Arc Raiders doesn’t AI-generate guns from Youtube videos, Embark clarifies: “that’s a research project, and not something that we’re using in the game now”

Executive producer breaks down the game’s use of generative AI

Image credit:Embark Studios

Let’s get the hot potato out of the way without preamble: Embark’s extraction shooter Arc Raiders doesn’t include any gun models generated from Youtube videos, executive producer Aleksander Grøndal has told RPS in an interview about the game’s usage of generative AI and machine learning technologies.

This clarification follows the partial online publication of an Edge magazine interview in which Embark CEO Patrick Söderlund made various claims for the studio’s in-house tech , including the suggestion that the developers “can take a video from YouTube, feed it through our tools and pipelines, and [produce] a 3D model of the weapon you had in that video.” According to Grøndal, this particular technology is not actually used in Arc Raiders. “That’s a research project, and that’s not something that we’re using in the game now,” he told me over a video call this Monday, following a sprawling and generally enjoyable hands-on.

If Arc doesn’t use AI generation for gun models, however, it does make use of generative AI. Ahead of our early access review this week (which I’m not writing, though I may put together a Take or two), I asked Grøndal to clear up some details.

According to Grøndal, Arc’s in-game generative AI implementation is limited to voiced barks - that is, exclamations such as “let’s go to objective B” - and similar, shorter pieces of more functional audio. These were produced by applying software models to voice data supplied by actors, a practice known as “text to speech”. As in the developer’s previous The Finals , the voice actors in question have given consent for their recordings to be used for this purpose.

“We find the voices that we like, the actors that we like, and then we make a contract with them about recording them,” Grøndal explained. “So we use them for the dialogue, generally speaking, that’s live recording. Then we also create a clone out of them, and we use that for small, shorter things in-game, like item names and stuff like that, or callouts in the game.”

The AI generation of videogame voicework has been a focus in discussion of whether generative AI adoption will lead to job cuts and a general erosion of working opportunities, with big budget tools such as Microsoft’s Copilot often described as a way of magically increasing productivity without raising costs. In July last year, the US actors union SAG-AFTRA called a strike , demanding that videogame publishers agree to proper constraints on what companies can do with recordings, to protect the livelihoods of performers.

Image credit:Embark Studios

The Finals has come under fire for its usage of text-to-speech, with Embark protesting back in 2023 that “making games without actors isn’t an end goal.” In my interview about Arc Raiders, I asked Grøndal for more specifics about Embark’s voice actor contracts - are there any limits on what the developers can do with that voice data? Grøndal was unable to go into specifics, partly because he didn’t have the information to hand, and partly for the usual confidentiality reasons, but I’ve followed up over email to ask if Embark can share some of the broad strokes.

Grøndal was, however, able to tell me more about other practices and technologies used in development of Arc Raiders that he thinks need to be explicitly distinguished from “generative AI”. “Apart from [text-to-speech], we don’t use any generative AI in the sense that we create content around that - maps or meshes or textures,” he continued. “We use photogrammetry, which is pretty common in the games industry today, where we take multiple photos of objects, and then we put them into software, they help us create a model from it. But that’s not [generative] AI - that’s been around for 15 years or so.”

He also discussed the developer’s use of machine learning for animations. To give some brief context, machine learning is an umbrella term for the study and development of algorithms that can perform tasks without explicit instructions, which dates back several decades. Much like procedural generation - whereby developers devise rules for generators, rather than having the software derive its own rules from patterns in datasets - machine learning informs today’s better known generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT. But developers often use it to refer to technologies that pre-date the current genAI craze.

Image credit:Nexon

In his Edge interview, Söderlund discussed the use of “AI” to create animations for certain enemies. “What if, instead of having to hand-animate or use mocap for every single frame, we created a model, gave it physical attributes, then used AI to train it to walk?” he said. Last week, I linked this remark to a Medium article by Embark software engineer Tom Solberg, posted back in 2019, which describes how in-game spiderbots can be set up to walk believably by subjecting a software agent to different stimuli in a 3D test environment.

“That’s machine learning that we have done, and that’s something that has been a research [project] for us for a long time, and that helps us to get some of that physicality into our robots,” Grøndal explained, when I asked about the relationship of this tech to Arc Raiders today. The technology is designed to “emulate what we have already created from hand,” he added, and the output isn’t a fully functional arachnobot adversary - it needs further work before it can form part of a videogame. “It’s nothing like, ‘hey, make this thing do it, and then off it goes’,” Grøndal said. “That’s far from it. It’s more that it can help support creation of some of the robots.”

While Solberg’s 2019 post does cite machine learning as a way to create fancy animations with a smaller team, Grøndal also insisted that Embark’s machine learning experiments are not capable of “replacing” developers - or at least, not for the moment. “That research that you’ve seen on the Medium post is from a long time ago, and none of that is necessarily applicable in runtime, as of a game engine, as of right now,” he said. “I can’t remember exactly the context in which that article was written, but it is not our ambition to replace any developer.

“Working with that type of technology is very hard,” he continued. “It doesn’t solve any immediate problems for you. So you will see some of our robots using machine learning, like you talked about, and just getting them to the point where [it doesn’t] completely break the illusion of some sort of robot - that was a massive amount of work. There weren’t any shortcuts there, to put it mildly.”

Image credit:Nexon

Current discussion of generative AI is both justifiably heated and very confused. I think that’s partly due to ignorance on the part of journalists - I’m not sure my own reporting on generative AI has been very accurate or coherent, though I stand by this piece on megabudget genAI “copilots” . The videogame specialist press is structurally ill-equipped to deal with subjects like this: few of us have either the technical expertise or the thinking time to keep up with and critique such a rapidly changing sector. But a lot of the confusion is also down to freewheeling rhetoric on the part of executives and investors, who aim simply to hype generative AI as a concept, conflating new and older technologies that have very different applications.

If Embark were to eventually use generative AI to fill out the game’s arsenal, it would make for some bleakly satisfying irony, because Arc Raiders is all about recycling scavenged parts. The game takes place in a world overrun by homicidal robots, ranging from waspish flying drones equipped with rapid-fire turrets to pouncing arachnid monstrosities. The surviving humans live in underground cities, with certain brave souls venturing to the surface via fortified elevators to harvest crafting components such as old batteries and cloth.

As such, all the game’s gun designs are DIY fantasies, rather than the flashy military boomsticks you find in similar shooters. There are functional correspondences to real-world light machineguns, scoped rifles and such, but everything broadly looks like it’s been hammered together out of fridge motors and coathangers. “We wanted them to have this makeshift feel, as a contrast to this perfect ARCs who have almost polished surfaces,” Grøndal told me. That improvised aesthetic also helps the weapons feel disposable, which is useful for a game whose hook is looting. “It’s part of the understanding with the Raiders that a weapon isn’t permanent,” Grøndal went on. “It’s not you and this rifle for the rest of your life. If it breaks you cobble something else together.”

It’s perhaps too tempting to read Arc’s sheeny hunter-killer bots as metaphors for current fears about generative AI. Their smooth and seamless design, together with the mystery of their origins, makes me think of how opaque companies like OpenAI can be about which data they’re using to “train” their all-singing, all-dancing artificial companions. Arc Raiders at least grants me the catharsis of blowing these wily bots to bits.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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