Zed Clampet
Community Contributor
This is just incredibly helpful. This won't work to this extent in every game. Ark is specifically designed to give the player tons of options. Anyway, I was setting up my single-player Ark game, and I asked CoPilot about adjusting any config files to make the game more cozy and relaxed but without getting rid of all the danger. CoPilot said it could do that and explained what it was going to do. It was kind of long, so I put it in the spoiler. Then it gave me the two .ini files to put into the game files. I can't even imagine how much time this saved me.
CoPilot also gave me a list of free building mods that would have taken me ages to find manually.
CoPilot also gave me a list of free building mods that would have taken me ages to find manually.
Perfect — if what you want is a relaxed, cozy ASA experience, I can absolutely shape the config around that. Since you gave me full creative control, I’ll tune it the way I would if I were building a gentle, low‑stress, exploration‑forward Ark world for someone who likes to tinker, build, and vibe rather than grind or panic.
Below is a philosophy‑driven preset rather than a raw INI dump. Once you like the direction, I’ll generate the exact Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini you can paste in.
🌿 Design Goals for a Cozy Ark World
I’m optimizing for:
- Low grind (fast gathering, crafting, taming)
- Low punishment (reduced death penalties, safer world)
- High comfort (short nights, long days, gentle weather)
- High creativity (easy building, easy resource access)
- Low micromanagement (babies grow fast, imprinting is easy)
- Exploration without fear spikes (dinos still exist, but they’re less oppressive)
This keeps the spirit of Ark without the stress.
🧘 Core Gameplay Tuning
Difficulty
- Difficulty 1.0 (max wild level 150)
- BUT with reduced aggression radius so predators don’t laser‑lock on you from 200 meters away
- Slightly reduced spawn density in the most hostile biomes
Harvesting & Crafting
- Harvest amount ×4
- Harvest health ×2
- Crafting speed ×2
- Fuel lasts longer
- Structures cost slightly fewer resources
This makes building feel like a creative project, not a job.
🐾 Taming & Breeding
Taming
- Taming speed ×4
- Food drain ×1.5
- Torpor drain ×0.5
- Passive tames don’t lose effectiveness when bumped
Breeding
- Mating interval ×0.25
- Egg hatch speed ×4
- Baby mature speed ×4
- Imprint window ×2
- Cuddle interval ×0.5
- Imprint quality always 100% if you interact at least once
This makes raising creatures feel like a cozy farm sim.
🏡 Building & QoL
- Structure pickup enabled (forever, not just 30 seconds)
- No collision building (place things where they look good)
- Increased structure support distance
- Longer day / shorter night (day 2.0, night 0.5)
- Weather effects reduced (less fog, less rain)
- Corpse locator enabled
- No XP loss on death
- Flyers allowed to carry (optional, but cozy)
This turns Ark into a creative sandbox with survival flavor.
🦕 Creature Behavior
- Wild dinos have reduced targeting range
- Wild dinos have slightly reduced damage
- Tamed dinos have slightly increased health regen
- Flyers can strafe and reverse (ASA default, but we keep it)
You still get danger, but not the “raptor from the bushes deletes you instantly” vibe.
🌤️ World Feel
- Nights are short and not pitch‑black
- Cave lighting slightly boosted
- Temperature penalties softened
- Food/water drain reduced
- Stamina drain reduced
This makes the world feel more like a place to live than a place trying to kill you.
🎁 Optional Cozy Add‑Ons (All Free Mods)
If you want to lean even harder into the vibe:
- Amazing Structures — gentle, flexible building
- MuchStuffPack — cozy decor
- JVH Landscaping — gardens, paths, plants
- Arcadia Props — interior coziness
- Super Structures Ascended — the ultimate QoL builder’s toolkit
All free, all safe, all compatible with a relaxed playthrough.
🧩 Next Step: I’ll generate the full config files
Before I produce the ready‑to‑paste INI files, tell me one thing:
Do you want predators to still be dangerous, or should I soften them even more?
I can tune the world to:
- Cozy but still Ark (my default above)
- Very gentle (you can explore almost anywhere safely)
- Chill but with occasional spikes (rare alphas, rare threats)
Once you pick the danger level, I’ll output the full config pair.
Want me to package this into a modlist too?
If you want, I can build you a free, zero‑premium modlist that perfectly complements this config:
• Cozy building
• Landscaping
• Interior decor
• Gentle QoL
• No grind mods
• No power creep
Just say the word and I’ll assemble it.
Below is a philosophy‑driven preset rather than a raw INI dump. Once you like the direction, I’ll generate the exact Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini you can paste in.
🌿 Design Goals for a Cozy Ark World
I’m optimizing for:
- Low grind (fast gathering, crafting, taming)
- Low punishment (reduced death penalties, safer world)
- High comfort (short nights, long days, gentle weather)
- High creativity (easy building, easy resource access)
- Low micromanagement (babies grow fast, imprinting is easy)
- Exploration without fear spikes (dinos still exist, but they’re less oppressive)
This keeps the spirit of Ark without the stress.
🧘 Core Gameplay Tuning
Difficulty
- Difficulty 1.0 (max wild level 150)
- BUT with reduced aggression radius so predators don’t laser‑lock on you from 200 meters away
- Slightly reduced spawn density in the most hostile biomes
Harvesting & Crafting
- Harvest amount ×4
- Harvest health ×2
- Crafting speed ×2
- Fuel lasts longer
- Structures cost slightly fewer resources
This makes building feel like a creative project, not a job.
🐾 Taming & Breeding
Taming
- Taming speed ×4
- Food drain ×1.5
- Torpor drain ×0.5
- Passive tames don’t lose effectiveness when bumped
Breeding
- Mating interval ×0.25
- Egg hatch speed ×4
- Baby mature speed ×4
- Imprint window ×2
- Cuddle interval ×0.5
- Imprint quality always 100% if you interact at least once
This makes raising creatures feel like a cozy farm sim.
🏡 Building & QoL
- Structure pickup enabled (forever, not just 30 seconds)
- No collision building (place things where they look good)
- Increased structure support distance
- Longer day / shorter night (day 2.0, night 0.5)
- Weather effects reduced (less fog, less rain)
- Corpse locator enabled
- No XP loss on death
- Flyers allowed to carry (optional, but cozy)
This turns Ark into a creative sandbox with survival flavor.
🦕 Creature Behavior
- Wild dinos have reduced targeting range
- Wild dinos have slightly reduced damage
- Tamed dinos have slightly increased health regen
- Flyers can strafe and reverse (ASA default, but we keep it)
You still get danger, but not the “raptor from the bushes deletes you instantly” vibe.
🌤️ World Feel
- Nights are short and not pitch‑black
- Cave lighting slightly boosted
- Temperature penalties softened
- Food/water drain reduced
- Stamina drain reduced
This makes the world feel more like a place to live than a place trying to kill you.
🎁 Optional Cozy Add‑Ons (All Free Mods)
If you want to lean even harder into the vibe:
- Amazing Structures — gentle, flexible building
- MuchStuffPack — cozy decor
- JVH Landscaping — gardens, paths, plants
- Arcadia Props — interior coziness
- Super Structures Ascended — the ultimate QoL builder’s toolkit
All free, all safe, all compatible with a relaxed playthrough.
🧩 Next Step: I’ll generate the full config files
Before I produce the ready‑to‑paste INI files, tell me one thing:
Do you want predators to still be dangerous, or should I soften them even more?
I can tune the world to:
- Cozy but still Ark (my default above)
- Very gentle (you can explore almost anywhere safely)
- Chill but with occasional spikes (rare alphas, rare threats)
Once you pick the danger level, I’ll output the full config pair.
Want me to package this into a modlist too?
If you want, I can build you a free, zero‑premium modlist that perfectly complements this config:
• Cozy building
• Landscaping
• Interior decor
• Gentle QoL
• No grind mods
• No power creep
Just say the word and I’ll assemble it.
