PGARK Settings Basic Visual Guide and Examples

[MickThorpe1]

I have some how got my ocean details to appear on land like the long weeds, those big ocean rock things and those wide red flower things/ Any idea how to correct this?

[Guest BubbaCrawfish]

22 hours ago, MickThorpe1 said:

I have some how got my ocean details to appear on land like the long weeds, those big ocean rock things and those wide red flower things/ Any idea how to correct this?

Why correct it, that's a feature...

[MickThorpe1]

1 hour ago, BubbaCrawfish said:

Why correct it, that's a feature...

Lol but it's kinda of annoying and can take up land space

[Guest BubbaCrawfish]

3 minutes ago, MickThorpe1 said:

Lol but it's kinda of annoying and can take up land space

You could submit the settings to WC for the next round of User Content... "Wanna live at bikini bottom?"

[Pach]

On 4/17/2017 at 3:09 PM, MickThorpe1 said:

I have some how got my ocean details to appear on land like the long weeds, those big ocean rock things and those wide red flower things/ Any idea how to correct this?

.... I think you missed my previous post (page wrap).

Your deepwater setting is higher than your land settings.

The deepwater stuff spawns from -1.0 to whatever height you specify in your configs.

If that number is higher than any of your land settings, they will get deepwater stuff spawning.

Example:

You set junglebiome start to 0.4.

You set water at 0.

You set your deepwater biome to 0.7 (instead of -0.7).

You will have deepwater stuff spawning in your jungle biome, because deepwater will spawn from -1.0 through 0 and through 0.4 (where jungle starts) to 0.7.

Generally speaking, whatever you set the water level to, you want your deepwater stuff to spawn to a lower number (at least 0.2 less)

So if you set water level at 0, deepwater should be no higher than -0.2 (0.0 - 0.2).

If water is set to -0.7, deepwater should be no higher than -0.9.

Why 0.2 less?

Because the deepwater stuff is 0.2 high.  If you make them the same number, you can have the weeds sticking up through the water.

 

 

[MickThorpe1]

2 minutes ago, Pach said:

.... I think you missed my previous post (page wrap).

Your deepwater setting is higher than your land settings.

The deepwater stuff spawns from -1.0 to whatever height you specify in your configs.

If that number is higher than any of your land settings, they will get deepwater stuff spawning.

Example:

You set junglebiome start to 0.4.

You set water at 0.

You set your deepwater biome to 0.7 (instead of -0.7).

You will have deepwater stuff spawning in your jungle biome, because deepwater will spawn from -1.0 through 0 and through 0.4 (where jungle starts) to 0.7.

Generally speaking, whatever you set the water level to, you want your deepwater stuff to spawn to a lower number (at least 0.2 less)

So if you set water level at 0, deepwater should be no higher than -0.2 (0.0 - 0.2).

If water is set to -0.7, deepwater should be no higher than -0.9.

Why 0.2 less?

Because the deepwater stuff is 0.2 high.  If you make them the same number, you can have the weeds sticking up through the water.

 

 

Thank you dude! this was getting very frustrating lol, any recommendations for a pgm's water layout?

[Pach]

1 hour ago, MickThorpe1 said:

Thank you dude! this was getting very frustrating lol, any recommendations for a pgm's water layout?

I've used the following with success:

WaterLevel=-0.72

DeepWaterBiomesDepth=-0.24

Notice that both those are NEGATIVE numbers.  

... also notice what I told you before was incorrect, as the DeepWater number is higher than WaterLevel.  It may be that DeepWater setting is relative to the water level setting.  If so, if you have a positive number, it will have the same effect as I described (meaning, if you have water level of -0.72 and DeepWater set to 0.24, no negative, it would spawn your deepwater stuff on land).

Either way, I had no issues with deepwater stuff on land with those 2 settings.

 

For reference, the rest of my biome level settings:

OceanFloorLevel=-1.0

MountainBiomeStart=-0.45

JungleBiomeStart=-0.62

[MickThorpe1]

18 hours ago, Pach said:

I've used the following with success:

WaterLevel=-0.72

DeepWaterBiomesDepth=-0.24

Notice that both those are NEGATIVE numbers.  

... also notice what I told you before was incorrect, as the DeepWater number is higher than WaterLevel.  It may be that DeepWater setting is relative to the water level setting.  If so, if you have a positive number, it will have the same effect as I described (meaning, if you have water level of -0.72 and DeepWater set to 0.24, no negative, it would spawn your deepwater stuff on land).

Either way, I had no issues with deepwater stuff on land with those 2 settings.

 

For reference, the rest of my biome level settings:

OceanFloorLevel=-1.0

MountainBiomeStart=-0.45

JungleBiomeStart=-0.62

Yeah thinking about it I think at some point I changed deepwater to 0.24 and so on without the negative haha. Appreciate the help man! 

[Pach]

16 minutes ago, MickThorpe1 said:

Yeah thinking about it I think at some point I changed deepwater to 0.24 and so on without the negative haha. Appreciate the help man! 

Anytime!  I played with the PG ARK settings quite a bit (actually played a game on a PG ARK map, too... that was... interesting....), so if you have other questions, I have notifications on for this thread.

[KoopaTheTurtle]

How does one obtain the code of the map?

[Pach]

4 hours ago, KoopaTheTurtle said:

How does one obtain the code of the map?

If you mean after you create one, it's in the game.ini file.  There will be two lines, one of which is VERY LONG, and you need to copy ALL of it:

They start with the following text (the second one is the long one):

PGMapName=
PGTerrainPropertiesString=

[KoopaTheTurtle]

37 minutes ago, Pach said:

If you mean after you create one, it's in the game.ini file.  There will be two lines, one of which is VERY LONG, and you need to copy ALL of it:

They start with the following text (the second one is the long one):

PGMapName=
PGTerrainPropertiesString=

i go into the game.ini and its blank o-o

[Pach]

11 minutes ago, KoopaTheTurtle said:

i go into the game.ini and its blank o-o

... have you saved the game?

EDIT:  also, make sure the game.ini isn't set to read-only.  It has to be able to write to the file...

[Cyric657]

Ok, here goes. I'm playing on PS4 and according to current research the lost city of Atlantis was built on the rim of a submerged super volcano. I'm looking to create a C shaped map  with an island in the center and water on all sides and flowing into the C and creating a deep water biome everywhere. I'm looking to find out what settings i would change in order to try and recreate this.

[Pach]

... that's pretty specific.  PG ARKs are random, not specific.

You might get close by having a mountain/water ratio close to 1 (or even slanted in favor of the water, meaning, have more water peaks than mountain), and higher mountains.

However, there is no guarantee that you will get a "circle" with a "peak" in the center (however accurate that might be).  You might just get an archipelago.  However, if you play with the settings until you get a water/land ratio to what you want, you might then be able to just play with the seed until you get a landmass you like.

 

[MadCow]

Are there any mods that make the UI for generating a PG "smarter"?  I love the idea of exploring a map that is new when I want to dive into Ark again, but I hate that if you don't have one exact decimal set the right way, you wind up with 2 mile high mountains and no beaches.

[cwj12tlxpfks]

good tip

I will learn new informatiion Thank you!!!

[LouisCyphre]

Redwood tree placement

Okay I have redwood tree set to .004 and what I am running into is either sparse evenly spaced trees, as in planted in rows. Or if I take the setting up, I get so many rocks that the biome becomes useless. So here is my 2 part question. Is there a way to make tree placement more sporadic? AND Is there a way to change the tree to rock ratio? I would be fine with the spawn as it is if 80% of the rocks were trees. I literally have 10-15 rocks to every 1 tree.

[Ghaztmaster]

I want to make a map with no ocean but every time  I try it crashes. Can one of you help me?

[Gorwyn]

Is there a way to insert the settings people post for PG Arks easily or must it all be done manually?

 

Thanks!

[NickDaTiktaalik]

Neat guide you came up with, faved in browser!

As for my inquiries I have but three:

First and foremost, have you covered anything about Region parameters? Such as, what NOT to do when tweaking the biome origins and spawn region bounds.

Second, is it a good idea to tweak the parameters that are affected by the randomizer for first-time ARK-tographers?

Finally, suppose you are aware of the naming convention of PG ARKs, having no parsing, and being one word. Would it be better to just give the ARK a name in a fantasy or sci-fi language? For instance, Vashannithval: "(The) Mountain (that) Time Forgot" in Aldmeris.