(Please read everything before using!  Also, please endorse if you enjoy it.  There's a donation button somewhere if you love it.)

v1.1 is out!  It's only in the MODULAR file for now - by popular demand, aggressive creatures options are now included, and extra-aggressive behavior tweaks - both modular options!

v0.7 Is a complete rewrite - both of Space Safari and NMS.  I didn't just edit values, I changed the way the tables pull data, and what data they pull.

• Planets all have 16-18 species (the cap - still looking for how to circumvent this).
• Species are much more diverse on each planet, except for a few rare ecosystem types (RNG may get you)
• Creature sizes are sane again; "Clumps" are gone.
• Birds now flock.  (Might get out of control, but it was beautiful during my own playtesting)
• Scanner rewards have been reworked to compensate for the sheer number of creatures, the increase in rare creatures, and the species per planet: "Rare" scans are worth ~1/3rd as much; common and uncommon reduced by about 20%.  Nanites are 10 for each species upload, across the board (planet full-scan rewards are not affected, so it's 900 per planet!)
• A modular version is coming, but it's hours to rewrite these tables again for different versions.
  

CONTEST

Hey, I'm a little late, but I have some contest winners!  Their images are up on the Images tab, and the links to first and second place particular pics are:
First Place: Dazaster: https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1634/images/724/724-1534096978-2006768493.png (WTF IS that thing!?)
Second Place: JP193: https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1634/images/724/724-1534119891-1430444124.jpeg (Yes, the predators are shameless, now!)

FEATURES

CREATURES:

• More of them, much much more; in larger groups, with more variety
• Sizes are more dynamic and no longer limited by type.
• Behaviors are much more realistic:  Herbivores graze in groups; Predators stalk them (also now sometimes in groups); babies play together across species; stampedes can occur during storms (or if you or a predator pack scare them enough)
• Animals can migrate vast distances together (before, they just wandered in circles)
• Predators can actually catch their prey now, too; they will stalk a pack and attack the weakest link
• "Rarer" species are still fewer, but they "mix in" now, instead of "hiding out."  For more common species, herd social dynamics have been added.
• Sizes of animals are much more dynamic.  Tiny animals have been eliminated (babies of any species are still much smaller than adults), and maximum sizes have been significantly increased.
• Birds form up like birds should, and fly in migrations (instead of tight circles!), sometimes occupying large swaths of the sky.
• The ocean is no longer a barren wasteland.  Schools of fish are actual schools, and they swim through much larger areas.  Various schools will come together and apart.  Sharks and whales roam much farther and hunt more effectively, and may also gather into packs.
• The range of species per planet is wider and more top-heavy  (should be - seems to be - needs more testing!)
• Because of the variety mixture within groups, it should be MUCH easier to find all the species of a given planet (just wander around for a bit)
• More behavior work is being done as I can make my way through the many variables and test how they interact.
  

• The delay between adding species to the planet has been eliminated (before, it could take an hour before the rarest species spawned at all - that delay has been removed.  You don't have to *wait* to complete your hunt for "all creatures.")
• v0.5: Most of the game's artificial limitations and forced planetary ecosystem types have been eliminated.  Experience truly alien worlds!
  

SCANNERS:

• Modular version includes customizable options
• Green dots no longer appear for creatures you've discovered.  First, why mark known creatures?  Second, because of the increased density, those green dots make it hard to find the red one.
• Red dots are much larger and... sleeker.  Reworked.  Makes it easy to find those missing scans!  ("Dots" changes do not conflict with other mods, unless they replace the same textures)
• Scanners are much more accurate for picking up creatures
• Scanners are much faster to scan creatures (Affects GCGAMEPLAYGLOBALS.GLOBALS; conflicts with any other mod that does so)
• Optional scanning reward rebalance on its way
  

As stated, this is in very early development - more is coming!


Other Mods: I've already been asked how this compares to Fantastic Beasts.  First, this changes about 100 times more things, including many of the base "globals" that FB doesn't touch.  As such, if you want a more "subtle" or vanilla mod, that's probably your better bet - this one is more ambitious (with a likely larger performance hit, but I haven't seen any FPS drop).  Also, to be honest: FB includes a lot of extra files that aren't being used or changed.  Finally, this mod is based on scanning and exploration.  I couldn't scan birds at all in FB, because they would pop in, swoop, and pop out.  This mod slows them way down to make it easier to scan them, and makes scanning MUCH faster, while also increasing the size and prevalence of the "red dots" and weeding out the green ones.  This is, first, a creature-hunting mod.