Too many sharks

Not quite sure where to put this thread.

The game spamming sharks has really thrown the balance of the game out the window. Every time I walk into the water, bam shark. And it doesn’t help they are the best source of rawhide and food in the game. They are just too frequent and too easy to kill. Plus since sharks are spammed their challenge and threat is trivialized. It’s the same situation as Minecraft where the game becomes harder on peaceful mode than base game.

Hi Viedra, welcome to the forums,

I just have a few questions if you don’t mind, to help me to determine if I should submit this as an issue report, or if I should send it to the team as feedback.

  • Can you confirm for me if you’ve found there is often a shark around when you go swimming or if you’ve seen the shark spawn in instantly when you enter the water?

  • Are you on a custom island or one generated by the game?

  • Please also confirm what console you’re playing on and if you are playing a single or multiplayer save.

  • Have you changed any of the default settings when starting this save?

  • Is this something you’ve noticed from the beginning of this save, or is it something that has become an increasing issue for you over time?

If there’s anything else you’ve noticed during gameplay you feel may be relevant to this, especially if it is newer shark behavior in your save, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Thank you.

PS4 single player all generated by game, no settings altered. Game generated islands. Shark spawn is not always immediate, however one will always spawn within say a minute of entering water (And follow the player on raft from island to island.). If I go out in the morning and kill a shark for peace of mind, another will spawn right before evening. The music for a shark spawning will also play even when on land. (More specifically near the peninsula parts) Always has happened since start of game, this is on new save started last week.

I will however say, as this is unrelated somewhat, but the goblin shark will glitch out the animations while swimming to get the player. Model will either stutter or do flips in all sorts of random directions.

I understand sharks are supposed to be a major threat for underwater exploration. But spamming them makes the game unbalanced. For someone as experienced as me it makes the game too easy. But I can see it being too hard for inexperienced. Either way it’s annoying.

Hi Viedra,

Thank you for sharing further details of your gameplay experience with me. While I cannot say if it is outright a bug in the game, I understand the balance is affecting gameplay for you. What I’m going to do is submit a report with details of your save setup and ask the team to look into it in case this shark spawning isn’t working as intended as from your description it does seem like they’re spawning in very frequently and it was my understanding that they should be on a timer for respawn.

I will also include your feedback regarding how it affects your gameplay in my report.

Thank you for also mentioning the goblin shark, I’ll double check if the team are aware of this issue and add a separate report for them if not.

If you notice any other issues with sharks please do not hesitate to let me know.

Thanks again.

I just wanted to post an update on this issue. On custom islands, sharks do not spawn. (Only on game generated does it spam shsrks) I’ve also noticed that I only crash the game on game generated islands, custom islands this doesn’t happen. (When I load the game and spawn at the shelter, I always break my legs) Noticed the custom islands use version 1.0 and vanilla uses 0.0. (Also no option for larger animals like Boars and Giant Crabs, which isn’t a problem in itself but rather consistency)

By custom islands I mean via the cartographer. (Of course same map and info as before)

Thank you for that update and extra details Viedra. I’ll update the report I have on this issue accordingly. I’m not sure if there is a significant difference between the version number on islands, but check this with the team.

Loading in the game and breaking your legs is a separate issue the team are working on. If you built above your shelter or use a sleeping bag in a house, it should drop you on the roof. I understand it’s not ideal, but it may help you to avoid consistent broken legs. Does this occur on one island for you or all islands?

You also mentioned you do not have options for large animals. Do you mean that when you are in the cartographer creating an island and go to the animals section you do not see the Boars and Giant Crabs listed?

Can you confirm for me if you see the version number 2083 in the bottom left of your main menu?

Thank you.

Breaking legs only happens after the game crashes and respawns at shelter. And most likely to happen on islands with craftable structures, like huts, farming plots, docks, crafting stations, rafts. (More structures, more crashes) This is for all islands.

Large animals are selected but don’t spawn on the island, and sharks don’t spawn. (Custom islands with cartographer) If a shark follows from island to island, if I enter a custom island it immediately despawns.

Version of game is 2083.

Thank you for clarifying that info for me Viedra.

When large animals or sharks don’t spawn on a custom island, does this include “locking” an animal when creating an island to ensure it is added? Sometimes to prevent the island being overloaded in the creator, not everything will be added to the island, but you’ll normally receive a warning when this limit is reached.

Given the different ways these issues are affecting your save, it may be worth it for the team to take a look at a copy of your save to help them to test and replicate the different issues mentioned. Unfortunately the team cannot fix and return individual saves, but they would use your save in working to release fixes for the community as a whole.

If you’re happy to share your save with the team, you can find instructions here: [Save File Request]

I can clarify that large animals (hogs boars crabs big and small and snakes) do spawn for me as of the latest update. However sharks do not spawn apart from the little reef sharks that you cant kill

Thanks for that extra info Charlie1992. Can you confirm for me if you’re still playing on XBX? I’ll add your comments to my report.

Yep still xbox one series X latest update. Also i have all the animals spawn no matter if i lock them or not hope that helps :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thanks for confirming Charlie1992, it does indeed help to know the difference in your gameplay experience :+1:

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I have emailed my saves, slot 2 is specifically for this post. Save was copied after my game crashed, so hopefully your legs will break as you spawn in to see what is happening. I have also included my previous save, slot 1, as I’ve been unable to play on it since the multiplayer update. (Game crashes on saving and leaving the island)

I’m quite aware of the prevention of overloading in creator, as the options feel quite limited when trying to create something similar to a developer/ game premade island. Just a bit of feedback :slight_smile:

I fall through all structures and still break my legs on load, save slot 2. On my save slot 1 I spawn on the roof, but legs are NOT broken.

Hi Viedra,

Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to send those files to us. I can confirm I have retrieved them from the email you sent and will upload them for the team shortly. I will also include your note about save slot1 and include the save file in another report I have on crashing when saving.

Thank you also for clarifying the difference between your experiences with spawning in between your two slots. Another player also reported a very similar experience with loading in as player2 after a crash/force close of the game and breaking bones. I believe this is a different issue to the one I had originally thought you were experiencing and I will submit a unique report for it.

Thank you for your feedback regarding the island creator too, I shall pass it onto the team.

I have also noticed no sharks spawn on custom island and the shark theme music playing constantly everywhere on an island (procedure) island with no shark in site. Xbox player.

Thanks for letting me know Repairmanjon, I’ll add this to my report for the team.