I just picked up ark, hoping to make some mods for it - seems to have way more scope for modding than rust.
But all I see is windows binaries, and 2-year-old source?
Are there any issues with generating linux binaries, or releasing the latest source?
Is there anything I can do to help?
Hello Alex! Welcome to this forum, and to modding ark 
I fear we have to disappoint you in regards to a dev kit for linux. Studio Wildcard built a custom version of Unreal Engine 4.5.1 that is heavily modified and differs from the original engine.
As a result of them using only windows, and modding only having been introduced halfway into the Early Access (it was not planned before), their modifications are not multi-platform compatible.
It is also highly unlikely that they will take this step - or even are able to take it - at this point, as it would not only be a massive effort, but also carry the risk of breaking the existing editor (including the version that they are using themselves!).
That said, I have good news as well - you likely downloaded the wrong editor! The version on steam is about 2 years old, later it was switched to the Epic Launcher (which is also responsible for downloading the original Unreal Engine). By downloading that launcher and the dev kit via the launcher you will get an up-to-date version that is at the maximum one major patch behind the game and usually catches up fast.
Best regards,
Thanks for the reply!
Shame there is no linux editor planned. Though glad to have it confirmed.
I’m not sure how adding linux support would carry the risk of breaking the existing editor - presumably even if there are not automated tests, someone would notice the editor had been broken, and not merge the changes into master?
Seeing as the game is supported on linux - I’m curious to know what the roadblocks for the editor are.
To be clear - I have not downloaded any editor, I was saying I am aware of windows binaries (both on steam, and from epic launcher, thanks for mentioning the steam version is outdated) - and I see some outdated source code for the editor (here https://github.com/Shinigami69/Ark-Dev-Kit_Source )
A step I’d hope wildcard studios can take is to provide up-to-date source code for the devkit, and allow the Linux community to make it compatible if there is sufficient motivation
This is a totally dead thread, but I’m