Kraken's Better Dinos Mod Guide

Kraken's Better Dinos (often shortened to KBD) is a quality-of-life mod for ARK: Survival Evolved that reworks a large part of the base-game creature roster (Steam mod ID 1565015734). Some creatures only get a bug fix or a small tweak, others get new attacks, jobs and saddles, and a handful of new creatures fill the gaps the reworks leave behind. It keeps the feel of the normal game, is balanced around official server rates and is aimed mainly at PvE. It suits players who like vanilla ARK but want neglected creatures to be worth taming, and server owners who want fine control: almost every change can be switched off in the ini file.

Before you start

• Load order: KBD does not need to sit at the top of the list. The one thing to watch is other mods that replace the same creatures: when two mods remap the same creature, the mod higher in the list wins. A separate speed-flyer mod, if you use one instead of the built-in feature, must load above KBD.
• Wipe the wild creatures once: tamed creatures pick up their changes as soon as the mod is added, but creatures already in the wild do not. Run cheat destroywilddinos after installing so every new spawn carries the changes.
• The ini header: all options go in GameUserSettings.ini under a [BetterDinos] header. The header does not appear by itself: you have to type it in. Only add the options you want to change from their default.
• Spotting a changed creature: ride it and look for the blue "BD" buff icon. No icon means the creature has no KBD changes, or they have not been applied yet.

How the mod changes a creature

KBD uses four methods, and the method decides what happens if you ever remove the mod. Every creature section in the author's guide says which one applies.

Same-name remaps that come out of a Cryopod still vanilla show an orange "Vanilla" label. Open the radial menu, go to Options and pick "Convert to Better" to switch them over, with inventory, saddle and stats kept. You can convert back the same way. Conversion is blocked while a creature is pregnant or wears a platform saddle. Mod items are lost on removal too. Release creatures from Cryopods before you remove the mod: modded creatures left in pods show as corrupted, but they can be released again once the mod is back.

Features for every creature

• Shoulder pet inventory: double-tap your inventory key to open the inventory of the pet on your shoulder or the creature you are carrying.
• Safer passenger seats: passengers are protected from creature attacks the same way the driver is, but firearms still hurt them. Most passenger seats also allow the third-person and orbit cameras.
• Costume slot: every tamed creature gets one, mainly for the Orb of Staying Power, which holds a creature in place like a hitching post.
• Pet emote: found in the emote wheel. The nearest creature plays its cuddle animation, and a KBD creature also re-runs its buff setup, which helps when something looks wrong.
• Tek creatures: all of them get an extra 2% damage and resistance and drop Bio-Oil instead of normal droppings. Bio-Oil is a crafting ingredient for some KBD recipes.
• Aberration transfers: KBD versions of Aberration creatures can be uploaded and downloaded without extra ini lines.

Notable reworks

The guide covers more than a hundred creatures. These are some of the biggest changes at the time of the author's guide:

The mod also adds two new creatures to fill the starter roles the Triceratops and Pachycephalosaurus left behind. The Styracosaurus uses the Triceratops taming values and deals triple damage to Corrupted creatures. The Stygimoloch uses the Pachycephalosaurus taming values.

Tek creatures in the wild

At the time of the author's guide, these Tek forms could replace a normal spawn:

A Tek form may not appear when another mod also replaces the base creature.

Taming changes

• Triceratops: now prefers Superior Kibble and has more torpor. Taming calculators will understate the food, time and tranquilizers you need.
• Manta: becomes a knockout tame that prefers Regular Kibble.
• Liopleurodon (KBD version): a knockout tame that prefers Superior Kibble. Use the Plesiosaur food amounts and times as a guide, but expect lower torpor.
• Mantis: Exceptional Kibble works as well as a Deathworm Horn.
• Araneo: can be tamed with Simple Kibble.
• Fish Basket tames: the Eurypterid, Cnidaria and Meganeura can be caught and tamed with a Fish Basket. The Coelacanth, Piranha, Sabertooth Salmon, Trilobite, Leech and Lamprey need a second catch and release (Fish Basket, Cryopod or similar) before they are fully tamed and can gain experience.
• Hesperornis: wild ones accept the KBD fish as taming food, and turn into a normal Hesperornis once tamed.
• Achatina: you still tame it with Sweet Vegetable Cake, but once tamed it eats berries and vegetables.

Optional features

These are off by default and are switched on in the [BetterDinos] section.

• Speed flyers: AllowFlyerSpeed=True adds "Convert to Speed Flyer" to a flyer's radial menu. Converted flyers gain 2% speed per level, and converting back refunds the points. Speed flyers are mod-only creatures, so convert them back before removing KBD.
• Wild babies and eggs: WildBabies=True lets creatures spawn as babies. WildChanceOfBaby sets the odds (default 0.05, which is 5%), and adults nearby defend their young unless you set PreventAngryAdults=True. WildEggs=True lets egg layers leave nests with fertilized eggs, and WildChanceOfEgg sets the odds (default 5, meaning 5%).
• Baby-only taming: UntameableAdults=True blocks taming of adults, and PassiveTameBabies=True makes wild babies passive tames. Creatures with special taming, such as the Tusoteuthis or the Bloodstalker, may become impossible to get, so use the blacklists: WildBabyBlacklist, WildEggsBlacklist, PassiveTameBabyBlacklist and UntameableAdultBlacklist, or the matching whitelists. Entries are creature name tags separated by commas.
• Buffs on other mods' creatures: BuffsIncludeSource applies KBD buffs to another mod's creatures, but only when they are child classes of the vanilla creature.

Server settings

Most creatures have an off switch that follows the pattern PreventBetterTrike=True, PreventBetterDilo=True and so on. For a remapped creature it turns existing ones back to vanilla. For a buffed one it stops the buff. Some useful extras:

• PreventBetterTekDinos=True removes the Tek buff but not the Tek spawns. To stop the spawns, use NPC replacement lines in Game.ini.
• PreventWildReins=True stops Wyverns, Rock Drakes and X-Argentavis from dropping Valyrian Reins, and PreventToughHide=True stops Tough Hide drops.
• PreventWaterAlphaCarrying=True stops a Tusoteuthis from grabbing an Alpha Mosasaurus or Alpha Megalodon.
• To remove the Ichthyornis completely, add NPCReplacements=(FromClassName="Ichthyornis_Character_BP_BDWild_C",ToClassName="") to Game.ini.

Spawning creatures as an admin

• Buffed creatures: use any normal spawn command. The buff is added automatically.
• Same-name remaps: a short summon or gmsummon gives you the vanilla version. Either convert it in the radial menu or use the full cheat spawndino blueprint path from the author's guide. Commands can be chained with |, so adding |cheat DoTame after the spawn tames the creature straight away.
• New creatures and unique named remaps: use their own class name, for example BDStyrac_Character_BP_C for the Styracosaurus.

Tips

• Build the Better Dinos Workbench early. It has a Smithy mode for saddles, Valyrian Reins and other gear, and a Preserving Bin mode for the mod's food and consumables. You switch modes by pressing E on it.
• Valyrian Reins improve flyers without bringing back the old flyer power. Tough Hide from creatures such as the Rex, Ankylosaurus, Megalodon and Sarcosuchus is used to craft them, and wild Wyverns and Rock Drakes can drop a set.
• Running No Untameables as well? Both mods remap the Ammonite, Cnidaria, Eurypterid and Meganeura, and the one higher in the load order spawns. Tamed Eurypterids, Cnidaria and Meganeura can be converted between the two versions.
• Check the Workshop change notes when something here differs in game: the author's guide was still being expanded when it was written.

For the latest version, changelog and download, see the Kraken's Better Dinos page on the Steam Workshop.

Further reading: the mod author's own Kraken's Better Dinos - User Guide on Steam lists every changed creature with its spawn codes and ini options.