I am just starting out in exobiology but cannot understand that when a planet that lists 5 biological species I can only locate 2 or 3. I always leave the filter set to ALL and even when I spent an hour on a very small planet I can not locate all indicated species. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Missing Biologicals
- Thread starter Thimdr
- Start date
The cyan-blue coloring that you can see in supercruise after DSS-scanning the planet only indicates environments where the species in question can appear, but it's not a guarantee that it will appear everywhere where the color is.
Sometimes you just have to fly around to try to find the plants. Some plants are very common and appear almost everywhere. Others are much, much rarer and you may indeed need to fly quite a lot to find them. Sometimes you may even need to hop to supercruise and go to an entirely different part of the planet. This is completely normal and by design (I suppose it adds to the challenge).
If you are having extreme trouble finding a particular plant, then perhaps just move to the next planet, unless you are really dedicated to finding it.
Sometimes you just have to fly around to try to find the plants. Some plants are very common and appear almost everywhere. Others are much, much rarer and you may indeed need to fly quite a lot to find them. Sometimes you may even need to hop to supercruise and go to an entirely different part of the planet. This is completely normal and by design (I suppose it adds to the challenge).
If you are having extreme trouble finding a particular plant, then perhaps just move to the next planet, unless you are really dedicated to finding it.
Leaving the filter set to all probably isn't helping. 
As DjVortex says, the coloring only indicates that a particular biological might be there, not that it will be. Try setting the filter for a particular type of biological, you may well find only a few relatively small areas where it might appear, and then you can concentrate on those areas.
Some biologicals are very easy to find, others much harder, and as well as the color indication, some biologicals favor a particular type of terrain and as you become more familiar with them that will also help you to narrow your search.
As DjVortex says, the coloring only indicates that a particular biological might be there, not that it will be. Try setting the filter for a particular type of biological, you may well find only a few relatively small areas where it might appear, and then you can concentrate on those areas.Some biologicals are very easy to find, others much harder, and as well as the color indication, some biologicals favor a particular type of terrain and as you become more familiar with them that will also help you to narrow your search.
You have answered your own question.
As said above, you need to select a bio to find it in that coverage, then select the bio(s) that have different coverage (appear elsewhere) for the rest. SCO is useful for getting back up into DSS scanner distance from the surface to change filter.
I understand the confusion. The 'ALL' filter really should be labelled 'ANY', as it will highlight areas where 'any' biologicals can be found, and so it will generally just cover the same range as the most wide-spread species, and any smaller filters just get lost in it.
A 'HOTSPOT' filter that just showed where multiple-species can be found would be much more useful, and I think is what you thought you were looking at, but on many planets might just show nothing at all depending what is there, as certain species just won't have overlap, even if they are relatively close to one another.
Typically I will flip through the filters to see which is the least common and head for one of those spots which also overlaps, or at least borders, one or more of the other filters.
A 'HOTSPOT' filter that just showed where multiple-species can be found would be much more useful, and I think is what you thought you were looking at, but on many planets might just show nothing at all depending what is there, as certain species just won't have overlap, even if they are relatively close to one another.
Typically I will flip through the filters to see which is the least common and head for one of those spots which also overlaps, or at least borders, one or more of the other filters.
Other CMDRs here have already explained the DSS overlay (do not use "ALL" to find a specific species), so I'm going to give you some mild spoilers as to what terrain different species prefer within the region their filter overlay highlights. It's not 100% reliable, though.
- Concha: in ravines, trenches or at the base of hills
- Frutexa: at higher altitudes on mountains, mesas & rough terrain
- Fungoida: rugged terrain on hills & mountains
- Osseus: on top of cliffs or rocky outcrops, on ridges of craters
Search on Internet where to find the specific bios. Some would show up only on mountains, for instance. Also, some are very small and can be spotted only when you fly real close to the ground.
Best is to fly first to the cyan area common to a couple of bios, then go to the edge of the area and see if you start seeing new bios.
Best is to fly first to the cyan area common to a couple of bios, then go to the edge of the area and see if you start seeing new bios.
Setting it to all will colour the entire planet blue in many cases, specially if there is bacteria, however this doesn't indicate that "ALL" biologicals will be found in any area that's blue, just that there are biologicals all over the planet. Some biologicals may in fact only take up a tiny part of the blue, just flick through the filters when you have a planet with a lot of biologicals and watch the coverage areas change. Some bio's in fact take up a vanishingly small few spots on the planet surface and are hard to find without just hoping randomly to find them. Some planets have geo, these also colour areas blue and make it even harder with the filter set to all, so please use individual filters for each bio and you will have a much better time finding stuff.
I've also found some of the harder to find ones have some characteristics about where they will appear. Like the Osseus ones...it seems to me most those are only ever found on a hill and not too close to other bios...Others only in the mountains...bacteria seems to like really flat spots...etc..
Yes, I and Internet concur.
These Frutexa's had me deviate from my salad picking in flat land more than once.
And these god damn Osseus! How something SO BIG can sometimes be so hard to spot!
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Besides learning the habitats which different plants favour, don't overlook visibility; particularly how this is affected by colour and lighting.
I try to land somewhere with the sun well above the horizon but not at zenith... So not near the terminator or the centre of the day hemisphere.
On finding a plant for the first time, examine it from different directions. Some will cast a long shadow. Others will be bright or colourful when lit face-on. Once you identify that, fly in the best direction to spot more.
Then there's night vision. Things like tussock and frutexa get highlighted well by it because of their multiple stems; frutexa sparkle more than tussocks. Look at a plant with and without night vision to decide which setting will make it stand out from rocks better.
On finding a bacterium, note its colour and remember to look for more only where the flat terrain is a different colour.
Note the appearance of a plant from different heights; don't fly too high or too fast and low.
Learn how far apart samples need to be. With some things like tussocks, conchoida or fungoida you can sample one, then walk to sample another without having to re-embark.
Use the SRV sparingly. I usually just walk or fly to the next sample. A small ship for landing in rough terrain is an advantage.
Strategize your landings. When landing to get the last of three scans for a plant type, try to arrange that a new unscanned type is also nearby so you get two scans at one location.
I often think that people who are disparaging of exobiology, saying it's boring, unskilled or overpaid, haven't really thought about it in this kind of depth. Sure, it's not twitchy like combat, but it rewards the kind of skill based on analysis and experience.
I try to land somewhere with the sun well above the horizon but not at zenith... So not near the terminator or the centre of the day hemisphere.
On finding a plant for the first time, examine it from different directions. Some will cast a long shadow. Others will be bright or colourful when lit face-on. Once you identify that, fly in the best direction to spot more.
Then there's night vision. Things like tussock and frutexa get highlighted well by it because of their multiple stems; frutexa sparkle more than tussocks. Look at a plant with and without night vision to decide which setting will make it stand out from rocks better.
On finding a bacterium, note its colour and remember to look for more only where the flat terrain is a different colour.
Note the appearance of a plant from different heights; don't fly too high or too fast and low.
Learn how far apart samples need to be. With some things like tussocks, conchoida or fungoida you can sample one, then walk to sample another without having to re-embark.
Use the SRV sparingly. I usually just walk or fly to the next sample. A small ship for landing in rough terrain is an advantage.
Strategize your landings. When landing to get the last of three scans for a plant type, try to arrange that a new unscanned type is also nearby so you get two scans at one location.
I often think that people who are disparaging of exobiology, saying it's boring, unskilled or overpaid, haven't really thought about it in this kind of depth. Sure, it's not twitchy like combat, but it rewards the kind of skill based on analysis and experience.
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These are very good advices!
I do love combat, hate hauling (unless there are some gankers after me), but find exobio strangely relaxing while being also methodical. A really good change of pace that I enjoy from time to time...and highly rewarding (with some billions in the bank, I'll be ready to rent a Capital ship when FDev makes them available, eh eh).
Another thing to keep in mind is not to get too rigid in your expectations of where certain bios like to appear. Things can change in different regions.
For example around the bubble Fungoida Setisis is typically found on precipitous peaks and ridges with limited access for landing, out around Colonia and the Core it is typically found in much more rounded terrain, still fairly high, in larger drifts and lots of space to park your ship.
I noticed this after spending rather too long investigating peaks and sharp ridges looking for it and decided to park for the night on a lower rounded ridge below where I had been looking which was covered with the censored stuff.
For example around the bubble Fungoida Setisis is typically found on precipitous peaks and ridges with limited access for landing, out around Colonia and the Core it is typically found in much more rounded terrain, still fairly high, in larger drifts and lots of space to park your ship.
I noticed this after spending rather too long investigating peaks and sharp ridges looking for it and decided to park for the night on a lower rounded ridge below where I had been looking which was covered with the censored stuff.
I will add to that:
Some biologicals will not even draw on the screen unless you are flying 10m or lower to the ground. Its extremely frustrating to see this dinosaur code game not be able to handle simple LOD stuff.
I fly with sensors modded for wide angle and have my composition scanner always up because more than once I've been crawling 20m from the ground in my ship and the thing goes off ... but I stop ship and see where its detecting it.. and there's NOTHING there. Drop ship to 5m and suddenly the thing pops into view, 5m from my ship's nose. Its so dumb.
That's pretty extreme...do you have your graphics options maxed out, especially the LOD slider?
On the other hand, you are right, I and my RTX4090+7800x3d agree that the game could do better for drawing distance and when landing on a planet/moon (and don't get me starting on shadows...).
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The only ones I have problem like that with are the very small grasses, and to be honest I wouldn't be able to see them at that distance and density in real life let alone from a moving ship. Most time I find them by a) landing and find I have dropped into the middle of a patch I didn't even know were there or b) stopping the ship and looking around with freecam. Most bio's I can see from my moving ship at 50mps and 50+mts up, it's only those little grasses that are the issue. I mean they may draw on the screen even but they are so tiny you just miss them anyway while moving.
I have a 7800x3d and 4070ti super, so again decent setup with everything up high.
The things that arent' loading until that short distance are things like the black lines that outline bacterium growths of certain types (the border and inside details) as well as the small flowering plant looking ones.
Yes, I have tried graphics on max, LOD on max and on minimum and on medium and no change. 7950X3D and tested on both 6700XT and 9070XT vid cards , in a 1gbit fiber connection and high speed SSDs.
Considering XL sized things like geysers and osseus are also not even drawing unless 100m or lower that points out there is something seriously outdated in the code. Even games older than Elite D like Aces High I and II or WW2OL would show terrain and details much farther away than this.
Yes, I have tried graphics on max, LOD on max and on minimum and on medium and no change. 7950X3D and tested on both 6700XT and 9070XT vid cards , in a 1gbit fiber connection and high speed SSDs.
Considering XL sized things like geysers and osseus are also not even drawing unless 100m or lower that points out there is something seriously outdated in the code. Even games older than Elite D like Aces High I and II or WW2OL would show terrain and details much farther away than this.
Except these aren't terrain details, you are referring to two different things. Terrain is mountains and craters, most of which you can see from orbit if they are large enough, that's terrain.