Epic Level

USING THE CENTER MAP (DLC) OR ANNUNAKI GENESIS BREAKS THIS MOD, AND FOR NOW I CAN'T AND WON'T FIX IT. READ BELOW FOR WHY...

Explanation on how dino levels work (AFAIK) in Ark and why recent changes broke this mod: Every time a new dino spawns in ARK, 2 parameters are used to define its level.

DinoLevel = DifficultyValue * GeneratedRandomInt[/code]
The GeneratedRandomInt by default is a number from 1 to 30.
The DifficultyValue is a value that varies between DifficultyValueMin and DifficultyValueMax, and scales according to DifficultyOffset.
DifficultyOffset is a value (floating point) that ranges from 0.0 to 1.0.

I think that the formula for the DifficultyValue, if its linear, is:
[code]DifficultyValue = DifficultyValueMin + ( DifficultyOffset * ( DifficultyValueMax - DifficultyValueMin ) )

By default as well, DifficultyValueMin=0.5 and DifficultyValue=4.0. So when you have DifficultyOffset set to 1.0, DifficultyValue will be equal to DifficultyValueMax. That being said, DinoLevel will be DifficultyValueMax * [1-30].

Ark has on its GameMode class (UDK Blueprint), DifficultyValueMax set to 4. This explains why you see on public servers dinos with levels 4,8,12,16...120.

Epic Level overrides the value in the default GameMode class so that DifficultyValueMax is set to 28. And thus you'll see dinos with levels 28,56,84,112...840.

When "The Center" DLC was released, they wanted to bump the dino max level to 150. The easiest way to do that, was using the same way I did for Epic Level, and increasing the DifficultyValueMax to 5. I believe though that when "The Center" was compiled/cooked in UDK, it was done as a TC (Total Conversion), instead of being a map. Or there's something else in "The Center" that guarantees that the DifficultyValueMax value they set will always take priority.

And by now you might be saying... "yeah, by Annunaki Genesis fixed it, why can't you?" I never talked to any of the Annunaki devs, but I assume that they found a way to change the other parameter used in the dino level calculation. If you find a way to change the range from 1 to 30, to lets say 1 to 120, even with DifficultyValueMax set to 5, you would see dino levels 5,10,15,20...600.

Now because Annunaki is apparently using this other method with the range [1-120] to change the levels, when you combine it with EpicLevel, the formula becomes:

DinoLevel = 28 * [1-120][/code]
And the levels explode through the roof as 28,56,84,112...3304,3332,3360.

[b]Conclusion[/b]
Ark is a work in progress, and will keep changing and improving over the coming months.
I for one, don't really like how modding works in Ark.
Most of the interesting game logic is implemented in C++ and not exposed to the blueprint system in UDK.

I could spend time and effort trying to implement what Annunaki did, with a range of [1-168], but I won't.
If any dev/modder out there wants to share how they (or Annunaki) made the changes for affecting the level range, I'll happily include that in an update for the sake of the people using this mod.
When the final version comes out, I might update this mod to work with it (since I'll probably want to play it again).
But for now, don't expect any more updates, since I don't have the time/interest to invest in it.










Epic Level adds far more levels to both player and dinos:
[list]
 [*]Players: Max Level 300
 [*]Wild Dinos: Levels range from 28 to 840 (28 level increments)
 [*]Tamed Dinos: Max Level: 840 wild + 419 (taming effectiveness) + 220 (XP) = 1479 Max level
[/list]
The numbers above considers running single/multi with DifficultyOffset=1 (same as official servers).

[b]EDIT: This mod used to allow higher Dino levels (1500 wild), which seemed to be great, except for the fact that ARK would reset the high level dinos stats when the game was reloaded.[/b] Due to this limitation on the engine, which I sadly cannot fix, I've tuned down the multiplier to prevent it from happening (check the info above for the new max levels). If you still encounter this issue, please report it with the dino level which happened.

[h1]Install Instructions[/h1]
[olist]
 [*] Subscribe to the mod (id=591254305)
 [*] Make sure the mod is loaded as the first mod.
 [list]
  [*] Single-player:
    This mod has to be the first/top on the mod list.
  [*] Multi-player (server):
    This mod should be the first entry in both the INI and launch command.
    So in the INI you should have ActiveMods=591254305,..... other mods if any
    And on the command: ShooterGameServer......?GameModIds=591254305,......
 [/list]
 [*] The game must be running at DifficultyOffset=1.0. Check your settings and INI to double check if this is correctly set.
 [*] After the mod and params are set correctly, make sure to run the [b]DestroyWildDinos[/b] admin command so that dinos will re-spawn at the correct level.
[/olist]

[b]FOR THIS MOD TO WORK, IT MUST BE THE FIRST ON YOUR MOD LIST.[/b]
This is due to the fact that this mod needs to tweak params in the GameMode, which only works if its loaded as the first mod in your list.

Its stackable with any other stackable mods (stackable mods should not require mods to the GameMode), but not with TCs and such.
[u]This mod works for both multi and single player.[/u]


[h1]Features[/h1]
Besides changing the max XP and level curves, the engram curve has also been balanced to provide far more points at total than stock.
You may finally be your own one man tribe and still enjoy all of the items in the game.

This mod is [b]not noob friendly[/b] since they will be eaten alive by a level 500 Compy.
It favors the more experienced players which are able to tame even brontos with their wooden slingshots.
Be sure to learn the basics of Ark before entering any Epic Level ([EL]) server.

Server Admins: