JVH Landscaping
If you have ever spent hours perfecting a base in ARK: Survival Ascended only to stare at a barren, lifeless courtyard, you know the struggle. Vanilla building pieces give you walls, floors, and ceilings, but they rarely let you shape the natural world around your creations. That is where JVH Landscaping steps in. This mod transforms the way you approach exterior design by taking the game's own stunning map assets and turning them into craftable, placeable decorations. From towering redwoods to glowing bioluminescent flora, this add-on puts the entire wilderness in your building menu.
The mod has grown significantly since its early days as a simple decor pack. Today, it boasts an enormous catalog that spans multiple official maps, giving you an unprecedented level of creative control. Whether you are building a hidden jungle retreat, a desert fortress, or an underground crystal cavern, JVH Landscaping for ARK: Survival Ascended provides the natural elements you need to make your vision a reality.
What Does JVH Landscaping Add to Your Game?
The sheer volume of content in this mod is impressive. It pulls assets directly from The Island, Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, and Ragnarok, meaning every item is authentic to the game's visual style. You are not getting low-quality custom meshes; you are getting the exact trees, rocks, and plants you see in the wild, but with the ability to place them anywhere you want.
Here is a breakdown of what you can expect from the mod's inventory:
- From The Island: 28 trees, 17 bushes, 14 ground cover items, 30 rocks of varying sizes, 22 aquatic items, 10 freshwater plants, 15 bioluminescent plants, 14 mushrooms, 11 crystals, and 13 vines with snapping points.
- From Scorched Earth: 8 trees, 12 plants, 13 cacti, 14 crystals, and 14 miscellaneous desert items.
- From Aberration: 15 trees, 4 luminescent trees, 5 ground mushrooms, 15 plants, and 12 unique crystals.
- From Extinction: 12 trees, 4 grasses, 7 plants, and 10 vines.
- From Ragnarok: 4 trees, 5 plants, 7 vines, and 12 large rocks.
Beyond the raw numbers, the mod also includes two modded tree platforms for use with giant redwoods, as well as modified crop plots that block clutter and grass from growing through them. This makes it easier than ever to create clean, curated gardens without fighting the game's natural overgrowth.
Key Features for Builders
JVH Landscaping is not just about dropping static objects into the world. It comes with several quality-of-life features that make it a joy to use:
- Color Customization: Many bioluminescent plants and crystals can have their colors changed, allowing you to match your base's aesthetic perfectly.
- Scaling Options: You can increase or decrease the size of many pieces, making a single bush work as a hedge or a small tree work as a massive canopy.
- Snap Points: Vines and wall plants have basic snapping functionality, making it easy to line them up along walls and ceilings.
- Tweak Tool: This simple tool lets you move and rotate placed structures on the X, Y, and Z axes to a limited degree (about one foundation in any direction). It is perfect for fixing that one slightly-off tree without demolishing and rebuilding.
- INI Settings: Server admins can adjust structure limits and performance settings using the
[JVHLandscaping]section in the game.ini file.
One thing to note is that the leafy structures can be placed on saddle platforms, but they will shake and shudder when in motion. If this bothers you, disabling foliage interaction in your client settings will fix the issue. For versions that do not have this problem, the mod author recommends checking out the separate JVH Platform Plants mod.
Compatibility and Map Support
It is important to understand that JVH Landscaping is designed to work on maps that have the required assets included in the live game. This means it works flawlessly on official Wildcard maps like The Island, Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, and Ragnarok. Because the mod relies on these base game assets, modded maps that alter or remove those materials can potentially cause issues. The mod author explicitly warns that using it on anything other than Wildcard maps is at your own risk, as strange behaviors may occur.
For the latest versions of ARK: Survival Ascended, the mod remains updated to ensure compatibility with the current build. The development team actively patches issues, with recent fixes addressing scaling persistence, missing inventory icons for the crafting bench, and placement distances for larger rocks. When you download JVH Landscaping, you are getting a mod that is actively maintained and refined.
How to Install JVH Landscaping for ARK: Survival Ascended
Getting started with this mod is straightforward. The process for how to install is simple: you can grab the files directly from the CurseForge page and manually place them in your ARK: Survival Ascended mod folder, or you can subscribe through the in-game mod browser. For those who prefer a more streamlined experience, the foxygame.net launcher offers a one-click install for JVH Landscaping, pulling the latest compatible version directly into your mod list without any manual file management. The launcher's add-on catalog also tracks updates, so you will always know when a new patch for JVH Landscaping is ready to deploy, saving you the hassle of checking multiple sources.
Engrams and Admin Controls
For server administrators, JVH Landscaping provides granular control over what players can access. Engrams are in place for several "special" categories, allowing you to manage visibility, level requirements, and point costs for each item type. For example, you can hide the Redwoods entirely with a simple ini entry:
OverrideNamedEngramEntries=(EngramClassName="PrimalEngram_HugeTrees_JVHLandscaping_C",EngramHidden=true)Or you can adjust the cost and level requirement to make them a late-game reward. This level of control ensures that the mod can be balanced to fit any server's progression curve.
Final Thoughts on JVH Landscaping
JVH Landscaping is an essential addition for any builder who wants to break free from the sterile look of vanilla structures. It bridges the gap between the natural world and your constructed bases, allowing you to create environments that feel lived-in and organic. With hundreds of items, intuitive tools, and active development, it is a mod that rewards creativity and experimentation. Whether you are recreating a lush oasis in the desert or turning your Aberration base into a glowing wonderland, this mod gives you the tools to make it happen. The only limit is your imagination.