Structures Plus (S+) Mod Guide

Structures Plus, usually called S+, is a building and base-automation mod for ARK: Survival Evolved by orionsun (Steam mod ID 731604991). It replaces the vanilla building pieces with more flexible versions and adds remote resource pulling, multi-purpose tools, single-resource storage, breeding helpers and many Tek machines. Our database holds 528 items and 449 engrams from the mod, 451 of the items being structures, and no creatures. Parts of S+ were later brought into the base game, and only a restricted set of its items ever reached console.

Before you start

• First engrams: the S+ Crafting Station, the S+ Multi-Tool and the S+ Omni Tool all unlock at level 1. The crafting station makes every item of the mod and also works as a table, so a mortar and pestle can sit on top of it.
• Converting old bases: the S+ Converter turns vanilla structures and blueprints into their S+ versions and back.
• Free placement: S+ pieces ignore terrain and player collision when placed. Uneven ground is easy, but you can bury yourself or a tribemate.
• No limits: every S+ structure can be picked up again, S+ buildings have no height limit, and machines that hum in vanilla are silent.

Pulling resources from nearby inventories

S+ adds a pull system to every inventory screen: three extra buttons and a number box. They take resources from nearby boxes, creatures and crafting stations, as long as those stations are not busy crafting.

1. Repair: select a damaged item and press the gear-and-wrench button. The resources for the repair are pulled into your inventory.
2. Craft: select an engram or blueprint, type a number in the box, then press the four-arrow button. Enough resources for that many crafts are pulled in. For a number below 10, select the default 1 and type over it.
3. Grab: select an item or engram and press the cloud button. Pick a resource from the list, see which nearby containers hold it, choose an amount and pull.

S+ production stations such as the S+ Industrial Cooker or the S+ Refining Forge show all their recipes as blueprints inside. Select one and use the pull buttons to fill the station from several containers at once.

The two tools

Older S+ versions had a separate gun for every job. They are now folded into two tools. Hold Reload (R on PC) to open the mode wheel of either one.

• S+ Multi-Tool: picks up or demolishes structures, switches alternate models and glass transparency, copies turret settings, hides pipes and wires, and edits lights and dynamic pillars. Its Dino mode claims, kills or spays creatures and toggles mating, whistles, follow and wandering. Its Remote mode switches devices and doors from a distance, and it can also repair, or open and close vacuum compartment sides.
• S+ Omni Tool: moves items. Basic Transfer moves one inventory into another. Advanced Transfer moves chosen items between many containers in range and saves the setup as a preset. Its Dedicated Storage mode sends your inventory, or your target's, to matching storage in one click. It also has a personal teleporter and a remote creature scanner.
• Inventory Assistant: an Omni Tool mode that drops or destroys items matching your filters every 10 or 60 seconds. Set it up with care: it really destroys items, and dropping primitive weapons also drops cryopods.

Omni Tool teleporting needs access to an S+ Teleporter powered by at least 2 Tek Generators. Dropping a temporary beacon needs 3, and the area teleport bubble needs 4. The S+ Transfer Control Unit runs saved transfer presets by itself, for example when someone steps on an S+ Pressure Plate.

Building pieces and snap points

S+ covers thatch, wood, adobe, stone, metal, glass and Tek. Glass gives the greenhouse effect and is as strong as metal, and the S+ Glass Wall alone has 16 models.

• Foundations: as tall as a wall, and they stack on top of each other. A foundation also snaps to a ceiling when the far end has ground support, which helps with bridges. Ceilings sit flush with them.
• Tall pieces: large walls are 4 walls high and XL walls 12. Medium pillars are 3 high and large pillars 5.
• Ramps and stairs: both fit a 1x1x1 space. A ramp can be switched to look like stairs. Stairs can be flipped after placement, and their railing can be made solid.
• Fences: press G to step fence foundations and supports through each 45-degree angle, and E to flip them. They can be hidden one by one or together with every connected piece.
• Boxes and beds: the S+ Storage Box, S+ Metal Storage Box, S+ Vault and S+ Refrigerator snap to each other in rows and stacks, and beds do the same. Press G while placing to turn this off.
• Crop plots: small plots snap into the corners or the centre of an S+ foundation, medium and large plots to the centre.

Dynamic pillars and gateways

Dynamic pillars, from the S+ Dynamic Wood Pillar to the S+ Dynamic Tek Pillar, take any length from 1 to 12 with their own angle and thickness. Where they touch the ground or a foundation piece, they support like a foundation.

The S+ Dynamic Gateway takes any size from 1x1 to 12x12 in any material. You place a template and finish it afterwards with materials, so the cost depends on the size. Materials only come back if you demolish it from its radial menu. The S+ Dynamic Gate fits it and can open and close by itself, close by itself only, or stay manual.

Doors, water and power

• Doors: every S+ door, dino gate and hatchframe has adjustable automatic open and close settings.
• Water anywhere: an S+ Stone Pipe - Intake or S+ Metal Pipe - Intake makes water wherever you place it, at any height. Add a tap and you have running water.
• Power: gas-powered S+ machines run on gas or electricity.

Elevators and underwater rooms

• Elevators: the S+ Small Elevator Platform is one foundation, the medium one 3 by 2 foundations and the large one 5 by 3. They ride on S+ Small Elevator Track.
• Tek elevator: the S+ Tek Elevator teleports you between floors. Jump to go up, crouch to go down, and place each floor exactly above the last.
• Vacuum compartments: the S+ Vacuum Compartment needs no power, can be flooded or dry, and blocks Aberration and Lunar radiation. It does not snap to foundations. It fits on platform saddles, but on a Plesiosaur it can make the game think the creature is out of water, which kills it.

Storage

• S+ Dedicated Storage: holds a huge amount of one resource you choose from a list. Use it or hit it to deposit; hitting does not work in PvE. Powered by a Tek Generator, it also stops spoiling.
• S+ Dedicated Storage Intake: sorts everything you or your mount carry into matching storage nearby. With dino touch deposit on, just walk your mount into it. Its three sizes can be changed for free and do not change its range.
• S+ Dedicated Storage Interface: placed on a platform saddle or a Stryder, it uploads the creature's inventory to your dedicated storage anywhere on the map.
• S+ Tek Storage: holds any item, reduces the weight of what is inside and works as a fridge when powered.

Automation and breeding

The S+ Item Aggregator runs on a Tek Generator and combines the jobs of the older S+ Item Collector, S+ Gardener, S+ Farmer and S+ Hatchery. It collects dung, eggs, Achatina paste, gacha crystals and more, from the ground or from inventories. It also delivers dung, fertilizer, metal, food, ammo and fuel to the structures that use them, and resources to dedicated storage. It is slower than the old helpers but much lighter on the server. The S+ Sheep Herder and S+ Animal Tender are obsolete.

• S+ Nanny: feeds nearby babies under 15% maturation and imprints creatures that are not yet adult. It only needs power.
• S+ Hatchery: collects fertilized eggs, incubates them to 1% and boosts egg laying nearby. It runs on a Tek Generator or Re-Fertilizer.
• S+ Vivarium: makes eggs, dung and other resources from filled cryopods. Only an S+ Item Aggregator can collect that output.
• S+ Propagator: breeds straight from cryopods and lays eggs that show stats, colours, which parent each came from and any mutation. Gender changes, breeding unbreedable creatures and added mutations cost Element.
• S+ Mutator: Element pulses that can force a mutation, swap gender, or freeze or boost growth.

Tek machines

• S+ Tek Generator: powers nearby structures wirelessly and burns one Element per day instead of one per hour. On a saddle or raft it only powers structures on that same saddle or raft.
• S+ Tek Forge: smelts instantly at one Metal per ingot, makes charcoal, polymer and gas balls, and converts between Element and Element Dust. Its cost includes the Alpha King Titan trophy.
• S+ Auto Crafter: put a crafting station inside and it keeps crafting your chosen recipe. It needs a Tek Generator and gives no crafting experience.
• S+ Planetary Shield: stops meteors on Extinction and Genesis Lunar, with power from at least 4 Tek Generators.

How the Tek Transmitter works

The S+ Tek Transmitter is a placeable obelisk. It transfers items, survivors and creatures between ARKs, water creatures included, and opens the boss arenas. Powered by a Tek Generator, its dino scan lists every wild creature of a species with level and position. What the scan shows depends on power: the number of transmitters times the number of Tek Generators powering them.

A creature must have been loaded near a player once before its level shows. Items sent through the transmitter cannot be taken out by tribemates.

When key engrams unlock

Server settings

S+ reads a long list of options from GameUserSettings.ini on the server. A few worth knowing:

• TekGeneratorFuelUseIntervalInSeconds: how long one Element lasts in the S+ Tek Generator. The default is 86400, one day.
• MultiToolBlacklist and OmniToolBlacklist: hide tool modes from players.
• MultiToolTraceLengthInFoundations: the Multi-Tool's reach, from 6 (the default) to 25 foundations.
• DisableTeleporterPowerRequirement: drops the extra Tek Generator requirement for Omni Tool teleporting.
• DisableDinoScan and DisableNeedMultipleTransmitter: turn the transmitter scan off, or give full scan access without stacking transmitters and generators.
• VivariumResourceMultiplier and VivariumEggChanceMultiplier: tune S+ Vivarium output.

The S+ Industrial Grinder's extra resource conversions can be turned off one by one. To change their costs with a recipe override, target the mod's own resource classes, such as PrimalItem_SandPlus_C. Other mods can tag a structure PreventPulling to keep it out of the pull system.

Tips

• Build the S+ Crafting Station first and keep resources in boxes around it. The pull buttons do the rest.
• Test the Inventory Assistant on Drop before you switch it to Destroy.
• Do not move cryopods into an S+ Vivarium or S+ Propagator with Transfer All or the Omni Tool. It is blocked on purpose: moving more than 20 at once could crash the server.

Every structure, tool and engram of the mod is listed on its mod page, with spawn commands.

Further reading: the author's own Structures Plus Info on Steam.