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Studio Wildcard have finally released an official fix for the broken water in ARK: Survival Evolved [Steam] on certain maps, sadly though it seems they've broken the Linux version completely.

In the "v275.0" patch that came along with the expansion, the developer noted in their Steam forum patch notes that they finally fixed water rendering, so you no longer need to resort to hacky solutions to fix it yourself. Naturally, I tried to test the it myself, but now it seems ARK doesn't actually work at all. It gives me the main menu music for all of 1-2 seconds, then it just crashes. Yet again, Studio Wildcard clearly aren't putting enough effort into the Linux version. Of course I checked to ensure I'm not the only one and there are plenty of other Linux gamers reporting the same thing.

I don't want to be overly negative about it, but it's really hard not to be when we've been left with so many issues in the Linux version, to end up with a broken game when a major DLC releases. We aren't the only ones though, the Mac version since this update has also been left in a very broken state.

As for the big DLC:

Aberration places survivors on a damaged ARK: its internal atmosphere has leaked away, resulting in a harsh surface with intense radiation, and a plethora of lush biomes underground. With the maintenance systems of this ARK malfunctioning, the many hazards, creatures, and nature of the environment present a thrilling new world to explore and master.

Here's the launch trailer if you're interested:

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micha Dec 13, 2017
That's sad. I recently bought the Season Pass since the new DLC got me quite excited. Hopefully it will be fixed soon or at least in time for the x-mas holidays.
Jau Dec 13, 2017
Hi everyone. May I share another point of view with you ?

I'm working on an UE4 project. Since I've updated to 4.18.1 (I will try with last patch 18.2 but don't have big hopes), I can't even load the Editor with Vulkan (crash) or calculate the Lightmass (swarm agent crashed). okay, that's not perfect either on Windows where you can have nice BSODs when making the lightmass....
The real problem is the bad Linux support from Epic.
Do you know that we can't even use the launcher to download / compile some plugins for the editor under Gnu/Linux ? Oh, and if, as an example, you want to buy some trees or dungeon walls to an artist on the marketplace : too bad ! You can browser with your regular browser but not download ! You need the launcher !
I don't care about compiling (even if it's time consuming) but f**k ! They say they support Linux but it's not entirely true !

I understand your frustration but maybe Ark devs are not the culprit here... (or maybe they are, I don't know of course)

Thanks GamingOnLinux ;-)
Xpander Dec 13, 2017
Quoting: PsychojauHi everyone. May I share another point of view with you ?

I'm working on an UE4 project. Since I've updated to 4.18.1 (I will try with last patch 18.2 but don't have big hopes), I can't even load the Editor with Vulkan (crash) or calculate the Lightmass (swarm agent crashed). okay, that's not perfect either on Windows where you can have nice BSODs when making the lightmass....
The real problem is the bad Linux support from Epic.
Do you know that we can't even use the launcher to download / compile some plugins for the editor under Gnu/Linux ? Oh, and if, as an example, you want to buy some trees or dungeon walls to an artist on the marketplace : too bad ! You can browser with your regular browser but not download ! You need the launcher !
I don't care about compiling (even if it's time consuming) but f**k ! They say they support Linux but it's not entirely true !

I understand your frustration but maybe Ark devs are not the culprit here... (or maybe they are, I don't know of course)

Thanks GamingOnLinux ;-)

they are, they still have old UE4.5 version, we are limited to opengl3.3, not even talking about vulkan but we dont have GL4.5 or anything. Visuals are broken and less pretty because of the older opengl version.
they give zero fucks... There are UE4 games that are out and working with Vulkan or Opengl4.5 just fine. So its no excuse. Also i think you are running non-stable release of UE4, so problems are expected.
johndoe86x Dec 13, 2017
Quoting: PsychojauHi everyone. May I share another point of view with you ?

I'm working on an UE4 project. Since I've updated to 4.18.1 (I will try with last patch 18.2 but don't have big hopes), I can't even load the Editor with Vulkan (crash) or calculate the Lightmass (swarm agent crashed). okay, that's not perfect either on Windows where you can have nice BSODs when making the lightmass....
The real problem is the bad Linux support from Epic.
Do you know that we can't even use the launcher to download / compile some plugins for the editor under Gnu/Linux ? Oh, and if, as an example, you want to buy some trees or dungeon walls to an artist on the marketplace : too bad ! You can browser with your regular browser but not download ! You need the launcher !
I don't care about compiling (even if it's time consuming) but f**k ! They say they support Linux but it's not entirely true !

I understand your frustration but maybe Ark devs are not the culprit here... (or maybe they are, I don't know of course)

Thanks GamingOnLinux ;-)

If they had been known for consistently improving their performance, squashing bugs, and listening to community feedback while in early access, then you could have a point.

Instead, they released a non-free DLC pack while still in early access, doubled the price when they left early access, and don't even have a platform that runs even remotely well.
TheRiddick Dec 13, 2017
The developer needs to put on the breaks for a month and focus on releasing a Vulkan update. I suspect most the staff are content producers and not graphics api programmers which is why it hasn't happened yet.
Ardje Dec 13, 2017
Quoting: TheRiddickThe developer needs to put on the breaks for a month and focus on releasing a Vulkan update.I suspect most the staff are content producers and not graphics api programmers which is why it hasn't happened yet.
The problem seems to be that the engine does not really support vulkan yet. Only vulkan on mobile, as they were contracted by Samsung to make this amazing vulkan demo to showcase the new API.
I think that was about it.
The support for DX12 probably is better than vulkan, while with vulkan they can achieve the same and have an enormous amount of targets... Especially if you realise that vulkan works starting from windows 7 and DX12 requires windows 10, and according to steam, windows 7 is the main platform
(Thanks China!).
Snail-Games is also Chinese, so they should push wildcard to support vulkan on windows 7.
Ardje Dec 13, 2017
https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/forums/topic/10276-linux-bug-reports/&page=15&tab=comments#comment-1649483
QuoteHave passed the info on to our engineering team, hopefully we can get this sorted asap
So it is not like they are not reading and not responding. They do read.
The error looks less colorful though...
Something something with the unreal API is wrong.
Jau Dec 13, 2017
Quoting: johndoe86x
Quoting: PsychojauHi everyone. May I share another point of view with you ?

I'm working on an UE4 project. Since I've updated to 4.18.1 (I will try with last patch 18.2 but don't have big hopes), I can't even load the Editor with Vulkan (crash) or calculate the Lightmass (swarm agent crashed). okay, that's not perfect either on Windows where you can have nice BSODs when making the lightmass....
The real problem is the bad Linux support from Epic.
Do you know that we can't even use the launcher to download / compile some plugins for the editor under Gnu/Linux ? Oh, and if, as an example, you want to buy some trees or dungeon walls to an artist on the marketplace : too bad ! You can browser with your regular browser but not download ! You need the launcher !
I don't care about compiling (even if it's time consuming) but f**k ! They say they support Linux but it's not entirely true !

I understand your frustration but maybe Ark devs are not the culprit here... (or maybe they are, I don't know of course)

Thanks GamingOnLinux ;-)

If they had been known for consistently improving their performance, squashing bugs, and listening to community feedback while in early access, then you could have a point.

Instead, they released a non-free DLC pack while still in early access, doubled the price when they left early access, and don't even have a platform that runs even remotely well.

I'm using a stable release lol don't worry I'm not crazy. If they are using this version THEY are indeed in huge trouble. But I can understand... updating your engine adds new problems. Even if Epic always try to maintain some compatibility. I really hope Epic will "finish" Vulkan support so everyone can update their project.
evergreen Dec 13, 2017
I can't start the game... I'm arkoholic. In these moments I'm proud I've erased WINZ iso... or maybe not...
TheRiddick Dec 13, 2017
MS has paid allot of money into developers to do DX12, that is why it often gets support first.
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