HOW TO: Create a dino as well as setting up your mod.

Development Modding ARK: Survival Evolved
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Not bad, but here are some things that caught my eye.

  1. You do NOT need a custom testgamemode unless you actually change settings in the game mode. Using a custom mode can cause stacking issues with mods that do use a custom game mode.

  2. If you are just doing an overhaul, don’t change the “CustomTag” and you won’t need to create a new saddle, vanilla saddles will work if you leave the tag as is. If making an entirely new dino change it as desired.

  3. "5. On the right side of your screen you should see a “World Settings” tab in the lower panel. If you do not see this, go to Window > World Settings"

You forgot to mention that the Orange Level File needs to be open in editor to see the world settings and that you need to set the primal game data in that section under " “PrimaGameDataOverride”.
You also need to remove “TheIsland” from the “ForceLoadMapName”