I’m currently in the process of creating my first mod for Ark. I actually intend to eventually place this mod on a dedicated server.
My initial goal is simple: Eliminate all item quality modifiers, so that all items can only drop with their base statistics.
I am not an experienced modder and I am new to the UE4 development environment and kit interface. I would vastly appreciate any answer that can “Explain Like I’m 5”
I have followed this tutorial up to 3:30 : - YouTube
Now I am modifying the copy of PrimalGameData_BP I have made for my mod.
I see a series of entries titled: Item Quality Definitions.
Questions:
If I change the values of all variables in Item Quality Definitions #1 through #5 to be equivalent to the values in Item Quality Definitions #0, will that achieve my goal of eliminating item quality modifiers from all items in the game without having to manually edit the items themselves in the master item list?
If the answer to 1. is “No”, is there another simple way of accomplishing this?
If the answer to 1. is “Yes”, would this have any potential impact on game stability, esp regarding future patches and updates to the game? Since I intend to utilize this mod on a dedicated server, stability is a concern. Forgive me if this question is ignorant.
Thank you in advance to any who deign to share their insights. My aim is to eventually address the issue of the “supertribe” phenomenon, where individuals in well-established tribes become nearly invincible due to their incredibly high-quality gear. I may continue to further develop this mod in attempts to rebalance core gameplay mechanics to improve the PVP experience, and ideas or suggestions to this end are welcome.
Edit 10/10/2015: changed item quality definition numbering to reflect numbering in devkit
I have not played with quality AT ALL so I may be entirely wrong here, but my understanding is that when the game spawns an item drop, it first chooses a quality multiplier, then it looks at the list to see what to call the item. So before it even looks at your list it will have created the cloth hat with a 1.29 multipler to armor and durability. If you’ve deleted everything in that list, then it just names it “Cloth Hat” but it still has a 1.29 multipler (or maybe it crashes if you’ve completely emptied the list).
I have noticed that the specific entries for “Item Quality Definitions” actually have a quality multiplier listed as one of the parameters, along with durability modifiers. The wording makes it appear as though, when an item of that quality tier is dropped, that variable is used as a starting point for the equation that rolls an item’s random stats - such that any given drop is within a certain range +/- of the modifiers listed under these entries.
If no one else has any experience messing with these variables, then I will begin experimenting with them in roughly another 12-24 hours. When I do so, I will post results - however, I still would very much appreciate knowledge from anyone who knows how to eliminate Item Quality modifiers efficiently from all items in the game. My workstation does not seem to play nicely with the Dev Kit, for some reason, which would greatly extend the amount of effort and time required to find a solution by trial and error. If it were not for the performance/time concerns, I would have been posting my actions/results instead of asking a question first. Sorry.
Still, if no one else responds, I will begin the slow process regardless and I’ll start by testing how changing these fields affect the game and reporting the results here.
Please refer to one of the guides in my signature for everything related to item quality.
Short answer: it will take a lot of work to disable it entirely w/o breaking the game.
Sench - if you would be willing to answer a couple brief questions, I would vastly appreciate it:
“Used defines whether this stat scales with item quality, and whether it is displayed.”
Would unchecking this box for every stat, on every item in the game, effectively accomplish my objectives?
“you can safely ignore the “named quality tiers”, such as Primitive, Ramshackle, Apprentice etc. - these are all defined in PrimalGameData and everything about them can be changed freely”
That above sentence from your linked guide appears to refer to the PrimalGameData entries I am asking about in this thread’s original post - they are found under Item Quality Definitions. If I alter the parameters under the entry for each higher tier to be the same as the lowest tier - primitive, or Item Quality Definition #0, would this then only generate items with primitive quality stat rolls? If not, then I understand I will need to make individual edits to each PrimalItem BP and it will require a great deal of time and effort.
Yes, it will work, but you won’t be able to see the stats provided by an item that way.
You can more easily accomplish your objective by unchecking the “use item stats” parameter found along the top of PrimalItem BPs. Unfortunately, it also hides things like armor or hyperthermal insulation from view (even though they still appear to be working). You will only be able to see the durability bar (thanks to “use item durability”), but not any numbers.
In any case, that’s still around 80 items you’d have to replace - 30 armor pieces, 28 saddles and some number of tools/weapons (don’t recall the amount).
The explanation on quality definitions is given below the formulas. It’s a derivative that controls how items are displayed: prefix such as “primitive”, name text color - and XP multipliers. It does not control the generation of items whatsoever.
Changing the threshold to the same amount for multiple definitions may cause weird behavior and even crashes.
Emptying the list altogether will likely cause crashes.
Leaving only one definition will only make the game display all items as the same quality (and provide the same XP multipliers), it will not affect how stats are calculated.
Hey Sench - I’ve noticed you’re a really active poster around here. I wanted to say “Thank you,” and I cannot imagine how many mods your advice and experience has enabled.
I’ve determined that eliminating item quality will be easier to do by remapping the loot sets. There are fewer BPs to edit, and it will be a simpler operation overall with less impact on gameplay (stat display and whatnot)
So, three questions:
When remapping ItemLootSets, which remap category in PrimalGameData should I put them under? Logic dictates “Supply Crates”, but I’m unclear if this would include drops from killed dinos and/or bosses.
Will remapping all loot set BPs located at PrimalEarth\CoreBlueprints\ItemLootSets will also affect alpha carnivore drop tables?
If alpha carnivore drop tables are not included in ItemLootSets and are not treated as Supply Crates under remapping, how should I handle remapping LootSets for those actors?
You’re welcome. Unfortunately, variables and various settings are all I’m good with right now - the really interesting and complex stuff is beyond me.
To answer your questions, you cannot actually remap LootSets. You can remap supply crates, but that only affects those descending from the sky and found in caves. It won’t affect dinosaurs. The easiest way would be to directly copy the supply crates and set their min/max quality multipliers to 0.
Drops from dinos are fairly simple, they are defined under “death inventory templates” in Dino_Character_BPs. If you want to remove quality w/o removing actual drops, just set the “quality multiplier per level” (or something similar sounding) found close by to 0 - this should make all dropped items have a quality of 0 (a.k.a. equivalent to engram).
Unfortunately, this would either require a copy-remap of dinos or a Total Conversion type mod.
Sorry.