Wild creature levels are controlled by difficulty settings in GameUserSettings.ini. The value is read at startup and affects newly spawned creatures, not every creature already alive in the world.
Set the difficulty
- Stop the ARK server.
- Open
GameUserSettings.ini. - Under
[ServerSettings], add or update:
DifficultyOffset=1.0
OverrideOfficialDifficulty=5.0
This common combination targets wild levels up to 150. Save the file and start the server.
Important behavior
DifficultyOffsetis a scale between 0 and 1, not the desired dino level.- The server must restart before the settings are read.
- Existing wild creatures keep their original levels until they despawn or are cleared by an administrator.
- A command-line difficulty value can override the file.
- Dino overhaul mods may use their own spawn settings.
If the level range does not change after a full spawn cycle, check for duplicate settings, competing startup parameters, or a mod that replaces vanilla spawning.
