Developing for compatibility.

Development Modding ARK: Survival Evolved
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1

Hi folks, first-time modder here.

I’m developing a mod that alters the properties of some consumable items. I’m running into compatibility issues with other mods; specifically, any mod that alters the stacking count of said items. What are some best-practices I should be following in order to ensure the changes I make to an item do not conflict with the properties changed in other mods? Or, am I asking too much due to the nature of ARK mods?

My process for editing items in the Dev Kit is as follows:

  1. Create a directory under Game/Mods.
  2. Copy the GenericMod Level, GameMode, and PrimalData Blueprints to that directory, changing names, GameMode, and PrimalData overwrite references appropriately.
  3. Create sub-directories in my new mod directory that map to the same path as the item in question.
  4. Create a child instance of the item Blueprint in the appropriate sub-directory. For instance, the Tintoberry blueprint.
  5. Alter a property of the new child, for instance “Item Description”.
  6. Remap the original item Blueprint to the Child Blueprint in the Mod specific copy of PrimalData.

After cooking and installing my mod alongside a stacking mod (I’m using Resource Stacks AB), I start up the game and I see the pre-existing berries in my inventory have had the description changed, and are in large quantities that reflect the stacking mod. However, when I harvest from a bush, I pick up the stacking mod instance of those berries, sans Item Description change, and they appear as a separate type of berry in my inventory. I imagine the actual act of harvesting the wrong item has to do with remapping what resources a shrubbery produces, but that’s not the problem I’m looking to solve. The biggest kicker is that if I drag the stack of items with the altered descriptions around my inventory, or into another container, the stack is reduced to the vanilla maximum of 100. What should I be doing differently so that my changes play nicely with all the great stacking mods out there?

Thank you for any advice, it’s very appreciated!

2

to be honest all stacking mods are consider dirty mods because they can break other mods regardless what u try to do there are some ark items that just dont work well with them and if another mod using that item ur stacks mod wont work with it regardless of what u do.

3

Hm, okay, this makes sense: edit a core game item (either copying the asset or deriving a child from it) and risk clashing with edits to that same item from other mods. With this in mind, what steps could we take to minimize or eliminate the conflicting edits?

The first thought that comes to mind would be to generate an entire suite of new assets to replace the core items. Problems with this approach would include the overhead of replacing every reference from where that item is harvested, as well as every crafting recipe in which the item is required. This would no doubt break other mods that rely on the original assets to function as the core items, and not these newly generated replicas.

Anyone have any ideas?

4

if ur asking on to replace the file meaning remap im pretty sure that its done in the PGD and u look up remap and depending on the item u add a new entry

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5

and u no matter what u do u will still run into items no being recognized because some ark items like Perv Bin have BPs that use the property use exact resource which causing the stacks not to work which then u would have to make ur own prev bin

6

:slight_smile: Precisely. That’s the method I’ve been using so far.

This is defeating, and searching forums and blogs and Reddit thus far concludes the same. The engineer in me is hopeful that there is a way (though it remains undiscovered) to intermingle item-editing mods without conflict. I’m still new to modding so I haven’t been exposed to what Blueprint is capable of; perhaps the answer lies therein!