mods require you to remove your existing saved game

[3ndoflin3]

So I worked out on someone else’s suggestion in another thread

trying to mod player - what step(s) did I miss?

that for my mod to take effect I have to remove/backup my currently saved ark file under

ARK/Projects/ShooterGame/Saved/SavedArksLocal and renaming ‘TheIsland.ark’ to ‘TheIsland.ark.old1’

This creates another issue(not sure if same for other mod authors) in that a mod user wouldn’t really know or expect to do this.

Is this expected for mods? I’ve heard other complaints about users losing their many hours of progress(their current ark save file) when trying a new mod and not sure what the expected solution to this would be since there could be many combinations of potential mods and maps.

[anonymous_user_5c6f8b8c]

are you sure you just maded it as a core game data mod and not map mod? cause i didn’t had that issue

[anonymous_user_6d4f2fb2]

Core Data (non-map) mods apply to pre-existing maps.

You need to mod with Core Data modding in mind if you wish to utilize this benefit.

Here’s a thread that covers this:

Tutorial: Creating a core-data Mod (Not a Map, just a Mod :)

[Akukiyo]

People are going to need to start adding warning labels to their mods, like the tranq dart mod on the front page of the workshop that overwrites the original gun and changes it, so that you can no longer use default ammo, and need to create a new gun each time you accidently forget and put another tranq dart in it, hopefully you don’t have a journeyman rifle that costs over 600 metal ingots.

[anonymous_user_6d4f2fb2]

@;341643

People are going to need to start adding warning labels to their mods, like the tranq dart mod on the front page of the workshop that overwrites the original gun and changes it, so that you can no longer use default ammo, and need to create a new gun each time you accidently forget and put another tranq dart in it, hopefully you don’t have a journeyman rifle that costs over 600 metal ingots.

Awh man

[cwm33]

@;341643

People are going to need to start adding warning labels to their mods, like the tranq dart mod on the front page of the workshop that overwrites the original gun and changes it, so that you can no longer use default ammo, and need to create a new gun each time you accidently forget and put another tranq dart in it, hopefully you don’t have a journeyman rifle that costs over 600 metal ingots.

I’ve had that warning up in my mod’s description since my initial release, people still don’t bloody listen and will load your mod into a vanilla save.

[3ndoflin3]

are you sure you just maded it as a core game data mod and not map mod? cause i didn’t had that issue

Here’s a thread that covers this…

The steps mentioned in my earlier thread were taken directly from the ‘how to make a mod’ developer tutorial video - let me know if I missed or got a step wrong as compared to the video

trying to mod player - what step(s) did I miss?

people still don’t bloody listen and will load your mod into a vanilla save

I think that is the issue I’m more worried about in that people generally don’t read warnings listed on the workshop, they just download stuff and the game engine should be smart to better handle mods alongside existing saves and/or give big yes/no choice notice(maybe include a ‘warning’ field in addition to the mod title/description from the steam mod page) when a player is going to alter or lose their saves.

[cwm33]

All it needs is a proper game-save system, and a check for what mods are loaded with a save. Modders should be able to set a “compatible with vanilla saves” flag, and if that is set, when launching the mod it forces a new world to be created.

[Drathek]

In general mods can be made compatible (and by compatible I mean the game isn’t going to corrupt or crash if they did everything fine) with existing worlds but standardizing changes across the board is a another matter for an existing save. If the mod changes all dinos the the update must be immediate then all of the changed dinos must be wiped otherwise old and new will exist. If weapons are rebalanced the old can still exist but they may only be compatible with old ammo if the ammo was replaced. Some things only care about the name (or maybe class) of the item because for example I can create 3 unique spoiled meats where they cannot stack with eachother but they are still all valid for the stock narcotic recipe. It is always a good idea to throw warnings in to mods in case of unintended side effects that a user may not want, but it is always best to try and make your mod as compatible as it can be. As more remap arrays be added this will be easier to achieve.

[3ndoflin3]

when launching the mod it forces a new world to be created

+1 generally on this idea, for mods that are changing existing content or behavior against ‘TheIsland’ or other existing maps/saves I’d prefer the default behavior is a new mod-specific map save versus the existing setup where a user has to fumble through their filesystem with some technical experience as to what they are doing. I’m not sure how this would be implemented for stackable mods.

[anonymous_user_6d4f2fb2]

I have started a thread regarding this HERE

If any of you have any ides or suggestions that could help reform our subscribing and testing from “faith-jumping” to I-know-what-the-hell-i’m-downloading feel free to post them there