asa-threat-surface

ARK Survival Ascended (ASA) client-trust / threat-surface research for ARK Maker State Lab assessment: static game-state catalogs, live single-player disk evidence, machine-queryable lookup packs, and state capsules for future patch regression.

asa-threat-surface repo  =  current evidence map (pre-lab)
ARK Maker State Lab      =  future DLC-only SP reproduction chamber
toolkit swarm            =  refinery — chat sees verdict packets only

Abuse framing focuses on client-trusted paths (movement, projectiles, saves, persistence) — not cheat-brand strings in vanilla paks.

What's in this repo

Path	Contents
docs/	ARK Maker State Lab plan spine (capsules, patch workflow, safety boundary)
capsules/	State tray manifests + verdict scaffolds (capsule_000_survival_test first)
game-states/	Enum catalogs from ArkAscended.exe + pak reconstruction (EPrimalItemType, ECheatActorType, …)
live-data/scripts/	Crosswalk builders, LLM lookup pack builder, SP save monitor, SP memory reader (BattlEye off)
live-data/bundles/	Session bundles, item/creature crosswalk v1/v2, drag-and-drop LLM lookup packs
live-data/sources/mxcheatui/	Key MxCheatUI spawn table extracts (for rebuild)
threat-surface/	Phase 1–2 indexes, cheat/intel CSVs, docs (not the ~258 GB pak mirror)

Quick start — LLM lookup (ChatGPT / Claude / Grok)

1. Attach live-data/bundles/asa_game_lookup_quick_v1.json (session-focused, ~220 KB) or asa_game_lookup_v1.md (full catalog).
2. Paste instructions from live-data/bundles/asa_game_lookup_system_prompt_v1.txt.
3. Ask: "How do I give myself a Tek Rifle?", "Blueprint for Oasisaur?", "Was Tek Generator in the session save?"

Rebuild crosswalk + lookup pack

Requires local paths on S: (or adjust scripts):

python live-data/scripts/build_item_creature_crosswalk.py
python live-data/scripts/build_asa_game_lookup_pack.py

MxCheatUI table inputs: live-data/sources/mxcheatui/ or full unpack under <local-data>/ARK_LiveData\bundles\_extract\.

Live SP monitor

python live-data/scripts/asa_game_state_monitor.py
# or
./live-data/scripts/START_MONITOR.ps1

Mirrors saves/config to <local-data>/ARK_LiveData\ (not committed — see .gitignore).

Live SP memory reader (optional)

Singleplayer only. BattlEye must be disabled (-NoBattlEye). Read-only numeric vitals — no API calls, no tokens, no player names in output.

$env:ARK_LIVE_DATA = "<local-data>\ARK_LiveData"   # optional
./live-data/scripts/START_MEMORY_READER.ps1

See docs/MEMORY_READER_SP.md, docs/COMMUNITY_USE_POLICY.md, and docs/SAFETY_BOUNDARY.md.

Bridge mods (on-disk references)

Mod	CurseForge	Role
MxCheatUI	1028139	Item/creature spawn datatables → blueprint crosswalk
GaiaCommands	936457	Admin asset search bridge

Session reference (The Center SP, 2026-06-11)

Validated in live-data/bundles/session_20260611_center_combat_destruction_v1.json:

• Activity: grapples, element, Tek Rifle structure/dino destruction
• Exit save SHA256 in bundle manifest (full .ark stays local on S:)
• Player/tribe names in bundle logs are local research notes — scrub before any public fork

Local bulk data (not in git)

Raw paks are never committed — no .pak, .ucas, or .utoc files belong in this repository. Only derived indexes, CSVs, JSON catalogs, and small MxCheatUI table extracts.

Keep on S: and regenerate indexes as needed:

• <local-data>/ARK_ThreatSurface\ — full IoStore mirror, meat string scan, retoc extracts
• <local-data>/ARK_LiveData\saves\ — mirrored .ark / .arkbak
• <local-data>/ARK_GameStates\ — working copy (this repo carries published snapshots)

Browse online

After enabling GitHub Pages (Settings → Pages → Deploy from branch main / root), open:

https://ctherain.github.io/asa-threat-surface/

The index.html viewer has three tabs:

Tab	What it does
Catalog	Search items/creatures, blueprint paths, cheat templates (quick or full 2.5k pack)
State Simulator	Step through scenarios (craft, combat, tame, cheats) — enums → disk persistence layers
Enum Explorer	Pick EPrimalItemType, ECheatActorType, EActorListsBP, etc. → linked catalog rows

Simulation data: game-states/asa_game_states_sim.json (rebuild with python scripts/build_game_states_sim.py).

ARK Maker State Lab (capsules)

Evidence bridge — threat-surface proof becomes reproducible trays:

observed behavior → evidence packet → ARK Maker capsule → Lua logger → patch verdict

Doc	Purpose
docs/ARK_MAKER_STATE_LAB.md	Operating concept and two-layer model
docs/CAPSULE_SCHEMA.md	capsule_manifest.json and state tray slots
docs/PATCH_DAY_WORKFLOW.md	Re-run matrix after game updates
docs/COMMUNITY_USE_POLICY.md	Discord/public repo rules — SP-only, no tracking, your responsibility
docs/SAFETY_BOUNDARY.md	Red lines (no raw saves/paks, no intel automation)
docs/MEMORY_READER_SP.md	SP-only memory digest — BattlEye off, read-only
docs/STEAM_PATCH_DIFF.md	Steam buildid/manifest diff → exe surfaces → crosswalk

First capsule: capsules/capsule_000_survival_test/ — one Tek Rifle, save/reload survival check.

License

Research / assessment artifacts. Game content © Studio Wildcard. Mod extracts © respective authors.