Just bought the game, items are disappearing?

[OrbitalPenguin]

First time playing, downloaded today, no mods or anything, just the pristine install.

Started a new single player game (on my local PC), and spent a few hours in the first "beach" level. Had a thatch house and dropped a bunch of things inside which I had collected. Went out to chop some more trees, came back a few minutes later and everything I had dropped inside the house was gone.

This really took away the enjoyment for me. Wondering if this is proper game behaviour, i.e. you need to put things in a storage box or they disappear? Or is it really the case that it can't it keep track of dropped items in one small area for a few minutes?

[guig]

in case you did not notice you have a spoil timer on any item on the ground. those you drop usually have a 2mn timer. so yes you need boxes. it is a very common mechanic in survival games.

[ELITExTCC]

Sent you a friend request. If you want someone to play with and show you the ropes, I would be down. Making a new character and would be down to teach (as long as you're at least 18). If you are, hit me up on discord. @ELITExTCC

[skyguard]

Anything you pick up will remain if kept in your inventory or in storage (some items will always spoil like meat, veggies etc), anything you drop on the ground counts has discarded and will despawn in 2 minutes.
This is game intended.

[OrbitalPenguin]

Ah ok thanks for the help! @watsondrew123 thanks for the offer, very kind of you!

Guess it makes sense for food items on the ground (though spoiling generally happens way too quickly). Doesn't make sense for wood, rocks, etc. which don't spoil, and putting things in the house should remain - I mean it's just a big box. :) Obviously you want to keep items in the house, i.e. on any surface you've made.

Is there a mod which extends spoiling and this disappearance timer? Feels much less "realistic" with those things happening so weirdly quickly. There are so many realism factors, like encumberance, yet you can't just put something down and come back for it in a few mins.

[OrbitalPenguin]

Found this thread with some useful settings, yay!

https://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511346864183#c535152511353018991

[Jack]

Originally posted by OrbitalPenguin:

Found this thread with some useful settings, yay!

https://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/535152511346864183#c535152511353018991

I was about to recommend basically the same thing lol
You should also check out all the other settings you can change to make your experience exactly the way you want it to be. That's always been my favorite thing about ARK. There's so many settings you can change, especially in your own single player world, that you can custom tailor it to the exact experience (within reason) you want.

[schlinks]

[The Nugget]

It's fun to play, quite a few have had single player games saves fail, it's better to play on a nearby PVE server as they always save.

[guig]

Originally posted by OrbitalPenguin:

Ah ok thanks for the help! @watsondrew123 thanks for the offer, very kind of you!

Is there a mod which extends spoiling and this disappearance timer? Feels much less "realistic" with those things happening so weirdly quickly. There are so many realism factors, like encumberance, yet you can't just put something down and come back for it in a few mins.

they are many reasons for this, from game design to memory usage. also it's a mechanic that could be easily abused in pvp, or use to crash/lag server by ppl with bad intentions.
(there were already some cases of poop spamming in the past in this game for ex, it's funny until the server crashes or if ppl keep doing it everyday).

also anything on the ground has to be rendered, while in a box it is stocked just as a number and eventually 1 icon for the game so it preserves computer ressources.

any game you find which let you throw your stuff on the ground without spoilers/consequences are usually not intended for pvp, and mostly (not always) singleplayer ones. even though it's not rare to find memory leaks/overcharge in those games.

[Deagle Trainee]

Originally posted by OrbitalPenguin:

There are so many realism factors, like encumberance

I just want to say that with enough levels you'll be able to hold way more than realistically possible. So the realism in this game is still somewhat limited.

Originally posted by guig:

any game you find which let you throw your stuff on the ground without spoilers/consequences are usually not intended for pvp, and mostly (not always) singleplayer ones. even though it's not rare to find memory leaks/overcharge in those games.

Yes, this is a problem on long lasting servers on DST. People often make a point of permanently throwing away unwanted items for this very reason.

[neock]

items on the ground despawn to prevent lag from too many entities. you can slow the timer by lowering the "spoil timer" in the settings, should you be in a single player

[Saizo]

If you drop everything from your inventory or from the dino, than you will drop a single bag instead of a lot of packages which disappears after a much longer time.
Just pick the items you want out of it, if you really want to keep a few things.

But you can craft the first storage box very early and it costs almost nothing, so there is no actual need for that.

[DarkFaceGlow]

Are you dropping things on the ground? That would be the reason your stuff is gone.

[skyguard]

Drop your items in bags, they last up to 90 minutes.
if you want to drop all the meat, type "meat in the search bar and only meat will show in your inventory. Than right click on any of the meat and select drop, all the meat will drop in a bag.
Check the timer on it and it will tell you how much time you have before the bag decays.

But yes, this is intended. There would be way to much crap in the world if nothing decayed.