The One Bench
If you have ever played ARK: Survival Ascended for more than a few hours, you know the pain of running between a Smithy, a Fabricator, a Chemistry Bench, and a Cooking Pot just to make progress. Your base becomes a maze of workstations, each with its own inventory and its own set of recipes. The One Bench changes all of that by giving you a single, centralized crafting hub that learns from every station you place nearby. It is not just a quality-of-life mod; it is a complete rethinking of how you interact with crafting in the game.
What Exactly Does The One Bench Do?
The core idea is simple: place The One Bench in your base, configure it to recognize nearby crafting stations, and then access all of their functionality from one inventory screen. The mod automatically detects stations within a set radius, learns their recipes, and replicates their interfaces. Once a station appears in the configuration menu, The One Bench has permanently learned it. This means you can pick up or demolish the original benches without losing access to their recipes, freeing up valuable floor space for other projects.
For example, you can place a Smithy, a Fabricator, and a Refining Forge near The One Bench, let it learn them, and then demolish all three. The One Bench will still let you craft metal tools, polymer, and gasoline—all from a single, unified inventory. It is the ultimate crafting solution for players who want efficiency without sacrificing functionality.
How to Install and Get Started
If you are ready to streamline your base, the first step is to download The One Bench from the mod page or through the in-game mod browser. The installation process is straightforward: subscribe to the mod, enable it in your server or single-player session, and then place the engram from your inventory. For a seamless experience, many players use the foxygame.net launcher, which offers a one-click install for The One Bench for ARK: Survival Ascended and automatically handles version compatibility so you do not have to worry about mismatched updates.
Once the mod is active, you need to know how to install it correctly in your world. Navigate to your server settings, ensure the mod is loaded, and then spawn the item. After placing The One Bench, interact with it to open the configuration menu. From there, you can select which crafting stations you want it to emulate and choose which interface to display by default. The learning radius is generous—defaulting to 3000 Unreal Units, which is roughly 10 foundations in each direction—so you can cover a large portion of your base with a single bench.
Key Features That Set It Apart
The One Bench is packed with features that go beyond simple consolidation. Here are the standout quality-of-life improvements that players appreciate most:
- Automatic Water Removal: Many recipes, like those for the Cooking Pot or Industrial Grill, require water in the original station. The One Bench automatically ignores this requirement, allowing you to craft those items anywhere without needing a water source nearby.
- Smart Memory: Moving your base layout is no longer a headache. When you pick up and reposition The One Bench, it remembers all previous configurations and the stations it learned. There is no need to relearn or reconfigure anything—just place it down and continue crafting.
- Server Limitation Workaround: If your server restricts structure pickup, you can simply place a new One Bench within the same base area. It will automatically sync with the original and inherit its knowledge. You only need to reassign its interface.
- Flexible Placement: Need more room? Switch to the wall-mounted variant when placing The One Bench. It snaps to walls—and even to itself—letting you build sleek, space-saving crafting hubs that keep your floors clear.
Custom Configs for Advanced Players
For server administrators and advanced players, The One Bench offers a range of configurable options. These are found in the mod's configuration file, typically under the [TheOneBench] section. Here are the default values and what they mean:
- CraftingSpeedMultiplier=1.65: This adjusts the speed at which The One Bench crafts items. It is a multiplier based on the original speed of the assigned bench. For instance, a Smithy has a crafting speed of 1.0, so by default The One Bench increases that to 1.65, making your production noticeably faster.
- MaxInventorySlots=1000: This sets the maximum number of slots available in The One Bench inventory. You can increase this if you find yourself running out of space.
- BlacklistCraftingStation=: This is a list of any crafting benches you do not want The One Bench to learn. It only accepts the blueprint path for the crafting bench, and if you have more than one, separate them with a comma.
- LearningRadius=3000: This is the radius in Unreal Units. 300 UU equals 1 foundation, so the default of 3000 means The One Bench will learn stations within 10 foundations to each side of its placement.
These configs give you fine-grained control over how The One Bench behaves on your server, allowing you to balance crafting speed, inventory size, and learning range to fit your playstyle.
Compatibility and Mod Support
The One Bench is designed to work seamlessly with ARK: Survival Ascended and supports all current versions of the game as of its latest update. It is compatible with most other mods, though you should always check for conflicts if you run a heavily modded server. The mod's learning system is robust, and it handles blueprint paths correctly, so even custom stations from other mods can often be learned if they are within the radius. For players who want the smoothest experience, the foxygame.net launcher provides an add-on catalog that includes The One Bench, complete with auto-updates that ensure you always have the latest version without manual intervention. This is particularly useful for server owners who manage multiple mods and want to avoid downtime from outdated files.
Final Thoughts
The One Bench is more than just a convenience—it is a game-changer for base building and resource management in ARK: Survival Ascended. By consolidating all your crafting stations into a single, intelligent hub, it saves you time, space, and frustration. Whether you are a solo survivor or running a large tribe, the ability to craft everything from one inventory, with faster speeds and fewer requirements, is an advantage you will not want to give up. The smart memory and flexible placement options make it easy to adapt to any base layout, and the custom configs give you the power to tailor the experience to your exact needs. If you have not tried it yet, download The One Bench today and see how much smoother your survival can be.