Unicorn spawns, bugs, tips and tricks, etc.

[Blackbirdie]

I've looked through all there is when it comes to Unicorn Spawn discussions and I've yet to see a recent discussion about it with recent strats and methods that actually work. So here we are.

Discussed nearly a thousand times I know, little late to this but hear me out. Console player, Xbox one, Singleplayer, Vanilla. Been playing since 2/7/2018. And from then to now, I've seen more damn Phoenixes and Liopleurodons than I have a single Unicorn on any of the maps. But just recently, I wiped my Ragnarok file, went over to The Highlands. And lord and behold. A level 16 Unicorn.  Spawned near one of those Rockarrot and Longrass plots near the lighthouse. Near the spot where a Galli pair walks about, no Allos. Perfect. But here's my problem. No matter what I've read about getting another Unicorn to spawn on Singleplayer maps, the damn thing just won't pop up.

I've tried server wiping with Destroywilddinos, I've Cryo podded Sally (The Unicorn) and waited a bit, I've transferred her over to The Island, Scorched Earth, Valgeuro, The Center, EVERY DAMN MAP SHE'S ALLOWED ON, and nothing. Not only that, oh no. The Ark simply can't stop there. Just a few months ago, whenever Crystal Isles came out for console, I don't know. Time has gone stagnant for me, pardon. I was going about on my Tropical Wyvern, Feldspar, and I see this off color horse. Bit pale than usual, isn't it? I check it's level, 14? Nah. I kill it, and the game slaps me in the face with the hard truth that "Your Feldspar killed a Unicorn Level 14!". Had the hardest, "Oh F#ck" moment to date, and now no Unicorns seem to be spawning on there either. 

Now here's what I know, taken from all those discussions, The wiki, Reddit, The Red Bull, my experience, and so forth. Only one Unicorn will spawn at a time on any given server. Once one is tamed or killed, another one will spawn on Multiplayer if tamed, but not on Singleplayer. To get another to spawn on singleplayer, one must be transferred to another map or killed to make another spawn. Unicorns do not spawn randomly on any and every section of the map like the Phoenix does on Scorched Earth, they have their own little spots where they spawn. Unicorns do not spawn in a herd of Equus, and killing Equus herds does not make another spawn faster. The easiest place to find a Unicorn is to look on Ragnarok in the Highlands. Not only do Rockarrots naturally spawn there and can be harvested easily, but compared to other maps, the Highlands is a pretty easy and flat area to search. The only dangers you may face there are Allo packs and the occasional Giga. Other than that, easy Unicorn spot.

But this just leads me to the same issues, I've transferred my Unicorn already to another map, purged my servers, tried the Cryo Pod method, tried manually killing off Brontos, Gallis, and Equus herds in The Highlands, and nothing.

So with all that said, anyone have advice for me? If all else fails with Ragnarok, anyone have any hotspots for Unicorn Spawns on The Island? I got one for Valgeuro I'm about to try out, so let's see if that works.

[d1nk]

Ive had two unicorns on SP rag before (and island) kill equus until they spawn. Sp is weird because of stasis so you need to kill equus, render whole area, leave. Come back, render and wait. Keep flying around keeping the highlands out of stasis and they'll eventually spawn

[Blackbirdie]

2 hours ago, d1nk said:

Ive had two unicorns on SP rag before (and island) kill equus until they spawn. Sp is weird because of stasis so you need to kill equus, render whole area, leave. Come back, render and wait. Keep flying around keeping the highlands out of stasis and they'll eventually spawn

Gotcha. So killing Equus herds (and other dinos in the area) does influence respawns. I'll go try that

[d1nk]

23 minutes ago, Blackbirdie said:

Gotcha. So killing Equus herds (and other dinos in the area) does influence respawns. I'll go try that

Yes each zone had a spawn weight, within that zone it has a certain % of each dinos weight that's allotted in that zone. Killing more equus will promote more spawns (not entirely meaning it will spawn more equus) so kill other things, too 

I wont go into details more because.. I'm not 100% on the mechanics but I do know that yes, killing generally will increase the likelihood of spawns you want. Just keep at it man

[Blackbirdie]

37 minutes ago, d1nk said:

Yes each zone had a spawn weight, within that zone it has a certain % of each dinos weight that's allotted in that zone. Killing more equus will promote more spawns (not entirely meaning it will spawn more equus) so kill other things, too 

I wont go into details more because.. I'm not 100% on the mechanics but I do know that yes, killing generally will increase the likelihood of spawns you want. Just keep at it man

I got great news. I said earlier I was going to check out a Unicorn spot on Val, and I found a Max level male and tamed it. Just transferred the guy to The Center, been killing things in White cliffs and just now a Level 55 Female spawned in right in front of me. Hell yeah. So I can confirm, mass killing dinos makes them spawn faster, but I think the Cryo pod method doesn't work. I'll keep repeating this and see how many I can get.

[Thyme]

1 hour ago, Blackbirdie said:

I got great news. I said earlier I was going to check out a Unicorn spot on Val, and I found a Max level male and tamed it. Just transferred the guy to The Center, been killing things in White cliffs and just now a Level 55 Female spawned in right in front of me. Hell yeah. So I can confirm, mass killing dinos makes them spawn faster, but I think the Cryo pod method doesn't work. I'll keep repeating this and see how many I can get.

Valgeuro has ludicrous unicorn spawn rates, so keep checking. Make sure you search the other 2 spawn areas for unis too. 
It usually takes like 5 minutes for a new one to spawn after the last one died, and it spawned back in even when I had tame ones on the map.

[Darkholis]

I'm looking in the dev kit right now. For the Island :

#1 Unicorn spawns are 100% independent from Equus spawns.
#2 They only spawn in very specific areas and not anywhere else.

Here's the unicorn spawns (in yellow) for the Island :

[d1nk]

20 minutes ago, Darkholis said:

I'm looking in the dev kit right now. For the Island :

#1 Unicorn spawns are 100% independent from Equus spawns.
#2 They only spawn in very specific areas and not anywhere else.

Here's the unicorn spawns (in yellow) for the Island :

Cool!! Are they always independent or is this just the island? I guess killing stuff in these areas would still increase chance of it spawning (assuming it isn't already somewhere else) because of that dinos per measurement area spawn mechanic? Sorry, don't know the technical words for it all haha. Very interesting stuff indeed

[Darkholis]

I haven't looked for other maps yet, but I might do it at some point, out of curiosity.
Essentially, creatures are spawned using 2 volumes : NPCZoneVolume & NPCSpawnVolume.

The first one is mainly used for calculations as it can be configured to count water and/or land creatures. You can also force it to only look for very specific classes, such as the unicorn. For the island, the unicorn NPCZoneVolume covers the entire map.

NPCSpawnVolumes are nothing more than areas where creatures can spawn, plain and simple. These are the yellow areas on the map I posted.

The third and key element is the NPCZoneManager. Its purpose is to link together all the spawn volumes, as well as the zone volumes. This is where you define the spawner used (beach creatures, jungle, etc.) as well as plenty other properties like creature count...

------------------------------------

And to answer your question, killing equus will not make a unicorn spawn more frequently. It's 1 wild on the map until it dies or gets tamed, then it will respawn.

[Zahlea]

15 hours ago, Blackbirdie said:

Once one is tamed or killed, another one will spawn on Multiplayer if tamed, but not on Singleplayer. To get another to spawn on singleplayer, one must be transferred to another map or killed to make another spawn.

I don't believe this is true. I haven't looked into the code so bear with me that the knowledge I'm about to share is purely anecdotal.

I'm on PC and for PC there is a program that reads the save file for dino locations. With that I can search specifically for Unicorns and find out exactly where they are on the map, if one exists. I'm running a private dedicated server that's set to Multiplayer and I play on The Island.

What I found with testing using the program mentioned above and the destroyallwilddinos command (used at strartup for the server) is that when my tamed unicorns were cryoed, another one spawned immediately upon server restart (that destroyed all wild dinos). When it was not cryoed, no unicorns spawned for a while. Now, I couldn't say for sure that it wouldn't spawn in again ever, but I waited a few minutes every time and tried it out several times: as unicorns spawned in immediately every time my tamed ones were cryoed and did not spawn in for a while when they were not cryoed, I was satisfied that cryoing all tamed Unicorns is necessary to get a new one to spawn but then a new one will spawn.

This is for The Island. I haven't tried this on another map. Another thing I know is that there is a setting for Ragnarok maps to influence the spawn rate, so maps other than The Island may be different, especially maps that came after Ragnarok.

Another point that might be valuable to keep in mind: Unless you have a program that reads the save file (or similar, like S+ has an in game item that does the same; no such thing in vanilla though afaik), there is always the option that the unicorn is spawned in and then killed by nearby predators before you get there. Meaning if you have areas A, B and C; the unicorn spawned in to area C but was killed while you searched A and B, then the unicorn would spawn in again, maybe in area A that you thought you had already checked. That way, there may well be a unicorn on the map, in an area you think you already checked. Hence, you can't know for sure that it's nowhere on the map unless you have a way of checking for it. Also, I believe the stasis function on Single Player might prevent this method from working.

[Blackbirdie]

On 12/4/2020 at 3:55 AM, Zahlea said:

I don't believe this is true. I haven't looked into the code so bear with me that the knowledge I'm about to share is purely anecdotal.

I'm on PC and for PC there is a program that reads the save file for dino locations. With that I can search specifically for Unicorns and find out exactly where they are on the map, if one exists. I'm running a private dedicated server that's set to Multiplayer and I play on The Island.

What I found with testing using the program mentioned above and the destroyallwilddinos command (used at strartup for the server) is that when my tamed unicorns were cryoed, another one spawned immediately upon server restart (that destroyed all wild dinos). When it was not cryoed, no unicorns spawned for a while. Now, I couldn't say for sure that it wouldn't spawn in again ever, but I waited a few minutes every time and tried it out several times: as unicorns spawned in immediately every time my tamed ones were cryoed and did not spawn in for a while when they were not cryoed, I was satisfied that cryoing all tamed Unicorns is necessary to get a new one to spawn but then a new one will spawn.

This is for The Island. I haven't tried this on another map. Another thing I know is that there is a setting for Ragnarok maps to influence the spawn rate, so maps other than The Island may be different, especially maps that came after Ragnarok.

Another point that might be valuable to keep in mind: Unless you have a program that reads the save file (or similar, like S+ has an in game item that does the same; no such thing in vanilla though afaik), there is always the option that the unicorn is spawned in and then killed by nearby predators before you get there. Meaning if you have areas A, B and C; the unicorn spawned in to area C but was killed while you searched A and B, then the unicorn would spawn in again, maybe in area A that you thought you had already checked. That way, there may well be a unicorn on the map, in an area you think you already checked. Hence, you can't know for sure that it's nowhere on the map unless you have a way of checking for it. Also, I believe the stasis function on Single Player might prevent this method from working.

Finally got some free time before finals and I wanted to test some things. But before I get to what I'm about to try and experiment with, let me say this. I've tamed a Unicorn on Rag and on Val. They're both cryopodded and I've transferred them over to Rag and those two have been stored in a cryofridge. Remember that detail.

Just recently, I tried the "purging" method where you kill everything in the Highlands, reducing the dino count and density and coaxing a Unicorn to spawn. I did this for 3 hours, to no avail. I used a high level Griffin for this to clarify. I then used the destroyallwilddinos command and searched for another hour or so, nothing. 

Now I'm wondering. Does the two Unicorns cryopodded on my Rag server have anything to do with a Unicorn not spawning? Well, I'm about to find out. Let me transfer my Unis back to The Center and see if they decide to spawn on Rag again. If there's something wrong with Rag spawns I'll just try Val or The Island again.

As for the other crap I'm about to try, I'm working to set down Tek Teleporters on the spots they spawn. I have a base close to the Highlands so Rag is good. So far though, the Unicorn I got on Val spawned in front of me with the destroyallwilddinos cheat, providing to be the most effective solution.

Someone also mentioned using NPCZoneZolume and NPCSpawnVolume. I'll be sure to try that, hope it works on console. I've tried that other spawn code being cheat getallstate and TeleportToActorLocation. Giveallstate does nothing, and the other I've tried but gave up as soon as he level numbers got to 115. Honestly don't know if that command is compatible with consoles. We'll see.

[Darkholis]

1 hour ago, Blackbirdie said:

Someone also mentioned using NPCZoneZolume and NPCSpawnVolume. I'll be sure to try that, hope it works on console. I've tried that other spawn code being cheat getallstate and TeleportToActorLocation. Giveallstate does nothing, and the other I've tried but gave up as soon as he level numbers got to 115. Honestly don't know if that command is compatible with consoles. We'll see.

NPCZoneVolume & NPCSpawnVolume are not admin/console commands, they are objects used within the dev kit (on all maps) to spawn creatures. I simply provided raw hard data for the Island as well as a short explanation of how each one interacts which each other.

Hope this clears up any misunderstandings.

[Dinobros2000]

One time the unicorn spawned right next to me when i opened a new world, but was killed by the spino that always spawns there before I got level 10

[Blackbirdie]

14 hours ago, Dinobros2000 said:

One time the unicorn spawned right next to me when i opened a new world, but was killed by the spino that always spawns there before I got level 10

That's how I tamed Sally on Rag. Wiped my save, started a new world just recently and decided to travel to The Highlands and there she was. I managed to build a simple thatch cage (though it took a long ass to corral the thing) and when I was level ten I went back there and no gigas or Allos got to it. Tamed her up. Sadly though, Sally got killed a few days ago.

[Blackbirdie]

Okay gang, I got an issue of some sort on Rag.

So... transferring my cryo podded Unis on Rag back to The Center did nothing to make another Unicorn spawn back in. Just tried all day, wiping the server every 30 minutes or so with destroywilddinos command and still nothing. I don't know how long it actually takes for a Unicorn to spawn back in a Rag, normally so even but I let the game run for a bit on Slomo 250 and still nothing. Maybe it's a bug? 

I really don't get this. The Cryopodded Unis are off Rag and are being stored on The Center. I've already tested out whether transferring Unis to another server makes another one spawn, and from what I've tested on Val, they do respawn. But not on Rag for some reason. And trust me, with every wipe I go around and kill off the Allos hordes so there's no chance of a pack killing it off. So if I'm certain here, they're not spawning all together on Ragnarok.

[Darkholis]

You could always use the tek transmitter from S+ and scan the whole map for creatures...

[Blackbirdie]

19 hours ago, ArkRage said:

They spawn all over on crystal isles. To the point where they are common lol. Killed a low level the other week, walked a few steps, and found another!  Idk if two spawned at once (because apparently only one spawns per map), but that's some quick spawning, I tell you. It was on official servers, but maybe try searching that map. Don't think I've ever seen a unicorn on any of the other maps

Not a bad idea actually. I found a low level one a while back. It was close to where the Tropical wyverns spawn. Might I ask where you've found the most?

[Blackbirdie]

On 12/11/2020 at 3:38 AM, ArkRage said:

The very first two I found were somewhere where the pink trees are, and I've seen a couple dotted about in the fields that follow down from near the snow (I can post coords another time if needed, I'm terrible with the name areas of the map xD) but the most common place for me, and where I would suggest, is the islands down south west. Literally the bottom left corner. I have tamed I think 5 from that area. Mostly on the islands closer to the coast. There's about idk 10 little islands or so, you can't miss them.

I've been looking around the Tropics for a while but I haven't had any luck finding one near the Fire swamp, Ember Falls or near the Snow biome (Hopefully not the Eldritch Isle). I have a spawn map open, but can you recall exactly where you found one in the Snow Biome and Emberfalls/ Fire Swamp?. 

[Blackbirdie]

Okay, I may have figured out the problem with Unicorns not spawning on Rag. Either my base is too close to the Highlands, or I have to physically download and transfer my two Unicorns instead of Cryopodding and transferring them. (Bugs have happened in the past where the game would eat a few downloaded tames or crash the game straight up so I stopped doing that.) Now, not sure if this happens on PVP or PVE but there's this affect where any spot you put your base on or any kind of structure that has dinos or creatures nearby, after a while they will stop spawning in that area. 

Two good examples of this is The Highlands and Wyvern Cove. Yes, I was crazy enough to build a base out in the highlands. And after a while, the Allo packs, and occasional Giga stopped spawning entirely. I never saw another giga or Allo after I built my base, not until, just recently I wiped my save file.

Same with Wyvern cove, a large rocky arch area filled with Wyverns and crystal clear water filling the bottom of this tropical, mountainous looking area. Absolutely beautiful on it's own without the 30+ wyverns flying around. I managed to clear enough of them out and made a base inside the rock opening. They were still a frequent problem when it came to going out for the crystals and ore found in the area, but after a while they too stopped spawning all together. And just yesterday, revisiting that area, the cove was full of Wyverns.

So, I guess I'm moving my base. Found a nice island to move my tames to. As for Transferring my Unis, just pray that the game doesn't eat them XD

[Kali1973]

I live on a Megachelon base in the tropics on Crystal Isles, parked near two giant crystals poking out of the water not far from green obilisk. I walked out the door a few months ago and a unicorn was running around out there, just a level 25. I breed 138s on the island. My old tribe mate was convinced he would get a colour mutation, so we had about 50 for awhile. Used to put on shows for the server bring one of the duds out at midnight and kill it in front of everyone, back when they were super rare. 

[Blackbirdie]

Okay, I just got on today after deconstructing my entire base, moving all my tames and items and I just settled on a island far away on Rag. It's been 5 minutes, just flew my Griffin through the highlands aaand. We got a uni.  So, as it turns out, it was my base that was messing with the Unicorn spawns given this quick of a result. I'll keep repeating this as usual, see if we get some good level Females.

[Blackbirdie]

Alright, I think I've figured out the Issue with Rag spawns. 1. Building a base or structure in a spawn area will force the Unicorn to never spawn in that region. And 2. Rag takes a long f#cking time to spawn another one. I started this discussion on the third of December and here we are, nearly at the end of the month and another one spawned. I've been playing Ark almost everyday since I started this discussion. For several hours a day. Now let me check the Tribe log and see the when I first tamed that original Unicorn on Rag...

Never mind. The game has a 15 GB update that will take all day to download. Anyways, my point is that waiting out normally for a Uni to respawn on Rag has taken ages, although I have fixed the spawn problem. Clearing my base out made one spawn, and leaving the area for a couple in-game days made it spawn aswell. Props to whoever suggested leaving the area for a bit and coming back. That method does in fact work.

Now, whenever the update finishes (given that my internet is abysmally slow and it's telling me it will finish in about 10 hours) I'll start using the destroywilddinos cheat again and see if that helps. If not, screw Rag, I had better luck with Val. Wish me luck.

[d1nk]

1 hour ago, Blackbirdie said:

Alright, I think I've figured out the Issue with Rag spawns. 1. Building a base or structure in a spawn area will force the Unicorn to never spawn in that region. And 2. Rag takes a long f#cking time to spawn another one. I started this discussion on the third of December and here we are, nearly at the end of the month and another one spawned. I've been playing Ark almost everyday since I started this discussion. For several hours a day. Now let me check the Tribe log and see the when I first tamed that original Unicorn on Rag...

Never mind. The game has a 15 GB update that will take all day to download. Anyways, my point is that waiting out normally for a Uni to respawn on Rag has taken ages, although I have fixed the spawn problem. Clearing my base out made one spawn, and leaving the area for a couple in-game days made it spawn aswell. Props to whoever suggested leaving the area for a bit and coming back. That method does in fact work.

Now, whenever the update finishes (given that my internet is abysmally slow and it's telling me it will finish in about 10 hours) I'll start using the destroywilddinos cheat again and see if that helps. If not, screw Rag, I had better luck with Val. Wish me luck.

I feel your pain. If you can - hardwire your console. Other than  that, ark updates unusually slower than any other game. People think it's being throttled 

[Blackbirdie]

Okay, I got my hands on a High level female Uni. I'm looking to breed up my 3 Unis and I was wondering this. Is it possible to get a stat mutation on them given that they can breed? They will never get a color mutation, sadly, but is it possible to make some less squishy and useless Unicorns? I just figured that if it can breed, you can mutate it.

[NinjaNucky1234]

I think I’ve found a glitch of some sort which allows you to not take fall damage. If you open and close your inventory rapidly while falling you will lose momentum falling down but you will carry on moving horizontally.