Having much difficulty with understanding Gene Banks

[bobbygr100]

Gene Banks have me very confused. First off, I select a row that I want to take "genes" or whatever they are from. Then the game says at the top

"Step 2 drag the icon"

There is a big black grid to the right.

No matter what I do I cannot drag the icons i want to choose to this big black grid!!!

I've tried everything. The icons in the holding area just won't drag! I've scoured the book and spent over an hour on this. Is there someone out there that can please tell me how to use this part of the game. There just are no in book instructions.

Right at the top it says "Step 2 drag something (I don't remember the wording but I'm sure it's the "genes" or whatever they are in the holding area after selecting a row.

Two of them are in this holding area but no matter how I try I cannot drag either of the two to the big black grid to the left of the rows and holding areas. I am so confused!

Could someone please tell me how to use the gene bank? I just can't figure it.

I am on a PC.

Do you have to FIND the genes before you can use them (drag them)?

I think I'm missing a very important part of the game...

The documentation is so very poor on this. There is a few sentences in the manual about gene banks, but nowhere does it tell the rules about them.

Please, if you understand them, I'd really appreciate a hand...

Bob

[rootbeertapper]

You need to put back gene tonics and plasmids your not using first, your tonic/plasmid slots are full most likely. I don't think you can add a tonic/plasmid, and one your carrying gets replaced with the new one automatically.

This is one of the reasons the genebank was placed further back in the game instead of starting off in the Kashmir restaurant because the user had to learn to many things all to fast.

[Vito_Lucente]

Unless you already have and they are full, you can purchase extra slots for Gene Tonics and Plasmids at a Gatherers Garden.

If you HAVE, I don't know, because I play on the 360!

[MultiVaC]

Be patient with Gene Banks, English is his second language. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

I'm having trouble picturing what your problem is, but I have a sort of vague idea of what you might be getting stuck with. The interface is sort of awkwardly designed and even harder to describe, so I found a video of someone using it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FDUfgY92Rk

You have to unlock the different tonics and plasmids by buying them at the Gatherer's Garden. If you are seeing them in the Gene Bank then they are unlocked, and you should be able to use them. Also, you only start out with one or two slots open for each category, you can buy more slots in the Gatherer's Garden as well.

[bobbygr100]

I can see the two tonics in the 5 catagories that I'm given at the start of the game. I think every player gets those 2(tonics) x 5(rows) = 10 tonics that they can bring into the holding area by double clicking on the row. THE PROBLEM IS THEY CANNOT BE DRAGGED TO THE ACTIVE AREA (THE BIG BLACK BOX) IF THERE IS NOTHING THERE TO SWAP THEM WITH. YOU CANNOT ADD THEM TO AN EMPTY ACTIVE AREA. Am I making myself clear? I'm trying so hard to explain this. Even in the youtube video you showed me MultiVaC, the player "swapped" tonics, he did not ADD them. Can those initial 10 tonics (2 viewable tonics x 5 rows) be ADDED to the ACTIVE area WITHOUT having another tonic there to swap it with?

Please someone, anyone who really understands tonics - I would be so grateful for an explanation on how to use them. There just isn't any clear documentation I can find anywhere concerning the rules. All I know is if I

1) select a row
2) bring in the two tonics that are viewable in the row to the holding area
3) I cannot drag them as an "add" to the active tonic area where they are active (the big black box with all the places for tonics).

Please help!!!! I am on a PC. There is nothing wrong with any other machines, I understand them all as they are completely logical in their use. There are no video card issues or anything like that. It's just that these tonics won't drag over as an "add" that you can see in each row (there are 2 of them initially.

[rootbeertapper]

Since your on a PC, take some print screen photos in game to show us your exact configuration. This would greatly help. The video should of made it clear as to how to get the gene banks to work but since this is not working for you there is something else going on that me nor anyone else here is able to grasp, so please post some photos of the gene bank interface on the screen your having issues with.

[I-ChooseTheImpossible]

I could be completely wrong here, but are you maybe trying to take off tonics that you have equipped without another tonic to replace it? If that is the case you would need to buy/find another tonic before they can be switched.

[bobbygr100]

I-Choose, you are hitting the nail on the head. There are no screen shots needed to understand this, rootbeer. It's very simple.

1) When you get to a gene bank the first thing you must do is select one of the five rows. Initially each row has two tonic icons that are visible. The rest of the row has the remaining tonic icons covered. Each of the five rows in the gene bank is exactly the same as described above. 2 viewable icons or tonics, the rest are covered in each row.

2) You click a row. The two viewable tonics from that row drop down into a temporary "holding area". At the top of the screen there are instructions to drag and drop tonics from the temporary holding area to the "active" area which is a black box with holding areas for tonics. Tonics do not go active until they are moved or dragged to the active area.

3) You cannot drag a tonic to an empty slot in the active area. Nothing happens. The only way to drag a tonic to the active area is to "swap" it with a tonic that is already in the active tonic box.

When you first hit a gene bank it appears that you can add a tonic from the temporary holding area to the active area by just dragging it to and empty slot in the active area. Note the word ADD. Not SWAP. ADD. I can drag tonics from the holding area if I swap them with another tonic in the active area, however, I cannot drag a tonic icon from the temporary holding area to a free tonic slot in the active area if there is nothing in the slot to swap with.

I-Choose seems to have the answer. You CANNOT ADD tonics to the active area from the temporary queue (which you get to by double clicking on a row of tonics which are sorted by type). YOu must already have something in the active area to swap the tonic with in the holding queue. Is that correct I-Choose?

The manual for the game could have done a much better job explaining tonics. IMO the game would have been better without them all together. There is no reason to add this level of confusion to the game. Plasmids are simple. You go to a Plasmid bank, pay some adam, and get a plasmid. You can buy more plasmid slots at the gatherers garden. Simple. That could have been enough. I don't see why they game developers had to add the confusion of tonics. The interface is clunky, and the wording about dragging tonics at the top is incorrect.

Try it. Double click on a row. You will then bring tonics into a temporary "holding area". You will read at the top of the screen to drag tonics you want to use over to the active area. But that is not correct. It should say "SWAP tonics from the temporary area to the active area by dragging the tonic over a tonic in the active area. The impression given by the game is that you can just drag any tonic from the temporary area to the active area.

Try it rootbeer. Try and drag a tonic from the temporary holding area to a blank spot in the active area. YOU CANNOT DO IT as the wording at the top of the screen would suggest. You MUST drag the tonic from the temporary holding area OVER ANOTHER TONIC IN the ACTIVE AREA.

I believe I understand thanks to I-Choose. YOu have read what I have been trying to say over and over correctly. The problem is with the in game wording in the gene bank that implies you can drag a tonic to the active area into an empty slot without SWAPPING it. The wording is very ambiguous and implies you can just add a tonic by dragging it to an empty slot in the active area. NOT SO! I think that whoever came up with the idea of tonics should have spent more time writing about them in the manual and wording things better in the game.

Thank you I--Choose..... You are able to read and I believe I understand this now....

Bob

[rootbeertapper]

Rather than typing, 1 picture with some light editing would explain everything to everyone. What you just described was the answer we mentioned before. Your tonic slots were full and you didn't realize what a closed tonic slot looked like compared to an open one because all your slots were full. You were dragging to closed ones... next time please post a photo. You can purchase more tonic slots from a gatherers garden. The gene bank is not complicated to use.

[Ryan's number 1 fan]

Rather than typing, 1 picture with some light editing would explain everything to everyone. What you just described was the answer we mentioned before. Your tonic slots were full and you didn't realize what a closed tonic slot looked like compared to an open one because all your slots were full. You were dragging to closed ones... next time please post a photo. You can purchase more tonic slots from a gatherers garden. The gene bank is not complicated to use.

I agree, I pic will do all that writing and more.

And frankly. I just didn't want to read all that.

[Codex]

I think I get what you're asking, bobbygr.

When you say the slots are "covered," do you mean by what appears to be a metal shutter?

If this is the case, the reason they are shut is because you have not "bought" the slots yet at a Gatherer's Garden machine, a purchase you have to make with ADAM as part of the game's progression. I believe the choices in the machine is "buuy plasmid slot" or "buy tonic slot," and the number of slots you can have are limited by level.

However, if I am misunderstanding you, I apologize. A screenshot would be more helpful - unfortunately text without the context provided in the rest of speech can only go so far as to us helping you, and we're limited by our interpretation of what you're saying. Whilst it is quite detailed, you may explain things differently to how we're understanding it and a picture would just help us all wrap our heads around the issue a little better :)