Vitaberry
Survival in ARK: Survival Ascended is all about resource management, and few resources are as precious as a reliable source of healing. While cooked meat and medical brews have their place, they often require complex crafting chains or leave your tames vulnerable during the recovery process. This is where the Vitaberry mod steps in, offering a simple, harvestable solution that bridges the gap between wild foraging and advanced medicine. This mod, a direct migration of its popular predecessor from ARK: Survival Evolved, introduces a new berry that can be found in the world and used to restore health for both you and your entire menagerie.
What Does Vitaberry Add to Your Game?
At its core, Vitaberry adds a single, harvestable berry to the ARK: Survival Ascended map. This isn't just another piece of flora; it's a functional consumable with unique properties that make it a versatile tool in your survival kit. The primary function is straightforward: it heals. However, the way it heals and who can eat it makes it stand out from standard food items.
A Universal Healing Solution
One of the most compelling aspects of this mod is its universal application. The Vitaberry is designed to be effective for all creature types in the game. Whether you have a massive carnivorous Rex, a gentle herbivore Bronto, or you are a human survivor yourself, the berry provides a health regeneration effect. This eliminates the need to carry separate healing items for different types of dinos, simplifying your inventory and your healing strategies.
- For Humans: Eating a Vitaberry will restore a portion of your health, making it a great emergency snack. However, there is a catch. Humans will also experience a significant increase in their thirst, or water stat. This means you'll need to manage your water supply if you plan on using the berry as a primary healing source.
- For Dinosaurs: This is where the Vitaberry truly shines. Since dinos do not have a water stat, they are completely immune to the dehydration side-effect. This makes it a pure, unadulterated healing item for your tames, perfect for patching them up after a tough battle or during a long trek.
Configuring Vitaberry to Fit Your Server
The beauty of this mod lies in its customizability. Server administrators have a high degree of control over how the Vitaberry functions through the GameUserSettings.ini file. This allows you to tailor the mod to your server's specific difficulty and gameplay style. You can adjust everything from the healing power to the cooldown period, ensuring the mod feels balanced and fair.
Key Configuration Options
The mod introduces a set of clear and intuitive configuration options. For the main berry, you can control the cooldown (UseInterval), the amount of water it adds or removes (AddWaterAmount), and the health restoration, which can be a flat value or a percentage of max health (AddHealthAmount or AddHealthPercentage). This flexibility is excellent for fine-tuning the mod's power level.
For the Vitaberry Seed, separate options are available, allowing you to adjust the food and health it provides when consumed. This is useful for creating a more distinct role for the seed as a nutritious snack rather than a direct healing item. The configuration process is designed to be user-friendly, with an Override system that lets you easily enable or disable specific tweaks without having to rewrite the entire config file.
Advanced Auto-Healing for Tames
Perhaps the most advanced feature is the AutoUseInterval and AutoUseThresholdPercent options. These allow you to set up an automatic healing system for your dinosaurs. By setting a threshold, your tames will automatically consume Vitaberries from their inventory when their health drops below a certain percentage. This can be a literal lifesaver, automating the healing process and ensuring your dinos are always ready for the next fight. This feature is perfect for players who want a more passive approach to creature management.
Mod Compatibility and Game Versions
As a mod for ARK: Survival Ascended, Vitaberry is designed to work with the current version of the game. It's a lightweight mod that primarily adds new items, so it has a high level of compatibility with other mods. It should work seamlessly alongside mods that alter the map, add new dinos, or change gameplay mechanics, as long as they don't directly conflict with the new berry items. For the best experience, ensure your game is updated to the latest supported version. If you are looking to get this mod on your server, you can download Vitaberry from popular mod repositories. For a streamlined experience, many players find that using a dedicated mod manager simplifies the process of getting Vitaberry for ARK: Survival Ascended onto their server.
When you are ready to add this mod, the process is simple. To how to install it, you typically just subscribe to the mod on the Steam Workshop and ensure it's enabled in your server's mod list. If you are using a launcher like the one from foxygame.net, you can often find Vitaberry directly in its add-on catalog, which allows for a one-click install and automatically handles version compatibility, saving you from manual setup and potential conflicts. This integration is particularly helpful for server owners who want to manage multiple mods efficiently.
Stack Size and Known Quirks
The mod also includes options in the Game.ini file to change the stack size for both the berry and the seed. This allows you to carry more of these valuable resources, reducing the need for frequent trips back to your base. However, it's worth noting that the developer has mentioned this particular feature may not work as intended in the live game, despite functioning in the DevKit. This is a known quirk and not a cause for concern, as the core healing mechanics work perfectly.
In conclusion, Vitaberry is an excellent addition to any ARK: Survival Ascended server. It offers a simple, effective, and highly customizable way to heal your tames, solving a common problem for players who rely heavily on their dinosaur companions. The ability to configure everything from healing rates to auto-consumption makes it a powerful tool for server admins. While the dehydration side-effect for humans adds a layer of strategy, the mod's true value is in its universal application and ease of use. Whether you're a solo player or run a large community server, Vitaberry is a mod that is well worth adding to your collection.