How to make an ARK: Survival Evolved server

Your ARK: Survival Evolved server is online - here's how to join it, pick your map, unlock admin commands and load Workshop mods.

Find your server address

1. Log in to the dashboard and open your server.
2. The server address sits in the panel's left rail, right under your server's name - an IP or a name, then a colon, then a port (it looks like 27.124.105.40:25588).
3. Press the copy button beside it so you take the whole thing, including the number after the colon.

Join from ARK

1. Open ARK: Survival Evolved (the original, not Survival Ascended) and pick Join ARK.
2. Set the session filter to Unofficial, clear any "players online" filter, and type your server's name into the name search.
3. Select it and press Join. If you set a Join Password in the Startup tab, the game asks for it here - it's also shown under your server address in the panel.

If you prefer typing an address: press Tab on the main menu (twice for the full console) and enter open <your address> (for example open 27.124.105.40:25588).

Server greyed out or not showing in the server list

ARK's in-game Unofficial list and Steam's favourites talk to a second port, the query port. It is set up for you when the server is created. Under Settings > Network ports, two rows carry a Game port badge: one is your address's port plus one, and the other is your query port. If your server is not showing up, or shows but is greyed out (grayed out) so you can't join, work down this list:

1. Let it finish booting. A fresh server isn't listed until the console shows has successfully started! - the first boot can take five minutes or more, longer with mods.
2. Check the filters. In Join ARK, set the session filter to Unofficial, and clear the "players online" filter and any other filter you've changed. Then search by your server's name.
3. Make sure you're on the same version. You can only join a server running the same game version as you. If Steam updated your game before your server restarted, restart the server so it picks up the new build.
4. Using Steam favourites? Add the server with <IP>:<query port> (the query port, not the game port), then join it from the in-game Favourites filter. If an old favourite won't join, remove it and add it again the same way.
5. Still not listed? Join directly. Press Tab on the main menu (twice for the full console) and enter open <your address> - it works whether or not the list shows your server.

Pick your map

The map lives in the Startup tab - TheIsland to begin with. Each map keeps its own save, so switching to Ragnarok or Fjordur later starts that map fresh (and switching back brings the old one back). Bigger maps want more RAM before anyone joins - see How much RAM does an ARK server need? below.

How much RAM does an ARK server need?

The map decides most of it, then players, mods and how much your tribes have built and tamed. Even an empty The Island uses close to 6 GB on our servers, so our ARK plans start at 8 GB:

Memory grows as a world ages, with more structures, creatures and stored items, so a server that started comfortably can outgrow its plan. Upgrade from the dashboard whenever a map outgrows it.

Admin commands

Your Admin Password is generated for you and sits in the Startup tab. In-game, open the console and type enablecheats <admin password> - after that, commands like cheat saveworld, cheat destroywilddinos and cheat broadcast <message> work for you. The panel's Console runs the same commands without logging in or the cheat prefix. How to set the admin password and enable cheats in ARK: Survival Evolved lists more commands and how to give a friend admin without sharing the password.

Workshop mods

ARK mods come from the Steam Workshop. Each one has a number in its Workshop page's URL - that's its mod ID.

1. In the Startup tab, paste the IDs into Mod IDs, comma-separated (for example 731604991,1404697612 for Structures Plus and Awesome SpyGlass).
2. Restart. The server downloads and installs the mods itself on the way up - the first boot after adding mods takes a while, so give it time before deciding something is wrong.
3. Players get the same mods automatically when they join.

A mod map is a mod like any other: add its ID here and put the map's own name into Map.

Schedule restarts

An ARK server likes a regular restart - memory creeps up over a long run, and Workshop mods update on the way up.

1. Open Schedules (under More in the left rail) and press New Task.
2. On What should it do?, pick Power action, keep Power signal set to Restart, and leave Only if the server is empty unticked - ARK can't report who's online, so a restart with it ticked is skipped every time. Press Next.
3. Under When should it run?, choose Every day and set a time, for example 5:00 AM (Sydney time), then press Next.
4. Name the task and press Create job.

The same wizard can take a backup on a timer (Create a backup), which replaces your oldest backup once you're at your plan's limit. How to create and restore backups covers restoring one.

Common first-boot problems

1. The console sits on "Full Startup" for a long time - normal. ARK loads the whole map before it listens; the first boot on a fresh server can take five minutes or more, longer with mods. Wait for has successfully started!.
2. "Incompatible version" when connecting - Steam updated your game before your server restarted. Restart the server; it picks the new build up on the way up.
3. Nobody can join with BattlEye - players must have BattlEye enabled in ARK's launch options, or turn BattlEye off in the Startup tab and restart.
4. Mods don't load - check the IDs have no spaces, then restart once more; a mod that failed to download is retried on the next boot.
5. "Mod version mismatch" when joining - the server and the player have different versions of a mod. Restart the server so it picks up the current Workshop version, and have the player restart Steam so their copy updates too.

If your problem isn't on this list, open the Console, switch to its Errors tab and copy the exact error lines. Paste them into your support ticket along with what you changed just before it started.