ARK: Survival Ascended settings explained

ARK: Survival Ascended keeps its rules in two files: GameUserSettings.ini for rates, difficulty and most server rules, and Game.ini for breeding and deeper changes. The panel's Server Settings tab edits the settings people change most, with presets for 2x to 10x servers. This guide covers the tab, what each setting does, and how to edit the files by hand for anything else.

Before you start

ARK writes its settings files the first time it runs, and fills in GameUserSettings.ini the first time the server stops cleanly. On a brand-new server the tab shows Start the server once first: start it from the Console tab, then come back.

If the tab says ARK hasn't written its settings yet, the values shown are ARK's own defaults. Saving still works and writes your changes into the file.

Where each setting lives

The Startup values go on the server's launch line, and the launch line beats the files. That's why Max Players and the admin password are written back into GameUserSettings.ini on every start: change them in Startup, not in the file.

Use a preset

The preset buttons at the top of Server Settings set several values at once:

A preset only fills in the values. Nothing changes until you save.

Save your changes

ARK overwrites its settings files when it stops, so the panel saves in a way that sticks:

• While the server is offline, each card has Save changes. The new values apply when it next starts.
• While it's running, the button is Save and restart: the panel stops the server, writes the files and starts it again. Players online are disconnected.
• Changed more than one card? The bar at the bottom offers Save all or Save all and restart, and Discard.

The settings in the tab

Rates

• XP rate (XPMultiplier): experience for players, tribes and tames.
• Taming speed (TamingSpeedMultiplier): how fast taming bars fill.
• Harvest amount (HarvestAmountMultiplier): resources per hit.

Difficulty

• Override official difficulty (OverrideOfficialDifficulty): sets the highest wild dino level. The tab shows the result, such as Wild dinos spawn up to level 150. for a value of 5.
• Difficulty offset (DifficultyOffset): fine-tunes it. Most servers leave it at 1.

Day & Night

• Day and night speed (DayCycleSpeedScale): the whole cycle.
• Night speed (NightTimeSpeedScale): nights only. Raise it for shorter nights.

Player & Dino Stats and Structures

• Player hunger drain (PlayerCharacterFoodDrainMultiplier).
• Structure damage resistance (StructureResistanceMultiplier): higher makes bases harder to break.

PvE, PvP & Quality of Life

• PvE server (serverPVE). On ASA the PvE value in Startup decides this, so the row reads On, set in the Startup tab (PvE) while that's on.
• Third person camera, Show position on map and Flyers can carry wild dinos (PvE).

Breeding (Game.ini)

• Baby maturation speed, Egg hatch speed, Mating cooldown, Imprint cuddle interval and Imprint amount per cuddle. A lower Mating cooldown means less waiting, a lower Imprint cuddle interval means babies ask for attention more often, and a higher Imprint amount per cuddle gives more imprint each time.

Edit the files by hand

For a setting the tab doesn't have, edit the file yourself:

1. Stop the server and wait for it to finish. ARK writes the files as it stops, over anything changed while it ran.
2. Open the File Manager and go to ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/.
3. Open GameUserSettings.ini. Server rules go under the [ServerSettings] heading, one Key=Value per line.
4. Save, then start the server.

Some settings people often add:

Keep each key on one line only, and check a setting's name and file before adding it: some belong in Game.ini instead.