‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Showcases PrimitivePlus Mod On Official PC Servers

ARK: Survival Evolved on the PC are in for a bit of change up from the normal, vanilla official servers. Studio Wildcard added a handful of new servers to the game on Monday to showcase a total conversion mod meant to enhance the primitive experience.

The PrimitivePlus total conversion mod for ARK: Survival Evolved is currently available to play on three official servers: OfficialPrimitivePlus1, OfficialPrimitivePlus2, and OfficialPrimitivePlus3. The mod was created by Steam user complexminded and shared in the game’s Steam Workshop.

Survivors! We've launched 3 Fresh Official Servers showcasing the Primitive+ TC! OfficialPrimitivePlus 1-3 #playARK pic.twitter.com/rC9dd1vg3R

— ARK: Survival Evolved (@survivetheark) February 22, 2016

So, what does the PrimitivePlus mod do? As the name, combined with the “total conversion” moniker, suggests it completely retools Primitive mode for ARK. For those unfamiliar, Primitive challenges players by not allowing them to progress in the game to use modern weapons, gear, and structures. Primitive ARK servers essentially stop engram unlocks at the stone tier, though bugs sometime let the occasional metal tier item through.

Unfortunately, stopping progress at the Stone tiers puts an earlier cap on player progress on Primitive servers versus standard servers. This is where mods like PrimitivePlus step in to beef up the experience with a load of additional content that changes the experience significantly.

The ARK Primitive Plus mod posits what would happen if players had advanced knowledge but were limited in technology. Additionally, the number of unlocks available is robust enough to force players to specialize in certain areas and unable to lock the majority of the engrams available in the current game.

“How would diplomacy and the economy work when you mix these various specialized backgrounds?” the mod maker asks. “What happens when the person you are about to shoot with a musket is the farmer that happens to have a tea and coffee monopoly on the island? What happens when you actually need your neighbor…..?”

Those who try out the PrimitivePlus mod will notice some changes immediately. For example, Dodos now drop Chicken Meat which, when cooked, lasts much longer than standard Cooked Meat. Additionally, foraging the bushes in Ark also presents the opportunity to harvest various types of bees that can be used to help establish a bee hive.

The dozens of changes and addition to vanilla ARK: Survival Evolved only grows from there. New resources are available to harvest or craft including Clay, Brick, Salt, Sugar, Flour, Glass, Steel, Obsidian and more. New crops are available to grow such as Rice, Lettuce, Wheat, Coffee, Tea, Tobacco, and others. Players can build Baking Stations to help bake food or Lumber Stations to make Wooden Plans and various other materials.

New weapons are introduced as well. There’s a Hunting Knife, Machete, Metal Hammer, Obsidian Spear, Obsidian Arrow, and even a Flaming Arrow. Arrows aren’t the only projectiles available, however. Flintlock Pistols and Muskets are available, but that is the extent of the firearms available for ARK Survivors playing the PrimitivePlus mod.

Those interested in trying out the mod themselves can either subscribe to it from the game’s Steam Workshop page or just join the servers listed above. The mod will download automatically. Just note this may take a while because the mod is over a 600 MB download. Additionally, it may require a restart of ARK: Survival Evolved. The PrimitivePlus total conversion mod will also need to be selected from the game’s main screen to launch. The larger downside is that it may take a couple of minutes longer than normal to load into the server with all of the extra data from the mod.

There is still no word from Studio Wildcard on the v236 patch for the PC version ARK. It was expected to release last week, but the date was missed with no update from the developer other than passing mentions that it is still being worked on by the game’s community manager and studio co-founder.

Still, it’s interesting to see Studio Wildcard promote a total conversion mod for ARK: Survival Evolved by releasing it on official servers. There are numerous mods available for the game today including unique maps such as Valhalla. It will be worth keeping an eye out on if they plan to promote other mods on official servers and perhaps find a way to bring some to the Xbox One version.

[Image via Steam]