Error By Software In Counting

[ChewyWeAreNotHome]

It appears to me that there is some issue with counting by software that may also explain why it may be so difficult to impossible to find the last remaining species.

I had just uploaded discoveries and noted that I had discovered 9/10 species. Shortly thereafter I stumbled across another undiscovered species, presumably the last, and scanned and uploaded that discovery. However, the software still reported 9/10 species discovered. When counting the actual species that had been uploaded, six are reported as having been discovered and uploaded on the first page and the second page shows four species discovered and uploaded.

Perhaps the ten-fingered count differently but in this case the total number of species discovered/reported and uploaded seems to add up to ten, not nine. Please feel free to check my math. I even checked the names of the uploaded species and there are no duplicates so I do indeed have ten unique species actually discovered/reported and uploaded. A restart did not correct this and I just gave up and moved on to another system or two.

Just passing this information along in case anyone else has encountered this. My experience with submitting bug or trouble reports has yet to elicit any acknowledgment, let alone a response, so I didn’t waste the electrons.

[Mad-Hatter]

Yes, either my wife or I encounted this annoying fault once before. You think you are about to get all the critters and it doesn’t register one of them leaving you with an eternally incomplete list.
A similar fault can occur if you jump out of your ship the moment it lands: it doesn’t acknowledge you landed so the planet and all finds there don’t get recorded.
Lifting off and relanding… and then taking your time exiting the cockpit fixes this one.

[ChewyWeAreNotHome]

@Mad-Hatter

Yes, either my wife or I encounted this annoying fault once before.

Thank You.

In light of past problems with their database (or at least server-side functions) I think that this problem might also reside there. I still have many occasions where I find that previously uploaded species or waypoints will, several days later, show as not yet having been reported/uploaded and other times when the discoveries page goes empty and although the initial discovery of a species or waypoint is credited, the entire pane is blank when it comes to see what has been found or to upload anything. The blank pane is self-correcting although it may take several minutes or even an hour or two so that appears to be something on the server side.

[BoomstickJoe]

Watch the message at the bottom right of the screen when discovering creatures. Some are the other gender of an already discovered species and the message will tell you if that is the case. These donot count towards the unique species on a planet.

[DarthTrethon]

Note that there are two types of each species on every planet so finding a critter you haven’t scanned doesn’t necessarily mean you found a new species. But if you do have ten different species you can take screenshots and put them in a bug report to Hello Games.

[Mad-Hatter]

I haven’t noticed if it is a second of each species scan or not but it is only apparent on the final scan when you know you have one left and then it doesn’t register. Then no matter how much you search, the ‘missing’ critter never shows up.
Hard to say…

[BoomstickJoe]

There are spawning issues which will prevent a creature from showing up. Such as a cave creatures on planets with tiny caves or water creatures in shallow pools that dont spawn when the LOD ramps up after a creature position is selected or a creature path gets rejected because the pool or cave is too small to allow for it.

Sometime flying offplanet and landing in a different region helps spawn them. I never encountered the counting problem you are describing but I have come across what I described alot.

[Argh]

There seems to be an issue specifically with “swimming cow” creatures, that I’ve encountered several times already. Sometimes there will be two identical-looking ones on a planet. They scan separately, and appear in Discovery with slightly different names, but only count as 1 creature. Note that this does not appear to prevent 100%-ing the fauna - there have always been enough other creatures to finish. As a result I’ve got some totals like 10/10, but with 11 entries.

[Mad-Hatter]

I’m getting the impression that there are 2 variables of every critter, (as Darth mentioned above), which can catch you out when you think you scanned the last one… but it is in fact, only the second of a particulsr species, meaning you still have one to go.
I’ll bookmark this thread and if itvever happens again I’ll pay closer attention to what happens.

[toddumptious]

Prior to 1.3, mutliple variations of the same species would still show up as red circles, but would not count towards creature tally.

Post 1.3, upon discovering a species, it now marks all variants of that species with a green circle.

This is great because you no longer get super excited when you see a red circle while searching for that last elusive creature only to find out it’s a variant of one you already discovered.

However, I wonder if there are any bugs inherent with the way they switched this around?

Also while it was common for each creature to have 2 variants, I do remember pre-1.3 I would find the odd creature that could have 3-4 variants. Hard to confirm this now, since the game marks all as discovered post 1.3.

There are some sequencing bugs with whats displayed per “page” in the creature discovery menu, sometimes when you go to next page, 2-3 of the creatures that were on the end of the page will appear on the top of the second page. I’ve noticed this with mission vendors too. Not sure if any of this information helps.

I have noticed some weird things when going back through discovery lists…

Sometimes I’ll have 10/10 creatures, I’ll upload for zoology count, then some time later that number can increase to 11 or drop to 9, for example. This can also happen after ive discovered everything but before I’ve uploaded my 100% creature count, thus making it impossible to actually complete it. It’s not that big of an issue for me, having 100% hundreds of planets, I can accept the odd one here or there that escapes me, however this is a bug I’ve only noticed since 1.3.

Also prior to 1,3, creatures were listed off by type, usually land, flying, water, insect (though insect could be in the middle or start of list) and this was a very easy way to know, well I’m definitely missing a flyer or a swimmer. Made finding that last creature very easy, and if you couldnt after several hours you’d just give up and assume its in the only place on the planet the water spawned deep enough and forget trying to find that any time soon.

But now, it’s hard to diferentiate between “cant find cos bug” or “cant find cos dumb luck”.

Best bet, don’t stress, if it’s becoming a chore, change gears and try something different, it’s a big simuverse after all

[Xion4012]

@toddumptious

Also while it was common for each creature to have 2 variants, I do remember pre-1.3 I would find the odd creature that could have 3-4 variants.

I remember this well. Trying to get 100% creature discovery was a nightmare.

[ChewyWeAreNotHome]

Thanks for the responses.

We do not have enough information on how the supposed genus (first “word”) and species (second “word”) names are generated and therefore we are forced to guess if using the same genus or same species name has any meaning or significance. Based upon the reporting/upload criteria it appears to me that, similar to contemporary biologic taxonomy and structure, each combined genus and species name represents what is commonly called a “species.” However, I see no indication that the taxonomy goes any deeper than the appearance starting with the capitalization of the “word” naming the species (i.e., the second “word” which in contemporary taxonomy would be lower case).

I have never before noticed anything weird with changes in the number of reported/uploaded species in the fauna pane but also have never looked before except to recheck to see if any previously credited/uploaded discovery has reverted to not being credited for the upload and that issue obviously continues.

I look for unique species until I get either tired/bored of doing so or planetary conditions become so annoying that I just move on (e.g., terrain, weather, storm frequency/duration, too high a ratio of butt-headers to prey, etc.). Haven’t been tracking but have been playing since day 1 and I would estimate that the number of planets that I have left with one or two remaining yet to be discovered to be at least triple, possibly quadruple, the number of planets where I have reported 100% completion. I never was interested in the Commoner Rare Creatures mod to try to help find the last undiscovered fauna.

[johnnycloud]

Having found quite a few species since the initial game was released (up to 450+ Rare not including pre-update), I can say with 99% certainty that a single species can reference two and possibly three creatures. Not using any mods.

When I have encountered the ‘error’ you speak of, persistence pays off. Some planets only ask to find 5 to 6 species and each species is unique. Another planet may have 12 or more creatures, but two or so will belong to a single species.

There always seems to be two fish types and two bird types on larger populated planets. No water, no fish types. But expect at least 2 of each species on a large populated planet.

Since the last update I find creatures within caves. Some appear as storms change, or at higher locations, or at night, after a long walk or drive into emptier regions. Just go to places with the greatest contrast to the last search. Moths can be small to spot and some fish require the aqualung bonuses. Though not all as you can see in the screen grab and this took an absolute age to find. Madness!

Regarding the last species of fish above I seem to remember there was only one and I have read somewhere that possibly some species may spawn only to become extinct. So it may be entirely possible if I had accidently bumped it off there would be no last species to find. Procedurally I guess species extinction could be either AI made or explorer made. The developers would need quizzing on this one. I like the real possibility of this as it gives a player some kind of responsibility to think of while playing.

There are methods and madness to finding the last species. They are there. This is one of my favourites.

Yes though there have been times the last still eludes me. A future scanner upgrade may be in an update to re-visit those planets perhaps. We hope!

Following quests missions or asking directions from Aliens will help often sending you near to where a creature may spawn. Which makes me think is by game design and less by luck.
Long treks on foot or by exocar using the compass to avoid circling, can reveal new finds.

Returning a few days later can help too. Randomness plays a part but with a logical, practical approach, finding that last species can be a lot of fun.

I also have all the scanner bonuses which give the greatest search range and depth.
My latest discovery is the highly dangerous ‘Moonvark the Terrible’.

and one last creature is the ‘King Polyphemus’ in honour of a fellow explorer…