Search and Pull
If you have ever spent twenty minutes digging through a dozen storage boxes looking for a single piece of polymer or a rare blueprint, you know the pain. ARK: Survival Ascended is a game of immense scale, and managing your resources across multiple bases, tames, and vaults can quickly become a full-time job. The Search and Pull mod is designed to eliminate that frustration entirely. Instead of manually opening every container and checking every dinosaur, this powerful add-on lets you search nearby inventories and pull exactly what you need directly into your own pack.
This guide covers everything you need to know about the mod, from its core functionality to advanced crafting support, server configuration, and compatibility with other popular mods. Whether you are a solo survivor or an admin running a bustling community server, Search and Pull is a tool that will change the way you play.
What Does Search and Pull Do?
At its most basic level, Search and Pull allows you to search for items in nearby structure and dino inventories. Once the search is complete, you can choose to pull some or all of those items into your inventory. This removes the tedious process of running between boxes, opening them, and memorizing where you stored your cementing paste.
To initiate a search, simply bring up the radial menu while controlling your character. You will see a new entry labeled SNP. Selecting this opens the SNP User Interface, which displays all found items and allows you to select what you want to pull. The interface is clean, responsive, and designed to handle large volumes of data without feeling cluttered.
The SNP Link: Late-Game Convenience
While the basic search function works around your current position, the mod introduces a craftable structure called the SNP Link for late-game players. This structure consumes element and/or black pearls as fuel to operate. Only one SNP Link can be active per tribe at a time; turning on a second one will automatically shut down the first.
When the SNP Link is active, the mod searches a radius defined by the SearchInventoriesRadiusFoundations setting around the structure, as well as around your current player position. This means you can pull from your storage containers no matter where you happen to be on the map. Imagine being at your metal outpost and pulling a spare set of flak armor from your main base. This feature is a game-changer for large tribes with spread-out operations.
Crafting and Repair Support
One of the most impressive additions to Search and Pull is the crafting and repair integration, introduced in build 101. When viewing a player or structure inventory, an SNP icon appears for each inventory being displayed. Before selecting an item or engram, clicking this button opens the standard SNP UI.
However, the magic happens when you click on a specific item or engram. The SNP icon for the inventory containing that item becomes highlighted in a brighter color. Clicking the highlighted icon opens the SNP UI, and one of several automated actions occurs:
- If the highlighted item is an engram or recipe, SNP will search for all crafting components required to satisfy crafting that item.
- If the item is repairable and can be repaired in the current inventory (e.g., a torch in your player inventory, or a crossbow in a smithy), SNP searches for all components needed for the repair.
- Otherwise, SNP will search for exactly that item.
This feature works seamlessly with the SNP Link and obeys all configured parameters, such as the enforced time between searches. This functionality turns the mod into a comprehensive logistics tool, not just a simple search utility.
Built for Servers and Communities
The developer has put considerable effort into making Search and Pull play nicely with dedicated servers. The mod is built from the ground up to perform efficiently, leaving server resources available for other tasks. The extensive INI settings allow admins to configure throttling, delays, and limitations to match their server's resource availability and specific needs.
Key server-side settings include:
- SearchInventoriesRadiusFoundations (default 20): How far, in foundations, the mod can search from the player's current location.
- MaxSearchResultsPerInventory (default 1000): How many items are returned from each inventory before moving on.
- MaxSearchedInventories (default 10000): The maximum number of inventories searched before stopping.
- MinimumSecondsBetweenSearches (default 5.0): The cooldown between searches for each player.
- ProcessQueueEntriesPerSecondPerPlayer (default 60): How many inventories are searched per second per player.
These options give admins granular control over performance. If your server is experiencing hitches, you can lower the search rates. If you have a powerful machine, you can increase them for faster results.
Mod Compatibility and Testing
Search and Pull is specifically tested and working with the following mods, though it likely works with most mods built in standard ways:
- Ark Omega
- Ascended
- Dino Depot
The mod handles items with normal or custom names and descriptions. This means modded items, custom resources, and unique gear are all searchable. For dino storage, the developer recommends using the Dino Depot mod, as it allows you to see stats and traits in tooltips and avoids the performance cost of parsing cryopods.
Deliberate Limitations
To maintain performance and reliability, the mod has some intentional restrictions. It only searches inventories, not equipped items. Searches of hundreds or thousands of storage containers take time to give servers breathing room. It only searches structures and dinos, and it is not built to work with dedicated storages, as items in those cannot be lost and they are not coded as normal inventory containers.
Additionally, the mod supports admins and cheat players searching inventories they do not own via the AllowAdminSearchUnowned setting. There is also a restricted usage mode for servers that want to limit the mod to specific players.
Recent Updates and Quality of Life
The mod has seen a steady stream of updates. Build 76 added support for dinoball-specific tooltips. Build 88 fixed a bug where pulling one of a stack pulled the entire stack. Build 93 reworked partial stack pulling for custom recipes. Build 97 added traits display in dinoball tooltips. Build 100 added EOS ID to the UI for admin support and introduced several performance tuning options. Build 101 added the SNP button to inventory UIs for crafting and repairing. Build 102 added an icon on item rows for text input, and build 103 added item quantity preselection for repair and crafting.
For those looking to get started quickly, the foxygame.net launcher provides a streamlined experience. Its add-on catalog lets you locate and install Search and Pull with a single click, and the launcher handles version compatibility checks automatically, ensuring you always run a build that matches your game client. This is particularly useful for players who want to avoid manual installation errors.
How to Install Search and Pull
Installing the mod is straightforward. The most common method is to subscribe to the mod on the ARK: Survival Ascended mod workshop. Once subscribed, the mod will download automatically when you launch the game. To use it on a dedicated server, you must add the mod ID to your server's mod list and restart the server.
If you prefer a more guided approach, using a launcher that supports mod management can simplify the process. Many players find that using a launcher with an integrated mod browser reduces the risk of version mismatches. Regardless of your method, the process to download Search and Pull is simple and takes only a few minutes.
Final Thoughts
Search and Pull for ARK: Survival Ascended is an essential quality-of-life mod for anyone tired of inventory management. Its combination of radial menu access, the powerful SNP Link structure, and deep crafting and repair integration makes it one of the most useful utilities available. The developer's focus on server performance and mod compatibility ensures it works well in both single-player and large community environments. If you have ever lost a valuable item in a sea of storage boxes, this mod is the solution you have been waiting for.