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Configuration

ArkBossCooldown is configured through a single config.json in the plugin folder:

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ShooterGame/Binaries/Win64/ArkApi/Plugins/ArkBossCooldown/config.json

A second file, config_commented.json, ships alongside it. It is the same config with // comments — read it, but don't rename it over config.json (comments are not valid JSON).

The keys LicenseKey, Verbose, LogToFile, and Database are shared by every Bytemart plugin and are documented on the Common Configuration page. This page covers the keys unique to ArkBossCooldown.

💡 Validate before you start. Always validate your JSON after editing (e.g. with JSONLint). A load error code of 1114 means a JSON syntax error — easy to cause in the long Bosses array.

TestMode

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"TestMode": false

When true, the plugin logs the blueprint path of every item any player crafts to the server console. This is how you find the exact path of a tribute item to put in Bosses:

  1. Set TestMode to true and reload (ArkBossCooldown.reload).
  2. Craft the tribute you want to gate.
  3. Copy the path from the console line — it looks like [TestMode] Crafted item blueprint: Blueprint'/Game/...'.
  4. Paste it into Bosses, set TestMode back to false, and reload again.
Field Type Default Description
TestMode boolean false Log every crafted item's blueprint path.

⚠️ Turn it off again. With TestMode on, a busy server writes a console line for every craft by every player. It is a lookup tool, not a setting to leave enabled.

BossStartCooldown

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"BossStartCooldown": 5

How many seconds the whole server must wait between two boss starts. The first tribute craft arms the cooldown; every other tribute craft is refused until it expires.

Field Type Default Description
BossStartCooldown number 5 Seconds between boss starts, server-wide.

The default of 5 is a debounce — it absorbs a burst of spam clicks and is invisible in normal play. Larger values turn the plugin into a real rate limit, which works, but be aware of two things:

  • It is server-wide. A 30-minute cooldown means one tribe starting a boss blocks every other tribe for 30 minutes. That is a design decision for your server, not a bug.
  • It does not survive a restart. The armed cooldown lives in memory, so a server restart (or a plugin unload/load) clears it. Fine for a few seconds; worth knowing if you set it to hours.

ArkBossCooldown.reload picks up a new value immediately, but deliberately leaves an already-armed cooldown running.

CooldownMessage

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"CooldownMessage": {
  "Enabled": true,
  "Channel": "Notification",
  "Message": "Boss is on cooldown, please wait %delay%.",
  "Color": { "R": 255, "G": 0, "B": 0, "A": 255 },
  "Scale": 1.0,
  "Time": 5.0
}

What the player who was refused sees. Only that player is notified — nothing is broadcast to the rest of the server.

Field Type Default Description
Enabled boolean true Set to false to refuse the boss start silently.
Channel string "Notification" "Chat", "Notification", or "Broadcast". An unrecognised value falls back to "Chat".
Message string see above The text. Supports the placeholders below.
Color object red R, G, B, A, each 0–255. A is opacity.
Scale number 1.0 Text size. Notification channel only — ignored on the others.
Time number 5.0 Seconds the message stays on screen. Notification and Broadcast only — a chat line stays in the chat log regardless.

Placeholders

Placeholder Expands to Example
%delay% The remaining time, spelled out 1 Minute, 5 Seconds
%seconds% The remaining time as a plain number of seconds 65

Use %delay% for a message players read, and %seconds% when you want something compact:

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"Message": "Boss on cooldown - %seconds%s remaining."

💡 Notification also accepts an Icon. Add an "Icon" key with a texture path to show an image alongside the notification. It is not in the shipped config; add it yourself if you want one — the config repair only ever adds missing keys, so it will survive updates.

Bosses

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"Bosses": [
  "Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/CoreBlueprints/Items/Armor/Cloth/PrimalItem_BossTribute_Spider_Easy.PrimalItem_BossTribute_Spider_Easy'",
  "Blueprint'/Game/Fjordur/Boss/Arena/PrimalItem_BossTribute_FenrirBoss_Hard.PrimalItem_BossTribute_FenrirBoss_Hard'"
]

The blueprint paths of every tribute item that arms the cooldown. Anything not in this list crafts completely normally — the plugin ignores it.

Field Type Description
Bosses array of strings Full blueprint paths, including the Blueprint'...' wrapper and the duplicated asset name after the final .. Matched exactly.

The shipped list covers the tribute items for The Island, The Center, Scorched Earth, Ragnarok, Aberration, Valguero, Fjordur, Lost Island, and Crystal Isles, at every difficulty.

To gate anything else — another map, a modded arena, or a custom tribute — use TestMode to capture the path and add it here. To stop gating a boss, delete its line.

⚠️ Copy paths exactly. The match is byte-for-byte on the full path. A missing trailing ', a shortened path, or the asset name typed once instead of twice all mean "no match", and the tribute will craft with no cooldown at all. There is no error for an unrecognised path, so check your change with a real craft.

Full example

A 15-minute limit announced in chat:

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{
  "LicenseKey": "PLACE_YOUR_LICENSEKEY_HERE",
  "Verbose": false,
  "LogToFile": false,
  "TestMode": false,
  "BossStartCooldown": 900,
  "CooldownMessage": {
    "Enabled": true,
    "Channel": "Chat",
    "Message": "A boss fight has already started. Next one available in %delay%.",
    "Color": { "R": 255, "G": 180, "B": 0, "A": 255 },
    "Scale": 1.0,
    "Time": 8.0
  },
  "Bosses": [
    "Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/CoreBlueprints/Items/Armor/Cloth/PrimalItem_BossTribute_Spider_Easy.PrimalItem_BossTribute_Spider_Easy'"
  ],
  "Database": {
    "MysqlHost": "localhost",
    "MysqlPort": 3306,
    "MysqlUser": "username",
    "MysqlPass": "password",
    "MysqlDB": "database"
  }
}

ℹ️ Database is required but unused. ArkBossCooldown connects on startup like every Bytemart plugin, but stores nothing of its own. Point it at any database the server can reach.

Next steps: