Game servers ·
How to set up an ARK: Survival Ascended server
Order an ARK: Survival Ascended server, start it, join with your tribe and change rates, maps and mods. Step by step, from checkout to your first login.
An ARK: Survival Ascended server on Headpat Space gives you and your tribe a world that stays online, with your own rates and rules.
What you need
- A Headpat Space account with a verified email address and your billing details filled in.
- ARK: Survival Ascended on PC (Steam). Crossplay with consoles is not covered in this guide.
1. Order the server
- Sign in to the panel, open Game Servers in the sidebar and click New server.
- Under 1. Pick a game, choose ARK: Survival Ascended.
- Under 2. Pick a variant, choose the variant. If there is only one, the panel picks it for you.
- Under 3. Pick a location, choose the location closest to your players.
- Under 4. Configure resources, set CPU, RAM and disk. The recommended values are already selected. ARK needs a lot of memory and disk space, so do not go below them.
- Under 5. Name and finalize, give the server a name.
- Check Game settings. Give your server its own Server Name, the name players search for in the game. The Server Admin Password is required (letters, numbers,
-and_only). Server Password is optional. - Click Continue to checkout and pay. You land on the page of your new server, where the installation starts on its own.
2. Start the server
The server does not start by itself after the installation. Watch the Console until the installer is done, then click Start under Server actions.
The first start takes several minutes. Wait until the status shows Running before you try to join.
3. Join your server
The Address card on the server page shows the Host and the Port of your server.
- Start ARK: Survival Ascended and choose Join Game.
- Switch the server list to unofficial servers and tick the option that shows player servers.
- Type the Server Name of your server into the search field and join it.
A new server can take a few minutes to show up in the list. If it stays hidden, switch on console access in the game settings, open the in-game console and connect directly with the host and port from the Address card:
open 203.0.113.10:7777
4. Make yourself admin
Open the in-game console and enter your admin password:
enablecheats YourAdminPassword
Two handy admin commands:
cheat saveworld
cheat broadcast Server restart in 5 minutes
The field below the console in the panel accepts the same commands without cheat, for example saveworld.
5. Change the game settings
Startup variables
Open Startup. Under Variables you find the values the panel passes to the server at start, such as Server Map, Server Name, Max Players and the passwords. Server PvE switches between PvE (1) and PvP (0). Change a field, click Save next to it and restart the server.
To switch maps, enter the map name in Server Map. The names end in _WP, for example TheIsland_WP, ScorchedEarth_WP, TheCenter_WP, Aberration_WP or Extinction_WP. Each map has its own save, so your progress on the old map stays where it is.
GameUserSettings.ini
Rates and gameplay rules are stored in ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/GameUserSettings.ini.
- Click Stop under Server actions. ARK writes its settings back to the file when it shuts down, so changes made while the server runs are lost.
- Open Files, go to the folder above and click
GameUserSettings.ini. - Change the values under
[ServerSettings]and click Save. - Click Start.
Settings people change most often:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
XPMultiplier | How fast players level up |
TamingSpeedMultiplier | How fast creatures are tamed |
HarvestAmountMultiplier | How many resources you get per hit |
DifficultyOffset | The level of wild creatures, from 0.0 to 1.0 |
OverrideOfficialDifficulty | 5.0 allows wild creatures up to level 150 |
Leave MaxPlayers and ServerAdminPassword in the file alone. The panel fills them in from Variables on every start.
6. Add mods
Mods for ARK: Survival Ascended come from CurseForge and are identified by a numeric ID. Open Startup and enter the IDs in MOD IDs, separated by commas and without spaces. Click Save next to it and restart. The server downloads the mods at start, and players get them automatically when they join.
Make a backup before you add or remove mods: see Back up and restore your game server.
If something does not work
- The server is not in the list: wait a few minutes after the start, check that you are looking at unofficial servers and that player servers are shown, and search for the exact Server Name.
- Players cannot connect after a game update: the server has to run the same version as the game. Click Restart: while Auto-update server under Startup is
1, the server updates on every start. If that is not enough, click Reinstall under Server actions and leave Also delete all files switched off, so the installer updates the game and your world stays. - The server stops while starting or lags: look at Live usage on the server page. If RAM stays close to the limit, give the server more memory under Change plan.
Ready to start? Order your ARK: Survival Ascended server.