on consoles are probably never gonna get better. Only worse, and worse. The only version of the game that IS going to get better is PC, as sad as it is, and as much as I sound like a PC elitist for saying it, it is true.

 

15 hours ago, Juggernaut said:

I forgot to mention ark minecraft version, forgot about that one also, "PixArk". 

That was Snail Games, which is a Chinese company that owns WC for the most part. A few of the things WC has done was purely down to them, and PixArk was just an example of them copy-pasting ARK's assets. Just something i'd thought would be worth pointing out.

[Tom77795]

I feel your struggle. I myself personally bought a 2nd xbox like 2 and a half years ago just so i could use one to host Ark with and one of the issues is the same as you mentioned it goes unjoinable to others randomly. 

However that issue is not even the biggest concern to me. The fact that everytime i would restart the server everything would get wiped all dinos buildings etc bugs like this are extreme and make it unplayable. 

What really surprises me is that there is no saving issue for single player so all these bugs that literally make it unplayable makes me think the Devs put them in on purpose to push for people to buy server renting OR That the Devs just straight up don’t give a crap about the player base and actually fixing these major issues.

some other issues is that sometimes after a reset if everything is not wiped it is simply just not owned by anyone and the admin commands to reclaim does not work which also just ruins the whole experience of the game.

these bugs have been around for at least 2 years now in some shapes and form. 

Bottom line is you can’t host a server using another xbox.

and judging from all these threads it seems to me hosting from a PC is very unereliable as well.

at this point i am honestly convinced Wildcard does not give a crap and is just wanting to get as much money as they can while giving half assed updates and literally no feedback to the community.

At least be thankful you did not buy Ark on the nintendo Switch because on the Switch the whole game is actually hot garbage. The textures look like clay game the framerate is so low might as well be looking at a powerpoint presentation. 

So yeah if Wildcard releases a game completely unplayable for a console like the switch of course they know how it looks they test for this stuff and clearly don’t care so 

so yeah to summarize Wildcard is just in it for the money and give no crap about the playerbase and it comes down to this they ruined a wonderful game and the only way to actually play it now and enjoy it is to basically rent a server. 

To anyone reading this conan exiles is a game like Ark just no dinos however that game actually runs smooth and playable and the devs listen to the playerbase.

these are my 2 cents on the matter. Guaranteed no Wildcard staff will actually bother to read it or to respond to these issues. Been over 2 years and these bugs just get worse and worse.

that’s all i have to say.

TL;DR: ark is unplayable pretty much unplayable unless you choose to rent a server or play in one in which case the game runs like a charm for the most part.