Dino Depot Config Generator
All 227 documented settings for the Dino Depot mod — Dinoball behavior, capture and release rules, Depot Terminal automation, incubation, passive production, death auto-capture — as toggles and fields with plain-English explanations, straight from the mod's official config reference.
Change what you care about, copy the output, paste it into the [DinoDepot] block of your server's GameUserSettings.ini. Everything you don't touch keeps the mod's defaults.
Dinoball Behavior
What happens to a creature while it lives in the ball: aging, imprinting, XP, gestation, mating cooldowns, and which buffs survive storage. This is the section that decides whether Dinoballs beat cryopods or just imitate them.
Whether babies keep gaining imprinting while stored in a Dinoball. On by default. Turn it off if imprint progress should require the baby actually being out in the world with you.
Whether babies keep aging inside a Dinoball. On by default. Off turns storage into a pause button for growth, so a ball stops doubling as a hands-free nursery.
Whether stored dinos earn experience while sitting in a Dinoball. On by default. ExperienceGainInDinoballMultiplier controls how much they earn while they're in there.
Scales how much experience dinos gain while in a Dinoball. Default 1.1 — a quiet 10% bonus for doing nothing in a sphere. Irrelevant if DinosGainExperienceInDinoball is off.
Controls how Dinoballs handle mating cooldowns. Default 0 leaves them alone — the mod won't assign one, but won't remove one either. 1 removes cooldowns entirely; 2 re-assigns a cooldown only if one is already present; 3 assigns one only if missing (cryopod-style); 4 always re-assigns.
Controls who gets the imprint when a creature comes out of a Dinoball. Default 0 only assigns an imprinter to bred creatures that don't have one; 1 hands the imprint to whoever releases the ball, every time.
Whether a creature's buffs survive the trip through a Dinoball. On by default. Turn it off if storage should double as a buff wipe.
Pauses gestation timers while a pregnant creature is stored in a Dinoball. On by default, so the pregnancy clock stops in storage. Turn it off to let gestation keep ticking inside the ball.
An optional cap on how much imprint a baby can gain while inside a Dinoball. Default 1. Lower it if in-ball imprinting should only carry a baby part of the way and the rest has to happen in person.
Whether a Dinoball remembers the behaviour settings a creature was configured with, so it comes back out acting the way you left it. On by default. Turn it off if you would rather redo behaviour settings after every release.
Whether Dinoballs preserve a baby's cuddle food through capture. On by default — the snack it asked for going in is still the plan coming out.
Lets mating cooldowns keep counting down while a creature sits in a Dinoball. On by default. Disable it and breeders come out with the same cooldown they went in with — storage stops being a shortcut.
The growth point where Dinoballs stop aging a stored baby. Default 1, which on ARK's 0-to-1 maturation scale means no effective cap — babies can hit adulthood inside the ball. Lower it if the ball should handle the tedious early stages but players still finish the raise themselves.
Some buffs flag themselves as non-persistent; with this on, Dinoballs honor that flag and won't carry those buffs through storage. On by default. Turn it off and Dinoballs persist buffs even when the buff explicitly asked not to be.
An extra growth multiplier for babies in Dinoballs, applied relative to your server's own settings. Default 1, meaning no change. Above 1, stored babies grow faster than the server baseline; below 1, slower.
CSV list of buff classes Dinoballs should never persist through storage. Empty by default, and inert until UseBuffBlacklist is switched on.
CSV list of buff classes Dinoballs should always persist. Empty by default; UseBuffWhitelist has to be on before this list does anything.
Makes Dinoballs consult DinoballBuffWhitelist when deciding which buffs survive storage. Off by default, so the whitelist is ignored until you flip this.
Makes Dinoballs consult DinoballBuffBlacklist when deciding which buffs get dropped. Off by default — write the blacklist, then remember to actually turn it on.
Refunds the mating cooldown when a gestation is aborted, so scrapping a pregnancy doesn't cost the full wait. On by default; turn it off if free do-overs make gestation breeding too cheap.
Lets the Oasisaur's revive cooldown keep counting down while it's balled. On by default. Off means balling your Oasisaur also pauses the countdown to its next revive.
Restores mating and wandering behaviours on a delay instead of instantly — the mod's guard against accidental instant-mating. On by default. Off restores them immediately, instant-mating risk included.
Lets Gigantoraptor feather timers keep counting down while the bird sits in a Dinoball. On by default. Turn it off and the countdown pauses in storage, so the feather wait only resumes once the bird is back out.
Stats & Regeneration in the Ball
Per-stat behavior for health, stamina, torpor, oxygen, and food while stored, plus charge for your glowpets. The recovery multipliers are unclamped — go negative and stats drain instead of recover.
Sets how a stored creature's Health is handled inside a Dinoball. Default 0 regenerates it over time using HealthRecoveryMultiplier; 1 stops it regenerating at all; 2 always sets it to maximum.
Sets how a stored creature's Stamina is handled inside a Dinoball. Default 0 regenerates it over time using StaminaRecoveryMultiplier; 1 stops it regenerating at all; 2 always sets it to maximum.
Controls what Torpidity does inside a Dinoball: 0 changes it over time using TorpidityRecoveryMultiplier, 1 leaves it untouched, 2 pins it to maximum — the exact mode the mod's docs warn against for Torpidity. Default 0.
Controls how Oxygen is handled inside a Dinoball: 0 regenerates it over time using OxygenRecoveryMultiplier, 1 stops it regenerating, 2 keeps it pinned at maximum. Default 0. The docs' mode-2 warning is aimed at Torpidity, not this stat.
Controls how Food is handled inside a Dinoball: 0 regenerates it over time using FoodRecoveryMultiplier, 1 stops regeneration, 2 keeps it pinned at maximum. Default 0, so stored dinos top their Food back up while they wait.
Recovery rate for Health while stored, used when HealthValueBehaviour is set to regenerate. Default 2.5. The multiplier is unrestricted — set it negative and creatures lose Health in the ball, if that's the kind of server you run.
Recovery rate for Stamina while stored, used when StaminaValueBehaviour is set to regenerate. Default 5, the most generous of the recovery multipliers. Negative values drain Stamina instead — nothing in the mod stops you.
Rate multiplier for Torpidity while stored — and the default is -3, so torpor drains in the ball rather than building. The multiplier is unrestricted in both directions; flip it positive if you want stored creatures accumulating torpor instead.
Recovery rate for Oxygen while stored, used when OxygenValueBehaviour is set to regenerate. Default 3. Negative values cause a loss over time instead, per the mod's own unrestricted-multipliers policy.
Recovery rate for Food while stored, used when FoodValueBehaviour is set to regenerate. Default 3. Like its siblings it's unrestricted, so a negative value makes Food drain instead of recover.
Lets charge pets regenerate charge while balled. On by default. Turn it off and a drained pet stays drained until it's back out in the world.
How fast that in-ball charge regeneration runs, relative to the normal rate. Default 1 (normal speed). Only does anything while ChargeRegeneratesInDinoball is on.
Capture Rules
What's allowed into a ball in the first place: platform saddles, gestating mothers, sleeping dinos, vehicles, and the one Liopleurodon nobody gets to keep. Species allow and deny lists live here too.
Decides where a captured dino's inventory ends up. Default 0 gives the items to the player while respecting encumbrance (up to 70% of max weight); 1 hands over everything regardless of weight; 2 always drops the lot in a cache where the creature was standing.
Decides what the Dinoball or Digitizer does with a dino carrying platform structures: 0 asks for confirmation before pickup and capture, 1 never captures with structures aboard, 2 always picks up and captures, no questions asked. Default 0.
When capturing a creature with structures on its platform saddle requires confirmation, this is how many seconds the Dinoball waits for your answer. Default 5. Raise it if five seconds isn't enough to decide the fate of everything built on its back.
Opens mission creatures up to capture by any player. Off by default, which keeps mission creatures out of Dinoballs unless you decide otherwise.
Lets players capture a Liopleurodon. Off by default — the mod singles this one creature out for its own permission slip, so it stays ball-proof until you say otherwise.
By the key name, this governs whether Dinoballs and the Digitizer can capture unclaimed creatures; default TRUE. The official sheet just asks 'should Dinoballs/Digitizer be able to capture dinos?' — the word 'unclaimed' went missing, so we're reading the key name rather than the docs.
The damage threshold that triggers a capture cooldown on a creature. Default 0.1, so essentially any real hit counts. Raise it if chip damage shouldn't lock a creature out of capture.
How long the capture cooldown lasts once triggered, in seconds. Default 5. Stretch it if creatures fresh out of a fight should stay uncatchable a while longer.
Blocks capture on dinos that were recently hurt, enforcing the hurt-capture cooldown. On by default. Turn it off if balling a dino mid-fight is a feature on your server rather than an exploit.
Makes capture check whether a buff would normally prevent cryopod use, and block the capture on the same grounds. Off by default — out of the box, Dino Depot ignores cryo-prevention buffs and captures anyway.
Comma-separated list of creatures Dinoballs and the Digitizer should never capture. Empty by default, and purely decorative until CaptureObeysBlacklist is turned on.
Comma-separated list of creatures explicitly allowed to be captured by Dinoballs and the Digitizer. Empty by default, and ignored until CaptureObeysWhitelist is on — pick your list and flip the switch together.
The enforcement toggle for CaptureBlacklist: when on, Dinoball and Digitizer captures check whether the creature is on that list. Off by default, which is why the blacklist alone does nothing.
The enforcement toggle for CaptureWhitelist: when on, captures check that the creature actually appears on the list. Off by default. A whitelist nobody consults restricts nothing.
Sets how Dinoballs and the Digitizer handle gestating creatures: 0 prompts to confirm the capture, 1 always captures, 2 never captures. Default 0 — one confirmation box between you and accidentally pocketing a mid-gestation creature.
Whether vehicles can be captured. Off by default. The docs don't spell out which vehicles qualify, so test before promising anyone a pocket-sized raft.
Allows sleeping dinos to be captured. Off by default, so a creature that's asleep is off-limits to Dinoballs until it wakes up.
Blueprint path for the structure type nearby-structure capture checks look for — the capture-side twin of ReleaseNearbyStructureType. Default is the standard floor base (StructureBase_Floor).
Decides whether capturing requires foundations nearby: 0 ignores them, 1 demands tribe-owned, 2 tribe or ally, 3 any foundation at all, and 4-5 block the attempt near enemy (or enemy and allied) foundations. The official sheet leaves the default blank, so we're not going to invent one for you.
The radius checked for the required structure type when capturing — the sheet doesn't name a unit here, though every range it does label runs in foundations. Default 10. Irrelevant unless CaptureNearbyStructureMode actually demands structures nearby.
How many of the required structure type must be found in range before a capture is allowed. Default 1. Raise it if a single lonely foundation shouldn't count as built-up territory.
Writes each dino capture to the tribe log. On by default. Leave it on — when someone's prized breeder vanishes into a Dinoball, the log settles the argument.
Release Rules
Every check that runs when a ball opens: boss arenas, tame caps, caves, download rules, overlap, and nearby foundations. Captured data is stored untouched, so all of this applies at release time — including any buffs you hand out for it.
Lets Dinoballs skip the boss arena and Tek cave checks when deciding if a dino can be released. On by default, so stored creatures can pop out in places the game would normally refuse. Turn it off to restore the usual no-release zones.
Lets Dinoballs ignore a map's download rules on release — Aberration being the obvious case. Off by default, so map restrictions still apply to whatever's in the ball.
Lets Dinoballs release creatures even when the server's tame cap says no. Off by default, meaning the cap still gets the final word on what comes out.
Lets Dinoballs ignore mission rules when checking whether a dino can be released. Off by default — mission rules still apply to releases unless you say otherwise.
Checks whether a released creature would overlap structures before letting it out of the ball. On by default. Turn it off and releases stop caring whether there's a wall in the way.
Same idea as the structure check, but for other dinos: release is blocked if the creature would overlap one. On by default. Disable it on crowded servers if blocked releases annoy you more than clipping does.
Comma-separated list of buffs to give the player when a dino is released. Blank by default, meaning releasing grants the player nothing. The creature-side counterpart is PostReleaseDinoBuffs.
Comma-separated list of buffs to give the dino itself when it's released. Blank by default, so released creatures step out with no extras. Pair with PostReleasePlayerBuffs if both sides of the release deserve a treat.
Decides how the PostReleasePlayerBuffs and PostReleaseDinoBuffs lists are handed out when a dino leaves its ball. Default 0 gives both unconditionally; mode 1 always buffs the player but only buffs the dino if at least one player buff matched; mode 2 mirrors that — dino always, player only on a dino-buff match. Academic until you actually put something in those two buff lists.
How far around the release spot Dinoballs scan for foundations when a foundation rule is in force. Default 10 — the sheet declines to name a unit. Does nothing while ReleaseNearbyStructureMode sits at 0.
How many foundations the release check needs to find inside the scan range before it counts. Default 1. Raise it if a single stray foundation shouldn't qualify as a built-up area.
The foundation rule for releases: 0 ignores foundations entirely, 1 requires tribe-owned ones nearby, 2 accepts tribe or ally, 3 accepts anyone's, 4 blocks release near enemy foundations, 5 blocks near enemy or allied ones. Default 0. Range and headcount come from ReleaseNearbyStructureRange and ReleaseNearbyStructureAmount.
Controls whether cave volumes factor into Dinoball release checks. Default TRUE. The key name says releases ignore caves, but the official sheet asks 'should release be blocked by caves?' — those point in opposite directions, and the docs don't resolve which way TRUE actually swings.
Blueprint path for the structure type the nearby-structure release check hunts for. Default is the standard floor base (StructureBase_Floor). Only matters if ReleaseNearbyStructureMode has the nearby-foundation check switched on in the first place.
Makes release check the whitelist before letting a dino out of its Dinoball. Off by default, so RelaseWhitelist is ignored no matter what you've typed into it.
Comma-separated list of dino blueprint paths approved for release; only enforced while ReleaseObeysWhitelist is on. Empty by default. And yes, 'Relase' — the typo is the mod's, not ours, and the ini only answers to that spelling.
Makes release check the blacklist before a dino can leave its Dinoball. Off by default — ReleaseBlacklist sits inert until you flip this on.
Comma-separated list of dino blueprint paths barred from release; only enforced while ReleaseObeysBlacklist is on. Empty by default. Spelled correctly, unlike its whitelist sibling.
Scales the bounds used for the dino overlap check when releasing from a Dinoball. Default 0.5, meaning the check runs at half size. Raise it and releases demand more clear space; lower it and dinos squeeze out in tighter quarters.
Writes each dino release to the tribe log. On by default. This is the paper trail for working out exactly who released a Giga in the middle of base.
Dinoball Handling & Economy
The ball as an item: throwing while riding, swimming, or sprinting, auto-swap and auto-stack behavior, weight, stack size, and whether crystal can stand in for an empty ball. Cryopod conversion lives here too.
Blocks Dinoballs from being uploaded. On by default, and for good reason: ARK single-player and non-dedicated sessions have a bug that resets any dino inside an uploaded ball to level 1. Leave it on unless you enjoy delivering that news to your tribe.
When you equip a Dinoball, it announces the name and gender of the creature inside. On by default. Turn it off if you'd rather swap balls in silence.
Lets players throw Dinoballs from the back of a dino they're riding. On by default. Disable it if capture should require both feet on the ground.
Lets Dinoballs be thrown while submerged. On by default. Switch it off and nothing gets balled mid-swim.
Whether the radial swap works from a held Dinoball. On by default. The Digitizer has its own separate toggle, so you can allow one without the other.
After a successful capture, your hand automatically switches to a new Empty Dinoball so you can keep throwing. On by default. Turn it off if chain-capturing should cost a moment of inventory admin between throws.
After a release, your hand switches to the next relevant Dinoball instead of leaving you holding an empty one. On by default. Convenient for unloading an entire lineup from one spot.
Governs when Empty Dinoballs stack themselves: 0 always, 1 only when a stack already exists, 2 when a stack exists or you're over the threshold set by DinoballAutoStackMinAmount, 3 never. Default 0. Mode 2 is the only one that reads that threshold setting at all.
How many Empty Dinoballs you need before auto-stacking kicks in. Default 1. Only consulted when DinoballAutoStackMode is set to 2 — on any other mode this number sits in your ini doing nothing.
How many seconds a thrown Dinoball keeps traveling after it goes underwater. Default 0.75, so it dies fast beneath the surface. Raise it if your throws need actual range under the waves.
How many seconds a thrown Dinoball travels under normal conditions. Default 5. Underwater flight runs on its own, much stingier clock — see DinoballSubmergedProjectileLifespan.
How often Dinoball tooltips refresh their displayed info, in seconds. Default 2. The refresh is entirely client-side — the stored creature's data is never modified — so this is a cosmetics knob, not a data one.
Maximum stack size for Dinoball Stacks. Default 500. Raise it if your tribe hoards spheres like they're going out of print, lower it if inventory weight is supposed to be a real decision.
Base weight of Dinoballs and Dinoball Stacks. Default 0.5. Set it to taste depending on whether carrying a zoo in your pocket should feel free or cost you carry capacity.
Lets Terminals and Digitizers consume crystal as if it were a Dinoball. On by default, which turns every crystal node into a capture-supply run. Disable it to make actual Dinoballs the only accepted currency.
Lets players throw Dinoballs mid-sprint. On by default. Disable it if you think capturing something should cost at least a moment of standing still.
Scales how much of a captured dino's drag weight is added to the Dinoball's carry weight. Default 0.25, so a quarter of the drag weight lands in your inventory on top of the ball's base weight. Does nothing unless EnableDinoballDynamicWeight is on.
Makes filled Dinoballs actually weigh something: base ball weight plus the dino's drag weight times DinoballDragWeightMultiplier. Off by default, so a pocketed Giga weighs the same as a pocketed Dodo. Turn it on if weightless megafauna offends your server's physics.
Decides who still pays an empty Dinoball per capture. Default 0: everything consumes one. Mode 1 exempts Terminal auto-capture, 2 exempts the Digitizer, 3 lets both capture for free.
The migration lever: any cryopod entering a player's inventory converts automatically into a Dinoball. Off by default. Turn it on when you're moving a server off cryopods and want the old pods to phase themselves out.
Dino Digitizer
The capture tool itself: fire delay, range, firing while mounted, underwater, or running, and how it treats death caches it finds lying around.
Lets the Digitizer fire while you're riding a dino. On by default. Disable it to make players dismount before capturing — a small tax on drive-by digitizing.
Lets the Digitizer fire while underwater. On by default. Turn it off and ocean captures go back to being the logistical exercise nature intended.
Maximum firing distance for the Digitizer, measured in foundations. Default 35. Shorten it if digitizing dinos from a neighboring biome feels a little too comfortable.
Same radial swap, this time from the Digitizer. On by default. Independent of the Dinoball version — disable them separately if you only object to one.
Controls whose player death caches the Digitizer can collect: 0 only your own, 1 you and your tribe, 2 you, tribe, and allies, 3 anyone's, 4 prevents pickup entirely. Default 0. PvP admins will want an opinion on mode 3 before their players do.
A second Digitizer cache-pickup permission: 0 self and tribe, 1 adds allies, 2 anyone, 3 prevents pickup. Default 0. The official sheet reuses the player-death-cache wording from DigitizerPlayerCachePickupMode here, so it never actually says which caches this one governs.
Lets the Digitizer collect caches left by wild creatures — the official example is an alpha leaving a cache behind. On by default. Turn it off if alpha loot should still require walking over and picking it up the old-fashioned way.
The cooldown between Digitizer shots — how long it waits before it can fire again. Default 0.2. Raise it if rapid-fire digitizing feels less like careful creature storage and more like a machine gun.
Whether the Digitizer can fire while running. Off by default — unlike Dinoball throws, the mod makes you plant your feet for this one. Enable it if run-and-gun digitizing suits your server.
Depot Terminal Basics
The structure fundamentals: slots, power, health, decay, spoil multipliers, insulation, tribute access, and the kill functions. Placement caps sit at the bottom for when someone decides to build a terminal farm.
Lets the Depot Terminal insulate the area around it. On by default. TerminalInsulationRangeFoundations decides how far the comfort zone extends.
How far, in foundations, the Terminal's insulation effect reaches. Default 5. Only matters while AllowTerminalInsulateInRange is on.
How many inventory slots each Depot Terminal has. Default 500. Raise it if the hoard outgrows the furniture, lower it if you'd like the Terminal slightly less bottomless.
Multiplier on how quickly Depot Terminals decay. Default 1, meaning standard decay. Adjust it if you want unattended Terminals living or dying on different terms than the rest of your structures.
Lets the Depot Terminal double as a tribute structure, doing the same job as an Obelisk or Transmitter. On by default. Turn it off if you'd rather players make the traditional pilgrimage to an actual Obelisk.
How many seconds the Terminal is allowed to display its range before the visual disappears. Default 20. Raise it if you're still pacing out foundations when it vanishes.
Whether the Depot Terminal needs power to operate. On by default. Turn it off for primitive servers, or anyone who figures a machine that digitizes dinosaurs can run on vibes.
Multiplies the spoil timer of any item stored in the Depot Terminal — above 1 spoils slower, below 1 spoils faster. Default 2, so stored goods last twice as long. By default the Terminal must be powered for spoil multipliers to apply (see TerminalSpoilMultiplierRequiresPower).
The same lever scoped to consumables: multiplies their spoil timer while stored in the Terminal, above 1 slower, below 1 faster. Default 2.
Multiplies the spoil timer on eggs stored in the Terminal — above 1 slower, below 1 faster. Default 2, doubling shelf life for the egg stockpile.
Decides whether the Depot Terminal needs power before its spoil-timer multipliers apply. On by default, so an unpowered terminal just spoils things at the normal rate. Turn it off if the multipliers should work regardless of wiring.
Multiplies the XP awarded for killing dinos in the terminal. Default 1.2, a 20% bonus over base. Set it to 1 if remote culling shouldn't pay better than doing the deed in person.
Whether creatures can be killed directly through the terminal. On by default. Disable it if execution-by-menu feels a little too convenient for your server.
Sets the Depot Terminal's health pool. Default 150,000. Raise it if the structure holding your entire creature collection deserves to outlast the walls around it.
Multiplies all damage the terminal takes. Default 1, meaning normal damage. Drop it below 1 to make terminals tankier without touching TerminalHealthAmount; raise it if you want them fragile.
Whether the terminal can take damage at all. On by default. Set it to FALSE for outright immunity — at which point the health amount and damage multiplier settings are purely decorative.
When the foundations under a terminal are destroyed, this makes it behave like a vault and drop to the ground instead of dropping a cache. On by default. Turn it off if you'd rather foundation loss convert your dino storage into a cache.
Decides whether the Terminal's kill and kill-all functions grant experience. On by default. Turn it off if clearing out breeding rejects shouldn't double as a leveling program.
Shares the experience from Terminal kill functions with tribe members. On by default. Turn it off if the player doing the culling should keep the whole payout.
Whether the Terminal's auto-capture range display times out and disappears on its own. On by default. Turn it off to keep the range visible — useful while you're laying out pens around the terminal.
Caps how many Depot Terminals can be placed within one area, with the area measured by MaxTerminalsInRangeDistance. Default 0 — and the official sheet never says whether 0 means no cap or no Terminals, so the default's meaning is undocumented.
How many foundations out counts as 'in range' when enforcing the Terminal placement cap. Default 20. This is the measuring tape for MaxTerminalsInRangeAmount — on its own it changes nothing.
Restricts what players can place in a Depot Terminal to Dinoballs and nothing else. Off by default, so any item goes in. Enable it if the Terminal keeps turning into the tribe's junk drawer.
Newborn Auto-Capture
The terminal's headline feature: newborns in range get balled automatically. Range, batch size, item handling, per-species allow and deny lists, and what happens to mating when the terminal fills up.
Lets Depot Terminals capture newborn creatures automatically. On by default, so fresh babies go straight into storage instead of wandering off. Switch it off if newborn wrangling is a job you'd rather do yourself.
How far, in foundations, a Terminal scans for newborns to auto-capture. Default 10. Widen it for sprawling breeding pens, shrink it if the Terminal keeps claiming babies from the pen next door.
When a Terminal activates, it checks its surroundings for newborns right away. On by default. Off means a freshly powered Terminal ignores whatever babies were already standing around when it came online.
Whether Terminals transfer items off newborns they capture. On by default. Set it to false and those items drop on the ground instead — feed your floor, not your storage.
Comma-separated list of creatures Depot Terminals should never auto-capture. Empty by default, and like its manual-capture sibling it sits inert until AutoCaptureObeysBlacklist is on.
Comma-separated list of creatures Depot Terminals are explicitly allowed to auto-capture. Empty by default, and does nothing until AutoCaptureObeysWhitelist is enabled.
When on, Terminal auto-capture checks each creature against AutoCaptureBlacklist before taking it. Off by default, so the Terminal's newborn auto-capture ignores the list until you enable this.
When on, Terminal auto-capture checks that a creature is on AutoCaptureWhitelist before capturing it. Off by default. The lever for servers where only certain species belong in the automated pipeline.
When a Depot Terminal fills up, it switches off mating and wandering for creatures in its range — no sense breeding newborns a full Terminal can't collect. On by default; disable it if you'd rather handle the overflow yourself.
Caps how many babies the Depot Terminal scoops up per batch when auto-capturing newborns. The official sheet lists the default as "25 OR 150" and never says which one you actually get, so check your own config before trusting either number.
Passive Production & Fertilizer
Stored creatures keep earning their keep: fully configurable passive production, poop on a schedule, and fertilizer distributed to nearby crop plots. The production table itself is a JSON config — there's a builder linked on that field.
Seconds between each Terminal attempt to passively generate for its stored creatures. Default 120, so one attempt every two minutes. Lower it for faster turnaround, raise it if your Terminals are allowed a slower shift.
Multiplies how frequently each creature passively generates inside a Terminal. Default 1; values below 1 shorten the wait, values above 1 stretch it. This scales the timer, not the payout — 0.5 means twice as often, not twice as much.
URL the mod hits with an HTTP GET to fetch a passive production JSON config. Blank by default, meaning no request is sent and no remote config applies. The author hosts a builder at dinodepot-editor.pages.dev if hand-writing JSON isn't your idea of a good evening.
The master switch for Terminals passively producing for the creatures stored in them. On by default. Flip it off and Terminal passive production stands down entirely — the related interval and multiplier settings become decorative.
Whether a Terminal needs power before it will passively produce. On by default, so an unpowered Terminal stores creatures and generates nothing. Turn it off if production shouldn't need a generator in the loop.
Whether babies count when the Terminal calculates passive production amounts. Off by default — juveniles contribute nothing until they grow up. Enable it if the nursery should pull its weight.
Master switch for Depot Terminals generating poop. On by default. Turn it off and the rest of the poop pipeline — interval, chance, cap — goes quiet.
Requires the terminal to be powered before it generates any poop. On by default. Disable it if fertilizer production shouldn't depend on your electrical grid — the dinos certainly don't.
Counts babies toward poop generation. On by default. Switch it off if only grown dinos should contribute to the compost line.
How often the terminal attempts a round of poop production. Default 300 — the sheet skips the unit, though every interval it does label runs in seconds. Each attempt still has to pass PoopGenerationChance before anything drops.
Per-dino odds of producing poop on each generation attempt. Default 0.5 — a coin flip. Push it toward 1 for dependable output, toward 0 if fertilizer should stay a chore.
Hard ceiling on how much poop generation will produce. Default 15. Keeps a packed terminal from turning into an industrial manure operation.
Lets Depot Terminals distribute fertilizer to nearby crop plots. On by default. Paired with poop generation, this is about as close to a self-running farm as ARK gets.
Gates fertilizer distribution behind terminal power. On by default. Flip it off if your greenhouse operation predates electricity.
How often the terminal runs a fertilizer delivery pass. Default 300 — the sheet leaves the unit unlabeled, but its explicitly labeled intervals are all in seconds. Shorten it if crop plots keep running dry between rounds.
How far the terminal scans for crop plots to fertilize, in foundations. Default 20. Size it to your greenhouse — plots outside the radius fend for themselves.
Counts variant and child classes toward passive production defined for their base type — the mod's example: Aberrant snails produce what snails produce. On by default. Turn it off and variants need their own explicit production entries.
Eggs & Incubation
Unfertilized egg laying with Oviraptor and Hesper bonuses, fertilized egg incubation, and the terminal's habit of vacuuming up nearby eggs. Most of it wants power — that's configurable too.
Master switch for the terminal passively producing unfertilized eggs. On by default. Flip it off and the egg interval and egg power settings have nothing left to do.
Whether unfertilized egg production needs a powered terminal. On by default. Disable it if the eggs should keep coming whether or not anyone remembered the generator.
Seconds between egg-laying rounds in the terminal. Default 1020 — every 17 minutes. It's a guaranteed interval: every eligible female lays on each cycle, so shortening it scales output across your entire stored roster.
Counts babies toward the Terminal's unfertilized egg output. Off by default, on the sturdy biological grounds that babies don't lay eggs. Turn it on if your egg economy prefers volume over realism.
Requires a male in the Terminal before females will lay unfertilized eggs. On by default — the eggs are unfertilized either way, but the mod likes a chaperone. Turn it off and an all-female Terminal produces on its own.
Multiplies how many unfertilized eggs get laid with each interval. Default 1. Final counts are rounded, so don't expect fractional eggs to survive the math.
Bonus multiplier on unfertilized egg counts when an Oviraptor is in the Terminal — only one is needed for it to apply. Default 1.66. Final amounts still round, same as the base multiplier.
The odds of a Hesper laying a golden egg. Default 0.01 (1%). Raise it if golden eggs should be an income stream, leave it if they should be an occasion.
The on/off switch for Hespers laying golden eggs. On by default. HesperGoldEggChance sets how often it happens; this sets whether it can happen at all.
Multiplies how quickly the Terminal incubates eggs. Default 1.1, so stored eggs already cook slightly faster than baseline. Raise it to turn the Terminal into a proper hatchery.
The lowest point the Terminal will take an egg's incubation to, on a 0–100 scale. Default 0.01, which is also the hard minimum the mod accepts.
Makes Terminal incubation contingent on power. On by default. Turn it off if eggs should keep warming through blackouts and generator mishaps.
Whether the Terminal can incubate fertilized eggs at all. On by default. Disable it if hatching should remain a standing-around-with-air-conditioners tradition.
How often the Terminal updates incubation progress on fertilized eggs. Default 30 — presumably seconds, but the official sheet never actually names the unit.
The chance a female in the Terminal lays an unfertilized egg. Default 0.15 (15%). Push it toward 1 for an egg assembly line, toward 0 for the occasional pleasant surprise.
How often the Terminal sweeps its surroundings for fertilized eggs; the search only covers the terminal's auto-capture range. Default 10 seconds. Raise it if you don't need eggs collected within moments of hitting the ground.
Lets the Terminal search for and pick up fertilized eggs laid nearby. On by default. Turn it off if walking over to grab eggs is supposed to be part of the breeding experience.
Requires the Terminal to be powered before it will search for nearby eggs. On by default. Switch it off and egg collection keeps running through blackouts, no generator required.
The Terminal only searches for nearby eggs if it has an Oviraptor stored inside — the professional egg thief has to be on staff. On by default. Turn it off to skip the hiring requirement.
Caps how many fertilized eggs the Terminal can grab in a single search tick. Default 50. With the default 10-second search interval that is a lot of eggs per minute, so this mostly matters for industrial-scale hatcheries.
Lets the Terminal's fertilized-egg pickup also scoop up unfertilized eggs while it's out there. On by default; disable it if the auto-collector should stick to breeding eggs and leave the omelette supply on the ground.
Death Auto-Capture
Insurance for your tames: when a creature dies for an approved reason, it gets balled and sent to a nearby player or terminal instead. Off by default — you decide which deaths qualify and what the rescue costs.
Master switch for Death Auto Capture. Off by default, and none of the other DeathAutoCapture settings — required items, permitted death reasons, where the creature gets sent — matter until this is on.
Comma-separated blueprint paths of items Death Auto Capture consumes as its price of admission — the official example charges thatch and element. Default is empty, meaning capture-on-death costs nothing. Set the amounts with DeathAutoCaptureRequiresItemQuantities.
How many of each required item Death Auto Capture eats, matched by position to your DeathAutoCaptureRequiresItems list — so 1,5 means 1 of the first item and 5 of the second. Default is empty. Keep the two lists the same length or the pairing stops meaning anything.
Decides where an auto-captured creature gets sent when it dies. Valid modes: 0 = nearby player only, 1 = nearby Terminal only, 2 = player first with Terminal fallback, 3 = Terminal first with player fallback. Default 0, so with nobody in range the fallback modes start earning their keep.
Comma-separated list of death causes that trigger auto-capture; valid entries are Starved, Drowned, Burned, ImpaledBySpikes, Radiated, Poisoned, SufferedGravity, EnemyDinoAttacked, EnemyPlayerAttacked, and Other. Default is empty. Starved,Drowned covers the classic 'forgot the dino existed' portfolio.
Permits Death Auto Capture for every death reason at once — the shortcut for typing out the full list in AllowDeathAutoCaptureForReasons. Off by default. Turn it on if you'd rather not litigate how each dino died.
How far, measured in foundations, Death Auto Capture hunts for a valid inventory to deliver the creature to. Default 10. Outside that radius there's no valid recipient, so size it to how far your players wander from their Terminals.
Makes Terminals need power before they can receive a creature from Death Auto Capture. On by default, so an unpowered Terminal won't accept the delivery. Disable it if you'd rather the safety net not depend on the electric bill.
Requires Death Auto Capture to consume an empty Dinoball for each save — pulled from Empty Dinoballs, a Dinoball Stack, or crystal, same as the Digitizer and Terminal. On by default. Turn it off and death captures stop costing ammunition.
Storage Box & Gene Storage
Two support structures: the Dinoball Storage Box for bulk ball storage and the Gene Storage for trait work. Health, decay, slots, and placement caps for both.
Slot count for the Dinoball Storage Box. Default 500. Lower it if one box holding a small nation's worth of dinos feels excessive for your server.
Multiplies how quickly the Dinoball Storage Box decays. Default 1 for normal decay speed; higher rots abandoned boxes faster, lower buys them more time.
Health pool for the Dinoball Storage Box. Default 500,000 — more than three times tougher than the Depot Terminal's stock 150,000, so raiders have to genuinely commit to cracking one.
With this on (the default), a Storage Box whose floor is destroyed drops to the ground vault-style instead of bursting into an item cache. Turn it off if you'd rather gravity convert someone's collection into loose loot.
The Terminal cap's sibling, for Dinoball Storage Boxes: the maximum placeable within one area. Default 0, and as with the Terminal version the sheet never says whether 0 means unlimited or banned — undocumented, so test before building policy on it.
Sets how many foundations away counts as 'in range' when enforcing the Storage Box placement cap. Default 20. Pairs with MaxStoragesInRangeAmount; alone it does nothing.
Makes Gene Alteration run species checks before applying traits. On by default. Off applies traits without the species check getting a vote.
Makes Gene Alteration run baby age checks before applying traits. On by default. Turn it off and age stops being an obstacle to trait application.
Whether the Gene Storage needs power to function. On by default — no electricity, no gene work. Disable it for a fully off-grid gene bank.
Caps how many gene traits the Gene Storage can hold. Default 5,000. If your breeding program actually hits that ceiling, raise it — and maybe log off occasionally.
How many items fit in the Gene Storage's inventory. Default 6. This counts items, not traits — trait capacity is GeneStorageMaxGenes' job.
Multiplier on the Gene Storage's decay timer. Default 1 (standard decay). The official sheet only says it 'affects the decay timer' — which direction higher values push it isn't documented, so test before relying on it.
Sets how much health the Gene Storage structure has. Default 10,000 — noticeably squishier than the Depot Terminal's 150,000, so site your gene bank accordingly.
Admin & Advanced
Admin bypasses for nearly every capture and release check, the recovery backup system, remote config URLs, and the in-game settings lockout. If you're pasting a URL here, make sure it's a raw link.
Lets admins skip the team check on capture, so they can ball creatures their tribe doesn't own. On by default — worth knowing before you hand out admin.
Whether admins can bypass the check that blocks capturing a creature with a character attached to it. Off by default, so admins can't yank a dino out from under its rider.
Whether admins can bypass the mission-restriction check when capturing. Off by default; if you want everyone capturing mission creatures, that's AllowAnyoneCaptureMissionCreatures, not this.
Whether admins can bypass the attached-structure check when capturing — the one that trips on platform saddles with buildings still on them. Off by default, so admins follow the same CapturePlatformMode rules as everyone else.
Lets admins release creatures inside boss rooms that release checks would otherwise block. Off by default — and since the player-facing ReleaseIgnoresPreventionVolumes ships ON, this one only earns its keep once you've tightened that.
Lets admins release creatures where map download rules say no — Aberration being the usual suspect. Off by default, matching the player-facing ReleaseIgnoresDownloadRules.
Lets admins release creatures from Dinoballs even when the server tame cap says no. Off by default, so admin releases obey the cap like everyone else's. This is the admin-only bypass; ReleaseIgnoresTameCap is the everyone version.
Lets admins bypass mission-rule checks when releasing a creature. Off by default. Turn it on if your admins need to release things where mission rules would normally veto it — regular players still answer to ReleaseIgnoresMissionRules.
Lets admin releases skip the nearby-foundation check everyone else is subject to. On by default. Switch it off if admins should live under the same ReleaseNearbyStructureMode rules as the rest of the server.
Whether admins bypass the cave checks on release. Off by default, so admins queue up with everyone else. Turn it on if your staff need to release creatures in caves without the paperwork.
Lets admins bypass the unclaimed-capture checks. Off by default — admin status earns no exemption here until you grant it. The lever to pull when the unclaimed rule should apply to players but not to staff.
Lets admins capture recently-hurt dinos without waiting out the cooldown. Off by default, so admins wait like everyone else until you flip it.
Whether admins can capture wild creatures. Off by default — admin status alone doesn't unlock pocketing untamed wildlife until you flip this to TRUE.
Lets admins skip the sleeping-dino capture check. On by default — admin cleanup work doesn't wait on nap schedules.
Gives admins a toggle that bypasses the nearby-structure capture requirement — a switch they can flip, not a permanent exemption. On by default. Turn it off if admins should hunt for foundations like everyone else.
How many recent captures the admin recovery menu keeps on file — only manually captured dinos make the list. Default 500, and the docs recommend staying below 3000. This is your undo button for capture disasters, so don't starve it.
How often, in seconds, the mod culls recovery data — culling drops the oldest entries once you're past the stored maximum. Default 1200 (every 20 minutes). Housekeeping, not a gameplay lever; leave it alone unless you have a reason.
How long the mod waits after a capture before running a recovery-list cull, and each new capture resets the timer. Default 10 seconds, so a burst of captures triggers one cull at the end instead of one per ball. Sensible batching — probably leave it be.
Whether the mod attempts to cull recovery data after captures at all. On by default. Turn it off and you're leaning on the forced interval cull to clear out old entries instead.
Labels Dinoballs created by admins — both SpawnDinoInBall command output and Admin Recovery restores — as temporary. Off by default, so spawned balls carry no special tag.
Hides admin recovery entirely in-game. Off by default. Flip it on if you'd rather nobody sees the safety net.
URL defining the items and default filters players get when dinos are captured or the Digitizer picks up caches. Defaults to the mod's own list at https://pastebin.com/XD1eihLd. Point it at your own URL to customize what gets filtered.
The URL Dino Depot fetches its SpawnDinoInBall JSON config from. Defaults to the mod author's config on GitHub (raw.githubusercontent.com/DelilahEve/DinoDepot-RemoteConfig). Point it at your own raw JSON to run a custom spawn-command config.
Points at a class-mapping JSON (raw link required) that swaps creatures on release: dinos display as captured right up until release, then come out as the mapped class with no warning to the player. Empty by default, meaning no remapping. An example mapping file lives on the mod author's GitHub.
CSV of dino classes that get the same treatment as Wyverns, Rock Drakes, and Magmasaurs when the mod decides whether a creature was hatched by a player. Empty by default. Add species whose eggs are stolen rather than bred so the hatched-by-a-player check judges them by the right rules.
Completely locks out the mod's in-game settings menu, so config changes happen in your ini or not at all. Off by default. The player preferences menu is a separate thing — it stays available to everyone and can't be disabled.
CSV list of dino classes allowed to release despite map-defined download restrictions — Aberration being the mod's own example. Empty by default, so map rules apply to everyone.
Forcefully skips the Titan download timer. Off by default, meaning Titans wait out the standard timer like everything else.
Advanced / Raw Config Overrides
An escape hatch for any [DinoDepot] line this form doesn't have a field for yet. One Key=Value per line, appended verbatim. Pasted lines are not read back into the form on import.
About the Dino Depot config generator
Dino Depot is one of the most-installed creature-storage mods on ARK: Survival Ascended — Dinoballs to store your tames, Depot Terminals to automate the boring parts (newborn capture, incubation, egg collection, passive production), and a Digitizer for ranged capture. It's also one of the most configurable mods anywhere: 227 documented settings, all maintained by the mod team in an official config sheet — which is exactly what this page is built from.
Every tip above is written from the official description for that key. The handful the sheet leaves under-documented carry a ⚠ verify badge — we flag what we can't confirm instead of guessing.
Where do these settings go?
The official sheet is unambiguous: "All options go under [DinoDepot] in GameUserSettings.ini." Add the block at the end of the file:
\ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsServer\GameUserSettings.ini(Windows servers)/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini(Linux servers)- Nitrado, GPortal, and most managed hosts: control panel → "Configuration Files" or "Expert Settings"
Stop the server, paste, save, restart. Anything you don't set keeps the mod's default — which is why the output here only contains what you changed.
Do I have to configure anything?
No. Dino Depot works out of the box; the 227 settings exist for servers that want the details their way — whether black/whitelists actually get enforced, what regenerates inside a ball, how hard the Terminal automates your breeding line. If you set a capture or release list, mind the matching "obeys" toggle — the list does nothing without it, and this page warns you when that happens.
How current is this?
The dataset comes straight from the mod team's official config reference (settings span mod versions v1 through v146) and gets re-pulled when the mod ships notable updates. Spot a setting that's missing or behaving differently? Use "Report an issue" above.
More ARK tools
- ARK GameUserSettings.ini Generator — the base-game server settings
- ARK Game.ini Generator — breeding, XP, stats, decay
- Shiny Dinos Ascended Config Generator — the Shiny! mod, plus the variant list
- Cybers Structures Config Generator — the biggest ASA mod's settings
- Top Shared ARK Configs — most-shared configs from other admins
- ARK Server Settings Explained — what every base setting does
- All ARK generators