ARK: Survival Evolved
ARK: Survival Evolved
25 ArticlesGetting Started with your ARK Server
Survive in a world filled with dinosaurs in ARK: Survival Evolved, where you’ll gather resources, build bases, tame creatures, and explore a vast, dangerous environment. Whether you play solo or with others, every decision shapes your survival. An ARK: Survival Evolved dedicated server allows you to create a persistent world for you and your players, with full control over settings, mods, and the overall gameplay experience. --- Getting Started The following articles cover the most common questions you may have when first starting with your new ARK server. - How to Join your ARK Server - How to Set an ARK Server Password - How to Add Admins to your ARK Server - How to Set a Server Admin Password on your ARK Server - How to Find your Tribe or Player ID - How to Change the Difficulty Level on your ARK Server - How to Change your ARK Server Map - How to Enable Gamma on your ARK Server - How to Add Mods to your ARK Server - How to Upload your Single-player ARK Save to your Server - How to Save your ARK World to your Desktop --- Server Configuration The following articles cover the most common questions you may have when configuring your ARK Server. - How to Configure your ARK Server Settings - How to Update Mods on Your ARK Server - How to Increase Engram Points Per Level on your ARK Server - How to Setup RCON on Your Ark Server - How to Configure Breeding, Taming and Hatching Multipliers on your ARK Server - How to Configure Per Level & Base Level Stats on your ARK Server - How to set your ARK server from PVP to PVE - Enabling Primitive+ Total Conversion Mod for ARK - GameUserSettings.ini Resetting on Server Restart - Unable to query server info for invite error --- If you require any further assistance, please contact our support at: https://shockbyte.com/billing/submitticket.php
How to skip the Aquatica update on ARK:SE
Due to compatibility issues with the latest ARK: Survival Evolved update (Aquatica), the developers have released a public beta, which you can use to roll back your game. This will allow you to keep enjoying your server, while fixes are being released. ::ProseNote{title="Note" description="If you want to go back to the latest version of the game, please follow these steps to set your Steam Beta to None, and server type to stable." appearance="default"} :: --- Enabling a Steam Beta on Your Client To enable a Steam Beta on your client, you must navigate to your ARK: Survival Evolved properties through Steam and select your desired beta. 1. Open Steam and navigate to your Library. 2. Locate and right-click ARK: Survival Evolved, then select Properties. 3. Click the tab Betas and select . 4. Wait for the beta to install and Start the game. --- Select preaquatica as Server Type With your client now running the beta, the server must be downgraded as well. 1. Access your control panel and Stop your server. 2. Edit your server type. 3. Select the preaquatica beta. 4. Start your server, and wait for the new version to be downloaded.
Unable to query server info for invite error
If you are seeing the error Unable to query server info for invite error when joining your ARK server, it usually means you are joining directly from the Steam server list. This can be solved by joining from in-game instead. 1. On the toolbar in the Steam client, navigate to View Servers, then click the Favorites tab on the pop-up window. 2. Add your server by clicking Add A Server, then entering your Server Address into the pop-up box and clicking Add This Address To Favorites. 3. Open ARK and click Join ARK. 4. In the bottom left corner under the filter options, change the Session Filter to Favorites. 5. Press refresh, and then you should see your server and be able to join.
How to set your ARK server from PVP to PVE
Sometimes you may want to play cooperatively with your friends on your ARK server instead of fighting amongst yourselves. Or you might simply want to learn the ropes first-hand and have a peaceful experience, free from the dangers of other players hunting you down and looting your in-game items and resources. Whatever the reason, you can change your server settings to disable PvP (Player vs Player) and enable PvE (Player vs Environment) mode instead. In PvE, players cannot damage other players, destroy another tribe’s buildings, or kill their dinos. --- How to change your server to PvE mode 1. Login to your Control Panel. 2. Navigate to Config. 3. Open GameUserSettings.ini. 4. Search for the line under the category and set its value to true. Press Save once completed. 5. Press Back then navigate to the Config Tab. 6. Locate the file and click to open it. 7. Add the line . Again, this setting is not present by default, so you have to add it manually in a new line. Press Save to apply the changes. 8. Go back to your control panel and press Start. Your server should now be in PvE mode. How to Schedule PvE For Certain Times of the Day ::ProseNote{title="Note:" description="Our system time is on UTC+0." appearance="default"} :: It is possible to turn on PvE at specific times; for example, you can have PvE enabled from 6 AM to 6 PM, and the rest of the time, PvP will be enabled. By default, ARK uses server time to check for this, but you can also set it to in-game time; for example, having PvE toggled during the day and PvP during the night. For this example, we will make it so that PvE is turned on from 6 AM to 6 PM in server time (real-world UTC+0 time). There are three new settings we will add: This setting is in seconds, and so to calculate we count the hours from midnight to 6 AM, which is 6, and then multiply it by 3600, which is the number of seconds in one hour (essentially, 6 x 60 x 60). This will give us a product of 21600 seconds. We do the same calculation here. We want PVE to stop at 6PM, so that’s 18 hours (in 24-hour time) multiplied by 3600 seconds. Our product will be 64800 seconds. To change these settings, follow these steps: 1. Stop your server. 2. Navigate to Files. 3. Navigate to the path and click on . 4. Set to . 5. Set to . 6. We will need to set so that it starts at 6 AM. Based on our calculations earlier, our setting will be . 7. We also need to set so that PvE stops at 6 PM. Based on our calculations earlier, our setting will be . Your configuration should now be the same as the one below. 8. If you want to use in-game time instead of server time, you can simply change to . Now your server will be in PvE or PvP mode, respectively, depending on the time within the ARK server, which you can see by enabling the Extended Hud (defaulted to H key for PC users). 9. Once you’re done changing the settings, press Save. You can now Start your server with its scheduled PvP-PvE times. If you live in a different timezone, such as in Paris, which is in UTC+2 timezone, you can simply add +2 hours to the calculation, such that 6 AM will now be 8 x 3600 = 28800. Note that this will only apply when you use system time, and you don’t need to worry about it if you will use in-game time. If you need help making timezone conversions, you can refer to online tools such as UTC Time Zone Converter. For countries that observe Daylight Savings, you will need to adjust this semi-annually to the correct local time.
How to Upload your Single-player ARK Save to your Server
Uploading your Single-player ARK save can allow you to continue your progress on a dedicated server alongside your friends. To do this, you are required to upload both your save data and world configuration. --- Epic Games File Location If you're using the Epic Games launcher, you can easily locate your save file using the options section of the game library. 1. Select Options(...) next to ARK on your Game Library, and click Manage. 2. Click Open Install Location, which will open your ARK local save file folder. 3. Navigate to , this will contain your save data. --- Steam Save File Location If you're using Steam, you can easily locate your save file using the Local section of the Ark's Properties window. 1. Launch Steam, then go to your Game Library. 2. Right-click ARK: Survival Evolved, then select Properties... 3. Navigate to Local Files Browse... 4. Navigate to , this will contain your save data. The contains your map save. The contains your player data. The contains all tribe information. Uploading your Save File Once you have located your local ARK save, you can easily upload it to your server using FTP. 1. Access your Control Panel and Stop your server. 2. Access your server files via FTP. We recommend using FileZilla. 3. Navigate to . We would recommend backing up & removing any currently existing files from this file to avoid conflicts. 4. Upload the files you located in the previous section to this folder. 5. Rename localplayer.arkprofile with your SteamID64 in the format , so that you claim the player data. 6. Navigate to Config. 7. Click on . Enter the map ID of the map that you have just uploaded from the table below. For example, if we are playing the map , we would enter the following: . | Map | Map ID | | --- | --- | | The Island | | | The Center (DLC) | | | Scorched Earth (Expansion Pack) | | | Ragnarok (DLC) | | | Aberration (Expansion Pack) | | | Extinction (Expansion Pack) | | | Valguero (DLC) | | | Genesis: Part 1 (DLC) | | | Crystal Isles (DLC) | | | Genesis: Part 2 (DLC) | | | Lost Island (DLC) | | | Fjordur (DLC) | | 8. Save and Start your server. --- Uploading your World Configuration Alongside your save data, you may want to upload your world configuration to update your server settings. 1. Launch Steam, then go to your Game Library. 2. Right-click ARK: Survival Evolved, then select Properties... 3. Navigate to Local Files Browse... 4. Navigate to . You will require Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini. 5. Access your control panel and Stop your server. 6. Access your server files via FTP - we recommend using FileZilla. 7. Navigate to . 8. Replace Game.ini and GameUserSettings.ini in this folder with the files found in step 4. 9. Start your server. To learn more about ARK: Survival Evolved server hosting, you can browse our library of Knowledgebase articles here.
How to Update Mods on Your ARK Server
When running an ARK server with mods, occasionally you'll need to update those mods to the latest version whenever a new version is released. This guide will show you how to update those mods on your ARK server. As with all procedures related to deleting or modifying your server's files, it's advisable to create a backup of your server in the event that a required file is accidentally deleted. You can read our guide on how to do so here: How to Manually Backup Your Server 1. Stop your server. 2. Navigate to Files. 3. Navigate into the mods folder on your server. This is located in . 4. Select the folders named after the mod IDs of the mods you want to update, as well as it's matching .mod file. If you want to update every mod on your server, select every file and folder other than the ones named 111111111 (including the file), CrystalIsles, Ragnarok, TheCenter, Valguero, and LostIsland as these are part of the base server. The image below has been provided as an example of folders to select. Folder names will vary depending on the mods that you have installed; however, the specific files mentioned above are the same across all installations. 5. With these files selected, press Delete, and confirm you want to remove the selected files. After completing this process, your server may take a longer time to start up than normal, as it needs to download and verify the new mod files. This is normal, and it's advised to be patient while your server updates everything. You can check on the progress of the server launch either by using the console or by checking the server's responding status in the Steam server viewer.
How to Setup RCON on Your Ark Server
RCON can be used on your Ark server by using the tool named ARKON. 1. Set an admin password for your server by following this guide. 2. Click Ports and note down the RCON port of your server. 3. Download the ARKON Tool, located here. Right-click this link, select Open link in new window and press enter. 4. Once ARKON is downloaded, extract the ZIP file and run ARKon.exe. 5. At the top, switch to the Settings tab and set the following properties: Config name: Can be whatever you want Server IP: RCON Port: Password: Chat name: Can be whatever you want ::ProseNote{title="Note:" description="It is important you do not include your server's port in the Server IP field or RCON will not connect." appearance="default"} :: 6. Click Connect at the bottom right to connect to your server. You should now see the square at the bottom left of the window turn green. If not, ensure you follow each step completely.