“An unimportant aspect for some, an important detail for others.” A little guide on how to survive your logout and what you have to mind.
Guide Contents
Logout Basics
Note: Credit goes to Lady Cerberus
An unimportant aspect for some, an important detail for others.
Safelogs have been there since the beginning. A mechanic that should be the last thing to do when playing on a server and the only one when you want to leave it. While some people still use the unsafe logout by just hitting ‘Logout’ without meeting the condition for a safelog, it is advised to use this implemented mechanic that can save the life of you character, be it after the logout or while you’re logged in.
Most games let you properly log out the moment you hit the corresponding button in-game, but this does not work for ‘The Isle’. As a survival game, even this mechanic is designed to not give you an easy life. So if you think your character is safe just because you pressed ‘Logout’ in the ‘ESC’ menu, you will probably come back to the character selection screen upon your next login.
So what happens if you just press ‘Logout’?
Naturally, you will be logged out. All fine. You are sitting in the main menu of ‘The Isle’ now, ready to close the game or switch servers. And your dinosaur will be standing, sitting or crouching on the server, without you. For five whole minutes.
In a survival game, five minutes is a long time. Enough time for others to find you and kill you, because your character is completely ingame as if you were playing it. Just… without you. It can be killed and eaten, it can starve and die of thirst. It just can’t move. It will not react to any damage done to it. It will just stay the way you left it.
So how does a safelog prevent that?
Meeting the condition for a safelog lets you log out instantly. Yes, completely. No character will stay behind without you. It will not be present in-game and is thus safe from any harm.
A safelog, as part of the name, saves the files of your dinosaur upon logout. Food, Water, Stamina, Growth, Bleed, Damage and Position. A proper safelog e.g. before a restart can prevent your dinosaur from getting a reset in all of the mentioned stats. Those resets are only some minutes most of the time, but if you healed your bleed or have eaten before a restart without a proper safelog, you could log in to a bleeding dinosaur or with previously low food.
Conditions for a Safelog
Safelog currently has only one condition: for the countdown in the ‘ESC’ menu to reach zero. Or to be exact: for the countdown to completely vanish.
The left half shows a countdown that is still running. If you log out during that, your dinosaur will stay ingame for five more minutes. The right half shows the countdown that has reached zero or rather, has vanished. If you log out now, your character will vanish instantly.
A safelog normally has a countdown of 60 seconds, though this varies from server to server. Most kept this setting while some lowered it. Still, it is good to keep in mind that a proper log out will take about a minute after pressing ‘ESC’, so if you think you do not have time to wait for the countdown to vanish, then you should hope that your character can survive without you for five minutes.
A safelog still gives you a bit of control over your surroundings, even while waiting for the countdown to run down. While in the ‘ESC’ menu, you may not be able to move or call with your dinosaur, but you can still listen to your surroundings as sounds are still present. Of course, the moment you hear stomping sounds it may be too late for most, but at least you have a little chance of counter-attacking the enemy in that case. If the enemy does not find you directly, you are even able to look for a different place to log out. Or maybe the enemy does not even find you before you can safelog, which is the best possible situation for you.
You are also able to look in one direction, so choose one in which you think potential danger could approach or which direction gives you the best view. If you happen to sit in a dead-end valley, don’t look at the walls behind you but parallel to the walls of the valley. Or if you are in a dense forest, look in the direction you think others could spot you from. It is best to test and look for yourself if the spot you chose is visible to others in any way.
Another piece of advice: While performing a safelog, it is best to crouch – or just stand if you are a herbivore – during your wait. Of course, while sitting you are pretty close to the ground and it is harder to spot you, but if you have to stop the safelog and defend yourself, you would have to stand up first which are seconds that can decide your fate. Crouching, even if its speed buff will not last through the whole countdown, is the only other method of reducing your size and the chance to be seen. Herbivores will have to go with standing alone with the exception of Dryosaurus and Gallimimus, which can crouch without receiving a speed buff.
The Place of Your Choosing
Of course, it is possible to perform a safelog on any spot on the map, even while swimming if your character has enough stamina to last through it. Or during a fight, if you wish to take the risk.
It is just not advised to do so. Especially if the server has a high amount of players, choosing the place of your safelog carefully is an important task. After all, a minute is enough for some player to find and kill you.
Safelog while swimming (not recommended):
A safelog while swimming is not really something you want to do, since most species will run through the majority of their stamina before you can perform a safelog, which leaves you in an unfortunate situation when logging in again. Some species may even start to drown beforehand.
Safelog in water (not recommended):
Some dinosaurs are able to completely submerge when sitting in water, with a majority of them being the smaller species you can play. Some waters are hardly see-through which could be a good place to log out if you are alone. It is not advised to do this though, as logging in could make you the next prey for another player. Lakes and rivers are often busy places, as they are the only places you are able to drink. If you want to log out in water, choose a river over a lake. The chance of being eaten right away after logging in is smaller.
Safelog on rocks (partly recommended):
The favorite method of those who can jump, like Utahraptor, Pachycephalosaurus (despite being bad at it) or Dryosaurus. The current playable maps provide bigger stone formations which can be climbed if you are able to jump and are thus often used as safe spots for the mentioned species, not only for logging out. Most species are unable to reach the players present on those stone formations, which provides a good environment to perform a safelog. Most of the time, they can even be used for unsafe log outs, but it is advised to not do that. While they are safe points for most, you should never forget that your own species or those able to reach you can still kill you if they want to.
Safelog in/on buildings (partly recommended):
Some buildings can be climbed or entered by jumping, which throws puts into the same category as a safelog on rocks. But some buildings can only be entered if you are small enough e.g. the port on V3. It provides a safe environment for those who fit, but your own species or juveniles/young adults or subadults/other smaller dinosaurs are still a threat you have to mind when performing a safelog in there.
Safelog in the open (not recommended):
Giant, open fields, vast beaches and more. The maps feature those in decent sizes and they are often used for a pleasant journey over the map unless you are good at evading trees and stubborn toe-sized stones in the forests. If you are out in the open, whoever wants to kill you has to do the same. They have to move out of the flora and into the open to reach you, which makes them easy to spot. Though, while you are performing a safelog, you can only look in one direction. So a majority of the direction an enemy could come from is outside of your view. And while you may see players approaching, you can be easily spotted, too.
Safelog on hills/mountains (partly recommended):
Mountains and hills often feature ‘natural’ hollows which you can hide in. You will be able to observe the areas without being seen most of the time due to the positioning of the camera. The shapes of mountains and hills sometimes make it hard to get a complete overview, as players can approach easily using the uneven terrain. Getting to those hollows without being seen is the other drawback in this case, but if you manage it is a pretty solid spot unless it’s a commonly known one.
First picture shows the perspective of the person who wants to log out. Second picture shows the perspetive of the approaching player.
Safelog in dense flora (recommended):
Probably the most common type of safelog: sitting in a bush or tree. With the correct coloring and position, it is a play of luck to stumble upon a well hidden player. Since there are a lot of trees and bushes on a map, one can say it is a pretty safe spot for hiding and logging out and in. There are still drawbacks: You have to get to that bush or tree you want to hide in without being seen or followed first, otherwise they will know where you are. Hiding in a commonly visited area is a bad idea as the player traffic is high and so is the chance of you being found. Remote places far off from water are the best choice in this case. The other drawback: your character may be too big to be hidden properly or even at all. For example the Spinosaurus. Its sail does not fit in most trees so you would have to risk a part of you being highly visible to others.
First picture shows a Pachy that should probably hide a bit better. Second picture shows a Pachy that is hidden well enough.
Safelog during/after a fight (not recommended):
Logging out during a fight is always risky business. You are unable to move unless you stop the countdown and get back into the game, but this still gives your opponent a chance to damage you without you fighting back for a short amount of time. Especially if you bleed it is easy to find you if it is not raining. The same goes for shortly after the fight. Still bleeding makes it easy for others to find you even when hiding in a bush and it makes you very vulnerable depending how the fight went as you can not take much more damage before you die. If you still want to log out, get some distance between the corpses and you. You don’t want to become someone’s dessert.
Additional Safelog Factors
Calling
The reason players are found most of the time. Calling is easy to track down even for less skilled players and with the help of scent you will be found. So if you want to log out, never call. The longer you did not make a call, the less likely you are to be found. Writing in the chat makes sounds, do not forget that. So only say farewell to others if you are sure you are hidden well enough.
The weather
The weather your enemy or your friend. It is annoying if you cannot smell during the rain or a thunderstorm hinders proper spotting with its lightning and thunder, but it is a good friend when you want to hide. Nothing can follow your footprints easily and it is harder to hear your footsteps. So if you can log out during storms, do that.
Group members
are probably the best way to safelog. If you log out at the same time, each of you can look into another direction which increases your field of view. Or they are able to protect you while you perform a safelog. You are more likely to be found, though, especially if you are playing larger species which have a hard time hiding properly.
While following certain steps increases your chance of a successful safelog without any interruption, it does not guarantee it. You can still be found and killed, do not forget that. You are never safe in a survival game. Also, better not safelog in a dryo hole. You will regret it.
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