Is EMF broken?

[Arvetis]

I just had a Revenant game, which is supposed to have EMF 5. I was in the game for about 20 minutes, and had full apparitions, lots of interaction with objects, etc. The EMF (which was on) never went above the one green light. Is EMF sometimes broken, or was I just being impatient?

[mldb88]

EMF depends on the activity, so if it was just low level activity it might have only been at a 3. I find the EMF works best if you try to ask it to show you a sign or to show itself. These usually after a few events will prompt something giving a high enough EMF to trigger a 5 if it's an EMF 5 ghost.

[Delacroix]

Normally, you would get at least two lights in almost any interaction. Try to have the EMF in your hand and turn it on and off sometimes because sometimes it gets bugged.

If you didn't get any light the whole game its due for it not being close enough to the interaction or it just bugged.

Keep in mind that the EMF can randomly put on 2 - 3 - 4 in interaction and that doesn't mean there won't be a 5 somewhere down the line.

[Xynrati]

EMF appears only when the ghost does a thing in a spot, and the EMF (not the ghost) stays in said spot for 20 seconds. The level (2/3/4) determine the type of event, with 2 being basic interaction and 4 being a full on ghost event.

For ghosts with EMF 5 as a trait, doing ANY EMF event (2/3/4) CAN have EMF 5 on it, but not always. It's a 1/4 chance.

In other words, and to be extra clear, an EMF 5 ghost only has a 1/4 chance of actually showing you EMF 5 on ANY EMF event. You really basically need to trigger a ton of EMF events and run around looking for that EMF 5. Otherwise you might get unlucky and never see it.

Edit: I should also add that multiple EMF events in the same area won't add up (though the truck/van graph adds all active EMF events up). Using an EMF reader in a spot with multiple active EMF events will only show the highest, so you don't need to worry about a 5 being hidden by a 3.

A trick I use to check EMF 5 is with the ouija board. Simply repeatedly ask it's age over and over and over while holding EMF reader, and if you don't get a 5 after like 20 times, it's 99% definitely not EMF 5. And you have no sanity left lol

[mldb88]

Originally posted by Xynrati:

EMF appears only when the ghost does a thing in a spot, and the EMF (not the ghost) stays in said spot for 20 seconds. The level (2/3/4) determine the type of event, with 2 being basic interaction and 4 being a full on ghost event.

For ghosts with EMF 5 as a trait, doing ANY EMF event (2/3/4) CAN have EMF 5 on it, but not always. It's a 1/4 chance.

In other words, and to be extra clear, an EMF 5 ghost only has a 1/4 chance of actually showing you EMF 5 on ANY EMF event. You really basically need to trigger a ton of EMF events and run around looking for that EMF 5. Otherwise you might get unlucky and never see it.

Edit: I should also add that multiple EMF events in the same area won't add up (though the truck/van graph adds all active EMF events up). Using an EMF reader in a spot with multiple active EMF events will only show the highest, so you don't need to worry about a 5 being hidden by a 3.

A trick I use to check EMF 5 is with the ouija board. Simply repeatedly ask it's age over and over and over while holding EMF reader, and if you don't get a 5 after like 20 times, it's 99% definitely not EMF 5. And you have no sanity left lol

Also make sure you have a cross down. Not sure if it's confirmed but I've heard that using the ouija board has a 1/4 chance or so to start a hunt (could be related to the sanity tank effect just happening to trigger a hunt though). I've had a hunt start almost immediately after asking like 2 questions in back to back games of finding it solo.

[Xynrati]

Ouija board cannot start a hunt. Thank you for reminding me. One of the 1/3 chance with using a ouija board is to end the setup phase (enabling hunts, but not starting them). So if you're on amateur with say 3.5 mins of your initial 5 mins left, and you've been playing with a ouija board, you can end that 3.5 mins instantly. Additionally, if you then tank your sanity with the -40% 1/3 chance, you can easily get a super early hunt.

[mldb88]

Originally posted by Xynrati:

Ouija board cannot start a hunt. Thank you for reminding me. One of the 1/3 chance with using a ouija board is to end the setup phase (enabling hunts, but not starting them). So if you're on amateur with say 3.5 mins of your initial 5 mins left, and you've been playing with a ouija board, you can end that 3.5 mins instantly. Additionally, if you then tank your sanity with the -40% 1/3 chance, you can easily get a super early hunt.

So i basically just have the worst luck imaginable.... sounds about right

[Xynrati]

Yeah, once I understood how EMF worked I stopped assuming it wasn't EMF 5 and that it was just difficult to catch.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Originally posted by Delacroix:

Normally, you would get at least two lights in almost any interaction. Try to have the EMF in your hand and turn it on and off sometimes because sometimes it gets bugged.

If you didn't get any light the whole game its due for it not being close enough to the interaction or it just bugged.

Keep in mind that the EMF can randomly put on 2 - 3 - 4 in interaction and that doesn't mean there won't be a 5 somewhere down the line.

Actually if I remember correctly EMF 5 more or less replaces EMF 2 unless its a very very low activity to trigger EMF 2.

[Xynrati]

EMF 5 is a 1/4 chance of showing on ANY EMF event. Doesn't matter if it's 2/3/4, but literally any event. It may seem like it replaces some specific one, but it's literally RNG with a 25% chance of replacing all of them equally.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Originally posted by Xynrati:

EMF 5 is a 1/4 chance of showing on ANY EMF event. Doesn't matter if it's 2/3/4, but literally any event. It may seem like it replaces some specific one, but it's literally RNG with a 25% chance of replacing all of them equally.

Well since we're on the topic of the readings, anyone else thinking the developer went a little to hard on the device's audio sensors? EMF 2 now is barely audible even when its on the grounds.

[Nova225]

Originally posted by Xynrati:

Ouija board cannot start a hunt. Thank you for reminding me. One of the 1/3 chance with using a ouija board is to end the setup phase (enabling hunts, but not starting them). So if you're on amateur with say 3.5 mins of your initial 5 mins left, and you've been playing with a ouija board, you can end that 3.5 mins instantly. Additionally, if you then tank your sanity with the -40% 1/3 chance, you can easily get a super early hunt.

IIRC Ouija board does two things:

Tank your sanity by a huge amount (except for demons)
Remove any timers that were preventing a hunt.

Basically if you're reckless with it your sanity will drop below the hunt threshold (which is 50% for most ghosts) and any timers that were preventing one end right away.

[Chris]

Originally posted by Arvetis:

I just had a Revenant game, which is supposed to have EMF 5. I was in the game for about 20 minutes, and had full apparitions, lots of interaction with objects, etc. The EMF (which was on) never went above the one green light. Is EMF sometimes broken, or was I just being impatient?

Revenants are like that I had a game with 40 minutes of hunting trying to figure out if it actually was a revenant but only got no EMF but everything else so we werent sure.

[Ulfkarl]

I got the EMF 5 once when i twas literally hunting, so you maybe need to be close to the ghost while its hunting

[Cursed Hawkins]

Originally posted by ⨁ UlfKarl ⨁:

I got the EMF 5 once when i twas literally hunting, so you maybe need to be close to the ghost while its hunting

No you don't need to be next to the ghost while its hunting because that means YOUR DEAD! If you get an EMF 5 reading JUST as a hunt begins then it spawned ON TOP OF YOU!

[Lucifer]

Originally posted by ⨁ UlfKarl ⨁:

I got the EMF 5 once when i twas literally hunting, so you maybe need to be close to the ghost while its hunting

EMF appears at the point of spawn during a hunt and doesn’t follow the ghost model. It’s possible that it could leave a signature when it opens a door while hunting but I haven’t verified that.