I am so sick of collectibles! I have been maxed out on observation for a week, and have not found a new collectible since then! I am missing one pebble, one butterfly, one beetle, and 3 shells. And it isn't that collectibles aren't showing up, they show up a lot. They are just all stuff I've already found.

Does anyone have any tips or techniques? Have you noticed anything about the speed the game is run at, or if it's better to keep it paused when I'm not playing?

At this point, I am willing to try anything, as I've nothing left to do with this tribe but finish the collectibles.

It is just a patience game. I am still waiting on one butterfly and one pebble. I am ignoring my villagers to watch for them full time, I hope they show up soon.

Just be patient. They will come. Here is some hints I have found:
If you have level 3 Exploration, you can see collectables and mushrooms on the map. But be sure to refresh the map about every 30 seconds.
Collectables and mushrooms still appear, even if the game is paused.
Theres maybe more hints, I just can't think of anymore right now. though, there maybe some hints in the VV2 guides.

Oo thanks for that map hint, Charley. I tried at the beginning but didn't thinnk about it again with the level 3 exploration. I've been missing one beetle for 2 days & it's driving me nuts.

You have made my collectable search so much easier! I think I love you!

lol

i only have 1 kid, and when ever she goes to look or do something like, "curious about the soil" a collectable or mushroom pops up.

took me over 2 weeks of constant going back and forth to look before i finally got my final beetle. HOORAY
I am now playing just to collect totems. I am at 31. so
at least I have alittle more play on that one.

I finally got the last butterfly! Whoo Hoo! i just need the yellow pebble and the collections will be complete! I had almost lost hope but finding the butterfly has renewed me!!!!

OMG LOL. You're just kidding, right?

I was going to give in but you have inspired me to carry on, I have been waiting for one butterfly for nearly 2 weeks, sometimes I sit for hours just bobbing round the map hoping for it to pop up, still getting lots of others and mushrooms but this one butterfly? Not a chance.
I have 50 Elders and have been playing since the day the games was released.......I am going to try the map thing now and if that works I too will love you forever !

LOL, well not in a crazy stalker sort of way if that is what your concerned about! Just the "Hey, they really helped make things easier" sort way!

I'm begining to loose hope though. Even with that bit of info I am still 308 hours into the game and missing 3 butterflies, 1 shell, and one beetle.

Don't give up Keri! It's allways this long waiting for those last 4 collectables. Even longer waiting for the last one!

Oh don't I know. I had a game going and had only one to go. Oopes, I deleted the game by complete mistake after about 3 days of that being the only thing left to do.

Aww... Sorry about that tribe, keri. At least the next is allways the best! {[:}

I need one more beetle, the red tipped one that has the body that blends in with the vines by the gong. I star at that dang section for hours!!!

I finally got the shell collection complete. I still need one butterfly (uncommon), one beetle (rare), and three pebbles (two rare and one uncommon).

I don't know if it was a coincidence or what, but I got the last seashell - actually the red starfish - after all my villagers got a plague caused by a dead parrot - and made sure every last one of them got healed. It took awhile as about 80 out of 90 people were sick, but I managed to make three adults into trainee doctors and used two kids with healing skills as well.

Here is another interesting glitch I found on the boards about collectables. If you take a kid and bring them up to the burial area, there is a large purple leaf there, kinda up in the 1-2 oclock position. Put the kid so it is "under" that leaf, they sit there for a few seconds to a minute, and then collectables tend to pop up, also mushrooms. When I really want to get some, that is how I force it to happen. It is not 100%, but most times, probably about 80% of the time, it works.

I don't see a purple leaf? Where?

Are you talking about the coconut leaf?

A way to pick up collectables in a hurry is to pick up a kid and push a number on your number keypad. Each number goes to a different location. Yes, they are in order. Sometimes this saves you from them dissapearing before you get there. You can also search for them this way if you want to.

Over on the upper right side of the window there are several purplish areas which are sometimes called leaves. I think that they are rocks (boulders). Some believe that placing a child there will increase the chances of finding something for the children to pick up, but I have not found that to be true.

Jer

Change politicians and diapers often--for the same reason.

strangly... that tip about putting the kid in the corner does work. Rather reliably too... Strange. But thanks man! Good tip

Wow the numbers keypad thing is NEAT! I didn't read the hints or anything (wanted to get frustrated on my own) and my poor fingers LOVE the keypad navigation (with or without child). Thanks!

The purple leaf may actually be a rock, but it looks like a leaf to me. it is just to the right of top in the burial area, go to the purple herb there, then just to the right of that is a pretty red flower. just below that is the rock/leaf, put the kids just under the center of that and poof, things might appear.

I tried putting the kid there... nothing... are the things supposed to appear in the same area?

I have 3 tribes running and have found that a wind chime tinkley kind of sound is heard a few seconds before a mushroom or a collectable pops up, is that true or is it my imagination?

Others have thought the same thing. My opinion is that it's a coincidence. Mushrooms and collectibles pop up quite frequently on the whole, so it would be surprising if you didn't spot one soon after hearing the chimes.

Eh, none of the "tricks" work. I still need one rare pebble. And pebbles appear the least of all the collectables.

I've seen that, too, although it seems like the chimes indicate an event of some sort--sometimes a kid turns 14, for example. Yes, it's probably just coincidence, but it does seem to happen with some frequency.

I keep running into the problem where a collectible appears, but a kid can't pick it up. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting on that very last item needed to complete the last collection for a month, and then it can't be picked up. I've seen the item appear, it's not like it's right at the end and it's ready to disappear, but no matter how I drop a kid on it, it can't be picked up. I've only found this since I had several games running.

Anyone else seen this?

Try dropping the kids just above the collectible rather than right on it.

I have done that... dropping to the right of the collectible seems to work best. But no matter where I drop them on it, left, right, above, they just can't pick it up. I've been playing with the games for over 1000 hours now, so I do know about this. It seems to be a game _bug_, and only surfaced after I began additional games, not with just one running.

For about four-five seconds before the collectible disappears it can't be picked up. That was an issue in VV1 as well. Other than that I've never had any problems with kids picking up collectibles, unless they were sited in awkward spots such as close to the vegetation at the edge of the screen. Even then, the kids have recognised the collectible, they just got stuck trying to retrieve it.

These collectibles are there for the full time. As I said I've watched them appear, but I can't touch them, can't pick them up. I've also noted that one cannot pick them up just before they are about to disappear, but these have been there for at least 10 seconds. Since this has only happened since I had several games running, I'm wondering whether or not it has to do with the other games--maybe it's on one of the other games, and just shows in the one I'm currently viewing. Just one of those weird things, but aggravating as anything when it's the one last item you're missing out of all the collectibles. :-(

I have had 5 games going at the same time since I started and only recently encountered that problem. My computer froze the game and I had to shut it down with the task manager. When I got back in, one of my games wouldn't let me pick up any items, even when I had sat there and watched it appear. It was really strange. I checked my other games and they were fine, so I went back to the first one and the problem seemed to be gone. Maybe it had something to do with my computer, not the game.

Fawn