How do you change a dinos color?

Development Modding ARK: Survival Evolved
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1

So far I’ve figured out how to make them bigger/smaller, faster/slower, stronger/weaker but for the life of me I can not figure out how to change a dinos color. What am I missing.?

2

You have to look at the skin on the skeletal mesh. Change that and you change the dino color.

3

You can:

A. Change the colors in the PrimalGameData to the ones you want. Just know this will change all dino colors.

B. Find the corresponding DinoColor_DinoName_BP and change the colors there. You can also add new Colors there as well. But, you will need to create new dinos and add them o the PrimalGameData for them to appear in game.

4

Thank you for the reply. I’ll give these a try and see which one works best for what I’m looking for.

5

Hangs head Ok I found the skeleton mesh and I see the areas that can be changed but I’m still stuck. Am I looking for a paintbrush feature similar to in game? At least that’s what my mind wants to see but can’t. From this stage how do you make the desired changes to the mesh? Thanks.

6

You do not make the color changes on the mesh or the Material. You can change the "Base Colorations or the patterns there, but that is as far as you can go.

OK, let me throw out a base for how the colors work for the dinos in Ark.

  1. The Material is a base that is changed by other settings and colors in the game. The dino patterns and color regions are found here.

  2. PrimalGameData This is where the base dino colors are defined. You can go in and effectively change every animals color in ark by changing the color definitions here. Also, you can add new colors for the game to use, but a lot of work goes into making sure that the game will use them on the dino’s where you want the colors to appear.

  3. DinoColor_“DinoName”_BP this Blueprint is dino specific. It sets which colors are used on what region for that specific dino. Take the Rex for instance. It has 6 color regions, but only 4 can be changed. And on those 4 regions there are 9 colors predetermined colors that the game uses to determine what color the next spawn will be. You can add more color variations to a specific region, or to all regions. But, to be able to add new colors, they have to be added to PrimalGameData 1st, then you add them to the Blueprint and then the mesh, mat, Blueprint, and primalGameData will effectively create a new set of dinos that are the colors you chose. With this, if the mod is ever removed, the dino’s will disappear and never return.

Now, with the new Mod Map Extensions, this all might be a mute discussion. I will be doing some extensive testing in the next few days to see if this is a game changer with the way the dino color modding works in Ark.

7

So with the new Mod Map Ex I might see an actual paintbrush to make this all a little easier lol. NOT!! Thank you for the run down this is what I needed. Will try it out and see what I can do.

8

Working with the Dragon that does not have a specific dinocolor_BP. It shares the spino BP. Since I’m not interested in changing the colors of the spinal I copied this file into my MyMod folder, renamed it and told my Dragon BP to use this color BP. I made my desired changes, clicked use colonization in the Dragon BP, compiled and saved. Unfortunately when I drag the Dragon BP into the test map the Dragon still renders the original blue coloring. What step or procedure have I missed. As I sit here typing this I’m wondering. Do I have to add this new dinocolor_BP to the MyMod PrimalGameData? If so I think I know how but just in case what do I need to do?

9

Hi, i am trying to do the same thing as you with the dragon too, i am also at the same step as you. Did you solve it? if so how please?

10

How so? Sounds interesting. What are you hoping will change?