[09/03/2015] Community Crunch 17!

[Jat]

Greeting Survivors!

Welcome to the seventeenth issue of the Community Crunch! To those unaware this is a topic which primarily consist of content to share, made by the community, for the community! As well as any little changes I want to make survivors aware about, which happen within our community ;).

Fanart, Screenshots and more!

Fanmade Dossier - Desmatosuchus - by Jurassic Lion™

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=505652392

Fanmade Dossier - Basilosaurus - by SketchySaurian

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=509707764

Fanmade Dossier - Arthropleura - by Mandrek

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=509501676

Under Dictation by S1lver

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=505934262

Cosplay props! - Stone Hatchet and Spear - by icy-shiva

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=509924992

The mystery behind Airdrops by Grande

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=510250402

Raptor Pack by Khaidu

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=507699132

ARK: Survival Evolved 1080p Wallpaper! by D3DGear

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=509103616

[Make sure to read the first two replies on page 1!!]

[Jat]

Community Contests!

Every week for the foreseeable future we’ll be hosting two contests for our Community Crunch.

ARKitect

This is a title given to the Survivor who has created, in our eyes, the best base for the week. Survivors will need to upload their screenshots to the Community Hub, both the Artwork or Screenshot section will suffice and then post them in the designated thread, it’s also possible that we’ll see the screenshots in the hub but posting them in the thread will ensure that they’ll be spotted!

We’ll be judging the bases not on the quality of the screenshot, but on the unique designs, functionality, and the use of in-game tools available to you! At the end of each week, the screenshot for the best base will be featured in our #ARKitect section of the Community Crunch!

The #ARKitect award for Community Crunch 17 goes to…

Gosh, you guys made it super tough this week. There were a lot of great entries! Very difficult to select haha.

First place: N4t4niel

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511132267

You can check out the rest of the great shots here:

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198087210449/images/?appid=346110

Absolutely gorgeous, Congratulations as you are this weeks ARKitect! We’ll be in touch to get the prizes handled!

Honourable Mentions / Runner ups

We’ve got a few runners up for ARKitect this week too! So big shout-out to them and we’ll be in touch too ;)!

Auchioane

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=509800225

This was done on a PvP server! Incredible!!

You can check out the extra shots here:

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Auchioane/screenshots/?appid=346110

MichaelKatarn

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511759304

Now that’s a resort I’d love to stay at! Amazing work yet again :).

You can check out the extra shots here:

http://steamcommunity.com/id/MichaelKatarn/screenshots/?appid=346110

#ARKArt

The second contest which will take place is for the #ARKArt award! This is a title given to the Survivor who has created, in our eyes, the best piece of art for that week using our new Per-Pixel painting system! Similarly to #ARKitect, Survivors will need to upload their masterpiece to the Community Hub, both the Artwork or Screenshot section will suffice and then also post them in the designated thread, it’s also possible that we’ll see the screenshots in the hub but posting them in the thread will ensure that they’ll be spotted!

The #ARKArt award for Community Crunch 17 goes to…

And again… you guys made it tricky to select winners, so talented!

First place: grimbug

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=510944921

Absolutely gorgeous! And they’ve got an entire Art Gallery! How fantastic is that? You should all definitely check out the shots - and if you’re on their RP server, go for a visit too! The rest of the shots:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/520518688936067469/#c520518688937550182

We’ve got a few runners up for ARKArt this week too! So big shout-out to them and we’ll be in touch too ;)!

Runner Ups

WoodPunk

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=508217858

Loving the glasses! ;) Also T-Rex mounting Megalodons should be a thing.. Modders pls.

Phix

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=508225372

This has got to be one of the cutest derpy T-Rexes in the world, great job!

Janos|076|

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511088656

Fantastic painting of a Sabertooth! Good job!

You guys are absolutely incredible :)

[Jat]

Workshopper Spotlight!

Workshopper: DoctorDiscord

Survivors, this week we’re joined by DoctorDiscord they’re here to answer some questions and talk about their mods with us! Thanks for joining us! Do you think you could introduce yourself to the community, and let us know about the mods you work on?

DoctorDiscord: Hello everyone! My name is DoctorDiscord and I’ve created the Cooking Extras and Pet Cemetery workshop mods for ARK. I only started modding a few weeks ago and have never used Unreal before so I’m just stumbling through the process.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=503911420

Cooking Extras was the first mod I created. It started off with the Camp Stove. Initially the Camp Stove was an item I found myself wishing I had whilst playing the game, so I decided to create it. However afterwards, I didn’t want the mod to stop at just one item, so I decided to go with more cooking items as there wasn’t a lot currently being done in the workshop and there are a lot of avenues I can take with the mod.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=506563708

The second mod I created was the Pet Cemetery. I saw a post on the Steam forums where a player was using crop plots and signs to make graves, they had asked for a proper grave in-game so I thought that the idea was great and jumped on it, it’s proven to be enjoyed by the community so far and I cannot wait to work on it some more!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511885661

You only started a few weeks ago? Impressive! Both of your mods have definitely been popular on the workshop thus far so you should be very proud of yourself! So this is your first step into working with the Unreal Engine in particular, but do you have modding experience from other games? Or is the whole process new to you completely?

DoctorDiscord: Glad to hear you guys are enjoying it. I’ve actually got quite a bit of experience working with mods and maps in general. I started backing in the mid 90s making Doom levels for fun. That took me over to making Counter Strike and Day of Defeat maps back during the CS 1.6 era. I had played around with the Unreal Engine back then a little however in the past 10 years so much has changed so it’s like learning everything all over again. CS_9to5 was my counterstrike map and it was featured on hostagedown map rotation! That was a pretty popular CS server back in the day.

Whoa, you’ve got quite a bit of experience then! I would have been a very young child around then so it’ll be interesting to see how things have evolved! How are you finding using the ARK tools and the Unreal Engine so far? Apart from obvious changes to technology, how have you found using tools and working on games now than compared to the past?

DoctorDiscord: It was a real struggle at first. I started learning in the middle of the transition to Epic. A lot of the info on ADK was fairly old at the time. The first week was mostly reading the forums and experimenting with trial and error.

The process got a lot easier with everything I made and I was able to learn something new everyday. As for comparing to modding in the past, this would be my first since 2001 or so, so it has been a while, but it’s apples and oranges. The biggest area that I need to learn more about is texturing. In the past you just threw a texture onto a wall and called it good. Now you’ve got normal, specular occlusion and this was all very new to me.

However I’m really enjoying working with the unreal engine and ARK Dev tools, once you get the basic understanding it’s pretty easy, but a huge learning curve.

I can imagine a lot has changed since then but glad you’re picking everything up so quickly, it shows in the mods! I’m personally a huge fan of both of them, got a soft spot for cooking and pets. What sort of plans do you have going forward with these mods?

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511872364

DoctorDiscord: I’ll be continuing to work on the mods and expanding them when possible. I am currently working on an update for Cooking extras that will add some new items. These include a kitchen sink with counter space to put your mortar and pestle on, a kitchen table with an oil lamp on it for lighting, as well as a hanging oil lamp. Whilst working on the kitchen in game I found it rather dark after I replaced the campfire and cooking pot with the wooden cook stove and of course my back was always in pain from bending over to use the mortar and pestle so I thought these would be some necessary additions to any survivor’s kitchen!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511872801

As far as Pet Cemetery goes… I’ve got some interesting plans for Halloween, so you guys can look forward to that ;) and something fun for Cooking Extras which is currently in the works, but not quite yet ready would be coffee and moonshine! I’m not happy with their current state so they won’t be included in this update but will be around fairly soon.

Those look absolutely phenomenal..can’t wait to try those out and halloween specials are always exciting ;) I know there are going to be a lot of RP players who will love your new additions! Could you explain the process of adding new items to the game? Do you find it difficult to get the models and implement them?

DoctorDiscord: For creating the models, I use a program called SketchUp. It’s a free 3D Drafting program that is easy to use and learn. Unfortunately the free version does not allow you export .fbx or .obj files, however you can find workarounds for it online or pick up a copy. Fortunately for work I have a paid copy, but there are all kinds of models you can download from SketchUp if you don’t want to make your own.

Afterwards I export my SketchUp model as an .obj and import it into Blender, which is another free program used for modelling. I could actually do all my work in Blender, however I’m much more experienced and efficient when I am using SketchUp though I’ll get better with other programs as I go along.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511889323

When making a model, I start off by googling an image until I find a style that is suitable to me. Once I’ve found something I can work with, I begin creating it from scratch. The exception being the cookstove, which is not 100% original, I found that particular model on SketchUp but then re-drew around 90% of it so it acted as a template for my version.

As for textures, I usually get them online or I find the ones that are already in game. A great place to get textures would be http://www.cgtextures.com/ and I used http://www.crazybump.com/
for my normals, but I’m sure there are other programs out there to use too.

This is a lot of great information! Hopefully there are some survivors out there who want to get started and these sound like some great tools to get them going. Is there any advice or any other material you’d recommend to people starting out?

DoctorDiscord: A great place to get started is the Unreal Forums - there is a very active ARK Community who are very helpful, you can learn a ton of stuff. I would also advise you start small, take small steps when adding to a mod and eventually you’ll be able to learn and grow and make something really cool.

I’m by no means an expert modder but I am always happy to help anyone that wants to get into modding, so feel free to get in touch :). There are a lot of great threads you can use too, one particular thread that helped me get started was:

https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?80999-HELP!-Mods-uploaded-fine-but-not-affecting-the-game&highlight=mod+in+game

A post by Akukiyo gives a really good getting started tutorial part way down this thread. This was also another great thread for getting started:

https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?80110-TUTORIAL-Import-FBX-Blenderfiles-into-ARK-Dev-Kit-(for-Static-Meshes)&highlight=importing+meshes

So definitely check those out and hit me up if anything! Modelling is my main focus as I’m not super experienced with animation and I cannot code, however the ADK makes it pretty easy to add new content.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511888667

Thanks for the great tips DoctorDiscord! I’m sure everyone really appreciates and after seeing those models, you can probably expect a few messages ;). Really appreciate you sticking around for this and taking the time to speak with us! Is there anything you’d like to end with before wrapping this up?

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=511887619

DoctorDiscord: Thanks for taking a look at my workshop items and selecting me for the interview! There’s a lot more to come so don’t forget to follow me and keep an eye out for updates. Got loads planned! Plus if there are any studios out there looking for a modellers, feel free to get in touch! ;)

Can’t wait to see what you’ve got planned! Thanks again buddy and good luck![/quote]

That’s it for this week’s Community Crunch guys! As always if you’ve got anything to share please get in touch and be sure to follow us on Twitter at @survivetheark, Facebook at www.facebook.com/survivetheark and Reddit atwww.reddit.com/r/playark!

Thanks everyone!

All the best,

Wildcard Jat and the ARK Survival Evolved Team

[JD Fent Sold Me Vance]

Cool stuff this week.

Edit: First

[Virtex]

cool.. but meh. give us our digest..

[Jat]

Originally posted by Rooguie:

cool.. but meh. give us our digest..

That'll be coming a little later, we work on that as a team and still in recovery mode from the week we've just had. Possibly tomorrow :)

[bubblywums]

Great work here! I love that build from MichaelKatarn especially all lit up at night, very impressive.

[N4t4niell]

Cool I won :)) Thx

[ItsJustJr]

Originally posted by bubblywums:

Great work here! I love that build from MichaelKatarn especially all lit up at night, very impressive.

Thanks! :D I'll be adding more to the base and the surrounding area for next week :)

[Auchioane]

Congrats N4t4niel very good entry. Hopefully when my wall is fully done with more interesting towers and gates I'll win it :P

[N4t4niell]

Thank you. Hope you will :)

[Limo]

DoctorDiscord AWESOME mod Thanks for listening to the players and producing stuff that makes this game more interesting. Just wish the devs would get you to and more modders as part of the development in game and not as modders as they are far too busy with other stuff at the moment

[HighFlyer15]

Originally posted by Rooguie:

cool.. but meh. give us our digest..

That is what my ARK addicted brain is telling me, but it's still nice to see what people have come up with and since they just had an insane work week, we should cut them some slack :)
It'll come one of these days.

[squidussy]

What happened to Wednesday's dossier?

[Londinium]

They announced all 70 dinos that are gonna be there 100% when the game officially releases...it's now up to them how many more they want to add, and when their dossiers are gonna be released. As for the digest, probably tomorrow, as stated earlier in this thread.

[DoctorDiscord]

Originally posted by Mynx:

DoctorDiscord AWESOME mod Thanks for listening to the players and producing stuff that makes this game more interesting. Just wish the devs would get you to and more modders as part of the development in game and not as modders as they are far too busy with other stuff at the moment

Thank you very much Mynx. The Ark community has been great at giving feedback. Modding Ark has been loads of fun.