Mods and Player Count

**lordofchance** · 01-03-16, 10:19 AM

I wanted to touch base to see what TPG's stance on installing mods to the Ark Server is. I have been playing on the TPG server with my trieb [Redthor] for maybe 3 weeks and I ahve enjoyed it. However the player count seems to be fairly low. Some of the other higher populated servers seem to have mods like Storage Plus or Better Drops mod, and am curious of those could be used to draw new players into the server.

Thanks,

**Merritt** · 01-06-16, 08:01 AM

Good question and I really have no idea. What is the degree of difficulty for the average player to mod Ark? We don't necessarily want to make it more difficult to join TPG's server.

**lordofchance** · 01-06-16, 08:06 AM

When the server was down for patching during new years eve I jumped on another server to fill the time. The server had a few mods and it actually did not require any special steps on my part as an end user. The game recognized that I needed additional files and it downloaded them (not sure if from the server or from Steam) and once the downloads were applied I made it into the server.

**Kanati** · 01-06-16, 11:02 AM

Assuming that's all there is to it, it might not be bad. As long as it doesn't turn into the same thing we see/saw with minecraft. I would drop mods on the server and it would be wonderful. Until the next server update. Then that would break half the mods and everyone would lose their minds for a week or so until the mod was updated.

Not to sound like an ass or anything but we already spend a whole lot of time on a server that has very little traffic. Ark is a very needy mistress and if she becomes even more needy when you give her shiny things (mods) then that's probably not in our best interest.

That said, if it brings more traffic then we should probably give it a try at least.

**CivilWars** · 01-06-16, 11:13 AM

I have a friend who ran a small server I played on. From what he said setting up the mods server side was as simple as a ticking of a checkbox on the steam website, then as mentioned they automagically download to the client when you connect. The only issue we ever had was one guy with really slow internet. His connection to the server would time out before the downloads would finish. It eventually worked, but he had to reconnect several times.

**Kanati** · 01-06-16, 11:14 AM

Definitely sounds like something we'll have to investigate and give it a shot.

**CivilWars** · 01-06-16, 11:46 AM

Steam Workshop :: Stairs Mod with Rounded Walls v.4.2

Steam Workshop :: Roofing Plus v0.01 (WIP)

Steam Workshop :: Metal with Glass Set

These are a few we did.

**lordofchance** · 01-06-16, 08:10 PM

I understand the need to balance administrative effort versus benefit. I have enjoyed the time on the server and those that still play have been friendly. I have no intention of leaving the server unless you guy plan on shutting it down, but figured while I am here I might as well contribute some ideas on how to increase player count. Thank you for at least giving it some thought.

**Merritt** · 01-06-16, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by lordofchance

I understand the need to balance administrative effort versus benefit. I have enjoyed the time on the server and those that still play have been friendly. I have no intention of leaving the server unless you guy plan on shutting it down, but figured while I am here I might as well contribute some ideas on how to increase player count. Thank you for at least giving it some thought.

Yep that's how we make the servers better

**Kirstenwilliamson23** · 08-23-22, 12:56 AM

Some mods are really interesting because they look so much like they’d fit and I’d be left wondering how to do that without realising that it’s actually a mod. Looking forward to more development.