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Pacific Drive involves a lot of crafting, which means you need a lot of materials. However, the random nature of the Exclusion Zone means that these may not always be easy to find.
There are no guarantees in where to find specific materials within Pacific Drive. However, while the specific elements of each map might move around, the places to find certain materials never do. As long as you keep an eye out for certain buildings or items within the world, you can usually count on certain materials appearing.
What materials can I find in Civilian Structures in Pacific Drive?
Civilian structures in Pacific Drive take the form of cabins, farmhouses, and gas stations. These locations typically contain many of the same kinds of materials hidden away in trash cans, crates, cabinets, backpacks, and other storage spaces.
Items you can find in these places include:
- 9v Batteries
- Duct Tape
- Fabric
- Glass Shards
- Plastics
- Rubber
- Scrap Metal
Additionally, Coolers, Refrigerators and Trash Cans are likely to contain Canned Food, an essential healing item. Of course, you can also use the pumps at gas stations if you need to fill up.
What can I find in ARDA Structures in Pacific Drive?
ARDA are a mysterious organization in the story of Pacific Drive and their structures contain some unique materials. ARDA locations are commonly found as trailers, but occasionally a radio tower may pop up which are larger and contain more items.
While they contain some storage items found in civilian locations, they also contain Hazmat Cabinets, which typically contain these essential materials:
- Chemicals
- Gas Cylinders
- Pressurized Cartridges
You may also get lucky and find ARDA structures with their Plasma Generators intact, which should be broken for these items:
- Copper Wire
- Electronics
- Plasma
- Plastics
One rare structure you might encounter is an equipment setup surrounded by Lead Shielding. These are usually marked with blue lights. Taking a Scrapper to the Lead Shielding is the only consistent way to obtain Lead Platelets, which will become useful for later upgrades.
What can I find in vehicles in Pacific Drive?
Throughout Pacific Drive, you’re likely to find the remains of destroyed vehicles, all of which are worth taking apart for some essential materials. Most commonly, you’ll find the husks of old cars, whose panels, doors and wheels can be destroyed.
These cars will consistently drop Scrap Metal and Duct Tape, while the wheels will consistently drop Rubber and the doors will always drop Glass Shards. In addition, you can usually find Road Flares in the remains of the trunk of most cars. If any of these cars feature armored panels or doors, these will usually be your first source of ThermoSap Crystals, which are used for major upgrades later on.
If you can find delivery trucks or ARDA Investigators (which are more armored delivery trucks), you should always stop and raid them. While their contents are never consistent, they’re usually loaded up with a variety of materials, some of which are rare. You can also find food, car parts and Road Flares here too.
What materials can I find in appliances in Pacific Drive?
It’s worth taking the Scrapper to every appliance you see in Pacific Drive, as they feature unique materials that you’ll need later. The most common appliances you’ll find include Phones, Radios, TVs and Computers. They can be found in both civilian and ARDA locations.
The items usually dropped from scrapping appliances include:
- 9v Battery
- Copper Wire
- Electronics
- Plastics
- Pressurized Cartridges (TVs only)
What can I find in Pacific Drive anomalies?
While staying away from anomalies is generally a good idea in Pacific Drive, some can be used as a source of materials.
The first useful anomaly for materials is the Spark Tower. As the name suggests, these towers are constantly sparking electricity. They can be shut down, however, as they are always surrounded by Plasma Generators. Destroying all of them not only shuts off the Spark Tower but it’s the most consistent method of getting Plasma.
Bunnies are also useful for materials. Their annoying habit of attaching to your car means it’s easy to get close to them. You can take a Scrapper to them to take them apart. This will usually give you similar items to taking apart appliances, although sometimes they will also drop rare biological materials for higher level upgrades.
Pacific Drive is out now on PS5 and PC.
