Ecosystem – Basic Gameplay Guide

Reduce Ecosystem Lag / FPS Drop

 
Thank you for visiting this guide. Please leave feedback and suggestions and I will update the guide to include any new information we have. -Stobz 
 
Why This Guide? 
-Useful with slower systems or to run for extended periods of time 
-Ecosystem uses GPU 3D heavily for physics calculations and will also stress your CPU, if you do not have a good video card and processor, expect to run lower populations 
 
Standard Items to Try First: 
1. Update system, drivers, Steam, Ecosystem 
2. Fully reboot system 
3. Close all other non critical applications on your computer 
4. Disable antivirus or put into game mode (disable at your own risk) 
 
Ecosystem Game Specific: 
 
1. KIS – Keep It Simple 
Start simple and build up after confirming your system isn’t going to stall out at X population. 
Until you know how your system reacts to the game’s processing needs especially over time, 
 
2. Map.Type 
Use a Creative Map rather than a Game Map. Plants do not seed/multiply in Creative so this is less for the system to process, plants also auto respawn in Creative so you don’t have to worry about them going extinct. 
 
3. Map.Food 
Start simple, and don’t plant kelp or plankton. In Creative kelp does not take over but plankton tends to collect in them. Plankton has been speculated as causing lag in different circumstances especially over time. 
 
4. Map.FilzeSize 
Large game save files are bad. The larger the game save file, the longer it will take to load, in general the more poor the performance once it is loaded (due to number items in game), and very large files are unlikely to load at all. File size is primarily if not entirely based on number of items on the map. If you have a map you really want to save but it’s coming out too large, try deleting plants and creatures to reduce the file size. 
 
Game File Size Tips: 
20-30MB – Fantastic ! 
30-40MB – Good 
40-50MB – Ok 
50-60MB – Meh 
60-70MB – Maybe 
70-80MB – Might load, cross fingers 
80MB+ – Most likely will not load 
 
5. System.Graphics 
Reduce in game Graphics setting to lowest, lower resolution, set FPS at 30FPS. 
 
6. System.Memory 
The game leaks some memory (may be fixed/improved as of v16/v17). If running the game for an extended time, save the game (check the file size before exiting), exit game, restart game. Depending on the saved game size you may easily see game memory usage reductions such as 8GB to 4GB (Running the game over night on a system with 64GB RAM I have found the gaming using 20GB+. This will eventually result in a crash when your system runs out.) 
 
7. http://System.CPU/GPU 
Enable FPS display in Steam. Monitor your FPS vs CPU and GPU (3D specifically) usage in task manager as your map becomes more populated (fish, plants, plankton, everything counts). Ecosystem uses the GPU to calculate physics. 
 
 

Lish, a Land Fish Above Water Guide

 
Thank you for visiting this guide. Please leave feedback and suggestions and I will update the guide to include any new information we have. -Stobz 
 
Land + Fish = Lish 
 
***NOTE: 
-Tom the developer has said that he is not currently making it a priority to patch the “Lish bug”. 
-<Caution> This fun “feature” could go away at any time. 
-Making land, fish, and plants on land above the water surface is not currently a normal intended feature of the game, and as such you SHOULD expect odd and unexpected results ! This is half of the fun 🙂 
 
* * * News Alert * * * 
– – – Ecologists have recently discovered that fish have evolved to live on land ! – – – 
Good luck, and be sure to join the Ecosystem Discord and share your LISH ! 
 
How to Lish: 
1. Select <F1> – Terrain Menu 
2. Select <1> – Raise 
3. Select soil type 
4. Water.Soil Spire to Surface: 
a. Hover a little above the ocean floor 
b. Face straight down 
c. Center the mouse, left click and hold to raise the soil 
d. While continuing to hold left click and face down, press and hold E to move your camera towards the surface. You can try using Shift to go up faster. 
(If you are too close to the floor, you will get stuck in the soil you just placed. To unstick, click on the minimap) 
e. If your soil spire stops being built or goes wild, simply release left click to stop placing soil, go back down to the top of your spire, and continue. It can take a little practice to do this quickly. 
f. The game will stop you once you reach the surface. 
 
5. Surface.Ramp: 
a. Move back so the gap between the top of the spire and the surface is in front of you and continue to build the spire up to and slightly above the surface. 
b. Find or create a soil ramp spot that is at less sharp of an angle, and move your camera forward into the soil and water surface while pressing E to go up. The camera will pop up above the water surface. 
 
6. Surface.Land: 
a. Create your surface land as you like. Plants appear to function normally. 
b. Note: You can NOT fly freely through the air as you did in the water. Build a raised hill on the island that you can climb and see your area. Once at that height you can move forward off the hill and stay at that height until you go down using Q normally or press E and gravity will sink you to the land/water surface you are above. Careful this is a pain when you are used to moving in all directions. 
 
7. Surface.Fish: 
a. Good Luck, this has been the most difficult part yet. Fish do not spawn well above the surface and tend to “leak” through the land back into the water. If they do end up spawning on top of the land, you need to try to have walls around the island to keep them from flopping back into the water. Another way that <Discord@Farmer Jenkins> discovered to keep them on their island is to keep predators in the surrounding waters. 
 
 

FAQ

 
Common Questions Terms Etc 
 
This list has just started, please add your comments with questions and answers to add to the list. 
 
Genetic Disease- 
This is the game’s term for the physics simulation getting out of control, causing very unrealistic movement and exploding (we’ve all seen ragdolls freak out in games, it’s that kind of thing). 
 
Game Save / Map Sharing / Mods- 
https://www.nexusmods.com/ecosystem 
 

I hope you enjoy the Guide we share about Ecosystem – Basic Gameplay Guide; if you think we forget to add or we should add more information, please let us know via commenting below! See you soon!