I am not sure how to phrase this question, since I am no expert in modding yet, and I have only recently started to dig into the Dev-kit, but here is my question:
Is it possible to copy a dinosaur asset, edit it and give it a new name, ID, spawn location and stats and upload it to the server I run and NOT to the workshop? Let us say that I want a certain dinosaur to run around that is blue with green stars on grunting “oh yeah baby” and have this dino to be MY SERVER only thing? When people join the server, they can experience this unique dino and only on this server.
If that is possible, how do I do it? I would prefer a step by step guide if possible or at least details to get me going
Or… upload it to the workshop and make it work only on servers configured in the mod?
I would be incredible thankful for any help in this matter. This is a goal of mine and I have long term ideas and plans for a very crazy world to play in if possible
As far as I understand you may be able to get this work in single player just by copying the cooked mod to your game’s mod folder, but I have not attempted to do so and the game client may require a workshop mod id. In the case of servers, you provide them the directory, but also provide a workshop mod id so the server can enforce that the client downloads the mod.
Could you set the mod to hidden on the workshop but have the server run it anyway - meaning people autodownload the mod but can’t manually download it from steam?
Yeah this is the best solution. Ark DOES require the mod to be in a certain format (it has to covert the workshop download from what I’ve seen), so just cooking it and not uploading it wouldn’t work at all.
As for the mod concept, yes it is possible. Is it going to be easy? No. This will require you to RE-TEXTURE the whole dino, and unless you are familiar with this process already its going to be a PITA for you more than likely (I know this cause I do Character Modeling in zBrush). But, yes, very do-able.
It can I’m pretty sure, but don’t quote me, not entirely positive on that one. Guess you could always test that one out by having someone try to connect to a modded server whom doesn’t have the mod files.
You can manually copy the Workshop mod files directly onto your Server and Clients at the appropriate location, and then remove it from Workshop afterwards – o r you can set the Workshop Item to “Friends” only, so that only allowed Steam Friends (or you) will be able to see it.
The files that you’d copy after downloading from Workshop, just have to go here on both the client and server, for example:
\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Content\Mods\478716204.mod
\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Content\Mods\478716204\
(where the folder/filename is your Steam Workshop Item ModID, and you should host the server with the ?Modid=478716204 parameter)
