TL;DR: You won't be able to do anything worthwhile for the game without updating ARK's version of the Unreal engine.
Before long, you'll have to do so much work for the most minimal amounts of changes you won't know what to do. Your playerbase wonders why you haven't fixed some of the biggest problems with the game and the answer is fairly simple. The core of what you're working with is out of date.
As the title would suggest, in order for ARK to continue to be relevant you need to upgrade the version of Unreal Engine you guys are using. The last I checked you were using a heavily modified version of Unreal 3.5. Right now, we're on 4.2.2 and ATLAS jumped on that bandwagon with all of your assets. If you're not under the same parent company they're effectively going to outcompete ARK without much effort. All of the latest Nvidia suites run off the later versions of Unreal. What this means is that you're going to have a very hard time (if it's even possible) doing further optimizations.
In its current state ARK is an amazing game, but it's also a mess. With a Ryzen processor that's liquid-cooled and an Nvidia RTX 2080, 32g of DDR4 memory, I still fail to be able to run the game on all epic settings because I use a 4k monitor. All other games run without a hitch and they're stunningly beautiful as well. When was your game put into beta? Think about this. A game that was released into BETA in 2015 cannot run on epic settings using an $800.00 USD RTX 2080.
I love your game, WildCard. I really do. I have 2000 hours played, or close to it now. I do not like, however, that Atlas seems to have very cheaply ripped off of ARK, slapped in Waveworks 2.0 and some newer shaders and branded it as a "new game." They have all of your same animation rigs and even took your interface. One would think you'd be a little upset over this. Just a little?
I have a few steps to round off this suggestion.
Update your engine and use Waveworks 2.0.
Optimize and improve your shaders.
Give us a bigger map along with an ocean of sorts to compete with Atlas.
Let your community help you.
Profit.
I've tagged Ced and Jen on Twitter with no response. Heck, maybe they're checking with their superiors to see if they can even respond or if you guys are already chiseling away at redoing ARK. Updating to Unreal 4.2.2 is no small matter. I get it. However, I also want to help. With a dedicated team you could get this done in slightly under a year in order to achieve what you wish at a great level of quality. Updating the engine will also make it easier for you guys to make expansions and the like. I mean, it's essentially what Atlas did, isn't it? It's rumored that Atlas was supposed to be an ARK expansion that they took off with. How true that is, I'll never know. What I do know is that they're gaining steam and I want our game, our ARK to come out ahead and live on for at least a few more years.
Heck, I'll even enroll us into the sponsored mod program. It's not even me that has the manpower for this. I've pitched it to people I know and they're willing to fire off a Kickstarter and get this show on the road. It might take $200k to completely redo the game and I'm sure your fanbase wouldn't mind pitching in a little. If you wanted to you could just market the update as DLC so we can continue to enjoy what we have on our unofficial servers with higher quality assets.
All Atlas has are some new skins, along with updated rafts (pirate ships) and wave mechanics.
Suggestion
NanoTrev
TL;DR: You won't be able to do anything worthwhile for the game without updating ARK's version of the Unreal engine.
Before long, you'll have to do so much work for the most minimal amounts of changes you won't know what to do. Your playerbase wonders why you haven't fixed some of the biggest problems with the game and the answer is fairly simple. The core of what you're working with is out of date.
As the title would suggest, in order for ARK to continue to be relevant you need to upgrade the version of Unreal Engine you guys are using. The last I checked you were using a heavily modified version of Unreal 3.5. Right now, we're on 4.2.2 and ATLAS jumped on that bandwagon with all of your assets. If you're not under the same parent company they're effectively going to outcompete ARK without much effort. All of the latest Nvidia suites run off the later versions of Unreal. What this means is that you're going to have a very hard time (if it's even possible) doing further optimizations.
In its current state ARK is an amazing game, but it's also a mess. With a Ryzen processor that's liquid-cooled and an Nvidia RTX 2080, 32g of DDR4 memory, I still fail to be able to run the game on all epic settings because I use a 4k monitor. All other games run without a hitch and they're stunningly beautiful as well. When was your game put into beta? Think about this. A game that was released into BETA in 2015 cannot run on epic settings using an $800.00 USD RTX 2080.
I love your game, WildCard. I really do. I have 2000 hours played, or close to it now. I do not like, however, that Atlas seems to have very cheaply ripped off of ARK, slapped in Waveworks 2.0 and some newer shaders and branded it as a "new game." They have all of your same animation rigs and even took your interface. One would think you'd be a little upset over this. Just a little?
I have a few steps to round off this suggestion.
I've tagged Ced and Jen on Twitter with no response. Heck, maybe they're checking with their superiors to see if they can even respond or if you guys are already chiseling away at redoing ARK. Updating to Unreal 4.2.2 is no small matter. I get it. However, I also want to help. With a dedicated team you could get this done in slightly under a year in order to achieve what you wish at a great level of quality. Updating the engine will also make it easier for you guys to make expansions and the like. I mean, it's essentially what Atlas did, isn't it? It's rumored that Atlas was supposed to be an ARK expansion that they took off with. How true that is, I'll never know. What I do know is that they're gaining steam and I want our game, our ARK to come out ahead and live on for at least a few more years.
Heck, I'll even enroll us into the sponsored mod program. It's not even me that has the manpower for this. I've pitched it to people I know and they're willing to fire off a Kickstarter and get this show on the road. It might take $200k to completely redo the game and I'm sure your fanbase wouldn't mind pitching in a little. If you wanted to you could just market the update as DLC so we can continue to enjoy what we have on our unofficial servers with higher quality assets.
All Atlas has are some new skins, along with updated rafts (pirate ships) and wave mechanics.
ARK deserves more.
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