The .ini configurations for this mod boil down to two main types: true/false booleans for what kind of level distribution you want to use and decimal values for the minimum and maximum level you want. Note that the min and max level .inis are used ONLY if you have equalized levels activated.

The three true/false options serve as switches for the mod. !!!CRITICAL!!! In order for the mod to work properly, ONLY ONE BOOLEAN OPTION SHOULD BE TRUE AT ALL TIMES. You can freely switch options at any time, just make sure to switch the old option you were using to false when you switch another one to true. I have added safety precautions to the mod so that in the event more than one Boolean option is accidentally turned on, the mod will simply go dormant (i.e. it won’t do anything) instead of crashing or doing screwy, buggy things.

Don’t worry if any of the above is confusing, as further down will show examples of how the .ini settings should look for all the main options. You can simply scroll down to the one you are interested in and copy/paste the example in if you so desire! 😊


These are the names of the .ini configurations used in this mod:

WantsRagLevels
WantsEqualLevels
WantsHighLevels
MinLevel
MaxLevel
PreventBee
PreventTitan
MaxDrakeLevel
MinDrakeLevel
MaxDeinonLevel


They go in the GameUserSettings.ini file. Navigate to where your ARK files are located and go to ARK > ShooterGame > Saved > Config > WindowsNoEditor to find that file. When you open that file, locate the section called [CustomLevelDistrib]. The ini options (which you should already see three of them by default) go under this section.


If you want to activate Rag-like levels, then this is what the [CustomLevelDistrib] section of the GameUserSettings.ini file should look like:

[CustomLevelDistrib]
MinLevel=1.000000
MaxLevel=30.000000
WantsEqualLevels=False
WantsRagLevels=True
WantsHighLevels=False


Good news! If you want equalized levels to be active and you also want the full range of dino levels, then you don’t need to do anything! This is the default setup of the mod. However, if you’ve changed it up and want to go back to this setup, then the below .ini config will do that:

[CustomLevelDistrib]
MinLevel=1.000000
MaxLevel=30.000000
WantsEqualLevels=True
WantsRagLevels=False
WantsHighLevels=False

Messing with the level ranges will be discussed under “Example 4: Using the MinLevel and MaxLevel INI configs.”


Here is how the .ini settings should look for this option:

[CustomLevelDistrib]
MinLevel=1.000000
MaxLevel=30.000000
WantsEqualLevels=False
WantsRagLevels=False
WantsHighLevels=True


--->The first critical thing to know if you want to use these min and max level options is that you must have the WantsEqualLevels option set to true.<---

With that out of the way, a bit of background to how levels work in ARK is necessary to understand how to use MinLevel and MaxLevel. In ARK, the base dino levels range from 1 to 30 in increments of one (ex. 1, 2, 3, 4….,27, 28, 29, 30). The difficulty setting being used alters the dino levels by multiplying each of the base levels by that difficulty setting value. This is why you see dinos ranging from 5 to 150 on the max difficulty of 5.

The second critical thing to know is that this mod uses the base level range, so to figure out what value to put in the min or max level .ini option, simply divide the desired level you want by your difficulty value.

MinLevel = desired minimum level / difficulty value
MaxLevel = desired maximum level / difficulty value

Here are a few examples. Say you are using the max official difficulty (5) and you only want dinos to spawn in the range of 50-150. The MinLevel should be set to 10, since 50/5 = 10. The MaxLevel should be 30, as 150/5 = 30. Your .ini will look like this:

[CustomLevelDistrib]
MinLevel=10.000000
MaxLevel=30.000000
WantsEqualLevels=True
WantsRagLevels=False
WantsHighLevels=False

Here’s another example. You have overridden the official difficulty to 6 and you only want level 78 dinos to spawn for….reasons known only to you and your unique desires! Welp, some handy-dandy division shows that 78/6 = 13. Therefore….

[CustomLevelDistrib]
MinLevel=13.000000
MaxLevel=13.000000
WantsEqualLevels=True
WantsRagLevels=False
WantsHighLevels=False

….will fulfill your wishes! Similarly, setting both MinLevel and MaxLevel to 30.0 will make nothing but the max level dinos spawn!


Here are the default settings for the mod:

PreventBee=True
PreventTitan=True
MaxDrakeLevel=38.0
MinDrakeLevel= 1.0
MaxDeinonLevel=30.0

Details on what these new setting can be found in the change notes. In brief, PreventBee and PreventTitan determine whether or not the titanosaur and queen bee levels are affected when either WantsEqualLevels or WantsHighLevels is set to True.

If you want to ensure the bees and titanosaur act like vanilla and only spawn in at the lowest level, keep these options set to True. If you want to have them spawn in at varying levels, like most creatures in ARK, then switch them to False:

PreventBee=False
PreventTitan=False

MaxDrakeLevel sets the maximum level BOTH wyverns AND rock drakes can spawn in game. The default setting (no change from what the vanilla game has), is set to 38.0. Multiply the value here by the difficulty setting to find the max level. For example, 38 x 5 = 190, the max level for wyverns and rock drakes on difficulty 5. As another example, if you want wyverns and drakes to have a max level of 225 on difficulty 5, then this is what your ini setting should be:

MaxDrakeLevel=45.0

Multiplying 45 x 5 = 225. MaxDeinonLevel works the exact same way.

In the same fashion, MinDrakeLevel sets the minimum level for BOTH wyverns and rock drakes. This option is useful to narrow down the level range you want specifically for the these creatures.