Alien Plants
The world of ARK: Survival Ascended is vast, dangerous, and full of secrets. But few secrets are as intriguing—or as useful—as the flora introduced by the Alien Plants add-on. This ambitious mod, ported over from the original ARK: Survival Evolved by Ugh (aka BlueShirtGuy) and the PubInc crew, brings a complete farming and crafting ecosystem to your island. It is not just about adding a new resource; it is about building a whole new way to play, from small personal gardens to massive industrial operations.
What Does Alien Plants Add to Your Game?
At its core, the mod allows you to grow, harvest, and process unique alien vegetation. The development status is a heavy work-in-progress, but it has reached a decent place where the core loop is fully functional. You start by finding wild plants, which are randomized across any map—including custom ones—and then you can begin your journey into cultivation.
Core Gameplay Loop
- Harvesting: Locate the distinct purple and green alien plants in the wild. They are randomized, so exploration is key.
- Farming: Set up your own grow operation using crop plots and the new structures like the drying hut and curing jar.
- Processing: Use the herb grinder and hand grinder to turn raw leaves into usable materials. Fresh leaves can spoil into moldy plant matter, so timing and storage matter.
- Consumption: Craft items like the doobie, which provides a range of buffs, from a "green buzz" to increased carry weight and even a contact high for your dinos.
Key Features and Systems
The mod is packed with systems that go beyond simple farming. The developers have focused on creating an immersive experience, with attention to detail that players will appreciate.
Advanced Crafting and Buffs
You will need to master a multi-step crafting flow. The mod introduces a "Cotton Mouth" debuff after using the doobie, adding a layer of risk versus reward. You can also preserve spoilables in storage and extend spoil timers by reparenting items. The buff system is configurable, allowing server admins to disable specific effects like hair growth, music, friction, or dino blast.
Configurable Server Settings
For server admins, the mod is a dream. The Admin Terminal provides a stats page to see how many plants have spawned. The config file expansion exposes settings for total plant spawns, hair/gravity/bubble effects, station-specific fuel timers, and stat modifiers like weight buffs or AOE contact highs. This level of control makes it easy to tailor the experience for your community.
What's on the Roadmap?
The team has big plans. Future updates include biome-specific strains, with swampy variants and rare alpine strains for icy peaks. They are also working on a breeding and mutation system, grow lights for indoor farming, and a mass farming system with grow strips for one-click management of large-scale operations. The roadmap also includes optimizing the spawn system and reducing the mod size, which was bloated by original assets.
How to Install Alien Plants
Getting started with this mod is straightforward. To download Alien Plants, you will need to navigate to the mod browser within ARK: Survival Ascended. Once you have found it, subscribing will add it to your game. For players looking for a simpler experience, the foxygame.net launcher offers a one-click install for Alien Plants, letting you skip the manual mod manager steps and jump straight into the action. It also handles version compatibility, ensuring that the mod works with the latest game updates.
Installation Steps
- Open the ARK: Survival Ascended main menu and select "Mods."
- Search for "Alien Plants" in the curated mod list.
- Click "Install" and wait for the download to complete.
- Launch your single-player game or server with the mod enabled.
If you are running a dedicated server, you will need to add the mod ID to your server's mod list. The process is the same as with any other mod. The foxygame.net launcher also simplifies this for server owners, with an integrated add-on catalog that lets you manage Alien Plants alongside your other server mods, complete with auto-updates to keep everything running smoothly.
Compatibility and Performance
This mod is designed for ARK: Survival Ascended and is actively updated to support the current versions of the game. The developers have worked through many patches, from v2 to v7.5, fixing bugs and adding features like the mod settings UI and wild plant locator beam. While it is a work-in-progress, the mod is stable for general use. The team has also re-applied the wild plant skin to bring back that "purple pop" and has adjusted plant sizes for better visual balance.
Community and Support
The PubInc community is active and welcoming. They encourage players to join their Discord for spawn codes, bug reports, events, and server listings. If you run a server with the mod, you can get it listed for others to find. The team also features community videos showcasing the mod in action. This collaborative spirit is a big part of what makes Alien Plants for ARK: Survival Ascended such a unique addition to the game.
Final Thoughts
Alien Plants is more than just a mod; it is a passion project that brings a unique, humorous, and mechanically deep experience to ARK: Survival Ascended. With its configurable settings, detailed crafting systems, and ambitious roadmap, it offers something for both casual players and hardcore server admins. Whether you are looking to build a small personal garden or a massive automated farm, this mod provides the tools to do it with style. The 3D models are slick, the plants are dripping with purple and green, and the spawn system ensures you will always have something to find. It is a heavy work-in-progress, but it is in a decent place now, and the future looks bright.
So, get out there, explore, and start growing. The alien feeling is waiting for you, right from your own crop plots.