Starter Loot
Dropping into the unforgiving world of ARK: Survival Ascended as a fresh survivor is brutal. You spawn naked on a beach, starving, thirsty, and completely defenseless against the local wildlife. The first hour is often a tedious grind of punching trees and gathering stones just to craft a basic hatchet. This is where Starter Loot changes the game entirely. This add-on eliminates the frustrating early-game hump by providing you with the essential tools and a loyal companion the moment you load into the server.
What Does Starter Loot Provide?
Upon joining a server with this mod active, players automatically receive two crucial items in their inventory: the Survivalist Crate and the Dino Summon Potion. These are designed to give you immediate access to resources and a creature companion, ensuring you can skip the mundane grind and start exploring, building, and taming right away.
The Survivalist Crate: Your Head Start
The Survivalist Crate is a simple, functional item that provides the bare minimum to get you moving. It is not a flashy, overpowered care package; instead, it focuses on practical utility. It gives you the necessary gear to chop, mine, and defend yourself without trivializing the survival aspect. The beauty of this crate is that it is fully customizable for server administrators.
Admins can tailor the contents of the Survivalist Crate via the GameUserIni settings. This allows you to modify the items, their quantities, and even add entirely new items to the crate to fit your specific server cluster. For example, an admin can set a specific loadout that includes a metal hatchet and a pickaxe with specific quality values.
Example Command Prompt:
[StarterLoot]
Loot=Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/CoreBlueprints/Weapons/PrimalItem_WeaponMetalHatchet.PrimalItem_WeaponMetalHatchet 1 1 0,Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/CoreBlueprints/Weapons/PrimalItem_WeaponMetalPick.PrimalItem_WeaponMetalPick 1 1 0The numbers in the command determine the quantity, quality, and blueprint respectively, giving admins fine-tuned control over the starting experience.
The Dino Summon Potion: Your First Ally
The second key item, the Dino Summon Potion, is a consumable that allows the player to summon a creature to aid them. This is a game-changer for solo players or those who want a guardian angel during the first few levels. Instead of hoping to find a low-level Parasaur to knock out, you can instantly summon a creature that suits your playstyle.
Server administrators have extensive control over this potion. You can configure exactly which creature is summoned, its level, and specific stats like health, stamina, oxygen, food, weight, and melee damage. These settings are modified through the ini settings to suit the server's difficulty curve and needs.
Example Command Prompt:
[DinoSummonPotion]
Creature_Type= Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/Dinos/Raptor/Raptor_Character_BP.Raptor_Character_BP'
Creature_Level=225
Health=25
Stamina=25
Oxygen=25
Food=25
Weight=25
Melee=25
Random_Creature=True
Exact_stats=FalseAdvanced Configuration: Randomness and Blacklists
For servers that want to keep the early game exciting, Starter Loot offers an option to Give Random Creature. Admins can enable a feature where a creature from a specified list will be randomly summoned. This provides variety and randomness to the early experience, ensuring that no two players start with the exact same companion.
To maintain balance, administrators can also specify a Random Creature Blacklist in the ini settings. This is vital for excluding creatures that are either too powerful (like a Giganotosaurus) or too useless (like a Dodo) from the summoning pool. This gives you more control over the potential summons and prevents the system from being exploited.
Example Blacklist Command:
Creature_Blacklist= /Game/PrimalEarth/Dinos/Dodo/Dodo_Character_BP.Dodo_Character_BP,/Game/PrimalEarth/Dinos/Giganotosaurus/Gigant_Character_BP.Gigant_Character_BPCompatibility and Installation
Starter Loot is designed to work seamlessly with the current builds of ARK: Survival Ascended. It is lightweight and does not conflict with most other QoL mods, making it a safe addition to any modded server stack. The mod is fully compatible with dedicated servers and single-player modes, ensuring that everyone can enjoy the benefits.
If you are looking for a hassle-free way to manage your mods, the foxygame.net launcher offers a streamlined add-on catalog where you can locate Starter Loot for ARK: Survival Ascended with a single click. This launcher simplifies the process of keeping your mod list updated, ensuring that your version of Starter Loot always matches the latest game patch, so you never have to worry about compatibility errors breaking your server.
How to Install Starter Loot
Learning how to install Starter Loot is straightforward. For server owners, you simply add the mod ID to your server's mod list in the control panel and restart the server. For players, you can subscribe to the mod on the Steam Workshop or the in-game mod browser. Once downloaded, the mod will automatically apply when you join a server that has it enabled.
To get started, you can download Starter Loot from the official mod repository. It is a small file size, so the download is nearly instantaneous. After installation, the items will appear in your inventory the next time you spawn or respawn on the server.
Final Thoughts on Starter Loot
Starter Loot is an essential quality-of-life mod for anyone running a server that welcomes new players. It respects the core survival mechanics of ARK while removing the most tedious and punishing aspects of the early game. Whether you are a server admin looking to give your community a friendly boost or a solo player who wants to skip the stone age, this mod is a fantastic choice. Its deep customization options ensure that it fits any server's difficulty setting, making it a must-have addition to your ARK: Survival Ascended experience.