ARK simulation at Theta lab

[THX1138]

I'm in the Theta lab and somehow I'm supposed to divine the arbitrary "modules" needed to run the ARK simulation. How am I supposed to do that?

You shouldn't have to look up what is essentially a random combination online but that seems to be the only viable option.

[Abion47]

You need to choose the modules that will make the guy feel the most comfortable. Rather than putting him in a relaxing place, try putting him in a situation that is more along the lines of what he would expect.

[THX1138]

You need to choose the modules that will make the guy feel the most comfortable. Rather than putting him in a relaxing place, try putting him in a situation that is more along the lines of what he would expect.

That's not the part I mean. That part is simple enough (except for having to go to his room and play a recording). The part I am talking about is where the following, apparently arbitrary, selection of modules must be chosen:

sys_physics_rigid
sys_physics_fluid
sys_phys_buoy
sys_wmod_atmo
sys_interface_scan
sys_wmod_dynlight
sys_gen_veg_adv
scn_forest
pkg_soma_hum
env_mod_river
ext_moon_full

[i3670]

*oops to far ahead

[Abion47]

You need to choose the modules that will make the guy feel the most comfortable. Rather than putting him in a relaxing place, try putting him in a situation that is more along the lines of what he would expect.

That's not the part I mean. That part is simple enough (except for having to go to his room and play a recording). The part I am talking about is where the following, apparently arbitrary, selection of modules must be chosen:

sys_physics_rigid
sys_physics_fluid
sys_phys_buoy
sys_wmod_atmo
sys_interface_scan
sys_wmod_dynlight
sys_gen_veg_adv
scn_forest
pkg_soma_hum
env_mod_river
ext_moon_full

Ah. Well, in that case, each module has a size in terabytes, and you only need enough modules to run the simulation. And since some of the modules have dependencies, you choose the modules that fill those dependencies while using the smallest amount of space possible. For example, "pkg_soma_hum" requires a module that supplies light ("type_light_src"). There are two modules that satisfy this dependency: "sys_sun_noon" and "sys_moon_full". Either one will make the soma module happy, but the sun module takes up 154 TB, whereas the moon module only takes up 66 TB.

Then in the case of satisfying the "type_water" dependency of the soma module, you have the choice between "env_mod_river" and "env_mod_lake". The river module is 172 TB while the lake module is only 165 TB, so the initial conclusion would be to choose the lake module. However, the lake module introduces the "sys_physics_soft" dependency, which would add another 178 TB, while the river module doesn't have this dependency, making it the better choice.

It's not arbitrary at all. You just go through all the pieces, only using the ones that are necessary while minimizing the size of the memory footprint. I actually felt that this was one the most intriguing and original puzzles in the entire game.