Der Dino Finder is a map-and-search utility mod for ARK: Survival Ascended, and all 24 documented settings live in one [DerDinoFinder] block. Here’s each one in plain English with its default: access and permissions, scan limits and cooldowns, default filter values, feature toggles, and map display.
Covers who's even allowed to open the tool: an admin-only lockout, a level or engram requirement for regular players, and a separate switch deciding whether staff actually dodge every limit on this page or share them.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| IsAdminOnly | Restricts the entire Finder to admin accounts once switched on. Left at its default of False, the tool is open to the whole population; enable it for servers that want the map-search utility reserved for staff only. | False | — |
| RestrictAdmins | Decides whether admin accounts are held to the page's other limits. True keeps admins bound by the same unlock, cooldown, range, and disable settings as regular players; False carves out an exemption from all of them, letting staff use an unrestricted version of the Finder. | True | — |
| UnlockLevel | Sets a minimum character level before the Finder opens up. At the default of 0 there's no gate — it's on from the first spawn — while a higher number turns access into something players work toward instead of receiving for free. | 0 | — |
| UnlockEngram | Names an engram, by blueprint path, that must be learned before the Finder can be used. An empty field imposes no such requirement; filling it in adds a crafting-tree checkpoint on top of, or instead of, the level gate above. | (empty) | — |
The dials that pace how hard the Finder can be used: how many markers one search can drop, the wait between searches, how far a scan reaches, and the outer boundary on what level a player can even filter for.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| MarkerLimit | Caps how many map markers one search can produce, defaulting to 20. When a player searches multiple species simultaneously, the mod splits that ceiling across them rather than granting the full count to each, guaranteeing only a single marker per species at minimum. | 20 | — |
| ScanCooldown | Sets the wait, in seconds, between one Finder use and the next — 0 by default, which means back-to-back scanning is unrestricted. The countdown itself doesn't persist through a server restart, so a reboot effectively clears everyone's timer. | 0 | — |
| ScanRange | Bounds the Finder's search radius in meters. The shipped value of -1 disables that bound entirely, so any creature anywhere on the map qualifies; supplying a positive number turns the tool into a local scanner instead of a map-wide one. | -1 | — |
| LevelFilterBound | Establishes the upper limit a level filter can be pushed to. The stock figure of 2147483647 is the engine's integer ceiling rather than a deliberate number, so out of the box this places no real restriction; dial it down to actually enforce one. | 2147483647 | — |
Just two numbers, but they decide the first impression: where the level slider sits the instant the search panel opens, before a player has touched anything themselves.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| DefaultMinLevel | Sets the starting position of the minimum-level slider on the Finder's UI. Shipped at 1, the floor is effectively open by default; a higher starting value pre-filters out weak spawns the instant the search screen loads, before any player input. | 1 | — |
| DefaultMaxLevel | Determines the initial position of the maximum-level slider. The stock figure of 150 comfortably spans the vanilla wild spawn range; servers running lower level caps can shrink this so the default view isn't padded with headroom nothing will ever reach. | 150 | — |
Individual on/off switches for each filter tab plus the search function overall — level, gender, age, trait, variant — down to turning the entire tool into a static species list with searching removed.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| DisableLevelFilter | Strips the level filter out of the Finder's interface when enabled. Its default of False leaves that filter fully present and usable for anyone searching the map. | False | — |
| DisableGenderFilter | Removes gender as a searchable filter and also hides it from the map readout once toggled on. At the default False, players can both filter by gender and see it displayed on found markers. | False | — |
| DisableAgeFilter | Pulls age off both the filter list and the map markers themselves when active. Left at False, the distinction between juvenile and adult creatures remains something players can search on and see. | False | — |
| DisableTraitSearching | Takes trait away as a search criterion while leaving trait display on the map untouched — a narrower cut than the map-display trait toggle below. Its default of False keeps trait searching part of the normal filter set. | False | — |
| DisableSearching | Reduces the entire Finder down to a static species list once switched on, removing the search capability altogether. False is the shipped state and preserves the tool's actual searching function. | False | — |
| DisableVariantFilter | Removes the variants tab from the Finder's UI, a setting that only has an effect if another installed mod actually introduces creature variants. With no such mod present, toggling this does nothing either way; its shipped value is False. | False | — |
| AllowClientLanguage | Permits creature names to render in whatever language each connecting client is set to, rather than a single shared language for the whole server. Disabled by default, which keeps naming consistent across every player regardless of their client settings. | False | — |
| DisableDinoStats | Suppresses the hover tooltip that otherwise reveals a creature's stats before a player commits to tracking it down. With the default of False, that preview tooltip keeps appearing on marker hover as normal. | False | — |
What actually renders on a placed marker: whether the level number shows, whether it follows the creature as it moves, and whether trait or variant-name details make it onto the map.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| DisableLevelOnMap | Removes the level number from the map marker's display once enabled. False, the default, keeps that figure visible right on the map, sparing players a trip out just to confirm a creature's level. | False | — |
| DisableTracking | Locks a marker to the spot where it was first placed rather than letting it follow the creature's ongoing movement. The shipped value of False keeps markers live-updating, so a wandering target stays trackable in real time. | False | — |
| DisableTraitOnMap | Removes trait information from what the map marker shows, independent of whether players can search by trait. Its default False leaves trait data visible on the map; pair this with the search-side toggle if you want traits hidden from both. | False | — |
| DisableVariantName | Reduces map labels to the plain species name, stripping out any variant-specific naming a creature-variant mod might otherwise contribute. At the default of False, those variant names still appear on the map wherever they apply. | False | — |
Two allow/deny lists: a hard block on specific creatures that holds even for otherwise-unrestricted admins, and a whitelist letting named players in without touching the admin-only gate.
| Setting | What it does | Default | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blacklist | A comma-separated list of Entity IDs that the Finder will never surface, no matter who's searching — this exclusion holds even for admin accounts exempted from every other setting on this page. An empty list, the shipped state, blocks nothing. | (empty) | — |
| PlayerWhitelist | Names specific players, by EOS ID, who are cleared to use the Finder independent of the admin-only gate. Left empty by default, so no such allow-list is in effect and access follows the mod's other permission settings instead. | (empty) | — |
The mod ships wide open — no cooldown, unlimited range, every player has it. If you’d rather it stay an admin utility, this is the generator’s "Admin-Only" preset.
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| IsAdminOnly | True | Only staff can open the Finder at all. |
| RestrictAdmins | True | Keeps admins bound by the same limits below, no silent exemption. |
| UnlockLevel | 20 | A small hurdle even for the staff who can reach it. |
GameUserSettings.ini — and here's the part that trips people up: there is no [DerDinoFinder] section in the file until you add one. Mod sections never ship in the stock file, so don't scroll around looking for it. Add the [DerDinoFinder] header line, put your changed settings under it, save, restart. Settings you don't include keep the mod's defaults.True, meaning admins follow every limit on this page same as anyone else. Flip it to False and admins quietly skip UnlockLevel, UnlockEngram, ScanCooldown, ScanRange, LevelFilterBound, and every Disable toggle — worth knowing before you wonder why a staff test didn’t behave like a player one.Blacklist holds even when RestrictAdmins is off. It’s an Entity ID exclusion, not a permission check, so there’s no admin exemption to configure around.