How does Difficulty work?

[Gisborne]

So the server is default 0.2 diff but that means dinos only spawn at a max lvl of 30??? but i can level to 70+ and my dinos can keep on levelling way past 30? i don't get it?

[JD]

Difficulty only sets the max level a creature can spawn at. Levels on a tamed creature are set differently

[Gisborne]

Originally posted by JD:

Difficulty only sets the max level a creature can spawn at. Levels on a tamed creature are set differently

So is my server is 0.2 and the max is 1.0 how do i get it to the official server 5.0?

[Shahadem]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

Originally posted by JD:

Difficulty only sets the max level a creature can spawn at. Levels on a tamed creature are set differently

So is my server is 0.2 and the max is 1.0 how do i get it to the official server 5.0?

Type in 5 or 6 into the box with the number.

You can also edit the config file to set the level multiplier directly.

[Stephen]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

So is my server is 0.2 and the max is 1.0 how do i get it to the official server 5.0?

There is some common misunderstanding going on in this thread right now.

1. Difficulty affects two things - wild dino spawn level AND loot quality.
   
2. The setting in the game menu is called difficulty offset, which is clamped between 0 and 1, even if you can type a greater value, it will still be treated as 1.0.
   
3. If you want to get a higher spawn level, as said by OP the official 5.0, you need to go to
   GameUserSettings.ini, and add OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5 under [ServerSettings].

Originally posted by Gisborne:

So the server is default 0.2 diff but that means dinos only spawn at a max lvl of 30??? but i can level to 70+ and my dinos can keep on levelling way past 30? i don't get it?

Given with this handy formula:
Maximum Wild Creature Level = (DifficultyOffset * (OfficialDifficulty - 0.5) + 0.5) * 30
Loot Quality Scale = (DifficultyOffset * (OfficialDifficulty - 0.5) + 0.5) * 100%

Let's prove your spawn level:
By default official difficulty is 4.0
Max wild dino level = (0.2 * (4.0 - 0.5) + 0.5) * 30 = 36
So your observation matches the result

Remember it only affects *wild* spawn level, you are allowed to level up creatures up to something like 73 or 88 times. To limit the number of times you can level for tamed creatures, you need to adjust other settings like LevelExperienceRampOverrides and OverrideMaxExperiencePointsDino, for which there's a handy online tool that generates the long chunky code for you:
http://www.gamewalkthrough-universe.com/Walkthroughs-Guides/Ark-Survival-Evolved/Game-Server-Customization/Custom-Levels/default.aspx

[Gisborne]

Originally posted by Stephen:

Originally posted by Gisborne:

So is my server is 0.2 and the max is 1.0 how do i get it to the official server 5.0?

There is some common misunderstanding going on in this thread right now.

1. Difficulty affects two things - wild dino spawn level AND loot quality.
   
2. The setting in the game menu is called difficulty offset, which is clamped between 0 and 1, even if you can type a greater value, it will still be treated as 1.0.
   
3. If you want to get a higher spawn level, as said by OP the official 5.0, you need to go to
   GameUserSettings.ini, and add OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5 under [ServerSettings].

Originally posted by Gisborne:

So the server is default 0.2 diff but that means dinos only spawn at a max lvl of 30??? but i can level to 70+ and my dinos can keep on levelling way past 30? i don't get it?

Given with this handy formula:
Maximum Wild Creature Level = (DifficultyOffset * (OfficialDifficulty - 0.5) + 0.5) * 30
Loot Quality Scale = (DifficultyOffset * (OfficialDifficulty - 0.5) + 0.5) * 100%

Let's prove your spawn level:
By default official difficulty is 4.0
Max wild dino level = (0.2 * (4.0 - 0.5) + 0.5) * 30 = 36
So your observation matches the result

Remember it only affects *wild* spawn level, you are allowed to level up creatures up to something like 73 or 88 times. To limit the number of times you can level for tamed creatures, you need to adjust other settings like LevelExperienceRampOverrides and OverrideMaxExperiencePointsDino, for which there's a handy online tool that generates the long chunky code for you:
http://www.gamewalkthrough-universe.com/Walkthroughs-Guides/Ark-Survival-Evolved/Game-Server-Customization/Custom-Levels/default.aspx

Why would the game only let me pick 1.0 if the official servers are 5.0?

[Stephen]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

Why would the game only let me pick 1.0 if the official servers are 5.0?

Please read my previous comment again as I have already mentioned this clearly, especially step 3, and follow the instruction to tweak your game:

Originally posted by Stephen:

1. Difficulty affects two things - wild dino spawn level AND loot quality.
   
2. The setting in the game menu is called difficulty offset, which is clamped between 0 and 1, even if you can type a greater value, it will still be treated as 1.0.
   
3. If you want to get a higher spawn level, as said by OP the official 5.0, you need to go to
   GameUserSettings.ini, and add OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5 under [ServerSettings].

As said, 1.0 is referred to difficulty offset whereas 5.0 is for official difficulty, they are two different settings.

[Gisborne]

Originally posted by Stephen:

Originally posted by Gisborne:

Why would the game only let me pick 1.0 if the official servers are 5.0?

Please read my previous comment again as I have already mentioned this clearly, especially step 3, and follow the instruction to tweak your game:

Originally posted by Stephen:

1. Difficulty affects two things - wild dino spawn level AND loot quality.
   
2. The setting in the game menu is called difficulty offset, which is clamped between 0 and 1, even if you can type a greater value, it will still be treated as 1.0.
   
3. If you want to get a higher spawn level, as said by OP the official 5.0, you need to go to
   GameUserSettings.ini, and add OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5 under [ServerSettings].

As said, 1.0 is referred to difficulty offset whereas 5.0 is for official difficulty, they are two different settings.

Assume i don thave a GCSE in maths and don't understand any of the maths your typing. why are there two difficulty settings? and where is the second? i only see the 1.0 slider.

[Stephen]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

Assume i don thave a GCSE in maths and don;y understand any of the maths your typing. why are there two difficulty settings? and where is the second? i only see the 1.0 slider.

Why there are two? How do I know, you need to ask dev :)

How to set the official difficulty, well I guess I have already answered your question. To make it even more clear, go to
(Drive):\Steam\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor
and find GameUserSettings.ini, then follow the instruction in step 3. To reiterate, it's not in your game menu.

Edited: As a side note for which a lot of people will forget, do a full wild dino wipe after changing your difficulty settings so you can see some higher spawns. If you set official difficulty to 5.0 and difficulty offset to 1.0, wild dino should now spawn in a multiple of 5.0, starting from lvl.5 upto lvl.150, on story arks you should see low level dinos spawn more frequently than high levels due to official balancing.

To do a wild dino wipe, press tab on your keyboard to enable cheat console and type "cheat destroywilddinos" (no quotation marks). As I noticed that you are on a server, make sure you are the admin with privilege of using cheat.

[Gisborne]

Originally posted by Stephen:

Originally posted by Gisborne:

Assume i don thave a GCSE in maths and don;y understand any of the maths your typing. why are there two difficulty settings? and where is the second? i only see the 1.0 slider.

Why there are two? How do I know, you need to ask dev :)

How to set the official difficulty, well I guess I have already answered your question. To make it even more clear, go to
(Drive):\Steam\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor
and find GameUserSettings.ini, then follow the instruction in step 3. To reiterate, it's not in your game menu.

Edited: As a side note for which a lot of people will forget, do a full wild dino wipe after changing your difficulty settings so you can see some higher spawns. If you set official difficulty to 5.0 and difficulty offset to 1.0, wild dino should now spawn in a multiple of 5.0, starting from lvl.5 upto lvl.150, on story arks you should see low level dinos spawn more frequently than high levels due to official balancing.

To do a wild dino wipe, press tab on your keyboard to enable cheat console and type "cheat destroywilddinos" (no quotation marks). As I noticed that you are on a server, make sure you are the admin with privilege of using cheat.

As 2/3 players in coop on a priv server is it best to keep it at 0.2 or put it to 5.0? would that be way too hard for 3 players? Why can;t games just be made with easy/normal/hard settings lol.

[Stephen]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

As 2/3 players in coop on a priv server is it best to keep it at 0.2 or put it to 5.0? would that be way too hard for 3 players? Why can;t games just be made with easy/normal/hard settings lol.

It really depends on how you and your guys would like ark to be played. If you want to focus on for instance building and RP, and spend minimal efforts on beating the game, then it should be fine to keep it low. Additionally you can increase individual stats of your character and tamed dino to reduce the difficulty further.

Difficulty offset of 0.2 with official difficulty of 5.0 will give you a max spawn level of 42, that's a welcome to ark (ultra easy) mode, I will personally get bored very soon if I do that. Taking my game as an example, I use 1.0 offset with 9.0 official difficulty which gives me max 270 in my single player world without single player settings. It's insanely hard when fighting some of those high level cave creatures, but I like grinding otherwise I wouldn't have played ark for such a long time. Also higher difficulty gives me better loots, so it's tough in early game but once I have developed to mid and late stage the result is rewarding.

It actually doesn't matter whether you want to go for the hardcore route like I did or chill-out mode, as long as you enjoy.

I actually quite like the fact that ark gives you the ability of tuning it as you like, if you find tweaking settings redundant, you can search "ark small server settings 2021" or something similar on google or YT and let tutorials adjust the game for you ;)

[tatiana]

Absolutely Every single YouTuber I have seen, nearly all of whom play either single-player or on a dedicated server with a small tribe (not more than 5 people), set the Difficulty slider in the gameplay options to 1.0 (max) and don't bother fiddling with the .ini settings at all.

The Difficulty slider affects the Range of levels the Wild dinos can spawn at. So at the default 0.2 they spawn with levels 1-30. At the 1.0 setting they spawn with levels 1-120 on the Island or 1-150 on DLC maps. So the game becomes a lot less predictable, and breeding a lot more fun.

Every wild dino already has points put into random stats. So even if two dinos are the same species, one might have more points in Stamina and the other in Health for instance.

The higher the wild dino's level, the harder it will be to catch (especially with some points in speed), knock out (especially with some points in torpor) and kill (especially with some points in health). Higher level dinos also take longer to tame. However, they have higher stats and get more bonus levels when tamed up. So the strategy everyone uses is: "If it's low level, kill it; if high, tame it". The long taming times can be remedied by adjusting the taming rate and/or using mods.

Generally, level 40 and under is low - only worth taming if you need a dino urgently, or if it's mostly for your collection, rather than immediate use. Dodos and parasaurs are a good example of those. Don't forget that you can set it to Passive, unclaim and kill if you find and tame a higher level one. Level 80 and over are high - tame if well prepared, bearing in mind that the saddle/kibble level required to tame is a Much better indication of power than the levels are. What you do with the medium levels is up to you.

[Gisborne]

Originally posted by Stephen:

Originally posted by Gisborne:

As 2/3 players in coop on a priv server is it best to keep it at 0.2 or put it to 5.0? would that be way too hard for 3 players? Why can;t games just be made with easy/normal/hard settings lol.

It really depends on how you and your guys would like ark to be played. If you want to focus on for instance building and RP, and spend minimal efforts on beating the game, then it should be fine to keep it low. Additionally you can increase individual stats of your character and tamed dino to reduce the difficulty further.

Difficulty offset of 0.2 with official difficulty of 5.0 will give you a max spawn level of 42, that's a welcome to ark (ultra easy) mode, I will personally get bored very soon if I do that. Taking my game as an example, I use 1.0 offset with 9.0 official difficulty which gives me max 270 in my single player world without single player settings. It's insanely hard when fighting some of those high level cave creatures, but I like grinding otherwise I wouldn't have played ark for such a long time. Also higher difficulty gives me better loots, so it's tough in early game but once I have developed to mid and late stage the result is rewarding.

It actually doesn't matter whether you want to go for the hardcore route like I did or chill-out mode, as long as you enjoy.

I actually quite like the fact that ark gives you the ability of tuning it as you like, if you find tweaking settings redundant, you can search "ark small server settings 2021" or something similar on google or YT and let tutorials adjust the game for you ;)

so what happens i i set 0.2 and 5 ? omg this is giving me a f headache on how silly these devs have made the settings...

[tatiana]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

Originally posted by Stephen:

It really depends on how you and your guys would like ark to be played. If you want to focus on for instance building and RP, and spend minimal efforts on beating the game, then it should be fine to keep it low. Additionally you can increase individual stats of your character and tamed dino to reduce the difficulty further.

Difficulty offset of 0.2 with official difficulty of 5.0 will give you a max spawn level of 42, that's a welcome to ark (ultra easy) mode, I will personally get bored very soon if I do that. Taking my game as an example, I use 1.0 offset with 9.0 official difficulty which gives me max 270 in my single player world without single player settings. It's insanely hard when fighting some of those high level cave creatures, but I like grinding otherwise I wouldn't have played ark for such a long time. Also higher difficulty gives me better loots, so it's tough in early game but once I have developed to mid and late stage the result is rewarding.

It actually doesn't matter whether you want to go for the hardcore route like I did or chill-out mode, as long as you enjoy.

I actually quite like the fact that ark gives you the ability of tuning it as you like, if you find tweaking settings redundant, you can search "ark small server settings 2021" or something similar on google or YT and let tutorials adjust the game for you ;)

so what happens i i set 0.2 and 5 ? omg this is giving me a f headache on how silly these devs have made the settings...

As Stephen was trying to tell you, 0.2 and 5 result in a max wild dino level 42. Don't bother changing the .ini from the default if you are not sure what results you are going to get! The disadvantage of fiddling with the .ini settings is that you might forget which ones you've changed from default and what the defaults actually are. If you only change the gameplay options, at least there's a "restore defaults" button if you change your mind. So it is relatively safe to set the Difficulty slider to 1.0 and see how it goes. There are also mods on the Steam Workshop which increase the max difficulty level.

Also, after adjusting the difficulty level in whichever way you prefer, I Strongly recommend to start a new playthrough, to let dinos spawn at the adjusted levels. The "destroywilddinos" cheat Stephen mentioned above sometimes causes problems, so it's only for those who are Very unwilling to restart.

[Scourn]

lower level dinos carry less weight , most have less stamina, and most have lower speed. There is an advantage to having dinos at 150 vs 42. If you really want to enjoy Ark you need to take the time to not only learn what each setting does but also learn hidden ini settings and what they do. You can tailor your game to co op single player or tribe based in minutes that way and its why a lot of us have so many hours in this game.

[Stephen]

Originally posted by Gisborne:

so what happens i i set 0.2 and 5 ? omg this is giving me a f headache on how silly these devs have made the settings...

From the formula on wiki, which I have quoted previously:
Max wild dino level = (0.2 * (5.0 - 0.5) + 0.5) * 30 = 42
If you are still not sure, read through wiki pages is a good idea:
https://ark.fandom.com/wiki/Difficulty
https://ark.fandom.com/wiki/Leveling

It's actually not hard to understand everything, you can start a single player game to experiment with all settings a bit if you are not sure. Frankly speaking, if you want to dig out enjoyment from ark, tweaking server configuration is absolutely inevitable and it's something you have to learn, as this is also a process of mastering this game. Yet, we only provide you with options, the ultimate decision of which settings to modify is still on you.
https://ark.fandom.com/wiki/Server_configuration

It reminds me that you have mentioned about a private server right? Then you don't have to go to ini, most server vendors or 3rd-party software will offer a nice user interface for which you can see which setting does what, and give you chance to backup/recover your save if you mess something up.