Can't find PDAs in wrecks?

[Aedes]

Hello. I just started my first hardcore run and even on the first run for the wrecked lifepod location I didn't find PDA there nor any kind of blueprint around it. Is there a problem with my fame, should I start a new game?

[Lil Puppy]

Yes, start a new game.

Or you can F3, F8, enable console, F8, F3.
Press Enter and then type:
entreset

This will rebuild and repopulate the world so all the things spawn again.

[Aedes]

I started a new game, thanks.

[[SR] dsotg]

i thought u found those at lifepods. not in wrecks

[[SR] dsotg]

in wrecks their hard to find

[dreamrider]

@dsotg,
Abandoned PDAs can be found in both lifepods and in some wrecks, and in...a few other places. The ones in lifepods are very obvious, given that it is a tiny space, and if outside they are quite close. The ones in wrecks are also usually pretty visible, often in the first room. They all glow softly, so they are easy to see.

All the PDAs are story devices, so the devs WANTED you to find them without much trouble. A truly difficult to find PDA might break the story line / deny you a key clue.

Blueprints can come from, or be found in a number of forms and places. You can scan fragments, to have your PDA reverse engineer / extrapolate them, of course. That's how you get most of them.

But I assume from context that the OP was speaking of found, whole blueprints. Around lifepods, these are found in Databoxes, the rectangular white boxes with a sort of "plug in module inside". They maybe inside the LP or spilled out nearby, but close and visible.

You will, in fact, sometimes find such Databoxes in wrecks. Sometimes easily accessible, lying on the floor of the first room; sometimes behind a broken or jammed door. I know of at least one that is tantalizingly visible from the outside of the wreck, and you can swim around girders and stuff to get THAT close...but can't quite reach. You have to find an alternative interior route, or maybe do something clever with the P Cannon or something, to get it.

You can occasionally get a blueprint from a still active data terminal.

There are also some Supply Boxes scattered around, often near wrecks, especially in the Aurora and upon the apron of Crash Zone around it. They look somewhat similar to Databoxes, but are slightly chunkier. They usually contain a bit of minor gear, like a big water bottle or a battery.

Folks, did I leave out any of the sources of blueprints? Initially in your PDA, Scans of fragments, Databoxes, the rare Terminal.

Oh, yeah. There are a few blueprints that are spawned automatically in your PDA when some key material is first located, or when some other key event happens. Its the cheesiest way you get blueprint, but I think of it as the AI of your PDA getting that one piece of data that allows it to make a pseudo-logic connection, and recover a portion of its corrupted data files. The Radiation Suit is a good example.
(Also note: the player would be basically SOL if they didn't get the Radiation Suit blueprint, so the devs had to make SURE it happened at a certain point in the game/story line.)