How to update dev kit content and preserve your TC?

Development Modding ARK: Survival Evolved
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1

I copied the entire content folder out of the mod directory and made the dev kit update (which subsequently backed up edited files anyway).

But how do I do the diff merge mentioned here:
http://ark.gamepedia.com/Modding:Total_Conversion
“If you want to update your content with the latest update, you should run a diff. (with win-merge for example)”

As they are blueprint files (binary) and cannot be diffed (as far as I could tell) is it is simply copying back my edited files into the content directory? Doesn’t sound safe.

2

Bump, can anyone who actively develops their TC give insight?

3

Well, Kenturrac here on the forums, did a Tutorial on setting up TC’s and I believe he just copies whatever files to new mod folder and cooks that folder as a TC.

Separates the changed files from defaults.

-WM

4

Cheers, looks like a decent tutorial.

However, I’m getting the impression there’s no standard or official word on best practice to follow with TC’s which is a shame.

As far as I know, if I wanted to edit how much HP % is given per point invested for dino’s I can either:
A) Following the standard of copy, remap and replace…

  • Make a copy of each dinosaur (note, as you can’t edit derived components making a child of each dinosaur won’t work)
  • Make a copy of each dinosaur status component (which holds the attributes logic)
  • Reparent all new dinosaur status components to my new base with the modified HP % gain.
  • Replace the default dinosaur status component on each dinosaur with my new ones (respective for each dinosaur)
  • Do a remap from each default dinosaur to my custom one inside primalgamedata

B) Edit the official files directly…

  • Edit the base dinosaur status component to give the new HP % gain.
  • Make sure derived dinosaur status components don’t override the new value.

Option A) does not require a replacing of files on dev kit update/verify but also means your copied files can become outdated making it very hard to maintain. Also, re-parenting is likely to cause issues (I know base crafting materials, armor and such are referenced in-game).
Option B) does require a file replace and I’m worried it runs the risk of breaking things and/or causing conflicts. Although, I’ve run into none so far.