modding Wildcard Workshop #1: Getting Started!

[ZenRowe 35]

Hello, Everyone!

Welcome to the first installment of Wildcard Workshop! Where I bring you tutorials, tips & tricks, and best practices for modding.

Today we’re going to be starting from the top. We will be installing the ARK Dev Kit and everything that you need to know about that. I will introduce you to all of the resources you have available to turn to when building your mods, and then we will set up our project space and the required files for a 'game mod' which we will use when creating our first mod in the next episode of Wildcard Workshop!

<-- Back to Wildcard Workshop tutorials
 

 

Here are the links and resources that were referenced in the video:

Sign up for an Epic Games account
Download the Epic Games Launcher

Information Resource Links:
Ark Dev Kit forums (UE4 subforum)
SurviveTheArk.com Workshop Forum
ArkModding.Net Website
ArkModding Discord
Modding World Discord (This is another modding discord that did not get referenced in the video)

Unreal Engine 4:
UE4 Documentation
UE4 Forums
Unreal Engine Youtube Channel
 

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a reply!

Edited April 2, 2018 by ZenRowe

[Tbjbu2 1]

Finally an actual good tutorial for beginners

[Fervid 0]

I'm really looking forward to this series.  It's something I've always wanted to get into but could never find a really good guide to get started.  I've re-installed Ark and the Dev Kit.  Let's do this!

[ZenRowe 35]

By the way, I am working on the closed captions right now for anybody that needs it for accessibility or that needs the youtube CC translations.

EDIT: CC is done

Edited March 21, 2018 by ZenRowe

[Esquire1980 39]

Looking forward to this series.  Nice job, Zen.

[Bloopaloop 2]

This is what I was looking for, I looked a bit into modding but the videos were always trash. Thanks, for the tutorial, you've earned another subscriber.

[AliC 0]

Thanks for the intro, looking forward to more!

[DobriyDed 2]

@ZenRowe Hi!
I took the liberty to translate this video to russian labguage. 
Translation available in YouTube for approval

Will be happy to help in the future

Best regards ! 

[ZenRowe 35]

Thank you, @DobriyDed! I appreciate the support

(Btw google translate did a great job with this card xD)

[DobriyDed 2]

Thats one of Russian idioms , means "first time is always the hardest" 

Translation updated a  little,  waiting for approval (mostly syntax errors)

Looking forward for new videos! 

Edited April 2, 2018 by DobriyDed

[ZenRowe 35]

oh! My mistake, that's an awesome idiom I thought it was just google translate being hilarious.

[Esquire1980 39]

Having a bit of trouble here.  Tried re-creating the mod start up you've made step by step.  But on loading PrimaGameFiles_BP, the entire dev kit locks up tight as a brick.  Can't cancel, can hit anything else, have to get out of it via task manager to close.

Waited a while and nothing changes.  Locks at 80% when you hit the BP file showing a progress bar and doesn't move any further.

EDIT:  Finally got this to go thru the 2nd time, which brought up a task download bar, but somehow made another file named New World which appears next to Dinoshrine (have no idea how I did that but there is an icon in the middle of this file that leads me to believe I'm blueprinting the New World file instead of Dinoshrine) but when naming the blueprint, I do not understand what "suffics it" means and can not see what your typing there in the vid. (too small)

Finally got out of the dev kit this time, appeared to be locked up again, but this time when I brought up task manager to close it out, it brought up another box to save or not save.  Didn't save it.

I'm using a Windows 10, 2017 Alienware Area 51, 64 ram, top of the line, so hopefully this lag/lock up in the dev kit is not caused by computing power. 

Edited April 8, 2018 by Esquire1980

[TomSanford 0]

Great work Zen! Awesome to see active mod support from someone who has actually had to use the dev kit as a regular customer even as we did in the EA days working in what seemed a total lack of information.

Again, Great work and Thank you!

Tom

[HoganRyan01 47]

When I attempt to open the Epic Games Launcher I get an application error.

"The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click OK to close the application."

[ZenRowe 35]

On 5/16/2018 at 1:36 PM, HoganRyan01 said:

When I attempt to open the Epic Games Launcher I get an application error.

"The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click OK to close the application."

 

I haven't actually seen that error before, but I did find this in regards to it:
https://launcherhelp.epicgames.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2291317-error-0xc000007b-when-attempting-to-launch-the-epic-games-launcher

[HoganRyan01 47]

On 5/18/2018 at 5:26 AM, ZenRowe said:

I haven't actually seen that error before, but I did find this in regards to it:
https://launcherhelp.epicgames.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2291317-error-0xc000007b-when-attempting-to-launch-the-epic-games-launcher

I dont get what I'm supposed to do now.. I've done both of the DWalker and Procmon thingy but it doesnt tell me what to do after that.. It just says it will be in the next section which there isnt one.

[ZenRowe 35]

16 hours ago, HoganRyan01 said:

I dont get what I'm supposed to do now.. I've done both of the DWalker and Procmon thingy but it doesnt tell me what to do after that.. It just says it will be in the next section which there isnt one.

I'm not sure either like I said I've never actually seen this issue before.
Google does have some results for the problem, but this is something with the epic launcher specifically so the Epic forums would more likely have someone with the knowledge to help you fix the problem.
Have you taken a look at this thread already?
https://www.epicgames.com/unrealtournament/forums/unreal-tournament-discussion/ut-development-bug-reports-qa/windows-troubleshooting/3621-error-0xc000007b

[Quozar 0]

Guten Tag,

I just watched this awesome tutorial, thanks for not speaking too fast. English is not my mother tongue :-)

Is it ok, if I create a main folder under Mods where all my stuff goes in? Like Quo_Stuff and in that folder some new folders for each mod if ever work on more than one ans have some testmods in too, not that I cook all at once or the download is filled with useless stuff. Because I like it clean and not one folder over Terrain and another one underneath TheCenter.

And a second question, if I may. I want to make a copy of my mod-files to store them to a disc and carry them over to a different computer. The only files I need are in shooterGame/Content/Mods/MyStuff, right? Or are there some reference files I need to copy too?

 

Thank you

[ZenRowe 35]

The cooking system is looking at the \mods\ folder for individual mods, so a group folder within that could cause issues, you can color code the folders in the devkit though if that might make it a bit better for you.

In addition to your individual mod project folders, you will want to back up the mods.db file which can be found in:
 

ARKDevKit\Projects\ShooterGame\Saved

Rather than doing a system of manually transferring and backing up files though, I recommend using version control system like Git to manage your files. You can even create free private repositories at gitlab.com or bitbucket.org so your mod files will be accessible from anywhere should you need them.

Edited August 13, 2018 by ZenRowe

[Quozar 0]

Thank you much, this is very good information for me. I haven't started yet, still try things out before I rush into a real project.
 

Thanks for the videos they are perfect for a noob like me.

[StoneMan007 4]

ZenRowe , these tutorials are amazing and i want to Thank you very much for your time in making these for the community.

 

You're Awesome!!!

[covenantgrunt 110]

There is no modding tab in Epic Game Launcher anymore, how do I get the ARK Dev Kit in 2019 ?

[ZenRowe 35]

On 2/18/2019 at 3:04 AM, covenantgrunt said:

There is no modding tab in Epic Game Launcher anymore, how do I get the ARK Dev Kit in 2019 ?

you'll find it now at the bottom of the store page if you have never installed it before, after that it's in the library

[TwoShawtz 0]

I also cannot find it, even in the store. could you post a screen shot of it or something? I can find it on the website, which it then tells me to download the engine. But I cannot actually find it in the engine itself.

[ZenRowe 35]

You'll want to go into your launcher settings and make sure nothing is hidden.
Then go to the store tab and scroll all the way to the bottom: