I personally loved the config DML had, and it's one reason I always used it - however, this has basically no options you can change, which is a shame.

It'd be great if we got a config akin to DML's - setting custom variants of mobs, adding/removing loot from the Fabricator, changing the TF usage per-tier of each model, etc.

All of these can be accomplished by using a datapack to change the data models https://github.com/Shadows-of-Fire/Hostile-Neural-Networks/tree/1.19/src/main/resources/data/hostilenetworks/data_models

god, why it always a datapack :'c

Because that is the direction Mojang has opted for Minecraft to take.